Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Jenny’s Journey: Days 1 and 2
By Jenny Morgan
Jul. 23, 2019 1:00 am, Updated: Jul. 24, 2019 11:50 am
Washington resident Jenny Morgan is celebrating her 40th birthday by riding RAGBRAI for the first time. Morgan is providing The Washington Evneing Journal with her firsthand account of her ride.
Sunday, July 21
Well, we survived Day 1.
We started in Council Bluffs, and things were pretty flat until we got to Mendon. Then, the hills started. One after another, and it was really hilly through Evoca, Walnut and then into Atlantic. But we did it. We survived.
The highlight of the day was definitely the mile of silence for all the bikers who've been killed by motorists and to make awareness for people and share the road. They did list out all the people in 2018 that were from Iowa who lost their life, so that was really cool. No one talked. For that whole mile, it was neat to see everyone so good at just staying quiet and paying our respects to those people, so that was neat.
We did get rained on all day - not a heavy rain, but when you're going downhill at 30 miles per hour, it definitely feels like hail and it's definitely hard when it gets in your eyes.
But all in all, it was a good day. We got into Atlantic about 1:45, so we pushed it hard all day just because we were cold and wet, which you never thought I'd say at RAGBRAI. But the high was about 67 today, and since we got soaked, we were cold.
Monday, July 22
No rain today, we had beautiful weather. When we started it was in the high 60s and really was a nice day but the wind! We had a head wind almost all day. That was tough. We had to pedal a lot harder than normal.
So, we started in Atlantic and then we ended here in Winterset, so it was a good 68-mile day, not as many hills, but still some good ones. That head wind was the worst part of the day. Talked to some great people. I saw a lady I used to work with- of course you always see somebody you know on RAGBRAI, and met a real nice realtor because I had my realtor jersey on, so that was cool and I had a good talk with him. All in all, pretty quiet, uneventful day. We were glad for that, though.
