RAGBRAI-- Ups & Downs...

Tonight, I'm writing this as I sit in my hotel room in Cheyenne, WY. I'm on my way back to Utah and have had a week of ups and downs. I first left for my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; last Thursday evening with an optimistic plan of doing a bit of visiting with family and then doing RAGBRAI.

Well, even the best laid plans seem to change. I did some visiting and started RAGBRAI. I managed the first three days of RAGBRAI. The worst three days as far as heat and humidity that RAGBRAI has ever seen in its 40 years (go figure!). All three days were 99 or above with one day climbing up to 104 degrees with 80% humidity. Oh and did I mention there were winds that were up to 20 mph too? These were some tough days and I really found that the humidity was getting to me.

But I will say that those three days of RAGBRAI were amazing! It was a sea of bicycles as far as the eye could see along the wonderful hilly landscape of Iowa's corn and soybean fields. There were people all along the Iowa roads that were cheering you on; some were selling water, cookies, or almost everything. Some were not selling but giving water out for free, or offering to douse you with their hose, or even others were handing out frozen pops. Main streets in small Iowa towns were closed down just to bicycle traffic and filled up with vendors offer to sell food or wares to the cyclists that came through the town. It was just AMAZING! I don't know how else to describe it.

There were tons of references to corn, soybeans, and pigs.  In fact, some of the signage for the ride had me cracking up.  One advertisement had a sign of showing corn with a picture and then soybeans.  Then underneath it said-- RAGBRAI- Need we say anymore? 

There were plenty of things that would only EVER be seen on RAGBRAI.  There were pink buses that were serving up pork chop sandwiches and plenty of riders were enjoying them at what some may consider the un-Godly hour of 10AM.  As one co-team member put it,"Where else could you have 20 cyclists at 10am sitting on the side of the road eating pork chops and thinking that this was the BEST meal ever?!?!"  

FOOD, food, and more food!  There were hard boil eggs on a stick and bacon on a stick being sold right along with bottled water and gatorade.  There was bicycle jewelry being sold next to temporary tattoos.  Breakfast sandwiches, pancakes with sausage, and tacos with eggs were commonly seen too.  Later on you would see smoothies, pizza, brats, tacos, pies, pastries and almost any kind of food you could EVER think of.  One fellow rider said that this ride was ALL ABOUT THE FOOD!  And from what I saw that was VERY true!

I was rather even surprised by the beer and bloody marys that were being sold at 8AM as you're going along.  There were a few cyclists doing that but it wasn't really a majority as I had almost been lead to believe from the rumors that I heard prior.  Most riders were partaking of those beverages after they were done for the day and then limiting what they consumed because they were riding the next day.  Dehydration was a concern and most cyclist that I met were mindful of that.

Photo: Boys-N-Cars watercolor I did of my nephews for a Father's Day present.
The youngest one here is the one with dark hair.

My second day was the worst. I had received a phone call from my little brother the night before that my youngest nephew had passed away due to complications after a surgery. He was only 13 years old. I was rather a bit of a basket case that day and only managed to ride 47 miles of the 85 miles that I should have rode. My head and heart just were not in it. I found I could not keep food down and when you are riding that is NEVER a good sign to have. I ended up getting SAG'd in that day. I did manage the next day's ride but then had to call for help when I was brain dead trying to find the host house. The combo of riding 84 miles with 104 degree humid heat just left me STUPID.

Wednesday night I managed to get a ride back to my mom's. I had opted not to ride on Thursday to give my body a bit of a break but I also needed to be back for a viewing(Friday) and funeral(Saturday). That basically meant that RAGBRAI was over for me. I was disappointed BUT I needed to be else where.  Jerryd my upbeat little nephew who always had a smile will be missed.  Only the good die young and in this case that statement is very true.  He always had a smile and seemed to be easy to please.  Rest in peace little man!

Ode to a Grandma

Grandma 1922- 2011

My last living grandmother passed away this last weekend. She had a series of health issues in the last couple of years and had recently, out of necessity, been put in a full time care facility. I guess we all saw it coming. But even with that expectation, it seemed like the end came faster than anyone expected. That often seems to be the case. But I would like to think that in quite a few cases that it’s a blessing to those that we love that they don’t suffer.

Honestly and sadly, I can’t say that I really knew my grandmother. My memories are fleeting childhood visits to the Northwestern Iowa farm where she & gramps lived. Gramps was the predominate personality in the relationship. He was always laughing, talking, and telling stories. Meanwhile, grandma always seemed to be floating around in the background frying something on the stove in the kitchen. I do remember that she always fed the wildcats that roamed the farm. She would set up food for them out behind the garage. She always chastised us not to try to pet the cats. Of course with my habit of learning the hard way, I chose not to listen and ended up pretty scratch one time.


I must say that most of the other memories that I have of my grandma are not positive. She quite often seemed to be complaining or criticizing one of her daughters (my mother & aunts). She really didn’t seem to care for my mother. It almost felt like she hated her for some reason which I never could figure out. I remember seeing pictures of the other grandkids or the neighbor’s kids in the old farmhouse but never any photos of myself or my little brother. Years ago one spring I drove back to northwestern Iowa from Utah. I stayed with an Aunt that was centrally located among other relatives. Grandma wouldn’t drive the 25 miles down to come see me. If I wanted to see her, I could drive up to see her. But I never did drive up to see her because everyone else had drove over to see me. I thought it would have been rude to leave everyone to go see her.


I know that grandma had a hard life; the few stories that I heard of her life growing up sounded like a very hard life to survive. But it just always seemed to me that she was unhappy. I find that sad because I see life as an attitude choice. I believe that if you choose to be happy you will be. Granted, it doesn’t always work that way but the chances are greater if you approach things that way. Goodbye Grandma! Now, I just hope that you will now find the happiness and peace that you deserve in the afterlife.

Happy April Fool's?

It's been a strange day. It was snowing when I came into work today, and I was listening to a radio station that was doing an April Fool's Joke of a "Men's Expo" complete with arm wrestling, sales of sporting equipment & hunting gear, and even... a HAIRIEST BACK Contest! WTF?!!? I was still cracking up about it as I pulled into the parking lot at work.

Upon coming into the door, one of the guys told me a co-worker's husband died last night so she wouldn't be in. Me, still being in the April Fool's Day mode laughed and said that's not a very funny April Fool's joke! "It's not an April Fool's Joke, believe me," he said. It has been a very somber affair here at work since. This is the most somber April Fool's Day I have ever had. I can't help but think what a strange day to have a death on.