09 RAGBRAI Day 7
It’s now 11:09 PM, 7/1/10, and I’m too tired to do this tonight. You won’t believe how this all ended and moved into the next dimension. We’re in Minneapolis, MN thanks to Corey and Todd. PS….This week was a very tough test!!!!!!!!!!!! More about that tomorrow, too. Good night Dear Friends!!!
Well, it’s a day later, 9:30 PM, 8/1/10 and I’m back at it. Day 7 started with a team photo in the street then we set off like a herd of turtles at 7:00 PM. This is the first day that we left as a team. A beautiful day, beautiful scenery and a great day for a bike ride. When we passed a Hog Farm Cat insisted on a picture. I had to duck and dodge through the steady stream of cycles. It was all ups and downs, we were on a hill when I shot the pigs. (So to speak.)
- The scenery today becomes more hills and dales. This day is second only to day one in terms of feet of climb. The weather was cool and clear to start but heated up as we approached the infamous “Potter’s Hill”. The road tilts up at a 19 percent grade forcing more than 70% of riders to push. We were among that group. The climb is 8/10 of a mile and each 1/10 is marked. Cat made it almost half way, I stood and pedaled a bit more than caved in.
At the top we were rewarded by the Tom’s Turkey Stand. One of the food vendors that sets up daily alnog the route. Part of the reward was that the line was short, perhaps due to our early arrival at 9:30 AM. We shared a smoked turkey leg, can’t begin to describe how good it was. We talked about getting a smoker when we get back home.
More hills but nothing like “Potter’s” that we dubbed “Walker’s Hill”! You could feel a certain excitement among the cyclists as we entered Dubuque. The city limit was deseptive and there were still plenty of city hills to climb in the final 4 miles.