Ia Cyclist Blog

Tues, Hill & Headwinds (RL)

2006-07-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

No one got off easy tuesday. We spent most of the day ridding up never ending rolling hills and fighting off headwinds.

There is an old cycling saying you can get to the top of a hill, but headwinds will stay with you all day. Well, let me tell you this, sometime the hill(s) never ends, and there is a gust of wind waiting at the top to push you back down.

We were going down steep hills and only topping out at 8 mph.

Everyone was really beat down and sore. The beer garden was mostly locals although the bars looked like they had picked up the die hard party cats that still had legs left.

For those of you keeping score at home Tuesday Farmboy (1), Walking taco (1), Rootbeer (2), Pork Wing (1), Big Pasta dinner (2 trips).

Rubber Side Down,
- RL

Great Day On the Bike (RL)

2006-07-23T20:56:00.000-05:00

We're on Ragbrai BABY! That's right; after a having a great host last night in Sergeant Bluff, we pushed off this morning around 7:15. Sunday usually means hills on Ragbrai. This year was no different. We spend a good deal of the morning climbing out of the Lose Hills (?) of the Missouri valley. Great weather and cool tail winds made the climbs a little easier.

All of the first time riders are doing well and the old hats are doing just as well.

Unfortunately there was some sort of accident we rode up on that caused a 30 delay as they life flighted a person off the route. Every time they call in life flight or an ambulance screams by, you are reminded that you vacation can turn fatal really quick.

Ok, enough of the serious talk. I know Floyd Landis reads our blogg and hits our site regularly so I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his win in the Tour De France. Floyd, when we get together you still owe me a pitcher of Fat Tire.

Tomorrows ride looks as though it will be as hilly as today's, so I'm sure there will be a lot of sore legs in tomorrows entries.

For those playing the home game. So far Sunday Farm Boy (1),Turkey Leg (1), Home Made Ice Cream (1.5), Corn on the cob (1), Pasta meal (2).

Look for our Monday post, and feel free to reply to anything posted on this blog. We relate messages to krewemates when new post are made.

Rubber Side Down and Ride Fat

- RL

Groups are talking. We´re listening. Check out the handy changes to Yahoo! Groups.

Ragbrai 2006 (R.L)

2006-07-18T13:01:00.000-05:00

Be watching July 23-29, 2006, because we'll be blogging our way across the state of Iowa again.

New Belgium

2005-10-11T16:40:00.000-05:00

We have our Tour De Fat 2005 now up on our website.
http://www.ridefat.com

- ray

Moose Encounter (AJ)

2005-08-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

It took all of three hours to get off the plane and onto a mountain bike when I arrived in Bozeman. I began my climb up the Bozeman Creek Trail to negotiate what locals call �The Wall of Death.� As I cycled up the double track, I had to remind myself to take in the scenery since Iowa doesn�t offer pine cover mountain views. But before long I was again gazing at the earth as it swept beneath my front wheel. It�s not enough to enjoy the scenery; I have to put myself through a little misery to make it all worth while.

I was aroused from the hypnosis by the thunderous of hooves coming down the trail toward me. A bull moose with antlers spanning five feet was charging down the trail straight toward me, 30 yards and closing fast. I had very little time to plan an escape or defense; at this point both were futile. I hobbled my bike off the edge of the trail to give him the widest berth possible. My mouth gapped open and my shouts were merely Porky Piggish mumbles. �Excuse me but abadiababa...� The tall muscular shoulders flexed and shook under his black hairy hide with each step. As the bull strode past me, nostrils flaring, I looked him square in the hairy eyeball. I read his look to say, �If this dog wasn�t chasing me, I would have at you, tourist!� The leggy boxer mix, probably bread for moose chasing ability, called off his chase as he approached me. Satisfied with his handy work, the dog trotted back up the trail.

I watched as the moose veered off the trail and crashed down the slope to the stream below. The experience left me more confused than scared. I returned to the saddle and the trail ahead.

As I approached the single track or �Wall of Death�, a light rain shower was making traction on the rock and roots a challenge. I was disappointed that the conditions forced me to walk a few sections, but Mom would be happy I returned home in one piece. The clouds broke and the sun shown on Mystic Lake when I topped the trail. What a sight. I held on to a false optimism that the sun would remain for the rest of my ride. I decided to take an extra trail up higher on the ridge and climb to 7500 ft before descending and returning to town.

A second and stronger thundershower caused a retreat to lower ground. I didn�t take time to calculate the odds of surviving both a moose encounter and a lightening storm, I pointed my wheel down hill and pedaled hard. I wished I had a speedometer as I descended the double track. The rain stung. The tires kicked up sloppy grit. I got soaked from both sides. And I loved every minute of it.

After a long hot shower, it was time for refreshment. A quick search of the well stocked cooler in the hotel room yielded an agreeable beverage for this moment. A Fat Tire Ale. I reflected on the days ride with a sense of satisfaction and bewilderment at the moose encounter.

And Now A Letter To Our Sponsors (RL)

2005-08-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

If you were to put Beadwhore, Fetish, and New Belgium Brewery on an SAT question, I'm guessing, most people would not choose B) God fearing, mid-western, cyclist. But that would be the correct answer.

Warren Buffet encourages people to invest in companies that they use
everyday. These three companies are; or should I say, have became the trinity of our cycling krewe. Over the past year or two we have been fortunate to make acquaintances with these three companies and hope to continue building on these relationships.

We just don't go out and ask companies willie-nillie if they would like to sponsor us. Matter of fact, we have even been asked if we might be interested in picking up minor sponsors here and there, but we had to regretfully tell Mr. Trump we just couldn't make the connection.

That being said, I would like to thank Beadwhore MARDI GRAS Gear for plying us with beads and stickers again this year. As I'm sure you can tell from the website, we are all a shy group of cyclist and find it hard to start conversations with strangers. Nothing draws a crowd of people like some lick on tattoos and beads. Next thing you know, we have all kinds of people that want to be our friends.

Fetish Cycles have given us serious credibility with cyclist that are in the know. Out of the 15,000 cyclist on Ragbrai, we only saw 4 Fetish bikes. We had two of them on our krewe. The awesome part about it was, that a lot of people knew of Fetish Cycles and Ragbrai was their first glimpse of these awesome bikes. We hope that there will be another three or four Fetish bikes on our Krewe next year.

Lastly New Belgium Brewery. I can't even imagine the discussions that must have went on when Brian S. went to his bosses and said, These total strangers in Iowa want us to send them a bunch of free swag that has our names on it, and they want to pass it out to 15,000 riders over a 7 day bike ride. It was either a slam dunk and the easiest pitch he has ever made, or one of the hardest sales he has ever had to make. We passed out over 500 tire patches and lip balms during Ragbrai. Some went to children and non Ragbrai riders, the rest went to cyclist and vendors. Many of the cyclist that did receive patches and lip balm needed them badly so it was very practical swag.

Amy H. thank you so much for all of the great shirts you sent for our overnight host. Many of our host put their shirts on immediately and were very proud to wear them up to the beer tents at night. They were the perfect gift and we encouraged all of our host to go out to website and learn more about this company that is going to be coming to Iowa in the very near future. We were also able to share New Belgium beers with many of our host, so we primed the pump, would you get here already?

Lastly, Mike H. The Missouri beer ranger. Thank you for popping open Kirksville Mo for us. I can't begin to tell you how much happier our lives have been now that we have an extra 8 hours a month that we don't have to spend in the car doing beer runs. You're the only ranger we know and we will gladly welcome you into our Krewe and state anytime you're ready. Your patches, gifts, and other swag were more than generous, and we can't begin to tell you how much they were appreciated as we proudly rode, opened, and reflected as we followed our folly across Iowa.

We hope that we can continue to grow our relationships with you in the up coming years. If you need anything from us, please don't hesitate to ask, because if it's within our means, we try our hardest help you out

.

We are an extremely close group of friends with one thing in common. We still like riding bikes together. Just like we did when we were kids. It's not all that uncommon for use to click off 5 or 10 miles side by side without anyone saying a word. Not because we are laboring so hard we can't talk, but rather we know what each other is thinking "I love riding my bike".

- The Krewe

http://www.beadwhore.com/
http://www.fetishcycles.com/
http://www.newbelgium.com/

19 Ragbrais down 19 more to go. (RL)

2005-07-31T14:23:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-31T13:22:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-31T12:47:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

(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)

2005-07-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-28T19:30:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-28T19:19:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-26T16:31:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-25T15:04:00.000-05:00

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,

Everyone Is Alright (RL)

2005-07-25T07:09:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

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.

Clouds Save The Day (Ray)

2005-07-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-22T14:46:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-22T11:10:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-21T17:21:00.000-05:00

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