Hosting RAGBRAI, A barrel of fun for Carroll, Iowa

Speaker 1: 1:13

Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure, the podcast for cyclists who understand that riding is not just about getting to the destination, but the experience along the way. Now here are the original Cycling Men of Leisure Adam and Michael.

Speaker 3: 1:31

Hey, good to be with you. Happy to be with you again, adam, how you been doing.

Speaker 2: 1:36

Been pretty good, Been pretty good. Just uh, my living room was like a bomb went off.

Speaker 3: 1:42

It's looked like that a lot this summer because I know you just got through getting uh, getting your whole living room main area remodeled.

Speaker 2: 1:50

Yeah, this is not so much construction. This is camping gear, cycling gear, ziploc bags, outfits, milwaukee Pack-Out boxes and a little bourbon.

Speaker 3: 2:04

You're getting the band back together.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Getting the band back together the Blues Brothers. Good call, I love it.

Speaker 3: 2:09

I love it. Um, so you're getting ready for a bike ride.

Speaker 2: 2:14

Getting ready for a bike ride. You and I had planned three adventures for 2023. This is number two coming up. We actually four, four, oh my gosh, that's right, we went to Spring Tune Up. Good call, good call, uh, all right, we went to Spring Tune Up, big brag. Now number three, ladies and gentlemen Raghbrie, the 50th anniversary. That's right One L of a ride, as I've been told Mom uh, if you've seen the elevation map, it sure is going to be one L of a ride.

Speaker 3: 2:46

So um come on, I was flat.

Speaker 2: 2:49

Everybody at my work.

Speaker 3: 2:50

It tells me yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 2:52

Everybody at my work says isn't Iowa flat? I'm like, yeah, on I-80 at 80 miles an hour, you don't even think about it. But uh get on a bicycle and start uh doing the rollers. But uh, obviously we like it. This is your sixth time. This will be my fifth time, so um. And our friend Joe it'll be his fourth time so um, he would have joined us, but that darn job got in the way in one year, so Well, gotta pay the bill somehow that's right, but uh, yeah, we have started kind of putting my gear together too.

Speaker 3: 3:22

Um, we're getting close to that. That, uh, the date that we all have to trek down left right. However, whatever you need to do to get to Iowa.

Speaker 2: 3:32

So I think we're going to go west and down a little bit. You're going to go north and east. I'm going to go north and east, yeah, so, um, but definitely looking forward to it. But you said, you said something to me, um, about we, and when we were in Georgia, we did um, our first speak easy, and you had said why don't we do another one at Raghbray?

Speaker 3: 3:55

Yes, we did do one in Georgia, Got a nice group of people, had a lot of fun, laughed, met some new people, um, even broke out some of the special uh Kansas city whiskey that had the special brag label on it, and I think we should do another one at Raghbray.

Speaker 2: 4:14

I, I, I definitely would agree. Um, um, ironically, we'd know some people who were at the first one that are actually going to Raghbray. We could send out some, uh, we could send out a little invite to those people. So, uh, but more than that, uh, we'll be with our charter and uh, we'll be flying a 15 foot flag in the air. So if you see a big flag in the air, it says road adventures of cycling men of leisure um podcast on one side and cycling men of leisure on the other, don't hesitate to come over.

Speaker 1: 4:44

It's for women too.

Speaker 3: 4:46

It's on there and big pink letters, so uh so come on over and say hello, regardless of what day it is, Absolutely. But I I think on Monday night when we're in Carol, we should have an official little speak, easy and for people who don't know, that's just kind of like our throw together little get together, Um, where we just invite any and all people who want to come and participate, uh over to our area and we'll have, we'll be under our flag, uh at the Branssell charter or right there close to Branssell charter. So you won't, you won't miss it, Um, come on over, bring a, bring a chair, bring a blanket, bring yourself, uh, bring a beverage, um, alcoholic or otherwise, and just come and enjoy, meet some new people. Uh, you know, tell some stories. Maybe we'll even pull out and record some, some sound bits. Uh, who knows, it was a lot of fun in Georgia. Like to do it again with uh, with some of our friends from rag brie and some of the friends we haven't met yet.

Speaker 2: 5:43

That sounds awesome. Uh, the only thing I would say is you said bring a blanket Now. Uh, I don't put a lot of faith in weathermen all the time, but if you've seen the weather, I don't think you're going to need a blanket.

Speaker 3: 5:55

I'm saying to set on the ground with oh, okay, okay, Cause I'm thinking, so you don't want to car a chair or you don't have a chair, yeah, you can bring a blanket or you can just set on the ground.

Speaker 2: 6:04

I mean okay, okay, cause I'm thinking to myself if someone's going to bundle up on a blanket, they're going to need a lot of water, a lot, a lot of more hydration, because it's going to be a little toasty. So bring your 15 below sleeping bag. That's right. That's right. Well, no, that's cool. I look forward to that. Um, um, it gave us a chance last time to you, know, you and I get to tell why we do this, how it started. Um, people get to ask questions. I mean, a lot of people have, have, you know, wrote us behind the scenes and said love what you're doing. And, um, and you know, we, we can't, can't really give back. But this is our way to get to give back a little bit and meet with, meet with you and talk with you and find out about your story. That's why we, that's why we do this. So absolutely.

Speaker 3: 6:49

So I'm thinking probably around what seven, 30 ish.

Speaker 2: 6:54

Sure, I don't know what the road's going to be like that day. We'll say seven, 30 ish.

Speaker 3: 6:57

Um well, it's not a long day. I think it's 50 some miles. The elevation's not bad, so um you know you want to stop by say hello, Absolutely, please do. Please do that any night. So yeah, perfect. You know we're always sitting around relaxing, doing something being leisurely, that's right.

Speaker 2: 7:17

Uh, speaking of you, know people who listen to the show I. I would just like to ask that, if you enjoy the show, if you could do us a couple of favors. One, um, if you could leave us a review. If you enjoy it and um, reviews can be left at your podcast, usually where you listen to the podcast, um, wherever platform that is, they usually give you an option to leave a review. Um, if you're uh like what we're doing, please leave us a review. If you don't like what we're doing, well, I guess you could tell us that too, but maybe just behind the scenes, it's really you're not needed if you don't like it. When I used to, uh, not when I used to drive a bus, um, and before I'm deputy director of the company now but when I was driving, I used to say if you like the ride, my name is Adam. If you didn't hi, I'm Jim.

Speaker 1: 8:04

So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so so so, so, so so so so so so so, so so.

Speaker 2: 8:09

So, my friend, you say you, uh, you've lined up a guest today.

Speaker 3: 8:13

I have indeed, um, got a really good guest. Now our listeners know that we've we've interviewed, you know, Matt, the ride director of ragbride. We've interviewed, uh, Franklin Johnson, the executive director, down in Georgia. Um, we've interviewed people who have ridden this. You and I have ridden, uh, you know, these big rides many, many times. Right, I realized that we were missing one thing we have never talked to anybody that was in a host community.

Speaker 2: 8:44

No, we haven't. I mean, we've talked about like for years, just like ourselves, like how, how do you decide how many Porta Johns you're going to have? How do you decide how many vendors you're going to have, how many? I mean, for years we've always said how the heck do you set all this up? But no, you're right, we haven't talked to someone about that.

Speaker 3: 8:59

So I thought today would be a good opportunity to find someone who is in the know about this and could maybe answer some of our questions, because when you think about it, especially this year, we don't know what the numbers are, but just say 20,000 to be conservative, or use that as an estimate. 20,000 going into some of these towns is going to double, triple or even more their population for a 24 hour period. That's not something you can just throw together and it just blows my mind and I come from a small town of like five thousand. So I was thinking if one of these rides ever came through my town, how would we ever start? So what I've done is I've contacted the good city of Carroll, iowa, ok, and they have hooked me up with a member of, I believe, their executive board.

Speaker 2: 9:49

Her name. What's that? Executive committee, right Executive committee, there we go yeah.

Speaker 3: 9:54

Her name is Katie and she is here to answer all questions about how a community goes about organizing for Raghbri, most specifically the 50th, anniversary of Raghbri, the second overnight town, carroll, iowa, katie.

Speaker 2: 10:10

Welcome to our, our shenanigans on our show. I appreciate you being here.

Speaker 4: 10:14

Thank you. Thanks for having me Excited to talk about Raghbri.

Speaker 2: 10:18

So our first question is is are you ready, Ready or not?

Speaker 4: 10:25

Here it comes 50,000, 30,000, 20,000. All those crazy numbers have been thrown out of how many of our closest friends will be showing up to town on July 24th. So we are ready.

Speaker 3: 10:39

So let me preface it One more thing by saying I believe Carroll's population is like 10,300 or somewhere in that.

Speaker 4: 10:47

Is that correct?

Speaker 3: 10:48

OK, so even at 20,000, you're going to be, you know, tripling basically your population, and if it gets more than that then it's gonna get really crazy. So I'm just trying to build and put it in perspective.

Speaker 4: 11:03

Are you trying to ease my mind a little bit?

Speaker 3: 11:05

Yes, You've got it. You said you're prepared. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no worries, you need what a couple of Porta John's and some food and we're good to go.

Speaker 4: 11:12

That's right. Yeah, it is quite the undertaking when you put it in those kinds of terms of how many extra people we will have in our town just for that one day. I actually was talking to someone today and we were talking about Ames, sioux City, specifically Ames and Coralville. You know they're used to hosting Iowa Hawkeye football, iowa State Cyclone football events, where hundreds of or you know, thousands of people come to the community.

Speaker 4: 11:43

That's not as rare as it is for us, a town our size. So definitely, I think, depending on your town, you have different challenges, and so just the sheer number of people in our town at one time will be something we're not used to.

Speaker 2: 12:00

Well, I'm gonna give you a little advice Make all cell phone calls before any of us crazy writers get through, because, if history speaks to me, I began in 2016 was my first rag where I began dating what is now my wife, and I said oh, I'll stay in touch with you when I'm out there. Yeah, that didn't work out so well, so, but luckily we made it and we're still together. So that's wonderful. But so that's one thing. Now I noticed that the motto is you'll have a barrel of fun, and so could you talk about the motto.

Speaker 4: 12:31

Yeah. So our group, actually as a committee, we sat down and one thing Carol's known for, which we're actually hosting next week before Red Bride comes, we have a really cool baseball stadium. It's called Merchants Park and so we host college baseball players each summer come to town and we're a member of the Mink League. So initially our thought was, well, we've got state baseball the week before, let's go ahead and do a baseball theme leading into red, right, you know, we just couldn't settle on that.

Speaker 4: 13:02

And then one night a gal, linda, on our committee, she said I woke up in the middle of the night and I had this crazy idea and we're like okay. And so she's like a barrel of fun, because we kind of kept going back to some of the unique things about our town and, carol is the fact that we have a brewery, a winery, two distilleries. I know Templeton Rye is not exactly in our town but close enough, where that story is so unique, it's fun to share. And we kind of thought, you know, that kind of sets us apart, that's maybe something people would want to know about when they came to town. And so a barrel of fun was born and we've just kind of run with it from there.

Speaker 1: 13:44

Now I go ahead.

Speaker 3: 13:45

Let me say, Adam, I did not choose Carol because there was distilleries there. I had no idea, when I was trying to find people, that Carol actually had such a rich history in the adult beverages. So it just so happened.

Speaker 2: 14:00

I was going to say. I think it's important to mention that we've been to Templeton Rye. We actually in 2018, rye took us right there with a beautiful statue of all the whiskey barrels and the flags and everything else. So we've been there and we're excited, but we have not been to Iowa's legendary Rye, your other distillery, and so we're hoping that one gets put on the map over there.

Speaker 4: 14:23

So yeah, it's super fun. Rich is a guy. He'll tell you all sorts of stories and he's got maps and he's actually got in his distillery and old original. I'm going to get the name of it wrong. You guys might have to help me out.

Speaker 2: 14:38

Like Potsdale.

Speaker 4: 14:40

Yep. And it flows into. It's all crazy. He's a really good storyteller, so I hope he's there that day and can fill you in, because he's got the plot maps and he'll show right where different things came from and it's a really cool story.

Speaker 2: 14:54

So Well, we actually did a little research before our interview with you tonight and as I was searching and I saw that he does prohibition style whiskey, which is pretty cool. I mean, there's some breweries by me, micro breweries that do prohibition style brews and stuff like that and it's really interesting because the history that goes into it. So I really will be excited for that. And you said that's pretty close to downtown of where that distillery actually is.

Speaker 4: 15:21

So yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2: 15:23

Okay, cool. And so then your band of the Rackbri concert series. Excuse me, you guys have the pork tornadoes coming to town, which were at the Routt announcement party. So, and Michael and I were actually there, and so that's exciting as well.

Speaker 4: 15:40

They're awesome, so so you guys fought the bad weather to get to the Routt announcement party.

Speaker 2: 15:45

You know, every time I've been to Des Moines, it's been zero degrees, and so what I'm wondering is is this year, is it gonna be zero? I?

Speaker 4: 15:57

mean this summer, because I don't know. Would you rather have zero or like 120?

Speaker 2: 16:02

I mean.

Speaker 2: 16:03

I don't want zero, I'm not kidding. So two years in a row now, michael and I have made the trip. I've flown in from Detroit and I live in Ann Arbor, near Ann Arbor, michigan, and so I've flown in, we've gone to Des Moines and every year we're there, or the last two years, we stay at the hotel right there by the Iowa Convention Center. Oh my gosh, each year zero degrees. The furnace in the hotel can't even hardly keep up. It's crazy. So I always told Michael, if I'm not gonna believe until I'm there, that it's gonna be warmer, but I'm sure when I get there, if you believe acu-weather, it says 90 degrees right now. So we'll see. I'm not sure, but I've been looking too.

Speaker 4: 16:42

We've been keeping a close eye on that.

Speaker 2: 16:45

I believe.

Speaker 4: 16:45

So so far, so good Temperatures are trending up a little, but we'll take it no rain.

Speaker 2: 16:51

You know, speaking of the route announcement party, I am curious about one part. So obviously we eat, breathe Raghbari, we're in it. We follow all kinds of social media things and, like the town page, we've been to your city's website for Raghbari. I'm curious, would you mind to tell us, like, how does one become an overnight town? How did you find out that you were selected? Was it because of history and the original route from 1973? Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Speaker 4: 17:23

Yeah, so actually it was October and I'm a stay at home mom, I volunteer with a ton of things in the community, and I got invited to this meeting at one of our banks up in a boardroom and I walked in and there was all kinds of people from our city there and Sheriff's Department, fire Department, police, and I was like, hmm, what am I doing here? And then so our then head of the city he approached us and said we had been approached by Raghbari to see if we would be a host city for the 50th ride Wow I think typically towns apply to be an overnight town and then are selected.

Speaker 4: 18:10

But with this being the 50th anniversary ride, they had certain things in mind that they wanted and so they came to us and so basically we just had that meeting to sit and talk and say, okay, are we willing to do this and are we ready? And of course I was like, yes, like I've wrote a couple of days of Raghbari here and there, never registered, but I have this year, so I'm learning the importance of all these things by For the official record, katie did register.

Speaker 2: 18:37

Thank you very much, yes.

Speaker 4: 18:41

So I am, I can ride, say Okay, there you go. But yeah. So we just kind of talked it out and I was like we would be crazy not to say yes to this, and so we said yes, we'll accept and.

Speaker 2: 18:56

That blows my mind. So you guys knew two months in advance. So you know. If you ride Raghbari every year, one of the things is like guessing the route announcement. Guessing, guessing the route. So you guys knew. Was everyone sworn to secrecy at that time? Or yeah, yeah, wow.

Speaker 4: 19:11

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, we were actually talking about state baseball. I'm on that committee too, no-transcript. They wanted us to kind of shuffle some things around and we said this was real close to the route announcement party by the way, it wasn't super early but we said, well, we might have a big bike ride with a lot of people that day, so we probably can't do that this year. So I think by that time I think there was a pretty good buzz going around that it was a strong possibility that we would get it. But people really did keep it a secret. So I can say I didn't even really know the other towns.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 4: 19:57

So when we? Went well, we were all invited to go to the round announcement party and with the storm we had a couple people there. But even when we showed we were told you know, don't wear anything that will give away your hometown there, because you know all of a sudden you'd walk in and you'd be wearing Carol stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:12

Right.

Speaker 4: 20:13

Oh, that kind of takes a little excitement out of the big reveal.

Speaker 2: 20:16

Right.

Speaker 4: 20:17

So we could have stuff underneath our clothes but that's very neutral.

Speaker 2: 20:21

That's awesome. And so when they did the video where you guys you know because anyone who doesn't know who's listening to this show, the round announcement party was a video that they played up on the screen on stage and then they think they broadcast it live or at the same time or just right after that Did they come to you to be part of the video or did they just kind of film like near the area and just mention it and I think they just filmed near the area and mentioned it.

Speaker 4: 20:50

I don't think we're part of it. But fun fact, the guy who narrated the video, Scott Sipker, he's kind of the Iowa nice guy. He is a classmate of mine. I graduated high school with him. So that's caramel and which is the last town you will ride through before he gets Carol. So, he's going to be around that day. I'm not sure in what capacity, if he'll be a Mount Carmel Carol, a little bit of both, but that's cool.

Speaker 3: 21:17

Well that you answered. One of the questions that I had was how did you get involved in this? And it sounds like you're already heavily involved in the community, and they were just like hey Katie over here.

Speaker 4: 21:28

He doesn't say no, we should ask her.

Speaker 3: 21:31

We're just going to volunteer.

Speaker 4: 21:32

She's good, my husband says just put your hand down next to me. Volunteer? That was going to be my question how you?

Speaker 3: 21:40

got involved with it, but I know that this, I believe, will be the fifth time that rag Brie has been through Carol, it's been four times before that. This would be the fifth time. If I did my calculations right and I believe the last time was in 2011. Did you have anybody there that had helped plan in 2011 that you could draw some some insight off of?

Speaker 4: 22:02

We do actually Several people who are in that meeting in October. That initial meeting had helped out in 2011. And then we have Two committee chairs on our executive committee Mike and Linda. They actually were on the executive committee in 2011 as well. In addition to that, we have some others who are at our chamber Office, who were also there in 2011., and so they come to our meetings and kind of help guide us and make decisions. They don't necessarily have committees that they're in charge of, but they definitely help give us some direction and guidance. Okay, cool, but a lot has changed since 2011 as well. So that's true. We constantly find ourselves saying that, like well, it was different in 2011. Even if you think about information and how much information you have now as a writer going into it versus you know the tear off maps and us going up to storm lake and trying to hand those out the night before handball, I think today, tomorrow, we should all be getting an email from red bride with official Maps and routes and maps.

Speaker 4: 23:17

You're going to get daily emails and just the technology piece of it. If the phones work, it's just it's. It's really changed and taken some stress away, but it's also kind of like, well, we're relying on cellular service or people to plan ahead and, you know, screenshot that and save it to their phones.

Speaker 2: 23:39

So you know, Katie, it's. It's kind of funny that you said that, because earlier today I was listening to just go bike podcast, which is ragged rise with Murph and AP, and they were had the pre pre ride announcement with with Matt Fitman, and I was listening to that before having our interview tonight and I was thinking to myself, wow, here I am listening to a podcast About the, the, the ride pre inspection ride, hearing about the ride before I'm about to go ride it. And and I think about that now, in 2016, I mean, just, you know, seven years ago I mean I was nothing like that, hey, that I knew it was out there. I mean maybe it was, but I don't think it was. But and as far as phones, my first year right, but I forget it, the phone didn't work at all. And 2021, our phones worked almost everywhere, I mean everywhere we went. So it's kind of a hit and miss where, you know, unfortunately, these things have become a, you know, anchor to our to our brain, you know to our hand.

Speaker 2: 24:36

Oh yeah, and then some of us have two of them. You know, michael always teases me because I've got for one for work and luckily for me they're different providers, so when it ragged right, I'm like ooh, ooh, can I get a hold of somebody?

Speaker 2: 24:49

So, um, so you are right, the technology has definitely changed. Um, maps, bicycle computers have come a long way. Um, you mentioned that you, you know you're into cycling and so, um, you know, you can download the routes and get the turn by turn into directions much easier. You can see elevation. Um, I was. I was interesting to hear Matt talk about um coming into Carroll being a recovery ride Bank. Basically, day one is 80, some miles and grueling, and he just he actually described on the just go by podcast, uh, coming into Carroll via recovery ride. I'm like, okay, well, that'll be good, then I can, I can go to the Iowa legendary ride that night, I won't be tired.

Speaker 4: 25:29

So, um, Nice short flat ride to Carol.

Speaker 2: 25:33

There we go 62 miles.

Speaker 4: 25:34

I think you have that day.

Speaker 2: 25:35

Yes, it says 62 miles and 1800 and 18 feet of climb, according to rag rise website. So we'll see. I mean um, it's always funny. I think it depends on what computer you use and what how that records.

Speaker 4: 25:47

But one of the questions Okay, I'll tell you early on that day, but as you come into Carroll it should be pretty smooth.

Speaker 2: 25:54

Oh good, by that time I'll be tired and be ready for a be ready for an adult beverage. So, um, one of the questions Michael and I did have is can you talk about or or kind of open up a limelight for anybody? Is there any projects that you had to get done infrastructure safety wise? Um, coming into town, did you have to look at your own, you know, road structure to say, okay, all the cyclists to come in here to do that, We've got to have this project done? Whether it was there, anything like that that took on took place.

Speaker 4: 26:24

You know, on that pre ride, um, they do a great job. I was actually um during dinner that night visiting with I believe the gentleman's name was John and it was funny because he said I used to be one of these guys that rides the pre ride and he goes. Now I'm the guy who sits in the van with the laptop and every time there's a pothole they tell me and I he was funny, he's like I go beep and then he's like beep, beep, beep.

Speaker 4: 26:51

I just mark the bottles, and then they send the map to somewhere and they all are supposed to get fixed.

Speaker 1: 26:55

So I was like well, that's cool.

Speaker 4: 26:57

I always, I always wondered how that worked. And so he just rides along and they then mark the roads. Um, as far as our routes in Carol um our town, not I'm curious to see the map of rider entrance and exit, because there's definitely some clear ways where you can go. Okay, but last I knew, there wasn't like a specific way to get there, got you Like three or four different ways.

Speaker 4: 27:26

So as far as road fixtures and things like that, um, we didn't really have to do much Cool. Um, the one thing I will say uh, we have. It's called the Sacra trail trail, and so it's a bike path that leads from Swan Lake State Park, which is south of Carol, all the way up to Lake view, which is the meeting town the day you go from Lake to Carol. So it's a really nice paved path. However, just a forewarning, if you would get on that path and breeder, it'll get you to Maple River, and then Maple River is real close to Carroll and they are going to have some entertainment and different things in Maple River, but the path is torn up from.

Speaker 1: 28:06

Maple River to Carroll right now.

Speaker 4: 28:09

So we do have fear. We are going to post signs and make sure that gets in the daily regbrite email. Don't jump on the path.

Speaker 2: 28:17

Gotcha.

Speaker 4: 28:18

Because you'll get stuck in Maple River with no real good way back to Carroll unless you have a setting.

Speaker 2: 28:24

And that goes back to that bike computer thing. Someone may put it in their computer and, depending on what model or computer brand they have, it may try to loop them or their settings. I know some settings. You can say, hey, I prefer trails, and so it may actually lasso them onto the trail. So that's actually a good point that you put that in there.

Speaker 4: 28:39

Yeah, so we're hoping people see that we're going to have signs at the entrance to the bike path and Brita but I was joking with Matt. He's like, yeah, we just need to be standing there holding a pitchfork, Do not enter, Keep going. So it's also hard for them. I'm sure you guys have talked to them about that. But if riders go off path, for them to be able to help and do anything if there would be an accident or a flat, it's just sorry. We are able to staff and take care of the route the best we can and I understand the desire to go off path too. So it's a I don't know, what do you do?

Speaker 2: 29:22

Hopefully come back and bike it when it's done.

Speaker 2: 29:25

So I'll tell you from I normally won't speak from Michael, but I'll tell you. Our stance is to stay on the route. The route is supported. Ems on Raghbray is amazing.

Speaker 2: 29:39

I do understand some of the times where you could say, hey, I could bypass this and go this way and do that. We stand for just taking the route as it is. And vendors I know that they're going to have vendor because of the long distance between towns. Now they're going to have vendors that are going to be halfway through some of these places, not even in town, just on the side of the road. I mean all of those pieces for us.

Speaker 2: 30:02

We find as a safety concern to stay on the route. Do I understand? I mean, like earlier this year when they were talking about the you know the world records, which I know is not happening now but when they were talking about that and all these social media posts that we were paying attention to, said we'll forget that, we're just going to skip that and we're not going to go, and our fear and what we were talking about, of course, not live on there, but just in our own friendship was that's crazy? I mean, how many people have been hurt on Raghbray? So our opinion is to stay with the route, but that's just our opinion?

Speaker 4: 30:36

No, I agree Totally, especially with size this year. People might think, oh well, I would, I want to get out of the crowd. Well, you're going to be in a crowd if a bunch of people try to start to take the bike pack too, because that's not very wide and fit for for riders. So, yes, stay on the path. You'll miss the good things if you don't.

Speaker 2: 30:54

But so one of the things we saw on the website was that you're going to have a shuttle in town. Is it shuttle shuttles? Are there multiple routes or one route, or can you talk about that?

Speaker 4: 31:06

Yeah, yeah, I think we have four routes and so we're working with the local schools to use buses and our our celebration area is really in the middle of town, but our main campground is probably two miles from that celebration area, too far to walk. Yes, I mean, some people might want to attempt that stretch their legs, but we will have shuttles running Most of the don't. Quote me on time.

Speaker 2: 31:39

That's right.

Speaker 4: 31:40

Afternoon, maybe starting at noon or two, and then hopefully we can get everyone home when the music ends at 1030.

Speaker 2: 31:48

I think you actually hit it right on the head. I think some of the vendors were asked to be at their stations by 10. And I think they're supposed to be open by noon, according to your website, and so I think I think you hit it right on the nail, right on the head. So, and and you know our our experience of rag bride, sometimes you stay for the band and the band goes a little long. I mean, it's not like everything shuts down.

Speaker 4: 32:08

Right.

Speaker 4: 32:10

Everybody steps up to the plate to help out, so yeah, and it's something unique that we are going to offer. We have a group that's opening a children's museum in our mall, which is right by our celebration area. So we are working on putting together a promotional piece to let bikers know that we will offer a bike valet service. So if you have five or two more miles in you, you can ride your bike down for $5. Adults will take it. We'll park it inside the mall where the children's museum is going to be. We'll be safe, you'll get a bike tag and then you come back and retrieve it at the end of the night.

Speaker 3: 32:45

So that's a little bit of incentive. Love that idea. Good yeah.

Speaker 4: 32:50

So, like I said, we're not close enough that walking is really easy, but we're not a super far bike ride either. So if you don't want to fight the strutting lines at 10.30 when the band ends, that's a great way to just you know, again stretch your legs a little. Like I said, it might hurt your butt getting back on the bike, but that's for sure.

Speaker 2: 33:10

But that's going to happen, whether it's at 10 o'clock at night after the pork tornadoes or seven o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 4: 33:16

It might hurt less than that. It might hurt less than night after the pork tornadoes. That's right.

Speaker 2: 33:20

Maybe if I have a couple of the legendary rides there, I won't feel it.

Speaker 4: 33:22

Yeah, but you got to try the Tailwind beer too. Oh, we're going to have that. We're going to have that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:28

Yeah, and I mean it's got the big L on it this year, so I got to get one of them.

Speaker 4: 33:33

Oh my gosh, they're so cool, those kids are.

Speaker 2: 33:36

You know, like the last couple of years, like last year with the balloon and the year before that on the road again and I said, hey, we have to have one of those. So it's kind of customary, you know, we start the week off at the expo.

Speaker 2: 33:47

That's right, I have a little bit of collection behind me there, but I love it. So one of the things that we are curious about is I know that Rai Rai comes to some of your meetings and supports, and so are they very hands-on, or do they allow you to lead the dance and then just support you along the way, or do they have some sort of steerage that they would like things done a certain way?

Speaker 4: 34:13

It's a little bit of both. It's really good. I'm going to show you I've got my Want to call it Rai Rai.

Speaker 3: 34:19

Bison.

Speaker 2: 34:20

Oh, wow.

Speaker 4: 34:21

Look at that.

Speaker 3: 34:22

The official handbook Wow it's pretty thick there.

Speaker 4: 34:25

It has.

Speaker 2: 34:26

Is there a test?

Speaker 4: 34:28

chess lists, all sorts of all kinds of information. Anything you can think of is in there, so that is super helpful, and they also now have it digitally too. I'm a paper and a pen person, but so this I look through a couple times a day finding different things, Whether it's hey, you should have this many information booths, you should have this many people working them, you should have this many porta pots it's all in their medical tents, so it really is handy.

Speaker 2: 35:01

Wow.

Speaker 4: 35:02

How much to charge for showers meals.

Speaker 2: 35:05

What is it going right for a shower? Eight bucks, nine bucks, eight bucks, eight bucks is what Yep, and then $2 for a towel rental.

Speaker 3: 35:13

If you want to rent a towel, okay, you know, shower prices really have not kept up with inflation over the last few years, hey watch your mouth, it's been eight dollars for a long time.

Speaker 4: 35:21

I heard that one town might have higher price showers along the ride. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 35:26

Well, lucky for us, we've got our own shower truck, we've got a charter, and the charter sells a card.

Speaker 2: 35:32

So whether the inflation is built in there, truly I don't care, because once I pay for the card, as long as I don't lose the card, I'll be okay.

Speaker 4: 35:39

Yep, you'll get your shower.

Speaker 2: 35:41

That's right.

Speaker 4: 35:42

Oh, that's awesome so long, long standing joke.

Speaker 2: 35:44

I redid a bathroom. Over the winter here in Michigan it gets awfully bitterly cold. There's nothing to do. So I redid a bathroom and I kept telling Michael hey, man, you got to come out and try my $8 shower. And he said well, that's no problem, because when you come to Kansas I'm going to give you the essential time water. It's going to be more expensive.

Speaker 4: 35:58

So here you go, it's going to be cold too, yo, I don't know, for $10.

Speaker 4: 36:03

For $10. Yeah, I hope, not no. So they give us that book and that really does provide us with some guidance. And then I can't remember, I think it was early February they had an all overnight town meeting in Des Moines and all day meeting in Des Moines, and so we went there, our executive committee did, and they had the alcohol, tobacco, firearms. They talked about all the laws and regulations I'm going to get our title wrong, but, like you know, the health inspector lady and then who would know all the rules for the vendors and how to handle all that.

Speaker 4: 36:43

I was super glad I wasn't in those planning committees because that's a lot.

Speaker 2: 36:48

Sounds pretty serious.

Speaker 4: 36:49

Yeah, which is good. We don't want bikers getting sick. We don't want anybody selling things that's not been tested or is not coming from a good kitchen. So all there for good reason. But it's a lot of information. But the part that I found most helpful of that day is they actually brought in a panel of people who were on the executive committees in every overnight town last year.

Speaker 2: 37:12

Okay.

Speaker 4: 37:13

And so they had some pre-planned questions that they asked them and then we had a chance to ask questions as well, and that was really helpful. I think the big difference from last year to this year is town size. Like I said, we're very different from Ames, but we're also very different from a town smaller than us.

Speaker 4: 37:34

Like Pocahontas yeah, Pocahontas, Pocahontas yeah which you know a town like that, it seems like it's really easy and they plan these town celebrations and do all this all the time and they have just a super tight network and everyone's like, okay, yep, here's what we do, this is your job, and so I think we're just kind of in that weird middle ground of town size. So you know, I feel like there was. If you're in a small town like Pocahontas, every group has a job and you're just everybody's gonna do it. I think that's been a little difficult here in Iowa is right, bri is actually coming through on what is called the Dead Week in high school sports, and so it's the one week a year that coaches. There's no weightlifting, there's no school camps, there's no school practices. So many many families are already on vacation that week.

Speaker 2: 38:27

Oh, okay.

Speaker 4: 38:28

Because that's their. That's the one week that they knew they were gonna be free. We have had lots of people change their vacations and stick around to help Monday and then they'll head out Tuesday. So I am grateful for that, but that's been a little bit of a challenge in our planning as well. But no, so, reg, I would say once or twice a month to our meetings Our committee, our executive committee in Carroll, we meet every Tuesday morning. We have, since January, meet for an hour or two and we just talk through it all every time committee reports, budgets, web and publicity, beverage, garden entertainment. We just go through it all, and so it's just insane how much goes into it. I mean, you think about the signage, directional signs, labeling, trash cans all the little things are starting to kind of come up now, like, okay, we've got the big picture, I'm gonna think about all these little things.

Speaker 2: 39:31

And I forget how much, but when we interviewed Matt, we interviewed him the day after the route announcement party at Red Bride headquarters and he had told us that each town was getting a lump sum of money. I'm not asking you how much here, and I don't really care but their portion that they give you. Does that enough to get everything going, or does the town also have to come up with some funds as well to make this all happen, or we have to come up with some ourselves.

Speaker 4: 39:59

So what we did? I'm trying to think here how we started. We were lucky enough to have a gentleman give us a $10,000 donation right off the bat and so that kind of kickstarted some things. Great community guy loves biking I'm sure he's done some reg brides in his day and so that kind of kickstarted it for us. And then we kind of took lead off of Mason City last year I believe they did sponsorship packages and sold them and they were able to get like a $30,000 donor.

Speaker 2: 40:40

Nice.

Speaker 4: 40:41

But part of the incentive was they had a VIP area, which we will have as well, and somebody in their town really loved would it be White Snake? Was White Snake in, who was in Mason City last year?

Speaker 2: 40:53

Oh God, I'm going. I don't even know they all run together.

Speaker 4: 40:57

It was a big band and that person was a huge fan. So, anyway, we kind of took lead from that and we have had a lot of businesses, banks, different organizations help out and make donations to help us cover costs. That being said, we need to sell a lot of beer Day of, but, yeah, we're hoping we can, you know, make enough to cover all of our expenses. It's, it's, it's funny. It's kind of a misconception I found out. Lots of people in town had the perception that in 2011, the city raked in a bunch of money from Raig Brigh, and that is just not true.

Speaker 2: 41:43

Gotcha.

Speaker 4: 41:44

It's what you bring in you're pretty much using and to pay for everything, and then, if we make anything, it all gets donated back to local charities. So and then, yes, of course I know there'll be a check presentation at the pork tornadoes, but I don't know for what.

Speaker 2: 42:02

I forget how much. I mean, I don't even know if I know. I think he might have said a number, but I don't remember. But but, ladies and gentlemen, you're here to hear first, right here, you must buy a beer in Carol Iowa, or two. You're thinking about a beer or two, or three. Help out, help out the city of Carol Iowa.

Speaker 3: 42:22

So that's right, because I think it's funny. You're sitting there talking about how you got started. Like I said, I come from, I'm in, I live in a small town where population about 5,000. And anytime something comes up, we started off of the bake sale. Yep, Dan, that's that's our solution we're having a bake sale. Well, we can't bake sale our way to financing a Raig Brigh type event. So it's interesting to see what you have to do to do that.

Speaker 4: 42:47

Yeah, I actually. We have one really cool thing too that's going to be unique. So when you come to town, help check it out. One of our gals who works at the chamber had gone down to Tucson on vacation right before the announcement and she saw this bicycle. It was an old bicycle that someone had taken the seat and the handlebars off of and put a table top on.

Speaker 2: 43:08

That's cool. I've seen that.

Speaker 4: 43:10

Oh, that's so cool, like, so simple. We should, we should make some of these and put them around. Well, this project is really snowballed, and so we've made 20 tables out of old donated bicycles. We have a college in town, Des Moines area community college, and their welding program helped with taking the doing the handlebars and the seats and then they welded the wheel so they don't move and it's on a little stand.

Speaker 2: 43:37

I love it.

Speaker 4: 43:38

And then they cut out a state of Iowa and then put our Carol logo on it, and so that's mounted on the bike. And then we found local artists to paint the table tops.

Speaker 2: 43:52

That's awesome, they would.

Speaker 4: 43:54

And if you would have asked me if I thought these table tops were gonna turn out how they did, I would have said no way, they are amazing. I mean I just went and asked people that I knew were art teachers. Some were students. One is a Luke Kwant. He owns Kwantz Customs Coatings in town. He has this machine which is like a huge printer and wood etched our logo and the gang's all here on it and we resented it. So I mean there's all sorts of different tops.

Speaker 3: 44:31

So are you selling those, auctioning them off? How are you raising money with those Cause? That's a great idea.

Speaker 4: 44:37

Yeah. So again, we didn't anticipate these to turn out as neat as they are and unique as they are, but what we're going to do is we're going to take all the bikes and have a QR code on them and we're going to have an auction site.

Speaker 1: 44:49

I love it.

Speaker 4: 44:50

Silent auction and so you can go, look at all the tables and if you want to bid, you can bid, and then I believe we're also going to have like a buy now option. So let's say you're there, you have your support vehicle and you're like I want this table and I want to take it right now cause I'm leaving, you know what. I don't want to come back to Carol and get it. We'd have a buy now option as well, so you could take it that night.

Speaker 3: 45:11

So I need a shipping. Auction is what I need. I know, you know cause they sound really cool. I'd love to have one. I just don't know how I get it home.

Speaker 4: 45:19

I know. I have to work on that we have to check it out. And then, yeah, but yeah, it's been a really, really fun project to watch develop. And you know, you give an artist a board and say, hey, can you paint this? It's for Reg Brice. So maybe something bicycle themed, iowa themed, and to see how each person comes up with something so unique and different is really cool.

Speaker 3: 45:42

Incredible idea.

Speaker 2: 45:43

That's, that's. That's to me that sounds awesome. I mean I, you know, I think about the getting it back to Michigan. I will have a van on the east side of the state.

Speaker 4: 45:53

I mean I could always make the trip even longer, but yeah you know, we'll figure it out for you, we'll have to check it out, so we're definitely gonna check it out.

Speaker 2: 46:01

We'll for sure check it out and we'll actually be doing some recording along the state, and we could actually even talk about it and throw one of the QR code links into the show so Absolutely. So we know that you have lots of food vendors that are coming in town. Being on the executive committee, I don't want to put you in a hard spot. All I want to know is is there one that you're really looking forward to?

Speaker 4: 46:24

Well, I do have a favorite, because it's a local it's a local thing, but you've probably seen it before Cookies barbecue, the cookies rip wagon. Yeah, yep, yep, yep, so they're kind of near and dear to my heart and my friend Angie. She works at a place called New Hope Village here in Carroll and they're actually sponsoring them and doing it as a fundraiser. So that's cool. I've got two reasons. It's a great, it's a great organization that we have, and so it supports a great cause. Plus, I love the barbecue.

Speaker 2: 46:56

So that's great. I need to get away from my normal. Last year I kept seeing the big red food truck. Oh, the big red truck, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3: 47:04

And you'll be crazy with that big red truck.

Speaker 2: 47:07

And every time I would say I'm getting something else next time and we get in town and sit, and then I would sit down and he goes I see you got something else there.

Speaker 1: 47:17

So I get the same thing, and then, when I got home, my credit card showed big red truck, big red truck, you know.

Speaker 2: 47:23

So there you go.

Speaker 4: 47:25

No, we have and we have. We have a couple of nonprofits, you know, having food stands. We have some churches serving. I think I know our school one of the schools at the main campground is serving a pasta dinner, so hopefully that's successful. The other school, which is having showers they won't have as many campers right there so I don't know if they're doing a meal or not. I think that was still kind of being decided. But yeah, we'll have plenty of food vendors down in the area Any.

Speaker 2: 47:55

Michael and I were Boy Scouts when we were younger.

Speaker 1: 47:58

Are. This are the.

Speaker 2: 47:59

Scouts or Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts? We weren't Girl Scouts, but are Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H Club doing anything?

Speaker 4: 48:05

You know I've talked to them. I don't have them assigned for a specific task. So, I go more Working on it. Again the dead week is just so hard. It's just been so hard.

Speaker 2: 48:16

And sports is big there, right? I mean like okay.

Speaker 4: 48:21

And so I think we're unique and we're one of, I think we're the only states, I think, or one of two, that still has summer sports. So our baseball and softball season are going on right now, all summer long.

Speaker 2: 48:33

Wow.

Speaker 4: 48:34

So that's why they were like when I was growing up there was hardly a day off between the end of softball and when you go into volleyball.

Speaker 2: 48:43

Gotcha.

Speaker 4: 48:44

So the unions have really worked on shortening our summer schedules and making sure that families have that time to go somewhere and do something and give the kids some rest. So this is actually only the second year of dead week, okay, but I know it's like people are really utilizing it, which is great.

Speaker 3: 49:01

It's great. Well, everyone stay in town because, guess what? The circus is coming so.

Speaker 4: 49:05

That's right. That's right. It's going to be a fire when the party's coming to you.

Speaker 3: 49:09

Entertainment's coming to you for at least 24 hours, so why?

Speaker 2: 49:12

not, and, ladies and gentlemen, buy a beer in town, so and buy a beer, at least two or two.

Speaker 4: 49:19

Yes, for sure.

Speaker 2: 49:20

The last question that I would have. I'm going to turn the floor over to Michael. He's usually got a couple of history points and some questions sometimes, but let's talk about cleanup. Every time that we've ever talked to somebody, they say that. Well, first of all, in our experience, cyclists are usually pretty clean as a community by themselves. The only problem that Michael and I have ever seen over the years is full trash cans, where the cyclist has wanted to go to the trash can to keep the town clean. Unfortunately, the trash can was full, so that's the only time we never see people just littering and everything. But does Raghbri help with cleanup the next morning, or is that? Oh, is that 100% the executive committee?

Speaker 4: 49:58

It's all on us. I think that's all on us. I mean that we have the plan Okay, definitely in place. So I'm trying to think if there was any involvement from them, but I think they're moving on.

Speaker 3: 50:08

Gotcha, because I know in 2018,. Adam, we were slow at getting out of I can't remember the name of the town second morning and Raghbri actually had a street sweeper that was coming to town sweeping. Really yeah but I mean, that was back in 2018, though 2018, yeah.

Speaker 4: 50:28

Yeah, I don't know of anything like that, but you're spot on and the fact that everybody has said it's not going to be a mess, Like you're going to have to maybe clean up around the garbage cans or fill your roll offs. But they said people respect the property and they clean up after themselves. So you know, in the big ventures or the charters they have the staff members that kind of check the area as well.

Speaker 4: 50:59

So, pork belly ventures. I think they said they have 20 staff members and they'll just stick around, maybe more. I might be getting my number wrong there but oh, that's okay, but they'll stick around and they'll make sure the area is cleaned up.

Speaker 2: 51:14

So yeah, normally the charter we use, we watch. It's like a family affair and they police the whole area themselves and clean everything up and it's amazing, I mean. And of course they want to do that because they want to be able to be chosen when it comes back through in 11 years from now or whatever.

Speaker 4: 51:30

So you know, yeah, and to get a good spot and be respected as a big deal, cause it doesn't take much. I mean, definitely there's and I can't even remember the names of teams, but people will tell you oh, this team was very disrespectful, I would not have them on my property. That's few and far between, by the way, but you know, overall it's the exact opposite. But if a team makes a bad impression, it doesn't take long for people to learn that either.

Speaker 2: 52:01

So yeah, it's in my old days of owning my business. I mean you can make a bunch of people happy at one time and you can make. You know people will scream about you. If you make them upset they will. They'll tell everybody.

Speaker 4: 52:14

Yeah, most definitely so, but overall I have heard nothing but good things. I actually kind of had a unique experience. We kind of had a hotel issue, just little communication mishap and our hotel, like two of them, got double booked and overbooked. And so in dealing with the issue, we just decided the best way to do it is we needed the hotel rooms for the state patrolmen, the EMTs, the Ray Brice Draft that travel with the ride. So we decided best solution we're gonna call the riders who have booked rooms and see if they'd be willing to give up their hotel room so that these people could stay together in one space, you know, and have a good night sleep. And so what's funny is I start telling the story and everyone goes oh, did you just get your butt chewed? Did everyone just chew you out?

Speaker 2: 53:10

And I was like absolutely not.

Speaker 4: 53:12

I said there was not one person who was like oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened. I would approach them and say this is a situation we need the rooms for that. Oh, absolutely, no problem, absolutely They'd give up the room. So it was fun for me because then I kind of asked each rider I talked to, I said so, tell me a little bit about yourself, the group you're traveling with, and it was fun to hear their stories and why they're doing the ride. And you know they all have different routines, but most get into about dinner time and then they want to like to shower, go downtown but are in bed by 10 and then you know they go on. So it really is. It's a very getting to talk to those people. It's just you know they're real people too. They're not out here. I think sometimes Reg Bra can get the stigma of being this big bike ride where you party all week long and you know it does it does.

Speaker 4: 54:06

you're absolutely right, it does which it is it's fun, but you know there's also the people who are doing it the whole week. They gotta find a little balance.

Speaker 2: 54:15

And there's more than that for me. Like I said, I had no more questions, but my story is there are so many Iowans that I have just sat on their lawn or their porch and I mean, there was a woman who she said oh, where are you from? And I said I'm from Michigan. She said you come all the way out here for this and I said yes, and she said why do you do this? And I explained that you know, it's just one of those things where it's just a passion I love to do. It love to cross the state, I love to meet new people and have good stories. And then, all of a sudden, by the time we were done, and she said well, what about bathrooms? I said, well, I'm gonna leave your porch, ma'am, and go to the bathroom. She said no, you're not. You're gonna go right in there and use the bathroom right inside my house there.

Speaker 2: 54:55

So I have met somebody. That's a win-win. So that was you know. I thought to myself you're pretty brave. I've been on the road for like eight hours over here, but she was a beautiful human being. So the amount of people that I've met and that makes me feel good that you, the double booking and the cyclist being like, absolutely, you know, let's take care of the, let's take care of EMS, let's take care of the people. You know Iowa State Patrol and helping us out, so that's awesome.

Speaker 4: 55:22

Yeah, it truly was amazing. Just I get, and not that I expected people to be mean, but I didn't expect people to be so eager and willing to be like oh yeah, yeah, that's fine, Find me housing Sure, sure, whatever works, it's like okay. So we did and that's done. That's awesome, that's checked off the list.

Speaker 2: 55:42

Yeah, those are one of those moments where you go, oh my gosh, I'm not gonna make anybody happy with this. And then when you're done, you're like whoo, that was easier than I thought I got out of that one.

Speaker 4: 55:50

So yeah, yeah, yep, and there are good people in the world. That's cool it just, it was one of those good moments, feel good moments, so for sure.

Speaker 3: 55:58

Michael Well, awesome, you know. I mean we pretty much answered most of my questions. I guess a big question that I would have. Number one I do have to say I was a history guy. I am a history guy, have a degree in history and used to teach history and all that kind of stuff. But I found it interesting that Carol is in fact named after Charles Carroll, who was the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, which I think is very interesting.

Speaker 4: 56:31

They are a very Catholic community. There's a lot of Catholics in Carol.

Speaker 3: 56:34

So I found that very fascinating that that was the person that you guys chose to name your town after. So it was a very interesting piece. Now I think my last question would be is what is one thing other than by several beers that you would like writers on Raghbride to know about Carol Ooh.

Speaker 4: 56:59

Or some event you're doing or something.

Speaker 3: 57:02

What, as a writer, should I know or go do when I'm in Carol?

Speaker 4: 57:07

I, you know just.

Speaker 3: 57:12

Buy beer.

Speaker 4: 57:13

Buy beer, yeah.

Speaker 3: 57:15

I would say some more, Carol.

Speaker 4: 57:16

I think just immersing yourself in it, talking to the people. I think our festival area is going to be really cool Downtown. It's long and so we actually on the one end is going to be the main stage with the pork tornadoes and the ax leading up to it and that's kind of our main beverage garden area. But it isn't just a beer garden where you have to be 21 to enter and once you're in there you have to stay in there and drink a beer. We have four blocks. That is all a festival area, so you can get a drink or a beer and walk and see the thing.

Speaker 4: 57:51

So if you grab a beer at the beer garden, go to the food vendors, sit down and eat your food while having a beer. You can do that, that's a little different than it was in 2011.

Speaker 4: 58:02

I think more towns are going to that type of a setup more than I. Fenced in beer garden. It's kind of more family friendly. But yeah, just not forgetting to walk, because even if you continue to walk from our main festival area, you'll continue when you go down where our food vendors are and you'll get to our movie theater. And I think somewhere in there our bike tables will be set up too for display. But our movie theater showing shift the red, bright documentary.

Speaker 2: 58:33

They're going to show that several times throughout the day. Awesome, that's awesome.

Speaker 4: 58:36

That's kind of neat and I think it's going to be matinee prices so they'll have popcorn candy. So if you need to cool down, nice place to relax, That'll be right in the festival area and then our library and our city government building are right there and there's a little grassy area in our courthouse and you walk between that and we have the Moose Lodge and we have Carol Brewing Company.

Speaker 2: 58:59

Nice.

Speaker 4: 59:00

And at the end of that road we have another stage and that's going to have musical acts on it earlier in the day.

Speaker 2: 59:05

Okay.

Speaker 4: 59:06

So kind of a little smaller venue to start out as people slowly trickle in and then hopefully everybody ends up over at the the big beer garden later in the night. But we have several restaurants in our festival area as well Bars, curbs brothers, the Lisco pizza ranch, a bunch of them, so any of those that sell alcohol you'll be able to get a wristband at, and then you can take that and walk as well.

Speaker 2: 59:30

So you're going to sell it. You're from my own brand, right? So I'll be collecting my wristbands.

Speaker 4: 59:34

Yeah, exactly right, You'll have an arm call, that's right.

Speaker 3: 59:38

Well, this is cool if your theater is showing shift, because we actually talked about the shift movie in our last podcast, so that would be awesome if we would be able to have an opportunity to see it.

Speaker 4: 59:50

Yes, so I think they're still working on exact show times. The other cool thing have you talked, has anybody talked to you about the wheat pasting?

Speaker 2: 1:00:01

No.

Speaker 4: 1:00:02

Okay, so this was a really cool project and it's happening in all the towns along the route. There's a gentleman named Isaac Campbell and I might screw up this, but it's called Fort upon Iowa and he has started this with some friends and they basically are working on archiving and saving old photographs from the state of Iowa, and so they're digitizing them all and getting them file. But what he does is he does this thing called wheat pasting, so he basically we shared a couple of pictures with him, along with all the other towns on the route, and he's made these into huge murals that will be put up on businesses in each town.

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

That's awesome.

Speaker 4: 1:00:48

So we're going to have two of them. One of them will be in our festival area and it's both are actually going up the day of Reg Brite, so he will travel along with Reg Brite and put these up. So we have eight to 12 volunteers that will come that morning with him and he'll teach them about the process, and it's because it is a temporary mirror that goes up and then, whenever you want you power wash it off.

Speaker 2: 1:01:12

So we have two really cool, except when he leaves town and everyone glosses over it, so it never goes away.

Speaker 4: 1:01:18

So yeah, that's what we should do, because it's really cool. Well, that's cool. One particular picture we have is it's of the Sockrail Trail that I mentioned before, the bike trail and it's two gentlemen who've been pretty forward thinking and have done a lot to make that trail happen Awesome, and two very carol proud citizens, and so I'm really excited for them to see that. And then another one that's going to be on our library is an old picture of the carol merchants baseball team back in the 1950s because that's actually how our stadium got started was actually.

Speaker 4: 1:02:05

My great grandfather was Bill Farner and he's the mayor at the time and he kind of started this whole baseball team. The carol merchants, our government building slash library, is named after him, and so the picture that will go on there has him in the picture. That's awesome so that'll be a neat old picture to go on the library.

Speaker 2: 1:02:27

So you know, Michael, when you said you had a guest, I didn't realize you had a like a knock of the knock it out of the park guest. This is awesome. You want me to get that famous?

Speaker 4: 1:02:37

I don't mind, you want me to book stuff at him.

Speaker 2: 1:02:39

I'm going to book the best, so I mean that's, that's all right, that's great Well this, this sounds exciting.

Speaker 4: 1:02:45

You know, you have to look for him in every town I've seen our mockups are not done yet, but I have had a sneak preview of Sioux cities and Ames. He also does another really cool thing which he was trying to get funded and it wasn't going to happen, but now it is. So that'll be a projection screen up on a building somewhere each town, but it's got the old pictures and he's put animation to it. So he's a very talented guy and what he does is very cool.

Speaker 4: 1:03:18

He's super passionate about it, so that's cool. Yeah, I think it's a great place to be in each town so this.

Speaker 3: 1:03:23

This is this is going to be. This is going to be great. You know I appreciate you sharing all this information with us. Katie, you know wheat pasting shift, the documentary, a big festival area. Carol, really sounds like a fun place and I'm looking forward to visiting your, your community, and hopefully we'll run into you while we're there.

Speaker 4: 1:03:45

Yeah, I'll be running around, so I hope you find me.

Speaker 2: 1:03:48

I do too.

Speaker 4: 1:03:50

I would love it, so yeah well, if you haven't found your Iowa legendary ride by then, I'll make sure you do.

Speaker 2: 1:03:57

If you find me first. Oh right, that's perfect.

Speaker 4: 1:04:00

I'll have a green shirt on and I'll be down there, so we'll be looking for you. Yeah, for sure I might have a golf cart too, so if we need it to get to legendary ride don't tell anyone else.

Speaker 2: 1:04:10

All right, I don't. I won't tell anyone else that.

Speaker 4: 1:04:12

We're on risk.

Speaker 2: 1:04:14

That's okay, I trust you, so cool.

Speaker 3: 1:04:17

Cool. Yeah, I think that's all I anything else, but I think that's the thing.

Speaker 2: 1:04:21

You have. No, I just Katie. I just want to say thank you from from Michael and myself from being on our show and, and you know, we, we talk all things cycling and normally we, you talk about our adventures. We normally don't talk about the adventures that are about to come up, but I don't think I've been more excited to come to one of the overnight towns before. So I am, I am, I am, I'm super excited. Normally I just say out, whatever happens, when I get there, or when I get there, I get there and and the goal is just, like you mentioned, some of those cyclists, my goal is first thing is a shower, second thing is some grub, and usually it's finding a libation, but this year it's going to be a beer. I'm going to support Carol with a beer, so, and then maybe, maybe, I'll have some of the Iowa legendary rise.

Speaker 4: 1:05:07

So there you go.

Speaker 2: 1:05:08

No, michael, I'm good, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 1:05:11

Well, I think that wraps it up. I just have one thing to say, Katie what is today?

Speaker 4: 1:05:19

Today is a great day for a bike ride.

Speaker 2: 1:05:21

Excellent, thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:05:24

Thank you. Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on road adventures with cycling men of leisure. If you have enjoyed this, please subscribe to the show on the podcast app of your choice.