RAGBRAI (for non Iowans, stands for Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.) It had its beginnings in 1973 when John Karras an avid bicyclist, and Donald Kaul, a columnist for the Des Moines Register decided to organize an Iowa bike ride, starting at the West end of the state at the Missouri River, and ending at the East side of the state at the Mississippi River. The rest as they say is history, as now there is a limit of the officially registered RAGBRAI participants set at 8,500 riders.
However the number swells to as much as five times that when local bike enthusiasts joint for part of the daily ride, or local community citizens come out to see the gathering in Iowa's small towns. The day I photographed the ride was Tuesday, and the bikers had travelled from Carroll to Boone, where the entourage will spend the night.
Wednesday morning they take off and ride to Altoona, continuing each day until near the end of the week they ceremoniously dip their wheels in the Mississippi River, just as they had done in the Missouri River when they started. There are many web pages with info, routes, photos, and statistics, just Google the word "RAGBRAI" and research to your hearts content!
On this day the bikers traveled on rather level ground from Carroll to Pilot Mound, and about five miles east of Pilot Mound, things changed as they went down a big hill to cross the Des Moines River valley and back up again. Most of these images are of groups coming up the hill or as in the case of this group, having made it.
The hill is called, "Twister Hill," because footage of the hill was used in the movie "Twister", shot in 1966. It is a good movie, and I would recommend you see it, if you have not done so.
This guy was traveling light, using only a skateboard and also lots more effort I would think, but he is still smiling!
Although the hill is called "Twister Hill," as I mentioned, a few of the riders shared other names for it as they approached me!
People of all ages ride on RAGBRAI, and some of them use recumbent style bikes.
This group was walking their bikes up the hill, which several did.
Most of them slowly chugged up the hill using the lowest gears on their bikes. There were two rest points that I could see that sold bottles of ice water and also bananas for energy!
At this point they were turning south from their route and headed to Boone, a long flat ride for ten more miles. There were state troopers and sheriff's cars at corners to assist with traffic flow.
These guys were eager to be at the point where they turned towards Boone, where they could get a shower, get settled in their tents, and enjoy the hospitality that was waiting for them.
Many bikers travel in groups or clubs, and are preceded to the overnight stop by support crews who set up tents for them, bring extra bike repairs, and just provide encouragement and moral support.
It was a warm day, but there were breezes and at this point the bikers were moving rather fast. The Iowa countryside was all decked out in our favorite color for this time of year....GREEN! The corn and soybeans have never looked better!
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