History of R.A.G.B.R.A.I.- 1995 - present
Ragbrai XXIII: July 23-29, 1995: Beginning in Onawa for the 4th time and stopping overnight in Lake View, Fort Dodge, Iowa Falls, Tama-Toledo and then disaster! The ride was to be from Tama-Toledo to Sigourney, 79 miles. It was all hills, 95 degree heat, and after 30 miles, a 35 MPH headwind showed itself. Riders abondaned by the thousands. The friendly farmers picked up over 8000 weary riders along the route that day and brought them to Sigourney. The day became part of Ragbrai history as "Saggy Thursday". Anna and I had ridden every mile somehow. After Sigourney the route continued to Coralville and then on to muscatine. The ride was joined by the Chuch Offenburger led "Iowa Sesquicentennial Expedition" which began in Long Beach CA and ended in Washington D.C. The 150'ers as they called themselves, said that Saggy Thursday was harder than anything they encountered, including the mountains. I remember sitting with a woman 150-er at Tender Tom's listening to her as she wept.
The Beginning of the C.U.B.S. It was after Ragbrai XXIII that the CUBS organization was created. Owing to the neglect of a company called Northwest Passage which had taken many of the 'original 13' to Ragbrai in previous years, on the bus ride back to Chicago, we decided we could run our own group. So that winter, the following CUBS joined forces:
Mike and Diane Conklin, Art Feldman, Jerry Turry, Peg Spengler, Anna Hanley, Arch Bryant, Vince and Judy McBrien, Ken Moss, Don Ross, Jen Ross, Ken Weller & Bob Kipper. We held our first organizational meeting at Hackney's Restaurant. Our actual name at the first meeting was U-B Cyclists.
We changed it shortly after that when Mike Conklin said the CUBS would be a great name, because Iowans loved the CUBS. Jerry Turry came up with Chicago Urban Bicycling Society. We had 43 riders the first year and we have gotten stronger each year since.
Ragbrai XXIV: July 21-27, 1996: This ride featured the beginning of the Chicago Urban Bicycling Society. It also had the smallest overnight town populations of any previous ride, making housing a real challenge. We had 43 CUBS that first year. We started in Sioux Center and stayed overnight in Sibley, Estherville, Charles City, Lake Milles, Cresco, and Fayette (pop. 983) before ending in Guttenberg. The route covered 437 miles. The real challenge was the 150 mile loop on Wedneday from Estherville to Charles City. Only CUBS rider Don Freihoffer was up to the challenge. He rode it averaging 18 MPH taking over 8 hours to get to Charles City.
Ragbrai XXV: July 20-26, 1997: This Silver Anniversary ride is generally thought by most Ragbrai vets to have been the most challenging in its history. It had all the elements in ample proportions. The 3 H's, humidity, heat, and hills relentlessly challenged the most accomplished riders. The first day's ride of 82 miles from Missouri Valley to Red Oak provided a rise of 3403 feet with humidity climbing to 90 percent. CUBS will tell you about the hill in Red Oak leading to our host's home. This year's hill in Cherokee will be 2nd but not by much. The following days were progressively less hilly, but never flat. The route covered 434 miles and 14,483 feet of climb! That's more than 2.7 miles of hills. The end of the week was humid and sunny, wiping out riders, causing heat exhaustion to run rampant.The towns were the saving grace. They were spectacular. From Red Oak we stopped overnight in Creston, DesMoines, Chariton, Bloomfield (Linda Boatman's home town, we stayed with her dad and neighbors, including our first time in a funeral home), Fairfield, and ending in Fort Madison. This ride met the founders goals by finally completing the mission of taking the ride through all of Iowa's 99 counties, the last being Lucas, and the host town was Chariton, a great host.
Ragbrai XXVI: July 19-25, 1998: When Ragbrai started in Hawarden, the temperature was in the mid 90-s when we got off the bus. We thought we'd landed in a steam bath. That night a tornado came through and made things crazy. Most of us had gone inside our host families house and office area. The next day the ride to Cherokee was in staggering heat. We stopped in LaMars, the ice cream capital of the world, where they were giving out free ice cream to all 10,000 riders. I stayed there for 2 hours, from 6:30 am to 8:30 am when the temperature hit 98! After Cherokee, we stayed overnight on a farm in Rockwell City, where I sprayed for bugs, that day nearly killed me because of dehydration. Then it was on to Boone where we were entertained by Jamie Kelley and Elvis impersonator for hours at his home in Boone, then on to Eldora, Cedar Falls, Monticellow, and finally Sabula, and island town. We were taken across the river in boats which was very cool!
Ragbrai XXVII: July 25-31, 1999: Veteran riders agreed at the end of the week that the 1999 ride was the most challenging, difficult, and taxing ever. No previous Ragbrai had been so consistently hot and humid. The first 5 days averaged in the high 90's which meant the road temperature in the sun was over 100. The official temperature the 6th day was 101. On that Decorah to Manchester day, the stuff used to patch cracks in the road between Wadena and Arlington actually turned into liquid. Tires made splashing sounds as they went through it. Fayette engineers measured roadway pavement temps between 120 and 140 degrees. The IDOT state police estimated that 13,000 riders started in Rock Rapids at the start of the ride and only 6000 rode into Manchester. The ride finished in Bellevue.
Ragbrai XXVII: July 23-29, 2000: After the previous days of hell, the weather was quite balmy, with highs in the low 80's. There were a couple of days of headwinds and one day of rain, but on the whole it was a pleasant week. But is was the 4th hilliest ride ever. The ride from Harlan to Greenfield was a killer. There was not one flat day on the route and there was more gravel than usual. The ride started in Council Bluffs and overnighted in Harlan, Greenfield, Ankeny, Knoxville, Ottumwa, and Washington, before ending in Burlington.
Ragbrai: XXIX: July 22-28, 2001: Four rainy weeks in May unexpectedly made this ride the second longest and hilliest in history of Ragbrai. Because of the rain, many of the highway construction projects were not completed on time. The original ride had to be reconfigured for safety, adding miles to an already long ride. The ride started in Sioux City where we stayed with Dirk Lohry (now a CUBS member) and stopped overnight in Storm Lake, Denison, Atlantic, Perry, Grinnell, Coralville, and ended in Muscatine. There were 3 consecutive days of mileage of 95, 98, 92 miles. The biggest hill was out of Springbrook Park. I wasn't proud, I used my granny gear!
Ragbrai: XXX: July 21-27, 2002: Heat and humidity greeted RAGBRAI XXX participants on Saturday afternoon in Sioux Center. As they pitched their tents, the temperature rose to 102 degrees. The host town of Sioux Center put on a memorable opening ceremony. Service personnel from all branches of the military were represented. Featured was Team Escape from New York that had been directly impacted by the September 11, 2001 tragedy of the World Trade Center and composed of firefighters and police officers from New York City. The 30th RAGBRAI became a commemorative ride for our country and a time to heal.The heat and humidity continued Sunday, but riders reveled as they traveled through Sioux County passing through the towns of Orange City and Alton, onward across flat to undulating terrain into Cherokee for the night. The heat broke with an intense storm in Cherokee in the late afternoon.Monday was the second hilliest day of the ride, with nearly 1,775 feet of climb through rolling hills. At 79 miles, it was also the longest day of the ride. Emmetsburg, which takes pride in its Irish roots was the third overnight stop.Day four was flat to gently rolling with plenty of time to stop and enjoy the prairie farming communities along the way. The day included the optional John Karras Century Loop for those who wanted to get in a 100-mile day. Coming into Forest City for the night, the route passed the factory where Winnebago motor homes are manufactured. Wednesday the riders left Forest City through an avenue lined with American flags to kick off 9/11 Remembrance Day, and riders decked themselves in patriotic attire. Charles City greeted riders with an impressive arch of water from fire trucks lining the entrance and a fly over by military fighter planes.Couples renewed their vows at the famous Little Brown Church outside of Nashua Thursday morning. Rolling country roads guided riders to the flats and into Oelwein for the night.
The overnight stop in Anamosa, known for its Grant Wood legacy, is where the rain started in the middle of the night and continued through Saturday morning. Local farmers with tractors had to pull buses and the RAGBRAI baggage semi-truck from the mud. Along with the rain, riders encountered the hilliest day with a dozen hills that required granny gear. Those who rode their bicycles into Bellevue, but those who rode their bikes dipped their front wheel in the Mississippi River with a huge feeling of accomplishment.
Ragbrai XXXI: July 20-26, 2003 Ragbrai 2003 set a course south for the first time in over ten years. After departing Glenwood in a fog, the riders made their way through the heat to Shenandoah where they were greeted by severa thousand pink flmingos-the theme Shenandoah chose for their welcome. The temperature turned comfortable the next day and with the exception of a few rain showers, stayed that way for the rest of the week.
While Ragbrai XXXI weighed in as the hilliest ever at one point passing through the DesMoines River Valley, the consensus was that the history of the area and the scener made the effort worthwhile. The wave-like terrain continued the rest of the ride through overnights stops in Bedford, Osceola, Oskaloosa, Bloomfield, Mt. Pleasant, and Fort Madison. On the way, veterans of the ride found themselves passing through 11 towns never before visited by Ragbrai. As in years past the hospitality extended to the riders is what keeps them coming back to the state year after year.
Ragbrai XXXII 2004
Ragbrai XXXIII 2005
Ragbrai XXXIV 2006