The primary focus of this podcast episode centers on the challenges and unexpected moments experienced during day four of the Ragbrai cycling event, featuring the reflections of Nicholas Kleve and Steele Welcher. As they navigated the arduous ride of 71 miles from Forest City to Iowa Falls, they encountered a relentless heat and formidable headwinds, which tested their endurance. Notably, Kleve recounts a significant mishap involving a collision with a stationary school bus, which serves as a poignant reminder of the inherent risks associated with cycling. Throughout their discourse, both speakers illuminate the camaraderie and support found within the cycling community, emphasizing the importance of shared experiences and mutual encouragement. Ultimately, this episode captures the essence of adventure, resilience, and the joy of connection amidst the rigors of the ride.

In an engaging conversation, Nicholas Kleve and Steele Welcher illuminate the multifaceted experience of participating in Ragbrai, a notable bicycle ride that spans across Iowa. Nicholas, known as Mr. Funky Teacher, recounts the arduous journey of day four, which entailed a formidable 71-mile ride from Forest City to Iowa Falls. The narrative is rich with vivid imagery, depicting the harsh elements faced during this leg of the journey—relentless winds and sweltering heat that conspired to make the day particularly grueling. However, amid these adversities, the day was not without its moments of joy, characterized by whimsical indulgences such as raspberry ice cream consumed at an unorthodox hour, and the amusing yet cautionary tale of Nicholas’s unexpected encounter with a stationary school bus, which underscores the need for vigilance while cycling.

Steele Welcher’s insights complement Nicholas’s narration, as he articulates his approach to overcoming the physical challenges presented by the ride. He discusses the significance of cadence and gear management, offering practical advice that resonates with both novice and experienced cyclists. Furthermore, the camaraderie amongst riders emerges as a central theme, as both speakers reflect on the shared experiences that foster a deep sense of community among participants. This communal bond transforms Ragbrai into more than just a physical challenge; it becomes a celebration of connection and shared adventure.

As the episode progresses, the critical role of support teams is emphasized, particularly the SAG (Support and Gear) personnel who provide essential resources to cyclists. Their unwavering dedication ensures that participants can focus on the ride itself, alleviating concerns about hydration and logistics. The conversation ultimately encapsulates the spirit of adventure and resilience that defines Ragbrai, inviting listeners to reflect on their own journeys while celebrating the connections formed through shared experiences in the cycling community.

Takeaways:

• Nicholas Kleve recounts an eventful day during Ragbrai, emphasizing the challenges faced, including relentless heat and strong winds.
• The camaraderie experienced among riders is essential, as they support one another through physical and mental challenges during the ride.
• The significance of enjoying local delicacies, such as raspberry ice cream and Mr. Pork Chop, highlights the unique culinary experiences on the journey.
• A humorous yet serious recount of an accident involving a school bus serves to remind participants of the importance of vigilance while cycling.
• Community engagement is pivotal, as riders from diverse backgrounds come together to enjoy the shared experience of cycling and adventure.
• Ragbrai is not merely a physical challenge, but a celebration of life, connection, and the human spirit through shared experiences on the road.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Ragbrai
• Mr. Porkchop
• Berry Fast Cycling
• Siouxland Cyclists
• John's Retro Road Bike Garage
• Schwinn

Foreign.

Hey, hey, funky fam.

Welcome back to the outdoor funky podcast where adventure meets authenticity and.

And where the roads and sometimes school buses are full of surprises.

I'm Nicholas Kleeve, also known as Mr. Funky Teacher, coming to you from day four of Ragbrar 52, a day that delivered everything.

Wind, heat, raspberry ice cream at 9am and a crash I'll be talking about for the rest of my life.

Now, we rode 71 miles starting from Forest City and ending in Iowa Falls, passing through these towns, Ventura, Missouri, Alexander Latimer and Culture.

The winds hit hard from mile one and they never let up.

The heat turned relentless by late morning.

It was one of those most mentally and physically draining days we've had out here so far.

Well, little story time here.

I was leading Maya, my daughter, my 16 year old daughter and my best friend Steel Welcher in the camp when we got into Iowa Falls and I had looked up and bam.

Right back into the back of a stop school bus.

It was parked at a stop stop sign and then I bounced right off of it, dented my helmet, cracked my new caddy rack system on my road bike shift system was messed up, my neck was a little sore.

And the best part, the bus kept going.

It didn't even know that I hit the back of it.

I don't know how that's possible, but or else they didn't want to acknowledge that I had just crashed into the back of the school bus.

It really wasn't their fault, but nonetheless, my friend still and my daughter Maya, they knew.

But the school bus, I don't think they knew at all.

Now, Maya did give me a legit concussion check.

She's so calm, she's so focused and of course still helped me to get my bike up.

Limping back to camp so I could have John Berry from Berry Fast Cycling.

He's our support bike mechanic for Siouxland cyclists.

Up and running again.

John Barry worked on it, but before we did that, still had to fix a few things on my bike so I could get it rolling again after crashing into the back of this school bus.

Now, I was joking with Maya and still, that said, if this bus had taken me out, you better tell my story.

The biking teacher who died by chase and joy, taken out by a school bus with a dented helmet and a belly full of pork chops and slushies.

All right, now, today I have with me the legendary, the one and only Steele Welcher.

Steele has done this ride with me for pretty much the.

The entire 13 years that I've been doing Ragbrai.

So I'm excited here to talk about that day because it was a tough day and.

And I do want his point of view, you know, still had.

Not only is he.

Is he a really great friend and a writing partner, you know, it's also exciting to have him where he can even maybe share a little bit about that vintage bike interview moment where the YouTuber interviewed him.

Such a.

Just.

It was a tough day, but it had its moments of gems.

So with no further ado here, Steel Welcher, go ahead and say hi to the people.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Now, let's talk about the ride today, if we could still, how would you describe today's ride, this day four ride in three words?

Hot headwinds and some hills.

Yes, indeed, those would be perfect words to describe it.

Now, that headwind, it never stopped.

What did you do still to push through those headwinds and to get through to the.

To the end of the day?

I was wishing for some aero bars.

I had them on Ragbrai last year, but not on the bike that I took this year.

But I just tried to stay in the drops in a low position as much as possible, and I lowered my gear, or raised my gear up to an easier cadence and listen to some good music and look forward to the next water tower for the next town.

And you mentioned about cadence.

What does that mean for the people who's listening?

They're hearing you say cadence.

What does that mean exactly?

It's just trying to spin your gears with less resistance, but at a higher rate so you can conserve a bit more energy without wearing out your muscles.

So put it into some easier gears, maybe some granny gears.

Just roll it in the easier gear.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

All right, so now still, what was the toughest part of the day so far for you?

Oh, just the last stage when the heat caught up and the wind picked up and there was a big gap between the final town.

So everybody was on the struggle bus.

Shade was a commodity.

So if we found a bit of shade in a farmer's property, we were all congregated there and just trying to make it out there safely and had some nice people with free will.

Donation water that they were kind of giving out and you can give a donation if you look chose to do so.

And there was some shade.

But you have to get into town eventually.

So had to eventually get back on the bikes and keep riding.

Now, let's talk about the food.

Tell the listeners about that 9am raspberry ice cream moment.

No regrets, right?

No regrets.

We were in some town, I can't remember, was it Armstrong?

I don't know.

There was a big ice cream shop there towards the end of the town and there wasn't very much of a line and it just seemed to hit the spot.

I thought that looked really good.

So we went up there and they had a variety of ice creams, including some kind of raspberry, BlackBerry.

Raspberry ice cream.

And there was a parenthesis on the sign that said most popular choice.

So I went with the collective wisdom of the community and decided to choose to get an ice cream cone in the morning.

And wouldn't you know it, there were a few Sioux cyclists from Sioux City who were also there enjoying some breakfast ice cream.

So.

So it's always more fun when it's breakfast ice cream.

Now, was the raspberry ice cream a good choice?

Did the community lead you in the right direction on that choice?

Yeah, I think they were right.

It was quite tasty.

Really fueled me for the upcoming hard times that were going to be upon us.

Now, let's talk about Mr. Pork Chop, because this was our first Mr. Pork Chop that we got on day four.

How would you describe the taste and the vibe of Mr. Pork Chop?

Yeah, they pull that pork chop out of a cooler and it's hot, delicious, quite tasty.

Doesn't seem like something you might want on a hot day, but it seems to nourish you with all the fats and proteins and juices and flavor from the smoke.

And it's quite a good choice.

Wouldn't have it every day, but I'd say every other day.

Mr. Porkchop's a strong choice for me.

It always depends what the line is and what the property looks like.

But can't go wrong with Mr. Pork Chop.

And what did you wash that pork chop down with?

Well, we chose a sassy lemonade.

You can get that with vodka.

But we just had the regular strawberry lemonade slushy, which was also quite delicious and cooled your core temperature.

Always important.

Absolutely.

It was.

I have to agree with you.

Still, the raspberry ice cream, the Mr. Pork Chop with a sassy slushy, those were quite tasty.

Now, what Would you say still was your MVP snack or drink of the day for day four riding?

Well, the ice cream and pork chop were quite amazing.

But I did have a bunch of Casey's cookies, tiny little cookies that were in my front bag so I could grab those and eat those as I rode for a bit of an energy boost.

And of course it's super hot out, so they were just all gooey, almost like they were fresh out of the oven, I would say because you were.

Slowly baking them in your back bag that was strapped to the front of your bike.

Yeah, it was like my own Easy Bake Oven and quite scrumptious.

What made you think about doing something like that?

That was an impulse buy while I was in line.

But yeah, so that was a yolo.

Like let's just go for it and see what happens.

You got it.

Can't go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie.

I like that.

That's great.

All right, so let's talk now about the Schwinn moment.

Now you got stopped by a big time cycling YouTuber on day four.

Here, tell us about what happened.

Well, he had a sign on his bike, so I saw him and mentioned that I was a fan.

So this is John from John's Retro Road Bike Garage, I believe it's called.

It's a YouTube channel and as the name implies, they're just looking at basically road bikes from the 70s and 80s, high end stuff.

John used to work at a bike shop during that time and so there were bikes that maybe he was selling but he couldn't afford himself.

And he always admired those chrome lugged, high performance road bikes.

And now he's, you know, successful and has quite the collection of his own.

But he also youtubes so he goes to different trade shows, shows, his latest projects.

He's visited different museums, including a guy who's done basically replicated all of Eddie Merckx bicycles.

He's talked to frame builders like, based out of Des Moines.

Mr. Bach, who makes different custom frames.

Jeffrey Bachelor.

Just amazing craftsmanship and hopefully not a lost art.

But these old steel road bikes that have lugs and they're lightweight and have just an amazing feel on the, on his channel.

So he's going all around and he's Von Ragbraai.

I see him riding, he has a sign on his bike that says he's from there.

And I say I'm a big fan.

And so we're talking and he's like looking at my bike, which isn't a high end bike by any means, but it's an old Schwinn Voyager, which was Schwinn's lugged steel framed touring bike.

And I've done some fun changes to it.

It's kind of the perfect Ragbrai bike in my mind because it's easy riding and I have platform pedals.

So, you know, it's a different topic altogether.

But a lot of folks are just constantly stopping and going on Ragbrai.

They're clipping into their pedals, they're unclipping.

Sometimes they fall over like a piece of lumber.

And I just have these platform pedals that have little pins in them.

Digs into my shoe.

My shoe never slips off.

So it's just an easy riding style with a lot of cargo capacity.

It's a little bit heavier than maybe some of the road bikes out here, but it's super comfortable.

And John saw that bike, he recognized it as a kind of an old vintage bike itself.

And we pulled over when we found some shade and he did a little bit of a vignette or maybe it's going to be a compilation of different interesting Ragbrai bikes that he found while he was riding.

So definitely look forward to seeing that video that he makes.

And sometimes people think that hey, you're out here if you want to do a Ragbry, you, you have to have a two or $3,000 bike.

And there's nothing wrong with that if you do.

But is that a misperception about Ragbrai, that you have to have this really expensive bike in order to do ragbry?

Yeah, I think it is.

Definitely.

Having a bike that fits and is comfortable is the most important aspect of choosing your bike.

And then also getting the miles under your belt so that you have a tough saddle and you can endure the seat time because you're on the road for five or six hours a day and just having something that's going to be comfortable, you're going to get up to speed and have an enjoyable time regardless whether it's a high end bike.

You don't want something super cheap from a big box store that's not going to perform well or be out of alignment in all sorts of different ways.

But a well tuned, even vintage bike is kind of ideal for the kind of ride where you're just going from town to town and enjoying the sights and eating the food.

Excellent.

All right, so now on a crash.

All right, so tell me your side of the bus crash.

What did you see?

So we were finally in the town after a long day on the road.

We had eaten at the Pizza Ranch, so we're kind of full.

Looking for the camp is always, maybe not super stressful, but it's the most interesting part of the day of just figuring out you rode all this distance and now you're in town.

So on the route itself, there's not a lot of traffic.

But once you're in town, there's people who are living and working and you have to navigate around that and you don't exactly know where you're going.

Right.

Ragbrai this year has decided that we can't put up directional signs to our camp, so we're using computer navigation.

And to your question, what I saw was a large bus that was stationary at a stop sign.

And, you know, we've been riding together for a long time.

You don't want to explain something that somebody probably already knows.

So I wasn't going to say, hey, there's a bus there.

And yet the assumption was that.

That you were going to stop and.

Yeah, and yet that didn't happen.

So unfortunately, although perhaps you weren't going super fast in town like that, it was a very startling thud in which you stopped via your face into the bus.

So I was quite concerned actually, because I've seen that happen to other people.

Fortunately, I don't think you actually hit it with your face, but your helmet instead.

But I was worried that, you know, just from the back that, you know, maybe you broke your nose at least, or there was going to be a lot of blood or something and didn't seem like that was the case.

But it was very abrupt stop.

There was a very loud sound.

And of course I was concerned about your safety.

And I do have to say that it was.

It was a moment of me not paying attention like I should have.

And it was, it was my fault.

I should have.

I took.

Took my focus off of what I was doing.

Now, obviously I was trying to kind of navigate the gps, trying to get us to our campsite, but yeah, that, that just shows how fast something can happen.

And I do think that I was very lucky where I bounced off of it.

And I did have a little bit of a sore neck, a little bit of a headache, but not where it was.

I got lucky because it could have been a concussion.

It could have been, you're right, a broken neck.

And it wasn't kind of jarred me up more than anything.

And it didn't permanently jack up my bike.

It was something where John Barry with Barry Fast cycling was able to fix some of the items that were broken and get me back going again.

So I'm very thankful for that.

So now be honest.

Did you laugh before or after checking on me?

Yeah, initially I did smile quite a bit, and your daughter chuckled a bit.

So it was just such a stunning surprise.

We thought, oh, my goodness, he face planted into a bus.

How could that happen?

But then after hearing the sound, you know, I was really worried that maybe this was a substantial injury, so.

And I.

Mixed feelings.

Funny, but also dangerous.

What are you gonna do?

And I have to joke about it afterwards, too.

Well, accidents are a serious thing because we've had.

We unfortunately had a few people die out here in Ragbry.

And that's no laughing matter.

When someone loses their life if they have a medical emergency or if there's a crash, you know, you hate to see that.

But really, when you put 20 to 25,000 people so closely on a road doing a thing, you might have a medical emergency, someone might have a heart attack or someone might have an injury.

But I always say you can die by walking across the street and get hit by a car, you know, so it's not something that should ever deter someone from.

From doing something like ragbraai or another bicycling event with your friends or with your family.

But it does speak to that there are some minor accidents that can happen too, and that was a minor accident, I would consider.

There's a whole lot of people who had other accidents here and there.

Sometimes you don't even hear about them, but it happens.

And it was a good lesson for me to remind me to, hey, you know, hey, I got lucky here because I want to finish the ride.

I want to finish the ride with my friend, I want to finish the ride with my daughter and just have a good rest of the week.

But also, life happens, and accidents can happen, and you have to navigate that too, because we're flawed human beings out here riding bikes and we sometimes make mistakes.

So that was, I guess, my mistake of the week there, bouncing off the back of a school bus.

But what made it funny was the teacher crashes into the school bus.

That was kind of.

I don't know.

I don't want to say that's ironic, but it was a little bit funny.

Would you say, Steel?

Yeah.

Nick told us that we had to tell his story, and I'll leave it at that.

Yes.

Now let's talk about the community.

What stands out to you most about the people on this ride?

Oh, the people on this ride.

I would say people as riders are here for their vacation.

So we're from Sioux City, which is on the western side of Iowa, and generally that's where Ragbrai is starting.

But you see folks from all around the country or internationally, so they've taken a lot of logistical effort, spent a lot of money to get here.

So folks are just here to have fun.

And for some it's a physical challenge.

For others, it's purely vacation and time to cut loose.

I think sometimes Ragbrae gets a bad reputation as being just a rolling party.

And for us, we leave fairly early in the morning and we just don't see a lot of that stuff happening, although, you know, it does take place towards the end of the ride or those who are leaving later.

So it's kind of whatever ride you want it to be.

The communities are really great and they've taken a lot of time to plan for us and they're very welcoming.

And everybody on the ride, you can start a conversation up with them if you like, or you can just kind of be solo and be quiet if you like as well.

So it's whatever ride you want it to be, as long as you're used to or expecting a lot of people around you.

There's always someone behind you, there's always someone in front of you.

You're not going to get lost.

And it's just a great time one week out of the year where the cyclist outnumbered the cars and you're in that community of cyclists now.

We've been supported.

We have been supported by absolute great folks I think of, I've mentioned several times, John Barry bicycle mechanic we also have our SAG crew.

Still, what is SAGA stand for?

Support and Gear.

And so Support and Gear, they're handling, transporting our bags, our containers from one overnight town to another.

We're so thankful for the work they do.

It's hard work.

They're doing it in the heat.

They're setting up shower tents for us.

They're making sure that there's coolers full of water and Gatorade and other things to drink and having snacks here for us.

And they're working hard.

So supportive of them as well, and thankful for them.

What does that kind of help mean when you're tired or if your bike's broken down or your body's broken down, having the support people out here, what does that mean to you as a participant of Ragbrag?

Oh, it makes all the difference to have a place that you know is going to be there for you when you're going to be camping.

So we're still camping, but we have beverages.

So you have a full bottle of water when you're leaving the next morning and a place where you know your tent's going to be.

You have to still set up your tent, but you have a place where you know your luggage is going to be.

You have showers, you have places to charge your phone up.

So we have three brothers, the Wendt brothers, who work together to take care of all those logistical challenges.

Whether it's ice, coffee in the morning, charging, running the generators, hook, finding water for the showers.

Having these showers is really fantastic.

Usually they're hot.

They're like gardening hoses that are private.

So there's a lot of high pressure.

And initially Nick remembers as well, we used to have these two gallon shower bags that we brought that were transparent maybe on one side and black on the other side.

The sun heated them up and you were really on a timer.

When the water ran out, your shower was done.

And sometimes the water was cold and sometimes the water was solar, heated by the sun and burning hot.

And things have just been better incrementally over the years.

And it's really enjoyable that you don't have to worry about all those challenges.

You just have to set up your tent, tear down your tent in the morning, and ride your bike for the rest of the day.

So it's really ideal.

So if you're considering doing Ragbrider, you're considering to do a bike ride with your family or with friends, those are things to think about.

In terms of the SAG support, what type of SAG support do they do?

What type of resources do they have available to you?

Are you gonna have to walk a mile to.

To use a restroom?

Are you gonna have to try to track down your own water?

Those things matter, especially when you're tired.

And there's.

There's really nothing like Ragbright.

It's truly the largest, longest and biggest bicycle ride tour in the world.

But there's also many other bicycle rides too.

Steel and I did one back in early June where it only had 200 bicyclists on it on a ride called Rasdack.

And they had a support team there as well.

And while this episode is not about Rasdac, it's important we got to learn about their system, of how they operate, what they allow for, baggage, what they will provide you with, where they will provide sleeping conditions, places to take care of, hygiene, all that.

That stuff or is logistical stuff that does matter and can really make or break your Ride, especially if you're expecting something but you don't get it or you make assumptions.

It's really important to do your research on the ride.

And not only just on a ride, but the group that you go with.

We go out.

This is the Siouxland Cyclist that we're with here.

But here's the thing.

There's the dozens.

I, I think my.

I, I don't know if there's hundreds, but there's many, many dozens upon dozens of different tour groups that are on, on Ragbra because there's so many people and there's just some families that load up an RV too and, and take turns driving and doing it too.

There's a lot of ways to do Ragbrai.

There's some people who, who do hotels and motels.

Those get filled up pretty fast.

The most majority of people are doing camping by far.

Steel, is there anything else you want to add to that in terms of logistical things to think about and the support?

I don't think so.

But one aspect of Siouxland Cyclists and a lot of these clubs is arranging the transportation to get back to wherever you're from.

So Siouxland Cyclist has a charter bus that at the end town takes everybody back.

So my wife picks me up so I don't have to worry about it.

But it's all these challenges.

Where are you going to go once you get there?

How do you get back?

Where's your car going to stay?

So clubs can't fix all those problems, but they address many of them.

So there's a church in Sioux City where people are allowed to have long term parking and then there's a bus here and the bus is going to take them back from Gutenberg back to Sioux City.

So that addresses a lot of the concerns that most folks are going to have.

Excellent.

Appreciate that note.

Well, today was tough, but it gave, gave us some stories, gave us some laughter.

Gave me a dented helmet and a reminder of why I ride.

To feel alive, to connect with others and to push past limits.

Even when a school bus tries to stop me to steal.

I want to thank you for riding with me, for just putting into miles with me out there, for laughing with me, for just, just for the experience.

We've had so many years of riding together.

And even with my daughter out there, I know that if, when we're out there that, well, my daughter, you know, she's at an age where she doesn't need to be babysat.

You're out there kind of just looking out, you're looking out for her.

You're looking out for the other riders, too, because we're kind of in this together when we're biking out on the highway and there's thousands of riders out there, and we're kind of in it together, and.

And that's just the great thing about Ragbrai.

And so, with that being said, once again, thank you still.

And so I want to encourage all of you to go out, explore, be yourself, get outside, get funky.

Bye now.

Sa.

It.