RAGRBRAI riders stop over in Independence

INDEPENDENCE - Derek VanDassen of Toronto, Canada, on his first RAGBRAI journey this week, described himself Friday as a 'five-star hotel guy” who hates biking and camping.

'But you know what? I do like RAGBRAI,” said VanDassen, who was won over by the friendliness of the people he met in the small towns along the course of the 2014 Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

As much as he dislikes sleeping in a tent and pedaling, VanDassen said he loves his wife, Linda Stewart, who will check RAGBRAI off her bucket list today when she dips her bike's front tire in the Mississippi River at Guttenberg.

Stewart and VanDassen were among almost 1,300 members of the Pork Bellies contingent - riders who engage a Council Bluffs-based charter service that handles all the day-to-day logistics so that bikers are free to ride and party.

Proprietor Pete Phillips said Pork Bellies - his motto is, Live like a pig - uses 11 semi-trailers and a full size coach bus to provide amenities and to move the riders and their equipment along the route.

Each day his 85 crew members set up and tear down 400 rental tents, greatly easing riders' arrivals and departures in the host towns. His two shower trailers can accommodate 37 users at a time.

The beer trailer taps 15 kegs per day, according to longtime bartender Mike Pavich.

'This is a wildly popular RAGBRAI,” said Phillips, who first rode it in 1984 and has been providing the charter service since 1994.

'The route is shorter and flatter than normal, with great host and pass-through towns. Everyone wanted to ride this one,” said Phillips, whose RAGBRAI clientele has never been larger.

Phillips said the charter bus typically makes one trip per day to provide sag wagon service to customers who don't feel like pedalling. With rain, wind and lightning along the course Friday morning, the bus made two trips, he said.

Stewart said she and VanDassen got caught in heavy rain and strong wind near Sumner and accepted a ride from members of a church group 'who didn't want any money for the service.”

'To judge from the number of bikes on support vehicles, a lot of people decided not to ride today,” said Fred Smock of Independence, who at noon Friday was at a Highway 20 off ramp directing RAGBRAI support crews to the seven campgrounds set up to accommodate as many as 20,000 overnight visitors.

Smock, who is experiencing this year's RAGBRAI both as a rider and as leader of his community's overnight hosting effort, said he likes the easy going mood of the riders.

'You just go with the flow. If you run out of Busch Light, don't worry. They will drink Bud Light,” he said.

First-time RAGBRAI rider Mark Marzolf of Salt Lake City, Utah, where humidity averages about 20 percent, said he l iked everything about the experience except the weather.

Marzolf said he 'tanked out” Tuesday in high humidity and 20 mph head winds and had to rest for three hours before resuming his ride.

Hiawatha native Brian David Bruns turned from pedalling to peddling in his second RAGBRAI tour.

After riding RAGBRAI in 2011, Bruns chronicled his journey in 'Rumble Yell: Discover America's Biggest Bike Ride,” a travel book that he is promoting on this year's tour.

'RAGBRAI is not about bikes. It's all about talking to the people you meet, getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing the delights of small towns and their aura of positivity,” he said.

Bruns, now of arid Las Vegas, said he looks forward to summer visits to Iowa, where he 'can get some green.”

Asked his impression of Iowa scenery, VanDassen, the Canadian, said: 'We've seen a lot of corn, you know.”

'Corn, corn, corn, soy,” his wife added.

Their perception may change today as they ride through wooded, rock-studded bluffs en route to Guttenberg.