Corn, Rumbles, and Hills: Biking Across Iowa

I spent the past week biking across the state of Iowa.  All the way across from west to east, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River.  And it was fantastic.  I’m ready to do it again.  Right now.

the Mississippi River!

The Missouri River

We rode for 7 days- each day we rode between 49 and 108 miles, most of the days were around 50 miles.   We stayed in houses a few nights and camped a few nights.  We went through 40 towns (mostly little towns), traveled about 430 miles, ate lots of food, and saw things I never would have guessed I would see.

Riding a bike across Iowa is not a logical thing to do, it really is a strange activity- it’s something you don’t really understand until you do it, but even now it's hard to explain why people come back again and again to do this bike ride.

There are a lot of reasons why people do RAGBRAI:

• Some do it to hang out with friends and family
• Some do it to cross something off their bucket list
• Some people do it for the adult beverages
• Some do it for the food (all sorts of fried things, a variety of meats on a stick, ice cream and pie and sweets galore…)
• Some do it because they really like biking
• Some people do it because the people of Iowa are so friendly and hospitable
• Some do it because there is just something special about thousands of people riding together

Why did I do RAGBRAI?  I decided to do RAGBRAI because I love Iowa, because I love biking, and because I’d eventually like to ride my bike across the US (I thought I would start with just Iowa and see how that went before setting off across the whole country).

What did I love most about RAGBRAI?  Just riding my bike across some beautiful landscapes... the fluffy white clouds dotting the bright blue sky, the warm sun, the green corn and soy fields stretching for miles, the gently rolling hills, the refreshing breeze.  My love for Iowa increased and I can't wait to get back on my bike.