The RAGBRAI has been compared to a moving party or circus. My impression was being caught in a Mad Max movie where everybody is fleeing with whatever they can carry. This feeling is heightened by the riders who go past you with boomboxes pouring forth their favorite music. Then there are the pacelines that go by at 20 miles an hour and sound like a car approaching. And the noise of the “fat” tire riders is distinctive. We saw tandem bikes, tall bikes, recumbents, ellipticals, and even in-line skaters.And then there’s the clothes.Lots of bicycle club jerseys, current and past RAGBRAI jerseys, college jerseys, feather boas, balloons, short skirts worn by both men and women over their bike pads, men in tutus, furry stuffed toy animals attached to the top of helmets, people pulling boomboxes, pulling kids, pulling dogs, loaded down with panniers.  And the busses. Transportation for teams or clubs, we would see these at the beginning and end of the daily ride. Someone said the RAGBRAI is like riding among canyons of cornfields. Although porta potties were prolific, a lot of riders preferred to head for the cornfield even though Japanese Beetles chomped away there. The beetles liked the corn silks but occasionally they wanted to be on the bike route too; you could look down the road and see them coming at you, or vice versa.The most desirable food stops included ice cream,or ice cream and pie.One ice cream maker told us their busy machines churned all day.After ice cream, another popular stop was craft beer tents. Just a few people stopped here.Towns midway on the route were set up with several lunch options.You usually had to walk your bike through this crowded area. I had pushed into Wilton where the Junction Grill was advertising maid-rites only to learn that after cooking 1,500 pounds of hamburger, they were temporarily out. We had to settle for hot dogs and smoothies.Our route today was a little longer than yesterday and seemed hillier but this 46th annual ride was supposedly the 4th easiest in RAGBRAI history.

Sitting along the road and watching people go by, I concluded two things. The bicycles here are serious. Most are road bikes and the majority were Treks and Specialized with a few Cervelos and Cannondales thrown in. And not a bike lock in sight.Second, the majority of the riders were in their 30s. I saw older people like me, but not many, and not many women my age.At the end of the final day Ross and Al reached the finish line; I rode my usual 30 miles and had Brenda pick me up earlier. Tradition has you dip your bicycle tire in the Mississippi River at the finish. Another interesting spectacle just beyond the finish line was the loading of bikes to be shipped home. Hundreds of cartons were available for packing bicycles whose riders lived hundreds of miles away. So we survived the RAGBRAI, or at least two days of it. I think I want to go back next year. See you there.