RAGBRAI 2003
Eeeeks..... My 20th High School reunion takes place during RAGBRAI this year so it looks like I will be cutting it short for a few days to attend but at least I will still be riding. This year I will be going solo but not really since I have teamed up again with TEAM FLASHBACK. I will be taking the Rans Tailwind recumbent again this year - Once you go Bent you never go back!
Pictures from Wirth's Good Enough ride July 13th
Pictures from Tour de Fat September 20th
Saturday we loaded up the mini-van and met Team Flashback in Glenwood. To my surprise Bryan Thomas was also on the team! I graduated with him and he will cut the week short to attend our 20th reunion also! We checked out the sites in Glenwood and settled in our tents for the night. Sunday's ride was tuff as the heat, humidity and wind took its toll on a lot of the riders! Remember the fog in the morning, it was really heavy. Those last 6 miles seemed like the longest 6 miles I have ever ridden! I checked some of the images on RAGBRAI's website and found one of myself, check it out. I am the one in the middle on a recumbent with red shorts and a blue helmet.
Our host family treated us with a backyard swimming pool. I tried to keep up with Winchester on the all you can eat buffet and paid the price! We had a tornado watch, some rain and a great light show with the lightning! Monday's ride was great as the weather gave us a break from all the heat. 1 of our riders, who shall remain anonymous (but rhythms with tea) missed the turn to Clarinda completely, after all it was only the biggest town of the day! We camped only 2 blocks from the school which provided us with showers and our meal. Tuesday was another great weather day! Not sure what happened in Decatur but it was a bust. Traffic was really heavy but the town of Leon had it going on! The Hy-Vee had good food (excellent prices!) and they had the band "The Body Electric featuring David Zollo" playing downtown. Awesome music! They were joined onstage with another RAGBRAI rider from Iowa City who played clarinet, she and the band were awesome, best music I have ever heard on RAGBRAI. I bought a CD and David Zollo even signed it! Heading out of Leon we ran right into a blistering head wind. I teamed up with some other riders for a draft line, we stayed together as long as we could and then it was everyone for themselves. We ran into a couple of sprinkles but they felt great. We had an empty field to camp for the night and shortly after setting up the tent it down poured, after the rain everything was just wet. Once again the school provided showers for us. Wednesday morning I got to roll up a wet tent and head out. I met up with some riders from the previous day. It is funny how you can run into people in such a large crowd. I also met up with Lynn who was dressed up for the day as he attended a wedding at 7:30 that morning! Now dressing up on RAGBRAI is a bit different than dressing up in real life! We met up with our drivers in Melcher-Dallas for our afternoon stop. Laugh of the day - when you ride a tandem people always pass and say stuff like "where is the other rider" or "hey, they aren't pedaling back there" Pete and his wife, Theresa, took the tandem for the day and Pete headed out and forgot his wife! Now people asked him where she was and he didn't even think about it until he looked back at the empty seat! I'm sure he will be reminded of this for years to come.
Wednesday was my last day of riding as my wife was meeting me in Oskaloosa for the drive back home. What a great 4 days of riding and hanging out with team Flashback!
OK guys, send me your pictures and I will post them here:
Nelson's (56 pictures)
Tim's (15 pictures)
Brian's (9 pictures)
Bike info: 3rd year for Rans Tailwind recumbent, sold Cannondale R300 road bike for $300