Today was the 100 mile day-whoo! I did start the day with a teensy bit of a hangover-last night was Free Margarita Night...need I say more?
The day started with this guy asking me if I'd ride the Karras Loop with him. This is the loop that brings to total mileage up to 100 miles, and is a bonus. I said 'sure' and made a plan to meet him. I spent about 2 hours of my day waiting around for this guy, and we never connected. I know I am faster than him, but I can't imagine being that much faster than anyone. Anyone, I am waiting for an awkward encounter later in the day.
I seem to attract a myriad of stalkers...this guy has stalker potential, and there was a Creeper Shirtless Guy who followed me around awhile.
Probably I encouraged this behavior today by duct taping the word "Hi!" to the back of my shirt. Mostly, this worked out great, because everyone said "hi!" and I met some nice, non-creepy people. I pulled a paceline for 10 miles (averaging 21mph!) and we nicknamed ourselves "The Hi Line!" because I got everyone to say hi to the people we passed.
Anyway! The first part of the day had a longer than average start-the first town (Varina) was 17 miles away. There wasn't anything really exciting to see here, but I did get to hear a kid play "Charge!" on a bugle over and over again. The best part is that he ALWAYS started on the wrong partial, so it never sounded 100% like "Charge!"
The next town was Pocahontas. This town was excellent. You could get your picture taken in The Giant Kaliedoschope, do the Hoky Poky, have an Indian feather taped to your helmet and get your picture taken with Pocahontas. Several cute girls in full indian princess dress handed out water. Nice job, Pocahontas!
After this town, I visited my pals at the PBJAm. Today, they had instruments out, and anyone who wanted to have a go at it could jam. Two girls who sing in a band together sang for a bit, then I joined them on the beater violin they had lying around. It was fun. I'll probably stop in there again tomorrow.
Then it was off to do the Karras Loop. I waited around for that guy for awhile, and then took off. It was chock full of headwinds. They did have a nice oasis where you could buy a large Gatorade for $2 and get your official patch. Then, we biked through the town of Rolfe, which I must say, did not even try to be cool. There was a half hearted kid selling water, but that's all.
Next stop? Plover. Plover rhymes with lover, according to the dozens of Burma Shave style signs I saw. Plover is also famous for ham balls. (that what SHE said!) Ham balls are like meatballs, only with ham and brown sugar. I made several ball jokes with the people in line. The ham ball I had was pretty tasty. I gave the local kids playing in a band a tip for their college education, or so the bucket said...
After Plover it was time to hit West Bend. West Bend is famous for The Grotto of Redemption, a giant structure built entirely of indigenous stones. It's about the size of a 3000sq foot house, and features the stations of the cross, depicted in quartz, marble, geodes, etc. It was pretty impressive.
From West Bend to Whittacre(?) maybe this is the town name...Anyway, this is where I pulled the paceline. This was totally fun. Most of the time, I don't go after RAGBRAI with any kind of speed or power-I'm more in it to just ride an enjoy. But here, I really put the hammer down and cranked it out. The best part about this is that it was after having ridden 82 miles. Yeah! Go Hi Line!
After Whittacre, it was time to go to Algona. Algona is the overnight town. It has an excellent theme "That 70s Town-we're cycledelic!" I got a button and a bandanna, and am seriously contemplating going to "Cycle Idol" and singing some random 70s song. There are peace signs, tie dye and more around here. Algona has done a nice job with a fun theme.
More excitement tomorrow!
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