19 Ragbrais down 19 more to go. (RL)

Every year , right before we take off on the first day of Ragbrai I ask Mike if he wants to go on a bike ride. This is what we have been doing since we were boys. We would ride around Ottumwa and southern Iowa solving mysteries and putting bad guys behind bars. I guess that was the Hardy Boys, but I digress. I'm not sure if I have ever asked Mike to throw a baseball around, I've never asked Mike to go swimming, I've never asked Mike to go to a Movie. All we have ever done is ride bikes, so we're pretty good at it by now. That being said; I HATE you MIKE JONES, I never wanted to see you again........ I KID, I KID, come on now.

We had another great krewe again. It's really odd what Ragbrai does to people. As my brother calls it "Camp Ragbrai", because you get a clear picture of a persons personality very quickly, and deep friendships can be made very quickly and trust gained with the gift of a simple banana.

Pam & Meg brought so much to the Krewe this year. From companionship on the bike, to the realization that you don't need to drink beer to have fun. Now, it's not that we didn't drink, because we did; ALOT. It's more that we saw those two not drinking, yet still having fun. So if we ever wanted to try not drinking, we know that it's possible to still have a good time. Let's just hope that day doesn't come anytime soon.

Our host were simply awesome this year. I think in all my 19 years, this was only the second time I have stayed in side. We were showered with, gifts, and feed like kings. We really appreciate all of the cleaning, cooking, and general preparation that went into having total strangers come into your house and mess things up for 16 hours.

To the towns that hosted us and let us pass though, THANK YOU so much for your efforts. I'm sure the sun burns we left you with, will serve as a reminder for the next couple of days, of the good times we had with you.

Northwood....YOU DID IT. You fed everyone, everyone had a place to stay, and your band kick ass. For a town of 2000, you showed everyone that the smaller you are, the more resourceful you become.

To the civil authorities out there. As always, I can only offer you thanks. Just saying "YOU'RE WELCOME" to the 1000's of rides that say thank you to you as they go by has got to be a daunting task.

I am always amazed that the some cop that is clearing out the beer tents at 1:30 am is the same cop that's telling me where to hop on the route at 8:00 am.

Thanks to my wife and family. I have a 20 month old that is a full time job for two adults, my wife has proved she is just fine without me, and world wouldn't fall apart.

My mom sewed 10 New Belgium shirts and Hats in 12 hours. Those are some serious efforts that are impressive even by Pacific rim standards.

I'll probably do a couple more recap Bloggs, so I'll cut this off here,
but I'll leave this first one off like this.

Just as I ask Mike if he wants to go on a bike ride the first day of Ragbrai, I ask Mike after we dip our tires if he thinks we should try it (RAGBRAI) again next year, Mikes always replies; Sure, what ever it takes.

We'll see you all next year.

- R.L. (Big Pimp)

Dear Nyndugu 7 Final? (AJ)

The final leg of our seven day journey to Guttenburg got off to a late start as predicted.  The hills that kill were ahead of us, a night of bebachery was behind us.  The rock and a hard place we were in was compounded by the Blunder in Gunder.   Four men embarked on a mission to each eat a one pound Gunderburger, made with love at The Shanti in Gunder Iowa.  Two men completed this gastronomic trial by glutony, yet its unclear what long term health effects will haunt them.  Pimp, John E, Mike and myself all put a fork in what will probably the largest burger they will ever face.  Infact it was larger than even Big Pimps face.  I successfully ate the burger with the aid of a Grainbelt beer which tamped down the burger into a nice bolus in my ponch that to this day is somewhere between my... excuse me for offending you.  Pimp completed that challenge then decided to also eat Tokyo, but decided that St. Olaf was much closer.  John E and Mike were aided by King James and his tapeworm "Jimmie".  Is there nothing the King can't do?  Sadly, none of us had room for a famous giant t-loin in St Olaf. 

 

After an icecream stop at Beekmans, oh the vanilla/rasberry was so good, we forged on to the river.  My stomach aching and breath shallow. 

 

A group photo on a bluff overlooking the mighty Miss brought a tear to my eye.  I had realized that yet another RAGBRAI was at end.  I was reminded of a quote by some ancient philosipher, to the effect of "you can only step in a river once."  Like our lives, the river floods, subsides, and meanders, forever changed by these events. 

 

Until we ride again, Love, AJ

Dear Nyndugu (6)

The last night of ragbrai went out with a bang.  There was much calamity and chaos.  Phat Cats was packed with smelly riders and even smellier locals.  The first rate slippery slide saw few riders due to the still chilly temperatures, or perhaps due to the guy with an apparent bladder control problem.  The Krewe was in top form, stickerin' and tattin' anyone who stood still long enough.  Even some of the more "shy" krewe members got into the fray, too bad they came out of thier shell on the last night.  Looks like another late start for the Krewe's last day on the trail.

Someone Answer That Damn Phone (RL)

(1)Well, it's 2:31 and we're only in Waucoma; how can that be? Bad alcohol.  That's right, some where along the line last night, everyone on the Krewe got into some bad alcohol.  We woke up an hour and a half late, and everyone's felt sick to there stomach and had headaches.

Poor Mike can barley turn his pedals over.

When we left at 10:00 am, there were very few riders in front of us, and venders were taking down stands.  We're back up with pack now and we have around 20 some miles left

(2) Mike has been having some issues with his $600 disc wheel over the past 4 days so he using Brenda's $100 wheel on the back of his bike, and now he is running pretty stealth. Let's see what tomorow brings

(3) Marty had a flat this AM.  I think it's been a while since he has changed a tire.

(4) Thanks again to Pat Hazel for playing at Matt and Stacy's last night.  One person came up afterwards and asked Pat if she could hug him.  She then said, "I'm glad your here again, you made my Ragbrai".   I was so touched I had to open another beer.

(5) Matt and Stacy Bryant.  Thanks again for hosting us lastnight.  The food, the music, the use of your toilets.  You did way too much.


(6) We just ate the best pulled pork sandwiches, except they called them BBQ beef sandwiches......Scratch that, we just had the worst BBQ beef sandwiches.

Keep the rubber side down,

- RL

dear Nyndugu 5(AJ)

After spending the better part of a day with Meg I had to drop her off at a
coffee shop and say good bye. I reflected on the events as I rode by myself
this morning. I was booking it to catch the team that was down the rode 1.5
hrs ahead of me. I had that feeing that you get when you fly back from a
Maui vacation. Tired from the fun you had, sad to think you wont see the
beauty of the Isle again for some time. Still, life is good.

The ride totally wore me out today. Our host family made lasagna that was
very tasty, we had our own live music by Patrick Hazel that was great. Now
I am very sleepy, a nap will be needed before heading in for the nights
festivities. Hope I wake up in time.

Dear Nyndugu 4(AJ)

After not sighting Meg for two days, I decided that it was time to track her
down. Eventualy found her and convinced her to ride with me from Algona to
Northwood. (And it took a fair bit of bribbing, that I was all too glad to
do). Had a great ride withher, she was nice to draft behind, and I often
faked tiredness to increase my time behind her wheel. After riding we met
at the beer garden to watch Karma, a kick ass soul band. Life is good!

dear Nyndugu 3(AJ)

The Party in estherville was kickin' Greg and Wendy really took good care of
us. had a great time. Its amazing what locals do when they work the beer
garden for a few hours and are given a bunch of BW stickers, beads, and
tattoo's.

Dear Nyndugu 2(AJ)

RAGBRAI is going well, my extensive training has my legs and butt
conditioned so well I don't hurt at night. This makes evening festivities a
breeze. However, RAG seems to have gotten off to a rather subdued start.
I have spotted my friend (Meg) on the ride, but have yet to ride with her.
Tracking her down has been a bit of a challenge since her cell phone died.
Hopefully, our paths will cross again.

No Sweat (RL)

Right now as I type, Patrick Hazel is playing at our private house
Party.

The day was really pretty, and pretty easy. We enjoyed tail winds for
a good chunk of the day. Just like yesterday the humidity was low so
there was very little sweating going on today.

We did run into a couple miles of road that were very bumpy and cracks
everywhere. The first responders were kept busy with busy with those
that spend time near the center crack.

Tomorrow, should be interesting. We will be doing some climbing, so
I'm guessing there will be some sore muscles pop out here and there.

Matt and Stacy our host have went above and beyond. Stacy has cooked
five pans of lasagna (sp) and bread. They got Pat Hazel our our
entertainment for the evening. We have been very lucky with our host
families this year.

Everyone is health. All bikes are working well. Marty is still
handsome. All is well with the world.

We went over highway 35 yesterday which means that our vacation is
closer to the end, than the beginning.

Miss you Jana and Emerson.

- ray

Perfect! (RL)

Wednesday turned out to be a perfect day for RAGBRAI. Low humidity
meant nobody was sweating , low temperatures meant nobody was
overheating, and tailwinds meant that everyone was going fast. The day
was relatively easy and the band last night was good. We are rolling
into Cresco this evening to stay with Matt and Stacey Bryant and listen
to Pat Hazell.

Sweet & Sour & Sour & Sweet (R.L)

 

Not a bad day all in all but the wind was the theme of the day today.  We started off the day in the low 60's which made for a chilly start, but our host started us off on the right foot with coffee.

 

We started off the day with a pretty serious climb out of Esterville and while everyone was huffing and puffing, we didn't realize there was a tail wind.  Boy when we turned east we knew.  Winds out of the North pushed us around all day.  They weren't as bad as a headwind, but they were far from helping us.

 

The upside was, we clicked off around 17 miles of route with strong tail winds.  That was the Sweet part.

 

Everyone is doing well.  Because we spent so much time in the rain, there are some with saddle sores already, but we  have the bag balm out so trouble should go away in a couple days.

 

AJ has landed us a great house tonight.  It is 150 years old and is really pretty.  Our host Jeff and his wife have really done a great job of welcoming us, and we look forward to hanging out with them tonight.

 

The temps are supposed to dip down into the low 50's tonight, so I'm guessing that will be the topic of upcomming bloggs.

 

If you aren't on the ride and would like to comment, please click on the comment link and sound off.  Everyone is allowed to post on this site, and we would love to hear from you.

 

- R.L.

 

 

 

Wet Wet WET!!! (RL)

We are in Milford Ia for those of you that are playing at home.

We have been riding in rain for a good deal of the day and it doesn't
look like it's going away anytime soon

As you might have heard by now, Michael Thomas Burke from New York City
died lastnight when a limb fell on him during a violent storm. He his
camp site was about 200 yards from ours. We also had a lot BIG LIMBS
come down around our camp, and I guess we just got very very lucky.
One of the locals shouted out "YOU ALL NEED TO GO PLAY THE LOTTO TODAY"
as he went by our camp.

I think we're about 21 miles out, but I think we're going to stay here
in Milford for a while and see if it the rain clears off.

We have a host tonight, and I think might have laundry access. God I
hope we have laundry.

Soggy in Iowa,

RL

Everyone Is Alright (RL)

 

I'm sure many of you that are following along with us will wake up to news reports of a bad storm that hit Sheldon lastnight.  If they report it as FREAk'EN BAD or WICKED BAD they would be correct.

 

As I sat here and type, chainsaws and inloaders are screaming their labor from every direction.

 

The storm hit around 12:30 and had violent winds and extream rain.  We didn't hear falling limbs, but when it was possible for us to peek our heads out, there were BIG and LOOOONG established limbs all around our tents.  I guess the best way to put it is, we got very luck. There was a house a half a block from us that police and first responders were @ deep in to the morning. 

 

Our host hustled us inside their house and camper which imporoved our chances of sleeping through the night greatly. We were very luck that we had our Sheldon host, because it could have been a very scary evening.

 

The weather sounds a little rocky today, so the bus is going to meet us mid way just incase anyone decides they want to hop on.

 

We have host this evening so we should be in good shape again. 

 

Rubber Side Down,

- RL

Dear Nyndugu 1 (AJ)

Dear Nyndugu,  This evening I bumped into an old friend from 2004 Ragbrai.  It was a nice meeting, we enjoyed fireworks together on the stadium at the fairgrounds.  Life was good.  We will see what tommorrow brings.

AJ

Clouds Save The Day (Ray)

A day that was cut out to be in the 100's plus ended in only being in the low 90's due to a great cloud cover all day.  We had a nice wind out of North east that whipped a bit, but didn't hurt progress. 

 

We covered 62 miles and stayed the the saddle around 4hrs and 12 minutes.

 

As of 4:07 the only person to not make it in is Abbey.  Everyone else had a great ride and all bikes are working well.

 

We have really great host here in Sheldon.  James has once again done an outstanding job in finding a house for us.  They have offered up their AC controlled trailer for sleeping and showers.  They have a great shade and soft grass for us slags that are going to sleep outside.

 

For those of the krewe that can't be with us.  We listen to bluegrass to start off and then did a big Motown listen this afternoon.

 

We ate farmboys (I might have got hold of a bad farmboy, but that's another blogg) for breakfast and grilled meat for lunch.  Carol, the garden of eden looks corperate this year.  Easy up tents, seats, real forks.  

 

We were correct about internet acess on the road.  So far it's been pretty slim so we'll probably post in the afternoon.

 

 

To All Those That Can't Come (RL)

I know we will probably get some traffic from cyclist that aren't able
to come because the "MAN" has them riding a desk in some cube, on some
floor, in some big white building, with bad lighting.

So what's your story you troubled cycling soul?
Where are you from, who do you ride with, and why aren't you riding?
Click on the comments link and let us know

- R.L

Re: Blogging For Dummies

Well, Ragbrai is here and we're going to try this
Blogg thing again.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access we're going to get, do to going though towns with such small population, but we hope to blogg at least once a day to let you know what we're facing.

We have several krewe members that live vicariously through our blogging, so we'll try to keep up.

Vicariously....that reminds me For those of you that know me and those of you that don't; spelling and grammar are not my strongest of traits. Tye a little sunstroke and a line of 20 people behind me wanting to use the computer, and who knows what the hell I'm typing. Feel free to have fun at my expense, it happens all the time. But at least throw a kind word in there every once in a while.

So here we go on the fifth easiest Ragbrai of all time. Do you want us to eat something for you? Let
us know.

- R.L

testing 1..2..3 (johnE)

testing this thingy out...can anyone hear me scream?
how 'bout now? and now? what color underwear am i
wearing? none silly - it's far too hot for sausage wrap!

____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Natasha Needs Lube (AJ)

The Black Russian has developed an annoying CREEKing sound when I ride her.  I have deduced that Natasha (the seat) needs a little lube.  Who knew naming your bike seat after a Russian chick could predispose her to dryness.  Hope this works.  Results update later. 

Bike Prep (AJ)

Polishing up the Black Russian (Fetish Cycles - Black Soul) for the big day on Sunday.  Found out that BR's fancy carbon wheels require fancy and long valve stems. Hence, won't get a ride in this morning like I planned.  Must make stop at a bike shop on my beer run to kirksville Mo today.  Going the distance for New Belgium Beers. 

Blogging For Dummies

Well, Ragbrai is here and we're going to try this
Blogg thing again.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access we're going
to get, do to going though towns with such small
population, but we hope to blogg at least once a day
to let you know what we're facing.

We have several krewe members that live vicariously
through our blogging, so we'll try to keep up.

Vicariously....that reminds me For those of you that
know me and those of you that don't; spelling and
grammar are not my strongest of traits. Tye a little
sunstroke and a line of 20 people behind me wanting to
use the computer, and who knows what the hell I'm
typing. Feel free to have fun at my expense, it
happens all the time. But at least throw a kind word
in there every once in a while.

So here we go on the fifth easiest Ragbrai of all
time. Do you want us to eat something for you? Let
us know.

- R.L