Biking across Iowa: A Minnesotan checks in from RAGBRAI
A record-breaking 20,000 cyclist are biking across Iowa this week for the 50th annual RAGBRAI.
Alanna Elder | MPR News
This week, Iowans along a 500-mile stretch of road set up tents and tables to welcome a record-breaking 28,000 bicyclists crossing the state.
The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, known as RAGBRAI for short, began 50 years ago this summer.
Minnesota Now Producer Alanna Elder is biking along with them. She talked with MPR News guest host Emily Bright.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
EMILY BRIGHT: For our next story, we're dropping in on our neighbors to the south. This week, Iowans along a 500-mile stretch of road set up tents and tables to welcome a record-breaking 28,000 bicyclists across the state. The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, known as RAGBRAI for short, began 50 years ago this summer. And so many people are expected to participate that, at one point, organizers were pursuing a world record. Minnesota Now producer Alanna Elder is biking with them, and she's on the line. Hey, Alanna.
ALANNA ELDER: Hey, Emily.
EMILY BRIGHT: Hi. Where are you right now?
ALANNA ELDER: I am in a farmhouse yard somewhere on the side of the road, somewhere between Rippey, Iowa and Ames, which is the final destination for the day. People are laying under pine trees, taking a break, and it's expected to be a big day, especially for some people, because there's an option to do 100 miles, or what people are calling a century. And I haven't decided if I'm going to do that yet. We've been told that there's-- the loop to get those extra miles usually takes you somewhere cool or interesting. So it's tempting. But we'll have to see.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I'm just delighted that you paused on your big journey to talk with us. So I have to ask you about the heat. I know that Iowa, obviously, is known for fields and fields of corn. And there's this phenomenon called corn sweat, where corn plants suck up the moisture from the soil and evaporate it into the air, and that can make the environment feel even steamier on a hot summer day. So what's it like there right now?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, steamy is right. It's pretty hot. When you're biking, there's been a nice headwind, which is actually pretty welcome at the moment, getting the air moving. But the minute you stop, the air kind of just sticks to you. And there's been kind of a humid haze on the horizon all week. And yeah, we're surrounded by cornfields, so certainly feeling that effect as well. Plus there's a lot more shade once we take a break in town.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK, yeah, I have to-- have you run into many Minnesotans on the road?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, quite a few. There have also been places to leave notes or pins saying where you're from. And it seems like Minnesota's pretty well-represented. I've seen some Minnesota jerseys. I talked to some Iowans who have connections in Minnesota. But I've been surprised. The ride has really drawn people from all over the country and even some other countries as well-- Norway, Mexico.
This tradition started back in 1973, 50 years ago, like you mentioned. And it started when two Des Moines Register columnists decided to bike across Iowa, interview people along the way. They started in Sioux City and ended in Davenport, which is a similar route to what I'll hopefully finish this week. And it's really grown in the last 50 years from nearly 100-- from a couple hundred people to, like you said, nearly 30,000 registered riders, though some are only doing a single day or a couple of days. Yesterday, I met someone, Matt Martin from Bloomington, and he was on an optional gravel ride. It was his third time doing the race.
MATT MARTIN: It is what I consider adult bike camp. We get to come out and meet different people, and you have great conversations and pretty much just renews your faith in humanity when you come to these small towns and people embrace you and their hospitality is wonderful.
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, he said-- and I've heard some other people say this too-- that the number of people here, new riders, is noticeable. And one of those people trying it for the first time is Louis Baker of Columbia Heights. He really came because he didn't want to miss the 50th anniversary. I met him in line to get grilled cheeses in the first town after Sioux City, Kingsley.
LOUIS BAKER: And it's hillier than I expected, but it's more fun than I expected. So no, it's exceeding my expectations in all ways.
EMILY BRIGHT: Lines for grilled cheese.
ALANNA ELDER: Another way that it exceeded his expectations with the lines-- they are really no joke. It took him more than an hour to drop his bags in the morning. That's pretty typical. This is when people load their bags into a big semi for transport. Some people do it a little faster by signing up with a smaller charter group. But regardless, you are feeling the number of people who are here to share this experience.
And it also makes communication on the road really important. All through the ride, people are announcing when they're getting on, changing lanes, passing, slowing down. And there's a real risk that you could run into someone if you're not doing that. The exception to that is that there was a mile of silence the first day to raise awareness for cyclists who are killed on roadways.
You also hear music of pretty much every genre coming out of people's speakers and see a wide variety of bikes, lots of tandems, something I'd never heard of called ellipticals, which is basically like the gym equipment elliptical, but it's moving. I even saw a penny farthing, which is the old fashioned bicycle with the giant front wheel and tiny wheel in back. I'm hoping that they are relying on a support vehicle for at least some of the trip.
There are also people who opt for more freedom, and they carry all their camping gear on the bike with them. I met a group of teens at a water station in the second town on the route. They were from Minnetonka. And one of them had actually been doing RAGBRAI since he was 10, self-supported the whole time. He started with his dad on a tandem bike. And by the time they met them, his dad was far ahead. So they were on their own.
EMILY BRIGHT: Alanna, I'm really enjoying hearing all about this. We're about out of time, but just briefly, what's next?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, so like I mentioned, I'm headed to Ames today, and then tomorrow, Ames to Des Moines. And that's supposed to be the busiest stretch. At one point, organizers were trying to get a record for the most people riding at once. They would have just had to top 40,000, but it turned out that world record had actually been retired, so they would have had to consider this a race, which it really isn't-- that's not the spirit of the event. So they changed their minds, but I think they're still going to be a lot of people there anyway.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, Alanna, have a safe ride. Have fun. Stay hydrated.
ALANNA ELDER: Thanks, Emily. I will.
EMILY BRIGHT: Minnesota Now producer Alanna Elder from the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa, also known as RAGBRAI.
[QUEEN, "BICYCLE RACE"] Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle. I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle. I want to ride my bicycle. I want--
ALANNA ELDER: Hey, Emily.
EMILY BRIGHT: Hi. Where are you right now?
ALANNA ELDER: I am in a farmhouse yard somewhere on the side of the road, somewhere between Rippey, Iowa and Ames, which is the final destination for the day. People are laying under pine trees, taking a break, and it's expected to be a big day, especially for some people, because there's an option to do 100 miles, or what people are calling a century. And I haven't decided if I'm going to do that yet. We've been told that there's-- the loop to get those extra miles usually takes you somewhere cool or interesting. So it's tempting. But we'll have to see.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I'm just delighted that you paused on your big journey to talk with us. So I have to ask you about the heat. I know that Iowa, obviously, is known for fields and fields of corn. And there's this phenomenon called corn sweat, where corn plants suck up the moisture from the soil and evaporate it into the air, and that can make the environment feel even steamier on a hot summer day. So what's it like there right now?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, steamy is right. It's pretty hot. When you're biking, there's been a nice headwind, which is actually pretty welcome at the moment, getting the air moving. But the minute you stop, the air kind of just sticks to you. And there's been kind of a humid haze on the horizon all week. And yeah, we're surrounded by cornfields, so certainly feeling that effect as well. Plus there's a lot more shade once we take a break in town.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK, yeah, I have to-- have you run into many Minnesotans on the road?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, quite a few. There have also been places to leave notes or pins saying where you're from. And it seems like Minnesota's pretty well-represented. I've seen some Minnesota jerseys. I talked to some Iowans who have connections in Minnesota. But I've been surprised. The ride has really drawn people from all over the country and even some other countries as well-- Norway, Mexico.
This tradition started back in 1973, 50 years ago, like you mentioned. And it started when two Des Moines Register columnists decided to bike across Iowa, interview people along the way. They started in Sioux City and ended in Davenport, which is a similar route to what I'll hopefully finish this week. And it's really grown in the last 50 years from nearly 100-- from a couple hundred people to, like you said, nearly 30,000 registered riders, though some are only doing a single day or a couple of days. Yesterday, I met someone, Matt Martin from Bloomington, and he was on an optional gravel ride. It was his third time doing the race.
MATT MARTIN: It is what I consider adult bike camp. We get to come out and meet different people, and you have great conversations and pretty much just renews your faith in humanity when you come to these small towns and people embrace you and their hospitality is wonderful.
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, he said-- and I've heard some other people say this too-- that the number of people here, new riders, is noticeable. And one of those people trying it for the first time is Louis Baker of Columbia Heights. He really came because he didn't want to miss the 50th anniversary. I met him in line to get grilled cheeses in the first town after Sioux City, Kingsley.
LOUIS BAKER: And it's hillier than I expected, but it's more fun than I expected. So no, it's exceeding my expectations in all ways.
EMILY BRIGHT: Lines for grilled cheese.
ALANNA ELDER: Another way that it exceeded his expectations with the lines-- they are really no joke. It took him more than an hour to drop his bags in the morning. That's pretty typical. This is when people load their bags into a big semi for transport. Some people do it a little faster by signing up with a smaller charter group. But regardless, you are feeling the number of people who are here to share this experience.
And it also makes communication on the road really important. All through the ride, people are announcing when they're getting on, changing lanes, passing, slowing down. And there's a real risk that you could run into someone if you're not doing that. The exception to that is that there was a mile of silence the first day to raise awareness for cyclists who are killed on roadways.
You also hear music of pretty much every genre coming out of people's speakers and see a wide variety of bikes, lots of tandems, something I'd never heard of called ellipticals, which is basically like the gym equipment elliptical, but it's moving. I even saw a penny farthing, which is the old fashioned bicycle with the giant front wheel and tiny wheel in back. I'm hoping that they are relying on a support vehicle for at least some of the trip.
There are also people who opt for more freedom, and they carry all their camping gear on the bike with them. I met a group of teens at a water station in the second town on the route. They were from Minnetonka. And one of them had actually been doing RAGBRAI since he was 10, self-supported the whole time. He started with his dad on a tandem bike. And by the time they met them, his dad was far ahead. So they were on their own.
EMILY BRIGHT: Alanna, I'm really enjoying hearing all about this. We're about out of time, but just briefly, what's next?
ALANNA ELDER: Yeah, so like I mentioned, I'm headed to Ames today, and then tomorrow, Ames to Des Moines. And that's supposed to be the busiest stretch. At one point, organizers were trying to get a record for the most people riding at once. They would have just had to top 40,000, but it turned out that world record had actually been retired, so they would have had to consider this a race, which it really isn't-- that's not the spirit of the event. So they changed their minds, but I think they're still going to be a lot of people there anyway.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, Alanna, have a safe ride. Have fun. Stay hydrated.
ALANNA ELDER: Thanks, Emily. I will.
EMILY BRIGHT: Minnesota Now producer Alanna Elder from the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa, also known as RAGBRAI.
[QUEEN, "BICYCLE RACE"] Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle. I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle, bicycle. I want to ride my bicycle. I want--
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