Registration, prices set for 51st RAGBRAI
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Registration for the 51st edition of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa opened Wednesday with some price changes.
RAGBRAI 51 will run July 21 to 27, and the route will be announced Jan. 27.
The new prices are:
$225 for early weeklong rider registration, up from $200 for the 2023 50th anniversary ride. Day passes will be $45, unchanged from the 2023 ride. Early registration runs through Feb. 29.
$250 for standard weeklong rider registration, available March 1 to April 14, up from $225. Day passes will be unchanged at $50.
$275 for late weeklong rider registration, which runs from April 15 to May 15, up from $250. Day passes will be unchanged at $60 for that period, and that price will carry over to passes purchased during the ride, a $10 decrease from last year. There will be no weeklong rider registration during the RAGBRAI Bike Expo in the starting town, unlike for the 2023 ride.
$50 for standard registration of weeklong non-riders, up from $45. Like the other registrations, the passes for support drivers and others who want to tag along without all the pedaling go on sale Wednesday, but there is no early registration discount for them. For the 2023 ride, non-rider early registration cost $40.
$60 for late registration of weeklong non-riders, up from $50.
RAGBRAI Director Matt Phippen said that prices went up because the cost of inputs like fuel increased. RAGBRAI's registration is still cheaper than comparable rides which have also raised prices in recent years, Phippen said.
"Everything is more expensive," Phippen said. "The ride is growing and our give-back (to communities RAGBRAI visits) is growing. We have to be able to support these communities and by doing that we've got to be in the black."
What is RAGBRAI?
Started in 1973, RAGBRAI evolved from an idea by Des Moines Register Washington columnist Donald Kaul and copy editor and features writer John Karras to make a six-day, trans-state ride and write about it. Now it's an annual, seven-day event billed as the “oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world” and operated by a full-time professional staff.
It runs from west to east, starting at the Missouri River or one of its tributaries and ending at the Mississippi River. The route changes each year so that cities throughout the state have a chance to serve as overnight hosts and pass-through towns.
More: From Sioux City to Davenport, the Des Moines Register's Courtney Crowder covers RAGBRAI 50
The annual route length averages 468 miles, according to RAGBRAI.
An important distinction: RAGBRAI is a bicycle tour open to riders of all ages and ability levels, not a race. People can ride all seven days or just a few, and the increasingly popular electric bikes are permitted, though riders will have to make their own arrangements for recharging.
How was RAGBRAI started?
Karras wrote a series of columns about cycling, sometimes with Kaul, in the early 1970s that were popular with readers of the Register. In 1973 Karras and Kaul came up with the idea to ride their bikes across Iowa from Sioux City to Davenport. Their bosses at the Register agreed to pay their expenses if they wrote about the ride along the way.
Then-Managing Editor Ed Hines asked Karras to invite readers along. When he and Kaul arrived in Sioux City on Aug. 26, 1973, there were 250 people waiting to ride with them.
Register readers across Iowa were enthralled with the columns and stories about the ride and characters like Clarence Pickard, a pith-helmeted 83-year-old retired farmer who rode the entire way on a used women's bicycle he bought just before the ride. The ride was held a second time in 1974 (the Second Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or SAGBRAI). It became RAGBRAI in 1975 and ultimately shifted to the final full week of July each year.
Karras remained active with the ride until just before his 2021 death. Kaul died in 2018.
The 2023 50th anniversary ride registered a record 28,000 riders as it retraced much of the original route, including a segment from Ames to Des Moines that drew upwards of 60,000 cyclists.
Excitement is high for 2024, though its ridership numbers will likely come nowhere close to the 50th edition in 2023. Phippen compared the excitement for next year to the spike in ridership in 2022 when about 18,000 daily and weeklong riders rode RAGBRAI, more registrants than during any other RAGBRAI to that point.
"Still so many new riders are finding this ride. So many younger riders, so many families are getting their kids started early," Phippen said. "So I think the ride is going to grow."
How do I register for RAGBRAI?
Riders can register online on the RAGBRAI website, ragbrai.com. Choose "RAGBRAI LI registration" under the header titled "The Ride."
What does registration cover?
Generally, registration covers the costs of putting together the route and holding the event, including route marking and traffic control by the Iowa State Patrol. Registered riders also can depend on ambulance and paramedic services in case of accidents, luggage hauling and a ride on a support-and-gear van, or SAG wagon, if they choose not to complete a day's ride. In addition, they get free commemorative patches.
When is the deadline to register?
The final deadline for registration is May 15 for weeklong riders, but single-day passes and non-rider wristbands will be available at RAGBRAI merchandise trailers during the ride.
When does registration for vehicle passes open?
In previous years vehicle pass registration was sold with rider registration. This year vehicle pass registration will open on March 15 after RAGBRAI organizers have a chance to meet with overnight town organizers.
Traditionally many RAGBRAI teams and groups repurpose old well-past-their-prime school busses usually acquired for a few hundred or few thousand dollars. But the busses are notorious for breaking down on their way to RAGBRAI and it can be hard to find parts for repairs.
Now there are far more RVs than ever on RAGBRAI and "old-school busses," Phippen said. Organizers need more time to scout parking spots, just like they scout campground locations, Phippen said. A few times during the 2023 edition, support drivers with vehicle passes and drivers without passes showed up in pass-through and overnight towns when towns were not ready, Phippen said.
"If we don't find a way to help the town be successful they can get overrun," Phippen said. "Once they get on defense they're on defense the rest of the day because they just can't keep up."
Who can register?
In 2021 RAGBRAI ended its longtime registration lottery, which limited weeklong passes to about 12,000 riders. Registration is still capped, but is now on a first-come, first-served basis. Organizers do not disclose the cap, but RAGBRAI works with the Iowa State Patrol and Iowa Department of Transportation to ensure all roads on the route can handle the number of riders expected.
The route is still being determined, but RAGBRAI will likely go to much smaller communities than the numerous big cities RAGBRAI overnighted in last year, Phippen said. RAGBRAI wants to make sure it does not overwhelm small communities and can still go to small towns, Phippen said.
"There's only so many spots in Iowa you can go to handle those numbers," Phippen said. "The towns are the value. We have to do a better job supporting the towns, supporting the men and women that take care of the roads and doing everything in our power to give these small towns assets, tools advice just to prepare them. Small town Iowa is where it's at."
When will the RAGBRAI route be announced?
The starting town, six overnight towns and the ending town will be announced Jan. 27 at RAGBRAI's annual gala at Hy-Vee Hall at the Iowa Events Center. Information on ways to purchase tickets to the route announcement will be released later. Tickets for the route announcement gala will go on sale on Nov. 30.
More: As RAGBRAI grows from lark to legendary at age 50, it still offers glimpses of 'authentic Iowa'
The full route including pass-through towns is typically announced in March.
Philip Joens has ridden RAGBRAI 18 times and completed the river-to-river trek seven times. He covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register and can be reached at 515-284-8184 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dates, prices for RAGBRAI 51 registration set
