454 miles complete!

Our last day of riding began in Coralville and proceeded through Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa and the former state capital), West Branch, Springdale, Moscow, Durant, Wilton, Walcott and finally into the Mississippi River town of Davenport.

Each town once again had its own signature means of attracting and encouraging the riders. In West Branch (birthplace of Herbert Hoover), you could naturally have your picture taken with the former President’s likeness. In Wilton, a banjo serenade greeted us. And of course in Davenport, seemingly every front yard and street corner was lined with local residents offering their shouts of “Congratulations.”

With each passing mile the Build Our Ballpark team’s fatigued legs felt a bit stronger as we neared the end of our journey, and once the mighty Mississippi was in sight we nearly sprinted to the finish. This was aided, of course, by a terrific downhill ride off of the river hills which, with thoughtful planning, included two EMT teams in case the speed got the best of the riders or their bikes. At journey’s end we found the grand river also well outside of its banks, owing to the huge rains the region has experienced this summer – just like the Missouri River at the start of the ride.

Our team arrived within minutes of each other and we did so intact (thankfully), after these many days. Gliding to a stop at the river, we had a feeling of both exhaustion from the past week, and relief and accomplishment for tackling the challenge of 454 miles, 22,000 vertical feet of climbing, heat, humidity, rain, broken roads and sore muscles. Importantly, we did so as a team.

And as we packed our bikes and headed home, the feeling was that we had experienced something very special. We had had the privilege provided to us by RAGBRAI of seeing a side of Iowa that most don’t see – the small towns and truly warm and special people who occupy this state. They turned out in droves to offer support, entertainment, food and hospitality, really asking only that we enjoy ourselves and stay safe along the way – simple, unassuming and heartwarming.

So we end on a note of gratitude and thanks. To the folks at the Des Moines Register and Bike World of Iowa for making RAGBRAI and our team’s ride possible; to the great people at Build Our Ballpark for helping us get our daily reports out to each of you; and to the lovely people of Iowa, who are truly good people.

And, a special thanks to all of you who have supported us in this ride with your donations and words of encouragement. To date, the organization has completed seven ballparks with six more under construction and eight more in the planning, giving hundreds of kids a chance to experience part of the joy of being a kid. Thank you!

Best regards,

Bob Hellman

Little Leaguers provide inspiration on Day 6

This was destined to be a rough one from the start, and delivered in every sense of the word: 75 miles from start to finish, not a cloud in the sky, temperatures over 95 degrees with high humidity, and LOTS of rolling hills. As we rode from Grinnell to Coralville, and passing through Brooklyn, Victor, Ladora, Marengo, Amanas, Homestead, and Oxford, we saw a true cross section of Iowa.

We started with a big dose of inspiration, meeting with Little League and youth baseball folks in Brooklyn (IA, not NY – we didn’t go that far off course). One of the themes that motivate us at Build Our Ballpark is a favorite quote from an educator in Waterloo, Iowa, Dr. Walter Cunningham, who used to say, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

The leadership for youth sports in the town of Brooklyn clearly demonstrates that, where through a huge amount of volunteer effort and community support, they’ve nearly completed building a terrific set of sports complexes. These complexes include baseball fields for Little League, girl’s softball, and high school baseball. Parents, educators and coaches taking a charge and making it happen – with tremendous results. And the girls were out in force selling fruit cups to help raise funds to finish the effort – lights and a new scoreboard being their goal. We were so inspired by their dedication that we committed to get them their scoreboard to support their efforts.

Riding along on Iowa’s back roads gives you a real sense of the aging of some of our resources. We were often routed onto Old Highway X or Former Highway Y, most of which were much more narrow than we expect to see these days, and all of which hadn’t seen material re-paving in years. But once you build a major road, it is permanent – as the homes, businesses and communities come to depend upon it.

Maybe it was because it was Friday, but the crowds along the way felt compelled to supply the RAGBRAI riders with humor to ease the pain of the heat and distance. A washboard-toting grandmother (with false buck teeth), a Fruit of the Loom youth group, serenades from teenagers, and even a site offering free beer for tossing a keg (and the largest beer mug ever made) were all part of today’s humor breaks that helped the miles roll by. We had one crash and no injuries amongst our group (though heat exhaustion was a factor), and arrived in Coralville inspired to knock down our last day and see the Mississippi.

We are asking our friends to support our effort by making a tax-deductible pledge for each mile we ride for Build Our Ballpark . If we’re crazy enough to put in these miles, can’t you please throw in your support?

We’ll send along one more day of pictures. We hope you are enjoying the updates!

Best regards,

Bob Hellman
Build Our Ballpark Team

Only 66 Hills to Grinnell

As we were departing Altoona today a sign on the road said “56 Miles To Grinnell,” followed by another saying “Only 66 Hills to Grinnell.” That alone describes the day – hill, after hill, after hill (and you thought Iowa was flat!). Enroute we passed through Mitchellville, Colfax, Baxter and Rock Creek State Park.

This summer has been characterized by high heat and humidity. We’ve been starting each day hoping that the heat would break. In Iowa there are two ways to get a big drop in temperature – winter and a rainstorm. As the former wasn’t in the forecast, we were finally blessed by lines of rain that brought down the temperature (thankfully), but added heavy wind on the nose. And onward we trudged – hill, after hill, after hill.

I’ve talked in the past about Iowa landscape – corn on the right and soybeans on the left. The farmers of the state rotate these two crops across their fields to keep the soil rich, but on occasion the soybean fields show their legacy with an odd cornstalk sprouting up. As kids, we were told this was “succotash.” I think that was a backhanded way of disguising the vegetables on the plate that night. Bike riders, corn, soybeans and succotash, mile after mile.

Riding along today, we came upon what has to be one of the last remaining Burma-Shave signs in the country: “Don’t pass on the curve. Or on this hill. If the cops don’t get you. The Mortician will. Burma-Shave.” I think the Burma-Shave copywriters must have been the Rap Artists of their era.

RAGBRAI is a celebration of both biking and simple Americana with people bringing out every bike-related memorabilia available, and every town and family along the route turning out to celebrate and add their own piece to the uniqueness of RAGBRAI. Tomorrow’s ride is estimated to include 20,000 people moving across the state, soaking it all in. With smiles, waves and cheering from each farm, each driveway, and each neighborhood.

The outpouring of interest and concern for our efforts has been truly inspirational – THANK YOU! Only two more days and 150 miles to go! We are asking our friends to support our effort by making a tax-deductible pledge for each mile we ride for Build Our Ballpark. If we’re crazy enough to put in these miles, can’t you please throw in your support?

We’ll send along two more days of pictures – and hope you’re enjoying the time with us!

Best regards,

Bob Hellman
Build Our Ballpark Team

Sometimes you get a break, and Day 4 was exactly that for the Build Our Ballpark RAGBRAI team. Our ride started in Boone and proceeded through Luther, Slater, Sheldahl, Alleman, White Oak, Elkhart, Bondurant and then into Altoona. While that seemed like a lot of pass-through towns, a couple of them elicited a “Was that wide spot we just passed a town?” reaction from the team. 56.1 miles from start to finish.

The team made the mistake of looking at the weather radar as we awoke. Sometimes it’s better NOT to know what’s heading your direction. Seeing a very large thunderstorm approaching, we were off with the fear of thunder and lightning, pushing our peddles as fast as they could go.

As you are riding along in the 100-degree temperatures and 95% humidity, sometimes it is all about survival. Terminal stupidity is certainly an applicable question. And certainly you forget about the purpose of the ride. But we’ve had the luxury of various pass-through towns where we got a chance to meet with kids and parents involved with youth baseball. Today was a special highlight on that front. As we rode into Slater, Iowa, the local Little League organization was out in force selling homemade ice cream sandwiches. At 8:30 in the morning that may seem a bit odd, but when it involves homemade chocolate chip cookies and handmade ice cream… who can resist?

The kids were adorable – every one of them a copy of Opie Taylor from Mayberry, RFD (an old TV reference). And every one of them was excited about baseball. We asked them today about why they were up at 8 in the morning selling ice cream sandwiches, and they were very consistent – “Our ballpark needs a scoreboard so we can see the score during the game. We’re raising money for that.” Their Little League program struggles, but the kids are very excited about the sport. We committed to help them with their scoreboard, and to helping them support their league to the kids in the neighboring towns.

The variety in the trajectory of these small towns is amazing – some (e.g., Lanesboro on Day 3) are struggling, with schools being consolidated and shrinking. Others, such as Altoona, where we are staying tonight, have tremendous facilities – two separate youth baseball complexes with a dozen fields, and over 600 kids involved (as well as hundreds of parents). Baseball is healthy in towns like Altoona, but struggling (as are the kids) in towns like Lanesboro or Slater. This is our mission.

For those of you who have so kindly pledged to support us (including some expressing concerns about our team’s ability to complete the ride) – THANK YOU! We are asking our friends to support our effort by making a tax-deductible pledge for each mile we ride for Build Our Ballpark. We’ll put in the miles – can you throw in your support?

Best regards,

Build Our Ballpark Team

We close the tale of Day 3 – 71 miles, which on the one hand was very flat, and yet full of challenges, traveling from Carroll to Boone. The day was really the tale of two rides. The first 40 miles we had a gorgeous sunrise, beautiful flat roads and a slight tail wind. The roads of RAGBRAI were filled with signs for the bikers of all types and motivations. The first half of today’s ride was characterized by one of our favorite signs: “Ride It Like You Stole It.” But just when we were feeling good about the day, somebody turned on the oven and we got to enjoy the last 30 miles in bright sunshine and 100-degree temperatures.

Humor is the biggest friend on the ride, and usually our fellow riders provide it – from Banana Man, to the “rider” on his skateboard who brings no extra wheels, but three extra pairs of shoes. We needed it as the road was taking its toll on our bodies. (Think sore everything!!!) We road through Lidderdale, Lanesboro, Churdan, Paton and Pilot Mound on our way into Boone. And each town had its story – like Pilot Mound, site of “Twister Hill” (a very unforgiving monster hill), to Paton, home of U.S. Astronaut Loren Shriver, the captain of the Space Shuttle mission that put the Hubble Telescope into space.

With each day’s ride, this tour of Americana continues its tinges of irony – the excitement of young kids applauding and greeting the riders, to the stories of small towns and their struggles. We met today, as an example, with Vernon Main in Lanesboro, Iowa. Mr. Main, now 75, was a baseball and softball player and coach for over 40 years and loves talking about the history of baseball in his town. But as with many small towns, the realities of funding forced the town to consolidate its schools with neighboring communities, leaving no local youth sports activities. Soon after that, the town’s fields fell into disrepair and were abandoned. Yet at 9 a.m. on a bright sunny morning, Mr. Main and his wife were amongst a group of townsfolk out selling bratwurst (which smelled fabulous) to raise monies to help restore some of the town’s infrastructure. And with a huge smile on their faces, which warmed everybody’s heart. THIS is why we are out here putting on the miles.

Thank you everyone for your support of Build Our Ballpark!

Best regards,

Build Our Ballpark Team

We just finished Day 2 – 65.4 miles from Atlantic (Iowa’s Coca-Cola capital) to Carroll, Iowa. When we pulled into a city of 10,000 people with a volume of riders and support vehicles that make up RAGBRAI, I thought it would once again overwhelm this city. But Carroll showed its worth – in how they welcomed the ride (with families lining the streets applauding each biker), offered their homes and lawns to riders to sleep overnight, and provided anything it took. Their excitement for being part of RAGBRAI was palpable, and their appreciation was so sincere.

The ride was very steep – nearly 5,000 vertical feet over the 65 miles. But it was made up mostly of undulating hills across the agricultural landscape of corn and soybeans. Through Elk Horn, Kimballton, Manning, Templeton, Dedham, Willey and into Carroll, families and community organizations welcomed each wave of fatigued riders with smiles and waves, water bottles and snacks in a way only Iowans can do. As an example, as we rode into Templeton we spotted the local fire department offering an “All You Can Eat” breakfast for $5 – biscuits & gravy, pancakes, eggs and sausage. There are many places in this country where you can’t park the car for $5, but here the local Fire Marshall said, “We’ll make more money for our local charity activity through this breakfast than anything we do all year – we’re very popular this morning.”

The prospects and virtues of the individual cities are quite varied. In some cases (e.g., Atlantic or Willey), their economies are very robust – sustained by either strong local businesses or the strength of the corn economy as a result of ethanol and export demand. You can see it in their infrastructure, their schools, and (most importantly from our perspective) the quality of their local baseball fields. In other cases (e.g., Manning), they are struggling to equip their facilities with the most basic of features. Tuesday we’ll be meeting with representatives of a town that has had to abandon its youth sports activities because of funding. By the way, we committed to helping the folks in Manning with lights and a scoreboard so that their meager facilities could be used during a broader time frame each day to support their children.

Keep checking back for more stories and pictures – thank you everyone for your support of Build Our Ballpark!

Best regards,

Build Our Ballpark Team

With the past week’s reports from the Midwest describing intolerable temperatures and humidity, we had trepidation about the start of this year’s RAGBRAI ride. Luckily, the weather cooled last night (a blessing) and off we went – a 454 mile journey across the state of Iowa to raise money for America’s great pastime: baseball.

If you missed my note last week, Team BOB is a group organized by my 16-year-old son, Robert Hellman III. Robert created Team BOB as a fundraiser for Build Our Ballpark, an organization founded by his grandfather, dedicated to providing today’s youth with baseball and softball ballparks in communities struggling to maintain facilities and resources for their families and kids. 



Iowa began the first day (Sunday) by handing us a picture-perfect, cloudless day. However, torrential rainfall in the past few weeks had created so much flooding along the Missouri river that we were unable to start with the traditional “dip the rear tire in the Missouri river.” Some opted for a makeshift wading pool filled with Missouri river water (after all, tradition is tradition). Our team elected to hit the road and knock down the miles.

Our team – twice the size of last year and pictured here, was largely decked out in our Build Our Ballpark attire to start our ride. Because of the success of last year’s ride, and the continuing effect of the recession on the region, we actually have city leaders and coaches in a few towns lined up to talk about their communities’ needs as we journey across the state.

The first day’s ride totaled 59 miles and 4,200 feet of vertical climbing. Starting the ride with the toughest route was a bit of a kick in the butt. In addition, Iowa forgot to get the message about the weather cooling, so by mid-day it was over 100 degrees, with a healthy dose of humidity. We lost one team member to a quad pull and another to the heat. A third dislocated his ring finger but still finished. Not a ride for the faint of heart.

What really sustained us today was the overwhelming enthusiasm of the townsfolk in the communities through which we rode. The downtown sections of Silver City, Carson, Griswold, Lewis and Atlantic all looked like they were holding big festivals. And of course, we weren’t disappointed by either the pie availability or the return of Mr. Porkchop. After all, this IS Iowa – it’s all about the pork and the pie!!

Notwithstanding the local treats, the real treat was the serenity of the miles of rolling hills and sculpted farmlands – soybeans and corn gently swaying in their crop dance to satiate the soul.

This ride is really a combination of summer camp and San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers – all on wheels. Every imaginable (and some unimaginable) form of human-powered transportation turns out, most of which I can’t imagine riding, especially up and down substantial hills.

For those of you who have so kindly pledged to support us (or bet we won’t make it?) – THANK YOU! We are asking our friends to support our effort by making tax-deductible pledges for each mile we ride for Build Our Ballpark (click here to do so). We’ll put in the miles – can you throw in your support?



More pictures and stories from the road tomorrow – thank you everyone for your support of Build Our Ballpark!



Best regards,

Build Our Ballpark Team

Last year’s RAGBRAI fundraising ride for Build Our Ballpark was so successful (and fun) that we decided to do it again (clearly fun has a broad definition here, we’ll admit). So on July 24th, our eight member team will begin a seven-day, 454-mile bicycle ride across the state of Iowa. While we join the thousands of cyclists who ride for the great food, themed atmospheres and adrenaline rush, we have a different drive that we add to this historic bike ride… pedaling to raise money for America’s Great Pastime: Baseball.

We will comprise Team BOB, a group organized by my 16-year-old son, Robert Hellman III. Robert created Team BOB last year as a fundraiser for Build Our Ballpark, an organization founded by my father, dedicated to providing today’s youth with baseball and softball ballparks in low-income communities. Last year, the ride raised more than $100,000 for the organization. And this year, our goal is to top that. Together, we will travel from Glendale in Western Iowa (near Omaha), through South Central Iowa, and will finish in Eastern Iowa by dipping our tires in the Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa.

We’ll put in the miles – can you throw in your support? We are once again asking our friends to support our effort by making tax-deductible pledges for each mile we ride for Build Our Ballpark (click here to do so).

In addition, during this year’s ride we also hope to take stock of the state of baseball in Iowa and the Midwest. While consuming our fair share of cherry pie and BBQ, we also plan to visit area baseball and softball fields, chat with kids throughout Iowa who are playing baseball and what the sport means to them, and maybe even get involved in some friendly competition on the fields. Stay tuned! A great ride for a great cause.

The mission of Build Our Ballpark is to improve the lives of underprivileged kids in largely low-income neighborhoods by providing the opportunity to play baseball and softball. Build Our Ballpark does this by helping ensure children have a quality place to play by providing assistance and rallying the support needed to build new ballparks and/or improve existing ballparks.

Every dollar we raise will go to building and rebuilding youth ballparks.

Won’t you please give us your support while we’re cycling across Iowa? Thank you! Hope you are having a great summer.

Best regards,

Bob Hellman
Build Our Ballpark Team

The final day of RAGBRAI – we decided to get started early so that we could get to Dubuque early enough in the day. But we knew we had one significant challenge ahead – Potter Hill.

Today’s journey took us out of Manchester and through Earlville, Dyersville, Bankston, and Graf before rolling to our Mississippi destination in Dubuque. The ride was not too bad, despite a little wind in the face – nice and relaxing. But Potter’s Hill was the worst hill we’ve encountered because it was a 16% grade and 75% of the bikers had to walk it up. Our entire group made it up, though, which was really great.

It was great that the stand on the top of the hill was selling refreshments to raise money for the local Little League team. We stopped and talked to them about what we were doing and we will probably be in touch as they need help getting a new ballpark for their community.

When we got to Dubuque we got to dip our tires in the Mississippi and take some great final photos which you can see below.

From day one, this trip has been quite the adventure! From dipping our back tires into the Missouri to finishing with our front tires in the Mississippi, the journey along the way was unforgettable. We met so many people that were grateful for the cause we rode for and had a few pledge money to Build Our Ballpark.

This trip was personal for all of us because at one point or another in our lives we had played baseball and we have used fields in all sorts of conditions. Riding for a cause that helps hundreds of kids is worth it and we were reminded of that every day. The hills, the headwinds, and everything else that forced us to consider stopping seemed easier to pass up because of the motivation we have for kids and baseball. That motivation was present in every mile we rode because we all knew it was worth it, worth the countless hours and aches to help kids across the country achieve on the field!

We started this morning at the Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence where we had a chance to meet with sixty 4^th graders. I wanted to hear their opinion of how a new ballpark that Build Our Ballpark had built next to their school had affected their community.

The kids were great. They were talkative and spoke their opinion. They really enjoyed talking about the ballpark since it has impacted their lives greatly. A lot of them also love to bike so they really liked hearing about our trip across Iowa to raise money, as well as all of the equipment we wear for long rides. They wanted to know if we could sleep on the long rides, why we wore padding under our shorts, and how our bike shoes worked as well. By the way, they also got a kick out of Michael’s unique haircut and Richard’s short shorts which really lightened up the conversation.

Our conversation was part of program they are doing in their classroom on community service and their teachers really appreciated that we could come and talk to them about what we were doing. Michael and Richard also both related how they had done a lot of community service work when they were in high school so the kids got a lot of examples of people helping others in their community.

After the talk we walked outside to pouring rain which dimmed our enthusiasm for today’s ride. We made the decision to wait an hour to see if the weather would improve, and thankfully we did – we got to get in an hour nap and then left at 11:30 a.m. with the rain almost finished. We wore trash bags to protect us initially, which helped a lot, but at least we were able to keep up our promises to our donors.

In addition to the rain we had strong wind blowing directly at us which made the ride REALLY difficult. We finally made it into Manchester to the comfort of our RV and a great pizza and fried chicken dinner. But we are all really wiped out.