RAGBRAI 50 has a route, Come along with us as we break it down.

In this episode, we discuss the route chosen for the 50th running of RAGBRAI. Adam and Michael add insight, as well as some comic humor. Lots of historical facts about the cities and towns chosen to be overnight towns.  Please enjoy!

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Transcript

 Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure, the podcast for cyclists who understand that riding is not just about getting to the destination, but the experience along the way. Now here are the original Cycling Men of Leisure, Adam and Michael. Hey, good to be with you again. Good evening.

Happy to be with you. Look at that. We're together. Once again, we're on fire Florida this time. Tampa. Hey, it's not too bad. Beautiful area. Today I got to go golfing. What about you? I worked. I knew that, but, uh, uh, for the, for the enjoyment of our audience. Uh, you worked.

Actually I worked too, but I actually, uh, got a lot done today. So anyways, so here we are. We're here together, we're in Tampa. And, um, Truth be told, you're here for a work conference and I found me a cheap flight down here to the great state of Florida. I knew we could record some shows here for Cycling Men of Leisure and, uh, what are we gonna talk about?

But guess what? What's that? We're going to Iowa. We're what, what, what? We're going to Iowa. That's right. Uh, anybody who listened, knows that we were at two weeks ago we were up in Des Moines. That's correct. We went to the announcement party. Yep. Rag by 50. Announcement party. Yep. Had the great opportunity to talk with.

With Matt. Yep. Interviewed him the next morning. We appreciate, you know, the time, energy, and effort that he put into that. And, uh, we found out where we're going, where we're gonna be spending a week of our, uh, uh, summer, that's in July. That's exciting. Um, I'm ready. Okay. No, I'm not . I've got, I've got a little training to do and uh, I need to actually get on the bike, so that would be a good idea.

So, but, What I thought. Yes. Are you ready for this? I'm ready. You know, uh, for Bragg. Yes. And the announcement we went through Bragg, the towns that, that, you know, the, the sleepover towns and that type of stuff, and I told a little bit about it and we talked about it and discussed it. Right. Thought we should do that for Rag Bra too.

Give people a little bit of insight of where we're going to be going, uh, if they're participating in Rag Bright, where they're going to be going, and if not, we'll just give them some useless information that might serve them well. Some night on trivia or something about a state that's flat. . Yeah. If you're on the highway in a car,  absolutely

Every time, uh, people say to me, oh, you're going to Iowa. It's flat. Right? And I think to myself, I was just like you many years ago. Slow ice. Slow ice. For those, for those of you who don't understand what slow ice means, um, Adam Yes. Was, uh, was a guest on another podcast last week, I believe that's correct.

And I don't remember the name. You'd have to say that. What? That's okay. It was Mike and John podcast, um, Mike and John Little backstory where, um, uh, local radio hosts, uh, on a radio station and, um, they did their own thing and, and put their direction of their career in a different, different area and, , uh, there actually have a, a, a daily podcast that comes out.

Uh, it's, it's a community, local, community podcast. Mm-hmm. . But they had gotten, when that you and I do a podcast mm-hmm. , um, because I had, uh, used my personal Facebook page to share our show. In our interview, uh, they reached out to me and said, Hey, so you're doing your own podcast and interviews. Can we have you on the show?

And so, um, they asked me on, on the podcast.  if bikers had call signs , and I said that my call sign would be, I don't know, slow poke or something. Yeah. And I had mentioned that normally I'm one who, when we get to camp, I, I go on a mad dash for some ice, uh, uh, for our libation and, or sometimes just for, because I want an ice water.

Um, and so then they, they came, came up with a slow ice. That's right. Started out with iceman and then iceman, then a slow ice. It started, it started, Iceman would've been okay. , Val Kilmore and I, eh, we're not, we don't match. But, uh, so now I'm known slow ice. I cannot slow ice. Tell you how many people who heard the interview  were texting me behind the scenes, emailing me behind the scenes.

Um, truth be told, I actually talked some, uh, advocacy for transportation and all of the groups that I belong to, um, got to hear it. And so they were like, so did we call you Slow Ice from now on or? Absolutely. Yeah. He doesn't get there fast, but he's cool getting there, so. That's right. That's right. So that was a fun time.

It was, I, I enjoyed listening, so I appreciate that. We kind of put some digs on, on you for the, your essential time. Bs. But, uh, all, all good. . So we're starting out in Sioux City and going to Davenport  moving right along. All right. Fine. Fine. Okay. Which is also in central time, just to be clear, but, uh,  the correct time.

Sure, sure, sure. Okay. So Sioux City, um, that's, you know, I mean I've been close to that when, on other years I've done Rag Bryan, but I've never started in Sioux City. You never started in Sioux City? Mm-hmm. , Sioux City is a great town. Um, you will get. Chance the experience to visit the Sergeant Floyd Monument.

This is awesome. Looking forward to this one. How about you? Uh, crickets. I don't know who Sergeant Floyd is, and this is what I have to deal with folks. Uh, apparently he slept during history class at military school, . Um, that's, that's probably possible. I'm sure it is. . This is a monument that, uh, honors.

Charles Floyd, who was a participant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Okay. Uh, unfortunately he passed on the, uh, you know, um, upstream, uh, route going out to the, uh, the Pacific Coast, which means he died not very far into the expedition, but he, there's a big monument there in his honor. So, so you don't make it that far and you still get a monument?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he took a chance, man. I mean, there's not monuments for the other ones that passed away later, but there is a monument in Des Moines in his honor, and I think it'll be cool. You know, the last time I was visiting you, I saw the like Lewis and Clark everywhere, all over Kansas City.

It's like Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark. Oh yeah, they Lewis and Clark pos. It's almost like they were just like meandering around because if you were to plot out every single one of those signs, it would just go in like. You know, looked like a third grader was just with a crayon going like this.

So I don't know if they had a gps turn around, turn around, turn around. , you turn now . But, uh, Sioux City. Okay. Uh, is the navigational head of the Missouri River. Okay. That's important. Uh, you ever heard the term smell of money? . Not only have I heard it, I've used it, but I don't know the origin of it. Well, back in the day, Sioux City used to be a big, uh, meat processing town.

Okay. And, uh, so needless to say, you've been around meat processing plants before. They have, they let out a certain smell. Yes. Um, but back in the day, people in the town were making tons of money off of meat processing. So when they would smell. That would be the term of the smell of money. Now, see, many times that I've been in Iowa, I've used that term with you.

Yes. And it wasn't meat. Meat processing. No, no. It was the, yeah. The byproduct of the animal itself. We'll leave it at that. That's correct.  this. We had to mark clean on the podcast. That's right. Yeah. So we better stay there. So, and finally, this town during the ary was known as little. . They had lots of pizza.

No, they had lots of booze during prohibition. Ah, ah, okay. So now you know everything you need to know about Sioux City. Well, everything you need to know right now about Sioux City. I was gonna say, I'll need to know the expo, the direction, the wind, that'll all come later. Fair. Where do we go from there?

All right, from there we're gonna head to Storm Lake. Oh, storm Lake. That's a good one. I bet you it's storms over the lake there. You know why they call it Storm Lake? It has something to do with a storm and a lake, cuz it's situated right next to a lake. Okay. We actually met those cool people from Storm Lake.

Yeah, yeah, we did. Uh, no actually Storm Lake. There's a couple of, you know, theories about how it got named. I'm gonna go with. The Trapper theory and that is that there was a trapper way back in the day, went to Storm Lake, got hit by a severe storm wall at the lake. And so it was named Storm Lake. So they were sitting back enjoying, you know, some old trapper there, just caught himself, uh, I don't know, a beaver, beaver or something, and is like, yeah, this will make a great hat for somebody.

And he is sitting there along the shore and in comes a big storm.  the hat for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Uh, well this would've been after that, but, um, the joke Lewis would've worked better. The  Lewis and Clark opened it up for that kind of thing, but good, good try. All right. Fair enough. You still get my comedy?

Yes. He still gets a D in history, but that's okay. That's okay. Um, it's founded in 1873 and it is the home of the Buena Vista University. Oh. I like Buena Vista. Not the Disney Buena Vista. Oh, not Buena Vista Studios, but Buena Vista University. Buena Vista, the home of the fighting. Beavers. Beavers. Oh, I don't know what a beaver sounds.

I think a tail slaps on the water, right? Yeah. Well, you know, that comes from the trapper. See, oh, man, it all, it all works. It all works. Anyway, all right. Storm Lake, where are we going? Carol, Iowa Carol. 10,000 plus people in Carroll. So there'll be a Starbucks. Oh, I'm in. Good for you. Uh, laid out in 1867. Uh, it's named for Carroll County.

Okay. That's it. Well, no, Carroll County was then named for somebody important. That would be Charles Carroll. Hmm. Stick with me on this, Adam. Okay, Charles. Is who the county's named after, who then the town was named after. But you know why Charles Carroll is so important. Get to the point I'm getting there.

Charles Carroll, for those of you that don't know, was the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. Well, that's not a very good percentage. Don't look at me. I mean, I, I don't know what's going on, but, uh, he was the only one. So, um, but yeah, they named, he's got a town named after him in Iowa, so apparently it worked for him, so.

Fair enough. It worked there. It worked. Absolutely. And uh, Carol was originally a railroad town, like most of these towns were railroad towns when they started. I'll tell you what, you and I have been a rag bar. There's been some trains that roll by fast. Yes, there was one. I thought that was gonna kill somebody honestly.

I mean, we heard it and they're like, Hey, a train's coming. Next thing it did not slow down. It must have been going 75 miles an hour through the town. I mean, it just came roaring through and everybody was like shocked in an awe. And if there would've been a slow person coming over that track, it would not have been pretty.

But luckily that didn't happen. That did not happen. Nope. So, all right, so from Carol, we head on down to Ames. Ames, college town. Ooh, cyclones. There's gonna be a Starbucks there. , you've been there before? I have. You've been there before? I have. I have been there And lucky enough, we were able to ride through Cyclone Stadium, rode all around it.

I mean, and we weren't expecting it. No, but these gals were out there motioning for us, moved us right in. We went right through the big tunnel, right around the, the.  the track. It was incredible. It was really in neat. One of my best days of riding was doing that. What I really like is on your old bike bag.

I know this year you, you switched to a different one, but on the old one, you had still had that sticker, still had the cyclone sticker and the uh, cyclones and then. I, I, every time I saw that sticker, you know, and we'd move the bikes or, you know, moving 'em off the, off the truck and the, um, you know, on the bike rack and stuff, I'd always see your sticker thinking, oh yeah, I remember that.

I remember that. So that was also the first time I'd ever seen like a, a cell phone booster, that thing that was Oh, yeah. That was parked on the So they using those. Yeah. Who's the signal? I'd never seen that before. So, I'm. Don't worry about it. Nothing was wrong with those. I mean, I'm sure that you won't ever have to worry about anything from there.

No.  doesn't cause cancer. All right. Ames founded in 1864. Okay. College town. Uh, originally though it started out as again, another railroad town on the Cedar Rapids, Missouri Railroad. Okay. Uh, name for a US congressman from Massachusetts. Well, that's interesting Oaks Ames. Ah, I see what you did there. Oh, you like that Oaks Ames?

Yes. Name for Old Oaks Ames of Massachusetts, who was influential in the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Okay. That's cool. Yeah. So, um, who do you think's famous? Who's lived in Ames? Hmm. I mean, other than us? That one night that we spent there. Well, I was gonna say, uh, famous from Ames. I'm gonna go with.

I'm trying to think like the way that you're saying it, I should maybe know somebody. Um,

Matthew Brodrick, uh, as far as I know, he's never lived in Ames. Okay. He's may have passed through there. . But it's possible. It is possible. Uh, how about if I told you George Washington Carver. Okay, I know who that is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, Nick Nolte lived in Ames for a while, uh, back in the seventies. Wow. Yeah.

Wasn't he in the movie? 24 hours? I think he was. Yeah. Yeah. 48 hours something. Um, here's a good one. Art Fry. . Okay. You're saying Art Fry, like I should know who Art Fry. You should be thanking Art Fry every single day because in your office, I guarantee this, I'll bet you a million dollars in your office right now.

You have something that Art Fry helped get in your office, A map of Iowa? Uh, no, but it could be on the wall. I have a map of Iowa. I know you do, but I'm saying this, this thing could be on the wall, it could be on your desk, it could be stuck on your side of your forehead. Oh, like a Post-it note. Post-it note.

Yes. Adam Fry was the inventor of the Post-It note is from Ames. Huh? I wonder if Adam Fry when inventing the Post-it note. Ever think thought to himself, people are gonna cover people's cars and these things. ? No idea. No idea. No idea. Seemed like a great, great thing. Uh, this is the best one. Okay. Albert Caldwell.

I'll guarantee you have no clue who he is. I, I have no clue. Uh, 1912. Big boat, Titanic. That didn't go very far. Titanic. He was a survivor of the Titanic. That's cool. Yeah. Moved to Ames, became a principal of the high school. I betcha he told his Titanic story every day. Well, I don't know about every day, but I do know for several years during the summer, He would go on a, on a circuit and talk to people about his experiences and what he remembered of surviving the Titanic and stuff.

So we could have asked him if the board was big enough for him to lay on. That's right. Would you have climbed on the board? Absolutely. I mean, celebrities have asked him. Slide over. Exactly. I'm climbing on . Yeah. Well, uh, so there you have it. In fact, if he was still around, we'd have him on our show. Cause that would just be cool.

I love when Leonardo was doing interviews back in the day like Ellen and people would be like, , come on. Tell us, was there enough room to climb up there? He could have fit on the board. That's actually really neat. I mean, you know, I've always, I heard you ever seen like, They're, um, they're rebuilding the Titanic and like they're gonna have like, you know, cruises on it and stuff.

I'm always thinking, really, oh, this is a good idea. Yeah, it didn't work the first time. I dunno if I'd do it again. So, um, just don't run around and say it's unsinkable. Okay. Just, it's just a ship. Yeah. It's got life jackets and lifeboats for everyone, so we're good. Well, that's really neat though. I mean, I'm, I mean, uh, one of the biggest things in Titanic obviously is so many programs and, and, you know, scuba diving expeditions and all kinds of things to be able to see.

Actually the last thing I saw is unfortunately it's really deteriorating bed. Yeah. It's, um, won't be there in a, you know, few decades. That's true. Okay. So, Leave Ames. I mean, it was just a rocking good time, I hope. And then we had to Des Moines, Iowa. Yes. Now this is gonna be the big day cause this is the one everybody's talking about.

This is the day that they're gonna try to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most cyclists on the road. Um, . So, you know, it could be crazy. I mean, they're talking upwards of maybe a hundred thousand people. So, uh, it, it, uh, it could be crazy. And, and to be honest, I mean, um, I've, I've obviously been sharing our show and, and paying attention to like Rag Bright newbies page.

I've, um, rag Bright Driver's page, the Rag Bryan event show, I mean of page, um, , all kinds of comments are just all over the board. Some people are like, I'm so excited. Some people are nervous about safety. I'm sorry. After meeting Matt Fiman, um, who is the director of Rag Bri, sitting down with him, interviewing him.

His main concern is safety. I just do not believe, um, they, they're either gonna do something that you've never seen before, where they take over, you know, a, a complete interstate, both sides, you're gonna see something different. I have no knowledge of that, by the way. I just don't think that they're gonna.

These many people in harm's way. I think that's the, that's the least of my concern. I'm not concerned about it all. Cuz I do know that that's, that's extremely important, um, to the organizers of the ride and to, you know, everybody else that's involved. Uh, so I, yeah, I mean, it might be a little but.  we can be there to help them break the Guinness Book of World records.

So that's kind of cool. Heck yeah. And it's only 50 miles, so it's not like we got a long day. We can take our time. Uh, you know, people get bored. They can just, you know, come and join us and we'll take our leisure time cycling min of leisure. And I believe the one thing that this year's rag bra is gonna bring us as a lot more walking when coming into the different times.

Oh yeah, definitely. Cuz I mean, you've. We've been on these numbers of times. Yeah. And you know, you get close to town, you get into the city limits there a little ways, and you have to get off your bike. I think we're gonna be walking a few more blocks out, so, but that's okay. It's, that's part of the experience.

That's absolutely right. All right. But anyway, we're going to Des Moines. All right. State capital. Ice cold every time we've been there the last couple years. , uh, in, uh, January, it's been frigid cold, uh, you know, negative one with, uh, terrible wind chills and ice, and, uh, that that won't happen the next time you go to Des Moines.

No, no. I agree. It, it won't. Um, and it is called Des Moines. You've, for, you lose the ess, it's not desmoines. . So, did I say Desmond? No, no. I'm just making sure you, you know, you don't go there and insult people by calling their city the wrong thing. No, no. But I know for a fact when, uh, when sometimes speaking I have, I, I, I've said we're going to desmoines, you know, or something, just making some kind of joke.

But, um, no, I know that the s is silence. That's only funny when you're not in. Desmoines, huh? Listen, if it's warmer, I'll call it whatever you want me to call it, because the last time I was there, the furnace in the hotel room couldn't even keep up. So, um, 214,000 people. Oh man, lots of Starbucks. I'm gonna get a Starbucks there, incorporated 1851 as Fort Des Moines.

Okay. About seven years later, they dropped the fort part, but originally it was a fort that was built there to protect the, the, uh, native inhabitants of the s Sac and Fox tribe. So, um, it's right at the, kind of the confluence of the Des Moines River. Okay. In one of our favorite rivers that we've been across hundreds of.

The Raccoon River , you know, uh, we do laugh. I'm like, Hey, we're going across the Raccoon River again. So, um, again and again, hey, we went through Yetter and we did go through Yetter and, and when the gentleman said, you guys wanna see the, one of the only Iowa beaver dams? And I was like, is there really one around here?

He said, come with me. I wanna show you. And sure enough, he took us down and showed us so, Yeah, I didn't know where that was going. I thought maybe, you know, Hey, your boys want to go on a snipe hunt . Hmm. We're going cow tipping these. Yeah, that's right. Uh, but the other cool thing is we'll get to see the state capital.

Yeah. Which was built in the 1870s. Took cool. Took about 10, 11 years to build. Uh, but it's actually built in the Greek revival style. Uh, I've seen it. It's a beautiful building. That should be cool. Okay. All right. After that, where we headed. Oh, I was, I didn't know if you were done. I apologize. No, I'm, I'm finished.

Okay. . Uh, the other thing that Des Moines has, um, I hope we get to see is the, the ragbrai statue, cuz we haven't actually got to see that in person. Well cuz it's negative one degree every time we go there, . So, uh, I'm quite sure we will have the opportunity to get to see the statue. Okay. From there we're gonna head northeast to Tama Toledo.

Tama Toledo, known as the Twin Cities Twin Cities. Still two individual towns, Tamma and Toledo. Tamma to the south. Toledo to the north. They can't agree. Well, they didn't want to, you know, heed to each other and they kept their territory. So, uh, basically I think they originally, the settlements were like two miles apart and the towns have just pretty much grown together, so.

Okay. Uh, Toledo though was named after a city in your, your favorite state. Hmm. Ohio. Let's, let's keep going.

um, founded in the, I dunno, Toledo was founded in 1853. . Uh, and then in 1862 they founded Tama. So, um, Tama was originally another one of those railroad towns. I'm sorry, but all I could think about and they've been fighting ever since. Yeah. , I can just see this line drawn down. Oh, it's just, that's Tama. You stay on the Toledo side, go to restaurants, you go to go to breakfast in the morning.

That's the Tama side. That's right over there. . , we don't want your kind here. That's right. And we, we want, we want Tama over there and Toledo over there. That's right. So, uh, but the, the, the neat thing is the, what I guess would be the largest, uh, native American settlement Okay. In Iowa, is located just a few miles away.

That's cool. The, uh, the, uh, sack and Fox tribe Okay. Has a reservation there, so that's kind of cool. That's cool. Yeah. All right. So, um, , what was the population? I'm so sorry. Well, Toledo has a population like 2,500. Uh, Tama has a population of like 3,100. Oh, okay. So together well over 5,000 people. So they're, it's not gonna be a Starbucks.

That's okay. We're gonna, we're gonna, we'll skip it. I mean, I, I'm gonna have like three days in a row where I can get it and then, I mean, come on. First time we go out and do rag bro. Remember how happy I was in Hy-Vee? Oh, I have a picture of you  in Hy-Vee. Come walking around the corner with this big Starbucks cup in your hand with this big smile in your face.

Like I found it. But not only did I have Starbucks, I had wifi, you had wifi , and you just pretty much cleaned out the Chinese buffet , uh, like an hour before. So life was good. You guys have been here for a while. It's time to go. You gotta leave now, . Um, okay, so we leave Tama Toledo without Starbucks in hand, and we head down to Coralville.

Oh yes. Coralville, um, 1873 founded, uh, current population is around, uh, what, 1200. There'll be a Starbucks there. No. Yeah, there will be. Trust me. Um, actually there's 2200 people. Does that change it? , how big is the town? You're from 4,000 and there's no Starbucks there. There's no Starbucks? Yeah. Okay. And I'm not getting one.

You're, there'll be a Starbucks . I'll look it up later. Um, what's cool about this town is that it actually sets right along the Iowa River and it's actually situated on a 3,800 year old. Archeological, uh, site. That's pretty neat. It is. And it got its town from, in fact, the fossils that were found in the limestone there.

And so they got coralville. So there was coral in the limestone, fossilized coral in the limestone. And so they derived the city's name from them. That's pretty neat. Yeah. I mean, that beats, uh, you know, some other cities that just got their name just because, yeah. Could have called it limestone land or something.

That wouldn't have been very good. No. No. All right, so I don't have a Starbucks in my opinion. You've got a Starbucks, trust me, . There'll be one there. Um, Then we head off to a great city. We've met a bunch of new friends and we and our thousands of other friends are making our way to Davenport. Davenport.

Davenport. There we go. Um, yes. 30 what? 384,000. . Oh man. There'll be a Starbucks. Oh, well, after we finish the ride, we dip our tires. I put my bike above my head and, and try to get out of Davenport after all the events that are taking place. On the same day, I'm getting a Starbucks. Yes. Uh, incorporated 1836.

Have you ever heard the term like older people used to use? I haven't heard it very much, but like my grandparents used to say, oh, you can just sit on the Davenport, which was like another name for a couch. I. . Okay, well, trust me, it happened. Um, this, that town is actually named for George Davenport, who was a furniture maker.

Okay. So, so the Davenport Furniture name became very popular. Yes. So, and the other cool thing about, uh, Davenport, it is home to the modern Woodman Park, which is one of the oldest. Minor league baseball parks. That's cool. Still in, uh, use today. That's really cool. Built in 1931. Well, well they got, uh, eight years and they'll have a hundred year, century, a hundred year anniversary.

Put me in Coach. I'm ready to play. That's right. And then you, you could hit that and then you could drive up the road up north and hit Field of dreams if you really wanted to. On. I was gonna sing, but I don't want Please don't. No, no, no, no, no. Put me in code. So there we go. That's kind of the, uh, the journey kind of in a nutshell, some interesting facts that people may or may not have known.

Some things to look out for should be a good time. 500 miles. Yes. July 22nd to the 29th. 2023. Rag. R l, or. Yes. And the slogan is one L of Awry. Yes. And I love the goat logo thing they got going on. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Um, couple other things I wanted to mention though. Okay. Um, got some really great episodes coming up.

Absolutely. What there's been a lot of chatter about is charters. They have. Yes, uh, I know Rag Bri because of the number of people, people have been kind of freaking out about charters, um, and other rides, you know, uh, Bragg has charters, uh, brand has charters. A lot of the other places have charters too. So, um, we've had a lot of questions.

So we will spend some time talking about charters, like, you know, do you need a charter? You know, um, what are some of the advantages of doing it? What are some of the disadvantages? Kinda give you a low down on. Is a charter necessary and, and that type of thing. And, and if it is necessary, what you kind of are looking for and that type of thing.

In our opinion, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit, uh, in a future episode here about packing for, for one of these long rides. Um, we have a very interesting and distinct way of doing that, which I think people would enjoy. We do. And uh, then finally, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about a bear. Like, like, are there bears in Iowa?

Uh, as far as I know, not. Bologna every time you're there. That's right. You bring your bear. Hey, boo boo. Uh, yeah. Um, we're gonna talk a little bit about a bear. All right? Fair enough. Fair enough. I'm excited about that. Um, There's only one other thing I'd like to mention is, okay. Um, so not only did we do Rag Bri Yes, I know the show has been kind of focused on Rag Bride.

It's a very exciting time. Uh, there was the route announcement and of course now people are considering charters and packing and things. But you know, another ride that we do, Bragg mm-hmm. , um, we are searching for. . Yes. We're searching for a good time and it's gonna happen. But yes. On a serious don't we need, we need a couple extra teammates, don't we?

We do. Okay. We do. So if anyone's listening to this and you haven't heard about Bragg, please go to bragg.org. I think it is. Um, if it's not go bragg.com or whatever, but I think it's bragg.org or just look up like right across Georgia Bike, right across Georgia. Um, , what you're looking for is a week long ride.

If you have more than 10 riders or 10 or more riders, everybody on the team signed up as a team. Signed up as a team. Yep. Everybody on the team gets a custom jersey. Yes. And we've, we've signed up the team cycling Men of leisure and we're, we need a couple extra people cause we're almost to 10. We're almost, and you'll get a free.

And other than that, I mean, you don't have to hang out with us unless you want to. And, uh, you get a free Jersey, free Cycling Men of Leisure Jersey, which we will have professionally designed. So, I mean, who wouldn't want to hang out? I agree with you. I'm just kidding. Yeah. Um, actually, I, behind the scenes a couple gentlemen have written, written me and said, Hey, we wanna be on the team, but we, you know, you guys talk about sometimes smoking cigar.

Listen, we're not asking you to do anything. No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, just, just join us and, uh, , we, we'll have like a gathering one night where we can just be like, Hey, where you're from, good to meet, blah, blah, blah. And we'll have a good time. So we, we were at 10 and unfortunately a couple guys I think have had to bow out of Bragg.

So yeah. Um, we're just looking for a couple people, so if you're interested, please check out that ride. First time I even learned about Bragg was at, right. So, and if you've already signed up for it and not on a team, we can get you hooked up on a team. So yeah, just, just send us a message on Facebook, so we'll take care of it.

So, um, that's exit. Did we wanna talk about our final subject or do we wanna leave that for another time? Let's talk about it. Alright, talk about it. What was the final subject? The contest. Oh, Doug. Doug. Doug from Texas is the big winner. That's right. You know, uh, we're gonna have him on do a small spot on our show, but I'd be curious how he did that.

Yeah. I mean, we, we know his entry date, which was a long time ago. Yeah. It wasn't like the last man. I mean, he got it in, if I remember right, it was November. Yeah. It was, I mean, he was one of the, the first people to get the entry date in and. He didn't hit 'em all, but he hit an awful lot of them and he was pretty close to the total mileage too.

So, um, hopefully we can have him in, uh, uh, a show here for, for a brief time to kind of talk with him about, uh, being the winner and, and kind of maybe what was guiding him. But, uh, it was, I was impressed. Yeah, I, I was too. And, uh, I, I somehow, I didn't quite get it right. No, I was close. As in, as in it was, they were, they were all in Iowa.

Oh, there we go. Did they go west to east? Uh, yes. Oh, see, you're doing all right then. Yeah. I, you know, I know I talked a pretty good game. Mm-hmm. , I thought I was gonna be dead on. Mm-hmm. , uh, I was, I was, you know, Iowa ish. Would you like me just to end the show now so you don't have to ? No, I'll admit when I was wrong, but no, uh, the contest was great.

Had a, a lot of people through in their guesses and we, we certainly appreciate everybody's participation and Doug will be getting a, uh, cycling min of leisure hat and uh, and a shirt from us. And, uh, like I said, we'll try to get him on another, an episode here and, uh, hopefully we can hook up with him in.

In Iowa and talk with him in person. That'd be awesome. That'd be, I, I would, I would like that very much. Um, well, okay then. Well, we covered a lot. We covered the route, we covered on some shows that we got coming up. Um, is there anything else that you would add? Well, as always, it's a great day for a bike ride.

Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure. If you have enjoyed this, please subscribe to the show on the podcast app of your choice.