RAGBRAI XXXVII - The Best Yet!

I know I say this every year, but again this year was the best ever! It just keeps getting better! If I had to put a title of this year's ride, it would be Family Ties. Riding with Team Satisfied this year was Sparkle, Sparkle's mom (Snake), Sparkle's cousin (Saucy) and Saucy's husband (The Shaman), plus my uncle (The Sjeff), and me (Sugar). I was so glad to have Jeff along this year. I've been very fortunate to be able to spend more and more time with my extended family over the last 8 years or so, and the more time we spend together, the more fun we have!

I knew that Jeff would like RAGBRAI for the people and for the riding. The way we did RAGBRAI in the early years was growing old for me (or am I that one that is getting old??), and I've begun to realize what I like most about the Ride is the riding! Jeff and I set a pre-ride goal of riding the whole thing. Honestly, I've never done that before, so I was excited about doing it!

Jeff had an adventurous trip to Iowa, including hitting a deer at 2am (in someone else's car), and met us in Council Bluffs on Saturday. I was without, for the first time, my traditional RAGBRAI bike. A day or two before Cam and I left for Colorado, I found a crack in the frame, so Cam let me borrow one of his bikes to take on RAGBRAI.

Some highlights of the trip:

1. We made a stop at Sid's on the way west, plus the traditional stop in Marne.

2. It was a very mild week, temperature-wise. I wore arm warmers for at least parts of 3 days.

3. Jeff and I did the century loop. This was also a first for any member of Team Satisfied.

4. I ate a lot of Pastafari. Whoa, the food is so good and the salmon is so worth the extra cha-ching!

5. I only ran into Team Emerson once the whole week. It was very strange not to see them as much this year.

6. I don't think we ever went to a single beer garden. Oh, I take that back. However, the only one we went to was off-route at the Cumming Tap.

7. Beer and Casey's pizza is always a good dinner at the end of a long day of riding bikes.

8. Snake is an awesome sag-driver. I learned from her that it is easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission.

9. This year's traditional thunderstorm took place the first night that we didn't have a house to stay housing us for the night.

10. I'm already looking forward to next year. Any other family up for the challenge?