Sunday, July 21, 2019

RAGBRAI Day 0 - Council Bluffs

It's 6:30 in the morning of the first day of RAGRBAI. It is pouring rain, with thunder and lightning all around. Max and I are hiding in our safe dry tent for now, watching the weather radar.



The last two days have been travel and hiding from the hot, hot heat.  Friday we drove all day from Ohio to Keokuk, the finish town. We checked in with Brancel (our RAGBRAI charter), put our bikes on their truck, and hid from the heat at V's taproom, and then at the YMCA next to our camping area.



Hanging out by the outlets to charge devices, wedged between the exercise equipment is a fine way to spend the evening.

Saturday, we rode on the Brancel tour bus to Council Bluffs. Here we are waiting for the bus.



It was still brutally hot when we got to Council Bluffs. We set up our tent, and went to check out the RAGBRAI expo.

Check out what I saw at the Expo!  LUST LUST LUST WANT WANT WANT.



This is the first Bachetta carbon trike to be delivered to a customer, who is doing RAGBRAI. I talked with him for awhile. He says 10 of these have been made so far. It weighs 28 lbs. (my old Trice S trike was around 50 lbs). It has a storage compartment built into the seat and bosses in the chainstays for mounting racks. This would work for light touring and commuting. This one has a super compact double crankset and an 11/34 Shimano mechanical drivetrain.

I want one of these very badly, but I don't really need another bike.

After the expo, we hid from the heat for a couple hours at the "Quaker Steak and Lube" restaurant next to the campground. The campground is in an area reminiscent of Arundel Mills. There is a Bass Pro Shops, a casino, and an arena nearby, and a bunch of not-yet-developed lots that are RAGBRAI campgrounds. It looks like our campground used to be covered with tall weeds, and they mowed it with a bush hog a couple days ago. It's very rough.

Anyway, this Quaker Steak place has a race car theme. There is a dragster hanging over the entrance.



But are race cars hanging from the ceiling what really matters?


Yes that is a Slim Jim in the Bloody Mary. It is hollowed out so you can use it as a straw.



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