I meant to post every day from my little bike trip/vacation. Didn’t happen. Internet access in rural Iowa is hard to come by. Also, cell service is horrible when 25,000 suddenly roll into a town whose population is 2,000.
Anyway, we made it. Mrs. 1500 and I (along with my father) successfully biked all 400+ miles. We didn’t even get a flat! Woooo! Other random thoughts:
- We met people from all over the place. There were riders from every state. We even saw people from Japan and Ireland.
- In Des Moines, there was a concert where Sponge, Filter, Live and Everclear played. It amused me to hear most of them didn’t know how to pronounce “Des Moines.” The “s” is silent in both words. Someone wasn’t paying attention in 4th grade geography.
- We never saw Lance, so didn’t have to deal with the mobs that try to keep up with him. People had mixed emotions about him. Some had signs enthusiastically welcoming him. Others were clearly annoyed.
- Finally, I’m not sure if we’ll do this ride again. Camping for a week stinks as there is a lot to deal with: nasty thunderstorms, heat and people camping next to you who can wake the dead with their snoring. Also, you’ll never take a flush toilet for granted after doing your business for a week in porta-potties!
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Sounds like you had a great time and glad you were able to avoid Lance along the way! I always have to laugh when I hear people try to pronounce Des Moines, especially when you correct them and they look at you like you have three heads.
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For some reason, I thought that pronunciation was just common knowledge! In my 39 years, I can’t ever remember anyone pronouncing it that way before now.
Wow, Sponge, Filter, Live, and Everclear? Did they get confused and think this was RAGBRAI 1996?
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Ha, yeah it was a throwback to high school for sure. It was still fun to see, even if some of the band members had to use a walker.
I love Everclear — one of the really fun bands of my younger days. And speaking of fun, that bus looks like a friggin blast.
It sounds like a great trip and a cool accomplishment, too — kudos to you and the Mrs for finishing!
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Thanks Done by Forty! Everclear was a lot of fun. It was a bit nostalgic seeing all of these guys up on stage again.
The beer scene on the ride was pretty cool. There were a couple micros along the ride which were way better than the big guys that sponsor it.
Looks like an amazing trip! I’ve always wanted to do Ragbrai. Did you try any of that famous Iowa pie along the way?
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Ohhhhhhhhhh the pie! I ate way too much. Who knew that you could bike 400 miles and come back weighing more.
Sounds like you had a (mostly) great trip! I literally laughed out loud at the goat pic, by the way.
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Yeah, it was great! My sore butt wouldn’t agree, but you don’t want to hear about that!
How did your daughter do with the trip? Did she have fun?
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Luckily, the in-laws were in Iowa, so we had a babysitter for the little 1500s. However, we did tow them both for a little while one day on their Weehoo trailer. They loved it! Dad’s legs, not so much!
Thanks Anna! It was great! Next year, we may do a Wisconsin (highly underrated state) bike ride.
Looks like you had an amazing and fun filled trip. Good to hear that you finished it without any flat!
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