Fishnette

In five years, i’ve never seen as many ambulances on the route as Sunday, the super-hot, hilly day. Yesterday, i happened to look at the Boone County Sheriff’s office and came across this info from the blotter:

7-26-11        11:20am  Deputy Pontius located a RAGBRAI bicyclist who had fallen on E18 and Pilot St, Pilot Mound. After ambulance was dispatched rider refused treatment.

7-26-11        11:57am  Deputy Pontius and Godzicki assisted with RAGBRAI Cyclist who had passed out and fallen onto the pavement on Nature Rd, 2 miles north of Boone. Cyclist was taken by ambulance with head injuries and leg injury. Later transported by Air Ambulance to a Des Moines Hospital.

7-26-11        2:13pm  Sgt Wingate responded to a medical call of a cyclist that had lost control on Twister Hill east of Pilot Mound on E18. Cyclist was taken by ambulance with injuries.

7-26-11        4:07pm  Search and Rescue assisted with a down cyclist at the corner of Division and 22nd St, Boone. Cyclist had fallen and injured wrist Ambulance dispatched.

7-26-11        9:30pm  Deputy Gray responded to an ambulance assist at E18 and Highway 17. Cyclist had fallen off of bike and received possible concussion, Story City Ambulance responded.

I’d bet this is a small sample of the injuries in one day, because the ride passed through three or four counties on Tuesday. i don’t see many reports of injuries in the local news or the Register’s RAGBRAI blog.
 

Clearly, Valerie, on the right, is having much fun on the ride! The woman on the left also celebrated a birthday today, thus the pose with the bikers in Speedos - tho those legs look like they’ve had bike shorts on.

Today was a great day - virtually no hills, lots of cloud cover early (tho heat and sun in the afternoon) and only 56 miles to get from Boone to Altoona. An early start due to the 5 a.m. Y lights, plus the difficulty of sleeping in a non-air-conditioned gym. Hot hot hot. No sleeping bag needed.

No post from yesterday because i woke up sick Tuesday and spent the day sleeping at Laura’s. Felt better this a.m., but couldn’t stomach the sight of wheels turning on the road when i stopped for coffee and a Clif bar.

We had an uneventful ride - although a guy clipped my back tired and he and another woman went down (they appeared ok). I stayed riding, not sure what happened there.

This afternoon and evening, we’re at Rosemarie (another Dr. Mel sister) and David’s house with wonderful air conditioning and an excellent lasagna dinner! The food is great!

Grand Funk Railroad is playing tonight - we’ll see if we go and indulge in the ’70s.

The young ‘uns are doing fine - one becomes an adult tomorrow! - and you can read their version here.

We looked great getting started on Day One, we had wonderful hats created by Laura from the Artworks. Many fun comments on them!

But Sunday was pretty tough. Quite hot, really humid and lots of hills from Glenwood to Atlantic. We got a bit of a late start for how hot it ended up being, the hills were huge immediately out of town (guess that’s why they call it the Loess Hills?!) and we baked in the sun.

We did have great breakfast at Mr. Pancake, some smoothies, then we stopped at Pastafari, where we ate in a shaded, cool greenhouse. Bonus there: using the water hoses on our heads. Weirdness there: the woman next to us drinking red wine. From the bottle.

Between Griswold and Lewis, it was decided our driver, the benevolent Saint Spencer, should come to Lewis and pick us up. First time ever for sagging for the two of us who’ve done the ride before (tho we did opt out of a thunderstorm morning last year and start at the midpoint one day). The good news: Fish could get a beer in the beer garden. Inside the welding shop, near a fan. Ahhh…. Bad news: we weren’t showered until 8 p.m., partly because of the long lines at the YMCA.

The air-conditioning was great at the Y, and we had plenty of room. Could have lived without the butt shot from one of the men on a nearby cot. Could have lived without the lights on in the gym at 4:45 a.m.

But more on all that later in a soon-to-come future post about the glories of day 2!

After a great time working with incoming CU freshman in recent days. They did a ton of work in just a short amount of time!

And then, it was time for the trek to Iowa. When i lived in Florida, i found myself missing the drive across Nebraska. Today, i was sad to see the mountains recede behind me - they’re beautiful. But just as beautiful are the rolling plains and majestic clouds of eastern Colorado and western Nebraska.

After five hours on the road listening to NPR, i’m at the Days Inn in Lexington after having procured a small box o’ wine from Walmart and my standard order from Taco Bell. Sorting some of the RAGBRAI stuff for my team, watching the Tour de France from this a.m., then hope to finish a Michael Connelly novel. Tomorrow, Omaha!

And here’s the view out my window at dusk. i like cornfields and small towns. As long as i don’t have to live here.

I’ve added party registration numbers to the Colorado House districts proposed so far by the Colorado Reapportionment Commission. Click on a district to see the party registration.

The Colorado Reapportionment Commission didn’t meet this week, but will hold a public hearing on Boulder, Broomfield and other counties at 11 a.m. Monday, July 11. Here’s their work thus far.

Proposed state House map through June 27 meeting:

Proposed state Senate map through June 27 meeting: