COLUMN: MAGIOBRAI is in the books

     Mark’s Annual Gutted It Out Bike Ride Across Iowa is in the books. A few friends of mine, Ben and Donovan Eastburn, Mike Lambert and Dan Sauser, decided to take on two legs of RAGBRAI, from Sigourney to Iowa City and Iowa City to Davenport. When I found out they were riding I asked to join them for a day. After all, riding a portion RAGBRAI was on my bucket list.

     I did have some time to prepare and initially I was only going to do one day anyway. Of course, those plans did not work out and I only got in about 130 miles over the course of a month.

     As this past week approached, I decided it was time to get organized. Yes, I am a procrastinator at times. At the last minute, I took my bike to McNeill’s Hardware and David graciously agreed to give it a once over. I cannot thank David enough because when I got my bike back it was like riding a brand new bike. He fixed the noises, my shifting issues and had that baby purring.

     I also made a few last minute purchases the day before we left. Biking gloves, a phone holder, an air pump and some pouches to hold what I needed during my trek. Oh, an inner tube too just in case.

     Plans of getting travel arrangements to Sigourney were made and staying in a hotel in the Iowa City area were done in advance (not by me) so come Saturday, all I needed to do was be ready by 5:30 am.

     Did I say Saturday? Yes I did. All week long I had it in my head we were going to be biking on Saturday to Iowa City. I happened to be at All Seasons Auto Body sometime last week explaining my plans to RAGBRAI veterans Brian and Kris Barnhart when they informed me that if I went to Sigourney on Saturday I would be a day behind the rest of the riders.

     Oh crap, it’s Fair Results issue week at the Express and I won’t be around on Friday? No one can take off post-fair week at the Express. So I sold my ads as fast as I could and took off anyway.

     The ride itself was fun. Our group, except for me of course, includes pretty dedicated riders. We had two co-workers of Mikes join us too. I kept up as well as I could until about the last 15 miles into Iowa City. Ben hung back and kept me company. Thank you Ben! We ended up riding 66 miles that day.

     Iowa City was fun; we had supper together and my daughter Macey waited on us. We met up with Lisa Folken and Melissa Wolken, both of whom also rode that day. Some other family members met us there as well.

     After day one I made the decision to go for it again on the second day. After a great night of sleep, we were up and away at 7 a.m. Besides having a sore derriere, I felt pretty good.

     Day two started out great and we took a breather in West Liberty. Our next stop was Wilton and we had some great brick oven pizza cooked out of an old converted fire truck.

     After leaving Wilton, I slowed down a bit instead of trying to keep up with our group. The legs were wearing down and the butt was getting sorer. The guys would stop once in awhile to check on me, which was much appreciated.

     Day two ended with another 70 miles in the books. Our group split off, some went into Davenport while a few of us headed to Walcott to be picked up. Riding RAGBRAI was a great experience.

     A special thank you needs to go out to Sherry and Harrison Eastburn for following us around for two days and shuffling us to where we needed to go. Hopefully the opportunity comes along next year. I may just try it again!