We're Riding RAGBRAI!

I have done RAGBRAI (the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) 2 times. Recently, I have been doing other rides, I said the only way I would do RAGBRAI again is if it ends in Dubuque. Well, they have chosen the route and it will end in Dubuque this year!

RAGBRAI is the largest annual bike ride in America. This is the 53rd year for the ride! You start by dipping your rear tire in the Missouri River on the west side of Iowa (Onawa, IA) and finish a week later by dipping your front tire in the Mississippi River on the west side (Dubuque, IA). You ride for a solid week and camp every night. The ride length this year is 391.4 miles (the shortest in RAGBRAI history). There will be from 15,000 to 30,000 people riding each day. (The roads are mostly closed.)

This year the actual ride starts on Sunday July 19 and ends on Saturday July 25. For reasons I'll explain later you start the trip on the afternoon of Friday July 17, and get home Saturday night, July 25. Now is the time to put together a team and organize registration for the ride. Our team name will be Let's Ride. There is (maybe) a lottery to enter RAGBRAI, but all members of a team always get accepted together. However, previous riders always seemed to get in. Finally, I use the charter service OOS (Out of Staters) Bicycle Club, who will transport you & your bike across the state, hall your luggage from town to town, and have private camping areas and showers which costs from $625 to $1365 (depending on the amenities you desire), NOTE: This is in addition to the fee to RAGBRAI which ranges from $250 (if you register by February 28) to $400 (if you sign up in July). You really want to sign up ASAP to make sure you have everything you need from OOS. They have limited tents and other amenities.

For those of us in the Chicago area, we will park our cars in Dubuque and then our charter service hauls us and our bikes Onawa. We then bike ride across the whole state back to Dubuque. There we hop in our cars and drive home. While the ride always starts on a Sunday, the charter service picks up our bikes in Dubuque on Friday, July 17. We will camp overnight and the buses will leave at 8 am on Saturday morning. It will take a good 6 - 7 hours to get across the state where you meet up with your bike at our campsite.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me. You should sign up for RAGBRAI and OOS as soon as possible. PLEASE let me know when you have signed up. I will have some organizational meetings, a suggested training program, and packing list for all who participate. Here are the links you need to sign up:

RAGBRAI Registration (Our team is Let's Ride)
OOS Registration (Let them know that you are with Let's Ride. Hopefully, we will all get on the same bus)