| Riding RAGBRAI |
| Day Six - North Liberty to Tipton Friday, July 25th 64 miles; 3,051 feet of climbing |
| Here's an example of how the "Common Folk" must shower (i.e. those without host families). Other options were school locker rooms and car washes with bays converted into mass showers. |
| Solon on Friday morning. |
| Most towns provided free water. |
| Lisbon |
| The melons were fresh and huge in Lisbon. |
| Pontoon boats make good stages. |
| Stumpy and Chip, telling the legend of Frank Iowa. |
| Miller Time in Mechanicsville and Matt searches with futility for AT&T wireless service in Iowa. |
| We asked a few locals - they weren't aware of this. |
| The party rooftops were open in Mechanicsville. |
| The Cheney Boys getting groovy in Mechanicsville. |
Sunny skies returned to Iowa on Friday with a moderate
64-mile ride to Tipton. We passed through the scenic Coralville
Lake area and arrived in Solon eight miles later. Matt stopped
downtown for a Bloody Mary; I ordered up an orange juice.
Funny thing, when you order OJ in a bar - people ask you how it
is. Inside Smitty's Bar & Grill, I replied "It's pretty good." I
wasn't lying. It was good OJ. Then those same people went up
to the bar and ordered Screwdrivers. Interesting.
Matt and I again rode together to Lisbon, which offered an
excellent spread of food and beverage, and then to Mount
Vernon, where we found Larry, Darren, Kevin and Greg. Of all
the small towns we visited in Iowa, Mount Vernon had to be the
prettiest. It's home to Cornell College and had the largest
number of food vendors we'd seen all week. Even the local
cheerleaders were selling stuff. The Methodists sold me pie
with not one, but TWO types of berries. A little slice of
heaven, served on a paper plate.
In Morley, a town of less than 100 residents, the food was
free in the old school gymnasium (donations were encouraged,
however). The town reminded me of Stockland, Illinois, where I
attended grade school. The Morley high school was long gone but
the gymnasium was still standing. Corrugated metal siding made
it look like a machine shed, but inside was much like the old high
school gym that still stands in Stockland.
Our next stop was Mechanicsville, the unofficial Party Town for
Day 6. The place was alive with music and the sense that this
was the last on-the-road town where most people would spend
quality time partying. Saturday's ride was to be a short hop
that many would do with few interruptions, as at that point
most RAGBRAI'ers would just want to finish up and get home.
So Mechanicsville was it, and the party was already started
when Matt and I arrived. The Miller beer garden was serving
boiled Louisiana shrimp, complete with scales, tails, eyeballs,
and what college roommate Adam Whipple once described as "the
shit tract".
After 30 minutes of peeling and eating about 15 shrimp, several
Joyriders showed up to join in the fun. We sat next to a guy
named Chip, wearing a Florida State University bike jersey, who
was loosely affiliated with a guy known by Ron Schechter and
Art Lindo. Chip brought over his buddy Stumpy, wearing a Corn
Head on top of his bike helmet, and thus began the telling of
the Legend of Frank Iowa.
The Legend starts with a guy named Frank something-or-other
who did his first RAGBRAI in the 1970's. Frank loved RAGBRAI
and the state of Iowa so much that he changed his last name to
Iowa. Since then, Frank Iowa has attended every RAGBRAI
except the ones when he was in jail. Several years ago, he
made arrangements to be picked up at a Walmart by some
friends on their way to the RAGBRAI starting town. When his
friends arrived, Frank walked out of the Walmart in a blue
Walmart smock with his name on it. He had worked there for
the previous few months to "make some RAGBRAI money." Frank
strolled over to the row of new bicycles on display in front of
the store, pulled out a key ring, unlocked the security cable and
wheeled away a new bike for RAGBRAI. Thus began (or
continued, depending on who you ask) the Legend of Frank Iowa.
RAGBRAI is full of colorful characters like Frank Iowa. Every
year has "that guy", such as No Seatpost Guy. Seriously,
there's a guy who rides the whole dang time with no seat. I
know this because I was there when he helped Greg Sierra fix a
flat. Without a seatpost, No Seatpost Guy has room to carry a
full-sized floor air pump on his bike. I also saw Large Unicycle
Guy just about every day (it's the unicycle that's large; the guy
is actually rather small). He pedaled a big-wheel unicycle across
the state of Iowa. Chiquita Banana Guy was also a crowd
favorite. He rode a recumbent bicycle encased in yellow
cardboard, which loosely resembled a banana.
We ate and drank for a couple hours in Mechanicsville before
heading out to Tipton, the final overnight stay of the week. I
found myself riding solo after a few miles, then caught up to
Greg Sierra on the edge of town. Our host family, Dr. Mark and
Sharon Niles, lived about a mile east of Tipton on a gravel road.
Marlene had spread the word that the gravel was loose and
unsuitable for road bikes, but Greg and I decided to give it a
try. We pushed our bikes 100 yards up a gravel hill and were
the first of the Joyriders to arrive.
Dr. Mark is a chiropractor. He owns a very nice house with a
very nice shower, and I got first dibs. The rest of Team
Joyride had chosen to stop in downtown Tipton and wait for
Greg, Marlene and I to drive the RV into town and pick them up.
We did just that and decided to grab some food while we were
there.
While searching for good eats, I noticed that Dr. Mark has
some competition in Tipton. In fact, he has an unusually large
number of competitors. No fewer than 4 chiropractors have
offices in Tipton, a town of about 3,000 residents. In
comparison, the greater Des Moines area has about 125
chiropractors serving 375,000 people, or one doctor for every
3,000 residents. Tipton apparently has a lot of sore backs.
In Dr. Mark's parking lot, the same Louisiana shrimp boilers
from Mechanicsville were setting up for the night shift in Tipton,
complete with their bright red mascot drumming up business next
to the beer garden. Team Joyride decided to retreat to the
doctor's house and get a good night's rest. We needed an early
start on Saturday morning to wrap up our ride by about 10:30
a.m. We didn't have access to the inside of the house, but we
did have the 3-car garage. My bed was beside the snowblower.
Read On....
64-mile ride to Tipton. We passed through the scenic Coralville
Lake area and arrived in Solon eight miles later. Matt stopped
downtown for a Bloody Mary; I ordered up an orange juice.
Funny thing, when you order OJ in a bar - people ask you how it
is. Inside Smitty's Bar & Grill, I replied "It's pretty good." I
wasn't lying. It was good OJ. Then those same people went up
to the bar and ordered Screwdrivers. Interesting.
Matt and I again rode together to Lisbon, which offered an
excellent spread of food and beverage, and then to Mount
Vernon, where we found Larry, Darren, Kevin and Greg. Of all
the small towns we visited in Iowa, Mount Vernon had to be the
prettiest. It's home to Cornell College and had the largest
number of food vendors we'd seen all week. Even the local
cheerleaders were selling stuff. The Methodists sold me pie
with not one, but TWO types of berries. A little slice of
heaven, served on a paper plate.
In Morley, a town of less than 100 residents, the food was
free in the old school gymnasium (donations were encouraged,
however). The town reminded me of Stockland, Illinois, where I
attended grade school. The Morley high school was long gone but
the gymnasium was still standing. Corrugated metal siding made
it look like a machine shed, but inside was much like the old high
school gym that still stands in Stockland.
Our next stop was Mechanicsville, the unofficial Party Town for
Day 6. The place was alive with music and the sense that this
was the last on-the-road town where most people would spend
quality time partying. Saturday's ride was to be a short hop
that many would do with few interruptions, as at that point
most RAGBRAI'ers would just want to finish up and get home.
So Mechanicsville was it, and the party was already started
when Matt and I arrived. The Miller beer garden was serving
boiled Louisiana shrimp, complete with scales, tails, eyeballs,
and what college roommate Adam Whipple once described as "the
shit tract".
After 30 minutes of peeling and eating about 15 shrimp, several
Joyriders showed up to join in the fun. We sat next to a guy
named Chip, wearing a Florida State University bike jersey, who
was loosely affiliated with a guy known by Ron Schechter and
Art Lindo. Chip brought over his buddy Stumpy, wearing a Corn
Head on top of his bike helmet, and thus began the telling of
the Legend of Frank Iowa.
The Legend starts with a guy named Frank something-or-other
who did his first RAGBRAI in the 1970's. Frank loved RAGBRAI
and the state of Iowa so much that he changed his last name to
Iowa. Since then, Frank Iowa has attended every RAGBRAI
except the ones when he was in jail. Several years ago, he
made arrangements to be picked up at a Walmart by some
friends on their way to the RAGBRAI starting town. When his
friends arrived, Frank walked out of the Walmart in a blue
Walmart smock with his name on it. He had worked there for
the previous few months to "make some RAGBRAI money." Frank
strolled over to the row of new bicycles on display in front of
the store, pulled out a key ring, unlocked the security cable and
wheeled away a new bike for RAGBRAI. Thus began (or
continued, depending on who you ask) the Legend of Frank Iowa.
RAGBRAI is full of colorful characters like Frank Iowa. Every
year has "that guy", such as No Seatpost Guy. Seriously,
there's a guy who rides the whole dang time with no seat. I
know this because I was there when he helped Greg Sierra fix a
flat. Without a seatpost, No Seatpost Guy has room to carry a
full-sized floor air pump on his bike. I also saw Large Unicycle
Guy just about every day (it's the unicycle that's large; the guy
is actually rather small). He pedaled a big-wheel unicycle across
the state of Iowa. Chiquita Banana Guy was also a crowd
favorite. He rode a recumbent bicycle encased in yellow
cardboard, which loosely resembled a banana.
We ate and drank for a couple hours in Mechanicsville before
heading out to Tipton, the final overnight stay of the week. I
found myself riding solo after a few miles, then caught up to
Greg Sierra on the edge of town. Our host family, Dr. Mark and
Sharon Niles, lived about a mile east of Tipton on a gravel road.
Marlene had spread the word that the gravel was loose and
unsuitable for road bikes, but Greg and I decided to give it a
try. We pushed our bikes 100 yards up a gravel hill and were
the first of the Joyriders to arrive.
Dr. Mark is a chiropractor. He owns a very nice house with a
very nice shower, and I got first dibs. The rest of Team
Joyride had chosen to stop in downtown Tipton and wait for
Greg, Marlene and I to drive the RV into town and pick them up.
We did just that and decided to grab some food while we were
there.
While searching for good eats, I noticed that Dr. Mark has
some competition in Tipton. In fact, he has an unusually large
number of competitors. No fewer than 4 chiropractors have
offices in Tipton, a town of about 3,000 residents. In
comparison, the greater Des Moines area has about 125
chiropractors serving 375,000 people, or one doctor for every
3,000 residents. Tipton apparently has a lot of sore backs.
In Dr. Mark's parking lot, the same Louisiana shrimp boilers
from Mechanicsville were setting up for the night shift in Tipton,
complete with their bright red mascot drumming up business next
to the beer garden. Team Joyride decided to retreat to the
doctor's house and get a good night's rest. We needed an early
start on Saturday morning to wrap up our ride by about 10:30
a.m. We didn't have access to the inside of the house, but we
did have the 3-car garage. My bed was beside the snowblower.
Read On....
| The Louisiana shrimp boil in Mechanicsville later moved to Dr. Mark Nile's parking lot in Tipton. |
| Yeah, I voted. |
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