Reflections of RAGBRAI

With Andrew & Toby

It's been a few days since our RAGBRAI adventure has ended and yes we miss riding our bikes as crazy as that may sound to some of you. Today we bring you some forgotten moments & other RAGBRAI stuff we wanted to blog about. One thing that we find very true about RAGBRAI is that it's a ride where adults come to be kids for a week! You ride your bike, eat pie or some baked good
everyday, & just enjoy life without any other worries or responsibilities. The biggest responsibility that you have is not to crash your bike because if you do that your magical RAGBRAI ride could be over & that would stink!

Suzy at dinner

The Dog Named Suzy

Suzy on the bike

Suzy is a dog that not only rides in the basket of her owner's bike while wearing a helmet (safety first!) but also disrupts dinner conversations. While eating dinner at one of the church's Suzy just barked constantly until her owner picked her up & carried her like a baby....for those of you wondering how did Suzy make it into the dinner hall we thought the same thing as she was clearly not a service dog. Maybe she had a official riders band on & gained entrance that way but let's just say we are not inviting her to dinner any time soon!

Things we won't miss about RAGBRAI
1. Open Community Showers: Sometimes you just want to be alone when you are taking a shower...it's awkward enough having to shower with a group of naked people that you don't know but the awkwardness escalates as they try to strike up a conversation with you. Let's all be on the same page here wash up-get dressed- then we can talk if you would like.
2. Porta Potties: Now our disclaimer here is that really they weren't bad at all but by the end of the week your quads were tired making the hovering a little more difficult...we would like to thank the walls of the porta john for their support during those rough times.
3. Packing Up a Wet Tent: This occurred every morning except for the last one which was nice. But there is nothing like pulling out your steamy tent at the end of a long ride & hoping it would dry quickly.
4. Hand Washing/Teeth Brushing: While hand sanitizer is good it's not the #1 choice of hand washing. Whenever you got a chance to wash your hands with soap and water it was a glorious moment (sometimes I even thought I could hear angels singing). Not having to worry about having bottled water to use to brush your teeth & actually being able to rinse your toothbrush off well is a bonus!

Things we will miss about RAGBRAI
EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE 4 POINTS ABOVE!

What's up with your socks?

Wearing our Carter socks

In Friday's blog we failed to mention that on that day we wore one red & white stripped sock and one blue & white stripped sock....this was in honor of Carter LeBeau a member of the Quad Cities Bike Club who had rode in all previous 41 RAGBRAIs and was known for wearing these knee high socks. Carter passed away in August of 2013. I must say that those socks kept our legs warm & free of road grim that you would usually pick up on a soggy ride.

Why do babies with wet diapers cry?
If you are a cyclist who has rode on a really wet day or if you are a sweaty cyclist (swampass) you totally understand this. No one is having fun while their "diaper" (padded bike shorts) is soaking wet! In fact the first thing you want to do post ride is to get out of those shorts! So to all of you out there who have saved a crying baby from a soggy diaper that future cyclist says THANK YOU!

RAGBRAI Thoughts from Gabby (Dorice's Dog)


Climbing on mini bales

I love going to check the cows

I got to spend 2 weeks at farm camp & it was great! I celebrated my birthday on the farm & mom even gave me a few gifts before she left! I only got in big trouble one time & I'm still claiming innocence on the mess that was found in the shop. I got to do a lot of fun activities while there...maybe one day mom will just head back to Indiana & leave me to live on the farm....I'm a good helper really!


Post RAGBRAI Depression
Yes it's real and we are suffering from it. You beat your body for a week on your bike & occasionally your spirit but you yearn for more when it's all over. You miss your bike, your new cycling friends,

With Bob & Mary Anne

and just the fun of RAGBRAI. You have to return to the normal of everyday life & soon enough work life. If everyone's biggest concerns were riding their bike for a week, worrying about making it from town to town, and which flavor of pie you were going to eat that day the world would be a happier place!






RAGBRAI 2015: We Can't Wait!

With Larry & Roger

With Ralph

We are already planning our return to RAGBRAI in 2015 and are welcoming to friends who want to join us. We hope to see many of our new friends from RAGBRAI again next year & meet even more new friends! We met some really great people on RAGBRAI & we were sad when the week was over & we said our good-byes. If the thought of this past week seems like fun & something you may want to do then that means you need to join us in 2015! We have realized that for most people RAGBRAI is not a one and done but becomes a tradition for them. Many of the riders we met had done over 10 RAGBRAI rides with one of our friends doing his 25th RAGBRAI this year!

With Carolyn

Thanks for following our blog, for the prayers, messages, and support, we greatly appreciate it!

PS...we've added pictures to previous posts so go back and check them out!

Team Air Force waiting to dip their tires