The episode centers on the recent completion of Ragbrai 52, a notable cycling event traversing the picturesque landscapes of Iowa. As we reflect upon our journey, I, alongside my esteemed guests Mya Kleve and Steele Welcher, share our experiences of covering an impressive 440 miles over the course of the week. The discussions delve into the challenges faced and the picturesque towns we encountered, highlighting the camaraderie and vibrant community spirit that defines this event. I recount the exhilarating moments of the ride, including the significant tradition of dipping our tires in the Mississippi River at the journey's conclusion. Together, we inspire our listeners to engage in similar adventures, emphasizing the profound joy derived from exploration and connection with nature.

A reflective discourse on the conclusion of Ragbrai 52 unfolds within the podcast, wherein the speakers, Nicholas, Mya, and Steele, share their multifaceted experiences of the week-long cycling event. The episode delves into the intricacies of their journey, highlighting the physical exertion required to traverse Iowa's undulating terrain while also celebrating the moments of joy and camaraderie shared with fellow riders and local inhabitants. The speakers recount their encounters with the Amish community, illuminating the significance of human connection in the midst of a physically demanding challenge. Additionally, they discuss the logistical aspects of their journey, including equipment choices and the personal adaptations made to enhance their cycling experience, showcasing a blend of practical wisdom and personal anecdotes. Throughout the episode, the overarching message of embracing adventure and the transformative potential of engaging with the world around us is emphasized, encouraging listeners to pursue their aspirations, however daunting they may seem. The podcast concludes on an uplifting note, inspiring audiences to seek out their own adventures, whether through cycling or other means, thereby fostering a spirit of exploration and connection with nature.

Takeaways:

• The completion of Ragbrai 52 signifies not only a challenging physical endeavor but also a profound sense of community among participants.
• Participants experienced diverse weather conditions during Ragbrai, including unexpected rain, which contributed to the overall adventure and camaraderie.
• The journey across Iowa revealed picturesque landscapes, including majestic hills and charming Amish communities, enhancing the cycling experience.
• The tradition of dipping tires in both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers symbolizes the completion of a journey filled with memories and personal achievement.
• Cyclists expressed feelings of accomplishment and exhaustion, highlighting the physical demands of biking over 400 miles in a week.
• The podcast emphasizes the importance of exploration and adventure, encouraging listeners to embark on their own journeys, regardless of location.

Foreign.

Hey, hey, funky fam.

Welcome back to the outdoor funky podcast where we're here for the adventure.

Well, as you've been following our journey, we've been out on Ragbrai, the bike ride across Iowa.

I think we are over 400 miles for the week now.

I think Maya and I wrapped up the week at about 440 miles for the week.

Somewhere in there, when you figure our sentry day.

And then those who didn't do the Sentry, about a 409 miles.

So it's.

It was a great ride this week.

There were some challenges, of course, but overall a great ride.

I'm coming to you at the end of Ragbrae, where we are just kind of sitting here, kind of celebrating being done.

We're just kind of lounging, relaxing.

I have with me two special guests who are joining me.

I have Maya.

Go ahead and say hi to the people.

Maya.

Hi.

And then we have the legendary steel welcher.

Hello.

And so this is a fresh take, a fresh reaction just coming off of Ragbrae here.

We kind of want to do a little bit of a recap here of some of the towns here we had today.

We started with when we left.

So we left.

Oh, how do you say the name?

Oliwen.

Oh, wine.

Oh, wine.

Olwein.

And then our first pass through town was Stanley, Aurora, then Lamont.

We went to Dundee, then the Edgewood.

We went from Edgewood to Garber, and then Gutenberg is where we ended up.

We're excited to be here.

We're relieved, I think, to be here after this week we had.

Today was a really beautiful bike ride.

It's actually one of my favorite parts of Iowa to bike in.

It's.

It.

It almost reminds me a little bit of if I was biking through Hawaii.

It's so beautiful, but without the ocean far off in the distance.

I really enjoy this part of the state just because you have.

Well, you have some of the farmland built on these hills, but then all around it, you have this very, very extreme hills with trees around and very majestic views that just go on and on.

It's just.

And then through those majestic, beautiful hills, you have these roads that weave through that.

We got the bike on today, but it was no joke.

They were no joke hills.

There were some pretty big ascents.

We had some pretty big drops, too.

We saw some injuries took place here with some rumbles, some.

Some of the.

The things that help slow cars down.

I think there was an accident on one of those because I think the.

The woman was going too fast.

Coming down.

But you know that that sometimes happens out here.

Overall, a great day.

We got to dip our tires in the Mississippi river when we got into town here at Gutenberg.

It's big tradition on Ragbrae where at the start of Ragbrai, we dipped our tires into.

Actually, they had our back tire into the.

The Missouri River.

Now the Missouri river is right next to Orange City where we started a week.

So actually brought some of that Missouri river water and put it in the canals of the Orange City park where we could dip in.

But the Mississippi.

So the end town always ends up on the Mississippi River.

Fun fact for you all.

Iowa is the only state that has rivers as boundaries on each side.

Kind of cool little fun fact for you.

It's.

It's.

What's that?

Go ahead and say that.

Go ahead and say that.

Still, like ancient Mesopotamia and Iraq with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, we are the cradle of civilization.

Thank you.

Still, we appreciate that little tidbit fact here.

Very knowledgeable.

What was that?

Very knowledgeable.

It's very knowledgeable.

I can always count on steel wheelchair to have these little fun tidbits that kind of slip into the conversation.

So what we're going to do is we just want a fresh take here on kind of reaction here.

I do have Maya.

Once again, I have steel here.

Let's start with Maya.

Now, Maya, you've had a great week of writing here.

How are you feeling?

Your fresh take after finishing ragbrai52?

I'm chilling.

Are you feeling proud of yourself?

Are you.

Do you feel accomplished?

Can you talk a little bit more about that, Maya?

I kind of feel numb right now.

Why do you feel numb?

I don't know.

Yeah, she's kind of tired.

Kind of wore out here from the week.

It's been kind of a tiring week here.

We had to fight some rain today, which was kind of a surprise.

Little, little treat here.

Are you proud of yourself from accomplishing the week?

Yes.

And still, go ahead.

Once you talk about your reaction because you're a veteran to Ragbrai, go ahead and talk about.

How are you feeling after coming off of Ragbrai?

Well, today was my favorite type of riding weather and we had, I guess, two days of kind of overcast weather where there's just not a bunch of sun beating on you all day.

And it's cooling me down and I can just keep going at a rapid pace and it feels really good.

Don't have to worry as much about sunburn.

Still have to wear sunscreen.

But it's not sweating off like it might otherwise.

Got a little bit of rain today, but that was all right too.

It just cooled us off.

So keep a good pace throughout.

And there's always a rush at the end to get to the the camp so that everyone can shower off and get everything loaded up.

So I didn't linger too long in towns, but it felt good.

A couple things about Ragbrai that I liked this time around is I brought a different bike, my 88 Schwinn Voyager, and that rode really well.

I was worried about it being sluggish or too heavy, but it just really gained inertia and rolled really well.

And I felt like I was speeding around.

And I had nice gears for the hills on today, so some folks had to walk, which is totally okay.

But I felt like I was keeping a good cadence throughout.

Didn't have to struggle.

Didn't have to make any bad shifts or have a chain fall off or anything.

So I was really impressed by the bike.

Also impressed by my packing system and my tent system and just how everything was organized.

Sometimes you have to play with that a while to figure out something that works well for you.

But I like the system I have now.

And you've had a lot of experience over the years, obviously through trying to perfect a system that works well for you, kind of refining that system.

What works and what doesn't work.

Did you have to get any of your rain gear out during the day?

I did not pack my raincoat, so.

So you just let the rain fly on you?

Yeah, that's right.

I have these really tall socks that I like to wear, keep the sun off me, and that probably kept me warm.

I have a base layer under my bibs between my jerseys.

So they say that wicks moisture keeps you cool.

They also say it keeps you warm.

So I don't know, but I think that helps as well.

Maya, did you get cold at all when you were out on a ride?

No.

Did you break out your rain jacket at all?

No.

What was your favorite part of the day, would you say?

The view, Seeing the cute little Amish kids.

We did see a lot of Amish community.

We saw a lot of Amish families today out on the side for miles and miles.

A lot of homes that were had the Amish families, they were very excited to see us.

Very friendly, very welcoming.

I actually pulled over at one point and picked up some delicious chocolate chip cookies that were made by an Amish family.

And they just.

I heard the father telling some of us riders that his daughter said she's never seen so many bicyclists in her life and.

And that it was just a very exciting day for her.

So the family was just as excited.

All of the Amish families out here were just so welcoming and just so kind and had different things for us to drink, different things for us to eat.

And so that was.

That kind of makes my day when I see not just families who are Amish, but anyone who's so excited to see us out here.

I think my favorite part was coming into town.

I got to ring my bell and I got to wave to people.

We actually had the.

The Air Force here who actually were standing, standing, standing kind of to the side and cheering us on as we came in, right before we went down, before we descended down by the river.

And that kind of felt good knowing that, hey, they were excited for us, knowing that we were finishing our ride.

They were just cheering us on.

And then I got to actually go and see them.

I snuck down, right?

They do a two by two where.

That's kind of cool.

Where they ride next to each other.

The whole Air Force team, the riding team rides in a kind of in like a double line down to the dip site.

Super cool too.

So it's like people who are in the Air Force or families or people associated with the Air Force and the Air Force.

What you have to know is the Air Force is kind of like the.

They call them like the angels of the road out here.

Like, if you're going to get a flat tire, guaranteed you're gonna have someone who's tied in with the Air Force is gonna stop and ask you if you need help changing your tire.

Or they won't even ask.

They'll stop and they will start helping you.

Or if you get into an accident, they'll help.

They're just here just to kind of just to be helpful.

And we appreciate them being out here along with everyone else.

It's kind of part of the community.

What was your ultimately your favorite part of the day here still?

I think it was a fun ride just with the hills and the rollers and the weather and everything.

I played some jazz music and some Beethoven and there were a lot of compliments about that.

Helping them change pace a little bit.

Saw some cool bicycles.

I agree with Maya that the Amish kids were cute.

All lined up and wave at them, say good morning.

They would reply back.

And they were just happy to be there.

And also saw this really cool white lutheran church about 10 miles outside of Gutenberg.

And it was so like majestic and picturesque.

As you turn a corner and roll up a hill, it's just there, old white church with beautiful green roof and steeple.

An old seemingly like brass cross on the top of the steeple.

And it's just really great looking, just fit in so well.

So I went inside of there and it's not an active church.

Historic Preservation Society was there and they were maintaining it and having a little fundraiser to raise funds for it.

It's just a great building with old stained glass and all that good stuff.

And those services were all in Germany when it was open.

But they added a.

An annex and a front door area to it.

So the sign on it is German.

So forgive me, but it's basically English, even Gelish Lutheran Emmanuel's Church with a K. So it's really fun to see that kind of building still being preserved.

Woodbury County, Sioux City has some old buildings too, even going back that far, but a lot of them have been demolished or burnt down over time.

And they said there was a whole town next to this church just down the road.

But due to flooding, the government basically bought that town up and everyone moved back to Gutenberg.

So not an active church, but still a really cool structure and testament to that time.

And think a lot about how there are all these German descendants.

I'm German stock.

And they were just all speaking German.

Even the Amish speak a form of German.

And you think about modern day how some people are speaking language from the country and that they immigrated from.

And we had World War I happen.

So German wasn't very popular anymore.

But up until then, everyone's just kind of speaking the language they spoke.

Until English became much more encouraged.

We'll say excellent.

And you would have never gotten to see that had you not been in Ragbrae driving, driving and coming across that church.

So I do want to thank Maya and I want to thank Steel here.

I know we're all three of us are very tired, but we're also energized because of what a wonderful week it was.

Just, just with the community, with.

With exploring Iowa and just getting, getting to be together here as a pretty special day.

So if you're listening and you're thinking about doing something big like this, if it's scary or if it's unknown, we encourage you to give it a try.

We encourage you to check out Ragbryan, maybe even consider that even if you're somewhere in the world, nowhere near Iowa.

Consider it.

We have people from all over the world here traveling to Iowa to do this.

So we want to encourage you to check it out.

Or just to get out there on a bicycle and do some exploring, make some memories.

Memories are things that can fuel our souls.

So go out, explore, Be yourself.

Get outside, get funky.

Bye now.

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