Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - RAGBRAI Unicycle rider

I know you won't believe me, but here is a picture from my front porch of one of the RAGBRAI riders going by. If anyone is/was on RAGBRAI, or house was the one with the huge pink flamingos that were on the main street at the base of the hill.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x139/rohs1982/RAGBRAI/unicycle.jpg



I missed a lot of the riders, because I was fixing people's bikes because they didn't know how to shift while spinning and they shoved their chains between the gears up front. I ended up putting one on the bike stand and completely tearing apart the triple to get it out. What a pain in the butt.

LOL I saw that guy last year. Also remember a guy who rode last year and many years prior with no seat!, another guy rollerbladed the whole way!!, 5-person tandem....the whole thing is just a freak show!! haha!!

There was also a guy on the big wheel front, and small rear wheel and with our hills it is not an easy ride.

There was also a guy on the big wheel front, and small rear wheel and with our hills it is not an easy ride.

a Penny Farthing?? That's crazy.

Thank you. I could not remember that when I posted it. He walked up the back wheel and put a foot on the pedal and took off up the hill. We all thought it was neat, but I didn't have my camera with me to take a picture, as I was fixing another chain on a bike.

There was also a guy on the big wheel front, and small rear wheel and with our hills it is not an easy ride.

We had one of those on an organized ride last year. He did the 40 mile route that day. He even went to the extent of riding in full English gear. It was kind of cool.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/Picture776.jpg

I think 40 miles would be a long ride, this was a 72 mile ride of a lot of hills. I am amazed by all that ride them. I want to find one and try it. I think it would be neat.

Here are some other pictures.

The first is our blow up flamingos to let the people who were staying with us to know exactly where we were.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x139/rohs1982/RAGBRAI/ragbrai2009014.jpg


The second is about 2/3 of the bikes stored in my garage for the night locked up tight.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x139/rohs1982/RAGBRAI/ragbrai2009002.jpg

Banana Team

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x139/rohs1982/RAGBRAI/ragbrai2009033.jpg

Hill by my house. At the top is where my band performed for RAGBRAI on Sunday afternoon. We sold some CD's, t-shirts and koozies.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x139/rohs1982/RAGBRAI/ragbrai2009026.jpg

That was nice of you to store those bikes in the garage. Where did you get the racks? I assume you must have fabbed them up quick.

I am working on a sprint triathlon, so I started attempting to build racks. We had about 30 people, so I didn't get enough racks for all of the bikes. But, I did find out that my racks need to be in the grass for a good transition area, or I will have to build a support on the bottom, so the legs don't give out, because they slide on my slick garage floor.

On one of the charity rides here in Texas, there was a guy in a banana costume, not sure why.

FYI...on my Worksman cruiser, I have 26" tires with 2:1 gearing. So in terms of pedaling, it's the same as a 52" wheel. In other words, similar pedaling to those penny-farthings, which normally range from 48" on up a bit on wheel size. If you're in good shape, hills probably aren't that hard. The biggest difference in pedaling would be lack of a coaster function (other than taking the feet off the pedals). A lot of the fixie riders using higher gearing than that, and that would be tough.

If you haven't heard of RAGBRAI stuff, there are many different teams and people do different things. Some teams dress different on each day. Some have antlers on their helmets. Others have big stereos. One team had one person with the stereo and then one person was pulling the bar. Not sure how he liked the hills, but they all stayed together. There was a tandem of a father with a small child on the back pulling a trailer with a toddler in the trailer. There was a tandem of a father on the front with his oldest daughter directly behind him and the younger daughter attached to the tandem with a trail-a-bike setup.

It really is something to see. We are working on a family ride next year for RAGBRAI. It will be family from Kentucky, Tennessee and Iowa. Team KENTENOWA is what I was told yesterday was the name. That or Team FLAMBY.

I saw team Garmin, and team Astana, and team KISS and many other team. I didn't see team flamingo, but they did have a large group my wife said.

one of the mechanics at a LBS commutes on a unicycle like that. (I think)

Did any of the clydesdales/athenas from this forum do RAGBRAI? Yes, there were many on RAGBRAI, but I have no idea if any frequent this forum.

I did Wed from Indianola to Chariton.It was a blast! If you want a challenge & a party I suggest you try it next year. Come see just how flat Iowa is ;)

I live in southern Iowa, so I know how hilly it is, but I would guess next year will be north of the interstate where it is much flatter. I am putting a family team together.

I did days 3 and 4. Saw the guy on the unicycle and the Dole banana many times!

I planned on doing the whole week, but my rear wheel wasn't up to the challenge. I broke spokes such that I was only able to ride days 1,3,5,6,7 (wheel was rebuilt and held up for the last three days solid :-)

I did see the unicycle...can't imagine that would be easy going down hills lol

Did any of the clydesdales/athenas from this forum do RAGBRAI? Yes, there were many on RAGBRAI, but I have no idea if any frequent this forum.


I did the whole thing, all 215 pounds of me, border to border, didn't push up a single hill (except in the town of Corning, where there was congestion).

Very cool pix! This must be one hell of a fun ride.

I did the whole thing, all 215 pounds of me, border to border, didn't push up a single hill (except in the town of Corning, where there was congestion).

I don't know where they took you through Corning, but it obviously wasn't where I thought they would, or you wouldn't have had to walk those hills unless it was everyone walking.

Glad to see you did it and hopefully had a great time.

Very cool pix! This must be one hell of a fun ride.

I was really hoping to get a lot of good pictures, but most of my time was busy fixing chains and other bike problems as people must not know how to shift early enough. The picture with everyone going up the hill is from my front yard, and I had hoped to get a large number of the people as they were going by, but I felt like I needed to help people also. So I missed out on taking good pictures.

I don't know where they took you through Corning, but it obviously wasn't where I thought they would, or you wouldn't have had to walk those hills unless it was everyone walking.

Glad to see you did it and hopefully had a great time.


You had to walk through most small towns, because of so many on bikes, not because of the steep hills. Most were flat, but in Corning there was a bit of a hill.

I did the week. The hills were much worse than last year. It was fun as always.

The guy on the unicycle does it every year.

Go Team Skunk!

Tall Dogs rule!!!!

I rode the whole week also (clyde 225 lb). I saw $70 walmart bikes to $15,000 racing bikes. I passed many riders, alot of them were skinny. Tom is pretty damn fast on his 'bent.

It was a GREAT week, I'll be back next year.

We are organizing a family team to ride next year. We are going to be Team Viola, because my wifes grandmother passed during the week of RAGBRAI and we will do it in her honor.

For those of you who rode, did you take many pictures that you can post up?