Great way to end the day and quite fitting!!

This dude did the Iowa "Rag Ride" on a unicycle..now that's amazing

Barbie joining the dancers in Anamosa

Nice lady? I met along ride

picture is worth a thousand words

Me with group that Barbie travelled with

College jersey day at Rag Ride

Me and Barbie with Cross Roads Jerseys

Just finished my first Iowa "Rag Ride" aka RAGBRIA. I only did one day from Cedar Rapids to Anamosa Iowa. While I had entended to never do the ride for reasons listed in previous posts, after deciding to do it, I found I was correct on only one of my two assumptions concerning this ride. I did not encounter any drunk riders but the number of riders engaged in this ride was amazing. Friday's estimate was 20,000 riders. I can attest that there were at least that many. I had the good fortune of riding with Barbie from the XC09 cross country group. She is an excellent rider and was good companion during the ride. While the trek was only 42 miles, the hills at times reached a 14% grade and the wind was from the NNW at 15 mph gusting to 25 mph. For the first 15 miles we rode in a SE direction and the wind was at our backs. But we then headed north and the wind at times was directly in our face or, at best, a quartering head wind. The good news is that the last 5 miles we turned west and had a nice tailwind into Anamosa. The crowd was so massive that in the small towns we had to dismount and walk the length of their main street. Each town had many attractions to offer the riders so the ride had as much to do with socializing as to the actual ride. I can see the attraction but I'm not sure it's for me. Enjoy the pics.