I did it! I rode my bike across the state of Iowa! This picture was my 1st time in July of 2011... 464 miles in 7 days with about 20,000 other people! What an amazing experience! Many people who are not familiar with Iowa, think it's a flat state. This is FALSE! There were many challenging hills that I had to walk my bike up. My husband made a video documentary of that first ride...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjBipyijPaQ
For anyone who is wondering about the "Tire Dipping Station" kiddie pool at the beginning of the video. It is RAGBRAI tradition to dip your back tire in the Missouri River prior to riding and your front tire in the Mississippi River at the end of the ride. However, in 2011, the Missouri River was creating a huge flooding issue and the RAGBRAI officials decided it was too dangerous to go to the actual river, so they filled the kiddie pool with river water, so the tradition could continue.
In July of 2012, I rode across Iowa again for RAGBRAI... this time 471 miles! I was much more prepared. I was able to conquer those hills on my bike! I was able to RIDE every hill... not walking any of them. Major accomplishment for me. Alex played a huge roll in that accomplishment, I believe. Pulling him behind me (an extra 75'ish pounds) for months of training really helped me to build up those muscles.
