Day 3: The Break Down

Day 3 of Intensive RAGBRAI Training was a little rough for us.

Every year my family goes to see the Musical Fountain in Grand Haven, MI.  (First we get ice cream at Temptations, which is the real draw for the adults.).  On Day 3, we decided that since we were going to Grand Haven that evening, we would just ride our bike there and have someone drive our car so that we wouldn’t have to ride back in the dark.  The rest of the day was pretty busy with our family wedding shower and other things.  So it seemed like a good idea.

What we didn’t know at the time was that the way to Grand Haven included a section where we had to ride along Route 31, a busy highway.  There was a very narrow sidewalk along the bridge there, with a tall railing on one side and a large drop off to the road on the other.

It was terrifying.  I am not a great rider and I have zero urban riding experience.  This sidewalk was so narrow and so close to the traffic rushing by next to it.  There were also some very large bumps and gaps in the sidewalk that we had to navigate.

Even Jeff was tense and nervous, a condition that was exacerbated by the fact that he could hear me crying behind him.  And I’m not joking here, it really was very scary.

We made it through that harrowing section of the ride only to almost get run over by a vehicle that was turning right  Jeff yelled through their open window and they stopped before we ran into them.

At this point, I was done.  I was like, I can’t do this, it’s over, I hate bicycle riding, I hate cars, I hate other riders, I CANNOT DO THIS.  This was NOT what I signed up for, no way.

Jeff hugged me and calmed me down.  He told me that he was scared too and that I had every right to feel scared.  He also said that RAGBRAI is not like that and if he had known that’s what the route was to Grand Haven, we wouldn’t have done it.

As I said before, riding a tandem takes a lot of trust.  The sidewalk wasn’t impossible for a single bike, but it was very, very difficult for a tandem.  Jeff is an experienced rider and he handled it well, but I never want to do that again.

After that ride, I’d say I earned my peanut butter cup ice cream.

Jeff and the Pedal Boat in Grand Haven

Current Mood: No way I’m doing RAGBRAI

Predictions: I am not going to make it through next week

Best part of the day: My wedding shower, Jeff wore the jersey I got him in New Zealand

Worst part of the day: the terrifying ride