The trek from the Missouri to the Mississippi Rivers

Brad Kava
Sun August 04 2013
Posted Aug 4, 2013
4,151

A good post from a Californian who just keeps coming back to Iowa each year for RAGBRAI...

Every year I say I'm not going to do it again, but every year I'm back pedalling some 500 miles across a state that most Californians can't locate on a map.

This is the 41st Ragbrai, which stands for Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, and I can't believe I've now done almost half of them.

I've always been an avid long distance cyclist. My favorite ride was from Santa Cruzto Los Angeles and I did it a number of times before discovering Iowa.

I also did a ride where I started in Vancouver, Canada and worked my way back home. I thought nothing beats our coast for weather, camping availability, food, friendliness, beauty.

So why have I shucked it all to head to the middle of the Midwest during the hottest week of summer?

Well, for me, it's a biker's dream come true.

First, there are no cars on the route. The Iowa State Patrol keeps roads open only to cyclist on the days we are passing through. The AIDS ride is great here, but anyone whose done it knows it's a constant battle with cars and the fumes hardly lend themselves to riding bliss.

There are 10,000 like-minded riders on RAGBRAI, all bike lovers. Some ride fast; some ride slow; some drink; some think they are Lance Armstrong (who will be doing it for his third time); some travel in packs of up to 500 dressed as Skunks or Killer Bees.

My group, the humbly-named Team Larry, might as well be called Team Herding Cats because we are only loosely organized, despite having a team member who got his organization skills in the Navy.

We stay at people's homes each night. Some have cooked us dinner and breakfast; some have told us to enjoy ourselves alone because they were going to the beer tent all night. We usually camp out in the back yard and use their showers and bathrooms. No one there locks their doors. The trip is more like going back in time than going across the country.

RAGBRAI started as the idea of a couple of newspaper columnists for the Des Moines Register, who wanted to show readers that the state was more beautiful than even residents gave credit for. They posted a column and said people could join them on this mysterious ride between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

It was a hit: 150 people showed up, surprising them. The ride quickly grew exponentially. Now, people apply for it and they stop the applications at 10,000. Some years as many as another 10,000 follow along unsanctioned, by my unofficial count.

It's become like Burning Man on bikes. Some ride alone. Some ride in large groups. Some ride naked, some in costume.Some pay for tour groups who set up tents for them in the overnight towns. It's a six-day ride, roughly covering 500 miles. The Des Moines Register's organizersvary the route and the mileage each year.I've never heard anyone say it was too easy.

You can read much more about the ride at www.ragbrai.com

I wrote about my first year for the San Jose Mercury News and as a result of that story a team of 20 riders from Santa Clara County formed, many of them in law enforcement. I'm proud of that.

When I started riding, I'd often get interviewed by local newspapers for being a rare Californian. Now, there are thousands of them. The ride's website used to be run out of San Jose.

I've seen celebrities on the ride including Tom Arnold, Matthew McConnaughey andOakland Raider, Ben Davidson.

Here's my first RAGBRAI story from 1996:http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-09-29/features/1996273084_1_ragbrai-ride-across-iowa-bikers

One year I covered it for KGO radio and the San Francisco station was shocked at how many Iowans had moved to the Bay Area and were happy with the reports. They asked me to do it again...but, come on, this is supposed to be vacation.

Now, Patch has a contingent riding and posting photos. I'll post mine in this blog and if I talk any of you into joining next year, let me know.