The Take Flight RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) LII (52) reached the mighty Mississippi River to conclude their six day ride on Saturday. This year’s route was 406.7 miles from Orange City to Guttenberg.
Riders cycled through multiple Radio On The Go broadcast communities last week, including Meservey, Alexander, Latimer, Coulter and Iowa Falls on Wednesday. The ride also made stops in Ackley, Parkersburg and New Hartford on Thursday. Each stop was given an opportunity to showcase local organizations, by providing riders a chance to rest, rehydrate and refuel with needed calories.
Iowa Falls EMS Director Corey Larson on providing an overnight stop on this year’s route.
“That’s one of the great parts about RAGBRAI is meeting people from literally all over the world that come to participate in this bike ride. It is the biggest bike ride in the country,” says Larson. “It’s pretty special to be able to have RAGBRAI come through here for the second time in four years. We’re really honored to be able to welcome them into the Scenic City here and show them some great hospitality along the way.”
President of the New Hartford Lions Club Kenny Thompson on the ride’s third visit to the town.
“We go from a population of 800 to thousands. There’s a lot of people benefiting from this activity,” says Thompson. “We’ve had them from Rhode Island, California, Las Vegas of course. There’s one from Germany I think. They’re from everywhere. It’s unbelievable what a drawing card this is.”
According to RAGBRAI archives, between 1973 to 2024, 474,103 riders have taken part in the event and 23,247 miles have been covered. Statistics for this year’s ride are still being calculated. More information about RAGBRAI can be found at ragbrai.com.
