Listicle July 31, 2025

All bikes. All the time.

1. RAGBRAI. Stands for Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. 20,000 of your closest friends gather at the Missouri River in western Iowa and spend the next week biking east across the state to the Mississippi River. A tradition for 52 years. It's been called a rolling festival. Seems like we were more like a plague of locusts, dropping in, eating everything, then leaving the next morning. There was corn, pork chops, homemade Pop-Tarts, beer, lemonade, more beer, ice cream, beer, Gatorade, pickles, and I forgot to say beer. It was hot, it was overcast, it rained, there were headwinds, there were tailwinds, there were two unicycles, there was a penny farthing, there were men in Speedos, there was the occasional dog companion, there was a corn bikini, there was roadkill wearing beads, there were thousands of tents, there was peeing in cornfields. It was a grand adventure. Anyone who cycles and is up for a bit of a challenge, do this. Sharing pics:

The NE corner of Iowa is an area called the Driftless Region Credit: A O'Brien

Dawn at camp, tents going until treeline Credit: A O'Brien

WE DID IT! The Mississippi River. Credit: A O'Brien

Old farm structures have a certain type of beauty. Credit: A O'Brien

Quintessential Iowa Credit: A O'Brien

The wind turbines always looming. Credit: A O'Brien

This does not even capture a tenth of the number of bikes. They just kept coming. Credit: A O'Brien

And that's it. A short list this time, but deservingly so. Get out there and enjoy your bike.