Home
Podcast Archive
About
Search
Log In
Subscribe
Search
Full Spectrum Cycling
Chewey’s Salon Chair #22 – RAGBRAI Recap With Kayla and Jeremy
Sep 7, 2022
Chewey’s Salon Chair #22 – RAGBRAI Recap With Kayla and Jeremy
15
30
00:00
1:15:10
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts
Castro
Castro
Transcript
0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome to Chewy Salon Share number 22.
0:22
Uh, we're going with a little softer music today because my head is still pounding from DNF a week ago. [laughs] Well, I guess it wasn't quite a week ago.
0:30
[laughs] Um, so this is the, uh, post-RAGBRAI, uh, podcast with, uh, Kayla and Jeremy, and Brad's here again, as always. Um- Not sure why I'm here. Yeah, no.
0:41
[laughs] Because once again, you're trying to learn how to do this so you can... He- he's got a bicycle s- You're going next year. It's happening He's got a bicycle...
0:46
Yeah, we're doing RAGBRAI with you next year, by the way. Well, I think I'm definitely gonna do support. Not, not sold on the riding part yet. Seriously? [laughs] Everybody's jaw- I, I, I-...
0:56
hit the floor when- Even if he wants to start support- [laughs]... they all start somewhere, and he will eventually be a rider The look on your face- [laughs]...
1:02
and your face were just like- I am told- Pure disappointment... "You are such a pussy." [laughs] And, and, but anyways, I, I feel better now. We started the podcast like a shitshow right away. Yeah. Nice job, everybody.
1:12
Um, yeah. So technically this is after, after Single Speed USA, and Kayla and I were down there for that, and- Holy shenanigans. Yeah, so that's, that was bad enough.
1:25
We'll talk about that more later, uh, especially with w- we're gonna, she's gonna compare the, the, what we call the RAGBRAI hangover.
1:31
Now she's got the Single Speed USA hangover instead, so we'll, uh, talk about that later. But anyway, um, we do have two people that did the full RAGBRAI this year.
1:39
Um, we're gonna ask them about their experiences and how it differed from before, and talk about next year, 'cause next year's the 50th anniversary. Yeah. And I get a...
1:47
I wanna see what your guys' predictions for the course is- Mm... 'cause it's gonna be changed. So first of all, let's go... Brad, what are you doing? What? Are you playing games with me? [laughs] Word.
1:58
We need your attention here. [laughs] Oh, you were talking? He's, he's doing his Wordle. We're like trying to have a podcast, Brad. I have my Dan Rather questions queued. [laughs] Do you really? Oh, yeah.
2:04
Motherfucker, I can't believe you did this. You have your bell, so we can do the- Yeah, where's the bell? And if we have- Oh, wait, where'd it go? The subject changer. Hang on. I gotta find it.
2:13
All right, so Kayla, why don't you start? Oh. I, 'cause I think you've got more stories than [laughs] Jeremy, probably. What's my... Oh, I don't... [sighs] I don't know where I even started.
2:20
Do you want me to get my question sheet out? [laughs] I feel like I need the route up again. Like, where do I start? Well, start, you start on the ride out. The ri- Oh... oh, the ride out was a pure shitshow.
2:31
Um, our bus basically started breaking down almost every 10 miles, about every time we tried going over 40 miles per hour. Um, I don't even remember what the issue was.
2:42
Was this- If it was something with the piston or- What, what was that? What, what bus? Landon's bus. The Rotor bus. Oh, the green- Yeah. [laughs] The, the new Cadillac of buses. The, uh, surprise, surprise. Yeah.
2:52
That's fucking weird. [laughs] Not the, not the old one. The new gray one. [laughs] Oh, the new one broke down. The, the, the n- Awesome... the new old one, yeah. Yeah, the new one.
2:57
[laughs] I was gonna say, the new old one, yeah. Which I felt bad, 'cause we had a lot of newbies, and that was- But-... not a great experience running into it, but a lot of newbies... but your bus was not the only one.
3:05
There were- No, there was a lot of buses that were breaking down... there were a lot of buses broken down. Everybody's bus breaks down. U-Hauls. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
3:11
I feel like people just throw shit together for these buses and just hope for the best. Well, they're old. They're old used buses, so- Sure... they're n- I mean, heaven forbid you do some-...
3:19
and they're not meant for long hauling. Heaven forbid you do some maintenance. But there were U-Hauls pulling trailers that were broke down. Yeah. I mean, so S- It was a hot day...
3:27
so Saturday, the, the, the travel day was incredibly hot. Mm-hmm. I mean, it... I was worried on the drive out that this, it was gonna be like that all week, but- Yeah. It seems like RAGBRAI always
3:40
t- tends to be a, a bit on the warmer side. Generally, yes. Well, it's the last week. It's the last week in July. I mean- I think that was the hottest day, though. And was that the day that it stormed that night, too?
3:51
So it was incredibly weird. It was incredibly hot that day. It rained that night, and then the rest of the week was absolutely gorgeous. Yeah. Okay. It, it never rained a- So weather-wise, it was probably the best one.
4:02
So ride out didn't go good. Broke down. 'Cause our bus was breaking down every time we go, we were trying to go over 40 miles per hour, and then our trailer tire blew out. [laughs] I didn't know that.
4:12
So all the things... Yeah. [laughs] And I was like- That was-... "Team truck. I'm not gonna sweat my ass off." That was when- "I'm gonna go on the truck." And then the tire blows, and Brittany handled it like a champ.
4:21
We were fine. We happened...
4:22
What was mostly funny about that situation was the fact that we had just passed, like, a bunch of other buses, and we were like, "Ha, sorry," and, like, just waving, and then, like- Jinxed it...
4:30
literally, like, 200 feet [laughs] we blow a tire. So- Huh... yeah. So that must have been when Jamie texts me about trailer tires. Oh. [laughs] Oh, really? You got trailer tires- Sending out SOSs to everybody...
4:45
he's like, "You got trailer tires in stock?" [laughs] Look at you. Look at you being part of the RAGBRAI conversation. Yeah. Me, you already- I was like, "Oh, I like..." Hey, wait... getting recruited into Rotor support.
4:52
So I'm like, "You guys are supposed to start today." And he was like- So you've already done support, so next year you can ride. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've done... Yeah, you've done your support.
4:59
But he did come in and get a couple tires. I don't know if that was for the same trailer. They knew, they apparently knew that this tire was gonna blow. Oh, perfect. So this was- So, so they left it on.
5:08
That was a great- Yeah. That's great planning. Let's put it on. That's a total- Oh, that was a really smart thing to do. [laughs] That's a total Landon moment. Mm. And Landon, yes- That was not Landon...
5:14
I'm talking directly to you- But- [laughs]... if you ever listen to this. [laughs] He will know, 'cause Kayla's gonna tell him to. Oh, yeah. I'll tell him to his face. He knows me. It's fine. I don't say nothing.
5:22
He'll be like, "Fucking Brandon." I'm like barely there. [laughs] I'm a single speeder all the way now. [laughs] Oh, look at you.
5:29
Look, she's joined the- I already signed up for next year and, like, the next, like, 12 years. For next year for what? You're such a bad influence. Single speed. There's no signing up or joining. There's no club.
5:39
[laughs] You have to register. I still had to do that. Well, the, the vev's not open yet. We'll talk about that later. We're on RAGBRAI. Yeah. [laughs] But the better part of this is that- Jinx... it was that... Yeah.
5:47
[laughs] Do we need a, do we need a, do we need a- Back on track, folks. [laughs] Back on track. Do, do we need a foghorn to get us back on track?
5:53
Now the dog- [imitates foghorn] Now the dog thinks you're gonna give it a treat 'cause you rang the bell. Oh, he loves that bell. Does he? Yeah. He'll, like, attack it. Yeah.
5:59
So, so anyway, so you guys weren't even out of town yet You were still in Rochester So we also, well- Well, most of the issues was on Highway 20 between, like, Interstate 35 and Sioux City. Yeah.
6:10
That was, like, the, the road of carnage of buses. Mm-hmm. Oh, really? And we were supposed to be hosting the day zero party. Never even made it. Hmm. But I heard it was a lot of fun.
6:20
[laughs] And everybody was blowing up my Messenger.
6:23
[laughs] And so, like, the RAGBRAI team captains, they also have, like, a Facebook Messenger, and so I was, like, sending out SOSs, dropping our pin every time we broke down, and people were trying to look out for each other, which is awesome.
6:34
Um, but yeah, we missed day zero party, so that's how we started rolling in. Nice. Yeah. How was your ride out? We, uh, were in Bradley's Toyota Highlander. There were five of us in there.
6:45
Air conditioning was working just fine. [laughs] Never broke down. [laughs] The luxury package version. It's a Toyota. Yeah. It was, it was, it was great.
6:53
We may have even sat in the backseat and had a couple beverages on the road. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe. Well, there was lots of beverages on this ride. You actually really don't understand RAGBRAI, do you?
7:01
[laughs] You're supposed to have shit buses that break down. Nah. Even the, even the big teams' buses break down. I mean, did, oh, did Jackhammer- Yeah... have any trouble, do you know?
7:11
Um, no, but they were the ones kinda saving the day for a lot of teams.
7:15
They, um, Sylvia said that they have an insurance that's, I mean, fairly reasonable, and they had a tow truck that I saw, like, kind of following them. And then they would, like- [laughs]...
7:23
pull over 'cause team- That was smart... Medium Pace was, like, broken down. That's when our trailer tire went out- So I no longer-... 'cause Jackhammer was like that... wanna be involved in this shit show.
7:31
[laughs] Not going next year. Yeah, you're going. No, no, no, we're- Just 'cause they were prepared with a tow truck? [laughs] Yes. Yeah, that's why. They called them. No, because all you other fucktards broke down.
7:40
That's why. [laughs] No, there's a reason after seven years we, we, we literally gave our bus away. Yeah, fuck that. Saying, "No more of this stupid shit." This is my first year where it's been that bad.
7:47
Well, you're probably better off- Normally we're fine... just riding your bike there. Well. [laughs] I did. I was starting a debate.
7:51
I was like, "Mm, it's, like, 90 miles till we get to the- Like, a little pre-RAGBRAI- Yeah... little warmup to- What, uh, what, um, uh,
8:01
Decorah used to do, Decorah Bikes used to do was they would take you out in a coach bus, and they would, you'd rent a rental, like a U-Haul, and then haul everything, and bikes, and all your camping gear out there.
8:10
So then once you got dropped off, you were on your bikes the rest of the time.
8:13
There was no sagging 'cause you had to ride every day because the truck loaded, you loaded your shit up in the back of a, of a ride-a-rental truck, and that went on to the next p- the next town. Mm-hmm. And then you
8:24
rode your bike, so you had to ride every day. Sure. Yeah, I have no intention of ever self-supporting. Well, I say that now, but I just don't. We, we, we did it once, [laughs] but we never rode the route.
8:34
[laughs] So for me, like, I'm a, you know, I don't wanna say mechanic 'cause I don't enjoy working on vehicles, but I'm a car guy. And pre-trip, that's, like,
8:52
you know, the week before, that's time to make sure shit's ready to go. Go through your checklist, make sure, yeah.
8:57
So if I have a bus that's going to be driving three fucking hours, I'm probably gonna get in said bus and maybe start ripping it around town to make sure that it's gonna hold up. Well, they did test drives and, yeah.
9:08
Well, that, that bu- the buses had plenty of miles on them because he was using it for- Yeah, I saw he was using it for-... bike stuff... but they broke down, like, two or three times for the Bandit camp.
9:17
No, I didn't know that. Yeah, so it makes me wonder. Uh, that was something with a tire 'cause we did have to get new tires. Right. Yeah. It makes me wonder, you know.
9:25
But that's how he's always been with that bus, is just- But the heat that-... patch it along... that heat that day was even hotter than normal. I mean- Yeah Vehicles are designed to be in- Yeah... a lot of heat.
9:33
Well, right- That's- And, and, and, and but the problem is- But they're also hauling a bunch of people and- They're, that's what buses do... there's a lot of extra weight that they're not- No, but that's what buses do...
9:41
no, this is a lot of extra weight that- Yeah, but there's a reason-... the buses are not built to carry... first of all, there's a reason- There's a, there's a thing- First thing-... preparation's a thing, guys...
9:46
yeah, but the first, first- Like, this is not okay. If this is part of RAGBRAI, you're not doing a very good job of- This is not okay, guys... selling it to somebody who's never been to RAGBRAI. And Landon's a Boy Scout.
9:55
He should know this stuff. "You wanna go to RAGBRAI? We just break down every 20 fucking miles." [laughs] "That sounds great. I'm in." Gotcha. [laughs] I'm not even the one bitching about it.
10:04
[laughs] Why are you so bitter? I'm trying to be, like, a logical human and plan for these things, and you guys are like, "It's totally normal."
10:10
[laughs] "Buses haul people- Well, you can prepare, and prepare, and prepare and, like-... and break down all the time"... something's gonna happen, and- The bus breaking down every 10 miles seems a little ridiculous.
10:18
That's a little excessive, yeah. I don't even know- But breaking down is not, is, I mean- Oh, sure, that's gonna happen... I mean, you blow a water, a, a water pump or a- Mm-hmm... hose or something like that.
10:28
I mean, because think about it, there's a reason these, these companies are selling these old buses really cheap. Of course. You know?
10:33
And then on top of that, then you take and you rip the seats out, and you turn it into the inside to a camper, so you've already put more weight than, than you're- Right... ever gonna have in there for kids. Sure.
10:41
And then, and then on top of that, you put a giant rack on top and, and, you know, and this- Yeah, they're not made for that... and, and 30 people's- Was the bus pulling a trailer? No. Oh.
10:50
So we went with the roof rack, and I will never... Oh, God, that was stupid. [laughs] It took us so long to get ready and, like, to get back because just, like, hauling. And we had perfectly capable guys of doing it.
11:04
It's just a lot of work to, like, haul the bikes up there, put them in the little rack thing, and, like, just so much work.
11:10
What I felt most bad was, like, the guys that were trying to get the bikes off when it was storming, and it was downpouring, and they're still just, like, fucking troopers up there, just, like, taking bikes off the bus.
11:19
And I'm like, "You guys, the bikes will be fine." [laughs] Like, "Go inside." They're- That was on Saturday night? I think s- wasn't that day zero that, like, it rained so- Yeah, it rained Saturday night...
11:29
there was tents flying everywhere. So yeah. So straight away it was bad. We'd been breaking down all day, and then we get to the campsite, and then we hear this storm rolling in. So what was, what was morale like?
11:38
W- were people pissy, or was it still pretty good? No. There, there was a couple people on our team- Oh... that are apparently a little bit upset. I mean, it was a long day. Sure. Oh, yeah. Um, yeah.
11:47
Like, upset, just like- Just worn down, I think... frustrated, or was it, like, they were like, "I'm ready to go." Like, "Take me home." I think they were just like, "Wow, this was a day." Yeah. Yeah. Right.
11:56
It was a long, would be a long day. Like, just mentally exhausted. So when was that- I mean, it's probably a good, like, warmup. I mean, right? Yeah.
12:01
For somebody who's never done it, like- RAGBRAI is- It's all, it's all, it's all downhill from here. Yeah. Well, right, 'cause it seems like, you know, a- as much as it's physical, it's probably mental. Mm-hmm. You know?
12:13
I- Oh, I think, I think RAGBRAI in itself is just mental. It's every, getting up in the morning and getting your- Yeah... sore ass on a bike seat. [laughs] That's, that's all mental. It's not that your body can't...
12:20
Like we said- Right... assessing if you're- If you can ride 10 miles at a time-... sober enough to get on that bike, that's usually my issue. [laughs] [laughs] Can I get this up right?
12:27
Um- Do I need training wheels today? [laughs] Nope, we're good. So when it was pouring down rain that first night, we were standing outside the Fareway grocery store under the overhang just drinking beer. [laughs] Nice.
12:39
Well, that seems like something I'd be into. Uh, the rest of the week. Let's, uh, let's take a b- let's turn the mics off quick. We'll get the dogs to go out. Okay. Turn them back on. Let's let the dogs outside.
12:56
It's gonna get a little warm in here, I'm afraid, but the mosquitoes are horrible outside. Yeah. We're not gonna sit outside. Well, you did turn the fan off. Yeah, 'cause it plays with this. Yeah.
13:05
You don't hear it now, but when you go to the recording, it's, it's... Yeah. Uh, Greg can take it out, but it's a pain in the butt. I bet. Mm-hmm. We have one more RAGbraier joining us, I think. What are you doing?
13:21
Letting the bugs in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, what were they barking at? [laughs] Was somebody out there? He should've been here, but I don't see his truck either. Huh. Any- Jesus. Now we're calling people. Yep. Hey, bring it.
13:36
That's kind of fancy. We should have called them on the thing. I thought about that. What's up? I can, I can plug the cord back in. I got the, I have the ability. Oh. On a podcast call, be like, "Where the fuck are you?"
13:45
[laughs] That would be funny. [laughs] "You're supposed to be here." So anyway, yeah. So you're, quit your whining about it. It's, it's... Well, you're not doing a very good job of selling it.
13:55
Well, so we go- You should be like- This is-... "We never break down, Brad. It's so much fun all the time." No, this is a common thing.
14:01
I mean- Well, it- But, but don't forget there's, there's other people that do RAGBRAI with, not with a bus. They do- Like us. Yeah. Sure. Or- Maybe I'll go with Jeremy's group. No, we're gonna do our own group.
14:12
We're not going with either one of these groups. Oh, I didn't know it was him. Oh, God, I'm leaving. [laughs] Did we not tell you? Welcome. Yeah. Um, so, uh- So we're doing our own group. Oh, yeah.
14:27
No, we're not gonna go... No. No. Oh, yeah, my first RAGBRAI, I'm gonna send you with Landon's shit show. That's not gonna fucking happen.
14:32
See, that's the thing is, like, she's looking at me like, "Landon's bus isn't that bad." Like, do you know how many times I've been stranded on that fucking bus?
14:40
You know, when it works, it's, it works really well when it's sitting in one spot. I've only been stranded twice in seven years. Oh, God, you're lucky. Oh, I think we're fine. It's gotten better then, I will say that.
14:48
It's getting better. Yeah, it's getting... Oh, they'll shut up maybe. When he first bought that thing, we'd take it to, like, hockey games and shit, and it's like we're going to St.
14:56
Paul, and we wouldn't even make it to, like, Pine Island before that thing broke down. We, uh, I, I will, I- [laughs] Was that the old bus then? Yeah. I will tell you, though- Yeah...
15:04
I rented the old bus from him, and I used it for Single Speed USA when it was in Wisconsin. Yep. And we had no problems with it. Well, after, was it Plumber John? Remember him? Yeah, John Nelson. Yeah. John Nelson. Yep.
15:17
When he got his hands on it, he, like- That's like- Him and Mueller put some time into that thing... yeah, and that's when he kept it at John's house. Yeah. Right. It was- Yeah... it was in tip-top.
15:27
And then, obviously, you know, it's tough to pay a mechanic when- Is that when he parked it over in Byron? Did he park it? Well, he had it at the storage out on North 63 for a while.
15:37
I thought he parked it in Byron for a while. He did park it in Byron. Yeah, that's at John Nelson's house. Okay. Yeah. But that was- And then J- and then John moved.
15:43
Well, then, like, 'cause John would be, like, bored, so he'd take the bus for a drive and then be like, "Oh, I noticed the brakes," and then he'd fix them. Yeah. [laughs] You know what I mean?
15:51
So it was like he was always tinkering with it. There's a set of headsets you can put in there. Um- But zip ti- absolutely, they go a long way. Oh, are they... They're not. Are they tied in? No. This should be set up.
16:04
He was talking about zip-tying the bus back together. [laughs] Oh. [laughs] No. You can't zip-tie rust. [laughs] Yeah.
16:10
There were a lot of times where that thing was not roadworthy, and Landon was like, "Let's go to a fucking Wild game with 80 people." Yeah. And he, and he- Cram that thing full of people, and like I said- He-...
16:19
we wouldn't even make it out of town [laughs] He would use it for, like, he would use it for, like, a bridal party. Oh, yeah. Rent it out to people- Oh, yeah... and then drive it himself. It's like, God.
16:26
And then break down with, like- Yeah... a bunch of bachelorettes on it. Wasn't, isn't, isn't that when he took the air conditioner out of it? Yeah, he drove in, and he drove into the overhang of a bank. Yeah.
16:35
[laughs] Oh, yeah. Like above the ATM machine. So anyway, so- [laughs] So- Those poor bachelorettes... so getting their seats- Oh, yeah. No, wait. This is gonna get better for you.
16:44
Just relax now 'cause now we're on day one. Tell me about the bars. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. Now we're gonna go riding, so you get up the next morning. What's, what's, like, the first day? I'd...
16:53
So yeah, it rained that night. Yeah. And then the weather kind of turned. Like, it got from hot to, like, perfect. I mean, the rest of the week, the weather was absolutely perfect. Tailwinds every day.
17:07
I don't think we had a headwind. Uh- Oh, really?... it always seemed like the last seven miles there was just [laughs] a really strong headwind. But there was- Um, but I was-... all uphill headwind...
17:16
queen of shitbagging all week, so. Very, very, very little headwind. At the end. Perfect temperatures every day. No rain the rest of the week. All week you didn't have any.
17:26
I knew toward the end of the week you didn't have. No, it w- There was one drizzly day. I remember that. Yeah, but the, the weather was gorgeous. Yeah.
17:31
There was nothing to complain about with the weather the rest of the week. Probably the best weather I've observed.
17:35
Yeah, I remember, like, l- I was kind of following, like, the weather and shit 'cause I was like, "Oh man, it's 100 degrees. RAGBRAI must suck right now." It looked like it was- Well, that-...
17:44
pretty decent the whole week. So that Saturday night where they had that storm in Sioux City, and it wasn't really even that bad of a storm, but they got a pretty good storm here that night- Yeah... in Rochester. Yeah.
17:54
That's what made me think of it. Yeah. But yeah, my power went out.
17:57
Yeah, we had that- So I got back, and my house was all smoked out 'cause my power went out, and I have a fish tank, and the filter kept running without any water in it. Uh, I almost like- [laughs]...
18:06
I got in my house, and I was like, "Whoa, I feel really weird," and I like- [laughs]... like, "Do I have carbon monoxide poisoning or something?" And- Yeah, I think that was- Yeah...
18:14
the night we had the, uh- That was a rough coming back... we had the tornado warning in town. Yeah. Is that when I lost my tree? Probably was Could have been. It got pretty gnarly here. Yeah. It was that Saturday, right?
18:22
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it was, yeah. Yeah, it was, it was gnarly. Oh yeah, I wasn't here. Yeah, I was at- I was in, I was in Iowa already...
18:28
I was at work, and the sirens were going off, and they were like, "Oh, there's a tornado in Northwest Rochester," and all my customers are like, "What do we do?" And I'm like, "Uh, I don't fucking know."
18:39
[laughs] Well, you've got a shitload of tires and big glass windows. Yeah. Exactly. I would hide behind the tires. [laughs] Build a little tire fort. [laughs] Right. So we had no problems with the ride.
18:49
What were the towns like? Towns were fun. Um, the only one I can complain about is West Union because they clearly, uh, did not know how to prepare for a RAGBRAI. Like, all the food vendors were running out of food.
19:02
They didn't have a single trash can around, so people were just stacking trash everywhere. Was that- Uh... was that the last night? Um- Uh, second to last What was the final city?
19:11
No- We- West Union was the last we were on... West Union was the last night... yeah, yeah. Yep. It, it- That night was wild... and, um, there was a town before that.
19:17
It was weird because so we d- we don't go because we had to be down in Decorah for, uh, Nordic Fest, and, um,
19:24
that day, the day that w- you guys were rolling into West Union, a town before that, and I can't think of the name. Postville? No, it was a smaller one.
19:32
Like, it, I, I wanted the impression it doesn't have a liquor store. [laughs] Starts with a W. Um- Waukon. No, Waukon's got a liquor store you'd dip. [laughs] And a bar, and two bars. Two bars. Yeah. I don't know.
19:44
Um, and no, I can't remember what it's called. Anyway, they were in the Hy-Vee in Decorah buying up all the beer and White Cloud they could get. In Decorah?
19:53
Because it didn't, because their, their, the town didn't have any beer. So these, they, this, this couple just went and [laughs] fucking bought beer and- It's like a Mormon town... Charles City to West Union. Yeah.
20:03
You're saying before they got to West Union? Yeah, I think so. Waucoma? That's it. Waucoma? Yeah, it's Waucoma. Was there no bars in that town? I don't remember. It's Iowa, there has to be a...
20:14
Southern Iowa, there's bars, towns- I don't understand why they go, like, why wouldn't they go to Calmar? What was the best town? There's a, there's a- Look, there's a bug. There's no- What was the best town?
20:22
That's right there. [laughs] For, for overnight towns, I thought, uh, Pocahontas was really good. They had, who was the band? Pop Rocks.
20:30
They, they, they- Oh, we were all the way out at the golf course- They give a good show... when we were there earlier, so I didn't go to Pop Rocks.
20:34
And then, and then next to, like, kind of the block from the main stage, there was this tiny little hole-in-the-wall dive bar that had a polka band playing, and they were amazing. They were so fun.
20:45
Is that when Becca jumped up and did the tuba? Yeah, Becca jumped up and played the tuba. Oh, nice. So that was really fun. Pocahontas did really well.
20:53
Mason City I thought did a really good job, although Sugar Ray was, was shitty. Sh- he was cheesy. Yeah, he was bad. And he did a lot more talking than he did actually...
21:02
The only fun part was when he started doing covers of other people's music- Yeah... rather than his own... but then after Sugar Ray, though, you went over to the mall, and they had a drag show.
21:09
That was really- Oh my God, that was so much fun... that was really fun. Sugar Ray Leonard? Oh, was it the, is it the one that goes through Iowa all the time? Uh, can't remember what it's called. I don't know.
21:16
If there is a drag show, Rotor just always seems to somehow find it. Well, Landon finds it. [laughs] There's... That's 'cause it's his, that's his dream job. My mom loves drag shows. Oh, no, there's- It was so much fun.
21:27
There, I'll bet you money it's the one that's, there's one that comes through Decorah all the time, and it's fantastic. Yeah, my mom always talks about, like, how much fun they are. Yeah. It's just a party.
21:37
There was a, w- uh, we went to one, in Stockholm there was one. What? Oh, in the fridge. Oh, coolie. Okay, and there's more over there, too, if you need. It's like sign language. Yeah. We get the guy a mic.
21:51
[laughs] So Pocahontas was Jeremy's favorite. Po- He- I like Pocahontas as far as, 'cause Pocahontas is not a big town. It's a pretty small town- Mm-hmm... to be an overnight town, but I thought- Just set up well...
22:02
cool bar spots and- Yeah, they, they just did a great job. In fact, they had their Main Street, and they didn't know it was gonna be unusually cool that night. 'Cause it was, it was perfect that night.
22:14
It was nice and cool, but they didn't know that when they planned. So they actually, onto their Main Street, they brought in those portable, like, huge, like, cattle umbrellas- Oh, sure...
22:23
that they take out in the- Oh, yeah, that's right... they had those set up down Main Street, and they were all open, and it was really neat. That's cool.
22:29
They did a really good job of planning, and I thought they did great. Emmetsburg was okay. I mean, nothing great, but nothing- Was there, like, a dive?
22:38
Like a, just a horrible, other than, like you were saying- I don't think-... West Union? I don't think- Trying to scroll through the... Not very nice in Council Bluffs... West Union, I agree, wasn't that great.
22:45
I mean- So but everything went pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, their, the band there even wasn't all that good. It was, like, a former singer in Hairball and, but they didn't give a very good show.
22:55
I was not, I wasn't impressed. [laughs] Did you go to that, um, the big- A former singer in Hairball-... it starts with a G... no, there's a title I want. Yeah. In that pass-over town. This thing. Oh, The Grotto.
23:07
Oh, The Grotto of Redemption- Yeah... in, uh, West Bend? That was cool 'cause we've gone- That's really, I've been there before... past that in previous years, but that was my first time that I actually went in it...
23:14
Brit Res- Britt was a really cool pass-through town [laughs] 'cause it's the hobo museum. Oh, I've gone there before. It's in Britt, Iowa, so we stopped at that. Oh, the hobo museum. I missed that.
23:23
I, I- That was kind of fun... that would've been cool. I, one of the time we went through there, and I, I totally missed it. Wish I would've stopped. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't know how I missed that.
23:32
Did you have a favorite town, Kayla? Um, I mean, other than West Union not being prepared, still there was a lot of shenanigans.
23:40
Their Jackhammer had a game of, of card roulette, so that's a thing that they do where everybody puts in their credit cards and then they, like, draw them out. Sure. They had, like, probably 150 at least cards in there.
23:52
Wow. Like, the hat was full of cards. What was the tab? Um, so they ended up feeling so bad that they only did, like, 30 shots. Oh, okay. Only.
24:01
[laughs] But it took so long that I think a lot of people, like, died off by then anyways 'cause you were just so happy that your card didn't get drawn.
24:07
[laughs] But I was really like, "Who's gonna be the poor bastard that ends up, like, having to pay for all these?" Love to see that town. [laughs] What was the first, first pass-through town? I don't even remember.
24:17
At the very start? Uh, day zero started in Bluff? No, Ida Grove Ida, yeah, Ida Grove is when they, they had- We stopped there before... Ida Grove- That's the, uh, beer pong- Mm... or the tippy cup tournament.
24:28
Yeah, that was a big tippy cup thing. I didn't think I- Uh, Travis found a really great, like, was it a Mexican restaurant or something that had adult slushies? Ooh. Those were delicious. Ooh, yeah.
24:37
They were trying to close down and all of our- That's a great idea... drunk people are coming in. We're like, "No, man, you have really good slushies. You gotta sell them to us."
24:43
I didn't think Ida Grove was all that great. I mean, it, w- I think we just- Don't-...
24:48
have fun wherever we go, but it wasn't anything, like I just remember going to the bowling alley- Yeah, there was nothing, there was nothing fantastic, yeah...
24:53
we went to a hole-in-the-wall bar when we got there, but they were clearly overwhelmed, and it was very small quarters. Ida Grove, Ron, is where I ran into your friend from Decorah. Matt? I don't know.
25:04
I texted you that- [laughs]... we ran into some guy from Decorah that knew you. Everybody in Decorah knows him. Possibly. You and me? There's a couple that don't. Bullshit. [laughs] There's a couple. Bullshit.
25:15
I'd like to know who these people are. Maybe, maybe after, maybe after last weekend that's not possible- Yeah... but up until then, yeah. Um, was it Matt? I don't remember. I texted you about it.
25:24
No, 'cause he didn't go to the start, I don't think. He just did a couple days in the middle. It's probably Captain. No, I know it wasn't Captain. Yeah. [laughs] Everybody knows Captain. It was a guy I didn't know.
25:34
Any cool, like, uh, niche-y things, like, coming through that, like the adult slushies that stood out in certain areas? There was a really good slide, wasn't there? There was an awesome slip and slide.
25:44
I don't know what day that was. [laughs] All the days start to mesh together after- Well, sure... you've been done so long. I guess I'm not really worried about when and where, just the fun things happening.
25:51
Yeah, there was slides- There was- There was one slip and slide that was huge on this- Jeremy Burkhart Oh, fuck. [laughs] No, this- That name sounds familiar. No. That does sound familiar.
26:00
Yes, because he fucking won the belt. Oh. [laughs] I know. My... This is a long story. He'll never listen to this anyway, so fuck him, I don't care.
26:08
[laughs] Um, I sold Jeremy some bikes years ago, back when he was- Not me, a different Jeremy... no, d- different, Burkhart, yeah.
26:15
And, uh, not only did he steal the money from the guy who he didn't pay me for either bike. Oh, Jesus. You know, and I fought him.
26:21
So when RAGBRAI went through Decorah, I literally got on my bicycle and chased him out of town. I said, "Don't you ever fucking come back," and he came back like three days later with my money. Nice.
26:31
You know, and, and, and this is, and this is literally the first time I've seen him since then, and then the son of a bitch wins the belt, and we're all going, "We'll never see those belts again."
26:38
[laughs] It's like, God dang it. But, uh, but that being said, he, uh, also makes wooden fenders, and I'll take a picture of them some. He makes beautiful wooden fenders. That was very cool. Did you see them? Mm-hmm.
26:48
Was it at my, at my place? Yeah, that's right. They're, they're freaking nice. Yeah. So yeah, so- The slip and slide... can you post videos with the podcast?
26:57
Uh, yeah, if you send it to me, I'll send it to them and probably- There's a video of me going down on a rubber, or like a- Yeah... inflatable rubber ducky on the water slide. [laughs] Yes. Yeah. Yeah, give me that.
27:05
Yeah. Nailed it. That's the shit that, that, that's how you get me- [laughs]... to go to RAGBRAI. Well, if you join the Queen of Shenanigans', like, shit bagging show, you will find all the best water slides. Oh.
27:15
Though I did miss one, and I'm still upset about it. So did you- There was an off-road party... so did you stay ahead of the police, or did you get behind the police? This year I did not get... Well, the Mr.
27:24
Porkchop stopped. Um, usually I'd get, like, they, but they were nice this year. Like, they- They were way nicer this year. Yeah.
27:31
They, they, we took so many pictures with them, and, like, they were just, like, asking us how our day- Probably 'cause it wasn't 1,000 degrees.
27:36
Well, and I think there was a lot of, like, pre-talks, you know, with the towns and, and the law enforcement to be like, "Hey, like, you can't shut down things. You gotta at least let people have water and food." Sure.
27:47
Like, be reasonable. Um- And there's a new RAGBRAI director- Yeah... this year... that helped a lot, too.
27:52
Which this year, out of all my RAGBRAIs, I think this was my 38th, this is the first RAGBRAI where I've actually, like, seen the RAGBRAI- 38?... director out- Yeah... on the route and, like, approachable.
28:04
I saw him like three times. Like, you could walk up to him- Yeah... and just talk to him, and he was super nice. 38 RAGBRAIs? That was my 38th RAGBRAI. Wow, that's fucking amazing.
28:12
Well, he started when he was, like, six, so. [laughs] How old are you? I was nine. I was nine. Did we have this, did we have this conversation last night? Probably. What are you fucking 70?
28:19
Check, check your fucking show notes that you keep. [laughs] Look at your phone there, Dan Rather. [laughs] That's actually a great idea. Did I bring my, I didn't bring my iPad this time.
28:26
[laughs] Well, you need to borrow mine. So we might as well look at it. It marks it as 36, which is still pretty cool, but, uh... [laughs] Did you go to the off-road party that had a slip and slide? No.
28:38
I think we were told about it, but we didn't go. It was, well, if you went- Have you guys ever done anything fun? No, he went to the polka fucking fest. [laughs] We do lots of fun stuff. No, he doesn't.
28:45
Well, I always have to make it to as many of the craft beer stops. We do that.
28:48
And so if you went there, if you would've went to the off-road party, you would've cut off, like, I think it was, like, 20 or 30 miles, and it wasn't even that long of a day in the first place.
28:57
I think it was after Railroad Day. So in other words, you really don't do RAGBRAI. Yeah. Me? That's what I hear. I do RAGBRAI the right way. You do, you do RAGBRAI like you race SingleSpeed USA. No.
29:07
Uh, for what it's worth, I want to RAGBRAI with her, not you. [laughs] He's going to polka festivals. She's riding an inflatable rubber ducky down a slide. [laughs] I agree. I would go with her, too.
29:16
[laughs] You have, you have yet to go with me. [laughs] True. Well, that's true. [laughs] I won't survive that. [laughs] Let's be, let's be clear. [laughs] We do a pretty good job of staying just in front of the police.
29:26
Like, they kick us out, we get to the next place, we stop. All right. Okay. We have a couple beers. They kick us out. We go to the next place. That's tolerable. Have a couple beers.
29:34
See, with Chewy, everybody's getting kicked out. Like, I've seen this multiple times- [laughs]... where, like, everybody's getting kicked out, and all of a sudden the only person left is Chewy.
29:44
[laughs] But he's made friends with the officers that are kicking everybody out. Maybe this wouldn't be the case at RAGBRAI- Oh, no...
29:50
but he's usually always the one buddied up with the cops, and they're all like, he's like, "Yeah, get the fuck out of here."
29:55
[laughs] [laughs] When, when they, when, when they first, when they first started doing this, uh, my, my buddy, uh, Pete Daley had, had a problem f- he's kinda, like, I don't know if he had,
30:04
some sleep problems anyway, and he literally was standing there with his beer on his chest, like, you know, the, the, the, the beer shelf on his chest, and he's sleeping. And I was standing with the trooper.
30:14
They were kicking us out. I tell him, I go, "Can we stay here and see how long it goes before he falls over?" And the cop goes, "Absolutely."
30:22
[laughs]It just always seems like you find a way to just nose up to those guys, and they're all like, "We love this guy."
30:29
There's, there's this guy in our group that was a high school teacher in Iowa for, I don't know, eight years. Mm-hmm. And then after he stopped teaching high school, he became a community college teacher in Iowa.
30:40
You know, a lot of, a lot of people go to community college and take, like, what, criminal justice- Sure... and stuff.
30:46
So every, every year on RAGBRAI, we'll be somewhere, and here he'll come walking up, this cop, and the cop will stop and look at him and go, "Mr. Craft?" [laughs] [laughs] It's like this guy knows so many cops.
30:57
That's, that's awesome. Like, what a great- [laughs] Like, what a great just, like, mantra to have. Yeah. Like, I, I taught that guy everything he knows. [laughs] I forget- I feel like Chewy has that power, though.
31:08
Here we go. [beer can opens] Was that better? Oh, you're getting better. That was a good one. I'm so proud. Golf clap. I think it's only 15 minutes in. So it's- Oh, is that our timer? No. Oh. Kind of.
31:18
[ding] What's the next subject? Oh. Um. Hey, let me call you back. Teams that you're glad to see there maybe. [laughs] Um, 'cause Travis just brought up Team Roadkill. Oh, they're- We saw them out and about...
31:27
they're back. Yeah. Yep. I think I saw... Where else was I? I was at another bike function, and I saw Team Roadkill jerseys. Um- I mean, the bad boys were there again. So- Um, not all of them.
31:38
And they had a, not as much stuff this year. Yeah, they- And Todd almost made, like, enemies with one of them because he's like...
31:45
We were outside looking at their bike, and we didn't realize that the guy, I think his name is Chad. I'm gonna feel bad that I forgot it, but he apparently was around the corner, and we were, like, shit talking.
31:53
We're like, "Oh, they're, like, getting kinda soft. They're not bringing as much stuff, and, like, I don't see the whole bar scene." And Todd's like, "Yeah, those pussies."
32:00
Then all of a sudden, this guy comes into the bar after us, and he's like, "I hear you think I'm a pussy."
32:05
[laughs] [laughs] You're like- And I'm like, "Oh, Todd, we're gonna boot you off of Road or you're, like, making all these enemies." [laughs] Was, was Todd on his e-bike? No.
32:13
[laughs] Yeah, they didn't, they didn't have the grill this year. Yeah. Like, no one had the grill. Really? Um, I did see the one bar, but there was, like, not the kitchen sink or, like, the big cooler. Um- He's right.
32:25
They are getting soft. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that was the- I did not say that, for the record. No, that was the cool part about them.
32:30
The bar was okay, but the cool part was is they had a cooler, beer, and they had a grill. And then they would, like, find somebody like Kayla, and they would make a tiara out of aluminum foil.
32:38
[laughs] And then that person's job was to go hand out... And it was, it was a dollar for a burger and a dollar for a hot dog, you know? And they'd- I would've sold the shit out of that. Oh, yeah.
32:46
I mean, they would, they, they... It was gonna- I was gonna say, what do you mean a person like Kayla? [laughs] I'm really good at selling things. [laughs] So unzips her shirt, and away she goes, and she makes a fortune.
32:56
Buy this, you pussy. Humanities. They're a thing, guys. [laughs] But, but yeah. I mean, that was their, that was kinda their gig. I mean, uh, maybe they sell drinks there, and it's easier to do. I don't know.
33:04
But back when we did RAGBRAI, and they were on it- I don't, I don't think they really do that anymore. There's probably some stupid licensing shit.
33:09
Yeah, I think they just kinda hang to themselves and- There's probably some stupid licensing shit that you gotta- Yeah, I wouldn't doubt that. Some-... health code bullshit... somebody, somebody bitches about them. Yeah.
33:17
Yeah. I don't know. I'd be surprised. Somebody would rat 'em out. So any, uh, like, cool, like, new teams that were kinda clever or anything?
33:22
There is a new, um, Junior Jackhammer team that beat them at one of the Tippy Cup, uh- All right... rivalries or whatever. So a junior team, is it younger guys? Um, they're from- Older guys from Rochester?...
33:32
Ames, Iowa, literally from, uh, iOS- ISU. They're, like, alumni. Bunch of college kids? Yeah. So of course- So they're a- alumni, so they're all graduated. Yeah, like- Okay... I think, like, last year. Oh.
33:43
[laughs] They're pretty young. Um- There's a- There's a lot of bike teams out of Ames... Team Liver Strong. Yeah, there's- They had, like, raccoons with the- They've been around a long time.
33:50
Uh, not- I've seen that one... that Team Liver Strong. This is, like, a new one. Mm. And they had, like, raccoons with, like, the pirate theme on 'em. Yeah, they... Casey said they, like, just started up this year. Huh.
34:01
There used to be a Liver Strong- Yeah... in the past. I don't remember what their jerseys looked like, but they're- So Jackhammer Junior just, like, put it down?
34:08
Yeah, 'cause Jackhammer's very much, like, a fraternity style type team. Sure. So. Well, it's, it's Casey Clark that runs it. Yeah. You know. I was biking with one of my buddies from- Clarky still thinks he's 25.
34:18
[laughs] Yeah. They can still roll with the best of them. They're fast. They're fast. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They can ri- Well, I mean, anything that he does- I'd still pick- Yeah... I still think that- Very good...
34:27
that's Wayne Gretzky. And I know, and I know, I know this is- [laughs]... this is from playing hockey with Casey.
34:31
I think if I took Casey on a RAGBRAI, and he stayed with me, Casey would not be as tough as he thinks he is. Oh, no. We would beat him. Nobody's got a liver like Chewy. Careful, Casey is gonna listen to this.
34:40
Oh, no, he won't. [laughs] Yeah. He, this is, this is not- He knows nobody's got a fucking liver like Chewy. [laughs] Mine's not happy with me right now. He has said that.
34:48
He's like, "I would never wanna stand up next to you or Chewy." [laughs] He's like, "For beers to miles ratio, you definitely have all of us beat." Yeah. Yeah.
34:56
He got us a hotel room for the fireman's tournament one year, and I get in there, and it was all fucked up. And I'm just like, "I'm okay. There's a, there's a, there's a couch cushion. I'm good." [laughs] Yeah.
35:05
Went to bed. [laughs] Just needs something to put his head on. Exactly. Could be a rock. [laughs] Could be a bike frame. [laughs] A laundry. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Couple rocks. Yeah. Yep.
35:14
Well, we did t- like, you know, everybody says we did 10 years of never setting up a tent on RAGBRAI. That's it. Just your bike and a tarp. Or, uh- That, that-... breaking into people's, uh, basements...
35:23
I didn't break in. The door was open. [laughs] But we didn't do, I didn't, I didn't figure out the tarp thing on my bike until, like, toward the end.
35:31
I mean, otherwise, it was just, like, literally throw the sleeping bag out in the yard.
35:34
Well, when we did go back and do RAGBRAI, I think we talked about this last time, we rode backwards, and then we went to a, a town where my buddy, off, that was off route where my buddy Mike McAbee was playing, and then literally woke up the next morning just laying in some guy's front yard.
35:47
And then the worst part about that was the guy's, like, 90 years old and has a key collection. Nice. So take your, take my garage, take your f- two-car stall garage- Yep...
35:55
and the entire wall is nothing, all the way around is nothing but keys. But you were in there just enamored with it, weren't you? Oh, yeah. [laughs] It was horribly interesting to me. As long as I had a beer, I was fine.
36:04
[laughs] Oh, another new thing, so the craft beer tents, they had, like, a pre... You could apply to have your team flag if you were cool enough. Oh, yeah. Oh.
36:14
And that was cool to, like, see that when you're rolling into the craft beer tent to, like, see our, like, flag, and ours, of course, was one of the first ones and the coolest ones
36:23
'cause it didn't, it didn't, like, flop over on itself. It was a nice little one. I was gonna say, 'cause your flag is not cool Our flag was pretty cool. Um, Jeremy- The Rotor flag?... and his team really liked it.
36:32
Yeah. We're gonna have to post that picture. [laughs] Oh. Oh, cool. Do you have more pic- Yeah, you saw that- You guys gotta send me pictures... you saw that picture? Yeah. Yeah.
36:38
You have to send me some pictures, and that video. We'll have plenty of pictures and videos to send out. I see you got your Rotor jacket on. Yeah. We also, Rotor also got like two- Oh, yeah... uh, new- I like it...
36:50
jerseys and stuff that Lily and I designed. [laughs] Are you guys taking this team over from Brett? I think you should. I think he wants us to. I'm not taking it over.
36:59
They keep on trying to put me on the committee and I said no. No, Brett's always trying to pass it, all that shit off. Well, that's 'cause he- he's got debt 'Cause he wants someone else to take on the debt.
37:05
[laughs] Yeah, he's got debt he's gotta get rid of. We're not in debt, anyways. Oh, do you wanna put money on that? We're not talking about this. I will- [laughs] We're talking about the good things, guys.
37:14
[laughs] Let's get back on positive. We, no, we have to get Brett on. Oh, man. We have to- I don't think she realizes how know- Okay, next subject... how well we know Brett. Ding, ding, ding. No.
37:21
[laughs] Um, I also have a picture of me getting a liquid IV for the first time. [laughs] And the guy, that was a weird experience. I'm still on the like fence if I liked it or not, 'cause I started- So like-...
37:32
feeling like really funky and then I looked over at Travis-... an actual IV? It's just like a hangover IV, yeah. Yeah. Because liq- 'cause liquid IV is now a thing. It has different like- Yeah. No.
37:39
Like that's like an actual- No, not the packet... an energy drink, you know? It's literally like- No, I was gonna say... no. Okay, yeah, you're getting- Yeah, there's- You have to be like-... you're getting an IV.
37:45
All right, got it. Yeah. It's just, it's just, it's just a saline one, isn't it? No, this one that I did and Travis did, and a couple other people, had like other components to it. Yeah.
37:55
One of them was like a painkiller. It started with a T, I don't remember the name of it, but it definitely- Oh, I know... made me feel great the rest of the night.
38:01
So, so I'm back to my original comment, you guys are soft. [laughs] I'm telling you, dude, you- Soft. I mean seriously, I mean seriously... you wanna cure, you wanna cure a hangover is, it's, it's- You start drinking...
38:08
this wasn't my first time doing it, and I did not regret it. Just start drinking right away, yeah. You start drinking right away. It's hair of the dog, man. Yeah.
38:13
I might have had a beer in my hand while they were giving me the IV. [laughs] Well you- Otherwise, you don't need anything other than saline.
38:18
You did, you did scare the shit out of me the other morning when you came walking out of the bedroom and she's got like that, that thing. [laughs] I'm like, "Holy fuck, she's drinking already."
38:25
And she may have been up for an hour, I'm behind. [laughs] But then you d- and it was like 7:00 AM. Yeah. 'Cause I woke up and I was like, "I'm like a little kid in, waiting to go to Disney World."
38:35
[laughs] But that's for the single speed today. Oh, yeah. We're- You just need a greasy burger and more beer. That's the- Oof... hangover cure... I mean, more beer, but I'll pass on the greasy burger. Yeah.
38:44
Greasy food, I'm telling you, like it's not even like a dietary thing. Like greasy food will fix you- Really?... when you're hungover. I promise. It doesn't have to be a burger.
38:54
[laughs] You know what I missed at Rec Fest? Well, no, like some cheese curds or something. I'll, I'm, I'm kind of- It's tough to get going at first, but I'm telling you.
38:59
I don't, I don't like necessarily like, like breakfast pizzas, but I do like bacon on a pizza, so you're probably right. I'm telling you. Oh, I'll never pass down some bacon.
39:07
Um, what I'm talking about- [laughs] [snorts] [laughs] Oh, God. Tell us about the bacon. [laughs] The saltier, the better. [laughs] Um, talking about breakfast had me thinking about Farm Boys- Mm... or Farm Kids.
39:22
What is the name of again? I think it's Farm Boys. Farm Boys? So a bunch of the kids that were helping, it was like kind of a family pursuit was my understanding. Is this in a, in a, at a stop you're saying?
39:31
And it's, uh, one of the food vendors. Okay. So that was like a big hot spot at breakfast in the morning, was either you go into the towns and get like the unlimited pancakes for like- Sure...
39:40
I don't know, $10 whatever it was. 10 bucks, yeah.
39:42
Or you can go further out, and usually like a couple miles out of the town, Farm Kids or Farm Boys, I forget the name now, they had like their breakfast bowls and breakfast burritos. Oh my goodness. So good. Yeah. Wow.
39:53
That'll cure your hangover. Yeah. I promise you. That was my hangover cure, and I was missing it this year.
39:56
But we always stop, we always stopped at the breakfast family that had the sandwiches, and they don't have a name, but they always had free beer. And Bloody Marys. Oh. Oh, yeah. The free ones? The Bloody Marys.
40:05
The ones that had, the ones that had just that little tiny little trailer. Yep. I can't think of the name. It was, it was just like a husband wife deal. I don't know, really. Yeah, and their kids. Yeah.
40:12
That's how you sell out of anything, free beer. And they just made breakfast sandwiches, and then they had- Oh, no, they, it was, I don't even-... donation beer or- I don't, yeah, I don't even-... Bloody Marys...
40:19
I'm not even sure they brought the beer. I think somebody just goes, [laughs] "Well, they're here. Let's bring some beer over there." [laughs] I think it was like the farm and stuff. Yeah, that sounds amazing.
40:26
You should probably just jump on there and talk instead. Oh, they had frickles. Is that the same spot? Yeah, I feel like you need to get on the line. 'Cause that's what everybody was getting.
40:33
It's a pickle, peanut butter, and ham egg cheese sandwich. Yes. Whoa, wait, what? Yep. That'll do it. Yeah. That'll do it. That will definitely do it. I'm so excited. Yeah.
40:43
I was, because, because I was at the state fair- Yeah, I had that right after... this last weekend, and I, and I- Yeah, yeah. That was them...
40:47
and I did not, I couldn't, I, we found it, but I'd just had something else to eat, so I wanted to do the, the hollow out a pickle and stuff it with sausage- Yes... and cheese. Yep. And then deep fat fry it. Oh, yeah.
40:56
I couldn't eat, I couldn't get, I, I, I just- Getting all excited over here. [laughs] I mean, I'm definitely full blown- That'll do it. [laughs]... full blown fat kid status.
41:05
[laughs] You need to keep telling me about that. I'm sweating just listening. So, so- I am sweating over here just listening. [laughs] I only have one state fair story. So I, I went up to, Mankato Brewing had, um,
41:18
uh, their cotton candy beer that they make just for the state fair. Yep. And I, uh, so I, I go up there and I order one, and then the girl holds up the cup and she goes, "Do you want, uh, cotton candy on this?"
41:30
And I'm like, "Well, yeah, you've gotta have cotton candy on it." She goes, "Well, I didn't want you getting any in this." [laughs] She's stro- she's literally stroking my- Stroking your mustache.
41:39
[laughs] She's stroking my mustache. [laughs] And I'm like, she goes, she goes, "Wait, wait, let me get you some napkins," she goes, "'cause you can't wreck that." I, I did have wax in it that day too, by the way.
41:46
[laughs] But, but even still- You had it all dolled up. Oh, yeah, yeah. She's like, "You can't, you can't..." She wasn't gonna put it on there 'cause she was afraid I'd get the cotton candy in my mustache. Sure.
41:53
I will say, you got some good- That would be a bad thing. That might be, yeah... you got some good stache flow going right now. I, you know- Stache flow. [laughs] Stache flow. Well- Wow, look at it.
41:59
He's got it off the chin. It's like salad there. My... [laughs] A lot of lettuce. It's front salad to match the back lettuce. [laughs] A lot of ch- I know. A lot of ch- a lot of chin lettuce going on.
42:08
My, my, my, my, my buddy Robert in Decorah told me that it looked like shit this morning, so. That's bullshit. No, no. He should no longer be your buddy now. Well, no, he's, he's- He should suffer.
42:17
He's, he's a good guy though. Yep. We're gonna see how long you can grow it out. No, I've got like another what? Month and a half. September, October, I got two and a half months. For hock- till hockey.
42:25
And then hockey starts, I gotta get rid of it. I, my hair, I gotta get my hair cut. I can't take it anymore. It's killing me. Yeah. Like it was, it's like whooping me in the eye. I don't know how you guys do it.
42:32
Are you gonna do the spinner style? No, everybody tells me I can't You have enough hair. On top of my head? I already tested it. Yeah. Yeah I did a little mini ponytail. I feel like you could pull that off. Yeah.
42:41
I could do it. You'd look like a giant douche, but you could do it. [laughs] I mean, I fully support that. Okay, I'm in. Do it. I just have to go find the right wig. I'll even braid it for you all the time. Wow.
42:54
All right. I don't know if it's long enough to braid, is it? This is getting weird. Yeah. All right. Back to RAGBRAI. [laughs] Back to RAGBRAI. The beer stops. I think- Yeah, let's talk about beer stops...
43:03
I think, I think the story of the craft beer stops this year was inflation. Jesus. Ooh, that was a big deal. Yeah, what was the... What, what were- A lot of teams were talking about boycotting them...
43:10
last, last year at craft- Oh, really? Last year the craft beer stop, a beer was five bucks, and this year it was eight. And- Are you kidding?...
43:17
instead of giving you dollars back, they gave you a $2 bill- Yeah, they gave you a $2 bill... which made me kind of mad- Oh, no... 'cause I'm like, "Now you're just pissing me off and I'm not gonna take you every time."
43:24
A $2 bill's almost as bad as an e-bike. [laughs] Fuck yeah. [laughs] Now I feel like I turned my cans in- [laughs]... getting fucking $2 bills. I don't even do that anymore. There's no money in them. Oh. Yeah, bullshit.
43:36
Does the North, uh, recycling, they still do the $2 bills? No, it's the Jennings one over on 3rd Ave. Oh. But the- but they're not worth...
43:42
I mean, you need like, you need two 50 gallon buckets to get a nickel out of them. Oh, yeah. Right. They're not worth anything. But no, the, the prices on RAGBRAI this year were noticeably higher.
43:51
Well, and the fact that they did that- I, I mean, how much beer were you getting?... made it difficult to- Was it, were we talking like a pint, or are we talking like just- Pint, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Pint.
43:57
But eight bucks a pint, I mean, last year was five. Yeah. I don't- It's been five for ever... sure. I mean, I guess, I guess, like, when I go to events to get beer, uh, $5 a pint seems like a bargain. That is.
44:11
But I, but I was just- But, but, but... at a Twins game- [laughs]... and got like, uh, they had, like, one of their...
44:16
I forget what brewery it was that had, like, the takeover, and I'm talking like it was more than a pint- Oh... but it was like 12 bucks. Oh. But the beer was delicious, so like I get where you're coming from.
44:28
You know, inflation's definitely a thing, but I feel like if they were to do it same time last year, that $12 pint's probably more like nine bucks.
44:35
So- But don't, but don't you feel that- The first day was also dry, so they said that they were trying to make up, uh- Oh, sure... for the losses that they- Oh, yeah, that they... 100%.
44:42
They couldn't have the craft beer- Yeah... the first day. Oh my God, every guy I passed was like, "Where's the fucking beer stop?" [laughs] Wait, it was dry? I was so mad. Why was it dry?
44:50
There's, there's dry counties in Nebraska. Yeah. Yeah. Or in Iowa. Is there really? Oh, yeah. Is it always, like, around Sergeant Bluff? Like, Northwest Iowa is pretty conservative.
44:58
'Cause I remember, like, Council Bluffs, yeah. Northwest, so, in, in, in- Like, Utah dry? Yeah. Yeah. No shit. But, but even if it's- Like, like you can go to clubs. Yeah...
45:04
but even if it's not a dry county, say, like, a liquor store can sell, they... It's still very conservative of, like- Sure... they won't grant the, the, them the license to sell. That makes sense.
45:14
But I could see Olmsted County doing something like that too. Yeah. But I don't, I don't, I just don't get... I mean, the craft beer thing was kinda cool when I, we did it back when, but to me it doesn't make sense.
45:22
It's like, okay, it's like, I hate to bring it up again, but SingleSpeed USA where we had Toppling Goliath at the end of the race. You can only drink so much of that stuff- Sure... while you're riding a bicycle, right?
45:31
Yeah. Well, but- And I mean, and, and, and I would think it would be the same way. I mean- But they got a good selection. I mean, they got- Sure... lighter beers, they got darker beers. I mean, it's- Yep.
45:39
I mean, sometimes you just gotta mix in a fucking Busch Light, you know? Or you- Or seven. Every now and then you mix in a craft beer. [laughs] So every- That's what I do. So every- [laughs] Yeah...
45:48
every year, though, it becomes more and more common, though, that it, it's, it's not just the prices, it's more, it's almost additionally the lines that we find ourselves.
45:58
We'll roll into a town and we say, see the beer, the, the real beer stop, and you're like, "Jesus, there's a lot of people in there." Like, it's just- Were people buying it, though? Oh, yeah. Lots of people are.
46:09
Oh, fuck yeah. But then you ki- Then that's not gonna help it... so you kinda look over the- There's a lot of newbies that don't know anything 'cause it's their next town...
46:13
you kinda look over there and you're like, "There's a long line, there's beer, it's expensive," or over here there's a Casey's. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, true. Let's just go in there and buy a case. Yeah.
46:22
And it- Problem solved...
46:23
with the farm boys or farm kids not being there, I remember there, now that we're talking about lines, there was two days where I got stuck at the very beginning because I was trying to find breakfast 'cause I was like, "This would probably be a good idea," and, like, the lines were ridiculously long.
46:35
Yeah, lines are getting- So Kayla doing Kay- Kayla things, [laughs] goes into the other side of the bar and the guys are like, "Actually, if you just go up these stairs right here, you'll, like, go right into the buffet."
46:46
[laughs] So- Can we hear more about Kayla things? [laughs] She's riding her bicycle, she- I'm just efficient, people. [laughs] Okay, all right. I got a lot of beers to drink- Thank God... and a lot of miles to do.
46:56
Are we, are we doing... Well, we're not g- we're not doing the whole thing. Next year. Or what. Yeah.
47:00
So complaining about lines and people, I was talking to the RAGBRAI director, super nice guy, but he has some goals for next year, that being the 50th RAGBRAI, that he really wants to try to grow it. Like- Sure...
47:14
make it bigger. I mean, did this year seem like- How the fuck are you gonna do that?
47:17
Did this year seem like- Honestly, take it, take it through Des Moines and try to get a lot of like one- I don't want to go through Des Moines... one or two-day riders. You don't need to go through Des Moines. Oh, yeah.
47:25
Oh, yeah, that's just- Now you're just getting fucking greedy there. So Jeremy, I have a, I have a- Well, it gets so spread out, that's why nobody really wants to go to Des Moines.
47:30
All the teams don't wanna do the big cities- Yeah... 'cause it's, it's hard for us- It spreads out. Sure... to all hang out. Yeah, like that's probably why I think Pocahontas was such a great overnight town.
47:40
It was a small town. Nothing was far from anything else. I feel like that's how the towns should be, and I've never done it. Like, I feel like that sounds like more my style. But Jeremy, I have a question.
47:50
So being that this year's kinda like first removed from, like, COVID stuff, right? Oh. So did this- It was busy... did this year seem, like, busier? Back to normal.
47:59
Yeah, it was- So back to normal, or was there, like, a, like, a heightened- Nah. Did it seem busier than even, like, pre-COVID? I think, I think last year seemed smaller than normal. Sure. This year seemed normal. Okay.
48:11
Yeah. But- 'Cause I, I've heard a lot at, like, some of those events that, like, people have missed them for two, three years, that they just now they come out in droves because they've, you know.
48:20
But last year I went on RAGBRAI. I know a lot of people who went on RAGBRAI. Nobody caught COVID. This year- [laughs] After RAGBRAI, a lot of people caught COVID, and I was one of them. How was that for you, Kayla?
48:32
[laughs] It was fine. You guys all got it, huh? I biked like 150 miles like that week. Oh, it's, COVID sucks. You had to. Okay. No, I just- Do we need, do we need to ring the bell for a COVID discussion?
48:40
Yeah, that fifth guy was like annoying. [laughs] We gonna run down the symptoms? I don't really know if there's anything to discuss. Everybody got COVID, duh. A- and that's it. Yeah. And it was so weird.
48:47
Honestly, I'm surprised we didn't get it last year. It... Yeah, I was surprised we didn't get it last- It was so weird, like we had 15 people in our group and three caught it.
48:53
And like, how does not, how did not everybody get it? Yeah, that's weird. It's just- Well- And your team was similar. I'm guessing- We got like, uh, I think seven or eight. I think- Out of how many?
49:03
I think Brittany- Out of like 30-some... told me eight. Did everybody go get tested? Yeah. Every single one of them. I did, I just did the home- Well, Brett asked them to...
49:09
I just did the home test, and it came up positive. Yeah, all of us were doing the home tests, to be fair. Sure. I'm pretty sure, so.
49:14
'Cause it's like, you know, I, I've heard of- But I took like four home tests before I came up positive. I've heard, yeah, I, I mean, I've heard a lot of that too, where it's like- So you really weren't positive.
49:22
You were just forcing yourself to be positive. [laughs] It was all mental. [laughs] Well, it's- I knew I was probably positive. [laughs] You know, it's kind of the old, uh, like, it depends on who you talk to, right?
49:29
'Cause there's people that are like, "Oh, you can't get COVID if you don't get tested." [laughs] So, like we had a, we had a huge- [laughs] That doesn't exist. Yeah.
49:35
We had a huge like family reunion, and no bullshit, like six or seven people popped up like right afterwards with COVID. So they're like sending out emails, "Hey, so and so, you know, these people came down with COVID."
49:49
You know, and it was like I didn't have any symptoms, so I'm like, "I'm not getting fucking tested," 'cause that's what the CDC says. Yeah. Only test if you have symptoms.
49:57
So, and then there were people that were sick, and they're like, "Ah, I'm fine. It's just a cold. Bah, you can't get COVID if you don't get tested. You know, I'm going to work anyway. Rah." [laughs] Yeah.
50:07
So there's probably some of that in the group, too. Yeah. There's probably more that did get it that just- Well, I would think, I would think-... we didn't get tested...
50:12
with that many people and being, you're bumping into so many different groups too, I, I would assume that- But-... you got it in m- like mostly I think- Oh, and we're sharing cups at tippy cup tournaments- Oh, yeah...
50:21
and yeah. Yeah. Which, which is- Basically making out with everybody... yeah. And you're going into a- Yeah, guilty. [laughs] You're g- you're going into- I knew I had it.
50:27
[laughs] You're going into a porta potty that just like 10- Sure... people were in right before you and- Yep. Well, I even noticed it- That's not embarrassing...
50:34
I even noticed at the concert the other night, like the, you know, the, you could tell everybody's over it or it's over with for that part because it's like during COVID it's like, "Uh, I like that T-shirt."
50:45
And it's like, "Okay," and you put on gloves and hand it to them. Now it's like, "Can I try on that T-shirt? Does it fit me? H- does it fit you? Yeah, if it's me I'll take that one," you know? You're passing it around.
50:52
Oh, yeah, we're passing the shirt- Yeah... and always putting it on. Yeah, it's- Yeah... it's, yeah, it's- 'Cause everybody's gonna get it. It's- Yeah... become basically the next flu.
50:59
And that's, and that's like coming from my family that like most of them don't care. They're just like, "Ah, whatever." Well, it's- "If I get it, I get it." You know? Yeah. But yeah.
51:10
That, that was kind of that- But, but most of you guys did, most of you guys didn't get it until afterwards, right? Oh, yeah.
51:13
So I, I got home in late Saturday night, and then like Monday mornings when- Start feeling pooey... I start feeling like shit. Yeah. Is that you too, Kayla? Um, sorry. We're talking about body sushi over here.
51:26
[laughs] What, what, what? One of the Jag Hammers is celebrating their 40th birthday party this weekend, so I'm a little bit distracted. Sorry. What were we talking about? Body sushi? You know, yeah, body sushi.
51:36
Let's go back to- That's, that's... Yeah. Oh, oh, hold on. [bell dings] Oh. Oh. Body sushi. [laughs] So what was, uh, so we, we get, uh, we, we kinda got ahead of ourselves at West Union, right? That was the...
51:48
Was that the tail end town? That was the last town. I w- 'cause that was gonna be like- That was the last hurrah, yep... what was, how was that?
51:54
I mean, was that w- we had kinda heard that it wasn't well-prepared, but did we have a good time? Was it- Yeah. Oh. 'Cause it's the last hurrah, so everybody's- Sure, yeah... out having fun.
52:02
Even in the, even in the bad towns you still have a good time. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. You make the best of it. There's just, there's just- The way you make it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, that makes sense.
52:09
And we're all there with our friends, like- Yeah... so long as there's alcohol, like we're having a good time. And then what was the, what was the f- what was the ending town? Was it Lansing? Lansing. Oh, yeah. Yep.
52:16
And I do, I do like ending in Lansing. It's really pretty. Mm-hmm. It's, it's a really nice part of Iowa. Yeah. But you said it was not an easy town to get in and out of.
52:24
Oh, yeah, 'cause there's like one- There's only one way in and out... yeah, there's only one way in- Yeah... one way out of town. I remember that conversation last time. But, but- We left early enough.
52:31
It didn't seem that bad this year... so us, we c- we come rolling into town so late that [laughs] everyone's already gone by the time- Yeah... we get there. But, uh, um, so ring the bell.
52:42
[bell dings] We gotta go to the next subject 'cause we're running out of time here. [bell dings] Oh. So- Jesus... next year's the 50th anniversary. Yeah. You brought that up. Um, what do y-
52:49
so Matt, one of my other friends at Decorah, he's firmly convinced that it's gonna be the original route. Did the original route go through Des Moines? Yes. No, I don't know. The original- The whole thing?
52:59
No, the original route went like northeast corner to southwest- Wow... or I'm sorry, northwest corner to southeast corner. Like, like it's a long route. I'm pretty sure it's gonna go...
53:09
So does director guy seem like he wants to make it like a money maker? No, I don't think he- Bigger, or just- I don't think he's interested-... more people?... in making it a money maker.
53:17
He just wants to get more asses on bikes. Well- It sounds... he just wants the numbers. Yeah, he just wants the numbers. Well, 'cause we were talking about the last one, how the average age is what...
53:24
And I, and I don't think he's all concerned about, like in the past where like, oh, everyone has to be registered. I mean, I think they sell enough registrations. Yeah. Sure. So he's not concerned about that.
53:35
I think- Well, obviously they never have raised the, they never raised the amount of r- registers that they allow. How do you do the big cities, though?
53:41
Do you just like hit up like a, the fairgrounds and just like try to- Yeah... get everybody there?
53:45
Well, yeah, 'cause it like, like they'll stop wherever the s- you know, like Des Moines had the state fairgrounds where the amphitheater is. Sure. And that's where they ended up there. Yeah.
53:51
And then- But, but he told me, I talked to him a couple times, and he told me for the 50th anniversary he wants to have a day, God, how many people?
54:00
I think he said he wanted 50,000 people, but just for a day, not for the whole week. Sure. But the only way you're gonna accomplish that is taking it through Des Moines- A big city...
54:10
or, or cl- And making it a shorter day... or close to Des Moines. Sure. So maybe like Ankeny- Ames... or maybe- Or some-...
54:15
or Ames or- Well, if you put it in the middle so your people could get there just for that celebration that one day where it's not a four or five- One or two days... yeah. I mean, people- Sure...
54:23
might ride into Des Moines, ride out of Des Moines. That might work, yeah. So the original route in 1973 went through Sioux City, Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Ames, Des Moines- But, so that won't happen-... Williamsburg...
54:33
'cause we started- So northwest to southeast. Yeah, I think so. But we started in Sioux City this year. Yep, so- So we- Well, I, I think all that shit's blown out the window 'cause it's 50th anniversary. Yeah.
54:42
I think it'll- That's my impression... I think it'll be a central route Council Bluffs So there, the, you think, you think- That was the following year... you think they'll just stay with...
54:50
No, it should be a southern route, shouldn't it? It could be central or southern. No, usually, 'cause if it was, if it was central or- It could start in Glenwood. It could start in my hometown. Yeah, that's true.
54:59
It hasn't started in Glenwood for a while. So- If they go way south, I feel like their numbers are gonna go down a little... day zero, Glen- Glenwood is the farthest south- The way south ones-... starting point...
55:07
the way south ones are not as fun. They're hill- they're harder. They're, Southern Iowa's hillier. Well, and you al- Ass... well, you just go in and out- [laughs] You just go in and out of the river valleys.
55:14
That's all you do. You just basically follow the river all the way across and- I like the southern route, so I enjoy... Like, Bedford's a beautiful little town. I enjoy Shenandoah's, home of the Everly Brothers.
55:24
Nice town. I remember the roads being really rough. Clarinda. Oh, yeah. Home of Glenn Miller. Yep. That town's fun. Clarinda's a fun town. Fun town, yeah. Mm-hmm.
55:33
My first RAGBRAI that I rode in '84 was Glenwood to Shenandoah. That was the only, that's the, I just rode one day my first year. Well, so my- So just that day... so, so- Does that count?
55:44
Nobody, nobody, nobody- I rode on RAGBRAI... what do you think the route's gonna be? Yeah. If that's the case, I'll do it every year. I don't know. Ride one day.
55:49
[laughs] I'm hoping it doesn't go through Waterloo or Des Moines. Otherwise, I don't care. Waterloo's not bad, 'cause you usually stay- Well, eh. But where was- Waterloo is getting- It's the ghetto Iowa...
55:56
no, we don't stay in Waterloo. But it could, it could get- Yeah, Waterloo's gotten pretty shady... it could get close to Des Moines, though. Ankeny is a nice town. Yeah. Indianola's a nice town.
56:04
Yeah, I wouldn't mind that. Ankeny would be cool. I mean, you could go through, like- 'Cause that, that gets you on the High Trestle Trail, which- Waterloo- Oh, yeah... Waterloo to Cedar Rapids is kinda eh.
56:10
Yeah, I could care less about the trail again. Yeah. But if you go through, like, Cedar Falls- And we just did that, like, two years ago... you, like, Cedar Falls is a nice area. So it was a long time ago. Nicer.
56:18
I don't remember what year it was. It was a l- it was a long time ago. I was pretty young. But we stayed in Des Moines, and they actually... And we weren't camping at the time.
56:27
I mean, we always line up the private housings. We're a smaller group. But they actually allowed us to camp on the cap- the state capitol grounds in Des Moines. Really? That would be cool.
56:37
So we actually camped that night. Oh, that's cool. That would never happen again. Just, just because, like, they let us. Yeah, I mean, well- Do you think that would happen again? Yeah, I think so.
56:44
So we set up a, we set up a tent- You think so?... on the state capitol grounds- Cyclers are pretty good about picking up after themselves... just to say we did. Yeah, well, and just, it- I'm not worried about that. No.
56:50
Go a- I'm worried about the fucking, the crazies out there. No, no. They're crazy in Des Moines. Political crazy's different. But yeah, I don't, I don't s- Oh, I didn't see that...
56:57
I, I don't, I don't see them letting them do that again. I would, I would assume, I would assume the first ones, the- That's what I'm saying. Like, I was like, "Eh."
57:01
I would assume- 'Cause they have statues and all this stuff- Sure... around capitol buildings. I don't know.
57:04
I would think the political crazies got in the middle of RAGBRAI, they would get thumped if they started acting stupid. I- That's fair... we had way more locals, like this year, like yelling at us.
57:13
Like, when we rode into Mason City, we were- That's a fucking weird town... we were riding just, like- It is a weird town...
57:19
the side streets of the house we were staying at, and there was this guy, like, walking his dog, and he just started yelling at us, like- Yeah, I can't imagine- "We don't, we don't want you in town, rah, rah, rah"...
57:27
that's, that was one of my Dan Rather questions is there, are, is there a lot of that? Is there people that, like locals that are maybe, like, not as happy about it? If you're on a e-bike. If you're on a e-bike. Yeah.
57:36
We, you, you see it more often with the locals being a little cray-cray than you used to. Sure. So it's the people that are like, "Get out of- The people from my hometown-... get out of my town"...
57:44
still bicker about it going through, like, 2017. What's your hometown? Cresco, Iowa. Okay. We had some local cray-cray woman kind of freak out on us the first night in Sergeant Bluff. She was just weird.
57:56
[laughs] Okay, that's- Well, there's always gonna be a couple weirdos... and then, yeah, that guy- Sure... in Mason City that- I can't imagine everybody's happy about it... like, yelled at us and- Yeah.
58:02
Well, no, the, but the, the weird thing is- People that are not bikers don't get it. No. And it's one day. They don't get it.
58:06
And especially, no, but you know what pisses them off, is because it's a closed route, so they can't drive their cars that day. So the reason they're pissed off- Yeah, sure...
58:13
is they couldn't do their d- And they can't get cell phone service and- They couldn't do their d- yeah, and they couldn't do their regular trip into the, to the- I mean, that would be annoying...
58:20
Casey's to get a burrito at noon. [laughs] You know, they had to drive, they had to drive two blocks out of the way, so they're all pissed off about it.
58:26
I mean, if you're not getting pizza at Casey's, like- It's one day, and it's bringing in so much revenue to their towns. Yeah. Like, literally saving a lot of these small towns. Most people don't give a shit about that.
58:33
No. No. The, no, they want the little- Yeah... I mean, it's, uh, then there's, there's that problem. They want the little town to stay their little town.
58:38
And some people in those little towns, that's why they moved to those little towns. Exactly, yeah. You know? Yeah.
58:42
That was a, out, that was always, like, a curious thing that I had was, like, there can't be everybody that loves this shit. Yeah. Oh, I would say it's 50/50. Sure. Oh, really? Oh, I think so. Like, that big of a split?
58:54
Yeah, yeah. So y- [laughs] The, the, I mean, the, the- I would love to, like, just see the people yelling at you guys...
58:59
there's people that, there's people that leave town that's come into their towns- Just to fly on the walls...
59:02
but then, but then there's the, there's the farmer that you think, like, you ride past this farmer's house, and you look, and you're like, "Oh, this guy's gonna hate this going by his house." And he loves it.
59:11
And then, and then you get up to the house, and he's has a huge party. Sure, yeah. And, like, he's like, "Screw it. They're coming by. I'm gonna-" Embrace it...
59:19
have 10 coolers of Busch Light, and we're gonna have a party." Yeah. And they do, and they have so much fun. Sure. Well, that's like- The, the, you would hope that people would embrace it...
59:27
you actually, you actually meet, you actually meet the people in cycles that you wanna talk to. Mm. And, and they're like, "Okay, this is a whole different group than I thought it was gonna be."
59:32
Are there- [laughs] So I know you guys are always like, "Uh, cyclists are pretty cool." Are there ever- I don't know... douchey groups or something? Oh, yeah. Oh, there's a fucking million douche groups.
59:39
Well, you already talked about Casey. Yeah. [laughs] And Landon. They all go. And Landon. [laughs] Fair, fair. Question retracted. It is. Hey, do you know Team Cockroach?
59:51
They're sponsored by Pabst beer, and they have, like, really cool jerseys. Let's go. I'm trying to get one from them. Is that our team? Is that our new team? I don't know if I wanna bike with them.
59:59
I don't, we don't do teams. No offense, Team Cockroach, but- I, I, no, I've seen, I've seen their bar tab. We don't do teams, Brad. Shut the fuck up. I don't think, I don't think they're- It's fully wrapped in Pabst.
1:00:06
Oh, no. I haven't s- They had a, a off-route party that was really on the route. Um, and they had, like, tons of free Pabst beer I was, like, pocketing and- Wow.
1:00:13
Jack Hammer, Jack Hammer had some secret party that was a bus that, "Oh, I ran into you that day."
1:00:18
It was for a charitable event, too, and I'm like, "Why didn't you tell more people for that if you were supposed to be- I think it's, the cops shut it down, like, right away. Yeah. Really? Was it on the route?
1:00:26
Well, it was literally right after we were leaving the craft beer tent. Craft beer tent. Oh, yeah. Did you have any, was there, like, a lot of really good off-route parties?
1:00:34
Um- You're kind of the off-route gal, aren't you? Yeah. There wasn't too many. Just straight off. There was only one that I missed, and that's- In the off go? Yeah. I, ugh, I'm not going down that road. [laughs] Oh, hey.
1:00:44
I was about to say some really nasty things. [laughs] Nope[laughs] Well, fuck. [laughs] I feel like you set me up well, and I was like, "Mm-hmm." Well, I teed that one up. I know you did. Welcome to my last weekend.
1:00:54
Yeah. I teed, I teed it up. Oh, my God. I feel like Chewie killed it. Yeah, that has to be on the podcast. [laughs] Shut your mouth, Chewie. [laughs] She almost said dirty things. [laughs] Um, all right.
1:01:06
So since we're overtime, once again, you assholes, um, uh- Yep... so the last thing we have to go is, because I'm not sure Kayla's gonna get on the one this weekend, but, um, there is a thing called RAGBRAI Hangover.
1:01:18
Mm, it's tough. And where, where you... And I remember doing this too, where you go to work- Is that include COVID, or? No, this is, this has got nothing to do with COVID.
1:01:23
This is, this is like, so you've been on your bike and drinking and riding and, and just hanging out with your friends- Literally not a care in the world- For, for seven days...
1:01:31
just hanging out with your besties Gotta go back to reality. And now you go back to work, and like I would just sit there and fucking stare at my work and not do a thing. I just... It was just like...
1:01:38
And we always said that if somebody ever... If Team Evil wanted us to ride to Chicago with them, 'cause some of the guys were Chicago and that's where the bus went back for those guys.
1:01:45
And I said, "If I ride another five days, I'm never gonna stop. I'm not going home." [laughs] "I'm not going back to work, nothing." I'm just done. Yeah. Hobo gypsy. Yeah. So, so Kayla- Black gypsy. And you, and she...
1:01:56
It's funny 'cause Kayla brought it up to me like two days after RAGBRAI got over with, and then, and then she texted me, was it Monday? Tuesday? What day did you leave? I don't know, man. Days are just a concept anymore.
1:02:08
[laughs] I was literally asking her, like, "What'd you do this day?" She's like, "I don't fucking know." [laughs] Yeah, so she, whatever day she finally left Decorah, um, the next day- Hit send it with a Y...
1:02:15
the next day she goes, she goes, she goes, she goes, "I have, now I have Single Speed USA hangover." I know. It was bad. And I asked her, I said, "Which is worse?" Way worse.
1:02:22
And she had to think for like, literally, what, two seconds? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And she's like, "Oh." What did you say? Single Speed. You snoozed through all your alarms on Monday and got in trouble at work?
1:02:29
Yeah, I got in big trouble at work. Oh, boy. We don't need to talk about that online. Was that Monday or was it Tuesday? I thought it was Sunday and Monday. Oh, yeah. Well, oh, yeah. You did leave on Sunday, didn't you?
1:02:37
Well, there's, see, I told you, days are messed up now. There's a difference between like a seven-day event, though, and a one-day event. This is a [laughs]... Oh, this was a- This started on Wednesday. Yeah.
1:02:46
And ended, it ended in like the last, like I didn't post anything because I was going to, but Sue doesn't like it when I post where people, you know, like tell, telling people that they're out of town so their houses are in jeopardy- Oh, sure...
1:02:56
type thing. That's the way she is. But literally the last people stopped, so Monday afternoon, the guys from Colorado and Colin Ford from Milwaukee, who now lives in Colorado, all stopped by my house.
1:03:07
I said, "Okay, RAGBRAI's off- or Single Speed USA is officially over with," 'cause the last out of town people finally have left the city. [laughs] And, and I think I talked- I wanted to stay...
1:03:18
I thought, yeah, because you, well, you left the night before. Yeah, I did leave. She was like, she was like, "I have to go home. I have to play volleyball. I gotta do this and this."
1:03:25
Now it's 6:00 and she's still sitting in the front yard. [laughs] Well, 'cause this guy is, "Well, just one more," right? [laughs] And I get sucked in every time. Yep, that's the old Minnesota goodbye.
1:03:34
This guy was also proud that- Exactly. [laughs] Yeah. So, so- What morning was it that you, oh, yeah. Literally the day we were gonna start the Single Speed USA race, in quotation marks, um, [laughs]
1:03:43
you came into my door knocking, and mind you, the day before I was so excited- By the way-... that I was up earlier than I've ever been... this is my proudest moment ever as a father.
1:03:50
[laughs] And he's like, "Are you alive? Did I break Kayla?" And I'm like, "You broke Kayla." [laughs] Yeah. I, I, I knocked, I knocked on the door and I go, "You okay?" She goes, "You broke me." [laughs] Oh, boy.
1:04:03
So- Too many things. You're responsible. A lot of concoctions. Well, it was, yeah, it was, it was- These are the guys that can hang with me, though. Like, there is not... We drank the town dry. We drank
1:04:14
at the, at the, at the after party- There was no Pabst beer within a 100-mile radius... at every, we drank, we drank all, we ordered- I've never been able to hang with that guy, ever.
1:04:19
They, they drank, we drank all the Pabs. They ran- He breaks me every Sunday... they ran to the, they ran- Normally I'm breaking people.
1:04:24
[laughs] Listen, they ran to the fairway and bought all the Pabst Blue Ribbon they had at the fairway and sold it at the Elks Club, and we drank all that too. Jesus.
1:04:31
And then, and then we, and then we dove into the Busch Light. The only reason they had Busch Light left over was because we told them, "You better get a lot of that."
1:04:36
[laughs] And this was after drinking 800, Cam Spinner said- Yeah... of Toppling Goliath 89% double IPA. Well, we had, we had, we had 500 cans of Toppling Goliath and 350 cans of Busch Light. Oh, okay.
1:04:48
And, and that was all gone before we left the woods. My liver hurts just listening. [laughs] And then, and then everybody went home and napped for about two seconds, and then rallied back later. Right back at it. Yeah.
1:04:56
Yep. Yep. So anyway, the hangover's worth it after Single Speed USA, right? Yeah. I might still quit my job. [laughs] [laughs] I was actually researching- Hope your boss doesn't listen... again today. Uh.
1:05:06
Well, Travis and I were talking about it. I'm like, "You know, there's like influencers out there. I think I could be one of them. Like, Kayla's like shenanigan show and just like all the things that I get into."
1:05:17
Yeah, I, it, it, it's, it's... 'Cause I, 'cause I didn't remember what the, what the- What did you say, what'd you call your boobs earlier? Humidi-titties? Yeah. [laughs] No, they're called... [laughs] [claps] I...
1:05:27
It's a thing, guys. Um, no, I signed up as Twinkle Tits- Yeah... for the Single Speed USA, and I showed up- There's the handle... in a pink, [laughs] yeah. So nobody uses their name. In a pink corset.
1:05:38
Nobody knows my actual name. They're like, "What are you, Sugar Tits? Twinkle Tits?" [laughs] Humidi-tits. Sparkle Tits. [laughs] It was good, yeah. There's the handle. Yeah. Done. But, but, but- I can manage for you.
1:05:49
[laughs] You're gonna be my manager? Done. Deal. Can you edit videos? Sure can. I did, I did, I, I did do that one year on RAGBRAI. [laughs] A girl, I had a girl that, girl from, she was from Cresco.
1:05:58
I don't remember what her name was. Mm. And she's like- It's probably me. [laughs] She's like... No, no. You'd have probably been about five when this was going on. Um- Still probably her.
1:06:05
[laughs] She's like, she goes, "Look." She goes, "Look.
1:06:07
I will promise you, you will not have to buy another beer the rest of the day if alls you do is when I jump on top of a bar and start taking my clothes off, you just make sure nobody gets near me."
1:06:16
They put, they put the- Deal... I'm like, "I got this." So that was my riding partner for the day. Yeah. And, and I never b- not, not only did I not buy a beer, I got tipped very well when it was all over with also.
1:06:25
[laughs] That's what I'm saying. He usually- She was like, "Can I get a beer?" He usually finds the people that are like- Well- While you're in there.
1:06:32
That would normally be like, "Oh, I'm gonna get close to her," and you'd be like, "No, you're not." Yeah. Just, now you're gonna buy me a beer- Thank you... and you're gonna stay away from her. I think we are good.
1:06:41
Yeah, that's good. Okay. Thank you. Are they getting cold enough? Getting there. I was slacking in my job today. I didn't even think about...
1:06:47
I thought it w- 'cause it's been so packed with beer for like the last, like when I, like, and I haven't looked in there since I got back from Decorah either. You could probably get into that
1:06:56
Oh yeah, we should do that... that Crowler. Do you wanna do that instead? Oh, yeah. We can. Yeah, these are- Right... yeah. All right. When I looked in there earlier- You got-...
1:07:02
I'm like, "Oh, it's PBR and- You guys got, you guys got three more minutes... it's PBR- So what else do you wanna bring back?... and hard Mountain Dew. So next year's what we're not sure about.
1:07:10
Um- [laughs] So 50th Annie next year. All right, Central Route. When did Discerning Council blouse? Fairly recently, right? Mm. Well, you're kind of in cahoots with the- Yeah... director. Let's just get him on the horn.
1:07:21
We're not, we're not- Yeah, let's bring him to the next podcast [laughs] Yes. Did, did you go schmooze with him, too? No, Jeremy was swinging from his nuts the whole time. Um, I like said hi- I gave-...
1:07:27
but I didn't like talk to him too long... I gave him one of our- I was just excited to see him...
1:07:30
in West Union, I gave him one of our, I gave him one of our team koozies, and then he was up on stage and his beer was in it. Wait, what? You have team koozies? 2019 we just went through Council Bluffs. Oh, my God.
1:07:40
[laughs] Hey. Everybody has team koozies. What are you gonna talk about your koozies? I, he's had that logo since the day he designed it. I think it's pretty cool.
1:07:45
It's a nice logo, though, on the back of a jersey- The, the, he'll s-... 'cause you can see it from a- I can see it on- He'll, he'll, he'll show you a jersey-... from miles away...
1:07:52
he'll show you a jersey that I won't let you wear when you're riding with me. [laughs] Yeah, well I'm definitely not wearing a jersey. Come on, George wears one, you can wear one. You don't wear a jersey, do you?
1:08:00
Uh- He wears his evil jerseys. Oh, yeah. Well- He wears those to hockey, too. Yeah. Oh, occasionally. If it's really hot, I'll wear a jersey. Hmm. I got a SingleSpeeder Death jersey coming on the way. What?
1:08:11
SingleSpeeder. They're down in Texas. SingleSpeeder Death. They were there. Who... Oh, those guys. That's not the ass guys. Now, when, when we were designing jerseys, me and... You know George?
1:08:22
Uh- Been to- I've met George. I don't know George...
1:08:24
so we were designing our jersey and like we wanna design a jersey that we don't care what the logo is so much that if you're riding up a hill and you're at the top and you're looking who's riding up the next hill- Mm-hmm...
1:08:39
I wanna be able to see if someone's wearing one of our jerseys. Are you like a marketing guy at work or something? Well, just 'cause you wanna be able to find your team. Okay, that m- I mean, you'd be great at it.
1:08:48
That'd be something I'd consider maybe doing. You'd be great at marketing. Yeah. That's, it's, it's, it's just the color thing, but now it's the logo.
1:08:51
So you, so you gotta remember because I will never, I'll never forget that logo now that you showed it to me. You can't. So your...
1:08:56
You gotta remember when I started going on Ragbrai, like nobody had cellphones and you couldn't like communicate. So like- Yeah, back in the '40s... a noticeable jersey, like Team Skunk,
1:09:06
which they're an old, like original Ragbrai team. They had- Are they still around? They're very few of them, but they're still around. Okay. But they had a great jersey.
1:09:15
It was just a black jersey with a white stripe down the back. Oh, that was... Yeah. Oh, I remember this, yeah. And you, and you could spot that jersey- Simple... from a mile away. Sure.
1:09:23
And so that we kind of did the same concept. That makes sense. Let's just make a big, black jersey and just a huge ass skull on the back of it, 'cause you can see it from a long ways away. What's your team name?
1:09:35
Revengeance. Skull Fuckers? [laughs] Maybe, maybe, maybe it wasn't the jersey, it was the name. I'm going, "No, I can't do that." [laughs] Yeah, everything cool about your skull just died with Revengeance.
1:09:47
[laughs] We stole- Um-... we stole the name from that cartoon on Cartoon Network called Metalocalypse. Oh, that show. Oh, yeah. Did you ever watch Metalocalypse? I know what you're talking about.
1:09:59
I don't think I ever watched it. So, so Dethklok had a group of people that was their arch enemy and they were known- I have no idea... as The Revengeancers. Got it. And we thought that was kind of funny, so.
1:10:08
So who do you ride with? Roeder. Roeder. Oh, God. But just- All the cool people are-... just once though, right? To e- and I'm assuming this is your last time?
1:10:16
We're gonna, we're gonna s- we're gonna steal him and tell him that we don't break down on the start of Ragbrai, so he can come ride with us. That's delicious. I'm not gonna lie. This, so that's, this is the, um, LTS...
1:10:26
Is this a commercial? I'll tell, I'll tell- No free ads. [laughs] I'll tell, we'll tell- Yeah, Ron, do a commercial for LTS... are we sponsored by them yet?
1:10:32
No, but we'll, we'll go and tell Brandon we- No, but if we rip off an LTS ad, they're sending us checks...
1:10:36
we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll take a picture of the can, and then we'll send, tell Brandon we did a, we did a podcast about his beer and he'll get free beer. Oh, that's pretty good. It's good. I approve.
1:10:42
What, what's the flavor? Uh, this is, um, berry cobbler. It is very good. It's got the- This is their- It's berry good. See what he did there? [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Mm, it is berry good.
1:10:52
It's, um, uh, so he had there, he had his, s- LTS had their state fair beer. Mm. And it was like, um, this was, this was decent. Um, their pickle one was not as pickly as the one that you bought me from, uh, Best Mate.
1:11:06
That's a true pickle beer from Des Moines. Yeah, that one's wicked. Yeah, I didn't try that one. Is it good? It's, I like it. I mean, you can't drink more than a can of it, but yeah. Sure.
1:11:13
Um, and then- That's your pickle beer? No, no, there's... Oh, you brought some, too? Jesus Christ. Um- Can I tr- can I, can I- Jesus has nothing to do with this. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. He made the pickles.
1:11:23
Are you sure? Well- Can I drink?... Jesus maybe made the pickles 'cause it was in Texas though. [laughs] Where did you get this? You can only get it down in Texas at that, like either the grocery stores- Yeah...
1:11:33
or liquor stores near that- It's like at-... pickle factory... it's like at the Hebes. Okay. The excuse me? That's the name of the l- grocery store. Oh. Hebes? It's H-E-B or whatever. I do not wanna go and get the Hebes.
1:11:43
No, no, no. You don't, when you're in Texas you don't call it Hebes. It's whatever the fuck they, the guy's name is, but yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah, it's very pickly. All right.
1:11:50
I thought it was like a- If you like pickles, you're gonna love it. If you don't like pickles, then it's not gonna be your jam. All right. I do have one fun Ragbrai story. It was in Postville. This year? This...
1:11:58
We rode through Postville, right? We did. South of Decorah. Do you know Postville? Do you know where you are? We went through Postville? What's that to- Oh, yeah, we did.
1:12:06
So we're riding into Postville- They don't even know where the fuck they are. She still doesn't... so- You, I did not care what town I went through as long as I followed bikers that were drinking beer. Sure. Sure.
1:12:15
So, so we're riding into Postville- Keep your shirt on, Kayla. Calm down... and we're, we're, we're behind the cops, so by the time we roll into Postville the cops are already shutting the town down. So that's a thing?
1:12:24
Like ahead of the cops, behind the cops type of thing? Yeah, we were behind the cops. So we go to the convenience store, it was me and Brad.
1:12:31
We go to the convenience store 'cause we were a l- a little ahead of the rest of our group. Not much, maybe a quarter mile.
1:12:38
So we get to the convenience store and we stop to wait, and we're like, "Ah, what are we gonna do? Are we gonna try to sneak into this convenience store and maybe pick up a 12 pack and hope the cops don't see us or..."
1:12:49
And then like the rest of the group doesn't show up. I'm like, "Where'd they go?" So we call them and they're like, "Hey, you guys missed a free beer stop." And we're like, "No, we didn't."
1:12:59
And they're like, "Yeah, coming into town there was a free beer stop. You missed it." Like, "All right. We're coming back." So we ride back- And we pull up to this house, and then here they are.
1:13:08
They're in the front yard drinking beer. And we roll up, and the guy says... We're like, "There's free beer?" Like, "Yeah." And he's like, "What do you want?"
1:13:16
And he's like, "I have a S'Mores Stout, and I have an IPA, and I have..." And I'm like, "Well, what, wh- where from? What kind?" And he's like, "I made them." I'm like, "You home brew this shit?" No, really?
1:13:29
And he's like, "Yeah, we're giving away home brew." Oh, boy. And I'm like, "This is the most amazing free beer stop ever." Now, that's a find. I did not find that. So now you wanna go again? You're back on?
1:13:38
I mean, is he brewing this shit in his bathtub, or is he- Well, so we start, so we start- [laughs] Does it matter if it tastes good? That's fair. So we start ta- It's Iowa. It's I- it's Iowa. It's a cattle tank. I'm in.
1:13:46
[laughs] I, I had the, I had the S'Mores Stout, and it was- Yeah, that's delicious... it was really good. That's delicious.
1:13:50
And I started talking to the guy, and he was a s- he was a high school, like, chemistry teacher- Perfect... in Postville. He knew what he was doing. Yep. And it was...
1:13:58
So we just stopped here, and it was just, like, a really fun stop, and really... And that's, that's, those are the, like, the hidden gems of RAGBRAI. Yeah, that's the sh- those are the stories I like to hear.
1:14:07
Yeah, finding stuff like that. So I think this is, this is the perfect time to end, so you're in now for next year. Sure. Okay. All right. Nice job, Jeremy. Way to fuck it up, Kayla. [laughs] What did I fuck up?
1:14:16
Well, you start- you, you, you chased him away right at the very beginning, and we- Yeah, you were like, "Ah, we fucking broke down"... it took, it took- He wanted to know-... it took-... I was not gonna bring up AZ-...
1:14:24
it, it, it, it, it-... to be fair. It took an hour and 15- You're not gonna bring that up... it took us an hour and 15 minutes to get him back. All like, "Humida-titties."
1:14:30
[laughs] Travis is throwing bikes off the top of the bus. I don't think you're mad about Humida-titties. [laughs] That's fair. Yeah, yeah. It's wild. You got me. A lot of fun. A lot of fun, yeah. All right.
1:14:37
Thanks, everybody. We're outta here. Bye. Let's, uh- Woo-hoo... get done with this shit. Bye. See y'all.
1:14:44
[outro music]
New episodes, straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
