Natalie and I spent the last week of July on what may become a traditional mental and physical challenge as we participated in the 50th anniversary of the RAGBRAI, better known as RAGBRAI L.
RAGBRAI, short for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is a non-competitive bicycle tour across the U.S. state of Iowa from the western to the eastern border. First held in 1973, RAGBRAI is the largest bike-touring event in the world.
The 50th ride, RAGBRAI L, took place from July 23-29, 2023, and retraced much of the first year’s route. Caroll replaced Fort Dodge and the much larger town/area of Coralville-Iowa City replaced the small town of Williamsburg. The ride from Ames to Des Moines had over 60,000 riders, the most riders of any stop in the history of the event.
Riders begin at a community on Iowa’s western border and ride to a community on the eastern border and stop in towns across the state. The ride is one week long and ends on the last Saturday of July each year.
I’ll be honest, in that I really struggled with this one as the weather was brutal. Temperatures on some of the days reached a heat index of 107 degrees and we went to sleep sweating in our tent only to wake up as early as 2:00 AM on some days in order to start our day and try to beat the heat. We averaged about 4 hours of sleep per night and I was about ready to throw in the towel towards the end. Thankfully, with Natalie’s much-needed encouragement and support, I was able to pull this one off in the end.
I used my Trek Checkpoint gravel bike for the second year in a row and when packed with all my camera gear, I was really weighted down. I had to strip off all the bags and lose as much gear as I could in order to survive the trip and I think my RAGBRAI days on a gravel bike are no longer as I plan to sell the bike and consider some other options for the future.
While I did take some pictures during the week, the majority of the focus was spent making videos to share on YouTube. It’s a tedious undertaking, to take and edit video, but I enjoy the challenge, especially knowing that I am really doing it primarily for myself to enjoy over time, with others perhaps checking in from time to time.
With that said, below is the first of many videos chronicling our adventures on the RAGBRAI. I plan to publish at least once a week so this will take a while, but it’s worth the wait (at least in my opinion). And yes, more pictures will be coming soon….
RAGBRAI began in 1973, when Des Moines Register feature writers John Karras and Donald Kaul decided to go on a bicycle ride across Iowa; both men were avid cyclists. Karras challenged Kaul to do the ride and write articles about what he experienced. Kaul agreed to do it, but only if Karras also did the ride. Karras then agreed to ride, as well.
The newspaper’s management approved of the plan. Don Benson, a public-relations director at the Register, was assigned to coordinate the event. Upon the suggestion of Ed Heins, the managing editor, the writers invited the public to accompany them.
The ride was planned to start on Sunday, August 26 in Sioux City and end in Davenport on Friday, August 31. The overnight stops were Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Ames, Des Moines, and Williamsburg. The Register informed readers of the event and the planned route. The ride was informally referred to as “the Great Six-Day Bicycle Ride”.
Some 300 cyclists began the ride in Sioux City; 114 of them rode the entire route. A number of other people rode part of the route. Attendance was light the first year. The ride was announced with only six weeks’ notice and it conflicted with both the first week of school and the final weekend of the Iowa State Fair.
After the ride was over, Kaul and Karras wrote numerous articles that captured the imaginations of many readers. Among those who completed the 1973 ride was 83-year-old Clarence Pickard of Indianola. He rode a used ladies Schwinn and wore a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, woolen long underwear, and a silver pith helmet. He said that the underwear blocked out the sun and kept his skin cool. The newspaper received many calls and letters from people who wanted to go on the ride, but were unable to for various reasons. Because of this public response and demand, a second ride was scheduled for August 4–10, 1974, before the Iowa State Fair.
