RAGBRAI - 2023 Edition

I last rode my bike on RAGBRAI in 2017, after coming out of a self-imposed retirement for the second time.  I didn't ride in 2018, and drove a support vehicle one day in 2019.  There was no ride in 2020, and I've had no desire to ride, nor fear of missing out, the past two years.

2023, however, marked the 50th RAGBRAI.  In conjunction with that, the route tried to follow the original route, staring in Sioux City and ending in Dubuque, with larger overnight towns in between.  So yeah, I had to come out of RAGBRAI retirement for the third (and final?) time to ride another day.

Compared to most segments, the one I rode this year from Ames to Des Moines was easy.  It was flat, with little climb, and under 60 miles total.  I can only think of one prior day of RAGBRAI I ever rode that was less strenuous.

The one big negative was the heat.  It was a sunny, humid, near 100 degree day, with little wind.  Water and shade were at a premium.  I can only thing of one prior day of RAGBRAI I ever rode that might have been as uncomfortably warm.

But forget all that.....here are this year's observations:

* There were an estimated 60,000 riders on this day, probably a one-day record.  Consequently, the roads and stops along the way were jam packed.  The number of cyclists also meant it was more dangerous than usual, as you were constantly surrounded by riders on the road.  And some of them hadn't spent much time handling a bike on their own, much less a bike in a crowd.

* An unfortunate RAGBRAI tradition continued, as the first town from the start simply wasn't big enough to handle everyone wanting to stop there for early morning food/beverage nourishment/elimination.  (The elimination part is true for all towns; there are never enough portable toilets.)  To make matters worse this year, due to the number of cyclists, most had to walk (rather than ride) for the final 1/2 mile into the town.

* Pie report: Had some good church-lady berry pie.  Didn't find pineapple pie, but did find a delicious peach-pineapple slice at a corporate stand.

* Demographics report: The ride continues to age.  My estimated ratio would be 10 age 50+ people for every younger one.  Virtually no one under 30, and this on a day the ride went from a college town to a nightclub area of a large city, when you'd think a younger person my be more interested.

* I was pleasantly surprised to see almost no E-bikes on the day.  I counted two.  Let me be clear, unless you are a special needs individual, nobody on RAGBRAI should be allowed to use an E-bike, it's already dangerous without them.  If you feel you need one, the ride isn't for you, go ride it somewhere else, except on a trail because motorized vehicles aren't allowed!

* A quintessential RAGBRAI moment happened during a rest stop, when among the 60,000 riders, I asked a random person next to me where they were from.  Turns out we unknowingly grew up about three miles from each other in NW Iowa.  Amazing.

* Did not see any memorable new team names, but I did see a group with jerseys that said  'BILLSTEAM - Ratifying It Since 2017 - Where's Logan?'.  That had to be something, but I don't know what.

RAGBRAI - 2019 Support Vehicle Driver Edition

Last week was the 47th annual bike ride across Iowa, better know as RAGBRAI.  In a rare occurrence, last year I didn't partake in any aspect of the ride.  Did I come out of retirement for the third time to cycle on RAGBRAI this year?

Sort of.

For the first time ever, I drove a support vehicle for others instead of riding the route myself.  While others have done the same for me countless times, this was my first chance to be there with supplies and encouragement for others as they rode a day of the route.

It was a whole different way of seeing the ride / riders.  Here are just a few observations:

* If you're sitting somewhere along the route as it goes by, get ready to wave and talk a lot.  I thought I'd be able to listen to some podcasts, or maybe read a little bit as the riders passed.  However, most of the riders are waving or honking a horn at you as they say hello.  This was true even though I was stationed at the top of a hill, where you'd think out-of-breath riders wouldn't want to say anything.  They were relentless in their desire to exchange pleasantries, and many were happy to stop and talk a while, especially if you asked them about their unique dress, or where they were from.

* Not to overstate it, because most riders were in good shape, but there were a lot more riders than I'd ever noticed before who were obese.  Frankly, they should not have been riding.  I say this with all due respect to them for their attempt, but people have heart attacks every year on the ride, and it's easy to see why.   Maybe I didn't notice them in past years because I was always passing them?

* So many specialized bikes!  Not just tandems, but things like side-by-side cycles, elliptical bikes, and many adapted cycles for disabled riders.  It was a much greater number than I ever realized.  This actually was a reason for the funniest line I heard on the ride, from a rider who was with another person using a hand-powered bike.  At the top of a hill, he said to the clearly paraplegic rider, "Are your legs tired?"

* Getting the the meeting / destination town early, then staying there for a couple of hours, gives one a better idea of how large RAGBRAI is.  The populations swell by thousands in just a short time, the lines for food and beverages grow, and finding shade very quickly comes at a premium.  This is where looking at maps beforehand is so important, to find an optimal meeting spot for those riding.

While it isn't something I'd be interested in doing every year, driving a support vehicle does give one a way to experience the 'party' side of the ride without having to experience the physical aspect.  Plus since I was wearing my cycling clothes, no one knew any different!

RAGBRAI - 2018 Non-Edition

Since 2010, I've made an annual blog entry about what I saw while riding my bicycle on that July's RAGBRAI, a/k/a the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  Had I started this blog before August 2009, there would have been many other entries like it; aside from one missed year due to injury, my best guess is I've ridden at least a day on 18 of the last 20 RAGBRAI's.

Make that 18 of the last 21, because I didn't participate this year.

There wasn't anything stopping me -- I still cycle a lot, I had the time, and the ride came through central Iowa, making it fairly easy to jump onto it.  I just didn't have the passion for it this year, and decided not to go.

I told people after the 2015 RAGBRAI that I was retiring from the ride, that I didn't care to do it anymore.  After riding in it another day in 2016, I said the same thing.

Last year, after renouncing retirement for the second time and riding my third career 100 mile day on RAGBRAI, I said it again.  Apparently this time, it took.

I had some FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) worries, but I was glad to say it never bothered me.  The only time I gave it much thought was when I went to a meeting in a town that the ride would later go through.  Watching all of the townsfolk out sprucing things up reminded me about how the red carpet is always laid out for the rolling party of RAGBRAI riders.  That's part of what makes it fun.

Who knows if there will be another RAGBRAI in my future?  Until then, I hope my fellow riders, such as Team Crack-A-Noon and Team Wasted Potential, will be able to carry on without me.

RAGBRAI - 2017 Edition

I came out of my self-imposed retirement from the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) again this year.  (Last time!?)  In the first two days, it went through both my hometown and my spouse's hometown in NW Iowa, so I had to ride those.  Here are this year's observations:

* While the overnight towns seem to have plenty of portable toilets for the 20,000 or so visiting cyclists, the pass-through (no pun intended) towns didn't have one-tenth the amount they really needed.  I mean, when you have 20,000 extra people in your little town, even if it's only for an hour or two, you should have more than 20 (one-tenth of one percent) portable toilets.  What the hell RAGBRAI, didn't you warn them this year?  Maybe it's a sign of me getting older, but I've never had to rely on cornfields so much before.

* I found a non-profit stand selling pineapple pie!  But they were sold out -- at 8:30 in the morning!  Overall, however, I felt there was more pie available this year than on any RAGBRAI in recent memory.  Full disclosure: I had three slices of apple.

* For the third time in my RAGBRAI journeys, I rode the century (100 mile) loop that was optional this year on day two.  Each time was an accomplishment, but each time came with the same downside: You don't have as much fun on the ride.  Not only do you have an extra 30 miles or so to power through, but there aren't any good vendor or farmyard stops available during that time.  You don't stop as often, and when you do, you don't stop for as long.

* Best stop this year was a dill pickle stand that also happened to have people protesting against NW Iowa congressman and WOITH, Steve King.  I ended up wearing a sticker the rest of the day that said, "Dear America, Sorry About Steve King. Sincerely, Iowa."  Got great comments on it throughout the day, too.

* Demographically speaking, while RAGBRAI clearly has more men on it than women, I thought there were more women than in the past.  Also, there were many, many more overweight riders than I can remember -- no way some of them were riding the entire week, if the entire day.  At the same time, the median age of all riders continues to climb.

* Still not enough service for cell phones!  Getting a data connection was harder than ever, and impossible where cyclists were aggregated.  This is 2017, people, it shouldn't be this difficult.

* Best jersey I saw this year was on the back of a t-shirt:  Beer....the reason I get up every afternoon!

RAGBRAI - 2016 Edition (Belated, With Complaint)

I wasn't going to write about the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) this year.  I did come out of my self-imposed RAGBRAI retirement to ride one 50+ mile day with my daughter and her friend, but it was a relatively uneventful day, and I didn't think there was enough new things to add to my prior years' summaries.

Since then, I've had a another cycling-related issue come up to complain about, so I figured I'd include everything in one blog post.  Turns out this week was also the second anniversary of my last (and hopefully only) biking crash, so cycling is on my mind.

First, the 2016 RAGBRAI observations:

* I rode on Thursday this year, later than any day in the week I ever had as an adult.  I get the feeling that fewer people actually ride later in the week.  The weather was great, and the day was short, so I think this is a rational explanation for what, from my perspective, was fewer riders.

* Here may be another reason for fewer people:  Proximity of the ride.  The far southern Iowa route doesn't lend itself well to a daily ride of 10,000+ cyclists.  There are fewer towns, ergo fewer people to join the ride for a day, and even fewer roads for the route and its many support vehicles.  Frankly, RAGBRAI should permanently keep the ride north of Interstate 80, and then from time-to-time just send some of the ride proceeds to southern Iowa towns.  Win/win.

* Best sign this year was next to a cornfield late in the day's route, which declared it was the last chance to use the "World's Largest Transgender Bathroom."  (By the way, this is another negative about going through southern Iowa, where it's about 85% pastureland and only 15% cornfields.)

* Worst thing I saw this year was a roadside, trashy-looking acreage with a double-wide trailer and, ugh, a large confederate flag.  Really?!  That was not good optics for RAGBRAI or for Iowa.  It screamed ignorance.  I'd have given almost anything to see a team of riders raid that yard and destroy that flag.

* Still no pineapple pie anywhere.

Now for my complaint.  A lot of effort goes into the 'Ride Right' theme of RAGBRAI and large group cycling, where riders are encouraged to use proper hand signals and call out bike movements and stoppages.  That's great, but some cyclists are taking it too far.  I saw some getting upset at other riders who didn't live up to their "Ride Right' expectations, without factoring in that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of others on RAGBRAI who simply don't ride enough to know the rules.

Worse yet, some cyclists were yelling at drivers of vehicles who they deemed to not be properly sharing the road.  I saw it again this week when I was on a ride, where another cyclist got angry that a car didn't stop for him at an unmarked crosswalk.

C'mon now, you cyclist-douche bags.  I get that too many cyclists are being injured or even killed by careless drivers -- I have to make minor defensive maneuvers virtually every time I go for a ride.  But instead of cursing at the darkness, maybe just worry about continuing to make yourself a great example.  Be an ambassador of good, not evil, and always remember that in a  battle between the vehicle and the bicycle, the vehicle will win 100% of the time.

RAGBRAI - 2015 Edition

This year I was only able to fit in one day of riding on the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Instead of the last year or two, I rode 100 miles in a single day rather than over two days, from Fort Dodge to Eldora.

My 2015 observations:

* We need more bandwidth!  Cell phones worked OK on LTE out in the country, but in the small towns where everybody stopped, there was no data going in or out.  You'd think RAGBRAI and its vendors would find a way to end the data gridlock.

* There was a significant delay on the ride due to two bridges being under construction within a couple of miles of each other.  This is unacceptable to any veteran of the ride.  We know RAGBRAI is supposed to work with the Iowa Department of Transportation to make sure the route doesn't run into this kind of thing.

* It can get a little lonely on the extra 25 mile loop that allowed for this year's optional 100 mile day.  I've done that three times now, and it helps to have someone else with you.  Unlike the regular route, there are few riders and almost no organized places to stop along the road.

* Still hard to find church-stand fruit pie on the ride.  But I did, a fine slice of apple pie.  There were several other varieties, but again saw no pineapple pie this year.

* The usual big corporate food vendors were there (Farm Boys, Mr. Pork Chop, Tom Tenders, Beekman's Ice Cream), but the biggest crowd I saw by far was at the new Iowa Craft Beer Tent.  Rumor is that it drew the largest crowds all week.

* Drones!  Saw drones overhead capturing video of the ride in a few different towns.  It would make for a good chamber of commerce presentation.

* Best jersey seen this year goes to Team Good Beer.  Nothing special about the name, but they had lederhosen-style jerseys, which were awesome.

RAGBRAI - 2014 Edition

Just off another two-day jaunt on the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Similar to last year, I rode a little over 100 miles in the two days, this time in northwest Iowa.  My 2014 observations:

* Just because somebody puts up a snow fence and sells beer within the perimeter, it doesn't mean you should call it a beer garden.

* Confirmed:  Northwest Iowa is the flattest part of the state.  Day 1 had maybe one semi-serious hill to climb.

* You could not ask for a better overnight area than Okoboji and the Iowa Great Lakes.  Anyone who went to the main entertainment venue in Arnolds Park saw a nice sunset over West Lake Okoboji, and heard great live music.

* Found no pineapple pie this year!

* A little disappointing to not see some of the cycling 'teams' that made RAGBRAI semi-famous, like Team Whiners or Team Roadkill or Team Killer Bees.  Age must have broken them up, because it's hard to believe I didn't see any of them over those two days.

* It's not the heat, it's the headwinds.

* Best jersey seen this year goes to Old Fart Cycling Team.  Their motto:  "Age & Treachery Will Always Triumph Over Youth & Agility."

RAGBRAI - 2013 Edition

Spent another two days this week on this year's 7-day Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), entailing slightly more than 100 miles.  This year's observations:

* RAGBRAI needs more portable toilets on the front part of each day's ride.  There are plenty in the overnight towns, and in the daily halfway 'meeting' town.  But in the first 25 or so miles of the day, they can be very sparse, not including cornfields.  I propose they set up an area of 100 or so portable toilets around the 10-15 mile mark. This is where most riders, souped up on breakfast and/or coffee, need the break. Food and retail vendors would even help to pay for the cost, knowing there will be a logjam of riders there (pun very much intended).

* One of the most dangerous things about riding with so many others is actually going uphill.  My second day was very hilly, and so many people are barely pedaling or walking up these hills that you have a relatively unsafe blob of riders together, wobbling on bikes in a small area.  On most occasions, the better riders have to move way over to the left just to keep their cadence going and avoid a crash.

* Three years ago I blogged that there was hardly any pie on the ride anymore.  I'm happy to say there were several places selling a variety of fruit pie (yea for pineapple pie!) on the two days I rode.  One place even had fried pie on a stick - an awesome combination for riders.

* Speaking of food on a stick, one of the best RAGBRAI stops ever had to be the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  Yes, it was too close to the start of the day to get a huge crowd, but if ever there was a perfect venue for these cyclists, it was there.  Lots of food, shade, even indoor restrooms.  As I tweeted that day, the only thing out of place was that the riders were better dressed in their spandex than most usual fair goers!

* Speaking of stops, determining what will be successful is really part art, part science. I think the best strategy is being separate in the country, and together in the town. Vendors on the road who are too close to each other won't get big crowds, nor will places on the the edges of a town that has a centralized vendor area.  Having beer and music isn't enough to draw a good crowd anymore.  Being unique helps, but still, it has to be in the right location.

* My favorite team name was Team Brick.  Slogan: If it was well built, we laid it! And there was a tie for my favorite t-shirt.  One said, "Forecast for tonight: Beer. Low standards. Poor decisions. Beer." The other said, "Does this shirt make me look drunk?"

It was two days of carefree fun.  Is there any other kind?

This Year On RAGBRAI (2012)

Cycled the first leg of the 40th Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa this week.  It went through my hometown as well as a few other towns I spent a lot of time in growing up, so there was extra interest for me.  Here are this year's comments, to extend what I wrote in 2011 and 2010 :

* In the past, I've always ridden in the middle or front-half of the ride, meaning an equal amount of riders were behind me and in front of me.  I've always wondered if I was missing something wild by doing that.  After all, the old saying is that RAGBRAI is like a mullet - business in the front, party in the back!

This year it so happened that I stayed well to the back of the ride, and it turns out you miss MORE that way.  Some of the roadside stands that looked like fun places to stop were getting ready to shut down, and the riders weren't that much fun to talk with, because they were all just trying to survive the heat/ride. (That's one reason they were in the back.)  You want to be around as many people as possible during the ride and every stop within the ride, that's the best way to enjoy it.

* A couple of new team names that caught my eye were take-offs of the LiveStrong organization.  They were BeerStrong, and LiverStrong.  I'm not sure it's good form to use the name of a cancer-fighting organization to promote heavy drinking.

* A lot of folks talk about drinking alcohol on RAGBRAI.  A lot of folks actually do it.  But I think more folks talk about it than do it, especially on the hottest day in Iowa since 1988.  The most overheard, overused phrase on RAGBRAI is, "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning."  Most of them mean water.

* Ratio of fit, 20-something girls to overweight, 50+ year old men on the ride:  1-to-100.

RAGBRAI XL.  A little bit different than the RAGBRAI III I rode on in 1975.

More RAGBRAI Thoughts

Just finished another day on the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). Just 60 miles this year, although the heat and headwinds made it seem a lot worse.

I blogged about RAGBRAI last year, with an explanation and series of observations on the 2010 ride.

http://streffblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/thoughts-on-ragbrai-2010.html

*Lots of loosely-organized biking teams go on the ride, and their names are usually pretty clever. Some of my favorite team names include Team Wasted Potential, Team Crackanoon, and Team TenderLoins, the perfect double-entendre for an Iowa ride.

*People who live in houses and towns along the route seem to love to be hospitable to the bike riders. It's kind of weird, but bikers basically get rock star treatment, as if the effort of simply biking long distances is worthy of that kind of thing.

*This may be related to the last item, but RAGBRAI riders spend a lot of money, and spend it in a generous way. Obviously, they have to eat and drink a lot to refuel. But given the choice of buying something from a charitable organization or buying from a corporate organization, they will usually buy from the fund raising entity.

*Some riders think they're funny when they wear something unusual, but they aren't. Believe me, every accessory has probably been seen before, whether it be crazy socks or something stuck in a helmet. It basically identifies first-time riders, and it's mostly lame.

*Speaking of food and charities, last year I lamented on the lack of pie on the ride, something that used to be a staple of every church lawn on the route. This year I did find some pie, but it was company vendored pie, at $3 per slice. Still couldn't find the good old fashioned church-lady kind for a buck or two. Thus officially ends the era of the church-lady RAGBRAI pie.

RAGBRAI is still as much fun as you can have on a day-long bike ride.

Thoughts on RAGBRAI 2010

For the uninitiated, RAGBRAI stands for the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. It's a weeklong trek of about 10,000 bicyclists, who ride roughly 60-80 miles per day from the western to eastern border of Iowa. (If you need to know more go to ragbrai.com.)

2010 marked the 38th RAGBRAI. I've been on all or parts of 9 or 10 of them, including the third RAGBRAI when I was just short of 11 years old. Owning a 10-speed bike was a big deal then; helmets and biking jerseys were not.

This year I rode from Sioux City to Storm Lake on Sunday (72 miles) and Storm Lake to Algona on Monday (100 miles). (If you followed me on Twitter at @streffbuddy, you'd have received rolling updates!) RAGBRAI has evolved over the years, and mostly in a good way, with a few exceptions. Here are my thoughts from this year's ride:

*The average age of riders keeps going up. The aren't so many in the 20-29 age group anymore, and that used to be the main age not so long ago. RAGBRAI is slightly more family-friendly now, and it's mostly comprised of people in their 30s and 40s, and plenty in their 50s.

*RAGBRAI riders used to be in better shape than they are now. About half of today's riders would be considered overweight, and wearing tight bike shorts doesn't help their appearance. This may be correlated to the average age being higher, but it more directly correlates with Americans' poor diets. Even factoring in what can be burned off during a 450 mile week of bike riding, I'd say many riders have a net weight during RAGBRAI week, plue they generally eat and drink too much and don't exercise enough for the other 51 weeks of the year.

*Speaking of caloric intake, while there is a lot of food and beer consumed during the ride, there really aren't enough food and beverage vendors along the way. I think most communities on the route simply can't get their mind around how much eating and drinking is done by the thousands of riders in a short period of time. Lines have become way too long. In conjunction with this, there aren't enough portable toilets, either. Plenty of tall corn on the roadsides, though.

*The ride and riders are much safer now. I never saw a single rider without a helmet. Law enforcement keeps vehicles off of the route in both directions, and there are ambulances dispersed at short intervals. Still, there were several crashes, some serious. I personlly saw two riders go down crossing some railroad tracks. (They were going slow so they were not seriously injured, other than bruised egos.)

*What once was a given on RAGBRAI - church-run pie stands - has suddenly become obsolete. I saw a total of two places selling pie, in two days, and one of them had run out. It seems like the only sweets being sold on the route now are cookies and bars. I'm used to having one or two pieces of fruit pie every day on the ride. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE PIE ON RAGBRAI?

In summary, RAGBRAI is still a fun and challenging endeavor. Everybody should put it on their bucket list, at least for a day or two.