Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa

Today is the start of RAGBRAI XXXVIII and I so wish I was there.  As I've written before, this tour was a huge part of my biking life in my 20's.  I did my first one in 13 years a couple of years ago as a celebration of getting back on my bike after inadvertently hanging up my wheels for a few years.  I simply could not make the logistics work this time around though.  Maybe next year! 

In celebration, I dug out some old RAGBRAI photo albums and picked out a few photos from various rides.  These are all from the late 80's and early 90's, when I was young, carefree and could party and ride all week long. 

My first RAGBARI.  I did it on a Specialized Rockhopper!  Oh how times have changed!

If you build it, they will come.  I convinced my downstairs neighbor and good friend to come along that year.  She had no idea what she'd gotten herself into....and loved it.

Is that Shoeless Joe?

After a couple years on that Rockhopper I found a used Bridgestone road bike. 

It totally changed riding for me!  It was a fantastic bike and unfortunately, I sold it years later not knowing what I had.  My brother still rides the old Trek he's on in this photo.

I wore that silly white bandana every year! Oi!

One year I did the ride on my own and hooked up these guys from Minnesota early in the week.  We rode together off and on throughout the week.  One of the things I love about the ride is meeting folks and teaming up, be it for a few hours or a few days. 

The end of the road....for a year, anyway.

The Day Could Not Have Been Better!

Started out with a little bike ride. 

With B1 bein' all tricky 'n stuff.

How I Got My Bike Groove Back

I fondly remember learning to ride my bike.  I grew up next door to a nursing home which meant we had a great big smooth concrete parking lot to toodle around on.  And since it was a teensy, weensy town that parking lot was rarely ever busy, save shift changes and Sunday dinners.  Like so many others, I have a distinct memory of sailing through the parking lot with my dad holding on to the back of the bike.  I remember the wind in my hair and that first taste of freedom.  I don't recall if I ever rode with training wheels but it really doesn't matter...I was hooked. 

My first new bike was a purple Western Flyer Miss Buzz Bike.  That bike was so full of right on!  When I outgrew it I got a Western Flyer ten-speed.  I rode that bike everywhere! When I turned 14, like most kids in my microscopic hometown in the heartland, I got a moped.  Mine was a Yamaha...a Yama-hopi, according to the commercials.  We literally had gangs of 14 and 15 year olds cruising town and to the lake on our mopeds.  Of course the driver's license came next and it wasn't until college that I got back on my bike - that old 10-speed to be exact.