RAGBRAI 2011

By Jim Schroeder

Sylvia Stoub, Sandi Owen, and Jim Schroeder travelled to Iowa for their summer vacation.

Iowa? an exotic destination? in July? the heat? the humidity? corn? why?

If you know anything about bicycle touring, then you'd all know that Iowa in July means RAGBRAI - The Register's Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa!  They've been doing it for 39 years now. There's 10,000 riders registered for the week; 5,000 more on day passes and about 10,000 more bandits or locals.  This should be on every biker's bucket list!  This is the only ride I've been on where state highways are closed off by law enforcement for the bicyclists.  Small towns shut down and cater to the bicyclists passing through and will sell anything that is edible or drinkable or photographable for their local fund raisers!  Each day is about 65 miles and each town that RAGBRAI passes through is like a county fair.  The overnight cities bring in top name entertainment, but we were usually too exhausted after setting up our tent, showering, and eating supper.

This is one ride that is not about the miles nor the bikes.  It's about the people: the bicyclists, the city folk, the farmers, and even the vendors!  At least every mile there would be a vendor selling or giving away water, gatorade, freeze pops, smoothies, secret potions, lemon shake-ups, french toast, pancakes, corn dogs, pork chops, ice cream. or even beer.

Lance Armstrong even dropped in for a day's ride.  I didn't see him, though.  I was relaxing under a huge shade tree in some farmer's front yard.  I guess the ride could be described as a Hilly Hundred on steroids.  We spent more time eating, drinking, and relaxing.  We met a lot of nice people, especially those from Iowa that are awful proud of their state and this ride.

Oh, did I tell you about the heat?  It was over 100 for two days, and the remainder highs were always in the mid 90's!  Iowa could have sold us shade but they didn't.  The funniest sales pitch was "$1 for a dip in our swimming pond, free for skinny dippers"

For a week long ride there were highs and lows.  Most cyclists are worried about two things at the end of the ride: showers and supper.  Each hosting city had a different list of priorities.  The best would have to be the small college towns.  They had it figured out.  Don't ask me about Altoona, though!

Here are some of Jim's photos. Click on them to see full-size images.