IowaParamedic

Who is bringing what?

Who has found some interesting items to bring to make the week go smoothly?


I will add mine. I bought a small light that has a magnet on the back. I can attach it to the skin of my tent to be a hands-free overhead light. Available at Target or WalMart.

Viper

Aside from a good tent, a good air mattress (and pump) is priceless. We also found that battery powered fans come in handy during those hot muggy nights.

Packing all of our clothes and such in plastic baggies has been a good thing on occasion as well.

Don't forget the bike! Chain lube and a maintenance stand are good too. We always bring a bottle of cleaner and some rags too.

Have a great ride!

blwyn

I'll second the battery powered fan - its the best extra that I bring along. I also always bring earplugs for sleeping at night and a weather radio

nebill

Hmmm, may have to look into one of those fans! I got one of those magnetic lights last year, and they work like a dream! Air matress with plenty of spare batteries for the pump, sleepin' bags (bedding was a pain last year) radio, battery TV for the news and weather at night, one burner propane stove and coffee pot to get the day going, tools and work stand (sure is nice going on a team bus!) a few clothes for the bike and evenings, and ol' Blue....I'm set!! Oh, and an inexpensive camera (in ziplock bag, of course!) to carry on the bike!

BruceBrown

Thanks for the suggestion of those magnet mounted fans. I bought a few Coleman magnet mounted tent fans at Wal-Mart and used them for about 4 of the nights on RAGBRAI. I used them in Glenwood, Shenandoah, Bloomfield and Mount Pleasant. Ear plugs were a must as well with all the late night crowd noise and music blaring into the wee hours. I had a bag of ear plugs and passed them out to fellow team members who were very thankful.

BB

Bik'n' Rev.

Well, I may have cheated a bit but my wife and I went together. I rode the bike; she hauled our stuff in our Explorer. Among the stuff that we trekked was a camp stove and some instant rice dishes. They seemed to be the best thing we brought because there were towns where the fried fare wasn't palatable. So, we would pull out the camp stove and make something more desirable.

nebill

Hmm, well, according to my bathroom scale, the food I found was fine! HAHAHAHA
Bruce, sorry I missed you...I waited at the Fire Dept. but didn't see anyone, so took off. I did, however, leave behind a bottle of genuine Missouri River water, hope someone found it and used it.

outashape

We got to the fire station around 9:00 am, waited till 10:00, then took off. I looked for the blue paramount on the entire ride and kept looking for the name tags. I even asked a fellow with a young boy if his name was Bruce, he said no and asked me if my name was Sharon, funny. I then had to explain about bikeforums and how I was looking for someone. It was a great ride. My riding partner was hospitalized in Shenandoah for dehydration. His stool was almost all blood, and his kidneys were malfunctioning. Dehydration is a serious thing. He sagged two days. The doctor didn't want him to ride, but after that we rode slow. The day they released him from the hospital, I left Shenandoah around 10:15. I didn't see anyone on the road for the first 5-7 miles. Another day, when I was riding by myself, I left early at 5:00 and got lost, but luckily there were two others who were lost and we were only 10 miles off the ride. This is the second year I haven't met any bikeforum members. Next year we will have to put something on the message board, like another meeting place or something. I tried to post pictures, but am not have a successful try. It is jpg and I shrunk them to 320 x ??? with pictureviewer, but when I try to attach, ti says they are still too large.

nebill

Well, it was nice to looked for! LOL...I had a blast, rode with a couple other folks on Paramounts...one was a vintage '76 all chrome model!
I pulled up next to a man and woman riding two tandems with kids on the back, and asked the man if he was Bruce Brown...he looked at me like I was some kinda nut! Of course, may have been looking at an old fat man in spandex, too!!
That is really too bad about your partner getting sick..sure sounds like it was serious, glad he is back in the saddle.
You really start early!! My team rolls out of camp usually sometime between 7:30 and 8:00.
Missed meeting other BF'ers last year because of making repairs to the team bus, and this year because of bad timing...we'll just have to keep trying.....third time's a charm!

BruceBrown

I wrote Bill a personal message explaining why we didn't make it to the Emerson Fire House for lunch on Sunday. Our team leader banged on our tent at 5:45 AM. After showering, packing up and getting the kids on the tandems, we were underway at 7:42 AM. To make a long story short which involved a chain coming off everytime my wife went from middle ring to granny ring on those hills, we waited in line for about 45 minutes at one of those roadside repair stands (next to Mama Raphael's breakfast burritos). Got the front derailleur somewhat adjusted for $8 and were underway again. With all the stops, fueling of the kids, butt breaks, hills, getting the stamps at the post offices for the passport and reality of our slow pace, we pulled into Emerson just before 2 PM. Nobody was around at that point, but we did enjoy getting hosed off on the corner by the fire station in the heat. Dang, I even had an orange shirt on (which I think was the color of choice for the online crowd to wear that day to the fire station).

The rest of the week was filled with long days of riding for us on our mountain bike tandems. Usually from about 8 AM to 6, 7 or even 8 PM. The last day had us arriving to dip our front wheels in the Mississippi at about 2 PM. Slow we were, but we made it and enjoyed the week.

I went for my first ride today (one week post RAGBRAI) on a single bike. Amazing how fast I could go and how good it felt following a week of spinning those tandem pedals and toting a kid across the state. My kids won't be old enough to pedal RAGBRAI on their own for a few more years, so my wife and I are stuck with the slow pace and hard work of doing most of the pedal work.

BB

nebill

Bruce, you may have been slow, but I admire you for bringing along your kids on such an adventure!! I bet it did feel great to be back on a single bike again. I have never ridden a tandem before, but may have to give it a try sometime. Who knows, maybe next year I can spell you an a hill or two, and you can try out my wonderful old Paramount!

outashape

Just testing

outashape

Here's a pictue of me in my tent after getting up at 5:00 am and riding.

outashape

Here's a picture of my bike getting ready to be transported from Fort Madison to Glenwood. Can you tell it is a BA Lemond?

BruceBrown

Let me tell you, my wife and I barely had enough energy to take care of the kids at the end of each day during RAGBRAI. Our tent was a beast of a tent that took a little more time to set up and take down than the average tent. Blowing up and deflating 4 mattress pads, packing 4 bags, stuffing 4 sleeping bags in their bags, etc.... all added up to double duty for us. Getting the kids showered and into clean clothes at the end of the day, getting them fed, standing in line to use the bathroom and then getting them settled for bed at night left us with zero time or energy for socializing or recovering from our own ailments. However, we all feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment for making it through the week.

Tandems are fun - especially when you have a stoker on the rear seat that provides some fire power on the pedals. When my wife and I ride together, we can really keep a quick pace going. The kids did pedal quite well all week long, but it simply wasn't the kind of contribution that really helps to propel the bike down the road and up all of those hills that we had to go through.

Next year, we will have to arrange for a few miles of sharing the road together. You can try out the tandem and I'll try out your Paramount.

BB

nebill

HAHAHA...well, Bruce...one provision...I'll have to keep your wife and kids as collateral...it doesn't take long for a sweet ride like Ol' Blue to spoil you!
Now that you have been thru it, next time it'll just be better!!

Gus Riley

That must have been the other Outashape I met last year...:confused:

outashape

Hi Gus, it's great to hear from you. I often read the communter's thread you started about How's your commute today? Last I heard you and your wife were going to motorcycle across the US. Was that this year? Or am I mistaken and you are going to bicycle in 2004? I am the Outashape from last year. I did meet you, but not the rest of the group. Your boys did not ride together on RAGBRAI. Last year I remember a few pace lines and the last day they all gathered and rode in together. Maybe they did, but met up at a location close to the end to regroup? I don't have a digital camera, but wanted to take a picure of our Harley with the trailer with the bicycles on top. We love to ride the motorcycle, but after a 6 hour drive, I want to do something. It is hard to ride in a car after the freedom of the motorcyle. A lot of the Harley riders won't wave at us with the trailer. It's funny to see how "clickish" the Harley riders are and the bicycling club Jersey/Spandex road bikers are. Both have their little waves or greetings. If I'm riding my hybrid, no one acknowledges me. If we have the trailer on, we are invisible. How funny. Hope to see you next year. I'm not positive I'm going, I also want to do a ride in New York- the finger lakes which is the same week but RAGBRAI is an experience that is hard to bypass.