RAGBRAI 2011: The final ride

Saturday, July 30Coralville to Davenport  RAGBRAI.Saturday


I am writing this post from the comfort of my air-conditioned room at The Homeridge Inn located in....

TaDa !!!!!! Yep, Davenport Iowa.

Goal Accomplished.

Let it be said that Karen Jaffe and Glenn Southworth rode their butts across the state of Iowa on a tandem bicycle...inspite of their Parkinson's Disease.

Pretty cool & I am damn proud of both of us. We did it despite the many major ailments that plagued us both, the record high temperatures and one of the hilliest routes in RAGBRAI history. But we are done AND we are both happy.

Although we did come to know many of the 70 plus people on our team,  for me it was all about getting aquainted with the four others (and just as importantly, their spouses)  who also have PD. John (Sue), Cydney (Pat), Andrew (Betsy) & Jim. We are all too young to have this on our plates and so we had an instant connection....hearing each persons story always sounds eerily like my own in many ways but each was unique in how it has changed their life for better and worse.

These new friends were delightful cycling companions.  Funny, friendly and fearless but at the end of the day, they still need a cure...just like me  So as this blog comes to an end (I will post pictures when I am back home) I hope that those of you who have "come along for the ride" will stay with me for the long haul.  Much still needs to be done and there are many ways in which you can help.  Be a participant in the Cleveland arm of the PPMI study (www.michaeljfox.org/PPMI), make a donation to www.shakingwithlaughter.org or join Marc and me on Sept 24th for our Team Fox event.  Everyone can help so that John, Andrew, Jim, Cydney, Glenn and I never ever have to ride a bicycle across the state of Iowa again.

Before I climb into that comfy looking bed to take a much needed rest, I want to thank a few extra special people: Kathy who made sure that each of us were 'doing ok', Frank who so kindly shuttled me & my bike towherever we needed shuttling to, Kerry my bicycle mechanic and Sue my body mechanic.  This week would have been near impossible without them  So thank you all from the bottom of my heart

That's all for today...

RAGRAI 2011: The countdown begins

Friday, July 29Grinnell to Coralville  RAGBRAI.Friday


Leaving Grinnell also meant leaving Pete & Patty Guillaume's wonderful hospitality. WOW! Two of the kindest people you could meet. They graciously opened their home to all of us and then closed the evening with the offer of some lovely Iowa wines. But leave we must and so off we rode into the even more eastern edge of this friggin' hilly state of Iowa.

Another hot day but today there was also no breeze. 40 miles and more hills.

So I want to share with you my second observation (the first being the fact that Iowa is anything but flat). People in Iowa have no concept of distance or numbers. Why would I believe this? For 6 straight days the answer to the question "How much further?" asked of any townsperson (man, woman or child) was always the same..."Only 5 miles and just 1 or 2 hills".
you could ask the same question 20, 30 or 60 minutes later and you would get the same answer. What is up with this? So the lessons I have learned this week?

Iowa is THE hilliest state and also the only state where time has the ability to stand still while on a bicycle.

So to end this day 6 blog I will share with you a video that I received today from Davis Phinney (olympic cyclist with PD) ...

There is an excitement building in the camp as the sixth of seven rides is now under our belts.  It is hard to believe we are about to take our last ride....see you all tomorrow.

RAGBRAI 2011: savior sue part II

I made a VERY wise decision. I decided that we would shorten the ride to test out my knee.

30 miles of cycling...29.9 miles of knee pain. BIG ? regarding tomorrow but tomorrow IS a long way off.

The ride today was lovely. More hills for sure but Glenn handles them with the strength of an ox...he just puts everything into it until we get to the top. I cannot imagine a better cycling partner (thanks again michele). What it has taken me a few days to realize is that many of the vendors travel the route with us. Each day the same signs dot the landscape:
Pasta man
Smoothie guy
Pb&j stand
Beekmans ice-cream
And on and on.

There are of course the town pie ladies, of which I have to say there is a close tie between raspberry & blueberry as it stands today.

Today, during a spat of rain, I tried the pb&j stand...creamy peanut butter, raspberry jam, bananas & ruffles potato chips (they tried to talk me into jalapeño peppers). It was fantastic and a good substitute for pie since it was only 9:30 AM.

The folks who live along the routes sit out in lawn chairs offering water, Gatorade and homemade items. For some reason, bananas are handed out freely at no charge...you would think that if anything was to be handed out free it would be corn!

Home early, several of us walked into the town of Grinnell for lunch and in search of the obligatory RAGBRAI t-shirts. I am being offered an indoor room so I anticipate a good night sleep after last nights 90 degree scorcher that had us all sleepless.

I will find myself with sue and her wonder hands later tonight...will attempt to ride again tomorrow. Funny, I am too tired to even look to see what day 6 holds. It will surprise us all.

Until tomorrow then.

RAGBRAI 2011: Savior Sue

Thursday, July 28Altoona to Grinnell  RAGBRAI.Thursday


Our amazing masseuse Sue seems to have worked one of her miracles...it is morning, day 5, and I am feeling great!

The ride is on!

Check back later....I will post once I get settled in Grinnell.

RAGBRAI 2011: down for the count?

Wednesday, July 27Boone to Altoona  RAGBRAI.Wednesday


Iowa is a beautiful state....but it is a state that is defined by its farms.  Our first 2 days the landscape was quite picturesque with the farms on acres and acres of rolling hills.  The corn and soy bean fields beautifully highlighted by their undulating surfaces.  Old and new barns dot the landscape  but they are miles apart with no apparent connection. These past two days the flat center of Iowa, away from the river edges is more monotonous but beautiful, nonetheless. Glenn and I are amazed at the amount of corn just this one state can grow.  I am told that it is not sweet corn  but corn used for feed and ethanol production.  The very small towns that we have passed through have very simple centers if there is a town center at all.  They certainly pull out the stops this week, providing food, water and entertainment.  I imagine they prepare for months knowing that droves of people will ride by but that life goes back to a quiet slow pace once the last cyclist rides on through.  In some of these small towns there is little more than a post office, small grocery store and a mom and pop restaurant.  They each have their own charm.
Overcast and cool made for perfect riding weather.  A 50 miler on mostly flat land got us home in a tad over 3 hours.  So what could throw a monkey wrench into this almost perfect day? Knee pain. UGH!  my right knee is the worst of the two and I may not be able to ride tomorrow...I will assess in the morning after today's regimen of ice, advil and massage. Keep me in your thoughts...at this point I will take just about anything. All in all it was not only a great day but probably the best day!  The riders are getting to know each other so it is abit like 'adult camp'. I can't say enough about my tandem partner Glenn.  With my bum knee it looks as if he will be dragging my butt across Iowa!
Signing off in Altoona...

RAGBRAI 2011 It is a new day!

Tuesday, July 26Carroll to Boone  RAGBRAI.Tuesday


oh glory day! Here it is 2:15 and we are in Ames at a beautiful home of one of Jay's friends. The day was once again HOT but with our bike getting an overhaul last night, Glenn and I had a great ride. About 40 some miles and except for Twister Hill it was quite flat. A few people in our group had a glimpse of Lance Armstrong...I did not.

So I did have early afternoon pie...peach and a bite of Glenn's pecan. No regrets.

I certainly had a boost in confidence after such a great ride but I still have 4 more day ahead of me. Hump day tomorrow...see you then

RAGBRAI 2011: day 2 ditto

Before I detail today....rest assured that last night I hoofed it in to town to The Farmers Kitchen and got myself a piece of pie.

Sourcream & raison!

A local speciality and the perfect way to end the day.  I actually have a picture of me enjoying said pie but Iowa is very WI-FI challenged and so I am very limited in what I can do.



Monday, July 25Atlantic to Carroll  RAGBRAI.


Another scorcher and we were informed last night that todays ride would be longer and hillier.


LONGER?  MORE HILLS?  Iowa is a cruel joke!

So, we took Jay at his word and exercised our option to start at the midway point.  30 miles and to our naïve surprise another day of incessant hills. Glenn was A true workhorse...bless his heart. BUT lady luck showed up and tonight the PD patients get to sleep in an airconditioned Apt! Need I say it?

  .  .  .  .  .   YAHOO!

Business first, I treated myself to a  much deserved nap. Then Jay gave a lecture at the local PD support group on forced exercise that many of us attended ending the afternoon with a deliciously large dairy whip from the local A & W...which if you didn't know stands for the men responsible Allen and Wright.  Back home I had a much needed deep tissue massage for my terribly sore quads (damn hills) so that I can get on with the business of day 3.  I would like to tell you about the landscape of Iowa but I will wait til I get WI-FI. We are all tired and sunburned and some of us more sore than others BUT all of this is good. RAGBRAI  may well turn out to be the most physically challenging goal I have ever set out to meet.....PD or no PD.  But had it not been for my PD, I am pretty certain that I would not be Iowa tonight.

Sweet dreams to my PFP teammates. May you dream of a day when Iowa is actually flat.

RAGBRAI 2011: Am I in the wrong Iowa?

ok let me just set the record straight.

IOWA IS NOT FLAT.

In fact, it is anything but.  Glenn and I rode for hours on nothing BUT hills. Hill after hill after hill.

Understand? Oh yeah....it was over 90 degrees today. It was difficult and a challenge but we did it.  I am very proud of both of us but I have to say that I couldn't have done it alone.  Glenn is great company and a workhorse when the going got tough. I haven't had pie yet...but just might go in search this evening. The night is but a pup!

RAGBRAI 2011....at least we hope to finish in 2011

5:30 AM :  Glenn and I are off to Glenwood to meet up with our team Pedaling For Parkinson's.  Wish us luck...I will fill you in when (finally) at our first destination....much later in the day. I can only hope that there is some mighty fine pie waiting for me there.    Toodles.

A fun fact to know and tell before I leave Omaha:

Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium is a baseball stadium in Omaha,Nebraska, the former home to the annual NCAA Division I College World Series and the minor league Omaha Royals, now known as the Omaha Storm Chasers. Rosenblatt Stadium was the largest minor league baseball stadium in the United States.
The final College World Series game at Rosenblatt Stadium was played on June 29, 2010; with the South Carolina Gamecocks defeating the UCLA Bruins to win the 2010 College World Series. The final game for the Royals in the stadium, and under the Royals name, was played on September 2, 2010, with the Royals defeating the Round Rock Express. Now that both series have been concluded, the Omaha Nighthawks played their 2010 season at Rosenblatt; Creighton Prep played a football game there as well. Following those, Rosenblatt was replaced by TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Rosenblatt Stadium will be torn down in the future and eventually turned into a park, as a part of the Henry Doorly Zoo.

Off like a herd of turtles!

Out of bed at 4:15. Pick up Glenn at 4:45. Board plane in Cleveland then deboard plane. Chicago/Ohare not in working order (surprise surprise). Hopefully this is not an omen. Have seats on later flight to Omaha if we miss our first connection.

Stay tuned.

We are RAGBRAI ready!

Update: sitting in chicago....trying to catch a flight to Omaha. 11 AM CST. Looks promising as it appears the predicted tornado has not materialized.  fingers crossed.


So, Glenn & I finally boarded  a flight to Omaha Nebraska...a place neither of us has ever been.  A great deal of turbulance just before landing brought us both out of a sound sleep and to the stunning scene depicted in the photo below.  Farm lands adjacent to the airport were clearly and shockingly seen to be covered in flood waters as we flew low over the land on our approach to the airport runway.  Houses almost completely covered....roads no where to be seen.  I think what "got us" was that we had no idea that this had even occured just a half a dozen states away from Ohio.  Granted, this has nothing to do with RAGBRAI or Parkinson's disease but it had an impact on the two of us that we didn't see coming.

50 days of flooding and counting

Onlookers watch the flooding from the Lewis & Clark Monument north of Council Bluffs.

The World-Herald

Published Thursday July 21, 2011


With full stomachs from eating burgers for lunch, it is time to relax and get ready for tomorrow and the rest of the week. I will sign off now but Glenn and I hope that we will hear from some of you throughout the week....cheering us on....keeping us company....helping us get to the end of the route with a bit of grit, determination and hopefully a big dose of humor. 

tomorrow...IOWA!

Need I Say More?

       

         Definition of HOT  

           adjective,  hot-ter, hot-test,  adverb, verb, hot-ted, hot-ting,  

         adjective, having or giving off heat;having a high temperature: a hot fire.

Idioms & Phrases

hot as blazes

Also, hot as hell .  Extremely warm, as in It was hot as blazes in that room, or I'm hot as hell and would love a cold shower. The first of these hyperbolic similes dates from the mid-1800s, the second from the early 1900s.

heat

wave

 

–noun

1.

an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly.

2.

a period of abnormally hot and usually humid weather.

Origin: 

1875–80

heat

·stroke

  

–noun

a disturbance of the temperature-regulating mechanisms of the body caused by over exposure to excessive heat, resulting in fever, hot and dry skin, and rapid pulse, sometimes progressing to delirium and coma.

Davenport Iowa Weather

Saturday July 23

Variable clouds with scattered storms. A few storms may be severe. High 92F.   

Chance of rain 40%.

Sunday July 24

Partly cloudy with a stray storm. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s.

Monday July 25

Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 80s and lows in the upper 60s.

Tuesday July 26

Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 80s and lows in the low 70s.

Wednesday July 27

Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 80s and lows in the low 70s.

Thursday July 28

Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the mid 90s and lows in the low 70s.

Friday July 29

Partly cloudy, chance of a storm. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s.

Saturday July 30

Partly cloudy with a thunderstorm. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s.

  

What does not kill me, makes me stronger.   

      ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888
          German philosopher (1844 - 1900)