The next leg?

RAGBRAI's 442-mile path from Council Bluffs to Burlington left me at a personal best 1,064 miles on the year. While I don't know when the next ride will be (I'm still 636 miles short of my goal), every ride from here on out will mark a new personal best. I like that.

I was hoping to join the local MS 150, but discovered that's the same weekend as my fantasy football draft. Experienced CoeBRAI riders won't be surprised that I'm the commissioner.

I looked into Swine Trek, but that's the morning of Coe's opening football game, and I have to announce. That was my first -- and only -- century last year, but I'll have to miss it this year.

There is the first annual BReW TAH TAH party ride out of North Liberty that caught my eye. It's a free party ride from Roadie's to Morse and back sponsored by Team AlcoHawk. It's an Aug. 8 nooner for 25-30 miles of rolling hills. I'll pick the Ely Boys up along the way, I hope.

Mission complete

RAGBRAI concluded today with a delightful 43-mile ride to Burlington, where the brave and crazy could end their ride going up Snake Alley. I've got enough coozies, thank you very much.

After dodging a severe weather scare overnight, today's weather was pleasant and the track flat and fast. There was only one severe climb and the ride through Geode State Park was a treat. Spectacular roads (finally!) from there to Burlington.

After gathering at Happy Joe's on the edge of town, Team CoeBRAI made its descent to the Mississippi River. Wearing our Marvin Cone inspired jerseys and riding together for the only time, I'm certain we won the fashion prize.

I've experienced worse dipping sites, as well as better. The team was a model of efficiency though as we loaded up for the return to Coe. Gotta give a shout out here to our awesome support team -- the best support team in the history of RAGBRAI! Thank you Abby, Ryan and Lisa!!!

I seem to have inherited a small fortune of chairs, tents, pumps, etc. so please let me know if you're missing anything before the yard sale. I'll gladly hold on to any property until you return next year, hint hint.

Toughest day yet

A fair dose of hills, our first dose of heat and a painful stretch of headwinds made Friday's ride to Mount Pleasant a challenge. Personally, I prefer it hot, so that was a welcome change. And it hasn't rained today -- knock on wood.

I started out with Doug and Eddie, but lost them both quickly. I seem to have rubber legs in the morning and can't get going until I've had a good breakfast. Today, it was one last Farm Boys breakfast burrito, where I jumped in line with Doug and shaved minutes off my waiting time.

As we turned into the headwinds near Pekin, I lost Doug and rode alone from there, rarely even seeing any teammates along the way. Many of them were in Mount Pleasant already when I arrived, so I had to surrender the yellow jacket. It's tough to finish first when your competition doesn't have to ride an extra 30 miles.

The ride from Ottumwa to Brighton was flat and fast. Brighton to Mount Pleasant offered heat, hills and headwind. If it had also been humid, we'd have hit the jackpot. Some riders witnessed accidents, including a biker riding into a farm grader!

We're all sore, but safe and anticipating completing this adventure tomorrow in Burlington.

We're being hosted tonight by Bitrus and Olabisi Gwamna, who are both on the faculty at Iowa Wesleyan. Their son, Duroje, will be a Coe senior next year. Another son, Zoom, is celebrating his birthday with 40 strangers in his yard.

We were rewarded for our efforts with an amazing meal our hostess spent the day preparing and hotel quality water pressure for showering. Today we also said good by to newly crowned century rider and unofficial CoeBRAI mascot Bob Untiedt. After taking Wednesday off, Bob completed his century Thursday and deemed his mission complete.

For the rest of us, that comes tomorrow when we dip into the Mississippi.