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RAGBRAI

XXV

July 20 - 26, 1997

The Des Moines Register's

Great Bicycle Ride

Across Iowa

 

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It was hot and hilly and at times we thought we were lost, but this much fun could only be in Iowa. Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa -- New York, Iowa to be exact -- "The Little Apple." Here I ran into some old friends; Linda Davis (sorry forgot the married name), Gary from Team DieHard (never knew his last name), Linda's mother-in-law and another riding buddy (sorry forgot her name, but she's the one of the far left and she's very available).

So, if you are RAGBRAI'er you've probably been asked --- "Why Iowa?" I wish I knew the magic behind Iowa and this ride (if I did, I probably bottle it and try to sell it for some outrageous some of money), but I'll have to settle for it just works!! I've ridden in many organized riding events, but nothing rivals RAGBRAI. It has been called "Woodstock on Wheels", "A Rolling Mardi-Gras" and "The Tour de Farms."

Over the years, I've made some very close friends on RAGBRAI. Linda was part of the original Team Wheez with my good pal Jean (the blonde bombshell in the middle). Jean and I met with her girlfriends Jane and Teresa in a little bar called the "Duck Inn" (Hmm...wish I could remember what town). In the same bar, I met Team RoadKill for the first time. The best I can remember that was RAGBRAI XV (I should keep a diary).

Jean's married to Steve (he's really a cool guy) on the left and this year she rode with her son (behind Jean).

 

Here are some of my oldest RAGBRAI buddies. This motley crew (minus Tom in the riding jersey on the left and me on the far right) are the founding members of Team Quadrapus. Why Quadrapus? Well that was the brainchild of Steve "Dez" Despotovich (the one with his hand precariously near my crotch). If you been on RAGBRAI, then you've probably seen the familiar four-legged Octopus (hence Quadrapus) on a pole attached to the rear of their bikes. We can't remember which RAGBRAI we met on, but I think it was my first RAGBRAI X.

The Quads really came out in force this year and it was great to see Kurt (a.k.a. "Clank"), Eric, Jeff and Dez (not to mention the other Quads - Mark, Linda, Chris, Murph, Bud and Kevin - obviously not pictured here).

The guy on the far left is Tom Leacock from Tampa, Florida. Tom and I met in 1989 riding 'Cross Florida - a one day 173.5 mile ride from CoCoa Beach to Pine Island Beach. Tom has joined me on four RAGBRAIs and he's a great friend, rider and handyman (couldn't have installed the shower system in the bus without his help).

Hey, this is pretty cool. Let me see another Photo Album.

I'm really bored with this!!! Return me to the RADPAN homepage