RAGBRAI Adventure - Sioux City to Storm Lake

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Day 1 Route | Storm Lake
First off, it is amazing how early people get up to ride RAGBRAI. I heard someone yell, checked my watch and it was 2:30am! Soon after that, I heard some people rustling around but it wasn't until about 5am that the tents around us were coming down. We held out until 5:45 or so, then got ourselves up and packed up the tent. Each day, you dropped your luggage off at the Riverbend truck, which would transport it to the next site.

We cycled over to the "dip point" on the Missouri River where the ride would start. There is no "official" start to the RAGBRAI ride - you just get on your bike when you are ready and hope the very first guy knows the route because every one else is following him!

We were on our way! It was 68.5 miles to Storm Lake with 3,687 feet of climb. Lots of rolling hills but not too difficult because for every climb there was an equal downhill. Thousands of people of all ages riding their bikes. The one bad event for my day was falling down when I was squeezed between Rachel and another rider. I had to bail out to avoid hitting Rachel's rear tire. Fortunately, just lots of scrapes on shoulder, elbow, and knee. Bike was ok so, bruised and bloodied, I was back on my bike in a couple of minutes.

We reached Storm Lake (Theme: "Catch a Tailwind") and rode an extra 5 miles to the best campsite of the week, right on the lake. We set up our tent with a great view of the lake, grabbed a couple of chairs from our charter and enjoyed the view. Then I went to the shower trailer while Rachel bathed in the lake. Rachel read some while I worked the crossword puzzle before we shuttled to town and found a pizza joint with an $8 RAGBRAI deal - salad bar, drink and a huge pizza slice. We listened to two really good bands - locals Chrome Union and R&B High and Mighty out of the Twin Cities. Day One was done.

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