We met with the CEO and officers of the Fly Girls & Tag Alongs Ragbrai team last night to watch the route announcement:
Number 47 is coming in 174 days
And the winners are : Council Bluffs, Atlantic, Winterset, Indianola, Centerville, Fairfield, Burlington, and Keokuk.
On the road again, this time starting in Onawa, Iowa:
Looks like we have here Lois, Barb, Ken, Sue and Jim getting ready for the first day of the ride
Onawa, Iowa is where the Darrow Pipe Organ company is located. I stopped by their shop located at 421 Pearl Street in Onawa just by chance as it was just a block away from the Ragbrai Expo, a good thing too, because there was not much new at the expo this year except for the Tide booth where I won a stainless steel coffee mug.
Biggest tractor award
Goes to this Case Quadratrack Mega-tractor parked out near some main street in Iowa someplace.
A sign of our age
No, we didn’t stay here, but this was the first Ragbrai we did where there was NO CAMPING! Oh, one night we stayed in a rustic cabin in a state park that had a bed and was air conditioned, but the bathroom/shower facility was located in another building. Other than that, it was Quality Inns and EconoLodge for us.
Weld two school buses together, what ya get?
The Bus Maximus of course. Since we didn’t make the campgrounds at any overnight, I didn’t get a chance to meet up with some of my favorite Ragbrai teams and their buses but we saw this one in the parking lot at one of the meet-up towns. (I did get to meet Lee Dog of the Tall Dogs again this year for a short time).
Thomas Rest Haven in Coon Rapids
This place sold Gyros for lunch and the residents were having a great time using water guns to shoot at the passing cyclists. I had heard that they were pretty accurate marksmen.
With Iowa State mascot, Cy the Cardinal
The Iowa State ‘Cyclones’ were called the Cyclones since 1895 but it was too hard to dress some volunteer to look like a a system of winds rotating inward to an area of low atmospheric pressure so years later the university chose a bird for their mascot.
The ABC computer
I made a pilgrimage to the Durham Center to see the first electronic digital computer ever built, but of course the exhibit was on loan to a computer museum in California. There were a few vacuum tubes and a memory cylinder on display so it wasn’t a total loss.
Jacquie Phelan and the Ragbrai Banjo
Jacquie, also known as “Alice B. Toeclips” is a famous cyclocross racer and founder of the WOMBATS. From an interviw: She has been called “the outlaw queen of mountain biking.” Sometimes, she plays the banjo.
Six Miles outside of Melborne, IA
In this picture, upper left is an Iowa State Patrol vehicle with a large audio speaker on the roof. On the right, THOUSANDS of cyclists safely crossing a highway. Bottom center is an official Iowa State Patrol wireless body microphone connected to a left-handed banjo.
Wilton, Iowa
In a caboose playing banjo for an hour. Another Ragbrai complete. No rain, no heat, no humidity. Best Ragbrai ever?
Somewhere in Glenwood. Iowa
It’s 6:50 AM. Time to unload the bikes!
It’s also when we heard an ambulance rushing to the scene of the first RAGBRAI fatality; A pickup truck hit and killed one of the riders heading out to the river to dip his tire. Not the best sign on the first day. Also, half a block down the alley was the camp for the TALL DOGS! I didn’t see Lee Dog however.
A Covered Bridge
Not anywhere near Madison County, possibly the town of Delta, Iowa. Lots of old buildings here. Not really a RAGBRAI pass through town, but still some welcome signs around. It was also a “short cut” to Sigourney, Iowa!
Yes, this is in Delta, Iowa
There was a dentist in town named “FEAR” and they still had a sort of museum with his chair and drills, but it looked like it had been closed for at least 20 years. Just a note to the fact that my old dentist in Fort Collins was James Mangle.
Poor Bike
This was not the best Ragbrai for me. The first three overnights had poor cell phone reception and then my pedal fell off (The threads got stripped) and I had to wait for the SAG to get me into town (only 8 miles to go!). The picture above shows this guy on the Big Wheel passing my disabled bike. Having poor phone reception meant I couldn’t contact other musicians on the route and find a location to jam. Poo!
Centerville, Iowa
Centerville was a neat town and I believe it to be the best town on RAGRAI this year! The organizers chose the theme “There’s No Place Like Centerville” from the Wizard of Oz movie and put a lot of time painting a “yellow brick road” and decorating KYBO’s.
Centerville, Part 2
A visit to the Appanoose County Coal Mining Museum where someone took my picture and somehow I found it while searching the internet.
Centerville, Part 3
A photo with the Pancake Day Queen, Miss Madison Mooreman (see here for the Register’s interview ) . The question is about the size of the town square. Just how big is it? Well, OK, it’s not 18 million square feet like the one in Xinghai, China but Miss Madison says it, and there was a sign that said that Centerville has the LARGEST TOWN SQUARE IN THE WORLD. This is defined by the fact that the roads around the square have no stop signs, hence, it’s the largest continuous town square in the world! Get it?
Maybe Unionville, Iowa
This picture was taken by a group of riders out of Texas who publish some kind of fitness blog out of Austin. Imagine, ME in a fitness Blog! ??
Banjo heads over the Ragbrai years: 2005 through 2014. I couldn’t find a picture from 2006 .
Independence to Gutttenberg was the last day, but we knew from the 2005 ride that getting in and out of Guttenberg is a bit rough so we decided to STOP RIDING AT THE TOWN OF EDGEWOOD, pack up and go home! Might as well; things were winding down anyhow after the storm and nobody on the Flygirls and Tag-A-Longs dipped their tires at the start of the ride so… THAT’S IT!
The recommended parting shots for this day:
Some Bike Bands
These identify registered bikes on the route. Each rider gets to wear a similar band on their wrist to help the SAG drivers identify the body… Or maybe just to let you use the facilities like 1)Shuttle service in the overnight towns, 2)Free access to music events and 3)All the ice cream you can eat!
Edgewood Corgi
Duncan Madog would like this. It’s a little girl corgi with wavy back fur just like Duncan! Her name is Anastasia and she lives in Edgewood, Iowa.
Home made rocking chair
In Greene, Iowa:
There is an outhouse near the old train depot
It’s located away from the Ragbrai fray so I would think that it didn’t get used that day. The Shell Rock River runs through town making it a good venue to sit by the river side and play a few tunes. I also spent some time talking to the locals as they watched the bike parade coming into their town.
Farm Animal Petting zoo
Don’t know where this was on route, but there were several places you could stop and pick up a piglet or pet a cow or introduce yourself some other farm animal. The best farms provided plenty of shade and free water (and antibacterial towelettes).
I met a dairy princess today!
The last place before riding into Waverly was this 4H stop that advertised bananas and malts. Time for a photo op with Miss Celina Young, the 2013-2014 Iowa Dairy Princess (alternate). She will give up her crown next month at the Iowa State Fair. I told her that I used to be the chairperson on sub-committee E-66 on automated lactose analysis of the International Dairy Federation (It’s true!), but I don’t think she was impressed.
Also, while passing through Clarksville, Iowa they had a rusty metal step-ladder you could climb so you could do a panorama shot of the Ragbrai humanity in town:
Well, it was a long day in Clear Lake and it was getting late (and dark). Not really checking my map, I sort of got a bit lost in the overnight town of Mason City. I came across this place by accident however:
It’s called the “Rancho Deluxe Z Garden”
Created by Max Weaver, a former city council member, it appears to be a combination of Chicago’s old Bug House Square, Fort Collins’ Swetville Zoo, and Berkeley’s People’s Park. “In this garden, everyone is welcome” Max would say and on this day a group of Ragbrai campers were using it for their overnight stay.
Jammin’ at the garden?
I was offered a chance to stop by later to jam with some of the Z Garden guests but by the time I found our camp I decided not to try my luck in getting back to the garden. It would have been fun, but I would have paid for it the next morning. One thing I didn’t ask them at the garden: Where were the bathrooms?
Stop 1: Ventura: Not enough KYBO’s in town, if you know what I mean. Played a few songs with Tom on the roadside then split for the next town:
On the way to the next town…
Things were beginning to pick up. What was missing in Ventura was looking much better as we headed toward the town of Clear Lake. Maybe because it was only 5.5 miles away from Ventura that the town felt they couldn’t compete.
Team Red Merkin
This team jersey made very little sense and to top it off, most of the team members that I talked with didn’t seem to know how the team got the name. It might have possible references to something worn by the actress who played the lead in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movie but what that has to do with cycling across Iowa has certainly been lost over time. Check out the Red Merkin Website for less information.
Whatever this was, Note the KYBOs in the background
Yes, it was getting better by the minute. Here various participants are watching contestants play “Coin Slot Roulette” which is not the same as “KYBO Roulette”, a favorite Chicago Urban Bicycle Society sport. Click HERE for details.
The Pyramid House
The bikes traveled into Clear Lake via North Shore Drive, past this place which is a short term rental property ($2100/week) and does not have much information about the place on the official website.
And further down North Shore, the Surf Ballroom
Hey, wait a minute. Clear Lake was an overnight town in 2010. Here it is from this blog: CLICK HERE to see the entry “Winter Dance Party Memorials”
Ron, Jim, John and Dale
Ron plays the invisible drums, Jim plays the pressure cooker banjo, John plays the Iowa Guitar and Dale plays a cigar box guitar. This all happened at the City Park band shell a little bit away from the Ragbrai Main Stage.
ON the Main Stage
The rock band “ABBY NORMAL” with lead vocalist Jana West. They didn’t start until after we were done. Hope to hear from this band again; Could they visit the NoCo foothills someday?
On the way to Forest City: Bancroft!
Bancroft is where Mr. Pork Chop lives
And Tom and I were there to relive the 2005 ride with Paul Bernhard’s pork chop stand by the side of the road. Paul Bernhard, AKA Mr. Pork Chop is still recovering from a broken hip, but he held his porkchop ‘court’ in the middle of town in a gazebo so he could meet his adoring fans. He even had his own ‘Pork Chop Duet’ as mentioned in the Register.
We didn’t make it into Forest City
Only the bad ass Ragbrai riders ditch the overnight town and party in the town before the main town. We didn’t do this on purpose; We just couldn’t find a camping area in Forest City.
Crystal Lake
Wow! How nice was this! See? Only a few tents next to the lake! What could be better than that? Well, how about an air conditioned cabin near the lake? Yep, no camping for us tonight! That’s the way to do it, you betcha! Note: Yes, we thought that this was yet another opportunity to play in the water as in the two previous nights, but there was a sign that warned us of something called “Swimmers Itch” or cercarial dermatitis that turned us away. Too bad, it would have been a perfect night!
