COMMUNITY JOURNALISM: On the RAGBRAI road

Editor's note: Dale Bieber and David Sojka of the Bicyclists of Iowa City have agreed to send us daily reports from the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, which will make a stop in Cedar Rapids. The ride starts Sunday. Here is Dale's first report:

It is hard to say just when RAGBRAI starts. If you grow up in Iowa, I suppose it is always in your summer subconscious, something you hear about avery year, maybe close or maybe far, maybe coming to your town.

After all, it has been part of the Iowa scene for 40 years.

If you move here from out of state (as I did five years ago) you first have to ask the obvious question “What in the world is a RAGBRAI?”

After about three minutes of practice you can act like a real Iowan and rattle off “Register's Annual Geat Bicycle Ride Across Iowa” slick as a mountain biker can change gears on an upslope.

And then you could have one of three reactions:

1. Interesting.

2. Wow, who in their right mind would ride a bicycle across 450-plus miles of Iowa during the hottest week of summer and sleep in tents with10,000 other people? You gotta be kidding me.

3. Hmmm.Maybe I'll do that someday ...

I guess I am in the “Hmmm” group. Once I rode my bike 165 miles over two days and once I must have ridden at least 100 miles in a day, though, truth be told, that was probably 20 years ago.

So last summer I found a way to get to work that was about seven miles each way and rode it pretty often on my bike. Then when RAGBRAI came to Coralville, I pedalled down to the rec center about 6:30 in the morning on that last Saturday and just kind of tagged along, all the way to Davenport - about 67 miles. I had to walk up one brutal hill near the endand had some interesting leg cramping going on when it was over, but when I called my wife for a ride home and said “I made it!” and she said “Congratulations! You're crazier than I thought,”

I actually felt a sense of accomplishment.

So, along about January this year I kept my eye out for the RAGBRAI info, and sent in a registration, and got a number and a packet.

I guess RAGBRAI really started for me about five years ago and now its going to be for real, starting Sunday in Souix Center. Can't wait - but a bit of me still says Option No. 1 above and a reasonable chunk of me says Option No. 2.

Bottom line - No. 3 is ahead.