It is the first weekend of the Iowa State Fair, and Beth M. Howard is still thinking about pie. “I’ve tried to get away from pie a couple of times,” she said, “and I just keep getting pulled back. I’ve surrendered.” Howard has made a career off the pastry, first by writing a memoir about […]
RAGBRAI
Posted inCommunity/News
RAGBRAI riders will follow a 400-mile path across northern Iowa this summer
RAGBRAI LII will take cyclists across northern Iowa in July, from southeastern Sioux County to the banks of the Mississippi in Clayton County. This year’s route, and the overnight town riders will be stopping in, was announced at the RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party in Waukee on Saturday. “This will be our second shortest route and […]
Posted inComics
Public Nuisance — July 2024
This comic was originally published in Little Village’s July issue.
Posted inCommunity/News
Famous food, fast cars, a bull named Albert and a free-roaming courthouse: Stories from RAGBRAI 2024’s overnight towns
The route for RAGBRAI LI stretches from Glenwood on the Missouri River to Burlington on the Mississippi. At 424 miles, this year’s route is fairly short, but it will be the “hilliest ever RAGBRAI,” according to organizers. It’s not the first time Glenwood and Burlington have been connected. In 1869, the Burlington and Missouri River […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Essay: RAGBRAI’s one-note music lineup is an insult to riders
This is the 50th anniversary of the RAGBRAI, the yearly summer bike ride from the Missouri to the Mississippi. I remember the first one happened when I was in high school. Between being a fan of Donald Kaul and John Karras’ writing in the Des Moines Register and hanging out at the local hippie bike […]
Posted inRecreation
From sled hockey to RAGBRAI, Adaptive Sports Iowa wants to give all athletes a team
Wheelchair tennis is kind of like traditional tennis, but with wheelchairs. That sounds obvious, but the two sports are remarkably similar. The only adaptation is wheelchair players get two bounces instead of one. “Maneuvering your chair around and taking the figure eights and stuff on the court is really what I’ve learned, how to hit […]
Posted inCommunity/News
RAGBRAI announces route for 50th anniversary ride this summer
Fifty years ago, the first RAGBRAI crossed the state from west to east, starting in Sioux City and finishing in Davenport. RAGBRAI’s golden anniversary route will begin and end in those same cities, organizers announced on Saturday night. The overnight towns for the weeklong ride from the Missouri to the Mississippi will be: • Sioux […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Former RAGBRAI director launches group to save ride; corporate owner says it doesn’t need saving
A former RAGBRAI director has launched a Facebook group that wants to “Save America’s Greatest Bike Ride from the corporate giants threatening to destroy it forever.” “Because friends don’t let friends let RAGBRAI die,” is how Dieter Drake begins the Save RAGBRAI group’s About statement. Ventures Endurance, the Gannett subsidiary that has run RAGBRAI since […]
Posted inCommunity/News
RAGBRAI 2022 route announced, Iowa Ride’s former website up for sale
On Friday, RAGBRAI announced the route its cyclists will follow across Iowa this summer. Participants in the week-long ride will start at the Missouri River in Sergeant Bluff and head for Lansing, where they will dip their wheels in the Mississippi. In between, RAGBRAI will stop for the night in Ida Grove, Pocahontas, Emmetsburg, Mason […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s Ride announces new schedule: A weekend in Eldora instead of a week-long cross-state ride
When former RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz announced the creation of Iowa’s Ride in October 2019, he described a week-long cycling event across Iowa that would rival the internationally famous Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Juskiewicz now lives in Arizona, where he’s executive director of a different cycling event, and Iowa’s Ride has scaled […]
Posted inCommunity/News
RAGBRAI organizers release 2021 route, hoping virus spread will be controlled by July
Normally, the route for RAGBRAI remains a secret until it is revealed at the end of January. But not this year. RABBRAI XLVIII’s route across northern Iowa had been know for a year before the official announcement on Saturday night. That’s because RAGBRAI 2021 is using the route that was announced for last year’s ride, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Registration for RAGBRAI 2021 opens, but the COVID-19 mitigation plan is still TBD
After being canceled last year for the first time since it began in 1973, RAGBRAI is scheduled to return in 2021. Registration for the cross-state cycling event opened on Monday. Organizers of the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa called off the 2020 ride on April 20, after it became obvious the COVID-19 pandemic […]
