bohnsack.com

You know those pictures that are made of of a bunch of smaller pictures? It turns out they're quite easy to make with the right software, and I'm thinking one of these things made with the right collection of personally important photos could make a very nice large scale print. I've some initial exploration with AndreaMosaic (free software) and come up with the following picture of Spenser made up of lots of different pictures from last year's RAGBRAI:

Original	Mosaic

Lot's things to experiment with in the future...

Update #1: Beef bites on my style
Update #2: I bite back

In case you've been waiting, all of my photos from this year's RAGBRAI were posted a few days ago.

I'm going to be back posting RAGBRAI stuff starting tonight - one day of the ride, every night. Scroll down or click on the appropriate link:

Some people think it's a feat to make it across Iowa on RAGBRAI. It ain't nothing compared to The Trans Iowa Race: 2 days, 300+ miles, self-supported, rural gravel roads, COLD, and only 9 finishers this year. Wow!

Route map for day seven

After seven days and 485 miles of cycling across Iowa self-supported, we reached the mighty Mississippi and Guttenberg, IA today.

It was a beautiful sight:

I feel slightly more elite than I did before the week began.

I took a few thousand photos. I'll try and post some of them, along with a little text in back postings over the next week.

Update: All the RAGBRAI photos have been posted here.

Route map for day six

Route map for day five

Route map for day four

Day three’s route map

Made it to Estherville, IA at ~ 4:00 today, after a hard evening in Sheldon, IA, where we had to leave our tents and seek shelter in the middle school, during a deadly thunderstorm.

Today's 84 miles weren't too bad, despite the rain we had during a portion of the journey. The last 2-3 miles were sweet. We finished the ride through a beautiful state park, and I smoked Spenser to the finish line during the last mile.

Tomorrow: 62 miles to Algona.

Despite the adversities encountered so far, this, the world's greatest cycling event for mortals, is well worth the effort. A glorious event. Highly recommended!

Day two's route map

65.5 miles, Dutch hospitality, a near death experience in a killer thunderstorm, and sleeping much of the night on a middle school gym floor:

The tent we almost died in (luckily only a few feet from the bike path that a police officer came driving down and a very a short distance from the school):

Spenser's folks drove us from Ames to Le Mars. We were tempted to drive to the Big Sioux River and across to South Dakota, so we could bike the 20 or so miles to Le Mars, before camping for the evening, but we decided against it. If I had it to do over again, I would have started in South Dakota.

We ate at Godfather's Pizza:

It was damn hot. This thing said 104 degrees:

After we found a suitable place to camp, amidst team Airforce and between a Catholic church and its cemetery, the Villwock's said their teary goodbyes, and we setup camp:

At midnight we were treated to a fireworks display. It woke us up out of a dead sleep. We were woken again at ~ 5:30 AM by the Airforce bugle call.

After disc golf, we hit the Bali Satay house. Iwan posed with us in front of his restaurant:

In honor of Rossi, we ate at Pita Pita for lunch:

The West Ames HyVee may have the world's largest selection of orange juice:

The yogurt and milk selections aren't anything to sneeze at either:

Nor is their booze selection:

Check out the corn:

Spenser Villwock and I would like to invite you to an exclusive gathering at the Villwock home this Friday for a bit of food and fun.

Why?
Spenser and I are riding RAGBRAI this year, will only be in Ames a short time, and would like to see you.

Where?
515 Lynn Avenue, Ames, IA

When?
7:00pm, Friday, July 22, 2005

RSVP by Thursday, July 21, if you can.

If that kind of thing isn't your scene, there will be two other opportunities:

Sat July 23rd @ ~ 8:30 AM - Disc Golf at the Carroll Marty Disc Golf Course
Sat July 23rd @ ~ 11:30 AM - Lunch at the Bali Satay House

I really need to begin training for RAGBRAI (I'm starting tomorrow, I swear). I googled for New Mexico bicycle touring routes and found this tremendous resource: New Mexico Touring Society. Awesome. I'm thinking the Tijeras Trot shouldn't be too difficult of a start tomorrow morning.

Updates:

Here's some ideas for next year after July's RAGBRAI:

1. Tour de Kota (South Dakota)
2. CANDISC (North Dakota)
3. GRABAAR (Wisconsin)
4. SAGBRAW (Wisconsin)
5. Enchanted Circle Bike Tour (New Mexico)

In other bike touring news, I've received my new bike and will begin using it to commute to work starting next week. I already have a commuting pannier, but I'm considering an Arkel setup for touring.

And then, of course, there's the ultimate in bicycle touring over at Adventure Cycling.

I'm starting to really geek out about RABGRAI XXXIII. Plane tickets have been purchased, and I'm ready to travel. Some resources I found this morning:

• SoundSeeing Tour Podcast (audio documentary from 1999)
• RAGBRAI message board
• RAGBRAI Book