RAGBRAI 20011

As some of you can tell, I’ve been neglecting this site for a while….but…..I’ve got a good reason.  I spent last week with three of my brothers and two nephews (and 10,000 of our closest friends) riding my bike across Iowa.  Yes, that’s right, Iowa.  RAGBRAI or – the Registers Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, sponsored by the Des Moines Register, in it’s 39th year traveled from Glenwood Iowa to Davenport Iowa.  That’s from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River.  Over the seven days we covered 454 miles with 20,167 feet of climb, so anybody that tells you Iowa is flat is flat lyin’.  It is one huge moving carnival, beginning each day before sunrise with the packing up of the tents, and rolling through as many as nine small towns during the day, each one welcoming the riders with food, music and open arms.  Almost every town’s population, including the overnight stops, is dwarfed by the number of riders and support crews, truly an amazing sight.  You never can tell what sights you may see along the route on any given day, so……. I put together a slideshow condensing the seven days into one, which was really hard to do because of all there was to see.  If you click on the image above it will open, it’s kind of long, like I said, it was hard to pare down all the photos I took, but it will give you an idea of all that went on during the week.  I hope you enjoy it, I know we did, sore butts and all!

click on the image above to see the slideshow, and hit the full screen button, it makes it much better!