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Today's Stats:69.6 miles6 hours 10 minutes11.5 mphToday we set the alarm an extra 15 minutes earlier to try to get the earliest start possible. (the baggage truck will not take your bag until 5am) Pam wakes up and says her knee is bothering her. She quickly takes some Advil and we hope the pain goes away before we ride. The hills in Atlantic are so big that we still end up not starting our journey until 5:12. We begin to head out of town at a VERY slow pace. I watch the speedometer and see that our progress is very slow - much slower than normal. I figure that Pam's knee must be hurting her REAL bad and we are just going to have a very slow day. Pam is thinking that I must be really tired from our first day. Eli rides ahead of us. Brian poses by the bike when it turns to 22,000 miles.
At 6:08 (two minutes before official sunrise) we stop when I see the odometer roll over to 22,000 miles. Yup, Pam and I have now biked 22,000 miles together on our Rans Screamer. Eli texts us from Elk Horn to tell us she has already arrived. We text her back to tell her to just go to the finish line so at least she can beat the heat since we are moving so slow.We arrive into Elk Horn at 6:40 and I look at the speedometer and it says we are only doing 10.2 miles per hour. We calculate that we will be getting into Carroll around 2pm - it will be our latest arrival ever into a city in Iowa for the RAGBRAI. Oh well, it is what it is and we will just have to deal with it.Photo Right: Riders heading up a hillPhoto Center: With 100% humidity we get fog this morningPhoto Right: We stop at Farm Bothers for breakfast - as usualAt 11:30 we pull into Templeton, over 40 miles into today's ride. As we ride the last mile into Templeton we start to hear a rubbing noise from our back end. We pull under a nice shaded area next to a semi truck to take a look.The rear tire had been shifted in its holder and had been pushing sideways into one of the brake pads. The brake pad had worn down so much that now it was metal on metal and thus we were hearing the rubbing noise. We had ridden all day (so far) with one of the brakes rubbing on the tire rim. Neither Pam nor I was under performing - we had a mechanical issue. We were so relieved to find out it was not us we don't even care about how stupid we feel for not noticing our mechanical issue.
All 3 of these photos to the left we taken in Manning, the "meeting town". Because we have fallen so far behind the "pack" has caught up to us and we are now caught in the frenzy of RAGBRAI.Finally at 1:20 we pull into Carrol, our overnight town, find our luggage, and head for our hosts apartment. Michelle is there to greet us and take us in out of the summer heat. We find out she works at the local winery (which her parents own) and takes us down to the winery for the best lunch on our trip thus far. My pizza was one of the best I have had in a LONG time. Pam's salad is so big she can not finish it. We get to meet Michelle's parents and stay for over an hour soaking up the air conditioning.
Photos left and center: Wildflowers line the ditches todayPhoto right: At the IA conservation booth (more people today)Today was a big lesson for us - never assume it is us when it could be a mechanical issue. We figure out of 22,000 miles together on the bike we probably won't make that same mistake again for a while.Until tomorrow!
Photo left: Our host MichellePhoto center: Eli, Brian & Pam at the wineryPhoto right: Brian and a local try to flag a bus in Carrol
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