[Sportsandrec] The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI)

[Tai Blas]

Hi, all. I wanted to write and let you know about a great event that I
just completed. It is called the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride
Across Iowa or RAGBRAI for short. It is a 450-500 mile bike ride
across Iowa which always takes place during the last week of July. It
is sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper and always goes from
West to East, but the route is different each year. On one day of the
ride, riders have the option of completing a century (a hundred mile
ride). I completed this and had a blast. Each town that riders pass
through hosts a big party and provides great food, and overnight towns
have bands and entertainment. This year was the first time that an
adaptive sports team participated in RAGBRAI. I was a part of this
team called Adaptive Sports Iowa. Adaptive Sports Iowa is a new
organization whose aim is to increase recreational opportunities for
people with disabilities. Our RAGBRAI team consisted of ten hand
cyclists and myself, a blind rider. Several of our team members came
to Iowa from other states to participate. I would love to see members
of this list participate. The advantage of riding on a team is that we
get to bring accessible vehicles on the route, bring our own vehicle
for transporting and storing bikes and luggage, and a support team who
can pick up team members on the route if they experience bike problems
or dehydration. We had heat indexes of 110 and very high humidity
every day of the ride, but it was definitely worth it. Our support
team set up a tent and chairs in each meet-up town and provided
Gatorade. The support was second to none! Most other RAGBRAI riders
participated on teams as well.

To get more information, check out the Adaptive Sports Iowa facebook
page at http://www.facebook.com/adaptivesportsiowa and its web site
www.adaptivesportsiowa.org . You can also contact Mike Boone, director
of Adaptive Sports Iowa, at (515) 559-4550.

I saw several other blind tandem riders and wondered how many were
there. Did anyone on this list participate this year or do you know
others who did?

Tai