A little business mixed with pleasure

Colfax — Mix cycling and a little entrepreneurship and you might get Mike Murphy.

For the past 15 years, he’s been making bracelets out of bicycle spokes. For the past 10 he’s been selling them on RAGBRAI.

“It’s how I can afford to miss work for a week,” he said during a break between customers. A short break, as people again lined up for the metal loops.

Mary Lampright was one of them. Her friend already had one of Murphy’s bracelets and Lampright had been looking for him all week.

“They last forever,” said Kathy Roberts from behind her. It was the South Dakota woman’s fifth RAGBRAI and she bought her bracelet five years ago. “I have it on most of the time. Amazing.”

Murphy started making the bracelets when he was a bike mechanic, playing around with the spokes and pliers.

“I ruined a lot of spokes,” he said. “Practice, practice.”

Now, his bike bears a sign that says “$6.” He carries dozens of bracelets of various sizes attached to his backpack, so it’s a quick process to wrap a tape measure around a customer’s wrist and hand him or her a pre-made bracelet.

But his bag is also full of straight spokes and pliers and he will make them on the spot too.

Murphy, who rode his first full RAGBRAI four years ago but has been on portions of the ride since 1996, said he’s not sure how many he’s sold so far.

“Enough to miss a week of work,” he said.

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