R15 22 Day 1 From Pochs Part 1 "The Worst Day"

Just so everyone knows, I plan on retiring from my life, including bike riding, work, ragbrai blogging, pretty much all adult functions, because there is a new kid in town folks. As the band LCD Soundsystem puts it, "I'm losing my edge. The kids are coming up from behind." Because Pochs, short for Pocahontas, is the best at all things. And she, unlike most of you jokers, has already coughed up no less than 3 blog entries to help me get through my year of blogging ennui. So, here's her first of several, I am guessing, entries on Day 1. Enjoy. 

The first half of the first day of RAGBRAI 2015 was good.  The hills were painful, but I was pushing through it.  I did yoga on the lawn of a beautiful golf course with a great dj.  They sold whole pizzas at this golf course, which was a fantastic idea.  I was legitimately enjoying my first real RAGBRAI.  Plus, I was already killing it in the Snapchat Challenge - I even made a new friend, Oreo the Cow! 

At one of the Backpocket stops, I approached some kids sitting on the porch of the farmhouse and asked if they had any water so I could fill up my water bottle - I was trying to be smart and hydrate with something other than beer.  The kids went in the house with my water bottle and brought it back to me filled with water AND ice!  Ice!  How great is that?  People in rural Iowa are so nice. 

I think this was the day where the MeatTown was really hot, and not shady, and not great.  This was the MeatTown where one ice cream sandwich cost $5, and my freshman planning skills meant that I had not packed enough money to support these crazy food costs.  So I didn't eat.  

By the time we got to the second Backpocket, I was hangry.  No, I was more than hangry, I was falling apart.  My very kind mentor, Too Much, gave me a cliff bar, which I promptly inhaled.  I couldn't drink any more beer; I just wasn't feeling it.  I knew that we still had miles to ride and many thousands of feet of hills to climb.  If I sat at that stop any longer, I would never get back on my bike.  So I left.  I rode silently, alone, barely able to sit on my bike seat because my um... lower parts hurt so bad. 

I rode slowly.  I navigated my way into Storm Lake and tried to follow The Deb's directions, which we had only received verbally in the MeatTown.  Even though I hadn't seen any beavers pass me, I was convinced I would be the very last beaver pulling into camp.  

I was so exhausted and happy when I finally spotted The Deb.  She had set up a lawn chair by the street to help flag down beavers and direct us to our camping spot on the campus of BVU - she told me I was the first one to arrive!  I couldn't believe it!  

I took an ice cold shower in the rec center and crawled back to the lawn chair at the side of the street to wait for the rest of the beavers.  Apparently, I looked so clean and well rested that other RAGBRAI riders thought I was a local and started asking me where to go for the best food.  In natural Deb fashion, I tried to make things up to sound knowledgeable. 

And she's do damn cute!

(Apparently this is the photo that won the SC challenge)
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Here's the thing - I wasn't riding super fast.  There was no reason for me to make it to Storm Lake before the rest of the team... unless... they were having a super awesome party with Team Awesomeness and my lack of eating and poor planning made me miss out on that awesome time.