64 Guest Blog: Hump Day Part 2: The Outskirts of Forest City to Clear Lake

2/3/15 Update: Though the photos worked on my computer and phone, apparently they didn't work on anyone else's device, so I am reissuing this blog because the pictures are super good.

Note from Norman: I want to give Pochy a shout out. Not only has she been a diligent student and turned in two blog posts, but she asked if she could break her blog up. Today, she'll take us to Clear Lake, but there's more to come. This girl knows how to mega-blog! Nice work Pochy. 

Eventually, all the other Beavers woke up.  I stood around and ate some breakfast while everyone else packed and did the routine morning stuff.  The Boss wrote on the backs of my legs, which apparently is a totally normal RAGBRAI thing.  We all chatted about the route, which I felt I knew pretty well considering I'm native to that part of the state, and then we played with dogs... or maybe I was the only one playing with the dogs because I was the only person who didn't have other things to do.  

We had a couple miles to ride before we caught up with the rest of RAGBRAI, and that was really nice.  It gave me some time to ease into everything and get used to the bike before getting thrown into this giant group.  When I say "get used to the bike" I mean that this was my third time riding this bike all year.  Norman let me borrow a bike of hers - I'm sure she can tell you all the details about why it's so amazing, but I was still trying to get used to a bike with gears.  I'll be honest, I don't have much experience riding bikes.  Most of the time, I ride a single speed vintage Schwinn Corvette, but occasionally I ride the back half of a tandem Gitane.  This bike from Norman was a bit intimidating.  I don't even know how many gears it has - all I knew is that I found one gear, my sweet spot, and I was sticking to it.  Riding a bike in only one gear meant that I was really fast going uphill and really slow going downhill - but I was okay with that. 

Norman Note for Bike Geeks: The bike is my Trek XO Cross Bike, which is a cross racing bike. I find that bad boy a daunting task to ride. There are no easy gears, but I figured Pochy would be fine. I mean, first of all it was a short and flat day and she had the blessing of bike-novice-status. She just doesn't know it could be easier!  Also, she's fit as a fiddle and tiny as a Columbian climber. 

Riding in to Ventura was exhilarating.  There were people and bikes everywhere!  Plus, it was still early in the morning and we were already talking about stopping for a drink!  After getting momentarily sidetracked talking to some people I knew who lived at the top of the hill, we all met up again at the Muskee Lounge by the lake.  

I had one goal coming into RAGBRAI, and that was to find the Peacocks.  Team Peacock is my work team, and I have a bit of a beef with them, but that's a story for another day.  I thought it would be really fun to find the Peacocks and kind of rub in the fact that I chose not to ride with them, and also send a picture with a Peacock back to my coworkers.  Luck was on my side - I found a Peacock right there at our first stop!

Peahens and fish?

At the Muskee Lounge, I learned that there are daily competitions and points can be earned with very specific photos, so of course I immediately wanted to be the winner.  I think the idea is that several photos would be taken throughout the day, and then total points would be added up, but my intention was to win immediately by earning all points possible in one photo.  

There were points for being in a body of water

Points for a shirtless man

Points for a Coors Light in hand

Points for something about a bandanna 

Points for a Flat Ranger, which I didn't have, so we drew one

I had to earn ALL the points! 

She's very competitive and efficient

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At this point, everyone else getting hungry - beer just wasn't enough, and this stupid bar was not serving food yet.  I convinced the Bloody Mary lady to give me some pickles to try to hold over the Beavers, but that just wasn't cutting it, so we hopped back on our bikes and took a very short ride to... The Pyramid House! 

A girl I know was having a family reunion at the Pyramid House, which apparently can be rented out.  Even though they didn't have breakfast, which I was hoping for, we did get a pretty great tour of the house, which is crazy.  I mean come on, the place has 3, 4, 5 kitchens?  I couldn't even count.  Endless bathrooms, living rooms everywhere.  It was incredible - and weird.  Incredibly weird.  

After a tour and bathroom break, we were off to Clear Lake!  When we first rode into town, we saw this "party" happening in the parking lot of the Surf Ballroom.  A girl in daisy dukes threw an energy drink at Too Much and he caught it - one handed - while riding by!  It was very impressive.  A couple of us got tricked into entering this parking lot party, but I don't even think we got off our bikes.  There was no grass, no trees, no shade, it just wasn't happening.

Post Script--I got a later email from Pochy that read, "how could I forget skin suit?" Indeed. 

At one point, I tried to be sneaky and take a candid photo of this guy in a skin suite... I just couldn't look away.  He totally saw me taking his picture, so the Beavers made me get up and introduce myself - get a real picture.  

Lesson learned: Don't be shy on RAGBRAI.  If he didn't want his picture taken, he wouldn't have dressed like that in the first place.

Nice.