By: Kip Williams

I’m a 64-year-old, 6’ 5” 250LB sized cyclist from St. Louis, Missouri.  I have put quite a few miles on various bicycles over the years and am now enjoying a Clydesdale .  My ride is a very cool titanium flat-bar e-bike.  I just completed RAGRAI! For those that don’t know, RAGBRAI is an annual week-long group ride across Iowa. This year the route was 501 miles and 16,000+ feet of climbing. RAGBRAI also claims 30,000+ riders.

I have a couple of long-time riding friends and we occasionally try these epic adventures, which by and large turn out to be lots of fun and memorable. RAGBRAI did not disappoint.  Logistically we had a lot of moving parts with me coming in from St. Louis, Cyril from Chicago, and Don from San Francisco.  RAGBRAI has all sorts of outfitters and companies that help support making this happen.  Cyril and Don caught an outfitters bus and bike truck from Chicago and I drove up to Davenport, Iowa (the end point of the ride) to catch a different outfitters bus across Iowa to Sioux City for the start.  We started with the tradition of dunking our rear wheels in the Missouri River on the western border of Iowa and got ready to ride. We went with a small group that had somehow arranged hotel rooms in the overnight towns (many people camp instead) for the whole trip.  If you want to try RAGBRAI, start planning soon for 2024 as many of the spaces and services sell out well in advance. There are lots of other groups, clubs and teams that also make the ride that may have space!

Knowing that we were going to do this ride, our training started early in the spring.  Training didn’t include as many miles as when I was younger (the older I get, the faster I was), but time in the saddle does make the ride doable.  I hit over 1000 training miles between February and July, which helped me to be ready and got my bike dialed in. I went through 3 different handlebars 4 saddles before I was comfortable with my setup.

Why do RAGBRAI?  It is not a race, at best it is a rally. You can ride as fast as you want but go too fast and you risk missing why you came in the first place.  You get to see and meet people, and see the heartland and lots of corn, not to mention a rolling carnival and sideshow, entertainment of all sorts.  All the roads that you ride are protected, with only RAGBRAI support vehicles from time to time.  You meet cyclists on regular bikes, e-bikes, unicycles, penny-farthings, tandems, and hand-pedaled bikes. People wear costumes and bring their kids along in trailers.  Every small town you pass through has a pancake or spaghetti meal. Every Main Street has a portable bike repair shop, as well as slushy, taco, ice cream, and sandwich stands on both sides of the street like a street carnival.  A large contingent of riders in the US Air Force stop and helps with roadside bike repairs and tire inflations (Air Force… get it?). There are rest stops in front of farmhouses as you ride and many are sponsored by local breweries so you can try lots of brews, rehydrate, and talk with other riders.

Most days start early to take advantage of the cooler morning air and to try to avoid the mid-day heat. The routes are always well marked, (mostly by just following all the other bicyclists traveling at the same time) and are protected and isolated from traffic by police and volunteers. This is true for the entire route, always both lanes of 2 lane roads, but also in cities as well. There is support of all kinds, including sag, all along the route, so you never worry about being stranded in Iowa!  There is lots of time to talk to new and old riding friends along the way to share any and all bike experiences.  My pal Cyril is a bike geek and he had a great time discussing the merits of the various tubing combinations that make up “the best steel frame” and discussing the “anti”-merits of living in the Chicago area, with virtually no bike hills to ride up and down in his vicinity.  I even found some riders to talk sailing which at least provided some cooling thoughts on a hot afternoon.

RAGBRAI is at its core a long bicycle rally, both in terms of distance and time.  The total milage was over 500 miles, with days ranging from 50 to almost 90 miles. A rider should be prepared for that, as well as being ready to get up and do it all over again the next day.  For those thinking that Iowa is flat, my favorite jersey read “IOWA, flat as a WAFFLE”.  We rode miles of good-sized rolling hills. It was not uncommon to top one and see 4 or 5 more hills stretching out in front of you, covered with bicycles all going the same way.

There are a variety of traditions along the ride, such as dunking your back wheel in the Missouri River at the start and then at the end your front wheel in the Mississippi River. This proves that you have crossed all of Iowa.  There is a mile of ride-in-silence to remember friends that have gone on. There is a group that decorates roadkill with Mardi Gras beads and party hats. Costumes? For sure! A tandem with both riders in cow suits is typical. In the evenings there is a low key party usually with a band (we had Spin Doctors, Spazmatics, Pork Tornados, Hairball, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foghat) that thankfully started earlier most evenings for the tired riders.  There is a lot to go on about and something for virtually everyone.

I will finish this up with a compliment to the entire state of Iowa, the RAGBRAI organizers, all the police and safety services people, and the thousands of volunteers that worked hard to make the 50th RAGBRAI Ride a great event. And a second just-as-strong compliment to all the regular people along the route that came out and waved and yelled encouragement for hours at the riders going by. Especially those who also handed out water, popsicles or even watermelon slices to hot tired riders.  It was an amazing brief respite from the everyday world.