Let's Join the BACooN RIDE: the RIDE for the CURED!!!!

It's Only 72 miles but full of BACON!!!!

Saturday, June 28 from 7 AM to 7 PM

You will be biking 72 miles while crunching on bacon treats along the way. The Bacoon Ride will go through 14 cities.  It will begin in Waukee and end in Waukee so you won't need to worry about where to park your car.

Here's the Route:

• Waukee
• Ortonville
• Adel (6)
• Redfield (10)
• Linden (6)
• Panora (6)
• Yale (6)
• Herndon (5)
• Jamaica (2)
• Dawson (5)
• Perry (6)
• Minburn (7)
• Dallas Center (6)
• Waukee (6)

It will cost $45 for early bird registrations but this is what you get for your money:

• Numerous BACON stops featuring BACON snacks and samples throughout the day
  (BACON donuts, BACON cheeseburger sliders, BACON tacos! – Details to come!)
• BACON-themed lunch
• A commemorative PassPORK (punch card for your BACON treats!)
• Awesome drink specials at numerous BACON party stops (including BACON themed drinks)
• Custom BACooN RIDE Steel Pint (used for drink specials through the day)
• Commemorative BACooN RIDE t-shirt
• Ride support with mechanics in towns

SOUNDS LIKE FUN!!

LET'S CREATE A FLAMINGO PRESENCE!!!

Flamingo Update - 3/3/14

Hail Flamingos

RAGBRAI Registration.

Ute Brandenburg and daughter Charlotte are returning for the week's ride.  Pat Morrissey and new team member Mike Bachman will be on for four days.  Welcome Mike.  They join Mica Lorenz, Bev Shaffer, Leigh Zeitz, Al Hays, Frank Magsamen, Krisite Austin, Bill, Moria and Katherine Brown as registered RAGBRAI'ers on Team Flamingo.

Those talking about going but not registered yet include Jodi Plopan, Chris Distelrath, Juanita Williams (and her friend and Team Flamingo member Julie from Seattle), Roger and Cindy Hahn, and Deb Shoopman.

How about the rest of you?  Sound off if you're thinking about going for the week or for just days but have made up your mind yet. 

Housing Update

We have leads on housing in Waverly, and Emmetsburg. We have partial housing for the team confirmed for Mason City, so we'll need to keep looking there.  We have confirmed housing commitment for the whole team in Independence.   We are still looking for leads in Rock Valley, Okoboji, and Forest City.

Training

I thought about getting out on a training ride today, but thought better of it as I wouldn't be home in time to watch the Super Bowl.

Big Bird

Here is a graphic of the route for those of you who are Right-minded.

It is quite northernly.  Mason City (28,000) is the only town/city that has over 10,000 people. Looks like week full of fun.

This Iowa map is from the  interactive maps that have been created so far.  It only cites the main cities because the intervening routes and towns have not been identified yet.

Now if only the snow and cold would leave so that we can hit the roads again. 

Update Notes from Laird Big Bird

2014 RAGBRAI Route Party

Unless you're comatose in an ICU unit somewhere you probably know the 2014 RAGBRAI Route was announced last night.  Kudos to the 14 Flamingos who braved the cold and blizzard warnings to make it to our local announcement party.  

Special shout out to Bonnie Alger who skyped in from Abu Dhabi, to Katherine Brown who skyped in from Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (formerly Saigon), and to Jodi Plopan and Chris Distelrath who phoned in from the Michigan contingent.

RAGBRAI Registration - March 26th Fee deadline for Team Flamingo

Ok, so now you know the route, and and easy one it is this year.  Now there's no excuse not to get registered.  Go to RAGBRAI.com website, pull down the registration link from the menu bar, click on the returning rider link, enter your name and password and fill out the online registration form once you are at the Flamingo team roster.  Register online and send your registration fees to me by Wednesday, March 26th if you plan to ride with Team Flamingo this year.  Hurry up, Z-Bird has already paid so you are WAY behind.

Housing

We have leads on housing in Mason City, Independence and Waverly.  Looking for contacts in Rock Valley, Okoboji, Emmetsburg,and Forest City.  Start working your connections for housing leads.

Training Calendar

Working on the training calendar now.  NOTE:  You can subscribe to the Team Flamingo calendar by clicking on the calendar button in the lower right corner of the calendar to the right -------->
It will automatically add it to your Google calendar so that you can access it from your phone, tablet or computer.  Nifty, eh?

RAGBRAI XLII Route is Announced

YES!!!!  It's going to be a northern route this year.  They are even riding through Waverly.  That means that we can sleep in our own beds if we want to do that.

Our ride will happen on July 20-26 this year. Overnight stops announced Saturday night include, from west to east:  (This will be updated when the specifics are released)

So this year's route goes like this:

• Saturday:  Rock Valley   
• Sunday: Okoboji -- 69 mile day 
• Monday: Emmetsburg -- 41 mile day 
• Tuesday: Forest City -- 73 mile day plus Century Loop
• Wednesday:  Mason City -- 36 mile day
• Thursday:  Waverly  -- 63 mile day
• Friday: Independence -- 68 mile day
• Saturday: Guttenberg  68 mile day

This will be a total of 418 miles with 11,316 feet of climb.

RAGBRAI 2014: Small towns, big ride (Des Moines Registrar)

Fwd: RAGBRAI update

Registration

Welcome Al Hays!  The latest Flamingo to commit and register for next summer's RAGBRAI!

Guess the Route

Anybody going to enter the "guess the route" contest?  What would your picks for overnights and distances be this year?

Bike Tech Auction Item

For those of you thinking about attending Grin and Grow's February auction dinner fundraiser -- one of this year's auction items is a package that includes a $500 gift certificate from Bike Tech.  Just a heads up. If you want to be put on the invitation list let me know.

New Bike Shop in Waterloo

Team member Pat Morrissey's son-in-law is opening a bike shop this coming summer.  It will be in downtown Waterloo in the Kisner Building adjacent to the Plaid Peacock (across street from the River Loop Market and the new Sports Complex).

Summer training ride to B&B

Who would be interested in biking to Fredericksburg (48 miles on Saturday, 48 miles back on Sunday) and  renting out the B & B for the night again.  Probably to happen in June or July.  If there's enough interest I'll start negotiating with them.  If you're interested let me know which weekends will not work for you.

Later.

Mike 

--

Leigh E. Zeitz, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor

Coordinator - Instructional Technology Division

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education

University of Northern Iowa

1227 W. 27th St

Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0606

319-273-3249

Blog: http://DrZReflects.com

Skpe: leighzeitz

Twitter: @zeitz

Fwd: RAGBRAI update

Ho! Ho! Ho! Team Flamingo!

RAGBRAI registration

Z-Bird has raised the bar for the team this year.  Going from the last member to get his registration fees to me for last year's RAGBRAI, he's the first one to be registered and submitted his registration fees to me for this year!  Way to go Z-Bird!

Those also registered for the coming summer are Frank Magsamen, Stephanie Whitmer and all the way from the Peoples Republic of China for her third attempt to complete an entire RAGBRAI -- Katherine Brown --- who is pondering the significance of RAGBRAI "42" in the cosmology of life.

Another Flamingo in the News

Jodi is attempting to shift blame for her pattern of late arrivals to the overnight towns by blaming the media.  Watch this clip and you'll see Jodi betting on a chicken pooping.  Ok - I'll buy this excuse for one night's late arrival Jodi, but how many times can a chicken cross the road to poop on your numbers?

Jodi says:  THIS is why I'm always the last one to roll in..........

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/11/27/ragbrai-featured-on-tv-show-small-town-big-deal-next-week/article?nclick_check=1

Route Announcement Party - Saturday, January 25

Looking for a host for this year's route announcement party.  Step up if you're willing to host the team.

Also those of you out of state or country wanting to attend electronically -- let me know, and we can work on skyping you in to be a talking head on a laptop screen.

Nuff for tonight - got a busy weekend of Santa gigs starting tomorrow so better get my beauty sleep.

Mike "Big Bird" (aka Santa) Knapp

--

Leigh E. Zeitz, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor

Coordinator - Instructional Technology Division

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education

University of Northern Iowa

1227 W. 27th St

Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0606

319-273-3249

Blog: http://DrZReflects.com

Skpe: leighzeitz

Twitter: @zeitz

RAGBRAI: 8 Days of Pride

We are happy to report that the video, RAGBRAI: 8 Days of Pride, is now online. This is the video that is playing continually at the RAGBRAI exhibit in the State Historical Museum of Iowa.

You will see that Big Bird, Salsa Bird and a number of other members in our flock are intereviewed.

Enjoy and please respond in the comments section.

What do you think? Z-Bird

RAGBRAI Check List

Due to popular demand, Laird Big Bird shared a suggested list of items that are recommended for your RAGBRAI trip. You may have other items that you want to take, but please keep in mind that space is at a premium.  Try to limit your gear (excluding tent/sleeping bag/mattress pad/cot, etc.) to a medium size duffel and a carry on.

___   Bike (computer, trunk bag, etc.)

___   Helmet

___   RAGBRAI rider's tag/packet

___   Spare tubes (2)

___   Tire iron/tire changing kit

___   Sunscreen

___   Chap stick

___   Handiwipes travel pack

___   Hand disinfectant

___   Credit card/cash (don’t count on working ATM’s in rural Iowa)

___   iPod/MP3 player/ear buds/bike sound system

___   Cell phone

___   iPod/Cell phone charger

___   Sun glasses

___   Sun visor or ball cap

___   Cycling jerseys (2)

___   Cycling shorts (2)  (keep separate from Al’s)

___   Socks (7 pairs – wear 1 pair after ride/on ride next day).  Adjust if you wear sandals at night and/or sandals to ride in.

___   Bike shoes or sandals, or shoes with hard sole.

___   Shorts for evening wear (if you can find travel shorts with liners you can eliminate undies)

___   Undies (you be the judge of number needed)

___   T-shirts (one for each night/ each day you ride if don’t have jersey)

___   More money

___   Hood, sweat shirt or windbreaker in case temps dip

___   Pair of long pants in case temps dip (optional)

___   Sweat band or bandanna

___   Sleeping bag/bed roll/cot/bedding (whatever you plan to sleep on)

___   Tent (in case we have to camp or housing breaksdown)

___   Shower shoes or flips

___   Toiletry kit

___   Sunburn cream or spray/mole skin, band aids

___   Camera if phone doesn’t have one.

___   Pocket flashlight

___   Pocket knife

___   Pink feather boas/flamingo adornments and accessories

___   Ink pen, post card stamps, mailing labels

___   Roll of camping TP (for dashes into the corn fields)

___   Towel

Team Flamingo Swag in the State Historical Museum of Iowa

A few weeks ago, Z-Bird received a request from the State Historical Museum of Iowa for a helmet. They were opening a RAGBRAI exhibit  in the museum and they wanted to include Team Flamingo.

After a bit of discussion, we decided that the helmet was not enough.  We needed to make certain that Team Flamingo was properly represented so we included:

• Helmet
• Camel Back water bag
• Jersey
• Do-Rag
• Water Bottle
• Stickers and
• LOTS of road-weary feathers.

We don't know how they will display all of this, but it is certain that they have the materials to do Team Flamingo RIGHT!

You can see more of this on the History Biker Facebook page in a June 13 posting.

Imagine riding a 14 foot tall bike

Jeep Flamingo

How Cool is THIS!!!!!!

Our Northern Bird, Jodi Plopan from Michigan, was out riding and look at the wonderful vehicle that showed up on her tail.   We need to borrow this for RAGBRAI. What do you think?

Z

Mileage for the 2013

Just thought you might want to see the mileage stats for the 2013 route.  It's not a tough route this year and the days will be rather short.
It is only 406.6 miles for the whole trip.  Longest ride is 83 miles and shortest is nearly 50.
The average day is 58 miles.

• Sunday
• Council Bluffs to Harlan - 56.8 miles and 2,476 feet of climb.

• Monday
• Harlan to Perry - 83 miles and 4,239 feet of climb

• Tuesday
• Perry to Des Moines - 49.9 miles and 1,308 feet of climb

• Wednesday
• Des Moines to Knoxville - 49.9 miles and 2,920 feet of climb

• Thursday 
• Knoxville to Oskaloosa - 52 miles and 2,808 feet of climb

• Friday
• Oskaloosa to Fairfield - 52 miles and 1,222 feet of climb

• Saturday
• Fairfield to Fort Madison - 63 miles and 2,427 feet of climb

Related articles

• RAGBRAI FUN: Farm Plans Corn Maze
• RAGBRAI READY: Organizers Prepare For Des Moines Stop

photo, a photo by UNI Dr. Z on Flickr.

A HUGE bug flying with us on our 2012 RAGBRAI ride.

photo, a photo by UNI Dr. Z on Flickr.

Weather for RAGBRAI

IT'S GOING TO BE HOT!!!!!!!

I was wondering what the weather was going to be like on RAGBRAI so I went to Wunderland.com and got the latest news.  Below is a compilation of the weather forcasts for each of the cities for the day we will be sleeping there. 

Remember to hydrate and don't be silly.  Sagging is completely acceptable in the heat.

Weather Report from Wunderland.com

(as of 9:00 AM Friday, 7/20)

Sunday – Cherokee – 97F (Heat Index – 118F)

Partly cloudy. High of 97F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph

Monday – Lake View – 97F (Heat Index – 118F)

Overcast in the morning, then partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain. High of 97F with a heat index of 118F. Winds from the SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40% with rainfall amounts near 0.2 in. possible.

Tuesday – Webster City – 99F (Heat Index – 120F)

Overcast in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 99F with a heat index of 120F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday – Marshalltown - 93F (Heat Index – 109F)

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. High of 93F with a heat index of 109F. Winds from the SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Thursday – Cedar Rapids – 93F (Heat Index – 113F)

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. High of 93F with a heat index of 113F. Winds from the SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 0.5 in. possible.

Friday – Anamosa – 90F

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. High of 90F. Winds from the SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Clinton – Saturday – 99F

Mostly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. High of 99F. Winds less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Stay Cool!!!!!!

photo, a photo by UNI Dr. Z on Flickr.

Leigh Zeitz enjoying a "small" ice cream cone at the Union Stop in La Porte City. This sweet treat was earned on July 21 when Team Flamingo rode the Too Late to Train ride.  This 35-mile ride preceded the annual Too Late to Train party at Jan Gallagher's house.  (yes, I know that I should have posted a photo of the team on the ride, but I forgot to take one.)

Team of Flamingo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here are some updates for this coming weekend's rides:

Saturday, July 7:  Friends of the Depot Ride.

Meet at Cup O' Joe on Cedar Falls package at 9:00 am.  Bike the trails system to Gilbertville to join the “Friends of the Depot” celebrating the 100^th year birthday of the Gilbertville Depot, then on to La Porte for lunch and return ride back to Cedar Falls.  The Friends of the Depot are trying to save the Gilbertville Depot from being torn down and keep it as a landmark on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.  

Heat Alternative:  Flamingos wishing to ride earlier and avoid some of the heat, can meet at Bill and Moria Brown's home at 8:00 am for ride to Gilbertville and back.  They will probably do lunch in Evansdale instead of riding on to LaPorte.

Sunday, July 8: Trinity Ride:  Same ride but with start time moved up to 8:00 am for heat relief.

Meet at Cup O' Joe on Cedar Falls parkade at 8:00 am.  Bike on trail to Waterloo to Hudson and back to Cedar Falls.  Lunch at Mulligan’s at Noon.  Bike the trails again at 1:00 pm. Morning ride and afternoon ride both approximately 30 miles each.

See you this weekend.

Mike Big Bird Knapp

Notes for Our Team Kickoff Day on July 21

Hail Flamingos!

Just wanted to talk a little more about Saturday, July 21st, departure day for RAGBRAI.

1)  Be at Carolyn's at 8:00 am so that we can get bikes and baggage loaded and get on the road by 9:00 am to take advantage of the cooler temps in the morning.

2) Limit yourself to one bag, sleeping bag, tent, cot/air mattress, pillow, etc. to conserve space.

3) Use soft luggage -- duffel bag, gym bag, etc. rather then hard shell suitcase.

4) Bring snack food/beverage along for the ride.  We can stop and shop in Sioux City for supplies you want for the week (beer, pop, etc.) once we're there rather then cramming everything in for the ride out.  We will try to have a cooler of some type in each vehicle.

5) Remember, we are staying in Sioux City, not Sioux Center on Saturday night.   We will have about an hour's drive to start point on Sunday morning, so it would be helpful if we didn't have to off load bikes Saturday night.  Perhaps  you could pack Sunday riding clothes separate from your main kit so that we can leave as many things loaded on the vehicle as possible for a quick start in the morning.

6) If you want to bring a camp chair along, bring it that morning to Carolyn's.  If there's room to carry it on the vehicle we will, but no promises until we get everyone's gear assembled for loading.

7)  Put your luggage tag on your main duffel bag, so we have a way of tracking who's bag is whose when we load up each morning.  Don't want to leave you gear behind like Emily's was two years ago.

8)  Everyone will be assigned to a specific support vehicle for the ride.  Assignments were made with size of vehicle, types of riders, genders, and housing combinations, so hopefully everyone is happy with their van mates.  If not, bring a book to read.

9) Your support vehicle driver is just that.  A driver.  He or she is not expected to unload your gear and carry it into the house that night, or out to the vehicle the next morning.  You are responsible for that.  Treat your driver nicely, it is hard to get support drivers and vehicles.

10).  We will have the FlamingoLoo along when/if we camp and the KYBO's are too far away for late night potty runs.

11) Each vehicle will have a hand sanitizer and a first aid kit on board for emergency needs, bandages, etc.  Tylinol, Ibupufren, etc. are not provided.

12) Each vehicle should have a floor air pump and tire gauge on board.

Big Bird (Mike Knapp)

Baby Bird Joins the Team