The last day- on to the port and the Mississippi

Off to a good start in the morning- the earliest I've gotten going all week. I did wake up several times during the night, but just briefly, mostly from people coming in late from the concert and tramping around camp. Got everything loaded and ready to go, then realized I had no idea where to go. On one of the first days, someone was asking about the route and got the reply, "There are 10,000 other bikes going there- just follow them". Good point, I thought, so that's what I've been doing all week. This time, nobody happened to be leaving our camp at that moment, and the PBV camp was apparently not on the route directly. I headed into town, and picked up the normal endless trail of cyclists soon enough. The usual tour of food- Chris Cakes first thing, a few miles out of town. They put on quite a show with a large griddle and batter-pouring device that creates long, perfect grids of pancakes. They also have this thing of throwing their pancakes- they'll yell, "Incoming" or something similar, while pointing at an unsuspecting customer. Next thing you know, there are 1, 2, 3 pancakes looping through the air towards them, which they are expected to catch in their plate. It's a lot of fun, though many pancakes end up on the ground. Today, they were throwing them down the line of people, some of them twisted and turned through the air like some crazy frisbee, and landed maybe 125 feet back in line- and a few of those were successfully caught. It's a good, quick breakfast to get the carbs going for the road, and despite a long line, it moves very quickly.
Only a few towns along today's route, including Dyersville, the site of the "Field of Dreams" from the movie of the same name. But mostly, with it being a short day mileage-wise, I enjoyed the towns briefly and moved on to get where we were going. The hills were ongoing and more gradual than the ones we saw near Sioux City, but they certainly produced some dramatic landscapes. Few stops along the way got us there quickly, and once we approached Dubuque, we started getting some really big hills, resulting in another new high speed personal record- 46.4 MPH. I don't really think we're going much from there, but some areas here were perfect, fresh asphalt roads, and the riders were spread out enough to have little problems. On the other hand, they did start bunching up around a number of the uphills, producing quite a crowd as we reached the legendary Potter Hill. A 19% grade for 1 mile, this was more of a challenge than any previous hill on the ride, by quite a ways. It starts for .1 mile with a more gradual grade, then up the hill it goes. It was a bit intimidating, and the locals were having some fun with us- a few encouraging, and a few sitting by the side of the road with a "Welcome to Potter's Hell- 19% grade 1 mile" sign. Even those guys were encouraging, though you could tell they were slightly amused. Many people got off and walked barely into the lower, flatter portion of the hill. I was feeling like this was a challenge I should really push to achieve, so I tried my best to get up the hill with my usual strategy- keep it as high as I can still comfortable manage, and pull/push hard to keep rolling. This worked on the lower section, but I started losing momentum in the steeper area. I decided to downshift, and somehow it didn't work right. It spun and wouldn't engage on the lowest gear of the rear derailleur. I fumbled, shifted it back up and pulled, then eased off and downshifted again- same problem. Got the front downshifted and tried one more time for the back. I was still moving, but just barely, and had made it about 2/3 up the hill. At that point, the chain slipped a time or two, refusing to engage "granny gear" for me, and I almost fell over because I couldn't clip out in time. I managed to catch myself, and started walking the bike up the hill. At that point, I stopped for a minute to take a few pictures back down the hill, then I decided to try it again. I was only in 3rd gear, but I really needed first to make it up, so I'd have to start on that uphill, pull hard to get a little momentum, then quickly downshift and hope it worked. I tried, and it worked, so I headed up the hill at 2-3 MPH, and it soon started to flatten out. This eased the trouble, and I topped the hill, puffing hard. Tender Tom's Turkey, one of the food vendors I hadn't tried yet, was at the top of the hill, so I stopped for a marinated turkey breast sandwich (excellent, like all RAGBRAI vendors seem to be). Then I headed up the last section of that road before we turned onto another. Some locals were there congratulating everyone for surviving it, and claiming that they all stop and walk their cars up that hill. Then we began the million hills that start settling into Dubuque. Not quite as steep or long as Potter Hill, but not much less on either measure. There was an endless stream of people sitting in their yard, congratulating everyone on their ride and welcoming them to the city. They also kept saying that we had 3 miles and two hills to go. And two hills later, it was still 3 miles and 2 hills. Not sure how they coordinated that. A few final breathtaking downhills (38MPH with the brakes on)and we made it into downtown Dubuque and on to the dip site at the port. Some great live music was going there, a welcome banner overhead, and many, many more people shouting encouragement, "You made it", "You did it", and "Congratulations". I headed into the dip site thinking about that- I did do it. Guess I can stop worrying if I can make it now. Even though I knew I was heading to the end, it hadn't fully registered. It was done. There were logistics left- getting the car, bags, traveling home- but the trip itself was done. I got out my trusty Olympus camera to get a good picture of my final dip-and dropped it on the pavement. That camera has been a great one for many years, but I think that finished it. I got a cell phone picture, and headed out for cleanup.
Since it's my birthday, I thought I should at least have a nice meal before starting the trip back. I ended up in the Star Restaurant in the Star Brewery at the Port. It's a nice place, had good "American Grill" kind of fare, and some decent beer. Along with an internet connection, ot let me get the blog up to date while looking out the window at the river. They have a nice riverfront here, and the RAGBRAI party is going on downstairs, so it's fun to watch. I've hogged the table long enough, however, so I think I'll finish up this post and head out. I do have a bunch of pictures which I'll post later, along with some of the stories from the ride that I haven't had time to write up so far. There are too many storied to tell quickly, but I'll try to bring a few more over the next week or so,along with the pictures and their stories. Guess it's off to either shop for a replacement camera or just plain head home. Not sure which, but we'll see. Thanks to everyone who's been following along and sent me congrats and encouragement along the way. it really means a lot to me to be sharing this experience with you. More later.