RAGBRAI: The bike event of the year

[Flounder1967]

If anyone likesto ride bicyles then this thread is for you.

Have any of you heard of RAGBRAI. It's the greatest bike ride you'll ever be on. It last seven days (July 23-29). Check ou the web site.

http://www.ragbrai.org/ragbrai-basics.html

It is a bike ride across the great state of Iowa. You spend 7 days seeing the beutiful state of Iowa from a bike seat. this is no small event. People come from all 50 state and around the world for just for this bike ride. Offically only 10,000 people attend but the numbers are more like 50,000. IT is a very fun event. I more like a 7 day party from one end of the state to another.

I've know about his event for a long time and laways wanted to do it. I was thinking of make a team together for this years ride (party). If anyone is intrested i am willing to put a team together or join a team if necessary.

I need to get things going by Mid-March if we are palnning to do anything. I will admit i have never done this, but i know all of the history and events. If you want more inforamtion just contact me or go the the website

http://www.ragbrai.org

:flag4:

[Driver 8]

I wish you the best of luck, though this just wouldn't be possible for me this year.

I've thought about training for the Hilly Hundred, a two-day ride in southern Indiana, but every year I seem to end up too busy in the fall. Plus I don't have a lot of hills nearby to train on ;)

So ... okay ... I have to say it ...

... you're a bi cyclist?

[Mrs.F]

Flounder...you are going to ride a bike??? :cutelaugh You just want to party :bigrin:

With this 7 day bike ride, you will stop at towns along the way and people will let you stay in their houses, pitch tents in their yards and each town will have a huge party for you all passing through and make food, drinks and let you shower. The ride always ends in a town where the river is and you dip your tires in the river. I, personally have NO desire to put my ass on a bike seat for 7 days. I have many friends, family and co-workers that do this and have a blast every yr. So ride on people!

[Flounder1967]

I know some poeple don't like being bike seat for 7 days. But we need about 3-4 people just for support. There are all kinds of fun things that non-riders can do.

if you think you can't ride a bike that far i know some of the youngest cyclers are about 7 & 8 years of age and some of the oldest are in the ninties. This is really a fun event and a great way to meet poeple from different parts of Iowa and the world.

Also, there are alot of fun actives to do along the way. Like see the worlds largest out door toilet (a wooden door in front of a corn feild). If you not careful you can actually put on weight on the ride from all the good food.

:flag4:

[arana]

if you think you can't ride a bike that far i know some of the youngest cyclers are about 7 & 8 years of age and some of the oldest are in the ninties. This is really a fun event and a great way to meet poeple from different parts of Iowa and the world.
:flag4:

I hate to burst your bubble Flounder, but do you know the energy a 7 & 8 year old has as opposed to a 40 year old??? lol

[codybear3]

Is the bike ride all downhill??? Cuz if it is, I may consider it.... :bigrin:
Hope it all works out for you... :paw: :paw:

[Flounder1967]

I am sad to say that Iowa is not flat as Nebreasks but is not Colorado either.

ther are some rolling hills but nothing were people have to stop the bike and walk it up hill.

I don't have a team name maybe someone here could name it.

[SweetBlackAngel]

So ... okay ... I have to say it ...

... you're a bi cyclist?

Oh, man....that was a "gimme." :tong:

I love it! :bigrin:

[bishavedmale4u]

it is a very good time, i never ride in it put i open my house and back yard to the riders, but last year we had very bad weather at the end of the night.

[arana]

Since my family has roots in Iowa and I have a friend there I thought I'd check this out in more detail. It's very cool how this got started and remained a tradition.

(From an Iowa newspaper)

In the beginning, when a few friends got together for a casual bike ride across Iowa in 1973, no one imagined that a tradition would be born, let alone that it would become the longest, largest and oldest bicycle touring event in the world.

Return to the History Index

RAGBRAI's Beginnings & The First Year
August 26-31, 1973
The Register's bicycling tradition began with an idea (a kind of a challenge) between Des Moines Register feature writer/copy editor John Karras, an avid bicyclist, and Don Kaul, author of The Des Moines Register's "Over The Coffee" column. Karras suggested to Kaul that he ride his bicycle across Iowa and write columns about what he saw from that perspective. Kaul, also an accomplished rider, lived in Washington, D.C., and wrote his column from The Register's Washington Bureau.

Kaul liked the idea but issued the challenge that he would ride across Iowa if Karras rode with him. Karras agreed and the plan was approved by the managing editor. Coordination of the ride was assigned to Don Benson, public relations director, and the RAGBRAI trio was formed. Benson served as coordinator of the ride until his retirement in 1991, when Jim Green took over the duties.

Kaul and Karras then invited 'a few friends' (the public) to ride along. The route was laid out on maps and readers were told that the ride would start in Sioux City on August 26 and end on August 31 in Davenport. Overnight stops were scheduled in Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Ames, Des Moines and Williamsburg. (Year One's overnight towns had the largest average population of any RAGBRAI through RAGBRAI XXIV.) The ride was informally referred to as ' The Great Six-Day Bicycle Ride' and was scheduled to tie in with a Register and Tribune circulation sales meeting in Des Moines.

Because the readers were only given six weeks notice before the late-August ride, response was light, which may have been fortunate since the route had not been driven prior to the ride and no camping arrangements had been made. Don Benson had made motel reservations for himself, Kaul and Karras, because, after all, it was their ride. Motel operators along the way and the Naval Reserve Center in Des Moines came to the rescue of the riders by letting them pitch tents on their lawns.

An estimated 300 people showed up for the start of the ride in Sioux City. By actual count, 114 riders made the entire distance that first year. The number swelled to 500 riders on the stretch of the route between Ames and Des Moines.

Among the many interesting people the ride attracted was Clarence Pickard of Indianola. This 83-year-old gentleman, who hadn't ridden a bicycle much in recent years, showed up for that first ride with a used ladies Schwinn and rode all the way to Davenport, including the 100 degree plus day from Des Moines to Williamsburg, a 110-mile trek. Pickard's attire for the ride was a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, woolen long underwear and a silver pith helmet.

Kaul's and Karras' articles and columns about Pickard, and points of interest along the way were, perhaps, responsible for the growth of the ride. After the ride, letters and calls poured in from people excited about the ride but upset because it was held the first week of school so students and teachers couldn't go. Others were upset because the ride started on the final weekend of the Iowa State Fair. And still others wished more notice had been given so vacation arrangements could have been made.

Basically, the theme was the same "please offer another opportunity to participat in the ride! So the seven-day, Second Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa "SAGBRAI" was scheduled for August 4-10, 1974

[Mrs.F]

Wow arana...I have lived here my whole life and never really knew how it started. I guess I never really thought about it. That's really interesting though. It's become such a huge event here in Iowa and twice now it's gone through a town near flounder and I. We have been able to help with serving food and talking to the "smelly" folks who ride in and out. I wish I had enough energy and willpower to do it myself but I don't. Never been a big bicycle fan of riding long distance.