Mike Conklin's Diaries - R.A.G.B.R.A.I. 2006
There is something unusual every year on RAGBRAI, no matter how many times you’ve done the ride, and ultimately that is what keeps the gnarliest of veterans returning. This year was no exception.
For thousands, of course, 2006 was “The Year of Lance Armstrong.” How many can say they were on the same ride as a Tour de France champion, even if he did blow past everyone like they had broken chains, which, as it turned out, was precisely my situation?
On the other hand, RAGBRAI has had its share of celebrities---actor Tom Arnold, ex-Oakland football star Ben Davidson, and former Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall, only woman to hold that post, have been a few.
Oh, sure, Armstrong may be the world’s most famous bicyclist, but, when it came to the CUBS, the 2006 RAGBRAI has got to go down as: “The Year A Rodent Ate Susan Boose’s Seat.” This noses out, “The Year No One Told Us About the Underground Sprinkler System Beneath Our Tents.”
Seriously. When was the last time you found your bike seat in shreds with hundreds of tiny, foam rubber crumbs on the floor?This is exactly what Susan, a rookie, discovered early on Friday morning in Marengo, where her bicycle had been stored overnight in a garage with the rest of our bikes.
There was all sorts of wild speculation as to what happened, including Rickie Cowin’s theory that the perpetrators were human. But the CUBS, if nothing else, are an eclectic group and in our ranks that day was Richard “Rick” Walton, former chair of the University of Iowa Dental School with an endowed professorship in his name.
Rick wrote a book---“Principles and Practice of Endodontics”---that is one of the most widely-used texts in dental education. In short: This guy knows choppers, folks. After he pronounced the culprit “obviously a rodent of some kind,” all speculation came to a screeching halt (except Rickie’s).
Of course, poor Susan still was left with the prospect of sitting on exposed, metal seat springs until something equally unique occurred. Rookie Trish Lombardo, quoting from a Jerry Turry e-mail telling everyone what to bring, stepped forward with an extra bike seat!
Yes, it is exactly this sort of unusual occurrence that keeps many of us returning. Not the hungry rodent or someone bringing an extra seat, but the fact a CUB actually took one of Jerry’s e-mails seriously.