Nic’s Experience Biking Across Iowa (RAGBRAI)

To Ollie — I hope you can look back one day and be inspired.

Over the last 4 years, I have constantly found myself in pursuit of different physical challenges, inspired by Micheal Easter Misogi’s. Lately, many of mine have centered around cycling. During COVID I was one of many who got a Peloton Bike and then soon rediscovered the joy of biking, and what started as 60-mile weekend jaunts from brewery to brewery around Minneapolis soon evolved into 150-mile weekend quests in northern Minnesota, all the way to this most recent adventure of almost 500 miles across Iowa (RAGBRAI).

Now instead of detailing every last minute I spent looking down at the bike tire in front of me, or the copious pies, corn dogs, and beer consumed — I will highlight a few key themes of this journey across (against-expectations- hilly) Iowa.

Chapter 1: Preparation

As a dad of 1-year-old I was concerned about being prepared for the miles I was embarking on. I believe less than 5 total training rides took place while the sun was still up. Every night after work since January looked something like preparing dinner, playtime, bedtime, and dishes, and then either zipping out to the ice rink or jumping on the Peloton to put in 10–20 miles. Looking back, when I was in it, it was a bit of a grind, but with sufficient discipline, it did prepare me better than expected.

Sitting around the campsite after day 3 I tallied all my Strava and Peloton training miles to be over 600 miles. Learning that I was shocked… I was always stressed about only getting 40 to 60 miles most weeks when the recommended training plan was encouraging more than 100 miles a week for the 2.5 months before the ride. In totality, I was still way below that target, but 600 miles (mostly inside) is a lot of miles, and in the middle of RAGBRAI that was a huge mental boost to remind myself of just how prepared I was!

I should not talk about preparation without highlighting the most memorable and important training ride in Sparta, WI in September. The goal was a 70 mile starting in Sparta to Elroy and back (incredible trail if people are familiar) so we could practice setting up and tent, camping with a 1 year old and our dog Nordy, and assess all the stuff we (my wife) needs-and-doesn’t. All very well intended, but on the way out to the campsite it was pouring rain the entire way out and we got into town later than expected right around sundown so we decided to last minute book a hotel to stay dry for the night and then set up camp in the morning before I set out on my ride. Now the next morning getting to camp we had to hike in with all our stuff and it was already getting hot, humid, and buggy, very buggy! We quickly got the tent set up but in that 10–15 minutes our little man was in his jumper and got mega-attacked by mosquitos and I think before 10AM that day he had 40 bug bites over his face and legs. But now we are set up and I am ready to ride. The ride started great, and soon I approached my first tunnel! Now for those unfamiliar the trail in Sparta is an old rail trail and in sections, they just carved these massive tunnels through the limestone. Like we are talking about a mile-long, cold blackness, all you can hear are your bike cleats on the ground behind you! I was too shocked by the blackness, and was SCARED walking thru the first tunnel! Heading into the ride I did minimal planning, as is normal I looked up if there was bike trail, totaled the mileage, and noted there would be a tunnel because it was an old rail trail. At this point in the ride around 10:30AM I am mentally rattled, the lengths and blackness of this first tunnel was so unexpected. It was so foggy in the tunnel because of the rain the night before combined with the 30+ Degree temperature difference vs outside that even with my cellphone light in my hand I could just barely see my feet, it was spooky. Reminding you again that it was 1 mile long so for at least 15 of my 20 minutes walking through I could not see the entrance or exit, just a 6ft wide tunnel with my cleats clacking along the rocky trail… and no other people, total blackness! I remember thinking to myself how unique and unexpected my current situation was and that I should be trying to embrace the sheer emptiness… but that never quite happened. I just kept walking with the hope that a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel would eventually appear. Soon a garden-of-eden-esque light, then trees, and a continued trail appeared and I was on the other side. Now on the other side, I actually read the signpost in front of the tunnel and actually learned some interesting details: there would be three total along this trail (6 for me going down and back), this first one was the longest, you have to walk your bikes through mostly for safety (agree), and they protected sanctuaries for bats so you need to be considerate of the lighting you use.

While that first experience happened only about 10 miles in, the rest of the ride went great, the other tunnels were shorter, much less foggy, and more well-traveled with other bikers (the first tunnel was the only one I went through where I saw no one else). I eventually got down Elroy and took a 15-minute rest, had a chewy bar, and finished my water. At this point in the day, it was getting much hotter and I would have bit of a headwind on the way back. In the end, I averaged only 1mph slower and thought I felt relatively good rolling into camp having just finished my a 70-mile ride, but that was just when the real learning was about to take place.

While I have done long rides before, I have never bombed my nutrition and experienced heat exhaustion like this before! Soon we were sitting around camp getting a fire going for dinner and my body temp is still very high and my headache gaining momentum. So I tell Rach I just want a minute to lay down in the tent but things are not getting better. I am starting to feel cold and getting body aches which is when I call out to her and tell I just not going to be able to make to dinner tonight. She has some sandwiches with the lil’man while I lay in the tent in agony trying to rationalize why I suddenly feel like total crap! It was weird (almost surprising) because honestly I love working out and usually I may feel a bit tired after a long ride and that discomfort is usually overridden by the morale and endorphine boost; I have never felt anything like this. The night comes and I lay there in a heavy sweat trying awake all night trying to figure out why I feel so crappy. As we packed up and left the next day to drive home I starting feel I little better and put together some of the pieces.

In summary, putting on the miles is a critical piece of preparation but lesson two and equally as important is to plan your nutrition! The prior day to the ride I had eaten only 600 calories in a Subway sandwich, then day of ride half of a waffle at the hotel, on the ride I had 2 chewy bars (200 Calories), and 1 bottle (30oz) with a Liquid IV packet. On the ride I probably burned 4,000+ calories and over the two days took in likely only 1,000 which led to a major caloric deficit, combined with dehydration which likely led to some heat exhaustion. It was good this happened 3 weeks prior to the true challenge because as miserable as that 1 night was, it gifted me just enough anxiety to make sure I dialed in my nutrition and hydration plan.

Now the eve RAGBRAI and as I lay in the tent in Glenwood, IA, I was swarmed by an attack of fear and doubt. Why doubt was beginning to creep in I will detail for you later but in that specific moment, just as He does, God gave me just what I needed in this prayer from David in the book of Psalms.

Psalms 143: 7–8

7. Answer me quickly, Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.

Prepare & have faith — I felt assurance that if I was following his will he would not lead me to where I was not supposed to be. Whether I was going to make it through the week I was still not sure, but I was going to put on my shoes on with a smile and just enjoy pedaling with my team!

Chapter 2: Support

As I have alluded to previously the night before RAGBRAI my spirits were… not high. Stepping back a week prior: it was Sunday morning around 8AM and I was leaving the hockey rink thinking in my head how I “should be careful this week to not get hurt before RAGBRAI” and just as that thought crossed my mind my hockey snagged on the door behind me and closed the door overtop my foot. Looking down I quickly assessed I had escaped any major injury but it was very bloody as I had pull back 1/2 of my big toe nail. So now, luckily just annoyed, I called my wife to set some paper towels outside before I came in the house as to not get bloody everywhere. After wrapping my toe in some paper towel and hockey tape, I slipped on some sandals, went to church, and life went on for the next 5 days like any other week.

Now Saturday morning we loaded up the car with friends, family, bikes, and all our camping needs. A swift 6 hours later, we are setting up camp, and am starting to notice some pain in my big toe. After camp is set up we head down to the expo downtown and at this point, I can hardly walk… hence the night before doubt I mentioned.

The next morning comes and I painfully squeeze into my cycling shoe, bike 45 miles with +4,000ft in elevation while walking (hobbling) through the towns along the way. Later that afternoon after we had finished the ride, I tried to keep up with the activities around camp and town but eventually found myself with a bag of ice on my foot. Then it hits me that the health of my toe a week out from when I pulling back my toe nail is definitely trending in the wrong direction. Next I know I am searching on Google Maps for medical services with an hour of Red Oak… this where things now turn around. My wife hears me dial a number, and as someone who’s only visit to the doctor’s office in the last 10 years has been the free physical before the birth our first son, she immediately understands the seriousness of my discomfort.

To make a long story short I am eventually routed to someone’s direct cellphone, invited into their home (literally their kitchen), the timer is going off for potatoes in the oven while I have my foot in a baked potato tray on top of Yeti cooler in the middle of the kitchen soaking hydrogen peroxide, while they search a tackle box and sift through various vials of potential solutions for my ailment. Now, those details I believe highlight the absurdity of the situation, but we shall not move past this without sufficient praise and appreciation to the hospitality and excellent care these strangers (saviors) provided me. What initially could have been thought of as gout (never had that or heard of that before this day), turned out to be an increasingly serious (and painful) infection in my toe stemming from the incident with the door at the hockey rink the week prior. After some pain relief and suggestions for healing, I left with a ton of gratitude. This experience truly was such a pivotal turning point in my outlook for RAGBRAI… yes my foot still hurt but less than yesterday and I now saw that path forward!

This chapter being called Support I shall not only highlight my grandiose saviors in red for healing my toe that evening in Red Oak. We need also to focus on those who truly did all of these miles with me! We had such a great crew biking together every day. The support my Rad Dad’s teammates gave me was incredible. Also need to credit them for pulling the pace and letting me draft them for oh so many miles. These guys I biked with are in very good shape. During the ride, I set PRs in my 10ks and 20ks (+24hrs, yeah freaking fast), way faster than I had planned, and because of them pushing me, I am even more proud when looking back on completing the ride.

The support crews in the communities along the RAGBRAI route are really what make this just an incredible ride. Its reputation for being a party all day long does hold true, but when you have 10,000+ people every day biking all these miles you are bound to have your fair share of mechanical issues. One trip across our group we dealt with a broken front axel, a broken seat posting tightening bolt, a broken shoe, and issues with handlebar grip tape, and all of these issues were addressed quickly in the towns we were in by vendors that seemed prepared for about anything!

So to strangers, our support crew, and to my teammates who supported me on the route — THANK YOU.

Chapter 3: Family

Ahhh did you think I almost wouldn’t thank my amazing wife for all her support while bringing our 1-year-old along… well it deserved a whole chapter.

The support truly began well before we even signed up and shared the excitement about experiencing it together, then through all the evening training (we have not watched a TV show together in the 6 months I trained), to the pre-ride camping trips, to all the packaging and organizing she did before the adventure officially began that Saturday night.

Having your own personal support chew driving ahead, hauling all our stuff, cleaning up our breakfast, tearing down camp, finding a new site in the next town, then setting up camp again, keeping ice in the cooler, and picking up anything you needed — they were truly a gamechanger for this adventure, and I am so grateful to have gotten to have them apart of it.

Getting to share this experience with my wife and son was very special. Although they had different daytime experiences I loved having them waiting for us when we rolled into town each and getting to be sleeping with them in the same tent every night.

My wife also deserves credit for biking on the final day of the ride with me and doing her longest bike ride ever. It was incredible to be able to share the ride with her actually biking together, thank you, Mom and Dad, for watching O :). I think she did just one 20-mile training ride, and then on the last day together I think we biked 23 miles before we hit our first town, she basically doubled her total miles trained and set a new PR for her longest ride. Her energy and excitement that last day was unmatched and just what I needed to get me to the finish line!

If you are looking at my adventure and thinking she is the real hero… you are right!

Now to close, since becoming a Dad I often reflected a lot on what my responsibilities are as a father, and I consistently find myself circling back on this theme that I should INSPIRE… hence the moniker we adopted as a team: Rad Dad’s Bike Club.

Thank you to our incredible team — Joyce, Albert, Jordyn, Stephan, Wilder, Rowan, Derek, Rachel, and Ollie!