Ragbrai Rap-up Post

Posted on July 26, 2009 by teejtc

I wasn’t able to make it to the internet truck yesterday and last night I was too busy working on this morning’s sermon to write much about Ragbrai, but I thought I’d write up a quick post.

I wrote last about Friday morning (which was beautiful and wonderful). Friday afternoon took a major twist for the worse – headwinds and heat… ugh. The last 30 miles just about killed me. Finally, when we got into town they put us out in the middle of nowhere. Yep, it’s my biggest pet peeve of Ragbrai. They couldn’t care less about those of us “traditionals” — the people who use the baggage truck. If you’re a charter or in an RV, the towns often give great spots, but if you’re in the baggage truck… out of luck. Mt. Pleasant put us 1 1/2 – 2 miles away from downtown in some fairgrounds with only a single food booth (unless you count popcorn). We had to pay for shuttles (which we did) and ate downtown. They tied with Chariton for the Wost overnight towns of the week.

Best towns of the week: Ottumwa and Red Oak. I liked Indianola too.

The last day was a fairly short day (about 44 miles). I was pretty sore but made it through reasonably quickly. By 2:00, Brenda (my wonderful Sister in Law) dropped off the van and by 3:30 we were on our way back home.

Home by about 11.

Ragbrai is over.

It’s hard to believe it’s all over. In the end, it’s was a great week. Over all, I was severely under-prepared (especially for the hills this year). If I ever end up doing it again, I’ll have to definitely make sure I put in more training miles.

The people this year seemed more friendly than last year. Last year everyone seemed a bit surly. I think maybe it was the heat. This year people were a lot more friendly, more talkative, more cooperative, more patient, etc.

A few things about good through-towns:

  • Lot’s of port-a-potties
  • Free water hose somewhere – and mark it clearly, please?! Water is cheap, don’t be so prudish as to make us buy it. I promise we’ll buy other things.
  • Play up your peculiarities… are you a church-based community? Do you have a lot of a particular cultural heritage? Is there a business in town that makes you special or unique? Play it up!
  • Good “burma-shave”-style signs are wonderful. Be creative. I promise we’ll read them.
  • Some of us are directional idiots. If you say “on your left when you get into town” it makes a lot more sense to us than “on the west side of the square.”

    • A few things about good overnight towns:

  • Put the baggage truck and the tent campers within walking distance of the fun.
  • If shuttles are needed to get to town, run them frequently and don’t have too many routes. Free is best… really… you’re the ones that put us out in the middle of nowhere.
  • Camping… Have you ever camped? Try to remember what it’s like. I don’t mind railroad tracks, but camped by them several times this year — it was a problem for some people. Hills are awful; tents simply don’t work well on them, especially if there is more than one person in them. It’s Iowa, I know it isn’t flat, but surely there’s a flat space somewhere in your town where you can put the camping people. A little shade is nice, too.
  • Water hoses. Come on… it doesn’t take anything to put a few hoses out by the camping where people can fill up their bottles in the morning
  • Showers. If you can’t provide enough showers with hot water (and, no, your high school won’t be able to keep up), bring in a service and make sure you have enough water in your tower to handle it (unlike Mt. Pleasant this year!)
  • Port-a-Potties… you need a LOT of them. Council Bluffs put in something like 6. Yeah, 6… for what? 10,000 people?! There were dozens INSIDE the Rib Festival (which didn’t help those poor suckers who weren’t interested in dropping $10 on a pass). By evening the six were overflowing. ICK. Think about it… Ick. My suggestion: Get the ones from the company called Action Services. They clean them well and do a great job.

    • I’m totally sorry it’s over, but am sure glad to be sleeping in my own bed and was incredibly happy to NOT put my seat on a bike saddle this morning!

    Thanks for following. If you’re interested in pics, I put a few up on facebook here and a few (some overlapping) on flicker here.

    Grace and Peace,
    `tim

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