I SAW the first one. In 1973 I was in 8th grade in Iowa City, it happened in late August and we were already back at school. On Friday was all brought cookies and lemonade and handed them out free as the riders climbed the big hill in front of our school on their way out of town. We couldn't believe that 300 hundred people were supposedly riding by then, having read about it in the Des Moines Register from both Donald Kaul and John Karras. I got Clarence Pickard's autograph that day. He was the single person responsible for making RAGBRAI what it is today. He was an 83 year old retired farmer who hadn't ridden a bike in years when he took off and went all the way across the state on a ladies Schwinn Varsity. In an era before common bike helmets he rode in a long sleeve shirt, wool pants and a silver metal pith helmet.