GRABAAWR versus RAGBRAI

A friend and I are doing the Wisconsin cross-state ride in June (GRABAAWR). I'm suggesting we do
the "hotel/motel" thing, since our bodies are not exactly young. He wants to camp at the
schools, because he heard bike camps were "wild and crazy" parties. I think he's mistaking
RAGBRAI for GRABAAWR.

Anybody been on both? Or can comment on the Wisconsin ride?

Thx

 

Joe,

I have never done RAGBRAI, although I have done GRABAAWR five times. I would not characterize the
camp sites at the schools on GRABAAWR as wild and crazy.... more staid and civilized. According to
the brochure that the staff provided, the average age of the riders last year was 48 years old and
there were 1050 participants. Every year the average age increases by one year, probably due to
returning participants.

I have done a few trip reports on our GRABAAWR experiences. You can find them on my homepage:

http://www.usinternet.com/users/jkruzkarr/homepage.html

Good luck and maybe we'll see you in early July.

Jim

"Joseph Goett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend and I are doing the Wisconsin cross-state ride in June (GRABAAWR). I'm suggesting we do
> the "hotel/motel" thing, since our bodies are not exactly young. He wants to camp at the schools,
> because he heard bike camps were "wild and crazy" parties. I think he's mistaking RAGBRAI for
> GRABAAWR.
>
> Anybody been on both? Or can comment on the Wisconsin ride?
>
> Thx

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I'm also considering GRABAAWR. I've ridden RAGBRAI the last 7 years and the campgrounds I've been at
were all pretty quite; real quite after
10m. ~h~

 

"Joseph Goett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend and I are doing the Wisconsin cross-state ride in June (GRABAAWR). I'm suggesting we do
> the "hotel/motel" thing, since our bodies are not exactly young. He wants to camp at the schools,
> because he heard bike camps were "wild and crazy" parties. I think he's mistaking RAGBRAI for
> GRABAAWR.
>
> Anybody been on both? Or can comment on the Wisconsin ride?
>
> Thx

You share a common misconception about RAGBRAI. Contrary to popular myth, the average age on RAGBRAI
is early 40's with lots of families and groups of friends. The hard partiers that get all the
publicity, and who are responsible for most of the "wild" stories, represent a very small minority
of the total riders.

I've never done GRABAAWR but I'm a veteran of four RAGBRAIs. My experience with the campgrounds are
that they are generally well behaved and tend to get quiet around 9:00 and stay that way all night.

No could get away with a loud "wild and crazy" party in the campgrounds because it would never be
tolerated by the 97% of people who want to get a good night's sleep so they can have fun riding the
next day. The "wild and crazy" your friend has heard about is most likely the 2 - 5% of riders who
get carried away in the last stop before the campgrounds ("party town"), or in the bars of the
overnight towns.

People of all age camp for the week on RAGBRAI with no problem, it's part of the "experience".

 

John Downey Ann Arbor, MI 48103 [email protected] Telephone: 734-668-8757 home page:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jdowney/index.html

<\ \ \[email protected] \\\_ _/\_ (*) `- (*)

Gary Mishler <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Joseph Goett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> A friend and I are doing the Wisconsin cross-state ride in June (GRABAAWR). I'm suggesting we do
>> the "hotel/motel" thing, since our bodies are not exactly young. He wants to camp at the schools,
>> because he heard bike camps were "wild and crazy" parties. I think he's mistaking RAGBRAI for
>> GRABAAWR.
>>
>> Anybody been on both? Or can comment on the Wisconsin ride?
>>
>> Thx

> You share a common misconception about RAGBRAI. Contrary to popular myth, the average age on
> RAGBRAI is early 40's with lots of families and groups of friends. The hard partiers that get all
> the publicity, and who are responsible for most of the "wild" stories, represent a very small
> minority of the total riders.

> I've never done GRABAAWR but I'm a veteran of four RAGBRAIs. My experience with the campgrounds
> are that they are generally well behaved and tend to get quiet around 9:00 and stay that way
> all night.

> No could get away with a loud "wild and crazy" party in the campgrounds because it would never be
> tolerated by the 97% of people who want to get a good night's sleep so they can have fun riding
> the next day. The "wild and crazy" your friend has heard about is most likely the 2 - 5% of riders
> who get carried away in the last stop before the campgrounds ("party town"), or in the bars of the
> overnight towns.

> People of all age camp for the week on RAGBRAI with no problem, it's part of the "experience".

 

Joseph wrote:
> A friend and I are doing the Wisconsin cross-state ride in June (GRABAAWR). I'm suggesting we do
> the "hotel/motel" thing, since our bodies are not exactly young. He wants to camp at the schools,
> because he heard bike camps were "wild and crazy" parties. I think he's mistaking RAGBRAI for
> GRABAAWR.
>
> Anybody been on both? Or can comment on the Wisconsin ride?

Last time I was on RAGBRAI was 1990. Did GRABAAWR in '97. The weather on the latter was clear,
somewhat crisp, sometimes damp and downright chilly, which I confess to preferring to blistering
heat and no shade. Several times on RAGBRAI it seemed that various teams were holding an informal
competition to be the most disgusting/vulgar. Team Hooter in almost-see-through bright orange
shorts (these were guys; glad my young nieces weren't around). Another team with a phoenetic
spelling written all over their sag vehicles. (What's the point, and why bother?) The first year
I went on RAGBRAI (1979) some kids set up their tents near a streetlight in a park. Come
nightfall, the light came on. The kids started throwing rocks (at a Lexan globe!) to try to break
it and put out the light. Several of us chided them for it, and IIRC they ended up moving their
tent. The last year I went on RAGBRAI some inconsiderate fools in a motor home parked near tent
campers, and about 9 pm fired up their generator. Polite souls endured this for a while, then
knocked on their door. "We have to have our A/C so we can sleep," explained the RVers. "But we
can't sleep with your generator running!" explained the tenters. Tenters won. GRAB. has many
fewer people, so the facilities aren't overwhelmed, and the Wisconsin River doesn't change its
route too much so the host communities are used to the ride. Like other posters, I found the
Wisconsin riders to be mature, polite, and quiet. HTH --Karen M.