RAGBRAI XLVII: Day 1, Sunday, July 21, 2019

Day 1: Sunday, July 21, 2019 

When we woke up Sunday morning at 7 am, it was raining, thundering, and lightning and the radar looked like it would last a few more hours so we went back bed.  By 8 am, however, the thunder and lightning was gone and it had even stopped raining.  By the time Lindsay, Dad, Dick, and I got on our bikes at 9 am, it was raining again.  So we rode the first forty miles in the rain, which wasn’t a great way to start the event.  When it rains, it’s also a bummer for the towns because the residents have spent so much time preparing and the rain definitely dampens (pun intended) spirits.  There is also likely an economic hit, because instead of stopping every other town or so, we only stopped to make purchases in the meeting town of Avoca which was about forty miles into the ride.

Lindsay, Kelsi, Dick, Dad, and I before departing for our first ride.

Kelsi (Mary and Dick's granddaughter) pouring Missouri River Water on the Dick's back tire.

With Dad and Jean in Avoca.  It rained from Council Bluffs to Avoca.

The bright spot of the morning which was in Underwood, we parked our bikes along a building on the outskirts of town and who should come around the corner but Aunt Jean (Dad’s sister). Jean is a bicycling machine, logging over 2000 training miles this year, and this year marked her 19th complete RAGBRAI.  We always manage to run into her and often ride with her, but it was especially serendipitous for the first person out of thousands we run into to be her.  We then rode together the rest of the day.  

As for the ride, the first forty miles were rainy and flat and the last twenty miles were dry and hilly...though we were still wet for the rest of the day. 

Pie of the Day

The pie of the day was a slice of apple at the Catholic Church in Atlantic.  I overheard one of the church volunteers say that it was not homemade. But it tasted just fine because I hadn't had any all day and wanted to have a piece everyday.

Beer of the Day

As you can tell from my shirt, I really wanted a Miller Lite on the first day. I didn't look for one on the route since I was more concerned with getting the ride finished and getting out of wet clothes. I looked a little bit for one in Atlantic, but I didn't find one because the beer tent didn't sell it. So I had to settle for a Busch Light, which maybe suiting since it is the most popular beer in Iowa and RAGBRAI is an iconic Iowa event. One of the highlights of Day 1 was a very mini IKM (where I taught and coached from 2003-2008) sports reunion.  While walking around downtown Atlantic, I unexpectedly ran into Coach Tom Casey (recently inducted into the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame) and his wife Diane in Atlantic who were there for the festivities.  In every overnight town, RAGBRAI organizes a concert for riders, but it also ends up being for people in the surrounding area since RAGBRAI is quite the spectacle.  The band that night was an 80s rock tribute band called Hairball, who are one of the better known local acts across the upper Midwest and the Casey's were in town to see them. I coached football with Coach Casey for five years and he taught me a lot about what to do (and occasionally what not to do!) as a coach. Also joining us was Zack Bandow who played quarterback on the 2006 state championship team and is now a dentist in Atlantic.  Besides playing quarterback, he also played for the state qualifying basketball team I coached and pitched and played first base on some really good baseball teams. We had a great time reminiscing about the good ole days before I had to depart so I could get a good night's sleep. I'm sure some RAGBRAI'ers stayed for the whole show and partied into the night. But in my experience, those who want to do the whole ride don't do that because there's only so much the body can take. And I didn't want to test that after the first day!

With Zack and Coach Casey in downtown Atlantic

And finally, a big thank you to Doris Krogman, a retired former co-worker of dad at Westel Systems, who graciously hosted us in Atlantic!