COMMUNITY JOURNALISM: On the road at RAGBRAI, Day 6

Editor's note: David Sojka and Dale Bieber of the Bicyclists of Iowa City agreed to send us daily reports from the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, which made a stop in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. The ride started  Sunday and ends Saturday.

Here is David Sojka's report from Day 6:

7:22 a.m.: Nice cool morning for a ride, quite a contrast to the previous days this week. Looks like we will have some head winds when we ride the northern portions of today's ride. Time for some breakfast on the bridge in Cedar Rapids. Only 42 miles today so I am in no rush.

9:02 a.m.: No poppy seed kolaches to be found in New Bohemia, only un official cherry, apricot, etc. The rides to the north my be challenging with this head wind.

10:53 a.m.: I expected people to jump on today due to the shorter ride and great weather but this is even more than I expected. The walk up the hill in front of Cornell College to downtown Mount Vernon due to all the walking bikers took longer than the ride here from New Bohemia. Elvis is even here, Herky is here also and better looking. Of to a fun start.

3:17 p.m.: Done for today.  A short day of 42 miles and cooler weather.  A wind from the north probably surprised some of the new riders heading out of Mt. Vernon. 69 miles tomorrow and unfortunately we will be done.

Here is Dale Bieber's report after Day 5:

Once when I was heading off to work on my bike, my wife cheerily remarked, "At least you'll have a breeze!" To a person on a bicycle, there is no such thing as "a breeze." There are either headwinds or tail winds. Now you might point out that there could be a crosswind, but if there is a crosswind, sooner or later you'll go around a corner and it will be a headwind or tailwind, like I said.

On a bike, or any wheeled conveyance on a level surface, friction is the only thing that keeps a little forward push from going on forever.

One push of the bike pedals, and you could go all across Illinois (which is much flatter than Iowa) if it weren't for friction. Now a bike wheel has some friction as it spins, but a little oil takes care of that pretty well. The only friction left is the one where your body is pushing the wind. If you are traveling 12 miles an hour on a bike and the wind is 8 miles an hour in your face, that about doubles your work. You could bend over those handle bars all you want and try to pretend you are invisible to the wind, but it won't work.

Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair that a head wind can be so strong that you have to pedal to go downhill!

Tuesday was the day everyone was talking about the wind. For most of the day, it felt like 10 - 15 miles an hour in your face, and on a hot day, that is not a good feeling. Going up a steep hill with the hot wind in your face is really discouraging (and tiring). Not good.

Fortunately, I fell in with a club of 10 friendly guys from Pella and started "drafting" with them. Drafting is when one or two stronger riders go first and the others line up behind them with your wheels about a foot behind theirs, and you get a chain of people, each one breaking the wind resistance a bit for the one behind them. If you are part of a nice group, every so often one of the people who has been relatively resting in the back will take over at the front and "pull" for the others. Or if you are a little underprepared for RAGBRAI, you kind of hang at the back of the pack and hope no one notices you are following ...

Tuesday was an 81 mile day, the first really long ride, and if you were feeling particularly brave you could add on the "Karras" loop of 29 miles and make it and even 100 miles for the day. Stratford, Iowa, was the target town, and Mr.. Karras himself was there to help hand out the patches you get as your reward for this brave foolishness. He was one of the original riders and organizers of RAGBRAI 40 years ago, and has a reputation as a really strong pedaler. Anyway thanks to the guys from Pella for pulling me through the windy part of the Karras loop.

I figure about a quarter of the riders did the Karras loop. They were the ones with the colorful leis around their necks from the Luau the good people of Startford had for RAGBRAI riders that made it there.

One friendly lady took my picture by their welcoming arch sign, and insisted I deserved a hug, no matter how sweaty I was. The rest of the riders, well, they just looked tired when we all got to Webster City at the end of a hot day mostly fighting the wind. The corn just isn't high enough to create a decent windbreak, and soy beans are no help at all.

Actually, not to sound like a complainer, but on a hot day the breeze at your back is only half a blessing. If you are going 12 miles an hour and the wind at your back is 12 miles and hour, you pedal more easily, but you get hotter, because it feels like there is NO wind. Tuesday finished with a bit of a a tail wind, but everyone on RAGBRAI will remember it as the day of the head wind.

Come to think of it there is such a thing as a breeze for a cyclist.

It is when you get up early, and road is quiet , and you're coasting down this long hill with wild abandon, faster than anything, effortlessly stealing pleasure from gravity alone. That noise roaring in your ears - that's a breeze to a cyclist.