A Legendary Week-Long Bike Party Disguised as a Ride
Picture this scenario: tens of thousands of cyclists descending upon tiny Iowa towns for seven straight days, turning quiet cornfields into massive outdoor parties with music, beer, and enough shenanigans to make Las Vegas blush. RAGBRAI, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state from July 19-26, 2025. In its 52nd year, RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world. What started as two newspaper writers challenging each other to bike across Iowa has morphed into something that makes outsiders scratch their heads and ask if this could possibly be real.
The Numbers That Defy Belief
I was among more than 18,000 bicyclists who joined yet another epic RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Founded in 1973 by a pair of Des Moines Register journalists, RAGBRAI in nearly 50 years has evolved into a cultural phenomenon in which thousands of people from around the globe swarm into Iowa to discover it isn’t as flat as advertised. The sheer scale becomes mind-boggling when you consider that entire small towns suddenly triple or quadruple their population overnight. The ride from Ames to Des Moines had over 60,000 riders, the most riders of any stop in the history of the event. These aren’t just Iowans either – people fly in from Australia, Japan, and every corner of America for this agricultural state adventure.
When Towns Turn Into Temporary Cities
Iowa’s small communities transform into something resembling music festivals, except everyone arrived by bicycle. The high point of the trip for many of the riders was the second overnight stop, where a sign greeted the riders outside of the designated overnight town, Guthrie Center. It read, “Please be kind. You outnumber us two to one.” Imagine waking up in a town of 1,500 people to find 20,000 cyclists have literally rolled into your backyard overnight. Local churches open their doors for showers, high school gymnasiums become massive dormitories, and every available patch of grass becomes a campground.
The Celebrity Circus on Two Wheels
This isn’t just any bike ride – it’s become a magnet for famous faces seeking authentic American experiences. Other participants have included three-time Tour de France champ Greg LeMond, columnist Dave Barry, NASCAR drivers Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, Motocross champion Ryan Dungey, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean and former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Colorado governor and Democratic Presidential candidate John Hickenlooper rode in the 2019 ride. Hickenlooper, his spouse and his crew joined Team Skunk in Indianola where he provided a keg of his signature beer while using the shower of the host home. Lance Armstrong has participated multiple times, treating Iowa’s rolling hills like his personal victory lap through heartland America.
The Mobile Dance Party Phenomenon
RAGBRAI also comes with its own cacophonous soundtrack that blares from Bluetooth devices on bikes, DJs in beer gardens, and Iowa State Patrol troopers stationed at intersections with giant speakers powered by their car batteries. Imagine the last 50 years of popular music tossed in a blender, heavy on the ’70s. You might hear AC/DC a block down the street from where a community band toots an instrumental rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” The entire event becomes a rolling concert where everyone is both performer and audience. One biker hauled a large P.A. on the back of his bike, while all team members wore headsets and took turns warbling songs. I was thoroughly impressed they had enough breath to sing—even badly—while panting uphill.
The Great Beer Silo Spectacle
Nothing epitomizes RAGBRAI’s surreal nature quite like what happens to Iowa’s agricultural landmarks during the event. But you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a grain silo in the middle of an Iowa town draped in a banner several stories tall reading “BEER” with an arrow pointing the way to happy hour. These massive agricultural structures, typically used for storing corn and soybeans, become makeshift advertisements for the state’s finest breweries. It’s a collision of farming culture and festival atmosphere that creates Instagram-worthy moments in places where nothing usually happens except crop harvesting.
The Seven-Day Endurance Test Disguised as Fun
The RAGBRAI route averages 468 miles and is not necessarily flat. It begins somewhere along Iowa’s western border on the Missouri River and ends along the eastern border on the Mississippi River. While organizers call it a “ride, not a race,” don’t be fooled – this is a serious physical challenge. The route is about 406 miles but is not entirely flat; prepare for rolling hills along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers that total 10,487 feet to climb over seven days. Riders wake up each morning knowing they’ll pedal roughly sixty-seven miles through Iowa’s surprisingly hilly terrain, all while nursing hangovers from the previous night’s festivities.
The International Invasion of Iowa
What makes this event truly bizarre is how it attracts a global audience to a state many people couldn’t locate on a map. This rolling celebration of Iowa attracts participants from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Europeans abandon their cycling tours through Tuscany to pedal past cornfields, while Australians cross the Pacific Ocean to experience American agriculture up close. this annual pilgrimage across Iowa draws participants from all over the world, united by a shared passion for cycling and exploration. The event is a testament to the camaraderie that develops among riders as they share miles and memories. the supportive atmosphere, coupled with the keen welcome from host towns, creates an unparalleled cycling festival.
The Hobo Convention That Actually Exists
As if RAGBRAI wasn’t strange enough, Iowa also hosts another bewildering annual gathering that sounds like something from the Great Depression. Since 1900 the City of Britt, Iowa has been hosting a National Hobo Convention. Since 1900 the City of Britt, Iowa has been hosting a National Hobo Convention. The non-profit Hobo Day Association supports the National Hobo Convention by hosting a weekend festival that includes a parade, entertainment, arts and crafts, food and lots of fun. The highlight of this festival is the election of the King and Queen of the Hobos. The hobos come to town and set up a hobo jungle, sell their crafts and provide free entertainment to visitors. Yes, you read that correctly – Iowa crowns royalty among America’s wandering homeless population annually.
The Economic Impact That Baffles Economists
Small Iowa towns generate more revenue during RAGBRAI week than some manage in entire months. The people of Iowa truly make RAGBRAI the special event that it is by opening up their towns and communities to participants. We hope you can enjoy this Iowa hospitality and join us for a memorable trip across the state. Local businesses experience what can only be described as controlled chaos – gas stations run out of energy drinks, grocery stores sell out of bananas, and every restaurant within fifty miles operates at maximum capacity. RAGBRAI: an excuse for bicyclists to impose on small-town Iowans on behalf of homemade pie, a hot shower, and a corner in their cool basement to collapse on an air mattress. (Most riders camp in tents, but I’m among the vocal RAGBRAI minority adamant about sleeping indoors.)
The Organized Chaos That Somehow Works
RAGBRAI is a serendipitous summer freakshow—neither a race nor a group workout. Everybody more or less follows their own schedules, although there tends to be gluts of riders in the mornings, and RAGBRAI shuts down vendors from west to east throughout each day to encourage everybody to keep moving to the finish line. A given day may carry a specific theme–for instance, riders are encouraged to wear their college jersey. Despite having zero official coordination among thousands of participants, the event flows with surprising efficiency. The ride has passed through all 99 of Iowa’s counties in its history. Fourteen different communities have served as the starting point, while 12 have hosted the finish. 108 other communities have been overnight hosts during the week of the ride. This level of logistical complexity would challenge military operations, yet Iowa volunteers pull it off annually with church basement organization.
The Cultural Phenomenon That Defines Summer in Iowa
RAGBRAI has transcended its humble origins to become Iowa’s unofficial summer Olympics. RAGBRAI began in 1973, when Des Moines Register feature writers John Karras and Donald Kaul decided to go on a bicycle ride across Iowa; both men were avid cyclists. Karras challenged Kaul to do the ride and write articles about what he experienced. Kaul agreed to do it, but only if Karras also did the ride. Karras then agreed to ride, as well. What started as a journalistic stunt between two newspaper writers has evolved into something that puts Iowa on the international map for reasons beyond corn production. An event known as the RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party is held the last part of January to release the names of the overnight towns. The route is fleshed out in the following weeks and is announced in the Des Moines Register and on the RAGBRAI website in early March. Towns across Iowa now compete for the honor of hosting this cycling circus.
The Reality Check That Leaves Everyone Changed
What makes RAGBRAI truly unbelievable isn’t just its size or spectacle, but how it transforms both participants and host communities. Founded in 1973 by a pair of Des Moines Register journalists, RAGBRAI in nearly 50 years has evolved into a cultural phenomenon in which thousands of people from around the globe swarm into Iowa to discover it isn’t as flat as advertised. But at least restrooms are as ample and convenient as the nearest cornfield. Cyclists arrive expecting easy riding through flat farmland and instead encounter challenging hills, genuine hospitality, and a week-long party that somehow maintains its small-town charm despite massive crowds. When tens of thousands of strangers can peacefully coexist for a week while pedaling through America’s heartland, maybe there’s something magical happening in Iowa that the rest of the world needs to witness. RAGBRAI is the world’s oldest, largest, and longest bicycle touring ride. Each year’s route follows a different path from west to east, between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, although of course many towns and roads have been repeated since ’73. The overnight towns–the basic outline of that year’s route–are announced in January, followed a couple of months later by the more detailed path.
Who would have guessed that the most improbable festival in America happens annually in Iowa, combining bicycles, beer, and boundless hospitality into an experience that defies every stereotype about the Midwest? Maybe that’s exactly why it works so beautifully.
