RAGBRI
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=202410
Printed Date: 03 Nov 2024 at 7:35am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: RAGBRI
Posted By: 200Tom1
Subject: RAGBRI
Date Posted: 23 Jul 2024 at 9:09pm
| Came to town today. It looked like there were 2000 people there. The square was closed down, I was barely able to get to NAPA. Got an oil filter for my new zero turn. Now I've got to get it raized up and get some sharp blades on it. This thing will really eat grass. I don't like it mowing my grader ditch. I'll see if I can find a drive belt for the JD. Its not as wide and gets down in the bottom of the ditch far better than the zero turn. |
Replies:
Posted By: Gary
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2024 at 4:35am
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R A G B R A I Registered Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa |
Posted By: jdeere562
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2024 at 5:20am
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I live in Glenwood, it started here again this year. We hosted hosted probably 25,000 - 30,000 riders and support crew. They leave a ton of $ in the community in a day.
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Posted By: im4racin
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2024 at 6:20am
| 25 to 30k! That's a lot of spandex and granola! |
Posted By: jdeere562
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2024 at 12:51pm
Our local businesses and charities love the event! Most of the locals who must drive around town...not so much. They will take up both lanes of a two lane highway and not give. Last one I had to drive to work, finally pulled off and took 10 miles of gravel roads.
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im4racin wrote:Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 4:38am
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Have a smaller event here. The cyclists are given the secondary roads for two days for a timed event with the hills and curves being their challenge. Usually right as farmers start moving machinery so have been a few spectacular foul ups and cussing sessions as to Whom Has Right Of Way. Seldom see more than a few hundred including the support people. Have KATY trail north of here, are trying to resurrect the old Rock Island roadbed to a trail and the cyclists REQUIRE or DEMAND roads access. Asphalt not as hard on tires as well the physical challenge on relatively flat RR base bed is less than they desire. Yet THESE People were the ones clamoring for the trails, then do not use them. . |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 5:30pm
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the (Des Moines) REGISTER's Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa It is considered to be the oldest and largestnon-competetive bicycle touring events in the world. It's not the only across-the-state rides... there's similar rides across Oregon, some around-the-state in Ohio, a ride from Chattanooga to Atlanta (BRAG)... Back in the late 1980's, a similar event (Bike Across Missouri- aka BAM) was organized as an endurance racing event, where riders started at the west side, rode to the east, and back. You had a certain number of hours to make the trip, if you didn't fall in UNDER that time, you were indicated as DNF. That was a tough ride... I managed to complete ONCE, the other two was a challenge for most everything, as weather came through at the worst possible circumstance, stifling basically all. They changed it into a tour. RAGBRAI is considered to be the 'grandfather of all across-the-state' bicycle tours. RAGBRAI started in 1973 with two guys deciding they just wanted to do it. Over course of the next 6-or-so years, it evolved into an organized bicycle tour. It grew significantly over time. With last year being the 50th, there was a very high participation in both registered, and unregistered riders. Ridership is a bit lower this year... but there's still plenty from every place on the globe. RAGBRAI brings in a significant amount of income into small town organizations- local churches, volunteer fire departments, fraternal organizations and other charitable groups, and frequently, the area towns AROUND, that aren't ON the route, come to assist. The Wiota, Cumberland, Massena, and Fontanelle Fire Departments had help from other small town FDs running their refreshment stands. Not many had FD T-shirts for sale, and few of those that DID were out of 3XL... I wear a 2XL, but one of my transport crew is a county deputy who, since he doesn't get to ride, doesn't get to go through the small towns, so I support the small town FDs by buying him 3XL shirts from each town. I spend about $20 a town for his FD shirt collection. Back in the '80's, the ride had grown such that many of these towns lacked the infrastructure to support the ride's visit. Communities worked with ride organizers to find ways to make it happen, and along the way, riders contributed to the towns' economies such that those infrastructures saw significant improvement... and many of those towns were in southern Iowa, where for agricultural reasons, community economies are significantly lower than the northern counties. We rode through Greenfield, and saw the tornado's destruction path, and met the resilient folk who were rebuilding there. Only SOME of these riders understand midwestern tornados, most only know what they see in movies and on TV news, but this visit showed them what nature's power of EF-4 really does. Fortunately, they were also able to visit the restored Greenfield Opera House (Warren Cultural Center)... a real treat, if you're in the area, do stop in for a visit, but take off your cleats (or spurs) before setting foot on the floor. The Cattleman's Association steak sandwiches were DIVINE!!! I was saddened to find that the Atlantic Bottling Company Museum was no longer in existance... :-\ The Catholic Church put out an excellent spaghetti dinner... and I was hungry again at 6, the Lutheran church had an equally excellent lasagnia... I'm not certain what was better, the double-chocolate pie at the first, or the Lutheran Peach... Both sold out everything they had. From a business/sale perpective, spaghetti is usually a better choice, because the lead-time for lasagnia is fixed... it's a batched process... spaghettii can be made continuously, as long as the components for sauce are available. One of the other churches i was at had ventured about $3600 in ingredients and input, they cleared over $60,000 in meal sales in 5 hours. They FIGURED on $15/plate, but found that most would drop a $20 in the bucket and say 'keep the change'. There's lots of food-trailer sales, lots of mobile vendors... and there's lots of farms along-the-way that host rest stops that offer a shady place to sit down, mebbie a garden hose for some water, all the way up to slip'n slides, petting zoo (I don't remember where, but someone had an adult lion, and he was gentle and sweet...) to stages with live music. Macksburg had a skillet-toss range set up... something I'd never seen done before, it was fun to watch, but my hands were too tired to grip safely. Along the way, there's LOTS of tractors- every color- on display. I photographed over 200 tractors... 5 Model T trucks (I need them for shaping my project TT truck's future), I got a ride in Jim Coe's REO Speedwagon pickup truck (Fun!) and a tour of his collection and shop. There's lots of people who voice hate over this kind of an event. The reality here, is that these are taxpaying people who have a very special appreciation for what happens in the agrarian landscape of the Midwest. Many of them never get truely outside of urbanity any other time of year, save for this ride... and if it weren't for the VERY ground-level exposure to the circumstances of what some people refer to as 'fly-over country', they would be totally blind of what happens here. In contrast, they know VERY WELL the aroma of corn and alfalfa, cattle and swine, they know the grit of the land upon which they camp, they understand the pleasant kindness that we share outside the concrete jungle. Each day I ride, I find myself an ambassador of our little place in the world, and each year, I see the city people... the mountain people... the international people... all guests to our environment. They love this, and they carry that part home every year, in a special little place in their heart. They realize what happens around them in the cities, and understand truth firsthand. I realize it's an annoyance... just for one day a year, but still, that's terrible... If those want to cancel this kind of thing are in overwhelming majority, I'm fine with shutting it down- but to be
fair, we should also cancel Tractorcades, horse trail rides, motorcycle
rallies, hotrod poker runs, marathons, horse shows, go-cart races, NASCAR,
professional football, polka festevals, farmer's markets, canoe-kayak paddles, fireworks displays, homecoming parades, county fairs, and
Trick-or-Treating. Once that was done, What would our world be? ------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: truckerfarmer
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 9:35pm
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Well said, Dave. If you don't like it, stay home that day. I believe the OP likes going to flee markets and such. He probably wouldn't like it if those of us that don't like them, wanted them shut down. ------------- Looking at the past to see the future. '53 WD, '53 WD45, WD snap coupler field cultivator, #53 plow,'53 HD5B dozer Duct tape.... Can't fix stupidity. But will muffle the sound of it! |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 10:04pm
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I certainly wouldn't like flea markets shut down... I enjoy them too... and steam shows... Mt Pleasant, Forest City... There's places where these kinds of events are not allowed... we can have them here because we're not under communist control [yet anyway] ------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: jwssmithfarms
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 10:23pm
Not to mention the HUGE mess left after a stop by MOST...a butch of crap a bicycle needs no registration, license plate or proof of insurance, my trucks, trailers, canoes, kayaks, hotrods, and motorcycles, atvs do...just to be on the roads...but, but just stay out of bicyclist way....stay home 
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Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 10:44pm
If you're watching the news, you'll see this allegation, with video panning through a beer-garden area where the late night concert was held. If you go to the late night concert, look close, and you'll notice that nobody has funny sunburns... it's because they're not cyclists... they're not part of the ride... they've come in for elsewhere. The cyclists get up at 4am... they're all asleep within an hour of sundown. That's where the mess comes from. ------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: jwssmithfarms
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2024 at 11:19pm
Ok, Dave makes sense. How about plates,registration, proof of insurance too use a road?? Everyone but bicycles have to pay to play, but bicyclist sure expect a full lane of traffic and expect everyone else to stay outta the way... oh and i don't watch news, live in iowa, seen overnight stops first hand and our business DONT stop for bike week 
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Posted By: iowallis
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2024 at 5:14pm
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I grew up on a blacktop road and my first experience with RAGBRAI was when my dad was baling hay and trying to get the loads to the farm and the dam cyclists had the road shut down for most of the day, not only did they think they owned the right lane they thought they owned the WHOLE road. Anyways, the town where I now live has been a overnight stop several times. I take the day before and the day of off work so I don't need to try and make it across town. Last overnight stop my church's food sales were down and it sounds like several other groups experienced the same thing. The traveling food truck "groupies" have taken away the local business' and charitable groups sales. However our church did get the showers working in the basement locker room and did a brisk business offering hot showers. I have found the serious riders a pleasure to deal with. A neighbor had asked if some friends of hers could use my side yard to camp in. They were quiet by 9:00pm and when I went out at 7:30am the bike riders were gone, support driver packing the final stuff up, and not a stick of garbage or any other indication that they had even been there. Now other parts of the town? Some people have no respect for other people's property.
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Posted By: Ray54
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2024 at 5:19pm
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Good to know Iowa towns can make money from a special event. Here some for profit group put bike race together to mimic the Tour DeFrance. To host a start or finish the town had to pay big bucks. After less than 10 years most towns where done. The crowd and racers did not spend that much.
I sure have stayed home for that and the fund raiser for AIDS that has biked down the coast from SF to LA ever year for 20 years or more. They stay on one road so with planning they can be mostly avoided. For 30 years or more there was event over the Memorial Day 3 day weekend. Most camped at the fair grounds in Paso Robles Calif., spent very little money locally. They were a total menace on the road. No back road was to narrow or dangerous for them to stay away. They were everywhere but the 4 lane freeway. I call it hilly here but many would call it mountainous. Many roads with no shoulders at all, bank on one side cliff on the other. They stopped to rest just over a hilltop, or on a blind turn. One in 20 would make any effort to let you safely pass them as they huffed and puffed up long hills. Finally with the covid years they have not showed up. But still promoters bring groups to ride out in the country. You start running into packs of 5 to 30 that will not make an effort to let you pass. Having a 100 or more riders of all abilities spread over 5 to 10 miles. Because of the not caring about auto traffic or their own safety it seems. If I never had to deal with another biker in the road would be very nice. |