RAGBRAI 2005

It was the last full week in July and you know what that means. 10,000+ crazies show up on the banks of the Missouri River and go for the seven day trek across Iowa to the Mississippi River.

Why do they do it? Some will tell you its for the biking, some will tell you its for the drinking, but everyone will say it was for the fun. Just how much fun can you have? Try RAGBRAI sometime!

The Half Fast Biking Club aka Team Half Fast made a noble effort with only 3 of the founding fathers making the whole trip. Bob'O, Don and Bill once again survived Sun, Storm and Headwinds and made it to West Union all by themselves. I met them there on Friday at about 5:30 PM and now that we had a quorum, club business could be discussed. The first order of business was to drink all the Miller Lite at the campsite and then head into town for more.

Saturday at 6am the boys were on the road. I joined in the endless line of support vehicles and drove to Garnavillo. I had not been on my road bike since my accident in June 2004, so the tires were flat and the bike needed some adjustment. I went over to a mobile shop and could not find the mechanics. It ended up that they were in their camper getting stoned. Hey it was 9am and this was RAGBRAI. One of the guys also had a Cinelli and he had bought from the same shop that built mine. They were nice guys and adjusted the bike for free, however they did not offer to share any of their dope.

It was about 9:30am and I rode over to the park where Bill was eating breakfast, Bob'O was not far behind. Bob was interested in the breakfast of champions so we went to Vaughans Pub for the first of the day. After that it was onward to Guttenberg some 15 miles. It was slow moving for me, but the boys stayed with me all the way to the river. After the tire dip we were off to Moxie's Bar where we had relaxed after RAGBRAI XXIIII in 1996.

Did anyone notice? It was called RAGBRAI 2005 this year and not RAGBRAI XXXIII. John Karas said it would always be RAGBRAI in capital letters and the number in roman numerals. I'll bet there are a lot of changes John Karas would not like but RAGBRAI keeps rolling on.

Want more info on RAGBRAI and to see a photo of Don Latus and myself on RAGBRAI XXXII check out this link to Wikipedia