Riding With rrago_thabo
rrago_thabo has ridden his bicycle something like 6,350 miles in 2007 after a century-plus ride today with Howard. He's currently ranked #19 on the BikeJournal standings and is hoping to move up a bunch as he continues his trek across America, hopefully reaching Michigan on June 15th -- just in time for a 24-hour ride there! While he hasn't sought attention (like some of us who are tall, dark, and egomaniacal), he is a remarkable and noteworthy person who deserves it. I'm sure his friends and riding companions back home in Florida who know him and know where he comes from would certainly agree!
Anyway, Howard rode halfway up the Poudre Canyon on Monday to meet him and lead him down to Fort Collins, where he spent the night with the Howardseses.
The next morning, the two of them set off Tuesday morning for Sterling -- a rolling hills ride of 110 miles with 15 mph crosswinds the whole way. Howard's best girl met them there to bring poor Howard home, while rrago_thabo announced that he was continuing the day's ride north (tailwinds!) to Sidney, Nebraska. Nebraska would be the 44th state he's ridden his bike in. Still to come: Kansas and Michigan over the next 10 days.This guy's for real! Now for a video Howard made of their ride to Sterling...
posted by Howard at 11:37 PM
8 Comments:
That is very cool. Good luck to him in his travels! Another nice chapter in the Crazy Howard Chronicles. I'll keep an eye out for him here in the "mitten state".
John
There is a 24-hour bike ride in Middleville, Michigan on June 16 & 17 that raggo_thabo would like to ride in. To get there a day early, he'll need to ride a century a day for the next ten days! After meeting and riding with him, I'm sure he will do it!
That's just nuts! But I suppose that's why I love cyclists. Gonna have to look up Middleville....
J
Hi, I'm Cindy from Florida - friend of rrago_thabo. I'm so happy you were able to meet my "hero", trade stories and escort him through CO. Isn't he just a wonderful person and riding companion? It's nice to be able to read your post, too, because he's really out of communication with us -- EVERYONE is wondering how he's doing! He was talking about you, HK, (that's my nickname for you) several weeks before his trip so it's great to see a picture of you and Alain together. Take care and thanks for taking care of my friend, even if it was for only a short while!
Hi Cindy. Yeah, he is everything you say and more! A very gentle and decent guy. I'm very glad to have taken the chance and invited him into our home. Our ride to Sterling was windy, but they were mostly crosswinds so we made it 110 miles... with only two flat tires... where we had Subway and then he decided to turn left and use the winds to push him further to Sidney, NE -- another 40 miles! He made it too! Wednesday and today were very windy, but I see on his BikeJournal entry that he still put in over 150 miles yesterday despite headwinds. Today's wind should be from the NW, so he'll get a boost, and may even decide to swoop down into Kansas, which was his plan for when the winds cooperated.
Yeah, Alain is amazing! He'll be coming home soon. But not before riding another 1,500 miles!
Hi HK,
Yes he will be home soon but not before I meet up with him for the ride in MI. I'm flying up next week to ride the last 24 hours with Alain and to bring him a box to ship his bike home in (I'm packing my little bike & bike box inside his). My only fear is that I will want to hear all about his wonderful adventures and won't get any sleep before the ride ;)))
By the way, I couldn't watch your Sterling video from work but was able to see it just a few minutes ago. It was awesome!!! What a great job!
I check out his mileage every day also. I'm still amazed he put in over 100 on the day he arrived in Las Vegas... and your mileage isn't so bad either, HK!
Thanks for the video and mileage compliments. I ride what I think are a lot of miles on my bike... until I meet someone like Alain. Then not so much. Sounds like you might be a BikeJournalist. If so, do you dare tell me the name you go by there?
You didn't say double dare! But I'll tell you anyway. I am Krasna... Krasna_Devitsa to be exact. It's a name my riding partner from Belarus called me and it stuck. I was a little ahead of you in BJ shortly before Alain left, but you have surpassed me in recent weeks. :) I'll have to make you my target :))
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