Welcome to episode 11 of Curious Crossroads. Join us as we dive into the excitement of RAGBRAI in Iowa, the world’s largest and oldest annual recreational bicycle touring event! 🚴♂️🌽
In this video, we sit down with the amazing Tom Horita to get his insights and stories from the ride. From the camaraderie of the cyclists to the picturesque landscapes of Iowa, Tom shares what makes RAGBRAI a must-experience event.
But that’s not all! We’ll also chat about the thrill of scoring a hole-in-one and how music keeps the energy high throughout the ride. Whether you’re a cycling enthusiast, a golf fan, or just love good tunes, this video has something for you.
Don’t miss out on the fun and inspiration from RAGBRAI 2024! Like, comment, and subscribe for more awesome content.
#RAGBRAI #Cycling #TomHorita #HoleInOne #MusicLovers #Iowa
[Music] welcome everyone to another edition of curious Crossroads I’m Doug and this is my son Doug and we are so happy that you joined us today and I think you’re going to be happy too because we’ve got a very very special guest with us he knows more about musicians and bands and all the different genres of music than anyone I can think of he Fosters Pet and is a big champion of that cause he’s a pretty darn good golfer because he’s even won the coveted Green Jacket at the DFS Invitational golf tournament and he’s one of the biggest recreational bicycling Advocates that I know of in the entire country Tom Marita it’s a pleasure to have you on Curious Crossroads great to be here thanks for having me we always like before the show starts we take our guest over to on the green and fly them with a couple drinks and have them hit a long drive and you performed admirably for both drinking and driving that’s the only time that’s going to sound right where drinking and driving is okay what you think of on the green beautiful awesome yeah a amazing fa everybody we take there same reaction they’re like holy crap it is state of thee art it’s the best I’ve seen it’s surprising like you look at it from the outside it’s like you know it’s just built into the strip mall and you go in it’s like super high class yep the only thing I don’t like it’s just me personally it’s me vanity wise is it has all those different screens that show your swing so if you’re not right on you it’s like what you said it’s like hearing your voice on a recording seeing yourself on camera it’s like you think in your head your golf swing looks really good and then you go there and you’re like oh my God it can be pretty brutal well your swing was not the most horrifying thing in the video though no no what would you say was your face face where does golf stand in your life is golf a big part of your I know you got a lot of different things that you like to do huge part absolutely it’s uh as you know my whole family is big into golf and it’s one of those things that if you can’t beat them join them I think so how long ago did your your golf career start I I kind of started kind of late um probably seriously I always played you know little par 3s with my dad when I was a kid but seriously probably not until I was 22 or so is that like everybody in your family like when did everybody else start like John my brothers played more frequently than I did yeah when I was young they were playing I’d go out and caddy for them every so often I remember so they they played with my dad at a young age and then my sister lesie I think she played a little bit earlier and then p and I were the latest because we were kind of anti- golf we thought it was boring and Pat was too we were into tennis yes oh yes yes so p and Mike and I kind of got um came into the game about the same time so who’s got the most hole in ones like what is the what’s the ranking that’s definitely that’s got to be Pat P She gos an awful lot she she does go a lot does John just have John has two yeah he John has two he has the most epic one Tim has one Tim was on a par four I think if I remember the story correctly the funny part about that one I always think is that uh when he got his ho in one and had to buy drinks for everybody it was an AA tournament up in duth I think are you serious and so he just had to buy like Diet Cokes for everybody that’s cheaper it’s cheaper um what about Dan Dan does not Leslie does not how about your dad did he ever get a home no no I will never forget though him winning the uh DFS low net or low gross yeah and won the championship that one year that was pretty cool one of my favorite pictures of my dad is him the night before he had to turn it back in the year he brought me into the basement and said you got to take a picture of me with the trophy and he has his big goofy smile on his face it’s it’s a you send that over so will put that we’re going to put up a picture of him with the Green Jacket too right oh boy so that’ll be on there been a while speaking of p i remember that’s the same day when when I won the Green Jacket P got her first hole in one I believe right and then she to damper your party yeah yeah then she told she told my dad that she got a hole in one and my dad uh patted her on the head and gave her a $5 bill what about music let’s move into music I know that music uh out of everybody I know you are either singing you’re playing you’re watching you’re talking about music in my family which is kind of sad we had two albums we had Herb Albert and the Tiana brass and the monkeys okay I like the monkeys you know I think you got to have a little bit of push from your parents to get into things you know and there was none there you know we we didn’t there was no I I don’t even know yeah we had a photograph you know or phonograph I think that’s that sounds old what is a Trolla yeah we is that like the thing that plays the album yeah the the a little turntable okay we had a turntable but there weren’t very many albums and I guess it’s partially our fault for just not getting more interested in it but it was just we were just never around it yeah is that where it started with you was at home you know I’m the youngest of six so I have three older brothers two older sisters and growing up they always had music in the basement of my parents house albums albums albums so they had hundreds of albums so I would go down there what about your parents were they they they loved music yep they they listen to a lot of music um but it was really my brother my siblings who were the ones who had all these albums so I’d go down there and spin albums and sit in the rocking chair in the the old basement and just would lose myself in in liner notes and listen to different albums were you part of that competition I know that your brother John and Chris Abraham they had a competition one year of who could go to the most concerts con and they weren’t just bogus concerts of local people I mean they were National concerts and I couldn’t believe the prices they playing 10 bucks 15 bucks 750 12 and who were some of the bands that they were going I know did they take you along with that I know you were the younger brother few times but and Chris they would they had seen the Eagles at the old Mets stadium and uh you know The Who and EO and all the old he said he used to have posters of all of them and he just wished that he would have kept and so those those guys were like going for 10 bucks a ticket yeah that’s the same band that’s do you remember remember how many concerts they said that they they went to it was pretty sub that he kept on the dresser and he would put all his concert tickets I wish we still had it and he would he would come home after the concerts and I was I was younger and he would uh wake me up we had like a trundle bed that would fold from underneath the uh right you okay you would click it and it would come up to be level with the other bed right and he would come in and hit the lever and the bed would fall down and wake me up and and and tell me about the concerts what are some of the concerts you’ve been to first concert I ever went to was the commodor at the Carlton celebrity room remember the Carlton celebrity room out in Bloomington that’s not around anymore I do remember M America basically that was a great place to go to so I saw the commodor um that was my first concert and I’ve seen all of the acts that I’ve wanted to see more or less is that L Rich Richie I’ve seen um uh let’s see the Eagles and I’ve seen um I love the Eagles we’ve seen them a few times Billy Joel I’ve seen Prince I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen multiple times you two you saw Prince M that was during the Purple Rain tour I’ve seen him twice actually so in like ‘ 84 during the Purple Rain tour when that was big deal and then later on he did a a tour back in probably the late ’90s that I went to out of all those bands that you went to the concerts who who was your favorite who was the best put on the best I always love Springsteen really he puts on the best show and where did you see him at um a few different places some at the old Civic Center and at the old Met Center I saw him up in Fargo one time or twice at the Fargo Dome damn so I’ve probably seen spring probably eight 10 times and he outranks like Prince and those guys well as far as putting on a show then Prince put on a great show and you two is always phenomenal in concert so those are probably the top three that I’ve but I’ll always remember the commodor were you ever a big uh were you ever a big First Avenue person not big First Avenue but I you see anybody there that would be of oh um I think um the Jets remember that’s a local they were local were they and some of Prince’s like Protegé bands I never saw Prince there right yeah I wish I would have now First Avenue is still around I haven’t been there for yeah a a little while back I think the roof collapsed or something I actually had a friend that was there I think she got H ceiling tile fell down and and there’s another uh what’s the other concert that’s connected to seven Street entrance yeah Seventh Street entrance we’ve seen some of my buddies play there too it’s like a smaller venue but that’s pretty cool too yeah and it seems like with music it it’s all sorts of different genres of music that you like too yeah I mean whether it’s whoever if I put my phone on like random shuffle you will you might hear anything from the Minnesota Rouser to Glenn Miller to the commodor to Taylor Swift or pink right who’s your uh who’s your go-to karaoke it’s got to be Jim cochi Jim cochi I got it I called it there you go Jim croi Superman you don’t mess around with Jim is that yep okay that’s how well we know like the dating game I thought for sure it’d be sweet Caroline no I think there’s been so many times I hear you sing that song y so do you you do karaoke at shortstop right it’s been a while but yes is that is that where you tried that joke yes that didn’t hit it did not hit at all it was before I singing a Kenny Rogers song and so were you thinking about doing comedy and then you got up and said I’m going to Ray mcmanis I and T were there that night and I with John and Al and Craigs on Winkle and I said hey I’m going to sing Kenya Rogers the gambler but uh nor McDonald just passed away do you mind if I tell a joke and I won’t tell the joke it’s a little off color right um but I thought it was a funny joke and I don’t think according to my sister-in-law Allison she said I don’t think they heard it quite right so she was it made me look like really creepy all right well this and nobody laughed this is your chance to redeem it right now so does he have does Ray have uh standup or is it with you just threw it in just of I threw it in and then when nobody uh laughed and was cricket I just went right into the song he should do an Open Stage thing I bet people would we’re talking about Ray y owned shortstop Sunset what else does he own he owns shortstop and Fridley shortstop so there’s one in kunon rapids one in Fridley he owns Sunset Grill um he own sh Clair didn’t he own something downtown more or at something one time in uptown or something like that or adding a short St looking and then and then uh tootsies but that’s he kind of that’s with his brother Sean he’d be another great guest to have on board yeah I saw him the one time he said he’d do it yeah really we were talking uh sports or whatever and Tom or somebody was like you should be on the podcast he’s like I’ll do it I’ll do it know he knows a lot about a lot of stuff yeah the biggest thing that we really brought you in to talk about which I I I just got started uh riding the bike myself uh got myself an ebike um which is really nice uh for it’s a bike that has a battery in it and it gives you a little assist I’ve got a three-level assist and you have to keep pedaling the one that I’ve got uh to keep going but it’s just great for uh somebody getting up you know pushing towards 70 uh it’s great for when you’re going up those big hills and you just don’t have the energy that day I’ve seen a lot of people on ebikes now I’m over there it’s like everybody has an ebike like well it’s great too because we especially this year there’s been some wind like you would not believe and it’s nice to just push that button now you they pass me all the time trust me you don’t have that you have just youve just are such an avid cyclist yeah but where did all that start I know where that came from where did that come from well I’ve always loved riding bikes from when I was a kid like most kids did and um I just kind of I remember about 20 years ago I bought a nice had a buddy who was kind of into biking and I bought a nice semi- nice Tru bike and I remember I I my goal was to do 1,000 miles in one summer at the start of your cycling yeah when was this how old this must have been 25 years ago really yeah so um and so I had this bike and I and so I accomplished my goal of 1,000 back at the time I thought that was a amazing goal um so I did 1,000 miles and never duplicated that and kind of got away from biking for quite a long time until about well maybe 7 years ago and I personally thought well you know I’m not as active as I used to be I probably should do something besides just walking golf courses you know or riding riding golf courses so I said well I’ve always love biking I’m going to buy a bike so I bought a bike kind of got into it a little bit and then some buddies of mine um we kind of kind of got the bug together and kind of the you know ever since then we’ve been we’ve all been kind of crazy about it is that Willard is that one of theard and smiley was he right at the start with you then yeah pretty much yep how many how many bikes have you gone through since have you gone through there a lot of I’ve only this only my second one since I’ve yeah so you found it and you like I love my current bike so and what do you look for in a bike I mean when when you’re going to start taking it seriously where you’re doing trips like what you did last week where you what was it Grand Portage Grand port to chipa Falls I mean those are some pretty big Adventures so you’ve got to have a bike that is going to go the distance yeah I have a road bike it’s a carbon fiber road bike it’s a canondale without without a battery without a battery um nothing not there’s anything wrong with that no seil um so um yeah so I just have a a carbon fiber road bike um it’s about seven years old carbon fiber is that lighter it’s lighter lighter strong yeah pretty good over bumps what’s the range if you’re getting into a nicer bike to do serious cycling what type of price range are you looking at for a bike I would say you can spend 155 $20,000 on a bike Believe It or Not seriously like the tour to France dudes are those bikes are 15 $20,000 what makes that so expensive just mechanics it has you know Wireless shifting and it has all carbon fiber including the wheels and everything is carbon fiber probably the the handle everything’s carbon fiber so they are light and fast Wireless shifting so it’s yeah just battery operat like yeah so you just click a button and it shifts um uh anyway but you can get a decent road bike for you can get a bike for 1,000 bucks it’ll certainly serve your purposes right mine somewhere in the middle right on the lower lower end of the middle I would say when when do you think you have to get another bike or like how often do you got to get a new bike or does it last pretty much as long as you need it take care of mine pretty is it like your best friend I mean like a it is yes it’s almost uh my bike’s almost personal to me we’ve been through we’ve been through a lot together I see it oh yeah absolutely but I haven’t named it yet I need a name for my bike so let’s name it right now I feel I should have a name for it huh you know well we we we’ll think about that what about I was going to ask as far as the seats on a bike I don’t get this I made sure that the the ebike that I got yeah I sound so old that it had a great big fat farmer seat on it why do they have those little tiny skinny seats that ride right up your butt when you’re believe it or not for like long distance riding that’s moreable the cushy seats are going to work against you there’s just too much friction you want a hard narrow seat and you do eventually get used to that your your sit bones your butt adjusts and um build calluses there’s a acronym there’s an acronym I’ll let you guys uh figure out the acronym but it’s time in the saddle that is uh is the only thing you can do and if you do enough of that you’re going to your sit bones will adjust you you don’t people think you like I have calluses all over my butt and it’s not that it’s just my sit bones are adjusted just start to form to your seat yeah and now I can your body like mutates pretty much yeah so I can ride you know I can ride 100 miles a day and it doesn’t bother me at all are you able to do you track and I think you do how many miles you go in a year mhm what did you do last year I did about 5,300 5,300 yeah which sounds like a lot and it is a lot right but I know people or I’ve heard of people who do 10 15,000 miles a year they’re probably retired or or that is crazy though when you think about how many miles it is like from here to Florida I think it’s like 2,000 or something so you’re going there and back last last year I did that kind of math which was kind of interesting just just for the heck of it and I figured my riding um of 5200 mies was like from here to Moscow oh it is weird when you think of it like that that’s like a good image of it yeah now we see you uh anywhere and everywhere I mean one week you’re here one week you’re there where where are some of the different places that you’ve been where you’ve just taken your like the the past weekend again it was Grand Grand Portage can Canadian border down Highway 61 the NorthShore over to Superior Wisconsin then down through Central north and Central Wisconsin to chipa Falls what what criteria do you have to go somewhere just that you haven’t been there before or you like going there Northshore is beautiful I love the NorthShore and I thought huh have you been there before yeah or I mean on on bike no I have not theth but not not uh anywhere past the we should plug that your brother Dan and Connie Dan and Connie were along my support team and it was awesome so they were there the water and stuff well they didn’t do they didn’t do that they wer riding they weren’t riding next to me in the uh you know in the RV but um they were there if I needed them which I didn’t thankfully right but then they would get to the campsite and we’d have so I’d have a spot to go to and and camp for the night and then that sounds fun yeah that sounds like a cool trip absolutely do you do you remember when you uh this must have been like two or three years ago when you biked down to Redwing yeah and how hot it was wasn’t it just like didn’t you guys Sav was that 150 miles or no that was only like 75 really be more and you were about 5 miles away from I was probably 10 miles away but I was going between Hastings and Redwing on that little bypass and there wasn’t a whole lot there was no convenient stores and I was out of water it was 100° it was hot I remember how hot it was and I talked talk to you guys and I said where are you guys um want to meet and I remember they said well we’re not we’re down we’re not that close and I said okay thanks I’ll just see you in a bit and all they called me back I says wait a minute you didn’t need us I said well water would be nice and they came up and met me at uh where 317 or whatever it is hit 61 you look at Mom and you’re like I think I think that’s a cry for help he might be in some distress I think he well screwed up because you guys aren’t normally drinking W or pop you’re drinking you’re looking for water we didn’t have any water but we had ice gold pop yes it was a to Sav me right and then I I did finish you said we can you can you’re technically kind of in Redwing you can just get in the car and I said no I’ll finish from here yeah I tried to convince them to get and he wouldn’t RB yeah let’s go to RB so you do that every year right R BR I think this will be my seventh regb and then who’s your team give your like team a shout out or the you go with so we have a team we kind of a core group and then we every so every every year there’s some different people but there’s a core group it’s uh me um two of my buddies Willard and smiley that I both we went to high school at K Rapids together graduated in different years but we went to high SCH school together and then my ex-girlfriend’s dad John neelsen and then our driver was the MVP of our team Larry so that’s kind of our core five how old is John neelon he’s is he I think I hope you’re not listening John I think he’s 77 he it’s amazing he’s in the greatest shape yes he’s it’s just going to show you anybody that stays in shape can I mean it’s just what he is able to do he’s kind of an inspiration but it’s a good group of guys that you’re you’re with and then you also brought into the fold some ladies that we have we have had ladies um um in the past last year we had three that uh Willard Willard’s wife knew um so kind of like a second you know couple times removed from us and they said well we’ve always wanted to try this red try so they joined up her last last year and the year before um and then we’ve had other people friends Tom omide and Rick Bloom Rick Rick Bloom and they they don’t do the whole thingi Mary Bloom did three days one year and Rick did three days by himself with us another year I’m trying to do it at some point I told you I’d do it at some point you don’t have to do the whole thing do people do it that have ebikes oh yeah really hey you could do it little bit of a bummer you’re just working your butt off in that wind Here Comes little there’s there’s a very small segment I’d say less than 1% of people on R bre that kind of get irritated with the E bikers right and to me it’s like like God bless them it’s be sitting on the sofa so if that’s the way you want you have to ride a bike it’s why not do you think it’s going to keep shifting to ebikes like more and more not uh not RB not RB no RB is I think most people do it because it it is quite a they want yeah and you’ve got what what does the there’s a guy with a trailer what what does he do what lar is our driver and he’s from sigy Iowa he’s a friend of smiley um anyway he our driver so he Smiley lives down in uh by Tyler Texas down uh by Dallas kind of and he drives up with his with his uh pickup truck and we run to U-Haul and then he goes to Larry’s house and we basically then go to the start town and Larry is our support driver every day so he sets up our camp for us so when we get into camp on the overnight town every night our camp is set up for us after a long day riding cuz you don’t want to be setting up beer and our big canopy our 12x 12 you know canopy that we hang out under after the ride with cooler full of beer any snacks in the morning he’ll say what do you guys need today we need how about a case of beer and a bottle of vodka and some chips and pretzels and maybe some bananas and we were watching a video Gatorade we were watching a video and it actually said that regb is the only cycling event where you can actually gain weight yes yes they put it a good way if you’re like trying to understand what it is it’s kind of like the county like a County Fair on Wheels kind of like the state fair meets the tour to France meets Woodstock right kind of cuz it’s a lot of music and live music and I was saying food it’s like Sturgis for like bicycle riders only like people seem to be more tame yeah are they but some people people can get kind of wild though on that I think RG BR since I’ve been doing it isn’t I’ve heard the stories of the old days oh it’s probably before cell phones where it got a little wild um well it still gets wild doesn’t it I mean judging from what we were seeing yeah when we have fun we good concerts and good music harmless fun yes good Harless the other thing I like too is like they showed like when rbr is going on in Iowa um just like the people that like live in the houses and stuff are like really welcoming like come on in people use their swimming pools that looks awesome that just looks like cool the nicest people in the world and we ideally so there’s there’s common campgrounds that are open to the masses and keep in mind there’s upwards of 15,000 people that do r every year um yeah they said 20,000 yeah that’s crazy so camping in the overnight towns is just a it looks like a refugee camp it’s just you know as far as I can see is is tense um we like to try to get host families um Larry works is probably working in that working on that as we speak tries to get host families so that they will allow you to camp in their yard it doesn’t mean we’re sleeping in their house um but we can camp in their yard we can use their showers and bathrooms and electricity and we’ve had many hosts when we get there they’ll have do full of beer there’s a through the city website I think and there’s place where you or through ragb you can put your name out there and say we’d love to find a host having to pay for that or they just didn’t used to be I think there I think there’s a small fee right but it’s a well worth it right that’s so cool like that whole uh atmosphere of it yeah is just like a cool a cool thing what was it together it was it last year that it the heat was so bad I mean is that the worst year that you’ve seen as far as heat by far they were there two days Thursday and Friday last year I believe the heat indexes were like over 110° for two days and the air temp was probably right around 100 102 it was hilly and steamy humid hot humid windy it was brutal but you kept going we kept going did your whole group keep going or was there some people dropped out a couple people took a day off um but uh are they trying to keep all you guys Hydra I mean are people offering oh yeah water and spraying you down always the you uh ride into these towns and people have the their sprinklers out and hoses and spraying you down or the city will have um the fire hydrant spraying water and handing out free water there’s plenty of places to eat and drink did you see some attrition as far as people dropping out last year for sure they’re just saying I can’t full yeah it was it was a tough one you know the route itself I mean how many miles is it it usually averages last year was 500 so it was a long one and this is over seven days uh and there’s how many people on an average 15 to 20,000 last year was the 50th anniversary of rig BR though so it was a big one and they went through the bigger towns they tried to recreate the original route and the estimates for the Wednesday I think was we went into De Moine so the bigger town they said there might have been 100,000 Riders wow yeah they were going to try to break the Guinness Book of World Record for riders in one ride but uh Guinness’s criteria were were tough so they just what what do two people people do that want to go to uh as far as traffic is concerned how do they do they just say people you might as well stay home CU you’re not going to be on the road dur the roads are technically open to all traffic but these are all County and Country Roads and so they’re not travel a lot so they’re not traveled a lot in general but also I think it’s such a big deal in Iowa that the the people that live they just know they know stay home yeah so you’ll see a random car poor poor person in a car with you know thousands of riders that have to ride their car you know 5 miles an hour they they they don’t have you like in one lane and car oh you have both lanes at RGB so the roads are like technically open but there’s the most common vehicle vles you’ll see are probably ambulances right is it like Moses where they’ll like clear out and like let the car go down the middle pretty much pretty much like the Red Sea the most common Vehicles you’ll see are ambulances meaning there’s a lot of there’s crashes definitely crashes heat stroke heat stroke people in some kind of distress right so there’s there’s you that’s I think that’s part of the when you sign up for RGB officially because there’s people that do it on their own kind of Renegades that don’t actually pay to sign up but then you forfeit your right to the technically you know the ambulance ride and the medical will be kind of on RB so huh um we had a few years back we had a buddy of ours um that was in the reg BR for the first time from the UK and he had a only time anybody in our team has crashed but he had a horrendous crash really yeah probably going we don’t know because he doesn’t remember and we weren’t around him but um oh jeez he was part of your team that year yeah yep um you guys don’t stay together not it’s kind of sear you get separated for sure it’s inevitable um but he crashed probably going downhill probably 30 35 miles an hour and he had he was a mess something came out dirt probably hit a he might have hit a a crack the wrong way a you know a Poole or something or who knows he doesn’t remember he air backed out or anything he had to be they had to end up bringing him to this was I think in was it in sigy Iowa they had to U they had to ride him up to Iowa University of Iowa to the hospital there um and he had I don’t remember the exact but he had major concussion and laceration and a broken neck and ribs and he was he was a mess have you wit not to be grotesque but have you witnessed any accidents where you seen people yeah they’re not fun to watch right if they’re high speed right yeah I mean it’s almost inevitable every year every day you you will hear the ambulance rushing by and then you might come across the scene where somebody’s on the ground in a you know head stabilized how about you yourself have you had any nothing nothing major knock on wood yeah my my crashes have been more the embarrassing type like you know we most of us clip in so it’s like bindings right um and when you first get clip in pedals everybody’s done it but you’ll be at a stop sign you kind of forget and you’ll just tip over cuz you’re you’re C you know what about as far as flat tires I look at my ebike which is kind of got the same sprocket and stuff like but it looks like it would be a hell of a job to have to change a flat tire out on the road I mean it looks like that’s definitely a thing you’d want to bring into a shop or something how do you handle that on the road I we keep you know anybody who’s serious about cycling keeps a saddle bag with a a spare tire spare tube and CO2 and so a pump and I’ve nobody’s changed more flat tires than I have are you able to do change your flat tire without actually taking the wheel off no so you have to take that off you take the wheel off the front wheel is easy the back the back tire is more of a pain because and all that that’s what and you just do it you know have you had many back tire ones that it’s almost always the back tire how long that’s where your weight is so if you hit a a tack in the road the back tire with all your weight on the back is going to yeah it’s 90% of flats are the back tire how long would that take to change out a back tire 15 minutes oh that’s great front TI you can byy doing 5 minutes is that where the guy that’s uh following along does he change the tires for you or do you have to do that like a like a NASCAR team just but there is at regb there is a the Air Force cycling team they’re like the VIPs of reg bra and they so it’s literally the Air Force oh wow and they have the Air Force cycling team and they must have probably a couple hundred um every year and they all have their their cool you know bike jerseys and stuff so they’re very you can see them and um they’re I think they’re called the angels of the road or angels of the highway or something is kind of their moniker and uh their whole thing is they will break up into groups of two and just kind of uh alternate their their leaving times their depart times so that they are spread throughout the course in any given day and anybody who has a mechanical problem if you’re on the side of the road you know you need help and you’ll stop and they’ll change your tire they’ll fix your chain they’ll they’ll do anything yeah that’s great and uh yeah yeah and they’re they’re awesome they’re amazing that’s very neat I think sometimes the women on rbr intentionally try to have a mechanical so that the stud Air Force dudes will come and help them but there’s women that on the Air Force Team too and they’re they’re just awesome so uh what’s the name of your team dogon cycling dog on cycling team logo yeah well you know Junior was the creative force behind that yeah that was fun we worked on it together came we worked for quite a while on that one what’s the significance of dog gone we all you know you need to there’s regra has all these cycling teams there are hundreds and hundred of cycling teams some of them big some of them small like ours Mo a lot of them have their own team buses like a converted school bus and they’ll have 30 40 Riders oh that’s that’s actually dope that’s cool I mean there you see them all over the place and and they’re just painted you know all these crazy colors with their team names and all that so we always wanted a team name and um so it’s kind of a long story but a few years ago Smiley and I were at a bar and they had those little crane games in a bar during RB where you win pick up stuff yeah and there was a stuffed animal that I won it was a it was a dog it was just a little white U like a boxer or something his dog with a cape on it and I thought that’s kind of cool I says that’d be a what’s we should name this dog so we’re at the bar talking to some other teams and and um and I had it standing up on a pool table and the dog tipped over so somebody on one of the team says we should name him Tipsy and then somehow I don’t know how exactly but we ended up calling him Tipsy butt sniffer because dogs are butt sniffers right so he was kind of our uh by default kind of our and I mount mounted him on my bike for the rest of ragb and he was kind of our mascot the honorary Mas so that was kind of the thought of well we we all kind of love dogs and all that so we we kind of brainstormed for different team names I suggested team Tipsy butt sniffer but that didn’t that wasn’t uh Wonder didn’t catch on Tipsy but sniffer so somehow we came up with dog on dog on right um so um so we got our team name and we said well if we have a team name we’ve got to have jerseys and and all so I worked with Junior and we over the course of one spring over the course of a few months it’s kind of funny looking back in my phone to our first iteration of yeah what we what you had came up with what we ended up with yeah it’s cool to see it evolve so what’s with forward on the sleeve what’s what’s that that’s a that’s a funny story forks forks forward Forks forward um Tom om I hope you’re not listening uh one of our first R BR he had he has a um a flat handlebar bike like a hybrid bike it doesn’t have the curved handlebars right yeah so he’s riding his bike and some dude comes up next to him and says hey how’s it going and Tom’s like good how’s how do you like r B it’s great says how’s your bike it’s good says is it kind of hard to turn and he says yeah it kind of is he says your Fork’s on backwards dude you somehow I don’t know how it’s even possible it wouldn’t be on a road bike but his Fork was on like you guys couldn’t tell either I mean you suppose you never just we prob wer paying attention right so and the fork is like the the handles it’s the front you know the front part that has the tire on it so did he literally just have to turn it around or did he have to I think so something and um OD so we’ve been G giving him some Flack for that ever since so when Smiley and I were and we were designing the Jersey we decided we wanted Forks forward as a little nod to his it’s like a little e it was pretty funny what’s your favorite town in in ragb when you’re doing R boy that is a toughy um one of the one town that sticks out to me from our very first rag bra was Clear Lake Iowa that was really cool it’s right on the lake um the when we rode into town most towns are like this but they just had people cheering and you know urging you on and congratulating you and you’re almost done and it was so cool to see the people of the Town CU When you along the Route especially when you’re leaving towns or coming into towns it’s a big event for that town and you’ll have people in lawn chairs and you’ll go past like a senior home and all the senior citizens are out there watching you and it’s just amazing it’s it’s very cool how about your favorite meal or or food oh boy that is a good one um do you guys pork any pork in in in pork chops and are always good in are you cooking your own meals or are you talking about we bring yeah there’s always food and restaurants and and food trucks along the way and food booths um we do bring like a black stone I think last year the last couple years we’ve used it once for dinner like for burgers and BRS that kind of thing probably should use it more often but there’s so much food but pork chops are always good in Iowa so I thought it was kind of interesting when you mentioned that when you are biking with your team you’re not necessarily staying together you’re not drafting each other you could conceivably be two miles ahead of yeah do you do you normally have somebody that you’re partnering with or usually you’re probably with at least one other person at least one other person yeah you’re probably going at the same Pace on that day and we’ve kind of got in a pretty good rhythm of when you get to the next like town where it’s crowded and you got to get off and walk your bike pull over to the left and wait for anybody behind you if you want to get together and have a beer or a bite teeth I suppose the reason for that would be is there’s different skill levels some people are just going slower and others want to just go a little faster and you just might get behind a slower group I mean there’s thousands of Riders on the you’re always kind of drafting off somebody cuz you’re right you know there’s always people where would you rather be in the front middle or back of a pack is there is there a better well behind somebody’s always good so you can draft off of them right uh so that helps a lot you can go much much faster if you’re drafting off a group of cyclists right um but you know whatever it kind of is what it is you take it as it comes and you go at your own pace it’s not a it’s not a race it’s a ride so you have all day long to get from point A to pointb so that’s that’s I think that’s worth repeating it’s not a race yeah it’s a ride yep it’s a recreational bike race it’s the largest oldest recreational bike ride in the world right started in 19 73 73 50 years last year was the 50th they had one break for Co so last year was the 50th so this year is R BR 51 and it was two two reporters from the De Moine register who wanted to um ride their bikes across Iowa got this crazy idea to ride their bikes across Iowa and report about the people they meet and their experiences along the way and when they showed up um at the start town in in that year wherever it was sou City or something there were a few hundred people that were going to join them and they did um do you know if those guys are still around by no they both I think it’s uh John Carris and Donald K’s they’re both pass way yeah um but they um and then just they did it they thought that worked out really good we’re going to try it for another year so um they did and then it just kind of blossomed from there into what it is today very cool so it stands for its reg Bri it’s an Acron the De Moine register is the big newspaper in Iowa right so it’s the register’s annual great bike ride across Iowa that’s good I was going to test him on that y yep what was the costume question that you were going to ask just the craziest costume you’ve seen people people wearing costumes oh yeah well they’re really you see there’s one group two guys and they are they’re kind of legendary on R bra you see them every year I get pictures of them and they wear American flags like for capes and red white and blue Speedos that’s it that’s it um but they do they’re doing it they raise money they raise money for a charity oh cool um you don’t wear costume I mean you’re wearing your bers yep um but you see everything and everybody and every kind of bike I’ve seen unicycles doing the entire thing yeah I did see that when I looked up videos there you know those old those bikes called Penny far thingss or the yeah big FR yeah you see those you see they’re not doing the whole trip on those on a un yes there is one dude I saw last year who did the entire ride riding his bike backwards meaning he sat on the handlebars looking the wrong way and pedal yeah he sat on the handlebar it was a flat bar bike he sat on the yeah and did the whole thing jeez riding backwards get a world record out of it or something had to look over his shoulder to you know see where he was going so you see everything see roller Bladers seems very uncomfortable it does yes it does an a mil is it it’s anywhere from 440 probably average 440 450 so he’s doing that whole thing backwards we’re to see if we can find some video on that because I’d love to put that up it’s it’s crazy I think he’s from Alaska and that’s just how he rides his bike what’s the furthest distance for one day that they make you go for the two years ago we did 105 105 miles there’s every every year there is a cent day where you can if there’s a 85 mile day say one day they’ll do an alternate route where you can make it a full 100 miles right but this one was mandatory one a c years ago the route is all downhill too right you’re not you’re not having any Hills or it’s the biggest misconception about Iowa is like well at least it’s Iowa so it’s flat and trust me anybody who’s done regb regb is not flat so it’ll beat you up a little bit it’ll beat you up this year’s the helious regb oh they’re changing the route every year it changes every year oh I didn’t know that I thought it was the same yep so they they so different towns too then yep different start towns different End Town the the tradition technically is you start on a city it’s always on the west side of Iowa the Missouri River that’s the Western border of Iowa you dip your back tire into the Missouri River right for seven days across Iowa and then when you get to the east side of Iowa which is the Mississippi River you dip your front tire in the Mississippi that’s cool kind of symbolic very cool but yeah they changed the route they Chang the route uh basically North Central and Southern route this year to Southern route which Southern Iowa was a little Hillier I think you’ve been a great advocate for R oh my God Justice really well I think everybody would anybody who it’s kind of hard to explain regg BR until you experience it and anybody can do it there is a dude this year doing it he’s 97 years old and you’ll see 5-year-old kids with their dad on a like a tandem bike so anybody it’s again it’s a it’s a ride not a race you can go at your own pace you can walk up hills if you have to you don’t even have to do the whole thing do the whole thing you can do one day you can do do you have to register technically yes you have to register and it all go goes to the rag Bri to to put it on it’s a big what’s if you did uh this year I believe it was about it’s gone up fair Mountain the last couple years I think it was about 200 bucks right but that all gos towards it’s a it takes a lot to put on R BR do you think there’s people that just kind of sneak in oh there’s all kinds of Renegades that just supposed to be wearing a band or something you got a band yep for your bike and for your and that allows you all the services for RB right um you know if you don’t want to finish a day and you put your bike on the side of the turn it upside down the SAG wagon will come and pick you up oh okay um and and bring you to the end down um if you don’t have if you don’t register you don’t have the bracelet they technically will won’t do that for you and again where does the money go for that type of thing that it goes I mean they have to they have to work with the local communities Logistics you know renting porta potties for instance has got to be unbelievable there’s hundreds and hundreds of them they they work with the Iowa State Patrol to um because they they monitor all the intersections which is pretty cool that you come to a big intersection on two Country Roads County Roads and the Iowa State Patrol will be there music blaring on loudspeakers for you it’s just awesome so it’s a whole Statewide I mean it’s probably one of the biggest things I would say the Iowa State Fair and Iowa football and R bra are probably three of the the biggest things in R bra why don’t you why don’t you start something in Minnesota like a Minnesota reg Bry would you guys I would I would do it if you started he says can you just imagine you to have 500 people that would you start small start small that would Bey all you need is a group of people and a driver if anybody could get something yeah I could see I honestly could see you rallying people together doing a Minnesota you’d have to come up with a rag Bryce thing but maybe we can do it in conjunction we all ride our bikes down to Redwing right that’s how it starts and then we get our 45 people that do Redwing and we all ride down miles Club in her back from Blaine I think it was about 75 miles could split it into a couple days see my ebike is only good for 40 miles so yeah we’ll go halfway we’ll go we’ll go halfway that’d be the tradition though we ride down with our our golf bags on our back yes would be a requ it’s just like a thing of like that would be hilar cyclists that are going golfing in Redwing that’s how started to come up and be our driver to carry all our clubs and he’s a golfer so he would probably gladly do that for us yes should we do the uh end end it up with the uh rapid questions rapid questions oh boy if you could have any superpower what would it be to eat with without ever getting full if you could travel anywhere in the world right now where would you go Scotland what’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done probably my bike ride around Lake Tahoe what’s the best piece of advice you ever received my dad always lived by the Golden Rule so treat others how you want to be treated what’s your favorite movie I’m going to say Saving Private Ryan if you could change one thing in the world what would it be to improve the the treatment of Wildlife and nature in the animals well Tom it has been a pleasure having you on our show we will look forward to having you back again maybe after have another whole new seg assuming I survive it but I’m hoping I will yeah you can come back with some stories and we’ll do like a post uh RB show that’d be fun that’d be good be good that’d be fun hey thanks for coming in thank you for having me and speaking of Tom this episode is brought to you by depends men’s underwear stay confident and comfortable all day with depends men underwear we want to mention the Summerfield Amphitheater in St Michael if you’re looking for a great place to go for an outdoor concert uh make sure that you check out Summerfield Amphitheater in St Michael and also um a big thanks to our friends at on the green they are a wonderful place to go if you’re just looking well a good place to go right now if it’s raining out um it’s too hot out sometimes it gets really hot it’s too hot so there’s a lot of good reasons if you want to fix your game I don’t know how many people have gone over there because all of a sudden they lost their swing which happens or they lost whatever they’re able to go over there and check out their game and uh or just sit down have a beer get some food that’s right that’s bigant people don’t realize they have uh a nice menu they’ve got the alcohol and big screen TVs pool tables darts um so yeah it’s more than just like a a golf simulator place it’s it’s a hangout bar restaurant so so that’s about it don’t forget to subscribe how easy is it to subscribe you just want to right underneath the video there’s a button that says subscribe otherwise in the bottom right hand corner of the screen too on the video you can click that and that’ll also subscribe you all right have a good day have a good life [Music]