As stated previously, we have a strict deadline to meet with today's route. Elizabeth and Emily chose to leave an hour ahead of everyone else and I chose to ride the Windstream RV to one of the pass through towns with a few other members where we would get dropped off along the route. Elizabeth was really nervous about the timeline, but I knew she could do this! We made a stop on the RV in Lost Nation before arriving at my drop off point and who did we run into....Elizabeth and Emily! They were making great time...so good that Danny (team captain) asked me if Elizabeth had been holding back all week! I was so proud of her pace and pumped that she was going to be able to complete the entire last day!
We, Karen and myself, left Lost Nation on the RV to our drop site, Goose Lake. We would have a very short ride today of less than 20 miles. We gave Mike (RV driver) a hard time because he dropped us off in the middle of a hill! We were a little sad that our ride was so short, but once on our bikes we knew we had made the right decision. My legs were not in the game today; they felt like cinder blocks and did not want to move. My butt was also over being on my bike! Karen and I took our time and took in the sites. Being towards the front of the crowd is a completely different experience. There is no music and riders are serious whereas towards the back of the crowd there's loud music and plenty of conversation during your ride. Once in to Clinton all the locals were in their front yards cheering and clapping. Kids were yelling out and asking where everyone was from and keeping track of the responses. There really aren't words to describe what it felt like...I had goosebumps for a good 5 minutes.
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| Custom made wind vane |
Once we made it through the neighborhood in Clinton, we popped out to the "dip site." This is where you make you ride official by dipping your front tire into the Mississippi River. Before Karen and I went down to the dip site we were asked to sign a custom made wind vane that features a cyclist on an downward arrow from Sioux Center to Clinton. Then Karen and I proceeded to the dip site to dip our tires in the Mississippi. We then waited on the rest of the crew to arrive and were able to capture some of them approaching the dip site.
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| Karen and I at the dip site |
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| Danny, Ramon, Emily and Elizabeth coming into the dip site |
Once Elizabeth arrived (2 hrs ahead of the deadline...woot woot!), I double dipped and dipped my tire with her! I'm so glad that she convinced me to do RAGBRAI and I definitely would not have survived the week without her! While I did not ride the entire week, I rode everyday and was able to complete 342.8 out of 471 miles over a seven day period and that is a huge accomplishment! People have asked if I would do this again and the answer is yes (with a caveat...I need to do more training on hills)!
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| Elizabeth and I at the dip site |
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