The Sin City Life » Cycling

RAGBRAI 2009

Matt Ladwig — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:50:54 +0000

Ragbrai 2009 is over. Another year of fun, fitness, socialization and food has come to an end. I love Ragbrai! It is a wonderful combination of the expected and unexpected. You can always count on great people, delicious food, seemingly limitless amounts to drink and many many hills. As for the unexpected, you never know when the next party is going to pop up, where the next pond is going to be or when the next naked guy will run out of the corn field to dive on to the beer slide. This is Ragbrai!

Despite riding in the rain, the weather was nearly perfect. The rain is never bad when it allows you to have an impromptu cattle trailer party (see pictures). Where else could someone come up with the lyrics to ‘Row row motorboat’? Being wet, cold and tired is only a disaster if you are out of beer.

I became good friends with the mobile bike shops for the second year in a row. My two year old Motobecane Sprint broke down more than it did last year. I had it in the shop nearly every day. The Motobecane is going straight on Craigslist or eBay when I get back to Las Vegas. Letsche’s Bike Shop out of Cherokee, Iowa deserves a big pat on the back for helping me out so many times this year.

I want to especially thank all of my Ragbrai friends, new and old. The people are what make this event so addicting.

Matt (Team Sin)

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Ragbrai 2008

Matt Ladwig — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:08:52 +0000

On my second full year of Ragbrai, I decided to upgrade my photographic weaponry. As you can see from last year’s photographs, the quality was a little below par. This year I brought along a mid-level dslr camera with a basic walk-around lens and my new waterproof/crushproof Olympus point and shoot for the Ragbrai moments when I was afraid to damage my dslr.

Ragbrai 2008 began on July 19 and ended on July 26. The 2008 route started in Missouri Valley and continued to Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama/Toledo, North Liberty, Tipton, and ended in LeClaire near the Quad Cities. Recently, within the state, the ride has gained the name “The Great Race Across Iowa.”

While, it is not officially a race, many riders find their own way of making it a competition. While some riders try to be the first to the next over-night town, many are more proud of the amounts of Amish pie or corn on the cob they are able to consume each day. Many other riders come mainly for the social aspect. You may see them hopping beer gardens as they come through town. As usual, this year of Ragbrai was filled with the most friendly people and amazing hospitality. Thanks Iowa! See you next year.

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Ragbrai 2007

admin — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:11:15 +0000

RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) is an infamous non-competitive bicycle ride across Iowa that draws recreational riders from across the United States and even overseas. Riders start at a community on Iowa’s western border to a community on Iowa’s eastern border, stopping in towns across the state. RAGBRAI is ‘limited’ to 8,500 week-long riders and 1,500 day riders. However, there are anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 riders, depending on who you ask.

The length of the route averages just under 500 miles. Eight “host communities” are selected each year; one each for the beginning and end points, while the other six are overnight stops. The distance between host communities is on average sixty-eight miles. At the beginning of the ride, riders traditionally dip the rear wheel of their bikes in either the Missouri River or the Big Sioux River (depending on the starting point of the ride). At the end, the riders dip the front wheels in the Mississippi River.

In 2007, RAGBRAI began in Rock Rapids and ended in Bellevue. I used a small Pentax 3.2 megapixel camera to document my journey of my ride filled with Amish pie, freshly picked corn on the cob, beer slides and of course, beer gardens.

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