If you’re not from Iowa and not into cycling, chances are you’ve probably never heard of RAGBRAI. Each summer, thousands of (potentially crazy) cyclists embark on a week-long ride across the state of Iowa. RAGBRAI (which stands for the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) began in 1973 when Des Moines Register feature writers John Karras and Donald Kaul decided to go on a bicycle ride across Iowa.
While I won’t be riding this year, I thought it might be fun to create a road trip inspired by the 2016 route, which winds through the small towns of southern Iowa.