RAGBRAI is an organized mass ride across Iowa (http://ragbrai.com/). I participated in the last 3 days (out of 7) for my first time. The weather was glorious (70s and sunny) which is uncharacteristic for the last week in July; last year's RAGBRAI was high 90s. I rode 52, 52, and 63 miles, with lots of stops for snacks and streching. The route winds through small towns, and the locals come out in droves to greet the riders ("where ya from?") and profit off the event by selling food, beer, and trinkets. It's a very social atmosphere, not a race or serious ride.
RAGBRAI has a very broad mix of riders, from grannies on recumbents or town bikes, to the carbon race wannabes, and everything in between. I saw lots of tandems, including a cobbled together tandem recumbent dressed as a banana boat, with banana-suited riders. I saw lots of "square" people getting wasted and having a good time, and lots of families enjoying the ride calmly. I took it pretty easy and didn't party that much. I rode with my girlfriend and her dad, but I made connections with Team Pez and plan to ride with them next year. Some of my pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/109817667934112590257/RAGBRAI2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCMydhOL_ur6_6QE# I rode my '97 Rivendell Road that I picked up off craigslist this spring. It's a wonderful bike, and it served me very well. I changed out a lot of parts right before RAGBRAI, and--thankfully--it performed perfectly. Thanks to all the list members who helped me find excellent components at reasonable prices, and thanks to all those who suggested a 650b conversion for this bike. It was a great success! The 650b Lierre tires were awesome (nice hum) and very comfortable. I didn't notice any drop off in my speed with the fatter, slightly smaller tires. The moustache bars were great; I had much less hand pain/numbness than I did with drop bars. Before/After 700c / 650b Ruffy Tuffy 700x28 / Grand Bois Lierre 650x38 Campy Racing Triple derailers f&r / IRD Alpina front & Microshift rear 11-28 7spd freewheel / 11-34 9spd cassette 105 brakes / Tektro 559 long reach Dia compe brake levers / Cane Creek SCR-5 gum hoods Nitto drop bars / Nitto Moustache bars with light blue wrap Suntour 7spd shifters / Rivendell Silver shifters new chain, brake cables, shift cables, housing Kept as-is: Campy 50/40/30 crank Shimano A530 flip flop pedals (with Rivendell pedal spikes) Brooks Flyer saddle Topeak rear rack / MTX trunk bag Crane brass bell I saw several other Rivendells: Tony on his San Marcos an orange Rambouillet an orange Atlantis a green Redwood a blue Homer a steel blue Long Low ridden by a nice guy with artificial legs I also saw Robert (Hawaii Hunqapillar owner from the RBW list) on his Bike Friday, a pair of beautiful randonneur customs, a navy/white Bob Jackson and a white/blue Steve Rex (fillet brazed with internal dynamo wiring and matching painted fenders), a blue/orange fade True North, ridden by a friendly, tubby randonneur from Canada (who did the P-B-P on it in 2011) a couple chrome lugged Colnago's, and about a dozen Waterfords, and an old Bob Griffin. As a bike nerd, it was nice to see so many beautiful steel frames getting ridden. Cheers, Tim in Iowa -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
