RAGBRAI update, Day 4

Tuesdays ride: The second shortest mileage of the route, the ride to Ames is 57 miles. The road stays flat until it reaches Boone and the infamous Hecklers Hill . A group of merry pranksters set up shop on a hill and encourage, badger, cajole riders on their way up. It is all in good fun and it helps to put a smile on the face of the suffering.

Lance Armstrong took the stage at the Cycling Country Festival at around 8 p.m., just before Styx performed.Armstrong thanked the crowd for coming out, and compared RAGBRAI to the Tour de France. About RAGBRAI, he said, "The crowds were a little friendlier, there was a little more beer. A little more pride, a little more pork chop." 

This won't be the last RAGBRAI for the seven-time Tour de France winner. "We will be back every year. Because this is cycling in America."

Wednesday's ride: Mileage: 78 miles Climb: 2,869 feet

This day's 78-mile ride sets out on one of the longest of RAGBRAI's traverses of the Lincoln Highway, through Nevada, Colo and State Center, to name just a few of the towns. All along the way are remnants of businesses that sprang up along the old two-lane highway in the first half of the last century. The route will take riders along the fringes of the Meskwaki Indian Settlement on the way to the overnight in Iowa's twin cities of Tama and Toledo.

GO NICK!!