Team Tandemonium Travelog #2

RAGBRAI day 2 started off by cheating in Manning.  Yes, I know we stayed in Atlantic overnight, but if you remember, the heat and hills nearly killed my hubby yesterday. So, being the brilliant man that he is most times, he wisely decided to skip the hilly part of the ride and start at the halfway point.  That might have saved him a trip in the ambulance from actually riding, but my hands wanted to reach out and strangle him many times before we got there!  Let's just say that I am the support vehicle driver and do just fine WITHOUT his guidance :)

We were all happy to have arrived in Manning, especially Austin who could hardly contain his excitement for his first official ride.  He was game for anything so long as it meant he got to ride today.  It didn't matter to him at all that they were riding the second half of the route. Check out my ISU cuties!  ...yes, even in their spandex bike pants.

Carter was my co-pilot today since he wasn't riding.  I'm not quite sure what he thought it was going to be like, but the two major things that he wanted to do was eat soft serve ice cream and shop!  Hmmm...not exactly the thing RAGBRAI is made for.  He might have been a bit disappointed, but he survived.

The first stop after Manning was Templeton.  This was the one stop that Aaron was looking forward to.  He wanted to check out the distillery where Templeton Rye whiskey is made.  

While we were in Templeton, we met up with a buddy of Aaron's from work, Johnny T or Marathon Man as we lovingly refer to him as!  He's a triathlete and has plans to run a marathon in all 50 states.  Let's just say  this little ride is NOTHING to him. We saw him running in Atlantic last night after a killer ride yesterday.  Super nice guy, but absolutely crazy I say!  

Even though the picture isn't the clearest, you'll notice a nice little bottle of Templeton Rye. Before we left, Ace snagged himself a bottle (thanks to a terrific neighbor) and trucked it along just so he could swig some on the hallowed ground in Templeton!  

In addition to being crazy, Johnny T has the most amazing solar powered speaker on the back of his bike fully equipped to play some amazing tunes.  Ace and Austin were so happy to have him hanging with them for the remainder of the ride!  He was even kind enough to push them a bit going up a huge hill!  Who does that?

After Templeton, Carter and I headed to Carroll to check out the activities and watch the riders come into the home stretch for the day.  Of course I was instructed to look along the way for some soft serve ice cream or any good shopping places :) We didn't find any.

Aaron and Austin headed to Dedham for lunch. Apparently Austin gobbled up two hot dogs and a grilled ear of corn that he was raving about. They made a final stop in Willey before meeting up with us. I love that Ace got to be the girl in this picture!

Once they rolled into Carroll, Aaron's faith in RAGBRAI had been restored.  He was quite bummed about yesterday and not actually pedaling every stinking mile of this entire ride.  However, he felt much better today and is ready to pump out the remainder of the week.  He even nicknamed Austin, "Turbo Boost" after today! Go figure, the tiny little one was a master rider today.  Apparently he was pretty proud of himself and even trash talked Johnny T!  Oh my...that one could come back to bite him in his tiny bum :)

I'll leave you with a couple more of the sights from the day.  The last one is probably one of my favorite riders that I've seen so far.  He's part of Team Flamingo, and it's not real easy to tell in this picture, but his beard is pink too.

The good news ~ tomorrow night I get to sleep in my own bed :)