RAGBRAI 2009 Day 6

Another day in the books - we've safely arrived in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, only 40-some-odd miles from the final destination. Today was the first day we've really dealt with intense sun and heat - the first picture is of two little boys having a drink and a snack under a shade tree:

While rolling along i took a couple pictures of some of the stranger bikes - here's a recumbent dressed up as the Chiquita banana:

And here's the guy I mentioned a couple days ago who has his recumbent outfitted with a sail. Note the flag on the back of his bike - he's basically pedaling his sailing vessel straight into a headwind:

At one of the many ice cream stops (I made some serious strides today) Barney and I had the idea of re-creating the Lance Armstrong pose where he holds the bike behind his head:

Now Barney just needs to start a foundation (I'm going to suggest MarketStrong), shack up with a female rock star then one of the Olsen twins, and then get back into road-biking at a competitive enough level to make a run at the Tour de France. No problem.

The day's ride was mostly uneventful - we were taking it pretty easy after yesterday's long ride. Here Barney took the camera from me and took a couple shots of what his view looks like when I lead the draft for a while:

Look, mom - no hands:

We rolled into Mount Pleasant around 3:30 and the day started becoming more eventful. Just after we rolled into the square a guy came up and asked me if I wanted to be on the radio. I said sure and then got to answer some questions about my RAGBRAI experience for the listeners of The New Mix 107.3, being interviewed by radio personality Crazy Cosmo:

Then we made our way to the camping area and found a spot near these giant metal warehouse buildings. I lay down to take a nap and when I woke up I found that Barney had spent naptime drinking beers with a team of old guys who were from Southern Iowa. He informed me that we were leaving immediately to go to dinner with them, which required a ride in a their converted schoolbus:

I was laughing on the ride about how strange it feels to make the transition from being dead asleep to drinking beer on a bus full of drunk old men you don't know in about 45 seconds - sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Once we got back from dinner we started to get our tent all set up and then there was a severe storm warning so we had to take shelter in the big metal buildings, which it turns out were completely filled with restored antique farm machinery. Here's a shot of an entire row of steam-powered tractors - the amazing thing is that apparently all of these are in running order:

I don't know what this machine is, but it looks frightening:

And here's an entire row of tractors that seemed to be mostly from 1950 or before:

But the most important discovery of the evening was a lone blue tractor - who loves you, Charlie?

That's it for today - the storm has apparently passed so we've been kicked out of the farm implement museum. Tomorrow is the last day of the ride, and a short day at that. It will feel pretty nice to put the bike back in its box and not have to see it for a week or more.

Today's stats:

Total miles: 78.71

Average speed: 15.0mph

Max speed: 33.2

Ice creams consumed: 5 (I have to admit, the last one was a bit of a struggle - I feel slightly ill)

Butt soreness, scale of 1(Charmin Ultra-Plus 8-ply Lotion-Impregnated toilet paper) to 10 (dry corn cobs) - 6

I should note that the only reason my butt soreness is not off the charts today (the Dartmouth shorts have very little padding) is because Barney agreed to trade seats with me around mile 30. He's been using a huge gel seat and it was a welcome change, although the downside is that now I can't make fun of him and his granny saddle any more.

Signing off,

Chuck