Day1-2011

Today's Stats:

67.1 miles5hrs 31 minutes12.3 mphWe started the day at 4:25am. Our gracious hosts Tim and Tana in Glenwood had us staying down in their basement - very nice as it is very cool. We try to keep as quiet as possible to not stir the other riders or the hosts. But as we opened up the front door to make our quiet escape Tana comes out of her room to wish us goodbye. So we bike 2 miles to the baggage drop off area with our bags and leave Glenwood officially at 5:06 am. With sunrise at 6:10 we are trying to beat the heat. A large storm is 20 miles to the South of us with pretty lightning giving us a show. More importantly there is a nice tail wind out of the South - the forecast was for a head wind and we welcome the change in weather - cool breeze, tail wind, and clouds covering the sunrise. We hope the clouds will stay all day to shade us form the sun.

Photo Left: Eli taking her bag to the truckPhoto Center: The largest bike in the world (according to them)Photo Right: Bikers coming up the hillAt 6:25 we stopped at Farm Brothers for our breakfast burritos - just as the sun starts to peek out of the clouds. Bummer.And the wind shifts to a head wind out of the North East - the same direction we are biking for most of today. Oh well that is RAGBRAI.By 10:00 the sun was so intense my thermometer on my bike is already reading 90 degrees. The humidity was also over 80%. Our pace is slowed to 8 miles per hour on the flats and we needed our granny gear for most of the hills.