Originally Posted by
bigbadwullf
...I'm no prude, mind you. But with all the drinking and then operating a vehicle on public roads I don't see how in this day and age, this ride hasn't suffered from that in the public's eye. And how do the cops patrol this? Just turn a blind eye? I mean it just seems strange to me.
Perhaps I wasn't in the right (wrong?) place at the right time, but I saw remarkably little of this sort of thing. Pretty much everyone I saw, rode with, and hung with after the rides, was a straight-laced rider. Some drank a few beers, but I did not see anyone over-indulge. So I'm guessing that the people who do this are in a small minority.
Originally Posted by
BlazingPedals
Yeah, on RAGBRAI, anyone going over 14-15 mph is roundly jeered for being a 'racer.'
My slowest all-day average was 16.8 mph on the last day, fastest was 19.6 mph opn the century.
Plenty of "jeers" here
Final day:
Plenty of rolling hills near the beginning, then long and flat.
For me, the going was tough - my upper back was hurting, and saddle sores were developing - and I doubt I'd have managed another day. The last 10-or-so miles seemed to drag on forever, partly because it was hilly again, and partly because we knew we were in the final stages of a really, really long event! Also, it was hot. Seemed to me that this was the first day with low humidity. That was good - though it meant I had to slather on more and more sunblock at almost every rest stop. (I felt like a glazed doughnut!)
I took plenty of pictures on the last day and will publish them here after I get home, on Tuesday.