Swim Cap Chaps

   As uncoordinated as I may be... I was drafted to a relay team a few days ago. I'm pretty sure they invited me because I have a slight affinity for costumes and there was a costume contest component as part of the event. You know what... I'll take it!

 I was offered the invitation just a few days before the race so there wasn't a whole lot of prep time... not to mention that the actual "event" wasn't exactly defined. That meant there was no real understanding as to what kind of costumes were needed... in order to win. Were we going to need a lot of dexterity to physically move around, or was it a game of the minds which wouldn't require much movement at all? Were running shoes necessary to stay competitive, or could we outfit our shoes as well? All these questions were largely unanswered, so I had to make sure we were outfitted for anything... without buying anything new... My heart was pounding. I couldn't let my new friends down, but I was secretly peeing my pants... with excitement and fear. These are people who do Ironmans... for fun. They might stuff me in a dumpster afterwards if I let them down!

  As many of you know, I have too much stuff which is why I'm doing this, so multiple rolls of colored Duct tape were in the house, as were a multitude of swim caps! Leftovers from the swim cap dress.

 Our team name was "the furry one, and four fantastic fillies". The relay required us to carry a stick horse and jockey helmet, and was taking place at a horse race. Rummaging through the house, and imagining what my teammates might have accessible to them, we put together a plan. Not my best (which is probably why we didn't win the costume contest) but we managed to make up for it in raw "galloping" talent... some may disagree :) but I didn't end up in the dumpster.

that's my game face... ha! that's duct tape under my eyes, and a swim cap. If you notice the girl behind me, she has a star made of duct tape on her shirt and she's wearing a Brooks running skort. Brooks is one of our races official sponsors, so we all had those already!

We're the team on the far left, and yes... those are chaps... made out of swim caps. The swim caps also went over our feet to make us look more like horses, and the striped socks... well I just love striped socks and I also have a plethora of them.

But what I was really proud of, was the team on the far right... a bunch of boys, who bought nothing new, used the resources available to them (those mylar marathon blankets)and... made quite an impression. One of them even made a tie!

We even brought out the solar powered, PVC stereo from the back of the tandem to the party! Aside from winning... :) the swim cap chaps were definitely my favorite... is there a market for this somewhere??! ha

Rocking to the power of the sun :)

I ride bikes... but I don't love riding bikes.

That being said, I do drive 27 hours across the country (one way) every year to ride my bike across Iowa.

You see, I met this cute boy and he loved riding bikes... So I lied.
"me too!"

Next thing you know, he's online, signing us up to enter the lottery for the Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). Through the smile, I secretly prayed we would NOT make the lottery. Shucks...

For months, I dreaded the date we would be told our fortune (he didn't know any of this).

Then, the phone call came in...
"Hi, yes may I please speak to the lucky participant who has been chosen as one of the fortunate few to rider her bike across the wonderful state of iowa????" (He's kind of a jokester/radio personality type)
"Get ready to have the time of your life ANNNEEE!"

My heart sank. He had already arranged to have me borrow my friends bike, helmet, etc. and our tickets were booked. Not a minute later he was rambling on about which tent to bring and Thermarests, fans, bike jerseys, tire pumps, butt buttr, Cliff bars....

Excuse me... butt buttr???

I was torn. I really liked this guy, and I hate to suck at things, but... buttering my butt that first morning, falling asleep in a lawn chair almost immediately upon arrival at camp that night, heat rash on my thighs when I awoke the next morning and a cold shower at a high school... wasn't exactly the "bonding", "let's get to know each other" experience I was hoping for.

Too late. Day two was 86 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing. Fear and an eagerness to impress were the ONLY things making this "vacation" possible. All those "pie" and "frozen snickers" and "slip n slide" signs were just cruel. Were they mocking me?

I was afraid I wouldn't make it 86 miles in one day already... let alone if I stopped every coupla' miles and ate candy bars!

What had I gotten myself into... Each day that year, I rode more than I ever had in my whole life. I was scared to death to drink a beer like the other 30,000 people because.... what if I died??

You can tell that I knew NOTHING about anything... really. Thankfully I don't like to sound stupid so I actually listened to this cute boy and diligently heeded his advice.

Drink all your water in between towns.
Drink this gatorade.
Eat a piece of pie, and make sure you get ice cream, you need the calories.
Take a video of this slip n' slide, it's going to be a great marketing tool for our friends...

Marketing tool?? I swear, one hour, into day one, he was already planning his strategy to get our friends to Iowa for this ridiculous bike ride...

4 years later... There is now a painted "short" school bus on the team, an english bulldog (who doesn't do well in the Iowa heat) as the mascot, a roof rack capable of carrying 20 or more bikes, a 65 year old Special Ed teacher lady as the driver, and any crazy we can talk into joining us. Sounds nuts right?

Throw in a tandem. A bicycle built for two. Sounds romantic right?
Well let me tell you that what isn't advertised in that cute little photo...  a tandem bicycle requires constant communication. Good communication. Oh we both talk a lot... but that isn't good enough.

We've since then talked to a lot of tandem bicycle  duos and most of them put in hundreds of training miles before RAGBRAI to make sure their "communication" is good enough to get them through a week of 90+ weather, 60% humidity, hills, and camping - without killing each other.

We showed up with our brand new tandem with 0 miles ridden together.

There should be a group called "Tandems anonymous"...

Year one on the tandem... went ok.
Year two as a tandem... went ok, with one MAJOR improvement - in our communication :)

that my friends is a homemade solar powered stereo, wired up to my iPod, conveniently located on my handlebars. Talk about ingenuity, creativity, resourcefulness... and a MIRACLE :)

Someone a little sore and tired in the morning?
      - switch on a little Coldplay, some Chris Brown and suddenly the group is pedaling together, and even the crowd is thanking us for bringing a little motivation.


Someone gets a little mouthy up front...
      crank up Rihanna and the next thing you know, you don't hear a thing.

The hills, yes HILLS in Iowa, kickin your butt?
     some Thunderstruck from AC/DC gets your head banging, and the next thing you know, you're at the top enjoying some free watermelon.

I've heard him explain how he made it, but I still don't completely understand. Does every guy just know how to make stereos from nothing?

And in case you were wondering... it's not a laptop on the back... that's the solar panel :)

One of the greatest gifts to a tandem - a communication blocker outer! ha

innovation

So every year 30,000 people ride their bicycles across Iowa. This year the temperature never dropped below 90 degrees (even at night) and the humidity didn't dip below 60%. As much fun as this may sound... it's more funnerest than you can imagine :) and the people you meet on an adventure like this are even more impressive...

Can you guess what this thing does?

It's a homemade pancake cooker. This contraption was the brainchild of some firemen in a town with a population of less than 1,000. (Yes I said firemen, because they were all men, I'm not being sexist) I was mesmerized by this wonderful piece of ingenuity and resourcefulness. It's a large wheel barrow type base on the bottom. The turntable sits under the large metal wheel and it's timed just perfectly. One firefighter would squirt the pancake dough out of the bottle and a 1/3 of the way later it would come to the next firefighter who would flip it, and then when it reached the third firefighter he would flip it onto your plate. Even the dispenser for the dough was a large bucket they had drilled a hole into the bottom of and then made a spicket to fill the bottles. I was so impressed with their invention, obviously taking pictures like a fool, they didn't really think much of it :)

When I got home and showed a friend these photos she said their firefighters in their town of 100,000... catered their "fundraising" pancake dinner. Lame huh. Talk about making something from nothing. Just another reminder of how dependent we've all become on having other people create things for us, do things for us. I guess Nike really was on to something :)