484 Miles, Lots of Pie, Sunscreen, Pork and Fun...

Team CycLees successfully made it through RAGBRAI 2009. Observations, comments and lessons learned...

• Iowa is not flat. (Okay we knew this but it was reaffirmed over and over and over... and over... and over... again this year.)
• Rhubarb pie is still the best. (We conducted extensive testing.)
• We need cushier bike seats.
• Moo and Oink will never be fast moving in the morning, especially at taking down tents. Despite our best efforts, the remaining CycLees waited for us most every day... or just left us behind. :) And our bags will always be on the "Late" truck.
• Showering with your cycling clothes on using a garden hose works just fine.
• Little Farms Organic Ragbrai Blend Coffee rocks!
• The amount of talking Moo does in the morning is inversely related to the amount of sleep she gets the night before... therefore more snoring and more rain = one chatty Moo! :)
• Watermelon is a tasty cycling treat on a warm day.
• We are sad we missed the pork burgers... We were in Iowa for a whole week and had BBQ pork, roasted pulled pork, pork loin, pork tenderloins, sausage, bacon, ham... but no pork burgers this year. Apparently we weren't searching in the right places...
• Geezer knows what he's talking about... those Smoothie Guys whip up a tasty treat.
• Boulevard Beer is good.
• Shortcake and Yellow Rose are the best ever... They provided us with water, gatorade, cold cloths on a hot day, Icy Hot, Aleve, and the Pie/Cake/Coors Light combo!
• Lonestar needs to start out with SPF 85. While we progressed from SPF 30 to SPF 55 to SPF 85 by Friday, we should have just started with the big dogs.
• Lonestar and Dillo need pace line tutoring... next year we'll bring out diagrams and maybe white boards.
  
• Oink needs a new Pig horn for her bike by next year. Her little Piggy weakened on Day 2 (all those hills!) and all it accomplished by the end of the week was lots of laughter everytime she tried to "Oink". (And, shockingly, no bike shops on the route were selling replacement pigs...)
• Rabbit is still the Rabbit. Oink gave him a run for his money this year in the end he will remain a Rabbit and she remains a Pig.
• We can't wait til 2010!

Ooops...not quite ready. How many CycLees does it take to get the Rackmobile really ready to go to Chicago?

Rackmobile ready to go back to Chicago

We made it!

Team CycLees at the Finish!

Final Miles

Mississippi Dip!

We actually dipped our tires this year intead of just pouring a bottle of river water on them like last year. :) It was a great last day of riding... great weather... not a lot of those dreaded Iowa hills... and we all finished together!

The "Rattlesnake" at the end of the ride just before the Mississippi dip...

See that steep curvy "snake" behind us? Yep, just one last "fun" climb before the end of the ride.

Almost there

The beginning of the snake in Burlington...

Oink and Weenie tackled it.

Final Miles into Burlington

2nd Annual Last Day Stop at the Smoothie Guys

The whole gang enjoyed refreshing treats to fuel us through the last 17 miles. It's been fun!!

What is Oink doing in a corn field?

A town named after Geezer!!

Weenie disappearing into the corn...

Hey! Where'd everyone go?!

Camp area almost empty. We thought about doing this to Weeenie but he heard us up and about.

Day 7... Trying to take lots of pics to avoid taking down tents and sitting on a bike.

Day 7 morning

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Last Day!!

Despite lots of warnings we were lucky enough to avoid a serious storm last night... just a little bit of rain and a few minutes of wind. The bigger issue was the guy in the tent next to us who snored like nothing we'd never heard before... and non-stop... he was still snoring strong at 4AM!

Nevertheless, we're ready to push through the last 44 miles. But first... must finish bagels, coffee, oj, take down tents, pack bags, wait in line for the kybos and lather on sunscreen (we're up to SPF 85 today...)

Be Kind Mother Nature...

Instead of sleeping after a hard days' ride, Moo and Oink are texting each other from our tents and worrying about the incoming storm. We buttoned down our tents after getting a warning call from the Baldwins in Iowa City. Thanks B&S!!

Shout out...

Moo and Oink (AKA Roasted and Tender) want to give a shout out to JP for driving the Rackmobile to Burlington. Thanks!!!

Oink's 30th Birthday...Again

Oink's birthday is on Monday so we're celebrating early with carrot cake and peach blackberry pie complimented by Coors Light. Geezer and Dillo are staying in a hotel in Mt. Pleasant so we also celebrated with inside showers and air conditioning. Best party ever!

Moo and Oink Day 6 Observation #3

The hills coming into Mt. Pleasant were not so pleasant.

Distracted in final miles by free ice cream.

Those Lutherans are good people!

Mt Pleasant Welcoming Committee!

Moo and Oink Day 6 Observation #2

After 5.5 days on bike seats our names are now Rump Roast and Tender Loin.

Moo and Oink Day 6 Observation #1

Our spandex shorts are tighter than they were on Sunday despite riding 404 miles this week... Apparently our Pie-a-riffic Porkfest has some side effects. (Typing this while eating a Schwans push up.)

Packwood Stop

2nd Flat of the Day :(

We think someone is trying to sabatoge Team CycLee cuz we were totally winning... :)

Day 6 is Starting with a Flat Tire :(

Day 5 a Success

Despite starting the day with a rainstorm followed by a "pick the fastest Kybo line" contest (Oink won), Day 5 was mostly all business as Rabbit, Oink, Weenie, Dillo and Moo tackled the century. After the Karras Loop we met Shortcake and Yellow Rose in the mtg town for lunch. Many of us enjoyed Pork Tenderloins as big as our head (well, not OUR heads as, as many people know, we both have the trademark giant Lee melons), and Geezer and Lonestar enjoyed pie and ice cream. After a good break and sunscreen reapplication we continued on our way... Various team members later stopped for pie and/or homemade ice cream... and, despite five of us getting caught at various places in a giant rainstorm, we made it thru 104.5 miles! Hooray!



After that we were all tired... Oinks legs were smoked (or cured?) and Moo's were roasted. THANK YOU to Geezer, Lonestar, Shortcake and Yellow Rose for setting up our tents before the rain hit. It was awesome to roll into camp and not worry about setting up in the mini hurricane.



After showering some in the rain, Rabbit, Oink and Weenie added to our ragbrai experience by "showering" with our charter services' "Shower Thingy" while still dressed in our bike gear... Basically an ice cold garden hose but we were so soaked from the rain it wasn't a big deal. ;) Post-garden hose shower the gang met up with our cousin (Rabbit's sister) Andrea for dinner at a good Ottumwa diner... We managed to score our own room in the diner with cushy purple chairs (one benefit of a group of 11). Yummy homegrown cookin'



Pie-a-rrific Week Totals thru Day 5- Rabbit @ 6 Pieces, Oink @ 4 1/2, Geezer and Moo @ 5... We have some work to do to catch Rabbit.

Ice Cream stop in Blakesburg park

Only about 14 or so miles to go out of our 104 for the day!

Clarification for Coleen

The bike on the pickup in my parents drive way is for LoneStar who is not starting to ride until Thursday. Shortcake (i.e. Judy) took the bike with her today... So no fear... No one is having problems. All is well. Also, "Weenie's" real name is Jeff. Not the other way around.

Day 5: Dillo with pie in Blakesburg. Only 13.5 of 100 miles left!

Day 5 All Business...

Several of us tackling the century.

Day 5 All Business... Several of us tackling the century.

What is it about century

What is it about century day & storms? We wanted to start at 6am but it was storming. Last year the night before the century day we were evacuated to a church! Fortunately raining stopped about 5:30AM and it's nice now so hoping for a good day.

Day 4: 44 mi, rode

Day 4: 44 mi, rode mechanical bull, early finish, tired, porkless day, Irish music @ camp, pie. More when have better cell svc

Day 4 team picture... This was Skiver's last day with the team so we had to get the group together for a photo before he left. After a few days with us, rumor has it he is considering shortening his ride time next year. :)

Pic from Day 4 - Oink rides a bull!

Day 4- Moo rides a bull in Milo too!!

"Can you pull on my

"Can you pull on my arm?" - Geezer
"Pffffftt....." - Rabbit

"I never thought I'd see a banana come out of a corn field!" - Weenie

Day 4 Start... 10 miles dun... Coffee and Bagel Stop

Our newest team member, Weenie, joined this morning and I'm proud to report that the Little Farms fair trade organic coffee lived up to its billing. Weenie thinks this is why we ride (this and the pie). Btw, the coffee blend is called Brag Brew and you can buy it at littlefarm.org. :)

PS Weenie's jersey is not Team CycLees approved.

Listen to KDSN for a Live On the Scene Update

Kim Ingersleve AKA Skiver calls in daily for a RAGBRAI update... Today's report should be around 8:30 so listen in! And don't forget to call KDSN to suggest they sponsor Team CycLee next year! ;)

No kybo line this morning.

No kybo line this morning. Hooray! But Johnny Holmes band playing until 1am last night. Boo!

Free cookies just outside of Peru. Yummy.

Kybo Decorating Contest in St Charles

Decorated inside and out. (I didn't take pictures of the inside.)

Gooseberry, Rhubarb and Boysenberry/Blueberry

Eureka!!!

Madison County Greeting committee?

I think this horse was supposed to be on the other side of the fence but it was a nice greeting at the top of a hill.

Skillet throw in Macksburg.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Macksburg Man

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Day 3 Orient is ready for the mob of riders

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Evan in Fontanelle - Day 2

Day 3 Start... Rain but our bagel and coffee stop is open!

Music?

Monday night. Crowded campground. 3 people in close quarters snoring like crazy. Where r those earplugs!?!

Fresh bbq from Cookies BBQ sauce based out of Wall Lake Iowa.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Oh the things you do on RAGBRAI...

This nice guy gave Dad and I a ride to the bathroom in Prescott.

A big bull in Prescott