Day 1 ride statistics: 16.5 mph average, 58 miles, 4:34 hours train time, 119 average pulse, 150 max pulse, 5242 kcal

Finally, the first official day of the 2008 ride was here.  The “plan” for this day was for Stacey and Joe to drive the van and gear over to the next overnight town of Harlem, then wait for me to get there, then the three of us would drive the van back to Missouri Valley, then Stacey and Joe would ride bikes to Harlem while I drove the van back.  The plan actually worked well.  I left Missouri Valley by about 6 AM and got to Harlem at about 9:30 AM. Stacey and Joe were about to give up on me, thinking that I wasn’t going to there in time for them to do the whole ride.  Stacey and Joe were able to begin their ride in Missouri Valley at about 11 AM.

I was surprised at the lack of people around me while I was riding this day. Usually there would be tons of people starting at 6 AM or before.  I didn’t get passed by anyone for about the first 5 miles, and that guy pulled off within the next couple miles after he passed me.

The next time I got passed was about 30 miles into the ride., and then about 5 more people passed me in the last 10 miles of the ride.  I’m not that fast a rider, so like I said, this was a very unusual day.

I only stopped once this day, about 37 miles into the ride, at the Beekman’s ice cream stop. My one tradition on these rides is to stop at Beekman’s for ice cream every day.

We camped at a fairground type place in Harlem.  It certainly wasn’t anything special.  I don’t think anyone in our group ventured into the town.  Most, if not all of our group, took showers in two trailers that were set up on the site. They had individual stalls, plenty of hot water, and cost $4 apiece.  The showers were segregated, with one trailer being generally used for women and one for men. While waiting in line for my shower, one of the people managing the lines called out for a man by a specific name.  Apparently, his wife was in the shower and had requested that he join her in her shower. They let him do that, first time I had ever seen a co-habitating shower.

Eventually, Stacey, Joe and I had supper at a spaghetti feed being put on at the fairground by a local church.  The food was cold, and they ran out of bread and soft drinks by the time we made it to the head of the line.

About 2 AM everyone was rousted from their sleep, if they were still sleeping, by loudspeakers telling us all to head to shelter. A strong storm was moving into the area that was packing high winds and hail.  We never did see anything other than a little rain, but our sleep was interrupted for about an hour.

The interruption didn’t really bother me because I was not sleeping well anyway.  My stomach was upset and I was belching spaghetti.