For the uninitiated, RAGBRAI stands for the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. It's a weeklong trek of about 10,000 bicyclists, who ride roughly 60-80 miles per day from the western to eastern border of Iowa. (If you need to know more go to ragbrai.com.)
2010 marked the 38th RAGBRAI. I've been on all or parts of 9 or 10 of them, including the third RAGBRAI when I was just short of 11 years old. Owning a 10-speed bike was a big deal then; helmets and biking jerseys were not.
This year I rode from Sioux City to Storm Lake on Sunday (72 miles) and Storm Lake to Algona on Monday (100 miles). (If you followed me on Twitter at @streffbuddy, you'd have received rolling updates!) RAGBRAI has evolved over the years, and mostly in a good way, with a few exceptions. Here are my thoughts from this year's ride:
*The average age of riders keeps going up. The aren't so many in the 20-29 age group anymore, and that used to be the main age not so long ago. RAGBRAI is slightly more family-friendly now, and it's mostly comprised of people in their 30s and 40s, and plenty in their 50s.
*RAGBRAI riders used to be in better shape than they are now. About half of today's riders would be considered overweight, and wearing tight bike shorts doesn't help their appearance. This may be correlated to the average age being higher, but it more directly correlates with Americans' poor diets. Even factoring in what can be burned off during a 450 mile week of bike riding, I'd say many riders have a net weight during RAGBRAI week, plue they generally eat and drink too much and don't exercise enough for the other 51 weeks of the year.
*Speaking of caloric intake, while there is a lot of food and beer consumed during the ride, there really aren't enough food and beverage vendors along the way. I think most communities on the route simply can't get their mind around how much eating and drinking is done by the thousands of riders in a short period of time. Lines have become way too long. In conjunction with this, there aren't enough portable toilets, either. Plenty of tall corn on the roadsides, though.
*The ride and riders are much safer now. I never saw a single rider without a helmet. Law enforcement keeps vehicles off of the route in both directions, and there are ambulances dispersed at short intervals. Still, there were several crashes, some serious. I personlly saw two riders go down crossing some railroad tracks. (They were going slow so they were not seriously injured, other than bruised egos.)
*What once was a given on RAGBRAI - church-run pie stands - has suddenly become obsolete. I saw a total of two places selling pie, in two days, and one of them had run out. It seems like the only sweets being sold on the route now are cookies and bars. I'm used to having one or two pieces of fruit pie every day on the ride. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE PIE ON RAGBRAI?
In summary, RAGBRAI is still a fun and challenging endeavor. Everybody should put it on their bucket list, at least for a day or two.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Politics And The Tyson Zone
One of my favorite sportswriters/columnists, hands down, is Bill Simmons "The Sports Guy" of ESPN. (P.S. You should follow him on Twitter @sportsguy33.) He writes entertaining, epic length columns full of pop culture references.
Over the years, Simmons has also coined a number of phrases for which he associates and ranks a group of people or things. For example, a recurring Simmons topic is the "13 Levels of Losing" where he defines and ranks the most painful ways for a sports team to lose, like the "Stomach Punch" (a game that ends with an opponent making an improbable and game-winning play).
One of Simmons' other themes is called "The Tyson Zone," and named in honor of boxer Mike Tyson. The Tyson Zone is the status an athlete or other celebrity reaches when his or her behavior becomes so outrageous that one would believe any story or anecdote about the person, no matter how shocking or bizarre.
I've been thinking about how The Tyson Zone applies to so many people now on the political landscape. There might be a waiting list at this point, given all of the strange extremist views coming from Tea Party activists (I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin) and media goofballs (I'm looking at you, everybody on Fox News). And yes, there are plenty of Democrats that belong in it, too.
But there is a special place reserved in The Tyson Zone for Iowa's own Congressman Steve King. Over the years his greatest hits include openly insensitive remarks disparaging minorities, homosexuals, immigrants, Muslims - basically anybody who doesn't look or think like him. Dude has already earned a lifetime membership in The Tyson Zone.
If Steve King is a member of The Tyson Zone, what about all of the people who keep voting to re-relect him? It doesn't say a lot for them. On the other hand, when Mike Tyson went berzerko, it didn't stop poeple from going to his fights, either. Maybe King's constituents have been hypnotized in the same way.
Regardless, I'm convinced if you peeled back Steve King's skin you'd find some primordal creature underneath. He is.....a Martian.....in The Tyson Zone.
Over the years, Simmons has also coined a number of phrases for which he associates and ranks a group of people or things. For example, a recurring Simmons topic is the "13 Levels of Losing" where he defines and ranks the most painful ways for a sports team to lose, like the "Stomach Punch" (a game that ends with an opponent making an improbable and game-winning play).
One of Simmons' other themes is called "The Tyson Zone," and named in honor of boxer Mike Tyson. The Tyson Zone is the status an athlete or other celebrity reaches when his or her behavior becomes so outrageous that one would believe any story or anecdote about the person, no matter how shocking or bizarre.
I've been thinking about how The Tyson Zone applies to so many people now on the political landscape. There might be a waiting list at this point, given all of the strange extremist views coming from Tea Party activists (I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin) and media goofballs (I'm looking at you, everybody on Fox News). And yes, there are plenty of Democrats that belong in it, too.
But there is a special place reserved in The Tyson Zone for Iowa's own Congressman Steve King. Over the years his greatest hits include openly insensitive remarks disparaging minorities, homosexuals, immigrants, Muslims - basically anybody who doesn't look or think like him. Dude has already earned a lifetime membership in The Tyson Zone.
If Steve King is a member of The Tyson Zone, what about all of the people who keep voting to re-relect him? It doesn't say a lot for them. On the other hand, when Mike Tyson went berzerko, it didn't stop poeple from going to his fights, either. Maybe King's constituents have been hypnotized in the same way.
Regardless, I'm convinced if you peeled back Steve King's skin you'd find some primordal creature underneath. He is.....a Martian.....in The Tyson Zone.
Friday, July 16, 2010
No Time For Timing
Most investors who want to move their funds out of the stock market regard their potential action as a temporary move to the sidelines, rather than a permanent decision. Their proposed strategy is to “time the market” and attempt to ride out the storm in the shelter of the harbor, only to set sail again when the weather improves.
The volatility of the past quarter has once again led some down this market timing path, but there are obvious problems with this tactic. Perhaps the main one is, once an investor decides to leave the stock market, exactly when should they return?
Investors may believe it is prudent to wait for economic stabilization as a sign the stock market will recover. However, the market is typically a leading – rather than trailing – economic indicator. So by the time the weather appears clear from the harbor, the tide may have already gone out.
In truth, correctly timing your exit and entry to the stock market is sheer luck. If it were as simple as some claim, millions would be doing it and getting very rich in the process, promoting themselves and their timing strategy.
Consider this: How many so-called investment experts correctly got out of the stock market completely by October 2007 and moved into government bonds, then bought back stocks again in early March 2009, and then reversed course back to cash and bonds again in early 2010?
The short answer is, NONE. Most investors who played the timing game left the stock market between October 2007 and March 2009, and then re-entered later in 2009. They sold low, bought high, and felt miserable in the process.
As I’ve stated many times, no one can predict the future, and no one should attempt to time the stock market. By maintaining a long-term strategic asset allocation (the amount split between stocks/bonds), and practicing disciplined, periodic rebalancing, investment decisions can be based on personal needs and risk appetites, and not on the emotion of the moment.
Uncertainty will always be an integral part of investing (and life). No one has or will come up with a consistently successful strategy for timing the market, and investors would be much better off focusing on things they can control.
The volatility of the past quarter has once again led some down this market timing path, but there are obvious problems with this tactic. Perhaps the main one is, once an investor decides to leave the stock market, exactly when should they return?
Investors may believe it is prudent to wait for economic stabilization as a sign the stock market will recover. However, the market is typically a leading – rather than trailing – economic indicator. So by the time the weather appears clear from the harbor, the tide may have already gone out.
In truth, correctly timing your exit and entry to the stock market is sheer luck. If it were as simple as some claim, millions would be doing it and getting very rich in the process, promoting themselves and their timing strategy.
Consider this: How many so-called investment experts correctly got out of the stock market completely by October 2007 and moved into government bonds, then bought back stocks again in early March 2009, and then reversed course back to cash and bonds again in early 2010?
The short answer is, NONE. Most investors who played the timing game left the stock market between October 2007 and March 2009, and then re-entered later in 2009. They sold low, bought high, and felt miserable in the process.
As I’ve stated many times, no one can predict the future, and no one should attempt to time the stock market. By maintaining a long-term strategic asset allocation (the amount split between stocks/bonds), and practicing disciplined, periodic rebalancing, investment decisions can be based on personal needs and risk appetites, and not on the emotion of the moment.
Uncertainty will always be an integral part of investing (and life). No one has or will come up with a consistently successful strategy for timing the market, and investors would be much better off focusing on things they can control.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Best Song Lyrics (Part II)
How about this from Dave Matthews Band in their song, Grey Street, about how some people aren't willing or able to break free from the drudgery of their lives.
There's a stranger speaks outside her door
Says take what you can from your dreams
Make them as real as anything
It'd take the work out of courage
But she says "Please
There's a crazy man that's creeping outside my door,
I live on the corner of Grey Street
And the end of the world. "
There's an emptiness inside her
And she'll do anyrthing to fill it in
And though it's red blood bleeding from her now
It's more like cold blue ice in her heart
She feels like kicking out all the windows
And setting fire to this life
She could change everything about her
Using colors bold and bright
But all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart
There's a stranger speaks outside her door
Says take what you can from your dreams
Make them as real as anything
It'd take the work out of courage
But she says "Please
There's a crazy man that's creeping outside my door,
I live on the corner of Grey Street
And the end of the world. "
There's an emptiness inside her
And she'll do anyrthing to fill it in
And though it's red blood bleeding from her now
It's more like cold blue ice in her heart
She feels like kicking out all the windows
And setting fire to this life
She could change everything about her
Using colors bold and bright
But all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Return Of the Blog
What do you call a blog with no entries in nearly a month?
Not a blog.
So I've been busy. Trust me, it hasn't been for a lack of things to write about.
I shall soon return with a steady stream of insight.....
Not a blog.
So I've been busy. Trust me, it hasn't been for a lack of things to write about.
I shall soon return with a steady stream of insight.....
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