Rain, Rain Go Away

July 30 - Mile 446.7

Team Simpson left Waterloo behind this morning, but not the water. On what turned out to be one of the most difficult rides of the week, we were treated to riding through four hours of rain and scattered thunderstorms. With typical Iowa hospitality, there were numerous opportunities along the way to seek shelter - in garages, farm sheds, and vendor tents - but in the end we were forced to complete the 70 miles to Manchester in the rain. As might be expected, more riders chose to use the sag wagons, probably out of a desire not to ride on a most miserable day. One consequence of riding in the rain seems to be a higher incidence of flat tires and we saw many of them on the route today. As another consequence, I caught a piece of road grit in one of my eyes and eventually southt teatment at the University of Iowa emergency trailer. It turned out to be very minor but with all of the water being thrown up from bikes up front, it could be expected that some of it would find its way into your eyes. Fortunately the skies cleared once we arrived in Manchester and we have been treated to an absolutely delightful evening. This is our last night on RAGBRAI and we are very fortunate to be hosted by the Manchester United Methodist Church. Pastor Roger Henry has provided indoor accommodations so we will not have to pitch our tents on this last overnight. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's 47.5 mile ride into Dubuque and to taking on what is now the famous Potter Hill with a mile-long climb at a 6% grade. I heard that some are estimating that as many as half of the riders will need to walk their bikes up that long and very steep hill.

John Byrd