Get Them Doggies Rollin'!

R.A.G.B.R.A.I. is rolling through our town today!   What the heck is THAT you say??!  

R.A.G.B.R.A.I. stands for (Des Moines) Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.

A lot shorter way of saying there will be more than 10,000 bicylists riding across your great state, some drunk or with great hangovers and/or sunburns.

My brother rides it *almost* every year.  He had to take a year off to break his back, but he's right back in the thick of things again.

For several years, his sons, or at least one rode with him.  For a couple years, Ryan rode along for a day when it was near us.  Each day of the RAGBRAI week, they ride about 90 miles or so and then party hard in the town they're staying overnight in.  

Mark had shown Ryan how to de-nerdify his ride and his look.  Ryan got the official team Marley t-shirt, head and wrist bands.  Mark ripped off the sleeves and gave him bumper stickers to decorate all over the $600 bike Mark advised him to get.  Well, us to go in halves with Ryan for Christmas...  Mark loaned him some packs to attach for his stuff and they were OFF!

Doesn't Ryan look cool?  Yep - completely de-nerdified!

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The above pics are from 2008.  AND it looks like that was Mark's bike...  Could only find the one when he actually got the thing... It's blue.

This year, our town is about half way through their days ride.  So there shouldn't be anything too weird going on in town.  80% of the townsfolk though are sitting down on the main drag through town in tents and selling stuff to the bikers rolling through.  

This morning before work, I drove out to the cardtrol pumps and caught a few over eager bikers cycle into town.  These are the ones who may party, but it's early and they're on the roads by 6am the next morning.  

They're in it to win!  

I parked the car and walked with my camera out to the highway to see if any bikers were coming into town.  Out by the cemetery I saw a tent with some of our locals there playing music on loud speakers and welcoming the visitors.  I had to chuckle when I heard what they were playing.

Rolling Rolling Rolling, get them doggies rolling! Rawhide!

 These pics are from this morning.

8:00am

I plan to spend my lunch time out there and watch them doggies ride into town.  

It's a major event!  

I'll update this post with more substantial biker shots throughout the day.

10:30am

Progress in the dark... Not what you think...

I managed to get a hold of my son last night around 7:30 to find out how he's doing on his big first day of Ragbrai. He's supposed to bike 77 miles yesterday. From 8am to 7:30, he had gone aprox 50 miles... My brother and his Team Marley group apparently left him in the dust. Ryan must have been stopping to flirt with the pretty girls in all the towns they passed thru. That's all I can think of that might have slowed him down so badly.

So at 7:30, he's in the town of St. Marys. A full 15-20 miles left until Indianola. At 9:30, I hadn't heard from him, so I called again. He was in a car with our friends that he was going to stay with in Indianola. It had gotten too dark to ride and he doesn't have any lights on his bike, so he called them. He'd had about 10 miles left to go.

They are SUPER! and came to pick him up. He only has 44 miles to go today, so he should get there by nightfall... He better! Robb is driving down the 2 hours to pick him up tonight. Hope he's able to find him quickly. Thousands of bikers on the roads. Should be interesting...

RAGBRAII in Iowa

I will tell you right now... When I'm on a bike, I'm huffing and puffing at the end of the 2nd block... If it's downhill. I am NOT an avid bicyclist. My son, however...

Two Christmases ago, my son was having a very difficult time in his 16th year. My brother is a big sportsman, biker, spelunker, you name it... He suggested that we buy Ryan an ungodly expensive bike for Christmas. We did. Half of the cost came out of Ryan's savings account, but he didn't know about it until after the fact.

At our personal family Christmas, Ryan unwrapped a box that had a brick or two in it along with a note to check the front porch. Waiting for him was a Raleigh bike, helmet and a gift certificate for the local bike shop. Also an invite to join my brother on the annual Ragbraii ride in the upcoming July. Ryan loves that bike!

He rode with my brother last summer for one day on Ragbrai which lasts a whole week. Ragbrai, in case you don't know, is a ride across Iowa. Starts on one side and they zigzag across the state regardless of weather and hills. It's quite an event! Check out my other posting of it.

Ragbrai started on Sunday of this week and Ryan jumped on just this morning. He's going to ride for 2 days this time. Today, he'll ride 77 miles and tomorrow is a pidley 44, with a stayover at a friends house in Indianola, Iowa. He couldn't fit a sleeping bag on his bike, so he's hoping for a bed!

He was kind of hoping to go all week with my brother, but we didn't think that would be a good idea with 4H county fair judging on Thursday and such a busy week. Next year, he'll have graduated out of 4H and can spend the whole week if he can find someone to ride with and he has the right equipment.

He met up with Mark this morning in Greenfield, Iowa and they're off and riding now. Wish him luck!

To the rescue!!!

Ok - who else learned how to spell rescue from the movie The Rescuers? R.E.S.C.U.E. rescue aide society... I may have been 25 when I first heard it, but it is cemented in my mind now... I found myself humming that yesterday.

My GRADUATE son went on a bike ride yesterday. He's a serious bicyclist and got the bug from my brother. My brother, Mark, is an avid bicyclist and encouraged us to get Ryan a good bike (meaning expensive) for Christmas a couple years back. Mark rides on the RAGBRAI bike ride every year. In case you don't know what that stands for... neither do I... The last 4 letters stand for Bike Ride Across Iowa tho and boy is it! You start on one side of Iowa on the hottest day of the year and ride across (approx 70-80 miles per day) for an entire week until you hit the other side. There are thousands of bikes on the route and you don't want to be driving on those roads when they do. It is a sight to see.The above photo is Ryan early that morning before Mark "de-nerdified" him. Gave him one of his Team Marley t-shirts and ripped the sleeves off. Gave him a head-band and wrist bands, changed the pedals to the new clip type that I'd bought for it, took off a few too many reflectors and made it COOL! Check out Ryan's farmer tan! He'd been detasseling all that week and had been wearing a tshirt with sleeves. Below is the "after"... He'd ridden about 70-80 miles this day and I think that's Mark's bike.Mark & Ryan.

Mark has been on this ride for many years, some with his kids. This includes the year he broke his back, a few years ago. Last year, Ryan rode with him for one day when the route swung past us and got hooked.

So this year, he's gearing up early and is going to be prepared. He rode approx 30 miles a few days ago, 10 miles Tuesday and yesterday got to 7 miles. It's not that he's slowing down... On Tuesday, he rode 5 miles into the wind and got a nice lift back home, so that was a good workout. Yesterday, he rode 6-7 miles away from town and was coming up to a stop sign. Now with the good (expensive) bikes, you have good (expensive) bike shoes too that hook into the pedals. He got his shoe stuck and couldn't pull his shoe off the pedal, so when he got to the stop sign, he fell over... If you can imagine THAT sight...

He had his cell phone with him so he called me. How do I know where 600th ave and 190th street cross??? I'm not a farmer! So he had to describe to me the turns he made to get where he was. I took a break from work and drove there. When I drove up, he walked toward me carrying his bike. Blood trickled from one knee and he had an attitude... Apparently the bike chain had come off when he fell over. Poor kid.... doesn't know how to put a chain on... I got my hands greasy later showing him how. There was a car at the stop sign, but they didn't help, just watched him fall over... Ryan compared them to the story of the good Samaritan and how they weren't it...

I guess I was... but maybe only because he's my baby!!