78 Guest Blog: Masinga-Week Part 1

A Note from Norman: Oh beavers, do I have a special treat for you. Masinga has come down hard on the request for guest blogs. Her epic recount of her freshmen-ride is not 1, not 2, not 3 blogs long, but 5! Yes, I present to you, Masinga week. Enjoy! 

ENTRY 1 - “Everybody rides their own RAGBRAI.” But what if RAGBRAI isn’t for me?

2013 was such a fun time as the driver.  I felt appreciated.  I felt adored.  I felt needed.  I impressed my team with great attitude and decent cycling abilities on the ONE day I rode.  I amused them with my sing-song attitude instead of anger when the riding day got too long for me.  Then I really kicked it up as the driver.  My parking places were stellar, snacks were always out, and the requested beer was always cold.  By the end of the week I apparently asked too much in terms of communication.  I thought I needed to be responsible all the time.  I was apparently wrong about that. I threw in the towel in Osky and got drunk in our hosts’ front yard.  Then I salmoned up stream on my bike and found their party.  I was winning at RAGBRAI! They were having so much fun on the route, how could I not enjoy riding the whole thing myself???

So for 2014, I registered as the driver, with the understanding that we would try to organize a schedule so I could ride a couple days and drive, maybe even alternate.  It was going to be epic!  Then news came that The Deb didn’t want to ride at all.  Ok, so that means I can pick and choose when I want to ride?  Awesome.  Then I got guilted into making the commitment to ride the entire week.  “If you say you’re just going to ride when you want, you won’t even consider riding the whole week.  Just tell yourself you’ll ride the whole thing.”  Point taken.  Mentally prepared for 400+ miles.  Or so I thought.

Pre-Ark Beaver Depart!

The ride up in the Beaver Ark was awesome!  Got drunk with PBear, which I think was a first for the two of us together.  PBear recounted the SAGA superbly.  And it was so much fun! We descended from the Ark in a surprise drunken stupor.  I set up my borrowed tent, honestly I think it was set up differently every day.  I enjoyed wandering around the expo with the team.  I felt excited to be there.  I felt excited for what the week had to bring. 

Fort Beaver in RV, next to the RV

The first day was rough for the Beavers, as we’ve heard Normie tell.  Lots of mechanicals for many of the Beavers, except Too Much and I, so we rode on.  Too Much was a tad adorable.  That made riding with him a little nerve wracking. Thankfully, we spotted the White Tiger. I needed a buffer. I think I got drunk and hit on Too Much, or at least I couldn’t remember if I did or I was thinking about it so much that I thought I did.   Should be part of the official Beaver rules, never hit on a teammate.  Overall, made it through my first day of my first full week, relatively unscathed and looking forward to the next day. 

Oh, those silly little dogs!