Team BOB Starts Their 454 Mile Journey
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,...
read moreAnother Round, An Even Bigger Goal
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. Last year’s intrepid...
read moreOne More Hill Before the End
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...
read moreThe Reason We Build Ballparks
We started this morning at the Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence where we had a chance to meet with sixty 4th 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...
read moreLuxury in Waterloo
Yesterday we rode 82 miles from Charles City to Waterloo – the longest ride of the entire trip. It was chilly when we hit the road at 6:00 a.m. but starting that early paid off – it was less crowded so we made good time. It was HOT when we finally got to Waterloo – 6 hours later because we stopped in every town. The ride overall was not too bad except for one 20 mile stretch which took 2 hours in the heat. We passed through Parkersburg, Iowa – a town which had been hit by a bad flood and then a Force 5 tornado, which means the winds had hit...
read moreThree days, 198 Miles
Today we road 60 miles from Algona to Clear Lake, Iowa. While this was shorter than the 68 and 79 miles of the previous two days, we had a headwind coming right at us for about half of the ride, which was very difficult! We left at 6:00 a.m. and pulled into Clear Lake at around noon. I’m really glad we got here early as it is now about 100 degrees here in Clear Lake. Each day we’ve ridden hard, had some great food along the route, and gotten into the overnight town hot and tired. But the towns have all been very, very friendly and opened high...
read moreTeam B.O.B. Departs!
(L to R): Robert Hellman, III, Bob Hellman, Jr., Michael Mahon & Mike Mahon. (Not Pictured: Richard Wojan) Team B.O.B. departed from Sioux City yesterday. Check back in for more Team B.O.B. RAGBRAI...
read moreHeading to the RAGBRAI Expo
We flew into Sioux City last night and grabbed a pizza at the local pizza shop which was, fantastic! Great thin crust with all the toppings. Uncle Mike and Cousin Michael pulled the 30’ RV in at about 2:00 a.m., so the team is coming together! We spent the morning getting equipment for the RV (including those all-important water nerf guns). We are excited for the bike ride to begin. It is amazing how many donations and pledges have come in so far and we really thank all of our donors for helping both support Build Our Ballpark and put their...
read moreThree Generations with a Passion for Baseball
Bob Hellman Jr., Robert Hellman III, and Bob Hellman Sr. (L to R) at a 2004 World Series game between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. Baseball has always been a part of my life – for as long as I can remember. It was the first sport I ever had a chance to play. It is also a sport I’ve enjoyed both playing and watching with my entire family, including my grandfather, after whom I am named. We have even had a chance to visit the Baseball Hall Of Fame together. My love of baseball really got going when my first baseball team (which...
read moreAnatomy of an Autograph
This is the third post in the series “The Art of the Autograph.” I’m writing this post by leaning heavily on my graphic design experience, knowledge of the players and their backgrounds, and vivid imagination to make these observations about autographs. No empirical research, no in-depth study of Graphology, no founding in fact … just personal opinions. With an apology to Otto Preminger for taking liberties with his 1959 movie title: “Anatomy of a Murder.” Several years ago I began to notice the difference between the beautiful and carefully...
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