'You're the lube in my chain': A RAGBRAI wedding at the Craft Beer Tent

The Craft Beer Tent was the venue and a kind farmer’s porch outfitted with a karaoke machine was the altar.

The bridal party wore bright orange cycling kit, the groom sported a spandex tux and the bride donned Shimano sandals and a second white dress — the first one marked with dirt kicked up by her bike wheels.

And when the music failed, the bridal march — that famous dunnnnn dunnnnn dun dun — was sung by hundreds of cyclists. They were strangers, technically, but if you ask the bride or groom, they were all friends just waiting to be made.

This was Joe and Jaime Stacy’s fairytale RAGBRAI wedding.

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The Stacys said “I do” on the side of an Iowa farm-to-market road just before the overnight stop in Ames on Tuesday. Framed by dozens of brightly colored ribbons and craft brews held aloft, Jaime walked down the aisle with the leader of her first bike club and was married by the leader of her current cycling group.

“Joe, you are the wheels of the bike that keep me going,” Jaime said in her vows “You're the lube in my chain. When I don't feel like sitting on a seat post anymore, I always have you.”

“We've done three RAGBRAIs together now, and I hope to enjoy doing many, many more,” she added. “The love we have for each other and for God and for bikes is just amazing.”

The cycle-crazy pair met on the trail out to Slater in 2019, and for Jaime, it was “love at first bike.”

“He was friends with another bike group, and I was friends with this bike group,” she said. “So it was a mingling of bike friends. And I was like, ‘I'd like to know him a little more,’ and that's kind of how it started.”

Jaime had been a bicyclist as a child but picked the sport up again about 11 years ago when she rededicated herself to fitness after having a baby. And Joe was a long-distancer runner who, after going through a divorce, wanted to mark a new chapter in his life by doing the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. He went on the 2018 ride without a lick of training.

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“The biking community really is just so much a part of our lives that every opportunity we get, we are hopping out on bikes and just enjoying each other's company,” Jaime said.

The pair are very devoted to their faith as well, so they already had a small Christian ceremony with family in April. But since cycling is so intertwined with their lives, Jaime wanted to do something “bike-themed” to celebrate their marriage.

When a friend brought up the idea of getting hitched on RAGBRAI, Jaime jumped at the chance.

“We love Jesus, but we also love to party,” she said. “And we love RAGBRAI.”

Especially, the shenanigans, she added, the stuff you see on the ride that just makes you smile and think, “Only on RAGBRAI.” (This wedding, I point out, is absolutely an “Only on RAGBRAI” moment.)

Jaime and Joe spent much of the day out on the route before ending up at their makeshift wedding venue, where Jaime changed into a cleaner dress and put on a little makeup behind the garage.

“Somebody might have seen my boob, but that’s OK. It’s RAGBRAI,” she said with a laugh.

Carefully setting a beer on the stairs, Dr. Thomas Daniels, leader of the pair’s team, SSBC, acted as officiant, sporting a purple tie over his kit. A successful marriage, he said, is a lot like riding a bike.

“You really should be there when they want to ride in the rain or ride when it's way too hot or there’s a terrible headwind,” he said.

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“You really should promise to each other to enjoy new adventures, but you also got to appreciate the same old routes day after day. And you should also promise to endure the climbs together and keep out of each other's way on the descents.”

And, after a quick exchange of rings, he introduced the new couple in true RAGBRAI fashion.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Drunkards! Cyclists! RAGBRAI riders! Oh, that’s redundant, I'm sorry: Joe and Jaime Stacy!

“OK, everyone, time to get trashed!”

Lucky for them, they were already at the beer tent.

COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. She co-directed, "Shift: The RAGBRAI Documentary," which is currently playing in movie theaters across Iowa. You can reach her at (515) 284-8360 or ccrowder@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: RAGBRAI L: Wedding at the Craft Beer Tent