This spring Mark Hill of Wayne thought about doing the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) and floated the idea to an old friend, Todd Trowbridge, who he used to ride with when his family lived in California.
Todd thought it would be a great adventure as both his parents were from Iowa and attended the University of Iowa. He had spent summers in Iowa as a kid and was eager to see it again as an adult.
This year's ride was seven days - from July 20 -27.
"Todd arrived on Thursday and settled into Wayne. Saturday morning we packed up our gear., We were each allotted 50 lbs that the RAGBRAI trucks would move for us each day from town to town, and drove over to Sioux City to catch a shuttle up to Orange City," Hill said.
Here the two pitched camp amidst a sea of tents. An entire football field was covered in a variety of different tents, all different shapes, sizes and colors. Most of the 20,000 riders camp somewhere in the overnight host towns, so there are tents everywhere.
During the ride, some days the riders rode over 70 miles, and others they rode below 40.
"This was the Northern route, we started in Orange City and ended in Guttenburg on the Mississippi," Mark said.
The following are some of Mark's observations from the ride:
"Sunday, day one, was 72 miles to the Iowa Lakes town of Millford. It was an easy ride, and everyone is still fresh; the weather was good with just a bit of a headwind.
"Day 2 was a short day, only 41 miles, with a RAGBRAI first as we crossed into Minnesota for 15 miles. We still had a headwind coming atypically out of the east. We all know what an east wind brings...
"Day 3 was another 74 mile day. It was hot and the winds had picked up to 15+ mph from the southwest. We rode in long trains of bikes to help break the wind. At one point we had 50 bikes in line behind us. We finished the day and headed to the community pool to cool off. I am sure they had to add chemicals after all the riders jumped into the pool, as it was full of people from the ride. The weather apps said to expect rain at midnight, predicting 0.11 inches with a shower for 30 min. Reality was 2+ inches with strong winds for 2 hours. Most tents leaked, ours snapped a pole, and partially collapsed. The water poured in and most everything got a good rinse. Most of our electronics were degraded if not killed. My phone camera is still fogged over, and it is on its last legs.
"Day 4, got up early and had to wring out most of our gear, then pack it wet. The bags were much heavier now. Fortunately, one of the tips from the RAGBRAI organizers was to put each day's clothes into gallon ziplocs as a precaution against such downpours. So we did have some dry gear to ride in. That day's ride was mainly south, and the winds were still in our face, but not as strong. We got into Iowa Falls, pitched our tent to allow it to dry, and went in search of a laundromat. $5 in quarters later we had dry clothes and sleeping bags."
Hill said days 5, 6 and 7 were "wash, rinse, repeat."
People would start getting up at 4:30 a.m. and break camp to try to leave at 5 a.m. to minimize the heat and wind.
"Todd and I were more leisurely and got up at 6, broke camp and got on the road shortly after 7 a.m. each morning."
Hill said that while living in California, he had done a number of 100 mile per day bike rides, however, this was the first time he had done a multiple day event.
"Having 20,000 people on bicycles is a large cross-section of humanity. We saw people from all over the county. One boy named OB was just two years old and riding in a trailer eating snacks. I also met a 75 year old who was on his 35th RAGBRAI, He was not doing the entire route, but had stories from 'back in the day,'" Hill said.
The pair saw a wide range of bikes, from standard "10 speeds" to unicycles, penny farthings, recumbents, tandems, and triples. Many riders had some kind of speakers blaring out music for their ride companions, it trended heavily toward classic rock.
During the ride, the roads were closed, so the cyclists rode up to eight people across the highway.
"It was nice not having to worry about cars and cattle trucks. Slow riders were on the right and faster as you moved left. Everyone could ride at their own pace," Hill said.
The sense of community was very strong and people were friendly.
"Everyone wants to know where you are from and how many RAGBRAIs you have done. You could sit with anybody, strike up a conversation and relax for 15 minutes," he said.
The food was "great" as RAGBRAI is known for breakfasts, Bloody Marys, pork chops and beer trucks.
"We did not sample any Bloody Marys, but the beer trucks hit the spot after lunch. Most towns had spaghetti feeds in the evenings and they always sold out. It took us three attempts to get to one early enough to get a meal," Hill said.
"Iowans lined the route every day, each gravel crossroad had cars, side by sides, and lawn chairs with people cheering us on. I am sure we were quite the spectacle for the locals. Especially the Amish, we rode through Amish country on the last day, and they also lined the road with their families. I am sure we were a cautionary tale to the youngsters; "see how they ride in public in their underwear." he added.
Each pass-through town and overnight town went all out to make riders feel welcome and provide them all with what they might need. There was always water available, and local kids sold baked goods and lemonade from the curbs.
"Our favorite treat was icy-pops, cool and sugary. We needed the energy," Hill said.
The support from the police and EMS was outstanding, and they were on top of any incidents in short order.
"I would do it again - either with a better tent or by getting host families in each overnight town. I would bring more friends too," Hill shared.
