Day 7 - We Made It!

"Proper preparation prevents poor performance."

I heard this saying several times throughout the week from Rick, our support driver. As I approached the almost 400 foot drop into Bellevue on Saturday, going 35 mph with the brakes on, I realized how true that saying is. Since I've never been much of a hill climber, I was a little nervous going into Saturday's ride. We had a little over 3000 feet of climb, the most all week. It was also the shortest day too, at 56.6 miles. I approached each hill as if it was one that I had already done before on my weekly training rides to Bremer and back. That mental trick seemed to work because by late morning I was basically through all of the "tough" ones and was on the home stretch into the last town.

I rode most of the day with Linda, Randy and John. Although at some point we lost John and didn't meet up with him again until right outside of Bellevue. Our first passthrough town was Cascade and we stood in a long line to wait for chris cakes (pancakes). Randy had a great idea to call out that Linda and I were "first-timers" through the pancake line. I didn't quite know what to expect until I got up there. The pancake guy (a Wartburg alum?) told me to take 2 steps back from the serving line, and just as I did that, pancakes started flying at me. Apparently I somehow lost my ability to catch anything flying in the air, as cakes were flying on my head, behind my back -- almost anywhere but on my plate! I was laughing so hard and I think people in line were enjoying the sight, although I was a little hungry and really just wanted to eat the pancakes, not have to catch them first!! We stopped a couple other times too, before entering Bellevue just before noon. Once we got into town, the trip to the Mississippi was a little dangerous in my opinion. There were cars and support vehicles lined up on the streets, and maneuvering through traffic was hard. We finally made it to the Mississippi and waited in line to dip our front tires into river. It was a great feeling to finally finish the ride across Iowa and share that moment with my teammates. The other half of our Wartburg group was also able to meet up earlier that morning so they could dip their tires together as well.

After the tire dipping, we headed back to the vehicles to get ready for the journey back to Waverly. It was amazing the bond our teammates formed with each other in just one week's time. I was sad to see everyone leave when we pulled into Waverly, but I know that many of us will still stay in contact with each other. I am still sorting through pictures at home, and I will post more either this week or next. Thanks again to everyone who was a part of Team Knight Riders on RAGBRAI XXXV. It was an experience that I will never forget.

Kendra