Cruisin' on into Des Moines

Because riding into Des Moines is apparently a popular local pastime, the army of cyclists will swell to over 30,000 today, and there will be a hot time in the old town tonight.

Big Red and I have fetched up on the bend of a river in a handsome park, nestled next to a big RV with a Team Waldo logo on it. They are reputed to be a party camper, complete with a karaoke machine, but on their promise to quiet town by 10 PM, the beautiful view won out over potentially noisy neighbors.

Speaking of noisy neighbors, no one could hold a candle to mother nature last night in Perry. She put on quite a sound and lightning show, and she tossed in some heavy winds and hail just to remind us who’s boss. Annie and I were hunkered down in Big Red, grateful once again that he weighs a lot and has big rubber tires. Arthur, however, was making his way back by shuttle bus from the shower facility when the bus he was riding sideswiped a truck in the heavy weather. This called for a transfer to another shuttle and some slogging through some very wide puddles. He was well showered by the time he got home.

Today’s ride made it’s mid-day stop in Dallas Center, and they pulled out all the stops . . . bands playing, food venders of every stripe, [Copy editor's query: What? Sue you forgot to mention the midget wrestling tourney?] even cow chip bingo, where you could by a ticket that represented a numbered square in a temporary pen. Who ever was lucky enough to pick the square where the bored looking cow first pooped, would win $500 dollars.

It is hard to describe what more than 20,000 cyclists looks like when they swarm a town, walking their bikes the last half mile because the road was too crowded to ride, but this photo (on the right) by D. Brink captures it well.. Cooperating cell service and frequent texts made for another successful hook-up with Arthur and Annie. Unfortunately, the Methodists sold out of pie before we got there, but the high school athletic boosters were happy to sell us huge frosted cinnamon buns.

The loitering I do while waiting to meet up with my riders gives me the opportunity to make the acquaintance of others, who like me, are watching for friends and family, and some who just come to see the show of spandex and crazy headgear.

Today I met a local Dallas Center woman, who had been in the Peace Corps in Pakistan in the 60s and who might just get her bike out of the barn and take up the sport again. Then there was the couple from Virginia who left home in an enormous RV, picked up one grandson in W. Virginia and one on Kansas City, and then took them on the bike ride of their young lives, Grampa cycling and Gramma driving.

There was one small speed bump in an otherwise successful day. When I returned to Big Red after sending my riders on their way to Des Moines, I discovered that some one had smashed his left rearview mirror, the fancy new ones he got when he started hauling a wide camper that’s hard to see around.

The culprit kindly left a note, but alas, no solution to my problem. I salvaged the fish-eye part of the mirror and did some duct tape first aid, but we are limping in the mirror department.

Then on we rolled to Des Moines, where the city will provide a street festival downtown. Arthur and Annie will ride in any minute, and we will plan a cyclist’s night on the town.

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IMAGE CREDITS: 1- Walking riders - Sue Merrow; 2- Dallas Center - Google Maps; 3 - Throngs of walking cyclists by by D. Brink; 4- RAGBRAI characters - Sue Merrow; 5- Truck mirror - by Mark Stinchcombe and found on Danie Ward's Cohorte travel blog posts