RAGBRAI

Last full week in JulyA bicycle ride (not race) across the state of Iowa, Ragbrai is billed as the oldest, longest, and largest bicycle-touring event in the nation and possibly the world. The sponsor from the start has been the Des Moines Register, and RAGBRAI stands for Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa . The field is limited to 8,500, and participants are chosen through a drawing.
The ride began in 1973 when Don Kaul, a Register columnist who worked out of Washington, D.C., was challenged by another columnist, John Karras, to bicycle across the state to learn about Iowa. The challenge was accepted, and both decided to ride. Karras wrote an article telling about the plan and inviting readers to go along: at the start of the race, there were 300 riders, and 115 rode the distance. One of these was 83-year-old Clarence Pickard, who rode a woman's bike from border to border.
The ride was intended as a one-time event, but interest was such that it continued the next year, and the next, when it got the RAGBRAI name. The route is different each year but always runs from west to east. Distances average 471 miles; the longest was the 540 miles of RAGBRAI XIII in 1985. According to tradition, riders dip their rear tires in the Missouri River at the start of the tour and seven days later dip their front tires in the Mississippi River when they finish. Multi-day touring rides have been organized in other states since RAGBRAI started.
CONTACTS:
RAGBRAI
715 Locust St.
P.O. Box 622
Des Moines, IA 50303
800-474-3342 or 515-284-8282; fax: 515-284-8138
www.ragbrai.org
SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 127