DUBUQUE —
Saturday’s final leg of RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) was short, but certainly not without its challenges.
Hills, hills and more hills marked the latter part of the 47.5-mile ride from Friday’s overnight town of Manchester to the Mississippi River.
Ben and I left Manchester at about 6 a.m. and passed through Earlville before stopping for a bit in Dyersville, putting us 17 miles into the day’s ride.
Another 10 miles led us to Bankston (and the road to the Field of Dreams ... and yes, people did make the trek out there) and a 6-mile journey that ended with a downhill through Graf. This is where the “fun” began, that being Potter Hill.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Potter Hill, it is literally a mile-long stretch of road that goes entirely uphill. It was a bear to say the least (“bear” is the nicest word I heard it called ... the rest I can’t print!). Needless to say, many cyclists were walking their bikes by the end.
The 13.8-mile stretch from Graf to Dubuque included several other hills, as well, but none as bad as Potter Hill. Still, several were quite challenging, but my recumbent handled them.
Before dipping our front tires in the river, we were starving and decided to divert from the route by a block to eat at the Shot Tower Inn. I credit Tom Koester for turning me onto this place years ago when I lived in Clinton. Whenever in Dubuque, whether to watch a hockey game or cover a high school athletic event for the Herald, I’d stop at the Shot Tower for a meal. I had some awesome spaghetti there Saturday and it was reasonably priced (wow, that’s a rarity for anything on RAGBRAI).
I had to wait a while in line to dip my tire, but when I did so, my sixth RAGBRAI was official.
From there it was a two-mile pedal to my charter bus and back home to Grinnell.
I had a nice conversation with two physicians and the daughter of one on the trip, which made it go more quickly.
It was fun to see some of my old Clinton friends during the week.
I probably saw Doug Rempfer the most. Between him and the others, I could always catch up on the Clinton-area news.
I also found out from Ben Sunday morning that my picture was on the front page of Sunday’s Waterloo Courier! It was taken on Friday around the Gilbertville area … I feel somewhat famous. The link is http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_56c5695a-9d1f-11df-8496-001cc4c002e0.html.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my articles over the past week. I had planned on taking a few days off of biking, but hopped back on a bike (not my recumbent, but my Giant) Sunday. I already kind of miss pedaling!
Ted Schultz is the Herald’s former sports editor. He is now sports information director at Grinnell College.
Local News
Related Photos
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Former Clinton Herald Sports Editor Ted Schultz is shown dipping his tire in the Mississippi River at Dubuque on Saturday at the conclusion of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Submitted photo
Discussion
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