RAGBRAI 09

Sorry this has taken a while to update. I’ve been on my bike.


Another successful RAGBRAI is now in the books. I would have to say in the past three years I’ve been attending this year has taken the cake.

The bus picked us up in Des Moines, IA. Bob did a great job at renovating the bus taking out some of the tables and making one long bench (easier for beer hand-ups). What they didn’t know was that taking out the tables gave us space to have a dance party! They also put in a septic system and tinted windows for the ladies room. Loved it! I would have to say hands down the Dawg bus is the best bus on RAGBRAI with all of the amenities and little details. There is talk about getting a gater to take us into town and to run errors. We already have a name for it: The Puppy Pound. Now that would take us to a whole new level on being the best bus on RAGBRAI!!

This year we did not have a RAGBRAI/Dawg virgin on the team which meant everyone knew the drill. We settled in quite nicely. There is no rush on our team unless it’s to get to the next stop, we leave late which allows us to go at our own pace (avg 18-20) and not fight the crowds of novas cyclists. Wow are they hard to ride next to—they steer right into your wheel. Although, leaving late does have its disadvantages. A number of times we were in the black hole of RAGBRAI—this is when the cops come in and closes the bars/beer gardens for 30-60 mins. They do this to move the riders along.

I'm concerned about Bob's chair

While on the bus ride to Council Bluffs we started the dance party. Everyone was up having a good time. Then all of a sudden the bus broke down. Another team took us to a truck stop were we got something to eat and due to our behavior we got kicked out of the truck stop—who gets kicked out of a truck stop? Thankfully the bus got fixed and we were up and running. Turns out the dance party cause the bus to breakdown—speakers were not wired correctly.


Carol, Holly, John, Neil, Belinda, AND Paul came over to check out the bus! I was amazed to see Paul. I didn’t know he was coming back for a week from Iraq to see his family and to stop by and say hi to everyone!

Much more fun was held that evening including sitting outside of a casino for an hour asking people that came out if they won or not. Crazy as it sounds it was a lot of fun!

The next day we set off for our fun across Iowa. Yeah you read that correctly—fun across Iowa—who would have known! Who would have also known southern Iowa was crazy hilly!? About half way we started to ride with the Budweiser team—where do they recruit their members—they were all hot! Anyways, while we where coming down a hill we came upon an accident one of the girls crossed wheels and went down. Luckily we had two doctors on our team so they ran over and kept her still while someone called 911. Turns out she received a concussion and was later released with a clean bill from the hospital but couldn’t remember anything about the accident.

A few miles down the road we stopped with the Bud team and had an off course party in the cornfields. Best part they had a DJ, free food, and free beer!! Can’t ask for more! It was one crazy party. Dance offs, table beer slides, one of the best karaoke singers I’ve ever heard.

The next day we took our time finding the bus thus ending up sagging due to the rain. I’m not ashamed or apposed to sagging. Not when you have a wedding in the back of a bar. Check out the video. Obviously we thought it was quite funny.


Anyways, I could go on and on with the stories but I would have to say a lack of fun was not happening on our team. We defiantly had a great time and plan to cheer on our teammates at the Wisconsin Ironman in September. Even though a lot of us like to have a good time we have a lot of great athletes on our team.

By the way, Boom Boom Pow turned out to be the RAGBRAI song of '09. We heard that song every time we came into a town.

If you wondering what's up with the rainbow umbrellas and the guy with the pink Miller Light hat? Well, a few things. 1. the umbrellas help block the sun on the patio of the bus and they were reasonably priced—why we couldn't get a solid color is beyond me. Hey hey hey! 2. This is Dave our bus driver. 3. His wife thought it would be funny if he wore a pink Miller Light hat to complement our gay pride umbrellas. 4. We are sponsored by Miller Light.