RAGBRAI
 

On Jul 21, 9:36 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
Well, it is that time of year again when Ragbrai rages over the State of
Iowa. I do not know which is more stupid. Ragbrai or the Tour de France. One
is all about touring and the other is all about racing. You have got to be
crazy to do either.

I like week long organized bike tours but Ragbrai is an abomination. It is
simply too large. It is well organized for such a large ride, but - damn
it - it is just too large. It will range up to 10,000 riders are certain
days. The kind of folks who do Ragbrai are basically brainless. They simply
do not know what a good bike tour is like. I fell sorry for the poor slobs.

But hey, you like to stand in line for basic services, be my guest. No
wonder everyone is drinking themselves drunk on Ragbrai. Hells Bells, I
would too. It is the only way to survive this horror known as RAGBRAI.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.

RAGBRAI
 

"bluezfolk" wrote in message
...
On Jul 21, 9:36 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
Well, it is that time of year again when Ragbrai rages over the State of
Iowa. I do not know which is more stupid. Ragbrai or the Tour de France.
One
is all about touring and the other is all about racing. You have got to
be
crazy to do either.

I like week long organized bike tours but Ragbrai is an abomination. It
is
simply too large. It is well organized for such a large ride, but - damn
it - it is just too large. It will range up to 10,000 riders are certain
days. The kind of folks who do Ragbrai are basically brainless. They
simply
do not know what a good bike tour is like. I fell sorry for the poor
slobs.

But hey, you like to stand in line for basic services, be my guest. No
wonder everyone is drinking themselves drunk on Ragbrai. Hells Bells, I
would too. It is the only way to survive this horror known as RAGBRAI.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.


I lost the OP, so I will respond to here.

RAGBRAI is not meant to be an organized 'bike tour' in the sense of what we
think of when you hear the term the 'bike tour', nor is it "touring" per se.
It is an organized (in some ways better than others) rolling festival across
Iowa. It is not about touring by bike, it is about experincing a week long
festival celebrating what is good about midwestern Americana, meeting people
from literally all over the world, and generally having fun. It just so
happens to be by bike, but actually the biking is secondary. That may still
be stupid in some people's eyes, but it is a hoot!

When Ed says 10,000 riders he is not exagerating, usually many more than
that. They issue 10,000 weeklong passes, plus there are any number of
individual day passes, and unregistered riders. On days into or out of more
populated areas of the state there are sometimes upwards of 15,000 + riders.
And I do agree with Ed - that is too many. Also, he is partially right in
that many of the folks are clueless about group rides, but certainly not all
as he implies.

Also just to be accurate, not everyone is partying and drinking all the
time. A vast minority of the people are hard partiers but they always seem
to get 90% of the press. The median age on ragbrai is in the mid 40's and
there are more and more families riding it each year. But yes, there are
partys a plenty to be found every day and night and "What goes on Ragbrai,
stays on Ragbrai."

Ragbrai; Always the last full week of July (now). www.ragbrai.com
www.desmoinesregister.com and follow links to Ragbrai storys and blogs,
updated continuously throughout the week.

RAGBRAI
 

So it is kind of like a county fair on wheels?

RAGBRAI
 

On Jul 22, 1:43*pm, bluezfolk wrote:


At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.



Dumbass -


Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of them
are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

RAGBRAI
 

"MyPostingID" wrote in message
...
So it is kind of like a county fair on wheels?

Hmmm, not exactly. You see many things on ragbrai that you don't see at a
county fair. :)

RAGBRAI
 

On Jul 23, 1:22 pm, Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
On Jul 22, 1:43 pm, bluezfolk wrote:



At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.

Dumbass -

Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of them
are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

I may be a dumbass, but at least I don't make unfounded accusations.
Doping is not a part of western culture, its an unsportsmanlike part
of sports. I've read all the articles and interviews of the poor bike
racer who HAD to do it to be competitive, seems to me they just want
an unfair advantage, perhaps they need to change jobs.

RAGBRAI
 

bluezfolk wrote:
On Jul 23, 1:22 pm, Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
On Jul 22, 1:43 pm, bluezfolk wrote:



At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.
Dumbass -

Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of them
are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

I may be a dumbass, but at least I don't make unfounded accusations.
Doping is not a part of western culture, its an unsportsmanlike part
of sports. I've read all the articles and interviews of the poor bike
racer who HAD to do it to be competitive, seems to me they just want
an unfair advantage, perhaps they need to change jobs.

On rec.bicycles.racing, "Dumbass" is the standard salutation.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"People who had no mercy will find none." - Anon.

RAGBRAI
 

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
bluezfolk wrote:
On Jul 23, 1:22 pm, Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
Dumbass -

Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of them
are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.

I may be a dumbass, but at least I don't make unfounded accusations.
Doping is not a part of western culture, its an unsportsmanlike part
of sports. I've read all the articles and interviews of the poor bike
racer who HAD to do it to be competitive, seems to me they just want
an unfair advantage, perhaps they need to change jobs.

On rec.bicycles.racing, "Dumbass" is the standard salutation.

Invented by the queer - and everyone here who wants to be a queer uses it as
well.

RAGBRAI
 

Tom Kunich wrote:

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
bluezfolk wrote:
On Jul 23, 1:22 pm, Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
Dumbass -

Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of
them are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.

I may be a dumbass, but at least I don't make unfounded accusations.
Doping is not a part of western culture, its an unsportsmanlike part
of sports. I've read all the articles and interviews of the poor
bike racer who HAD to do it to be competitive, seems to me they
just want an unfair advantage, perhaps they need to change jobs.

On rec.bicycles.racing, "Dumbass" is the standard salutation.

Invented by the queer - and everyone here who wants to be a queer uses
it as well.



The only reason that "dumbass" gets used is that Dan Savage already
trademarked "hey faggot." All things considered, around here, "dumbass" is
a preferable to a lot of other things. I mean, what if instead of
"dumbass" we opened every message with "kunich"?

--
Bill Asher

RAGBRAI
 

bluezfolk wrote:
On Jul 23, 1:22 pm, Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
On Jul 22, 1:43 pm, bluezfolk wrote:



At least their not doping, and bringing discredit to the sport.
Dumbass -

Don't kid yourself.

They're just not tested because no one cares. Regardless, some of them
are doping. Doping is part of Western Culture.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

I may be a dumbass, but at least I don't make unfounded accusations.
Doping is not a part of western culture, its an unsportsmanlike part
of sports. I've read all the articles and interviews of the poor bike
racer who HAD to do it to be competitive, seems to me they just want
an unfair advantage, perhaps they need to change jobs.

Speaking of unfounded accusations, which bike racer in an interview,
said that they had to dope to be competitive?