We participated in our fifth RAGBRAI [The Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa] in July. It was a brute. One day, the heat index was over 120 with actual on-the-road temps at 110 or more. People were dropping out.

When you are riding on RAGBRAI and get tired and whine to yourself, reality soon rides by. The guy you just passed riding a unicycle. The whole 475 miles on one wheel. There are the many courageous riders who pedal bikes using only their arms because leg power is not available to them. There are the riders with one leg. There are bikers 20 years your senior who ride with the pride and joy of

being able. The contrasts force you to shift gears and give thanks for the gifts you have been given. And hope they are there in some form 20 years out.

The preparation and hospitality of the towns across Iowa are outstanding. The people are endlessly friendly, the food is plentiful and the activities they use to entertain the thousands of momentary guests are splendid. Imagine 15,000 or 20,000 bike riders and support vehicles rolling into a town of 800 people, all wanting to be fed. It takes every church, civic club, youth group, traveling food vendors and nearby town volunteers to make it happen.

RAGBRAI next year? Probably. Trying to keep exercising in some form at least five days a week? Hopefully. Enriched by the people we meet in the pursuit? Definitely!

Brian Hart is a member of the DMU Board of Trustees and the president of Hart Financial, LLC, a firm he founded in 2000 as a registered investment advisor that provides financial planning and investment advisory services to individuals. Prior to forming Hart Financial, he was vice president and chief financial officer of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. RAGBRAI is The Des Moines Register’s annual week-long bike ride across Iowa, now in its 40th year, the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world.

There are seven national shows a year where you can achieve professional status, what everyone wants. Of those shows, only three have the master’s level. I won my second show, which was huge for me because I was competing against women who’d done it for years.

I’m 43. Herein lies the challenge: There is no master’s level in the professional shows, so I’ll have to compete against 20- and 30-year-olds. But I do it to inspire and encourage women of all ages. I love a disciplined lifestyle and competing. If you follow a plan, you can do it.

Diet is 85 percent of it. I eat seven meals a day. My workouts involve a lot of muscle confusion, super sets in which I work out fast with no breaks in between. I work out two to three hours a day, six days a week. It keeps me balanced. When I’m stressed out and then work out, I feel like a whole new woman.

Michon Leddy, PA-C’97, earned her pro card status in the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness at the National Physique Committee Master Nationals in July. She trains with Team Bombshell, one of the top-winning fitness and bikini training teams in the world. Leddy is on the staff of Heartland Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, P.C., in Urbandale, IA.

We have a white canvas tent, cook over an open fire in a Dutch oven and try to use utensils appropriate to the time.

My dad is a blacksmith; my husband, a broom-maker; and my uncle does scrimshaw. I like educating people about the era.

It’s a complete step away from reality. There are no cell phones, and your watch goes away. For four days you’re disconnected – it’s just you and your family and friends. There’s a lot of talking, story-telling and catching up with friends. There are black powder rifle shoots, tomahawk and knife throwing contests, bow-shooting and frying pan throws for the women. Some reenactments have cannon shoots. We do a candy cannon – we fill a large cannon with candy, shoot it off and the candy sort of rains down on you. The kids love it. We’re in it for the fun.

I started pretty young competing with a bullwhip. It can be as simple as hitting an apple off a stump, when you get points depending on whether you hit the apple, slice it or make applesauce. In one competition, we had to hit a bandana out of a cardboard-cutout man’s back pocket and a cigar out of his mouth, without hitting the man. I won that competition. I’m the only woman who competes. I’m trying to get my nieces into it.

At one reenactment, we saw the Northern Lights, then that night it sleeted and snowed. We were so cold! We had one wood stove among four families. But we stayed and had fun. We dress for the weather. I sew a lot of our clothes and have made clothes for all my nieces and nephews. Now they’re growing out of them. That’s what’s nice about our community – they hand those clothes down to younger family and friends.

Rachel Wilson is a certified medical assistant in the DMU Foot and Ankle clinic. She got her husband, Richard “Kenny” Wilson, into buckskinning three months after they met; now, after 13 years of marriage, they took their seven-month-old son, Richard Jonathan, on his first buckskinning reenactment this summer. The Wilsons also are volunteer firefighters for Delaware Township in central Iowa.

As a surgeon, I’d seen anesthesiology. I knew I had to come up with some way to support my family. I thought the path of least resistance was to look at another medical specialty. I applied to the Nebraska Medical Center [residency program]. The director liked seasoned medical professionals. He knew I was a pianist; he liked more well-rounded people. I got the residency and moved to Nebraska.

That was probably the most difficult time in my life. Anesthesiology has the most basic sciences of all the medical specialties; it had been 20-some years since I had that. I thought I didn’t have the aptitude like I did in obstetrics. I suffered from depression and anxiety. The low moment was feeling trapped. No one told me I could quit; that didn’t dawn on me.

As a practicing surgeon, I thought I was God, and everyone affirms it. I found out that I’m a normal human – one day I was a physician, the next day I might not have a job. That was good life training. It was a terrible time with good life lessons learned.

Getting into recovery and getting in touch with God helped. My family and I went through it as a team. There’s a saying: “Let go and let God.” Physicians try to control everything, but you can’t always. The other big lesson was to live each 24 hours at a time, to be in the moment and enjoy life.

Kevin Emge, D.O.’86, FACOOG, is section chief of anesthesiology at Grinnell Regional Medical Center in Grinnell, IA. He recently became an ordained minister with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grinnell. An accomplished pianist and admitted “Type A personality,” he’s also competed in piano competitions internationally and in the U.S., including at the Iowa State Fair, and has been a longtime participant in marathons, triathlons and Ironman competitions.

It’s the same in yoga. We have yoga class participants in their 20s and 60s and everyone in between, and a lot of lawyers for some reason.

My most recent fun activity is stand-up paddleboard. Basically, you stand on your board, use a paddle for balance and do exercises.

You can do a lot of yoga poses while really challenging your core. It’s growing in popularity, but it’s still a novelty. I get a lot of looks from people when I’m on the paddleboard.

My social circles outside DMU have evolved with these groups and activities. It’s really expanded the people I know in Des Moines. I’ve met people I otherwise wouldn’t have met.

Ann York, Ph.D., associate professor in DMU’s College of Health Sciences, has taught exercise classes for the past 30 years and earned her yoga certification two years ago. She’s one of the organizers of the Head of the Des Moines Regatta, an annual competition now in its 29th consecutive year, that attracts rowing masters, juniors and novices from across the country.

When Joe and I got engaged, I wanted a do-it-yourself [DIY] wedding so people would say, “This is different.” I don’t think of DIY as cheaply made; I think of it as custom-made. When you are a DIY creative genius – like I like to modestly consider myself – Googling “creative wedding ideas” is like giving crack to a drug addict. Once I got an idea in my head, I had to do it! This caused a lot of late and stressful nights before the wedding. “Enough is enough” was Joe’s favorite phrase for a while.

I had an idea for a unique way to give guests a thank-you gift and to seat them – with a painted glass that could be used at the open bar. Each glass had a piece of chalkboard vinyl attached where they could write their name and table number. I painted 420 glasses for the wedding. It got to the point where I’d go back to the Dollar Tree and the staff person would say, “Hi, Katie! We just got another shipment of glasses in.” I made the bridesmaids’ purses with cheapies from Payless that I decorated. The groomsmen got glasses painted with their favorite sports team. We made birdcage centerpieces for 37 tables.

My husband is unbelievably frugal, so if I want something, I need to figure out a way to make it. The best thing about crafts, though, is people don’t notice the mistakes. That makes me pretty fearless when attempting new projects.

Katie Langel is DMU’s manager of annual giving, a relentless crafter and author of the blog, thektdid.com. Since her wedding in October 2011, she’s moved on to decoratively painting walls, making headbands for friends’ baby girls and playing the upright piano she obtained free on craiglist.com and – no surprise – refurbished with a cheery orange lacquer.

Five years ago, my older brother, Bob, and I drove across the United States, like a “Route 66” trip. We’ve said we need to do that again, on our motorcycles, with the goal of never riding on interstates. That’s the nice thing about Iowa – there are lots of places you can ride without lots of traffic.

I’ve owned most types of bikes. I had a Harley for a while, so I got to experience that culture. The mystique is that Harley riders represent the lone wolf, but they’re all dressed the same. That’s not bad, it’s just interesting. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve looked for more comfortable, lighter bikes. A 700-pound Harley is hard to move.

I always wear a helmet. Back in New Jersey when I was 17, the state didn’t have a helmet law. I was riding one night and hit a beetle with my forehead. It almost knocked me off the bike.

I guess it’s like [Robert Pirsig’s book] Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, something to just get lost in for a while. I can hold on to the experience of being 17, riding the motorcycle.

I can’t recapture that running the 100-meter dash. If I tried to do that, I’d mostly just feel hurt.

Richard Belloff, D.B.A., FACHE-designate, is an assistant professor in DMU’s College of Health Sciences. His current motorcycle is a 2009 Suzuki Gladius.

I think we started doing this because we both like the outdoors and hiking and exercise. Kevin, my husband, fly fishes. Hiking the national parks can be physically challenging depending on the elevation and terrain, but worth it because of the incredible views at the top – and knowing it is a good workout.

Visiting the national parks is a great adventure, experiencing the new terrain, wildlife and gaining knowledge about the history of the parks and the people who made them happen. It’s a healthy way to escape hectic daily life and enjoy peace and quiet.

Mary Ann Sullivan, R.N., B.H.A.’97, is a nurse and appeals analyst with CGS Administrators, Des Moines, which provides Medicare administrative services for home health and hospice agencies and beneficiaries in Iowa and other states. She serves on the DMU Alumni Association Board of Directors.

It increasingly seems we can’t escape our roles and responsibilities, even temporarily, because technology has become so transportable and accessible that we feel guilty going off the grid.

Most of us know, however, that getting away from it all, even occasionally and temporarily, is good for us mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The people on these pages describe in their own words the ways they decompress, get inspired, re-energize and get their minds off the grind.

Getting away in the great outdoors

by Mary Ann Sullivan, R.N., B.H.A.’97

“Visiting the national parks is a great adventure, experiencing the new terrain, wildlife and gaining knowledge about the history of the parks and the people who made them happen.”

The “Zen” of feeling 17 again

by Richard Belloff, D.B.A., FACHE-designate

“What you experience is…a freedom that’s not unlike the freedom when you first ride a bicycle down a hill without pedaling. Riding a motorcycle is like riding a bike downhill all the time.”

Crafty ever after

by Katie Langel

“When you are a DIY creative genius, Googling ‘creative wedding ideas’ is like giving crack to a drug addict. Once I got an idea in my head, I had to do it!”

Shedding our work costumes

by Ann York, Ph.D.

“We all show up at the river in our rowing clothes and caps. Then later you find out you were rowing with a judge or a surgeon. It’s a great equalizer.”

“Let go and let God”

by Kevin Emge, D.O.’86, FACOOG

“As a practicing surgeon, I thought I was God, and everyone affirms it. I found out that I’m a normal human – one day I was a physician, the next day I might not have a job. That was good life training.”

Really getting away from it all

by Rachel Wilson

“I started pretty young competing with a bullwhip… In one competition, we had to hit a bandana out of a cardboard-cutout man’s back pocket and a cigar out of his mouth. I won that competition.”

Disciplined lifestyle offers an energized escape

by Michon Leddy, PA-C’97

“I’m 43. Herein lies the challenge: There is no master’s level in the professional shows, so I’ll have to compete against 20- and 30-year-olds. But I do it to inspire and encourage women of all ages.”

Keeping the wheels turning

by Brian Hart

“My wife, Julie, gave me a bicycle on my 50th birthday. I wasn’t as appreciative as I probably should have been. Now, seven years later, I own three bicycles….I’ve set a goal of riding 25,000 miles total by my 60th birthday.”

Got your own great escape? Share it with DMU Magazine by contacting editor Barbara Boose at 515-271-1599 or barbara.boose@dmu.edu.