RAGBRAI 2023

RAGBRAI is the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It is the oldest, largest, and longest multi-day bicycle touring event in the world. This year is the 50th anniversary ride, and the 5th longest and the 5th most challenging in terms of elevation gain. 28,000 riders are registered, and thousands more are expected to ride "bandit" (unregistered).

I normally try to blog every evening while the events of the day are fresh. However, on RAGBRAI there is effectively no Internet from the time you get to the overnight town until perhaps midnight, and often no service during the day as well. So this update is after the ride ended. It will be more highlights than some of the detail I include on other rides.

Davenport to Sioux City

Day 0: 17 miles, 300 feet of elevation gain. We got up early, waited in line 45 minutes for a bus to take us up the hill, then waited another 45 minutes for the bus to Sioux City. Our bus driver was a former rock and roll band driver from the 80s. He had amazing stories of the different groups he had transported. He then did investment banking. Driving now is his retirement fun. He clearly doesn't need the money, he just likes the open road more than sitting at home.

Once in Sioux City, I got set up and then went up river to South Dakota. It was only a couple of miles and I wanted to start my adventure there and be able to say, "I rode home from South Dakota!"

After South Dakota, I went back about five miles in the opposite direction to the RAGBRAI expo. It was extremely disappointing. Lines 50 people long for food and hundreds long for merchandise. I went to Burger King instead, then went back to camp. The bike traffic along the trail was intense, sometimes tire to tire. The good news is that this experience convinced me to take an alternate route tomorrow morning and bypass the pending mayhem.

I showered and spent the evening talking with Tom and Dave from Montana and Michigan. They met on RAGBRAI last year. We turned in early but were woken up by people returning from entertainment talking and laughing. There wasn't much sleep, but I did find that the Internet works at 3 a.m.

Sioux City to Storm Lake

Day 1: 74 miles, 3,400 feet of elevation gain. I left before sunrise and followed an alternate route into town. There were maybe a few dozen riders who followed this path. We heard later about the traffic jam and accidents on the main route. Two people were carried off on stretchers only five miles into their 500-mile ride.

Because I was ahead of the crowd, I was able to make my way along pretty well. We heard later that the railroad crossing coming out of Sioux City became so dangerous that the police made everyone get off and walk their bikes, causing a half-mile backup.

Storm Lake was beautiful. We set up camp in a park and then went into town to the United Methodist Church for spaghetti dinner. Everyone was very welcoming and pasta hit the spot. We then returned to camp and I spent the evening talking with Tom and Dave again. Their tents were beside a concrete soccer court and the local boys and young men played a pickup game. All ages were welcome, and they went out of their way to encourage even the youngest players. Everyone got a chance to score and everyone who was a teen or older took a turn as goalie.

Unfortunately, camping space was at a premium, and when I went back to my tent, I found out someone else had set up almost on top of my tent, nearly touching one of the corners. So I packed up everything and Tom and Dave helped me move over to their area and I spent the night there beside the soccer court.

Storm Lake to Carroll

Day 2: 57 miles, 1,600 feet of elevation gain. We were up early again and on the road before sunrise.

I saw someone go down today. Apparently a bike crossed in front of him and hit his front tire. Down he went. It looked like he was okay, just a bit stunned sitting in the middle of the road.

There are several well-known regular vendors on RAGBRAI. Chris Cakes has pancakes at the first breakfast town and Mr. Pork Chop sets up somewhere either just before or just after the lunch town. I didn't try Chris Cakes, but I stopped for Mr. Pork Chop today.

On the one hand, it's a well-made grilled pork chop, juicy and tasty. On the other hand, there was so much salt on it I had to actually wash it off before I could eat it. Once washed, it was pretty good. But a bit more solid protein than one should probably have before biking another 30 miles. I'm glad I selected a short day for this experience. Half a pork chop would probably be a good choice in the future.

Carroll to Ames

Day 3: 103 miles, 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Because of the distance, everyone started early, again before sunrise.

I saw someone down again today. This time it was due to the heat. About a quarter of the way around the Karras Loop (100-mile path), someone went down due to heat exhaustion. I'll admit I was also very hot. But I have found that, if I find a homeowner out in their yard, I can usually get them to let me use their garden hose. On the loop, I stopped and used a hose until I was almost chilled. That was enough to get me on my way again and finish the loop.

In Ames we got to ride the whole way around the inside mezzanine level of the Iowa State football stadium. All of the teams' cheerleaders where there rooting us on. And, as an added bonus, I hit 100 miles for the day on my way back down and out of the stadium.

Just after that, in terms of near misses, I was passing another rider and someone came up from the other direction. I didn't have time to complete my pass, so I just tucked in right beside her, handlebars offset just a bit. The other rider passed within an inch or so coming the other way. In any other environment I would have been totally freaked out. But as other riders confirmed later, it's just another day on RAGBRAI. There are so many close calls, but with skilled riders who handle the situations as they come. We regularly ride just inches from disaster. As long as everyone holds their line, it works fine. If someone won't hold their line, you move away as quickly as possible.

Ames to Ankeny, Ankeny to Newton

Day 4: 74 miles, 2,100 feet of elevation gain. The scheduled RAGBRAI ride was Ames to Des Moines for 50 miles. I followed the main path for 34 miles to Ankeny, then turned off on my own and headed for Newton. I had no interest in dealing with 50,000 bikers in Des Moines. Instead, I had some of the most memorable experiences of the entire week.

Riding alone out of Ankeny after riding with thousands of people was such a pleasant shock. I really prefer solo riding. I can enjoy the scenery, focus on the local people and places, and just get a good feeling for the area without worrying about getting run over or knocked down.

I followed a bike trail out of Ankeny, went by the (very large) Facebook Data Center in Altoona, and stopped in Mitchellville for lunch. While I was there, I met a couple who lived in Newton and owned a bar somewhere east of there. They visited with other bar owners during the day and then ran their own bar in the evening.

After talking with them for awhile, they invited me to stay in their yard in Newton that evening. They even turned on the hose and put a cooler of beer on the porch for me. It was the best tent night of sleep I had the entire trip, and I am so thankful for their hospitality.

Newton to Toledo

Day 5: 54 miles, 2,600 feet of elevation gain. This was a tough ride for me, and I had it far easier than everyone else. The regular ride was 88 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation gain. By heading toward Newton a day early, I made my ride a third easier.

I went out of my way to support non-profits and local lemonade stands today. I managed to avoid traditional vendors the entire day, and felt I got much more value and my money was much better invested in the local community. I appreciate that RAGBRAI has to include the large vendors, but almost exclusively I found the local non-profits to be a better experience.

While having breakfast lunch (lunch at 9 a.m.), I met a fellow teacher from Iowa City. We spent quite a while talking before I headed off down the road again. This meeting was very important for tomorrow.

Toledo to Coralville

Day 6: 84 miles, 2,900 feet of elevation gain. This ended up being the worst ride of the week. We could tell from the haze at sunrise how hot it was going to be. We had 15+ MPH headwinds for most of the day with an eventual heat index of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Pretty much everyone who had done century rides in the past said this ride was worse than a century ride. We got to the point where we were looking for hoses in back yards every five miles or so. Thankfully, there were homeowners willing to do this, or many of us (me included) wouldn't have been able to finish the ride.

One of the stops along the way was a lemonade stand. Mom was handing out lemonade and her five-year-old daughter, Hazel, was drawing pictures. Several of us commissioned Hazel to draw for us at $1 a picture. She drew a bicycle for me and signed it. The image is correct. She wrote her name backwards.

Along the way, I saw the teacher I met for breakfast lunch the day before. He was wearing an Iowa City shirt and I commented on how he was going to get to sleep in his own bed tonight. He immediately asked me if I wanted to sleep at his house rather than tent camping for the evening. We exchanged phone numbers, and I contacted him to confirm once I got to Coralville.

He came and picked me up (it was 2 miles and 700 feet of elevation to get to his house from the campground) and he and his wife made a wonderful dinner for us. We talked until 9 p.m. and I got to do laundry, charge my devices, and sleep in the guest room. Another amazing experience of Iowa hospitality.

And it was fortunate that I was able to do this. Thunderstorms came through around 9 p.m. Any tents that weren't staked down blew away, and some people had to sleep in the high school gym for the evening.

Coralville to Davenport

Day 7: 88 miles, 1,800 feet of elevation gain. I left before sunrise again. While I did get a ride the night before, it was two miles in the wrong direction. So I did bike the full Iowa experience and can honestly say I rode home from South Dakota.

Shortly after starting our ride, we went through Iowa City and the Iowa Hawkeyes football stadium. It was nice, but only about half the experience of Iowa State. In terms of rivalry, Iowa State did a much better job of welcoming RAGBRAI riders. But the effort was appreciated.

The official ride today ended in Davenport. I added an extra 14 miles to have a reserved campsite at Fisherman's Corner National Recreation Area on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, far away from the bikers and trains in downtown Davenport. And it was definitely worth the extra effort. I had a quiet campsite and was able to get ice cream at the nearby Illiniwek Forest Preserve. I also got a free Spotted Cow beer from a neighbor camper who had done RAGBRAI in the past. Again, Iowa hospitality, this time on the Illinois side of the river.

Epilogue

Eight days and 551 miles, including more than 3 miles of elevation gain. This was rough. It's really too much riding and too little sleep to be enjoyable. I'd prefer 60-65 mile days (at least with this much elevation gain) and quiet campgrounds or perhaps even stay in hotels. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that the other 20,000 people out there with me were enduring the same thing and we were all in it together. That and I really wanted to ride home from South Dakota.

Riding with this many other people is a very different experience. There are male pace lines going by on the left doing 25 MPH+. There are female pace lines going by one line over doing 21 MPH+. Even just regular riding in the middle is in the 17 MPH+ range for extended distances.

The people you meet on RAGBRAI are amazing. I had wonderful conversations with Tom and Dave every evening and treasured their welcoming me and making space for me every night. I had conversations for miles with people along the way as we were riding. There was a veterinarian listening to AC/DC who had just finished her residency as an internal medicine specialist and was about to start her first job. There was a telecom expert and we talked about infrastructure issues and how the last mile wasn't a problem anywhere we had been. It was the backbone that couldn't support the traffic. There were newlyweds who chose RAGBRAI for their honeymoon, etc.

There were also the crazies. Mostly in a good way. There was an apparent hippie well into his upper 60s or maybe older who pulled a trailer with a large stereo system playing oldies as loud as he could. There was a guy riding an old-time big-wheel bike with a single gear. He had to take his feet off the pedals to go downhill and stand up to go up hill. There was a guy who rode the whole trip backwards, sitting on the handlebar. He didn't have a seat on the bike so he couldn't change his mind. Wild stuff.

There were literally dozens of other people I met along the way, both riders and locals. I really enjoyed their time and their conversation. If I had to do it over again, I would spend more time talking with people, and make a better effort to support the non-profits and lemonade stands. But as of now, I don't think I will do it again unless RAGBRAI limits the number of people and shortens the distance, and I can find a way to get more sleep.