I have never done RAGBRAI so I have no clue what they provide for food. Generally, during the ride you want carbohydrates for most of your energy, after you are done riding for the day you want some protein mixed with the carbs for recovery.

I made a lot more comments a couple days ago on quantity and frequency of what works best for me, instead of retyping it, here is the link:

http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/10...l#post17732226

I have heard that some years it can be dreadfully hot. So, plan to bring lots of liquids. I prefer water bottles, then I can keep track of how much I am drinking by how full my bottles are. And if I am running low I know how low that is. But some on this forum prefer water bladder water packs. On a long humid and hot day in mid summer, I might go though five 24 oz (or maybe they are 26 oz) bottles, so that is a few oz shy of a gallon of water.