Gonna Be a Long Week

I found this on BikeIowa.com.  Mary and I on the Wednesday of 'Brai 2005.  I have no clue who took the shot.  I think this was the road between Crystal Lake and Thompson.  A significant photo due to the fact that the bike Mary is riding is stolen and the one I am on was damaged by Quin and later cannibalized for the build up of my Trek 560.  It was my first quality road bike.  Glad I was able to enjoy it on Ragbrai.  Quin used it the following year for 'Brai.  Thank you nameless photographer.

Saturday morning 5 of us leave our sacred homes and beloved State for a week of riding elsewhere.  Tour de Kota begins on Sunday.  This will be my first vacation since I don't know when.  Thus my productivity and attitude at work and other obligations will decline significantly.

As a Ragbrai expertern I hold this week with as much trepidation as the week before 'Brai.  I generally do not ride much during it.  No unnecessary rides.  Need to limit the possibility of hurting myself or busting my equipment.  I do not want to be sweating bullets  fixing a bike or a tire moments before Joe, Donnie and Tom pull up to pick Mary and I up.  Nor do I want to do repairs at our campsite in South Dakota Saturday night.  And I do not want to bust out the emergency reserve of powerful narcotics to atone pain from a crash.  Vacation.  Time to relax.  Leave the world behind and enjoy the beauty of a fast light road bike in its element.

My To Do list is small.  Clean and lube two bicycles.  Perhaps purchase a few tubes.  Pack clothing.  Pack essential tools.  Charge camera.  Purchase film.  I still love that medium and like to have a camera that I do not need to plug in.  Find spare memory cards.  Organize camping gear.  Perhaps open up the sleeping bags and let them air out.  Make sure tent has its stakes.  Refuel body.  Drink lots of water.  Pack medicinals.  Obtain a bottle of fireball.  We will need that.

Other stuff as well.  Notarize the will.  Heaven forbid but if the untimely death of Mary and I should happen all minor children go to Mary's parents.  Insurance cards organized.  Letter granting Mary's parents to seek medical treatment for minor children should the need arise.  The dark shit of life.

And the insurance cards belonging to Mary and I.  The second thought that ran through my mind last year when the idiot in front of us clipped the rear wheel in front of him and subsequently went down on the road was that I had left our medical insurance and prescription card at home.  My first thought was that the fork would break when I ran him over.  There was contact despite the HARD TO PORT I piloted the tandem through.  I ran over his head but managed to keep the bike upright and did not damage the wheel or fork.  That's the danger.  Idiots who do not know how to ride in crowds.  And the older I get the more I fear them.

Wait.  It will be a week of waiting, anticipating. That is where the difficulty lies.  I have no patience for things I cannot control.  If a 45 minute wait at the Apple Store was an eternity, this week will be an eternity in purgatory.  Seeing the goal but unable to reach it in a quick manner.  Time works so well upon us.

I will be grumpy.  I will be fine.  I will feel blue.  I will feel good.  Carbo loading.  Ah, I can legitimately eat pasta.  Solace in food before we embark on a 470 mile adventure on roads I never ridden on. 

4 more days to go.  I wanna be sedated.