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[OM] Tour de Iowa XXXI

Subject: [OM] Tour de Iowa XXXI
From: AG Schnozz <agschnozz@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 15:52:37 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings from the 31 annual Tour de Iowa.

Also known as RAGBRAI.  This two-wheeled refugee camp is also
known as a 450 mile long beer bash.  Unlike the OTHER, less
famous bike tour going on right now, this stage event is, well,
slightly more participitory.  Definitely a bit more smelly by
day three.  But no less important to the economy.

I took some pictures of the arriving masses. There are somewhere
around 10,000 bicyclists starting this one this year and a few
thousand "extra" unregisterd riders day-tripping.  Every spot
flat enough to contain a tent or camper is occupied by one.  A
rather large collection of every immaginable type of bicycle
too.

Unfortunately, after tonight, my active involvement in it will
have ceased.  Didn't get to ride this year, just doing some work
for my employer.

Quite a collection of dillapidated school busses painted in
bright neon colours and identified as, well, ok, most of the
names I really can't type without risking sensorship.  Walt
would be able to type them out, but I figure your imaginations
will suffice--and be accurate.

The masses are gathering, so everybody is still fresh and
beautiful.  Ok, a few are still fresh and beautiful.  Most won't
make GQ or the cover of the B**b magazines.

What's interesting is that this rolling humanitarian crisis
inundates the larger towns of Iowa by swelling the population
from a few hundred people to 10000-20000 people.  Does tend to
stress the local water/sewer supply...

Anyway, back to work.

AG-Schnozz

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