RAGBRAI Day 1 - Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove

Day 1 was something! Only 54 miles, but very hilly! The hills were only a couple hundred feet, but they were pretty steep and very plentiful. Nonetheless, I hammered it and was in to camp around 10:00 AM before it got hot. I've been spending the afternoon making the RAGBRAI 2006 portion of my web site.

The best way to start the day at RAGBRAI is with Mr. Pork Chop.



There is no line for Mr. Pork Chop at 8:00 in the morning. And if you ride straight through to Mr. Pork Chop without stopping, you get ahead of the crowd and can avoid long lines for the rest of the day. Mr. Pork Chop usually sets up about 30 miles in, but today it was only 25 miles because it was a short day.

The other classic food stop is the Garden of Eden Smoothie Stand. This is the view from the line.



I had a peach smoothie and I was a tower of power for the remaining 18 miles. It flattened out and I was sailing along at 23-24 mph. I love Garden of Eden.

Here I am all set up at camp and it's only 10:30.



Ida Grove, population around 2100, is something. It seems some rich dude moved to town several decades ago and started a bunch of local businesses. However, the rich dude had a thing with castles. His own home has turrets and a moat with a drawbridge. He also made all the businesses he invested in build castles. So Ida Grove is full of castles. As you might expect, Ida Grove has been on the RAGBRAI route many times previously.



So of course all the people at the RAGBRAI information booth are dressed up like the Renaissance Festival.



Here is the best castle building. It's the skating rink.



Here is the inside of the skating rink. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's amazing. I asked the folks who run it if people get married in here. They said "Sure! We do all kinds of events!"



I'm now getting kicked out of the Iowa Telecom trailer. Here's the route for today.