Day 4
Clear Lake to Charles City, Iowa
Miles: 55.8
Max Speed: 27.6
Average Speed: 12.3
(1) Above left: Up and at'em by sunrise. (2) Above right: Breakfast in the first town.
(3) Above left: Some of the sights in the small towns were quite interesting, like the first horseless carriage and other old items you'll never see again. (4) Above right: Even some of the bicycles in the event were of the ancient design.
(5) Above left: Another slow down in the road. (6) Above right: This slow down was due to some options open to riders such as this swing rope where participants were being judged how daring their jump was by people holding up placards indicating the numbers 1 to a perfect 10.
(7)(8) Above left and right: Some of the bicycles in RAGBRAI were hand built experiments.
(9) Above left: One of the favorites along the route each day was homemade Beekman's ice cream. The noise of his machines are forever linked to their cold tasty ice cream. (10) Above right: Outside Rockford at the bottom of an old quarry-turned-park (Fossil and Prairie Center), a 350-million-year cross section of Iowa is visible. Some cyclists hiked down into the quarry and in less then 10 minutes came up with a handful of fossils. Cyclists can be seen on the route above the quarry.
(11) Above left: Heading into another town. (12) Above right: Sometimes nature calls before you have time to get in line and wait for a porta-potty. If you eat corn from Iowa, it may have been fertilized by RAGBRAI participants.
(13) Above left: In the small towns which make up most of Iowa, the level of hospitality is superb. Home owners, especially those with shade trees, had no privacy for the day as participants took over their yards. (14) Above right: After the ride and shower, our service provider frequently supplied meals. Us porkers sat under shade eating while listening to a live band.
(15) Above left: What can you do when 20,000 people go rolling into a town with a population of 10,000, when it comes time to charge your phone and camera batteries? Have a good service provider that provides an adequate number of outlets for charging items. (16) Above right: Alright, you've heard me talk much about a service provider or what they also call a charter service - the one I used is called "Pork Belly" and their web address is shown on the side of the truck. They are the biggest provider for RAGBRAI and you can chose various options. The shuttle to move you and your bicycle across state. The daily gear shuttle. The Tent Rental service. And much more. Mostly middle aged people use this service so if you are a youngster looking for the hottest after ride parties, they won't be found with Pork Belly. But if you want a service that will make your journey across Iowa a pleasant one, Pork Belly does provide pleasantry.
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