Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Pedaling pastor bikes across Iowa
A local pastor took a week off to spend at a rolling party on a scale that was almost overwhelming. It was the first time Dennis Ritchey of the Bella Vista Presbyterian Church participated in RAGBRAI. But it’s probably not his last time.
RAGBRAI is the acronym for the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — an annual event since 1973. This year Ritchey believes there might have been 20,000 cyclists there.
Not all 20,000 were registered, he explained. In fact, the ride is limited to 10,000 participants but another 10,000 ride without registration.
Most everyone rides in a group, he said. The son of two members of his congregation is part of a group that participates every year and Ritchey was invited along. Most groups have a support vehicle — for Ritchey’s group it was a converted school bus — that carries camping gear and meets the riders at lunch and again in the evening.
The route is different every year so every small town in the state gets the chance to participate. When 20,000 bike riders descend on a small town, the entire town helps feed and house them.
Camping is usually done in someone’s front yard or a farmer’s pasture. Usually the owner of the property is prepared to let the cyclists use their bathroom, or they might provide a portable toilet and a garden hose for clean up.
“There was a lot of waiting in line,” Ritchey said.
Food was purchased by the cyclists at each stop and usually it was sold by a local church or civic club as a fundraiser. Some food trucks followed along and kids set up lemonade stands along the way. There was also entertainment at some stops.
The cyclists who wanted to find a beer tent or a local bar could, Ritchey said, but because they would be getting up and riding up to 65 miles the next day, most of the older riders were back in their tents early.
Along the way, Ritchey saw two people riding unicycles and one man was on an old-fashioned, very tall, three-wheeled bike. He saw skateboarders, rollerbladers and one young man who was trying to do “wheelies” for 150 miles. Riders ranged in age from teens to those in their 90s.
Bicycle mechanics and EMTs are available along the route. Sometimes they rode motor scooters alongside cyclists. Other cyclists waited for a support vehicle to pick them up, along with their bike, and take them to a help tent.
This year, when the ride took place in late July, the weather was good, Ritchey said. It was cooler than usual so heat stroke wasn’t as big a problem as it had been in other years. But Iowa isn’t as flat as some people believe, especially near the Mississippi River. The hills there were as high as the hills in Northwest Arkansas.
Ritchey has only been riding about seven years. He started when one of his congregation introduced him to the Bella Vista Bicycle Club. He rides with them a couple of times a week, usually about 25 to 50 miles each time. Two years ago, he rode cross country, averaging 85 miles a day for 50 days.
He rides a Trek bike that he bought used from the man who introduced him to the bike club. Some people spend a lot of time working on their bike, but Ritchey doesn’t.
“I’m not a tinkerer,” he said.
Not only does he want to do RAGBRAI again, he’s already planning on doing the 50th anniversary ride in 2023.
“I’ll be 70 so it’s doable,” he said.