Home Sweet Home

10:00 pm...safely home with the car unloaded. That is is not sorted, just dumped in the hallway with the bike back on the front porch. Today's adrenaline rush from descending the last BIG hill leading into Bellevue and then on to the river was quite something. I wrote earlier about "scary-fast" and have a new definition. We were flying down. Steve braked the first part of the hill, but our 18-wheel tandem still hit 47+ mph. He is not sure of the exact number since he was watching the road carefully. We were sitting upright, not crouched, to slow ourselve a bit more.

We had met up with one of our new friends about 5 miles out town, so we were able to take our "dip the wheel in the Mississippi River" photo with him. We then headed back to our car at the high school and paid for yet another shower. (Hmmm...a shower and a flush toilet without a line!!)

We are grateful for your interest in checking our progress, your prayers and concern for our safety and for all your support for our charitable causes. It was truly a fun week, one with lots of small town craziness and beautiful scenery, with an occasional bad smell thrown in.

Steve will be updating the previous blogs by supplying the visuals. It truly was one big photo-op and he really got tired of hearing me say that I wanted to stop. I have lots of great stories of people and places and things we did, but for now...heading to the shower and our own bed.

Special thanks to our creative son Andy for his faithful updates, and yes I watched the Field of Dreams video too!

Hugs to all...Mary

Old Man River

Mary & Steve @ Mississippi River

The end has been reached. After a long day of up and down-hill climbing on the approach to the Mississippi River valley, which included down-hill speeds exceeding 40mph, the tandem arrived in Bellevue and got to dip their tires in the Mississippi River. In the excitement of Friday's baseball site-seeing, the scoring of one final Dutch Bingo hit was missed. Mother met a couple from Northfield, MN (which is first of all home to two schools which I toured as a high school prospective) who had sent a daughter to Hope College, a daughter who happened to take Math for Elementary Education with Prof DeYoung a few years ago.

The parents are currently taking their internal-combustion quadcycle back to Michigan and expect to arrive late on Saturday evening. All body parts are apparently intact, though apparently a bit sensitive to the bumps in the road which hit a bit harder while riding at 75mph. For those calculating their donations to the selected charity funds, that comes out to 500X with both the parents and the bike surviving across the entire state, something many children in the back seat of their family truckster may already see as an arduous feat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnm_JED6H7Y

Hey, when did these ballplayers get here?

"We're Here Ray"

My parents yesterday were part of fulfilling Terrance Mann's vision: "People will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll watch the game and remember what it was like. It will be just like when they were kids a long time ago. " For those that are not familiar, the Friday stopping point was in Dyersville, near the site of likely the only major motion picture to take place predominantly in an Iowa corn field.

http://www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/distance.html

I'm guessing that no one was asking "Is this heaven...?" as I suspect the aching in your thighs and butt go away when you reach the afterlife, but your trusty blogger is certainly jealous of this site-seeing chance. For my blogging efforts, I am apparently be rewarded with t-shirt evidence though. The biking went by quickly on Friday, which left the folks plenty of time to catch a shuttle ride to the Field of Dreams farm. The weather cooperated by staying overcast for the whole morning. And speaking of perfect days, we leave you with some deep thoughts from Darth Vader:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qXkcPQUfJM

Chain Incident...

Leaving Cedar Falls today, we lost our chain on the left (two on our tandem). We successfully got off the road and sadly another man had to exit with us, but no one fell!!! Steve got the chain back on fairly easily, happy to have the grease cleaner and baby wipes. Once we remounted, we realized that the pedals were not "in sync" and our downstrokes were not coordinated. It felt a bit like fishtailing in snow, but we adjusted our cadence eventually and we learned to go with it. In our breakfast (pecan and raspberry pie with banana and energy drink) town, Steve got us straightened up.

Good to go.

M

Thursday--Day 5 at Fairbank Library--H B-day to sister Judy

Wet Cheerleaders

"TuTu" Lady

"Too-Too" Lady

Today is a great day. Low winds and a slightly shorter course. Butts are doing well and we are in our third pass-thru town of the day. I know that it is hard to picture, but imagine towns of 89 people trying to host Tulip Time size crowds for an entire day. Every little town looks like Kollen Park on fireworks days, with the cast of characters changing all day long. At any given town, it is a mob scene where walking the bike is a necessity to get through. Amazing volunteers here in IA and we appreciate all the hard work the volunteers do. This town has free water, a cheerleader dunk tank, the usual beer tent, Amish carriage rides and a host of other amusements to help us rest our butts and have some "non-sun" time.

Our dinner tonight will be a "BYO-meat" for the grill with our host group. Pork Belly Ventures is something we can recommend to anyone.

The constant parade of bikes draws crowd along the way. So the folks are treated to an assortment of oddities. The team names are all creative--Team Cuisine, Team Too Old to Walk, Team Old Men Who Get Fat in the Winter, Team RAG-BRIDES, Team Diary Aire...too many to remember. The other standard is helmet ornaments and bike decorations to go along with the costumes. Yesterday we got a picture of Tutu Woman...will post it when we are home. There is a bike with a sail mounted. The folks along the way do some creative things as well. There are fun "people" greeting us from lawn chairs, the RAGBRAI version of scarecrows.

Libraries RULE!! Free internet, AC, and toilets that flush. I'm off to go there. It beats a KYBO any day. Not sure what KYBO stands for, but it could be Klean Your Butt Off!!

Hugs to all from Mary

Standing in the bathroom

Sunrise at the UNI-dome

Bob and Dort Kampman with Mary and Steve

The only available location for the bikers to update your blogger was from the quiet of the restroom apparently. Details may be lost in translation. They are camped out in the University of Northern Iowa (Kurt Warner fans anyone?) dome this evening and are having the nightly concert there, tonight's edition features Blues Traveler along with Lance Armstrong (you may know him from such films as Dodgeball) who will also be speaking to the lowly crew of casual bikers.

The weather has been dry for Wednesday's ride and they arrived at the site quite early in the afternoon. Another Dutch Bingo bullseye was hit today as they ran into Bob and Dort Kampman on Wednesday, who apparently were involved with a trip they took some 30 years ago, in the B.C. era of their marriage. The folks along with the Moreaus, Wickstras, and Bootes took a week long trip with the Kampmans back in the 70's, and their son is apparently a current player for the Green Bay Packers. As a true Dutch Bingo champion, Mother is able to easily reach back into her 20's to remember previous contacts.

Father's sore spot from Sunday is still festering, so hopefully the end of the week will be coming without further incident, at least during the riding portion.

Hump Day- Wed morning in Dumont Library

"Rider Down" Ambulance Congestion

Team Fungus Amongus

Barn Quilt Painting

We are off to a great start today. This is Mary from the road. Today we met the riding group from Sioux County (Team Fungus Amongus) at our breakfast stop in Aredaile--pop 89. They put on a great breakfast. It's 9:00 am and we have about 25 of our 60+ miles in. Sadly, we saw our first ambulance pick-up today, just before we got to Dumont. Congestion is immediately an issue in that situation and also as you come into each town when the pack slows up.

Last night we had the Mr. Pork Chop dinner with the Pork Belly crowd. The concert (just for our group) with The Elders was OUTSTANDING!!!! Irish jig music with lot of great crowd pleasers. We are making lots of new friends and we are having lots of fun. Yesterday's massages were amazing and will keep us going through the week.

Tonight is the Lance Armstrong benefit concert in Cedar Falls. Blues Travelers.

Lots of great photo ops. For the quilter friends, they paint 8x8 quilt squares to decorate their barns. Having a great time. Aching every morning, but it wears off through the day as we ride, and then aches again. Hugs to all!!! M

Tuesday's Gone...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ApuQ5x4tHM

Laurens' Hawaiian mayor and his daugher were out to greet us.

Army Brass Quintet

... and so is Monday. No information blogged from Monday as radio contact with the team was lost. It is now early Wednesday, so we will try to squeeze two days of riding in briefly. The tandem picked up speed on Tuesday (apparently clocking a stretch at 23MPH) as it was the first day of tailwinds after two days of riding against the win. They are also excited by weather which has helped out in the morning by being overcast each day to avoid warming up immediately. The duo are bunked down on a historic farm for this evening where they cashed in their one-per-week massage which is part of the event.

Monday brought a Dutch Bingo bullseye as Mother's shower for the day was taken at the home of the aunt of Chris H. from Holland who served as my rec basketball coach eons ago and whose mother was also responsible for trying to teach the younger son of tandem to play the violin. Concerts are apparently staged in the towns where the riders bunk down each night, Tuesday's offering was by an Army brass band, who are actually a subset of the Army bike team. Apparently each military branch is represented amongst the pack of riders. Food has been worth bragging about based on the reactions being reported, though I will not attempt to reconstruct the order in which the varies meals were described.

The historic bike has apparently had its first mechanical failure and repair. The rear handlebars were apparently mis-aligned (not that any steering occurs there) and in the process of straightening those, a bolt was broken on the front seat to which those handlebars attach. Fortunately, this occurred near one of the towns passed through on Tuesday so a bike shop was relatively nearby. It sounds as if the towns on the route will sometimes stage themselves for the riders, one community was given a Mayberry makeover and sported lookalikes for some of the Andy Griffith characters. In addition, I have been told to inform the reader that Tuesday included the best sight-seeing opportunity of the journey thus far, but that details will not be released until the photo evidence can be properly posted. It is sweeps-week in Iowa apparently, so you may all now dangle waiting for this revelation...

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Today's update had mention of a sore (Father's), not sure if it bled or not but it was good enough to allow my theme for headings to continue. Your faithful blogger failed to collect all the facts yesterday and my assumption that riding occurred was mistaken. Saturday was setup day as they prepared with their sag group, but no bike work began until Sunday. The mileage estimate for today was 76 miles. Apparently there was an option to extend Monday's ride to a full 100 miles, but our intrepid duo declined this option so Monday will be a similar length.

Not satisfied to rest on the laurels of her Dutch Bingo dominance, Mother has extended herself into African Bingo. They met a fellow rider today who has relocated to Iowa from Kenya in the last year. For those scoring at home, this is the same nation to which the tandem last year hauled a small IT department worth of hardware to outfit a small school. We'll grade this as a "pretty close" pending any further information that he is attending Dordt or Hope in the fall. Apparently food is plentiful all along the route (those locals who know they are along the route are embracing the profit opportunity) and it is sounding like I will need to join in a future edition of the ride to meet some of their fellow riders who turn the Ragbrai into their own rolling bar.

Anyway, the work week beckons, you stay classy Iowa.

S-A-T-U-R... D-A-Y... Night!

West Side Wheel Dip - Rock River in Rock Rapids

Pork Belly Venture's Tent City in its First Location

The parents are off and running, or pedaling as it is. It is apparently hot in Iowa and the forecast calls for only more of that, though the lack of shade which is provided by corn probably only makes it seem warmer. The ride began by dipping their tires in the Rock River. Along the way, they met a new friend who not only was from Sioux Center (that in itself is probably not unlikely) but was familiar with Grandpa Vlieger. Score Mom a B-8 for her Dutch bingo card (still world champ).

Dinner was pasta served by a local church and they are currently resting their toes and butts for tomorrow. They are tent #58 out of 100 amongst the rows of identical tents within their sag group. They are bunking down each night in a "great tent" from Cabella's (yay sponsor dollars!) and are sleeping amongst more than 700 people in the park where they have stopped for the night. Your helpful blog-updater is now retiring to his plush king-size bed, sleep tight Mom and Dad.

Ready to Roll

We are on our way to Rock Rapids, with the bike safely stowed on top of the car. It even has two seats!! Some of your heard about our seatpost problem. Last week, mine snapped off. It's a bit disconcerting to look down and see no seat!!

So, a new seat post--$95 . Being able to sit down for 500 miles--priceless!!

Wish us well--west winds and safety!!

How fast is FAST?

Sometimes 25 mph can seem like a crawl--especially when the police dept has erected one of their "this is how fast you are traveling signs" along one of your regular routes.

When we started training this spring, our average speed was around 13.5 mph. Gradually, that increased and we can usually travel above 15 mph, even 16 mph occasionally. On days when the wind was behind us on the straight-away, we have even managed 17 mph. Of course that includes some very slow uphills (6 mph) and some very fast downhills (max 35.7 mph).

So how fast is 35.7 mph? Pretty ho-hum in a car, a bit exciting on a jet ski, but SCARY FAST when you are balancing on two tires that are less than 1.25" wide. Then imagine that you are sitting on the BACK of the tandem unable to see the road ahead. Gotta love helmets!

Training miles: 976

Countdown to RAGBRAI: 5 days

Testing, testing....

As second son of the tandem, I will be serving as second updater. The first updater is much more stable and reliable and it was a good call by the creator of this blog to leave most things up to him.

Well this seems pretty easy...

Son of the tandem here to hi-jack the blog. It appears I shall serve as blog updater while they speed through corn country. In honor of my mother's homeland, I present the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyeY0hWU28I

Is it a Fundraiser Ride?

Nope, officially it is a RIDE and not a RACE. But many folks have chosen to make it their own private fundraiser so they solicit funds for a favorite cause. Since Steve and I wanted to make our 500 miles count for something beside aching legs and backsides, we are encouraging financial support to either of two different causes.

A year ago this very day, we were working at a Christian school in Churo, Kenya. The people and images have stayed with us all—we were very conscious of our “blessedness” in many ways. We are particularly fortunate in our access to education, truly a blessing. So we want to support education in Africa with our ride.

All readers are invited to encourage us to KEEP PEDALING for those many hours on the bike. I’m inviting you to sponsor us for one cent/mile or $5.00 total to either of the following causes:

1) Elliot and Elaine Tanis Scholarship Fund
Advancement Office
Hope College
Holland MI 49422-9000

This fund helps to bring international students to study at Hope College, helping those students and enriching the campus experience for all of us Hope folks. Elliot Tanis is a retired math prof, one of MY professors. (http://www.hope.edu/)

2) Chosen Hope
P.O. Box 82
Jamestown, MI 49427

http://www.chosenhope.org/

This is a non-profit that was started by two of my former Hope education students. Chosen Hope helps young children in Africa who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. Online donations are also available.

You can read a special Hope news story about my two students at:

http://www.hope.edu/pr/nfhc/current/nfhc0206-16.pdf

Thanks for reading. Mention "DeYoung Challenge" when you send in your contributions.

Tandem Riding

Lots of folks accuse me of putting my feet up and not pedaling on the back end...hardly true! It is different to ride tandem for lots of reasons.

First...no steering from the back. This is fortunate, since with a large person in front of me, I can't see the road ahead. So mostly I get to watch the scenery on either side of us. (Looking down at the road whizzing by makes me dizzy.)

Second, the pedaling thing. I actually pedal MORE on the tandem than on my own bike, because "not pedaling" has to be arranged with Steve. (It's a bit like dancing and letting him lead.) The other new thing is that I just got "clip pedals" so that means my shoe is actually clipped into the pedal itself. I can't put my feet up without first getting loose from the pedals. (For those of you who haven't done this, a sideways motion takes your foot off the clip.) The back person is called the "stoker" since pedaling is my one big contribution to the ride.

Third, no wind resistance because I have this large windbreak person in front of me. That means, I am always "drafting" but I still feel wind from the side a lot.

Fourth, the hills. A tandem is somewhat like a semi-truck, slow going up the hills and fast coming down.

The tandem is the great speed equalizer in our marriage. Since Steve can comfortably ride several mph faster than I can, I am always struggling to keep up when we are on two bikes. When we are on one, he HAS to wait for me!! We've actually had this tandem for 20+ years. We pulled two different bike carts behind it for the boys to ride in when they were little. That really made it feel like a semi!!

We might have to get another one, but hopefully our antique tandem will survive the event!!

Training Log: 896 miles

Getting Started

Getting Ready for RAGBRAI

We are doing it! One of my "life list" items for a number of years has been to ride in RAGBRAI and 2007 is the year.

For those of you who do not know about RAGBRAI, it is truly an event! There are 8500 bikers traveling 500 miles across Iowa in a week's time. And we have chosen to join them this year for the big challenge. You can check it out at:

http://www.ragbrai.org/

This is the 35th annual ride, and as a native Iowan, I can remember when and how it started. This year's route starts in Rock Rapids, 30 minutes from my mom in Sioux Center, so I'm visiting her for a couple of days first. RR is actually one of my early homes--lost from my toddler memory bank.

The training log stand at 875 miles on the tandem since May, so that means we have been conditioning both our legs and our backsides for the big event. Countdown till the 21st of July...12 days.