The Storied History of Team Stiff

1995

Seven high school buddies from Sigourney, Iowa acquired an RV, alot of alcohol, and decided to go on RAGBRAI.  The original seven included Barney, Beef, Flash, Schwenke, Shroyer, Smitty and the Garden Weasel.  The guys rode 'sans moniker' the first year.

1996

Sometime during the second year on RAGBRAI, Flash coined the name Team Stiff, which was fitting at the time for a team of guys.  Looking back the team is happy they didn't go with their other idea for a name, that being Team Flaccid.  During the team's second RAGBRAI sojourn, Barney met a lovely lady named Kris.  Kris and her friend Stacy Ramos were the first girls to join up with the Stiffies on RAGBRAI.

Mark and Wendy also rode with Team Stiff.

1997 

Beef purchased an old school bus, and Barney painted it two weeks before RAGBRAI.  The Team Stiff bus has been making the RAGBRAI scene every year since.   Jen-Nay joined the team. 

The song Tub Thumper by Chumbawumba became the official team song.  Here's a slightly modified version of the song:  Homer Sings Chumbawumba.mp3

1998

Nothing remarkable happened in 1998.

1999

The Hacky Jedi, Angela, and Rob join the team.  The team now consist of approximately 20 riders.

Team Stiff organizes the first Stiff Ride.

2001

The Team Stiff tattoo appears on many RAGBRAI riders.

2002

The first Stiff Ride commemorative patches are sold at the Stiff Ride.

The Team Stiff web site goes online for all to enjoy.

2003

Bad Andy joins the team.  He immediately impresses us all by crashing his bike on the first day, and going to the emergency room for stitches.

Beef and Smitty (more commonly known as the Lenny and Squiggy of Team Stiff), were not able to join us on RAGBRAI this year, and were greatly missed.  Team members Schwenke and Shroyer were also missing in action.  Please come back to us guys.  It's not Team Stiff without you.

The team has two guests (Darla and Mitzi), ride with us during the week.

The team debuts its first team biking jersey and shorts on RAGBRAI.

Flash provides the team with tunes from his portable bike stereo.  Flash's bike stereo was a vast improvement to Beef's doghouse-boombox of wheels from the previous year.  Unfortunately it stopped working after the second day, and we relied on the tunes from Teams Dawg and Budweiser for the rest of the week.

Rob and Bill have their bikes stolen on Day 2 in the town of Bedford.  The bikes were luckily recovered when a good citizen of Bedford reported them to the police.

Mark crashes his bike on Day 4.  Undeterred, he gets right back on his bike, and crashes again a few hours later.  Bruised, but not broken, Mark's RAGBRAI adventure is over for the rest of the week.

While riding in a draft line with Team Budweiser, a wheel comes off Moose's bike stereo burley.  Sparks start flying as the axel drags along the pavement.  Luckily, nobody is hurt.  Thirty minutes later the runaway wheel is found in the ditch, reattached to the burley, and we're on our way again.

The Team Stiff Bus breaks down the morning of Day 5.  Sinnott saves the day by getting the bus to a mechanic, and getting our gear to the Bloomfield campsite.  We go 'bus less' for the rest of the week, and rely on the kindness of Team Dawg and Team Budweiser to get our gear to the last two campsites of the week. 

The Hacky Jedi brings his new bike on RAGBRAI for its maiden voyage and christens it "Itchy".

2024

Team Stiff sells the original Stiff bus, and buys a new bus.  After much renovation work it became the ultimate party bus just in time for RAGBRAI.

2025

In January, Team Stiff wins the Coolest Jersey Contest at the Iowa Bike Expo in Des Moines.

Present

During the summers the Stiffies get together every Wednesday night for some riding and drinking in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area.

           Dawg Ride 2002 - The bar in Cascade, Iowa