Roadside Mysteries

Introducing:

The 2010 Edition of the RAGBRAI Banjo!

It’s got a new head, new strings and a reinforced neck. With the great feast of the Ragbrai upon us, we are finally ready!

In just eight sort days days this banjo will travel to the state of Iowa. In it’s path: the towns of Sioux City, Storm Lake, Algona, Clear Lake, Charles City, Waterloo, Manchester and Dubuque. Will it be extra hot that week? …and what about high humidity? Well, DUH!

As with any high religious event, preparation leading up to the start in Sioux City undoubtedly  means that there will be ONLY BICYCLE RELATED POSTS on this blog until the start and then nothing but bicycle related posts during the week long excursion through Iowa. After that, there will be additional posts related to certain activities that happened during the high holy week, mostly having to do with bicycles and the people who ride them. And music too. And food! Let’s not forget the food!

As reported here in 2009 and over here in 2008, it seems like every year something needs work on the ol’ RAGBRAI banjo.  We had a bent-over tail and then a broken neck, and now this:

The banjo head exploded!

It had a crack in it a year ago, but it was still playable until I dropped it on a concrete sidewalk about a month ago!  At least half of the drum head rim is split; it could not hold the bridge anymore! How sad.

The head is laid to rest.

This was a Remo Banjo head, about 30 years old I figure. As shown above, it has the last RAGBRAI lettering from the 2009  ride and you can still make out some of the signatures on the left of some of the Iowa folks who put up with me and my playing in 2005. Most of the other lettering has worn off as this banjo spent time outside in the rain at times; even got a dip in the Atlantic Ocean…

But it’s the TIMEX® of the banjo world! “It keeps on plinking”; I also like the neck– it’s fairly straight for a table leg and I put in the mandolin frets myself!  After all these years I can’t let it go.

So, I will replace the head soon and with luck I’ll have it ready for playing outside in the park in no time. And then I can start painting up the head for RAGBRAI XXXVIII. There’s still time. Ragbrai ain’t until July 25th!