Hills? No problem.
Tuesday's jaunt on the third day of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa took riders from Atlantic to Winterset over 82 miles and 4,519 feet of climb. The day was expected to be the hardest of RAGBRAI 51, but riders shrugged off concerns about the hills amid temperate weather early Tuesday morning.
Bill Penn, of Andover, Connecticut, still had "virgin" scribbled on his left calf, signifying that it's his first RAGRAI. On Tuesday morning in Greenfield, Penn said RAGBRAI was "everything he heard about" and met all of his expectations.
Riders like Penn who left before dawn were treated to temperatures in the 60s and 70s through the early morning hours, creating perfect conditions to sprint uphill. By noon, temperatures rose to about 80 degrees, relatively mild for Iowa in July.