KenH
- Active 3 months, 1 week ago
KenH replied to the topic Ragbrai LI route guess in the forum Miscellaneous 3 months, 1 week ago
Esteemed and exalted Mr Woo,
There is a family on a Facebook group that wants to do RAGBRAI by hotel. I seem to remember that you and Mrs Woo do this. Would you be open to sharing your email address and letting them contact you for pointers? I have sent you a private message too.
Thanks for any assistance you can render.
Your humble servant,…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic A modest suggestion for Grinnell in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Testing, testing, testing….
KenH replied to the topic A modest suggestion for Grinnell in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I realized later that I probably wasn’t clear about the suggestion. There’s a couple months left, the kids from town should learn to do this!
KenH replied to the topic Wristband numbers in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 12 months ago
Six sigma has its roots in Demming. He was ignored in the US but the Japanese followed his ideas and expanded them so successfully that they were imported back into the US. Going to the workplace is a fundamental technique that quality workers use to identify what is good and bad about the current processes. It applies directly to manufacturing…[Read more]
KenH started the topic A modest suggestion for Grinnell in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 12 months ago
One of my all time favorite memories from RAGBRAI is being entertained by the high school band as we rolled into town in 2013. The gave a great performance in every respect and then during a break between songs a woman rider, one of us, approaches the director’s platform and talks to him. After a couple of minutes she joins him on the platform, he…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Wristband numbers in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 12 months ago
Good suggestions, UK. As a retired engineer I see details that could be improved too. Personally I think each RAGBRAI staff member should be required to ride a day or half day every year so that they see what we see and then perhaps they will better understand what needs to be changed and which suggests from riders deserve a closer look. It’s an…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic RAGBRAI III Photos in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year ago
A shirt that says “ragbrai three”!
I was 23 that year and even though I live next door in NE Illinois it would be another 26 years before I would hear of it and 27 before I rode it. If I could do it over again….
KenH replied to the topic RV Parking RAGBRAI L in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year ago
Contact the help desk info@ragbrai.com .
KenH replied to the topic Debating on sitting this one out… in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year ago
I’ve ridden every year since 2012, including 2020. Of course 2020 was a do it yourself, do it where you live, virtual ride. Prices are going up everywhere, things are changing everywhere, nothing is the same as it used to be. RAGBRAI is not immune to the changes that are sweeping around the world. It is still very good however. Due to this year’s…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Total Descent over the Course in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 1 month ago
OK, if I hadn’t done RAGBRAI before these stories would have me scared too! I’ve never had any trouble keeping my speed under 40 or under 30 when traffic ahead demanded it. I rolled down a hill into Gutenberg once where I was boxed in behind traffic that hit their brakes but my teammate ahead of me went into a tuck and disappeared from sight. He…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Total Descent over the Course in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 2 months ago
We lose just about 500 feet of elevation between Sioux City and Davenport so for practical purposes the descent equals the ascent. On a typical year you can expect many unbraked descents in a tuck that top out in the 30s and maybe a few in the 40s, mph that is. Descents are mostly straight to gently curved with long runouts before any sharp…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Pass through towns? in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 2 months ago
I was going to guess Dakota Ave instead of R38, didn’t know Google had R38 wrong. Google does that. On day 1 RAGBRAI says we ride east on D18 until it intersects with 140. The road Google calls D18 doesn’t intersect with 140. So either Google has that one wrong too, or RAGBRAI does.
In the last 10 RAGBRAIs I can only recall one gravel stretch on…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic The Clarence Pickard Challenge in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
No, I am not keeping the original shifters, I am putting them back! The previous owner had removed them and the breaker bars on the brake levers. So I have put those back. The original crankset had been modernized in a way I might not be able to reverse even if I wanted to so I am keeping that and attempting to run it as a 1×10. That would make…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Day 4 – 100,000 Riders – Really??? in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
He’s been saying it for a while, to be sure. Notice the word COULD. He’s not claiming that he is trying to hit that number. Some of the context of that quote is missing so I’m not sure what he said he will smash. If it were the previous RAGBRAI peaks or the Italian record then 55k to 60k are sufficient to smash those numbers and I believe that he…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Day 4 – 100,000 Riders – Really??? in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
I don’t believe RAGBRAI has said they are trying to get 100k riders, only that they hope to break a 48k record set in Italy. I have ridden 36k and 40k days at RAGBRAI and there were no problems with that.
Phippen has said the obvious. There is a lot of interest in the 50th anniversary ride and since RAGBRAI has no authority to control how many…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic The Clarence Pickard Challenge in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
I’m making progress on my Schwinn. The brakes are refurbished. I have put a modern wheelset on it and a new drive train is about 75% done. Hopefully I can get it done in time for a test ride next week when a sput of warm weather is coming to NE Illinois!
I even managed to get registered with PBV for the week! No one expected the registration…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic The Clarence Pickard Challenge in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I don’t have much of a plan at the moment other than I am refurbishing the bike right now. Don’t even know how I will do RAGBRAI this year: charter, team, RAGBRAI semi. Most of my usual team has bailed out this year. Glad to see another vintage bike on the ride! I got a Raleigh ten speed a few years after…[Read more]
KenH started the topic The Clarence Pickard Challenge in the forum RAGBRAI L – 2023 1 year, 3 months ago
Some of you may know that Clarence Pickard was an 83 year old man who showed up at the start of the Great Six Day Bicycle Ride as what we now call RAGBRAI I was known then. He had bought a used 1970-ish Schwinn ladies Super Sport a couple of weeks before and had gone on a massive crash pre-ride training regime which consisted of riding around the…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic COVID this year? in the forum RAGBRAI XLIX – 2022 1 year, 6 months ago
Hey Joe, I’ve noticed over the years that about 1/3 of men do not wash their hands after using a public bathroom. That rises to about 2/3 in bathrooms without paper towels, only electric hand dryers! Men are pigs.
So, I left RAGBRAI Thursday morning because of covid. I didn’t get it, my wife back home did. I left to care for her. She tested…[Read more]
KenH replied to the topic Running a RV Generator in the forum RAGBRAI XLIX – 2022 2 years ago
It all comes down to doing what is appropriate in the situation each night presents you. Be mindful of the needs and desires of others in situations where we are all forced to share the same space.
There have been years when we only ran the genny to charge things and had nice cool nights to sleep with the windows open. Then there was last…[Read more]
