Now the question is.........how about doing it on a vintage bike? I would love to see a slew of us, all on vintage bikes doing the ride together.

I've avoided doing Ragbrai because I generally like doing rides with fewer people. I really should do one day of this but it will have to be on the weekend because of work.

That's the only one I've done. I think it was the first year it over-nighted in Des Moines.

Interesting route that it is taking this year. No overnights in bigger cities. Not sure why they did that, but I suspect that all the one-day riders they had for the ride into Iowa City last year might have played in to that.

Should be a good time.

I have the hat. Does that count?

If anyone asks I tell 'em it's not *that* RAGBRAI. It's the Ride Across Gun Barrel, Richland, Athens and Italy.

I'm signed up to do it this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cool bike, I'm glad you're riding it. It would have to be the Saturday finish I think but you need to have two cars to make this work, right? I have a mid 70s Peugeot PR 10 that I might bring along for the ride. I want to turn it into a gravel mutt with 700 x 38c tires.

You should sign onto this thread, C&V Bastille Day Wabash Trail Ride

It's a bit of a hike for you but you have the perfect bike for the ride,

so many c&v bikes and classic inspired steel frames on the ride each year.
and the chv bikes are pretty equally represented between riders that are active and frequent cyclists and riders who are out for a day because the ride is going thru their town and so they dust off the bike and pump up the tires.

Personally ive used a 1990 Fuji made touring bike, an updated 87 Miyata 912, and a bike I built in a frame building class.

there are a good number of Ironman, Fuji, Raleigh, Schwinn, and various Italian brands represented each year.

Ahhhhh... Summer in Iowa. Man the weather last year was absolutely PERFECT. Low to mid 70s, gentle wind and blue skies. Ahhhhhhh.... great memories.

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Here is a '73 Raleigh International I spotted on the 2018 ride. The original campy derailleur still there? I know Rick Paulos, part of the every dwindling group of riders who has done EVERY MILE of EVERY RAGBRAI had a contest with his brother to see who could find the oldest bike. A caveat was that if you found anyone riding a Schwinn Varsity with original steel rims, the contest was over. I'm not sure who won...

We will have our own little team the Texas Cowspokes but will be glad to ride along with any of my C&V friends we may meet along the way. I am planning on riding my purple haze Ironman but I could decide to use the bike I have them most experience on my cf Origin8. My granddaughter will either be on her newer Fugi or her yet to be tested black Ironman.

I can't remember which RAGBRAI it was (maybe 2012 or 2013?), but I spotted Drew Buck on his retro-direct 1900 Peugeot in his "Onion Johnny" getup looking like this:


(Not my picture!)

He's a really cool dude.

I remember seeing him too! For those not familiar, that's a 2 speed where the lower geared speed is accessed by pedaling backwards. Very odd seeing him pedal backwards up hill.

So inspiring. I just recently inherited / acquired 1974 Raleigh International. The previous owner had ridden a quite a number of miles and states and he took great care of this bike, but he now suffers from a neurological disease and can't ride anymore. He never was able to ride RAGBRAI and I suspect he would have enjoyed it. I think the biggest salute I can give him is to give the bike the love it deserves, ride it on RAGBRAI and do a picture and story show for him. If I can't this year, then dang it 2020 here I come!

I wanted to go on the first one, I think it was called 'FAGBRAI' ...but I was just a paperboy and didn't have a car and all that. I still remember reading Donald Kaul's columns about it while he did the ride.
Someday I'll go, hopefully when the route goes through my hometown (again).

According to the video about it there was no name at first. In fact it wasn't planned to be a annual event just a ride across the state to make a series of news stories. Then people wanted to know the date for "next year" and it happened again. After that they decided to make it annual and the rest is history.

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.

Cool. I didn't remember that the number grew so large. And yes, it didn't have a name at first. The second year it was referred to as SAGBRAI so that would have made the first one FAGBRAI in retrospect. At some point the paper got involved and it became RAGBRAI. Kaul had a somewhat irreverent column (Black Coffee?) and wrote about anything that came to his mind (or so it seemed...). The whole 'great bike ride' nomenclature was a bit tongue in cheek but it turned out to be prescient in a way. I was in 8th grade in 1973 too so I didn't make it. Still hope to some day.

As I understand it, the very first one was called "The Great Six-Day Bicycle Ride" and the xAGBRAI nomenclature began with the second one.

But then, I was still a few years away from being born.

Kaul's column was "Over the Coffee" on the back page of the first section of the Des Moines Register. He passed away during RAGBRAI last summer. I put an "RIP Donald Kaul" note on the back of my rack trunk. Very few people riding knew who he was. I delivered the Register from 6th grade until I went away to college.