Jay’s Note: This is part eight of a running two-week adventure log for RAGBRAI. Each day I’ll be posting a journal entry and some pictures from our trip that begins in Virginia, lands us in Iowa for a bike ride, and then eventually gets us back to the East Coast. Part seven is here.
Up at 4:45am today. This was the hottest day of the ride, so we got straight to work — I had about one sip of tea before the boys’ tent came down and everything got stowed. The Starlink got packed away too; it won’t see use again for a few days while we’re off shore power. If we need juice for essentials, I’ve got the Jackery solar panel and battery.
On the road a little after 6am, and I hauled away from the main group early. One too many people in the pack had appointed themselves cycling deputies, barking form and lane advice at strangers. No thank you to being around that all day.
Only three towns on the route today, which changes how you ride: I saved my water as much as possible, topped off at every stop, and otherwise put my head down and hauled to get the hot day over with.
Rolled into Guthrie Center around 9:30am. Check out the picture above — this is what things look like when you get in early. Vendors still setting up, the street basically empty. It won’t look anything like this in three hours.
The early camp report was less rosy. Sarah has once again scored us a really nice spot in the family campgrounds, but when we first arrived there were no toilets, no water, and the school building we were counting on for air conditioning was closed. A bit disheartening. We told ourselves I’d just gotten in too early and they hadn’t set up yet — let’s hope.
After food at the vendor area, we spent about four hours at the pool. There was a teenage kid doing belly flops to everyone’s applause — I think he did at least a few dozen, because he was red all over. Seems like a bad idea. He’s going to be hurting tomorrow.
And when we got back from swimming: the school had opened up. Flush toilets, air conditioning, water fountains — the whole shot. That’s where I sit now, tapping out this post in the ACGC lunchroom.
A side note on the heat: I heard at least ten people had to get picked up today for heat stroke or heart problems. No surprise. Between the partying, the heat, and the riding, some folks just aren’t prepared for it. I know people want to have fun on these things, but you have to take care of yourself first and foremost.
Dinner plan is bratwurst tonight. Sarah went and got a styrofoam cooler to keep everything cold, since our Dometic can’t run without shore power. We’ll see if the plan comes to fruition — it’s quite an undertaking on a camping setup.
We’ll stay in the schoolhouse until they shut the doors at 9pm, then hope the heat doesn’t get to us overnight. There’s a chance of storms tonight — some could be severe — and the hope is the storm misses us but pushes the cooler air through anyway. Tomorrow’s still supposed to hit the mid-90s, but after that it breaks for real: mid-80s and overnight lows near 60 for a stretch. We just have to get through one more hot one.
Bedtime around 8 or 8:30pm. That’s been working out well.