SPRINT SELZER BICYCLE CLUB

January 1, 2010 to the Present:

RAGBRAI hasn’t ended in Dubuque since RAGBRAI XXI and 1983 (does anyone remember “continuous deadly lightning”?), so a Sioux City-Dubuque route might be a possibility if you’re interested in entering the “guess the route” contest. Nineteen eighty-three also had those starting and ending towns, with overnights in Sheldon, Emmetsburg, Clarion, Osage, Decorah and Manchester. My own prediction at the moment (subject to change) would be for overnights in Storm Lake, Ft. Dodge, Hampton, Charles City, Oelwein and Cascade.

Ride on!

Mr. Bill

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Oops! Wrong decade. I meant 1993.

Mr. Bill

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I remember continuous deadly lightning. I remember consuming large screwdrivers in Dyersville waiting out the CDL. It is all kind of a blur after that...

Good times!
Lisa Flaherty

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Curiously, both 1983 and 1993 ended in Dubuque, along with 1974. Nineteen eighty-three was a landmark Sprint year, the largest group we ever had, with more than 110 of us. There were no Budget trucks or cell phones, and something like 11 vehicles of various sorts—vans, trailers, campers, etc. No one had yet thought of arranging campsites in advance. The drivers would try to stay together until they arrived at the overnight town, then a couple of them would scout for a suitable place to camp and ask permission. Once camp was set up, someone would go out to the route and put up a few signs, and someone else would go back two or three towns to try to find Sprinters to spread the word about where we were camped. Today it may still seem like herding cats, but we’ve come a long way.

On Thursday night in 1983 we stayed in a city park in Grundy Center, where there was a tremendous thunderstorm that forced most of us out of our tents into a park shelter we shared with Team Hacky, who had rinsed out and filled a trash barrel with everclear Kool-Aid punch for a kind of all-night rave party. The next morning everything was soaking wet and so heavy that our largest trailer broke an axle on the way to Manchester, the Friday overnight town Chris mentions. We swore the next year we would have one main baggage vehicle, and that’s how the Budget trucks evolved.

Ride on!

Mr. Bill

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What year was it when people got sick? I was driving our yellow Subaru with 2 little kids in it and was driving the bicycle route....came across a Ragbraier who was thumbing a ride so I stopped. He said he was too sick to ride....I thought he had partied too much the night before so I put his bike on the back and he climbed in the front seat. Pretty soon he rolled down his window, hung his head out and puked whilst I was driving. The vomit stuck to the side windows and side of the car and my kids were staring at it as it splattered against their window. They didn't realize what it was. I felt so sorry for him and just kept driving....come to find out he was a rookie Sprinter.... of Hal and Shirley's, I think.....I took him to camp.....I think he went home mid week. There were a number of "possible food/water poisoning casualties" that week.....didn't a Sprinter or 2 end up in the hospital? We never could get the vomit entirely removed from the side and windows of the passenger side of our Subaru....just part of the experience, I guess.

ursula h. williams

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The year of “RAGBRAI disease” was 1985 (the longest ride ever, although not a difficult route), and the illness struck on Friday, when we stayed in Monticello. It was a kind of stomach flu, with the typical nausea, cramps, vomiting and diarrhea—not anyone’s idea of fun on a bike ride. It also struck quite suddenly, with a few people coming down with it in the afternoon but most in the evening. Sprinters weren’t the only group affected; the small hospital in Monticello was full of riders who seemed to have the same thing. The worst of them were severely dehydrated and had to be kept overnight. There was some attempt to find a common cause, such as food or water that all the victims had shared, but in the end no one could figure out why it happened. I believe about a dozen Sprinters were affected. By Saturday everyone was much better, although a number of people sagged the last day into Clinton.

Mr. Bill

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I don't know the year exactly but many, many of us were sick Friday nite/Sat in Montecello (where we stayed at a school yard as I recall), where some of us, including I, went to the hospital. We ended the ride Sat at the Two by Four, I think--- where I finally started to come back to consciousness...
The group photo taken there reflected the experience-- lots of de-engergized, pasty-faced, and actually sober Sprinters!

Dawn Bentley <

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1983 was hot and dry, 1993 was the flood year.I'm sure that Steve and Doug ducked into a tavern both years.

Terry Klein

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The year of vomiting and hospital stays was 1985, my first year on RAGBRAI. I still have the scarf with the map on it I bought that year. I also remember Sprint handing my bike off the truck the first day and saying "whose piece of shit bike is this?" (and yes, sprint, you really did say shit) I was riding an 85 pound girl's bike with two sets of brakes. It was Susie Watson's first year as well. I also remember getting on the bus and wondering if the group was going to be any fun. I was sitting behind Jamie! I watched him take out his wonderful box, and the question was answered shortly thereafter. The vomiting started in Waterloo, and for some, didn't end til Clinton, at the 2 x 4. It was the year that Sekine's wife ( the queen of darkness as she was later to be known) picked me up in a Budget truck somewhere along the road about 20 miles out of Waterloo and deposited me under a tree in Monticello. I had been sick all day, but didn't go to the hospital. I woke up and everybody was gone. Then Tom and Moe arrived and told me they moved camp and took me to the junior high where camp had moved. It was the next day as those of us who were able rode slowly to CLinton. Moe and I cemented our friendship with footrubs in a bar somewhere in between Monticello and Clinton. A good friend from Iowa City picked me up in Clinton and when I told her of leg cramps, vomiting and diarhhea, hospitalization for several in the group, and laughing uncontrollably all week, and saying it was the best vacation with the silliest people I'd ever met and was going again the next year, she wondered if she should commit me. She didn't, and I returned for many years. It was also the year I met Bentley in the showers on the first night, and was subjected to Danny Dunn in a tent next to me. I thought someone had stayed up all night zipping and unzipping their tent. I mentioned it the next morning and someone showed me which tent belonged to which Dunn and made sure I camped far away from any of them (except Moe, of course, who doesn't snore) And don't get me started on sleeping in the Budget truck with 2 Dunns in Belle Plaine (and several others) during a fierce storm a year or two later. I don't know which made more noise---the storm or the Dunn boys making the walls of the truck move!

Thanks for the flashback, it was great on this frigid night. Just talked to Tom and Moe tonight and Tom is doing pretty well. (Hope you don't mind the report, Tommy Dean) He's been thru 2 rounds of chemo, the second rougher than the first, but his stomach isn't so queasy this week and he's having some relief from the awful pain. They even had an outing with Ann to the Botanical Center on Sunday. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Nancy B, a lost Sprinter

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Nancy - A Sprinter is never lost - But sometimes they do take the long way back to camp!
I'll keep an eye open for you.

Doc

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Dan Dunn-----1st Ragbrai was 1981 (29 times) my original contact was Sekine, Tom and Moe.

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QLR--another from the Class of 1981. You, Terri Jane and Floyd should/have to get credit for me!

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First was SAGBRAI. Ran into TK and Sprint. I was with George Gruenther. Rennie Leudens and RonZillman were with TK in a little trailer. First RAGBRAI we decided to make Sprint famous. We rode along doing good deeds for folks and telling them that we traveled the world on bike rides. We were sponsored by a rich guy who was a famous bicycle downhill racer. (Sprint). We planted stories about Sprint, asked folks if they had seen him, and otherwise did what we could to make sure hundreds had heard the name. My best memories are that toward the end of the week Sprint got an ovation riding into one of the towns and later that night he was ushered to the front of the shower line like a real celebrity - that was the start of all the following insanity. Think it was the next year that we started with the home made shirts and I dragged Sekine's sorry butt along. I'm a bit sketchy on the details after all these years of wasteful living but I'm sure the historians out there can help.

Steve (flats)

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My first (of 31) RAGBRAI was 1978. I showed up in Sioux City on Sunday morning, knowing little about how the ride worked. After about 90 minutes I met Jamie Cowles on the road; it was his first ride as well. We started hanging out together. Along the way we would run into Sprinters (there were fewer than 20 then) in the bars. Among them was Betsy Jones (she has been married several times; I believe she went by Wiseman at that time) from Burlington, whom Jamie knew from high school. She had just met Chuck Hunter, an early Sprinter she later married and divorced. Everyone camped in tent city at that time, and we also camped near the Sprint group the first night in Storm Lake. We were not official members of the club, more hangers-on. The next year we came again, and this time we were invited to camp with the club if we paid our share for the gas and the beer. The rest is history, as they say. There’s a lot more to the story (isn’t there always), but that’s the brief version.

Over the years I suppose I’ve brought nine or ten rookies. The most notable were probably Mike and Jon Jensen, now from Seattle and Portland, who rode for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, and Paul and Connie Edwards, who will be back with us again this year. And of course extremely important for me is my wife Cristina.

Ride on!

Mr. Bill

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Bob Brooks-------1st RAGBRAI was 1982 (26 times). My contact was Doll. I had to or she wouldn't marry me;-)

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Steve, how quick the memories fade, Your first year was Sagbrai when you ran into TJ a TM. My first year was the next when Dan Shakespeare and I took a church bus to the ride. We were going to spend the week camping in church basements. As luck would have it when we got to the church, Paulette, you and some other guy from Lacrosse pulled up and said we should throw in with you as you would be more fun. What an understatement. The guy with you didn't like Ragbrai, too many people, (less that 2,000) and went home mid week. At the end of the ride you said "Lets do this every year till we die." Side note, we met Shenandoah that week, she was an unattached 15 year old with great legs.
The next year Dan and I brought Krummy, Sam, the future Mrs. Krummy and Sandy, the future Mrs. Greg Fetter, and you brought Sekine and that's the year the club started. TJ and TM brought Floyd that year and camped with us a few nights.. My nickname came about because there were three Steves. I was riding a Schwinn Sprint and Sekine was riding a Sekine, We tried to come up with a name for Carlson. He had 3 or 4 flats before we left town Sunday morning and we tried to call him Flats but it never caught on.
The rumor part was all true, The reason we formed a club was there was a rumor going around Ragbrai that in the future only official clubs were going to be allowed to go in the future. We saw a sign up sheet and we decided that we had to be official. I think Krummy came up with the name on the spot. It was The Sprint Selzer Bike Club because it was my van that we were using. It should have been The Krummy Bike club because he was the main promoter. The town we rode through was Ladora. I had stopped to visit a gas station loo and rode in a bit late, as I pulled up Krummy shouted "Here comes Sprint himself" And a big roar went up from Ragbraiers on both sides of the street. There was a crew from Iowa Public TV getting in their car to leave but stopped to see what the commotion was all about and took their cameras out and interviewed us. I would love to see that video again.
The people that I brought in included Jim Hammer, Gerald Matthess, Lonnie Butler, Margo, Jack and Pat Flaherty,Scott and Ursula. The only rule that we had was you could bring someone along if you were really friends with them, No people that just were looking for I ride. I think that Philosophy has served us well, look at all the great people that have been and are now Sprinters. You make me proud,

Sprint

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Sprint: You've brought tears to my eyes!! What a wonderful memory. Reading all these stories of past, is like listening to a grandfather, give the family history! Hopefully these will all be archived somewhere! I think my first year with Team Sprint was 1992; after listening to Barb and Doc, for years, come home from Ragbrai with such unbelievably funny stories and experiences, that I made it my goal to do before I turned 40. I've been back almost every year since, and have made some wonderful friendships! The down side is; my memory is not as slick as Sprint or Doc & Danny Dunn's so I can't remember one town from the next and what happened in 1999 vs. 2009. Thankfully I have pictures to help. I was Barb and Doc's rooky in 1992; and we've since added my husband T-man, our brother A-Bill, and surrogate brother and sister from MSP - Candy and Trapper. (Who all better plan on being at Ragbria this year!) My goal this year is to try to ride part of iarbgar this year , with Barb and Doc, to make up for missing last year! Can't wait to see 'ya'll'

from Chilly Florida;
Pat McNeal

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OMG! Can't believe you want to take on the family tree. It's such a great idea, but a big project to do. I can't think of a better person to do it though.
I started on RAGBRAI VIII (1980) This year will be my 30th RAGBRAI, as we missed 1993 when we went to the Tour De France Came with Moe and Tom, and we were all brought in by Sekine.
The rest probably won't help you much, but I am hopeful the rookies I brought are still on the list and can fill in the blanks. If they don't, let me know, and I will dig out my old diaries and figure out the years they started.
My rookies have been: Dan Dunn 1981 (although Moe was probably the "real" "bringer" to the club for Dan. My husband Doc 1982, this year being his 28th RAGBRAI. My brother Bill (aka A-Bill) my sister Pat, (then she brought her husband, T-Man), David Waters, Steve Baird, Michael Wayne, and Pete Kerwin (2009). I may think of a few others, but this will help get you started. Again, if any of these people don't respond, let me know, and I'll go "diary diving".
I LOVE that you're doing this. Thank-you so much. If I can be of any other help, let me know.

...Also, any of the stories that were sent of the year some of us got sick. I'll NEVER forget that year. I was in my tent using garbage bags for "both ends" all at the same time. (TMI) It was awful! I was told it was bad water, but that was never confirmed. I believe Susie Watson went to the hospital from our group. Maybe even a few more.
I know this is a huge request, but I would greatly appreciate it. Since I have the same genes as my sister........ my memory is worthless.

Ciao

Barbara

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OK, here is my story. After a couple of years of hearing Doc & Barb's tales of hills. headwinds, heat and other hardships including endless drinking in bars, I persuaded my exwife that I only wanted to do it once. That was in 2000, I will be doing my 10th this year.
I became Jeff Piersol's rookie for my first Team Sprint exposure. I drafted Jeff the whole way and actually found out that I could ride better than I thought. I saw Mr Porkchop, Tom's Tender Turkey Loins, ate rubarb pie and found Sprint's campsite everyday. One morning I was awakened by distant thunder and after the storm we headed to Bondurain. We were not long on the road when three lightning bolts struck directly in front of us. We were nowhere near any place to take shelter and as we approached civilization it started to hail. We spotted an open garage and took shelter there. Shortly, the owner came out the door and was surprised to see a couple strangers with bicycles in his garage We said "We are with RAGBRAI", That was the magic password because he said ," That is OK, I am leaving to take my daughter to school,just close the door when you leave". That was my first experience of many to Iowa hospitality. But I have to share an experience I had on the way to Coon Rapids or somewhere similiar. After watching a storm form out in the distance to my left for a number of miles, a colision course was evident. I spotted a farm with a garage ahead at the top of the next hill and as I approached it seems other riders had the same idea. I took shelter there with a few other riders. Before long the garage was packed with riders and bicycles. The owner came out of the house next door and said " I am in the house doing some remodeling but you are welcome and here is a cooler with beer. We can party all night". Here was a guy who was working in his house unaware that his garage was being taken over by strange cyclists and he welcomes us and offers overnight accomadations,food, beer and a party. Now that is hospitality. I could go on and on but I will not. Every year there are new stories. I guess what I have learned is tht he ride is why we are there but it is the people that make it the spiritual journey of a lifetime every year.
Now Team Sprint seems like a family that I meet for a reunion every year. I look forward to the euphoria of being there at Mackie's bar to gather for the ride to the start. Through the years I have seen and experienced sights and circumstances that have been extraordinary. I will ride
RAGBRAI with Team Sprint as long as they will let me or until I die.
See all you beautiful people soon,

David Waters

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You know, Hal Lueder, many years ago had a family tree of who brought who. I remember seeing it in his basement on a fall ride about 20 years ago. I wonder if he still has it.

Here's my info. Ist ride was 1985. I remember laughing so hard while riding that my quad muscles seized up. Can't remember how many rides I did, more than 10 I think. I also did several IABGARS, the most memorable was the one where Danny and Doc ate something funny on the way to Panora. And who can forget the major handful ride with Moe, Tom, Dawn, Danny and Ron Chappell? I came to the club through Sylvia Lewis, Jan Brown and Sharon Mellon. Sherri Seggerman was my rooky, and she did several rides. (She wore a headscarf rather than a helmet) Sherri's old International went on RAGBRAI before she did and it barely survived soggy Monday from the weight of wet gear.

I don't know if mooning is still such a Sprint tradition, but we did it so often that I can still recognize a lot of folks by their bare fannies. There's a great team photo at the end of the ride in a bar in Muscatine with a huge group of Sprinters mooning from the upstairs windows of the bar. (1980's) I can still identify everyone from behind. Seems like a lot of folks are at their computers on this frigid morning, sharing warm memories of years past. What a great way to spend a cold Saturday morning. I have been giggling and snorting so much that my dog thinks there's something wrong with me. She's probably right.

Nancy Baumgartner

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Floyd’s Sister, here. My first experience with Team Sprint was 1984. I was med-a-vaced back to the states from Peace Corps in Honduras and it happened to be during RAGBRAI. You all were in Ottumwa for the overnight (the talk was all about somebody dying in the river the night before) and Floyd came to Fairfield, loaded up me and my bike and made me ride from Ottumwa to Fairfield (the ride continued to Mt. Pleasant). I hadn’t been on my bike for two years!1 Then in 1985 I finished Peace Corps and a long backpack trip home to arrive in Fairfield 2 weeks before RAGBRAI, and again Floyd said get your bike and let’s go!! You all are telling great stories of 1985 but I don’t remember much about that year at all. I was scared stiff. I don’t think I talked to more than 10 people. I could never decide what to say when some one asked “Where you from?” (Honduras, Fairfield, Iowa City??) and everyone along the ride kept asking me the same question, over and over!!! After my first day of riding my hands were so sore, Bentley took me to RAGBRAI-town and had me buy a pair of riding gloves, what a saving grace, thanks Dawn. It all must not have been too bad because I’ve done a few in my day and introduce you to Kent and my niece Lisa.

Kathy Peck

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My name is marnie scott..and i was brought into this team by the cermaks. My brother bj bengard was dating becky and called to tell me he was dating this girl who's family does ragbrai....i was like MARRY HER!!!! my old team had faded out, and i missed having a team. (after riding one year solo...i was really missing a team). so, thanks to my brothers sparkling ways...i joined team sprint. i brought my husband tj in 08-09. i love reading the stories everyone has..i feel like i am reading someones journal. see you all this summer!

Marnie Scott

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For what it’s worth, the year of the “two-story group moon” at the end of the ride was 1986, and yes, we ended in Muscatine. That year was memorable for me because I had just come back from 11 months of riding almost 15,000 miles in Europe. In a way RAGBRAI was a little anticlimactic, but I was in shape to do about anything I wanted. So one day I got up and was on the road by 5:45 drafting with the really early birds who were fast riders. I stopped only once for breakfast and got into the ending town at 8:15 in the morning, hardly the very first rider but probably in the first 50 or 60. Two days later I vowed to stay with the Long Riders all day. I discovered this was even more challenging. I recall counting the time from when someone said, “well, do you think we should have one last pitcher?” to the time we actually left; it was an hour and 15 minutes. I came in just after dark with a fair-sized group, but I just couldn’t hang back long enough to finish with Doc Van Winkle and Jan Brown.

There is a very long list of famous RAGBRAI bars that we should compile. Just for a start, consider some of them (often I only remember the name of the town rather than the bar).

The Two-by-Four in Clinton
Willey
Packwood
Breda
Wink’s in West Liberty
Four Corners Tap in rural Lockridge
Elks Club in Glenwood
Rutland (the bar had no name)
Red Bull Lounge in Corning
The bar in Knoxville where beer slides were born
Rocket Tavern in Portsmouth (off the route where we had beer slides and “multi-generational RAGBRAI” in 2008)
The bar in Dyersville on the Saturday with “continuous deadly lightning”
The bar at the bottom of the big hill in Volga

And of course Union Station in Cedar Rapids has special meaning for Sprinters.

There are many more; feel free to add your own.

Ride on!

Mr. Bill

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Wow, great stories.

My version is a little fuzzy. One thing I'll add about the 3 steves in the begining is that Steve Carlson was riding a motobacon bicycle and we didn't think that was a name that rolled off your tongue so we called him Carlson or Flats or the Mechanic.

Carlson told me about this bike ride and I thought it sounded like fun but I didn't even own a bike then. It took 2 unemployment checks (129$) to buy a brand new sekine bicycle about 1 week before the ride. We did go on one training ride, a total of 10 miles. 5 miles to the bar and 5 miles back. We were much younger then.

And Sprint, it should never have been called the Krummy club. He was our PR guy, not the true leader. You have always been our leader, even from behind. Sprint was known as that famous downhill racer. Pedal, Pedal, glide.

I have so many lost memories of RAGBRAI and IARBGAR, you guys are helping me bring back great ones.

Here's a few - boxheads, lawnmower man, Ffart boys (If you're not having fun, lower your standards) playing dice in the middle of the highway, grain alcohol, Marleen, Denny (barefoot), Hamer, Joe (the original sag driver, thanks for taking care of him Moe), the coors driver who got fired, 2 ex wives, Jamie, spring meetings, halloween parties, cornfields, watertowers and town things, cold showers from hydrants, hackeysackers, rubber tits, Peggy, Lineotronics, Marietta for making our guy happy, many moons, group photos, Sambrero, storms, Bill Pierce weather reports and historical data, the Dunns, tents getting zip tied shut in the middle of the night, bicycles in basketball hoops, the red bull, 2am and 60 miles to go, bowling, jack daniels, marijuana, beer, (hence my fuzzy memory), making Ron C drive because he was too drunk to ride a bike, Mt Hammel, the Old farmhouse, the broken axel on the trailer, Budget, first bar on the right unless its on the left, waking up bar owners, Dan Shakespear's ability to get us showers and breakfast, helping the restaurants by clearing tables and cooking (they didn't expect so many people), marine guy at 2am, party tent, sprint's laugh, Flloyd, Pejo's gas, Dale and her antics, horse trailers, fireworks at 1am, Leo, Fr Jack, Gerald, Fairfax, You can't beat Bob's Meat, dress blues, beer slides, drinking form the ducks butt, kybo, Sprint in jail, Stu and his tatoo, Jan Brown's food in her bike bag, Sarah and Doc's cadillac rides, the 2x4, newsletters, budget sag wagons, soggy monday, hot females, Kathy M, band aids, thin sliced virginia ham, Krummy's original newsletters, pork chops, Doll, star hotel, sterzings, sherry, spoke ferries, bricks, special ribbons for special people, fall rides, long riders, nancy b getting her hair wet in the hot tub, Fart parties, 4 corners,...............-I could go on and on, but I'm sure this will bring back some memories for some of you. Everything here has a story and it has been a great ride through the years.

Pejo

Shirley Lueder had composed an early tree (now old growth) many years ago. Hopefully she still has it.

It seems like the roots come from sprint and carlson. Ragbrai 4 actually had the 9 of us, Sam, Sandy, Shakespeare, Krummy, Sprint, Pejo, Carlson, Terri K, and Sekine. Our first year of Semi Organization thanks to Sam and Sandy's efforts. They even cooked for us!

Sekine

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Sprinter Dave Gronert replied to my message about famous RAGBRAI bars. He
says his Blackberry makes it difficult to reply to the entire list, so I am
forwarding this on his behalf.

The plastic swan (indeed it was a swan and not a duck) was carried around
for a couple of years by a team whose name now escapes me. It was hollow
and someone had drilled a hole and fitted a plastic tube from where the rear
orifice would have been. The swan held about a pitcher of beer, and they
would pass it around like a beer bong. Somewhere there is a picture of
myself drinking from it in the nameless bar in Rutland in 1987. Rutland was
a "biker town" (as in Harley Davidson) northwest of Ft. Dodge. The real
tavern (such as it was) in town was in the middle of renovations, but the
owner found an unfinished garage a couple of blocks away and managed to get
his liquor license transferred there for the day. The place was hastily and
rather crudely turned into a bar, which didn't seem to bother RAGBRAI riders
in the least. I have no idea what had gone on there earlier, but one of the
walls was riddled with bullet holes. Outside was a roped-off beer garden
and a cattle watering tank. A rectangle of two-by-eights was filled with
sand and hosed down to serve as a mud wrestling pit. Free beer was offered
to the winners, and the female RAGBRAI riders proved in most cases more fit
than the local Harley riders. When the mud wrestling ended, the wet t-shirt
contest began.

Dave is right about the bar in Breda being named Zeke's Place. There are
actually two bars in that town of less than 500 people. Those folks in
Carroll County know how to have fun. RAGBRAI has been there twice, the
first time in 1988, which would have been the year he remembers the swan.

Ah, the memories!

Mr. Bill

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Why did those FART parties ever stop?????OMG.....I've been laughing all thru your Email.....

Scott says we all kept the same plastic beer cup all week (well, for several days at least) back in the early days....we'd write our initials on them in black magic marker and reused them every day....and the same tapper on the keg w/o sanitizing it every night, right? After the "bad water, food poisening scare", I think we decided to buy plenty of cups the rest of the week and subsequent years. Was there anyone that got sick not drinking keg beer at camp? No matter what, I'm glad we still invest in plenty of cups every year and don't use a unsanitized tapper that's been sittin' in the truck all week.
Gosh, sometimes we go for weeks w/o any sprint talk. What a flurry we've had!!!! By the way, don't forget that our Sprint winter mtg/Bob Brooks engagement party is Saturday, Jan. 30 down here in Amana......save the date..... and final information will follow next week or so.

Ursula

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Ursula, one of the properties of beer is that it harbors no known human
pathogens (harmful microorganisms). Beer can taste disgusting if it spoils,
but it can't really make you sick (well, as long as you don't get sick from
overconsumption). During the Middle Ages low alcohol beer was the regular
beverage of both adults and children because people knew that contaminated
drinking water was often a potential source of disease.

Anyway, it's extremely unlikely that beer was the source of "RAGBRAI
disease" in 1985. I admit I'm glad to have a fresh, clean cup each night in
camp, however.

As the keeper of our keg dispensing system, I thoroughly clean the taps each
year when I return home from the ride. After a week in the heat, they are a
little on the funky side, but not really disgusting. I've seen far worse
conditions in the rented taps from some liquor stores, unfortunately,
including those from "Dirty John's" in Iowa City, which sometimes lives up
to its name. As I said, the good news is that at least it can't make you
sick.

Ride on!

Mr. Bill

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Moe and I met Sekine in early 1979 and we became fast friends. He is responsible for bringing Barb McNeal, Moe and me into the club in 1980 (SSBC's 5th anniversary ride.)

Sekine was in the habit of carrying around this huge stack of photo's in a baggie and would show us the pics and tell us stories of the his friends that participated in this crazy sounding bike ride across Iowa. As you might imagine, many of the photo's were 'moon' shots, so eventhought Moe and I had never met Sekine's friends, we could recoginize their butts as well as we recoginize their faces.
In the winter of 80, Sekine invited us to join him in Mn. for what was to be the Spring Meeting that year. We went to an Iowa vs. Mn basketball game and then skiing the next day. We meet Jim Feurbach's, the Cermacks', Sprint, GT and the Flarity boys. That week-end and the fun we had sort of cemented our commitment to join the gourp and ride the following summer. On a very hot Sunday just prior to the beginning of RAGBRAI, Sekine finally took us (Barb, me and Moe) on a training ride to prepare us for the trip. If I recall correctly, we were all pretty hung over from the previous night's party, and after we passed the frist Iowa hog farm, Barb promptly got off her bike and puked in the ditch.
Sekine announced that we were officially ' trained' and ready for the ride, and we rode 3 more miles to the nearest bar. I doubt that any of us had more than 15 miles of training before that summer. Moe, Barb and I bitched our way across the state and before the week was out vowed to return.

Tom D Petet

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And let us not forget the Sombrero in Burlington - the end point for several rides and the training facility that many of us used to prepare for the grueling week of athleticism and consumption. Also, the bar in (?? Mt Union ??) where the guy from the beer truck supplied us and later lost his job. However, the Red Bull gets my vote. It was the start of that affiliation with the FAART boys, the birth of the boxheads, and a remarkable turning point where we learned that the objective was not to get into camp but to survive the ride to camp.

Steve Carlson

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Jim Hamer,Jim flat land grin Fuerbach,Danny I've been in that bar ,princess Barbara, and I rode 7 gigling days together 20 plus years ago. Tents...never been too good at that. Was in on the first beer slide in Knoxville, in the large back room of the VFW. Saw two guys slide a girl into a pyramid of PBR cans. When the storm "drove" us into Four Corners,we were way over the fire code, the only way you could get a beer, was to raise your glass, and someone with a pitcher would fill it. I do have a hazy memory of Panora. 1982 was my first year. I got into Independence at 1 o'clock on a century day. Sprint was the only person in camp. It was the only time I've seen him frown. "we don't do that." I've always tried, to not let him down again. I was brought by Barbara, Daniel E. Dunn, and the sweetest woman on the planet, Maureen.

Doc II

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Sekine, I don't think anything can knock the smile off of my face for at least a week. You are right there is at least one and probably several stories about every thing you mentioned. I hope that the Sprinters of today can look back after 35 years and have as many wonderful memories as we have now.

I want to add to my list, Lonnie brought Gary Thomsen and he brought Walter Peck (no relation) who went for a couple of years. The person we need to hear from is Jan Brown the original engine, her list must be a mile long. I don't remember where Jan came from.

Sprint

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WHile perusing Sekine's list, I noticed he forgot a very good prank of his. I think it occurred on the ride with an overnight stay at Sprint's sister's in Wahington where Sekine lashed someone's bike to the basketball hoop. It was also the ride where Carlson lost his wallet on the first or second day (not that losing his wallet distinguishes that ride from any other). Sekine found it but didn't tell Carlson. Sekine spent the rest of the week loaning Carlson his own money. Hope he charged interest.

Keep writing, I am loving this and saving all the emails.

Nancy B

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This has been an absolute riot! I LOVE reading all of these! I've been saving them so that I can show them to Patrick. His SSBC history goes back a lot further than mine (approximately 14-15 RAGBRAIs for him vs. 9-10 full/partial rides for me) and he is part of some great Sprinter Lore. I can still picture him standing outside the Sombrero telling his "Mo Mo" joke....

Has anyone mentioned the infamous SSBC bus trips to Iowa basketball games? We went to Madison 4 times, Illinois once, and Northwestern once. It was on the Sprint bus trip to Northwestern in '85 that Patrick proposed to me, and I became a Sprinter through marriage. Our 24th anniversary is March 1--I know that many of you celebrated with us on that day! Since the kids came along (and apparently, they kept coming along...we have 4 of them...), we've been on hiatus. Dylan came home from Korea July 25, 1996 (during RAGBRAI) and Kate was born July 25, 2000 (I believe that was during RAGBRAI as well).

My 1st RAGBRAI was 1986. We joined that year in Belle Plaine. The next day we were riding to Washington. We had only ridden 9 miles by noon. I was really nervous (rookie!) but no one else seemed the least bit concerned. We got to Washington at about 10:00 p.m. Pat decided to start knocking on doors to find someone that would let us shower. The first lady very reluctantly let us in ("Oh, my...I thought everyone was done by now!"). Her home was beautiful and her bathroom was worthy of House Beautiful. She was very gracious with us but as soon as we walked out the door, the door locked behind us, the lights went off, and the upstairs bathroom light went on...I'm sure she was fumigating it at 11:00 at night!

I'm sitting under a quilt made out of our old bicycling t-shirts. On my immediate left...Sprint to Knoxville '92...isn't this where the beers slides were born in the back of the VFW? We were there!

Lisa Flaherty

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Tonight as I watch 'The Simpsons' 25 Anniversary show I read team_sprint memory letters during the commercials. The nostalgia is overwhelming!! The Simpson's have nothing on RAGBRI or Team Sprint but I find a strange correlation between the two.
I have only ridden a few years but my brothers, Doc and Dewey, have been regulars. Being a runner I thought riding a bike was too easy and would ride when I couldn't run. The stories my brothers told I thought were too many and exaggerated and I tended not to believe. But after riding just 2 days in '07 I decided this was O.K. and as long as you would have me I would keep coming back. At least I was at the Rocket Bar in '08. It was great but what would have happened had there not been an accident. Keep training for '10 and maybe ride your bike some too!
Just remember this bitter winter when it's 100 in the shade in July...

Randy Van Winkle

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I don't know where Jan Brown came from either but I know she begat Brian Christiansen(on) who begat Chris (Hamilton-Kenney) Kaufman who begat Rev. Tom (Hamilton-Kenney) Hamilton who begat Mary, Katie, Julee, Joe Bolser, Katie Pacunis, Jeff Winans, Mac and Josh Cooper, Scott and Sandy Henley, Glenn and Lana Robyne, Jeannie Hamilton and my rookie this year, Karen Welsh. And maybe Trey McMahon and his brother by meeting them on the road and inviting them along? I'm sure Julee B. brought a friend but I can't remember for sure.

Anyone know if Trey rode anymore after his football accident in camp?

There are rumors in my family that my sister Mary and Joe B are bringing their son Rich and his son Calvin on Ragbrai 38 and maybe Katie B will make an appearance.?.?.?

Tom Hamilton

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Since I have been keeping a diary for many years, I decided this would be
a good time to dig out the old ones and reread my Ragbari memories.
Ragbrai III (1975) came through Mt. Pleasant and I rode my bike to the
route and watched the bikers go by. I ran into Steve Carlson (an Iowa
Wesleyan friend of Randy's) and a couple of his friends and they came to
our house to clean up. We went to Mt. Hamill for supper and they each
ordered a half chicken with all the trimmings, ate that, and ordered
another entire meal and ate that too. Randy and I were amazed and the
following year, I went on Ragbrai. I was in Ladora (is that the right
town?) and took pictures of the newly formed Sprint Selzer Bicycle Club in
their magic marker tee shirts.

When Randy, Hal and Shirley Lueder picked me up in Lansing in 1977, they
all decided to join the fun and they went on Ragbrai the following year.
We brought along lots of friends and family through the years--my sister
Sherry, Young Bob, Doc and Duane, Doll/Moffitt, Walter, my daughter Becky
and numerous friends of hers (Julie for one), BJ, Marnie, TJ, and various
others who only came for a few rides.

By my reckoning then, this whole branch of the family goes back to Steve
Carlson and Iowa Wesleyan. By the way, Steve--Dickie Labs went with us to
Mt. Hamill that night in 1975. Remember him?

In 1981 I wrote that the Cermak group, on their way to the ride and in
true SSBC fashion, left Mt. Pleasant at noon and arrived in Mo. Valley 8
hours later after 9 stops along the way. (BJ will tell you that we still
travel like that.) One night we had 22 people in Sprint's van on our way
to find food (and maybe beer?). Another time there were 40 of us in the
back of a Budget truck.

Reminiscing has been fun...

Jamie Cermak

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OTHER BARS: “ THE STAR “ and “ DENNY’S HOUSE/BAR IN MORSE”

Dan Dunn

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Are Fuzzy Memories the "Fuzzy Warm" kind or the "fuzzy blurry" kind?
I am of class of 1980 and it's the Cermak's fault.
I will expand when I have a full keyboard.
The more" blurry" the more I can expand!

Doc

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What a turd. I taught him everything he knew about riding slowly, stopping at the first bar on the right, and peeing off a bicycle and look what he went and did to me. AND he did the same thing just last week.

Steve Carlson

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My first Ragby was 1988 as Steve Rowley's rookie. That was mainly because he lived in California and I lived in Oregon; otherwise, Jamie would have claimed me. I think of them as my co-elders, in a distorted fashion.

Highlights for me were these:

It was my sister Betsy's rookie year, too.

Sylvia Lewis was my on-the-road trainer.

I stabbed Spuds McKenszie to death in Ida Grove, and again in Carroll. He was not seen the rest of the ride, and thus I felt I'd done a civic service while on vacation.

Dale and I smoked lots of cigarettes during each stop.

My old friend Sena was also a rookie, and we became Ragbrai man-and-wife the following year. Wasn't long after that that Sena disappeared for good.

Dale and I went to the 8-8-88 game at Wrigley Field, bought and sold tickets out front until we had two decent seats on the Cubs dugout and enough money left for beer up the wazoo, which was fortuitous because the rain started in the 4th inning and everyone stayed for nearly two hours until the umps called it a rainout. Thus it was not the first night game at Wrigley because it was called before 5 innings.

Sena and I were, if I remember correctly, named Co-Rookies-of-the-Year; yep, I'm pretty sure of that. Sena must have the trophy ...

Bob Saar

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OTHER BARS OF INTEREST----- 1) EAGLE’S CLUB IN KNOXVILLE 2) THE BAR IN DUNKERTON OFF THE ROUTE (BARB McNEAL WENT TO THE DARK SIDE.)

Dan Dunn

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As Mr. Bill has recounted earlier, he and I met on the first day of our first RAGBRAI in 1978. We both had gone with the Register independently and ended up hanging out and riding together. We hooked up with the Swine Cycle Club out of Clinton and ended the ride with them at the 2 X 4 Bar which was their sponsor. This was where we got our first view of the whole of Team Sprint. I wanted to ride with the Swines again in1979, but they had demobilized over the winter. That was when we contacted Betsy Jones Wiseman and enquired about going with her group from the year before. We got the OK and joined Team Sprint. That year I brought Steve Rowley, Tom Stone, Joyce Pilger, and Heidi Schweizer, all Burlinton High School Class of 1967. We considered Mr. Bill to be an honorary member of the class since he eventually knew the stories as well as we did. Steve is apparently responsible for bringing Bob Saar (BHS 1967) as well as his now-wife Johanna. Tom Stone (or as I prefer to call him, Pebbles) was the first Sprinter to arrive in an RV; I believe that was in 1983 and 1984. He is most important, however, for bringing Team Sprint's greatest recruiter--Jan Brown. There is no question that the team would not be what it is today without her many rookies . Sekine might remember the year since that was the year she stole the truck with all his gear still inside. I think that was the same year that the bikers ran amok in Elkader. RAGBRAI 1979 ended in Burlington at the Sombrero. The next day the Sprinters put on their dress blues and attended the wedding of Betsy Jones Wiseman and Chuck Hunter, a Sprinter she had met on the 1978 RAGBRAI. Now that's romantic.

In the 1980's, my rookies included Susie Watson, Dale Liebowitz, Michael Cecil, and my sister Anna Cowles. Susie and Michael were two of many victims of the RAGBRAI flu in 1985. Susie had to spend the night hooked up to an IV in the hospital in Monticello. The next day we drove (!) to the 2 X 4. Susie Watson was memorable for many reasons, but some of the best were her T-shirts. She was responsible for the "Anybody Seen Team Sprint?" shirts that were accompanied by the Groucho Marx glasses.with the nose and moustache. I also remember her collaborating with Sekine on the "Sprinters Wild" shirts that came withTeam Sprint playing cards and clothespins to put in your spokes. I am also reminded of awesome spring rides in Peoria hosted by Tom and Moe and Sekine--those were some of the biggest and best times ever! I think that Susie maybe won Rookie of the Year in 1985. I know Dale was beat out her year even after the twist tieing of the tents--a great rookie trick. She lost to Rev. Tom's rookie, Jeff Kipp (?) and his even better trick of pulling Rev. Tom's shorts down and under his bike seat in the middle of the hill so Tom had to ride bare-assed all the way to top before he could stop and pull his shorts up. They don't make rookies like they used to. Dale brought Sheri Kole and Gillian Blake and her brother Tod the Bod. Sheri and Gillian both won Rookie of the Year in their respective years. Also sometime in the 1980's, the Box was nominated for MVP.

In the 1990's, I brought Field Deschaine and John Foss. Many Sprinters remember Field practicing her opera vocalizations clearly and loudly even though she was about a half of a mile away. John Foss (or John-Boy as I prefer to call him--BHS 1968) over the years brought Jed and Linda and his now-wife Nancy. Did he also bring the doctor family from Nebraska? He also brought that poor woman doctor from Milwaukee. We started her week by stealing all her underwear while she was in the shower and finished doing shots out of her belly button in Dubuque back in1993. And we wonder why some of them don't come back

In the last decade, I have brought along Al Quatrucci, Jill Knapp, Kristin Severeid, Kelly Warren, and Mary Lynch. I don't remember doing shots out of any of their belly buttons.
FYI, the plastic swan with the beer hole/anus was owned by Tommy Tutone from the Skunks.
As far as a working total for Team Sprint members over the years: for the first decade peaking with 1983's total of about 115 Sprinters, I'd guess about 200. For the following 25 years, we have averaged about 20 rookies per year. Rookie Master Doug Miller would have a more accurate number, but that's about 500. So I'm figuring that a complete family tree would include around 700 names. Pejo has his work cut out for him!

Well, this is the most I've typed in the past 40 years so I hope it gets out to you. See you all at the winter meeting.

Love, Jamie Cowells

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The shorts under the seat trick was on a hill outside of Ft. Dodge near the end of the day. Thanks for the blessed memory Jamie...or at least that is what a couple of women Sprinters following us up the hill later told me.

One of my favorite memories was when I won the prom queen award one winter meeting.

Rev. Tom

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