RAGBRAI

Eric Fredericks • Thursday September 22, 2005

You may have heard of RAGBRAI in the past. RAGBRAI stands for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It is put on every year by the Des Moines Register the last full week in July. The ride commences and ends in different towns and follows a different route each year. The ride is so popular that the coordinators limit the number of week-long riders to 8500. Up to 23,000 cyclists have biked a segment of the route. Riders come from all parts of the world. RAGBRAI has also inspired the start of numerous other state-wide bicycling rides.

I intend on completing the RAGBRAI someday. Although, having grown up less than a half an hour’s drive from Iowa, I know how brutally hot and humid it can get in July. But, do not let that stop you from participating. Iowa is a surprisingly scenic state and its towns and people are very unique (hence why the Presidential primaries start in Iowa). One of my friends and his fiancé participated in the event last year and really enjoyed it. They will be biking from Portland to San Francisco very soon as well. Of course, this is nothing for him. A couple of years ago, he biked from Astoria, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts raising money for Shriners as a part of Road Show USA.

Category: Bicycling • Region: Iowa

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