RAGBRAI LII, Day 5
Thurs, July 24, 2025, Iowa Falls to Cedar Falls, Iowa (56 miles, 1225 ft. climb)
Day 5 was MAGNIFICENT! As our host family relayed a comment from another rider, it was a “Ten out of ten”!
After four days of fighting headwinds and crosswinds, we finally got a TAILWIND today! For the WHOLE DAY! And we had cooler temperatures, and the entire route was only 56 miles. To top it off, I got to sleep in a REAL BED! And sit and eat dinner at a REAL TABLE!
I’m glad it was such an easy day, because it was raining when I woke up. The forecast said it would stop raining by 7:00 am, so after lounging around a while, I decided to pack up just in case it cleared. Sure enough, it stopped earlier than expected, and I was riding by 5:45 am — my latest start of the week, but still much better than 7:00 would’ve been.
It was really fun riding 18 mph again without a ton of effort. I stopped in Ackley for a delicious HOQ breakfast wrap, then sailed through Aplington and Parkersburg, then on to New Hartford. Total bliss.
Ironically, I was recording a GoPro video five miles before the end town, Cedar Falls (and only four miles before the house I’d be staying at), commenting about how everything had gone so perfectly on the easiest day ever.
Then my rear derailleur broke.
I couldn’t believe the timing — maybe I could stand up on the pedals and ride all the way to the bike shop in Cedar Falls?! I could not shift out of the highest gear, and I usually love a fast cadence. There was a hill I had to get up, but I was able to channel my inner Tom Hotle and muscle up at about 20-30 rpms (compared to my usual 90-100).
Then I could see a valley in the suburbs, where the road went down a long hill and then up one last hill. I thought, hey, I could get a bunch of momentum going on the downhill, to give me a big head start up that last hill.
Wouldn’t you know it — at the very bottom of that valley, a voice cried out “Tom!”. It was Linda Johnson, the mother of our new daughter-in-law, who was watching riders go by. She had been tracking me on Google Maps, so she knew I was close.
I was faced with an instantaneous decision. But of course, I had to brake (wasting all that precious momentum) to stop and chat with her. Her husband Steve was doing the route today from Iowa Falls! He’s faster than I am, but started later, so I never saw him on the road. But I’d see him later tonight at their house.
Starting from a dead stop, I had to make it up that big hill. But I managed to conquer it, high gear and all. Then I mostly coasted into Bike Tech, a great bike shop near downtown Cedar Falls. Believe it or not, I was the only customer in the store! I think it helped that it was before 11:00 a.m., so most people were still riding. (One of the many reasons I like starting early.)
The guy at Bike Tech put my bike up on the stand and promptly installed a new rear derailleur cable. The total bill for this instantaneous service? Only $26! I gave him another $20 for a tip since I was so excited that he could fix it that quickly.
Right outside the bike shop, I saw several people cheering and asking riders where they were from. They were already up to 43 states and several countries! They offered me a chair, so I sat with them for a while. I was in for a shock when they asked where I was from. I said “Wisconsin” and they said “what town?” When I said “Chippewa Falls,” they started screaming — “WE ARE LEINENKUGELS!!”
Yes, these two sisters were direct descendents of Jacob Leinenkugel, the guy who started the beer company in Chippewa Falls in 1867. They knew that the company (now owned by Coors) had recently stopped brewing beer in that location, and were quite sad about it. In their next sentence, they talked about how much they liked going to that fish and chicken place across the street from Leinkugels, Bresina’s. I had to be the bearer of bad news and tell them that Bresina’s had just closed, too. 🙁
After sitting with them for quite a while, I biked northeast of town to the Pork Belly Ventures campsite to get clean clothes and USB chargers out of my duffel bags. I put everything I’d need for the night into a little backpack, and stored my duffel bags near the tents of my fellow bikers from Chippewa Falls. Tom Hotle’s sister Stephanie lent me a nice tarp to cover my bags in case it rained.
Since it was still pretty early, I had the chance to explore the downtown area. Several city blocks were closed to traffic, and the big stage already had a live band performing. I was able to buy some kettle corn, my favorite snack ever. I didn’t see any lunch options that intrigued me, so I backtracked to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church to take advantage of their fish fry I saw on a sign. It was really good, and I got some actual VEGETABLES along with my fish!
After that, I took some drone video, and then finished my day at Steve & Linda’s house. They had other guests there, including Andy & Hannah Stoll. Andy grew up in Chippewa Falls, and is a good friend of our youngest son, and was part of our Boy Scout troop for many years. I hadn’t seen them since Day 0 at his grandpa’s farm in Granville, ten miles east of Orange City.
I got a nice interview with them for my eventual YouTube video, a small excerpt of which I’ll include here. I was shocked to hear that, despite having all those relatives in Iowa, he had never heard of RAGBRAI until I did it in 2022 and posted pictures and videos from my trip to Facebook! They drove all the way from Portland for it, and need to drive all the way back when it’s over. They hadn’t trained as much as they wanted, but they can get away with it at age 25.
Linda hadn’t been planning on making dinner, but she decided to whip up a meal of chicken and corn on the cob. I told her I had a big lunch and didn’t really need much for supper, but when great food is right in front of me, I of course ate. The corn was especially good, since the Iowa Corn Growers’ Association has not been giving out free corn on the cob these past two years.
We had a delightful time talking on the deck with the six of us (her other guests were in an RV, I think) most of the evening. Then I got to sleep in a REAL BED in a REAL BEDROOM with ACTUAL AIR CONDITIONING. I couldn’t help thinking of that line from the movie Field of Dreams: “Is this heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.”
Well, Steve & Linda Johnson’s house sure felt like heaven to me.
The forecasts say that we are back to headwinds for the next two days to wrap up RAGBRAI. But the winds look less intense, and the distances are shorter. So I think we are officially over the hump!
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TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “RAGBRAI” = Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, the world’s oldest, longest, and largest recreational bicycle ride. Started in 1973, it now averages about 20,000 riders per year from all 50 states and 20 countries who ride from the Missouri River on the west coast of Iowa to the Mississippi River on the east coast, usually 420-500 miles, over seven days.
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LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066334039590
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):