Philip JoensDes Moines Register
Four miles from the end of the RAGBRAI route inspection ride on June 10, I thought I had it made — until the front tire of my road bike hit a crack and I crashed.
Fortunately, I escaped with some road rash, big bruises on my right hip and a sprained shoulder. But it was a reminder that, even with just 30 of us on the annual ride, danger lurked everywhere.
This week there will likely be 40,000 to 60,000 people on some days of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, the most in its 50-year history, and some of those dangers could multiply.
To help you stay safe as you ride the 511 miles from Sioux City to Davenport I reached out to two of my friends from the route inspection ride and got their tips to stay safe while riding in crowds.
The first day is typically the most dangerous day as new RAGBRAI riders get their initial experience of being surrounded by other riders, said Scott Sumpter, founder of Bikeiowa.com. More people unused to riding long distances in groups will likely jump on for parts of this year's ride than in any previous year, he said.
"I think there's going to be a higher percentage of incidents, accidents, crashes," Sumpter said, "just from the pure numbers and some of the streets we're going through are pretty narrow."
Be cautious, patient and courteous
There are 28,000 riders registered, including for single days. Last year 18,000 people registered for RAGBRAI, including single day riders. Tens of thousands more unregistered riders will likely join RAGBRAI as it goes through Sioux City, Ames and Iowa City and especially Des Moines.
"People need to be prepared to ride defensively," said Scott Matter, a mentor for the Dream Team, which helps disadvantaged youths improve their lives through cycling.
RAGBRAI 2023: 'RAGBRAI is just the reward': Dream Team celebrates 25 years of changing lives through biking
The most important thing is to avoid crashing, Matter and Sumpter said. So be patient and don't ride aggressively. Remember the second R in RAGBRAI stands for Ride, not Race.
"Watch out for others. You're not the only one on the road," Sumpter said. "Think about every movement you make. If you're speeding up too fast or slowing down too fast, you're going to affect other riders around you."
Communicate with other riders
Communication is key, whether it be with hand signals or by talking to the riders around you. The Dream Team teaches its youths a set of basic "call outs" for keeping other riders informed.
"Everybody I talk with knows a family member or friend that is doing their first day of RAGBRAI," Matter said. "So I think there's going to be a little bit of a teaching aspect for those people. They'll pick it up after the first leg or two, but there's a lot of people that just don't know the protocol for being safe while cycling."
The Dream Team teaches:
- Say "on your left" or "on your right" when passing other riders to let them know that you are next to them. Just as in cars, there are blind spots behind and on the sides of riders.
- Yell "slowing" and “stopping” and use the bike stopping signal (extended left arm bent at a 90-degee angle, palm facing to the rear) to signal to other riders you are stopping, and do not cut them off.
- Yell “turning” to signal to other riders you are about to make a turn. With hundreds of bikes approaching turns at the same time, even basic turns on RAGBRAI can be tricky.
- Yell “rumbles” when approaching rumble strips.
- Yell "cracks" when you spot cracks that could pose a danger.
- Yell "rider on," look both ways and do not cut other riders off when getting back on the road.
When Sumpter, Matter and I ride together, I constantly tell them when I am behind them and to their right or left.
"It's very important to be verbal," Sumpter said. "Especially if you're going fast."
Keep distance and avoid pace lines
Try to keep at least six feet between your front tire and the rear tire of the bike in front of you. This year will have the sixth-most elevation gain of any RAGBRAI. On downhills, it is especially important to ride cautiously and stay back as far back as possible from other bikes, Sumpter and Matter said. Typically, roads are packed in the morning between 6 and 9 before stops in pass-through towns thin the traffic.
"I don't think there's going to be a lot of open gaps sometimes," Sumpter said. "Even if you want to give space, it's going to be tight situations."
"Where you see those crashes are on those downhills, especially if there happens to be a railroad track or a bridge crossing with a bump at the bottom," Matter said.
Riding in pace lines is discouraged on RAGBRAI because people typically ride with people they do not know. If one person falls or stops suddenly, it can cause the whole line to crash, Sumpter said. Or, as in the case of my June 10 crash, hazards like cracks, rocks and potholes are obscured by other riders in front of you until it's too late to avoid them.
"If you don't know the person or haven't ridden with them a ton, you don't know what they're going to do," Sumpter said.
Hold your line
Ride in a straight line as much as you can. When riding in groups it is important to move in a predictable manner.
"Holding that line, keeping straight is probably one of the most important things people can do in a group cycling event," Matter said. "Especially one like RAGBRAI."
This year is the longest RAGBRAI since 2001 and only the sixth of 500 miles or more. Fatigued riders can wobble from exhaustion as they go uphill, Sumpter and Matter said.
"That can be unsafe because the people behind you don't know where you're going," Matter said. "You can't be wobbling out there because that sets you up for some type of crash or failure."
Eat plenty to keep your energy up and stay hydrated, they say.
Rumble strips and train tracks are nothing to fear
"RUMBBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEEES" is one of the most common phrases riders call out to one another. It warns of rumble strips ahead. For drivers, they're a safety feature, letting them know they're approaching a stop sign. But they can pose dangers to bikes.
Narrow road bike tires can get caught in rumble strips if inattentive riders hit them wrong, or even buck riders off their bikes. And on RAGBRAI, some riders will swerve in front of others to avoid hitting the rutted surfaces.
Rumble strips and railroad tracks are common places for accidents as people overcorrect at the last minute, turning into the path of other riders or getting their tires stuck, Matter said.
"The best thing to do is hold your line. Once you're on them, just go straight, go through it. It's not going to hurt your bike," Matter said. "It's not going to hurt you."
Tread lightly on gravel
Riding a road bike on gravel is not easy. But wading through a creek while carrying a bike is harder. On Day 5 riders will take a 2.5 mile detour on an unpaved road to get to the pass-through town of Colfax because a bridge on County Road F-48 over Squaw Creek is out.
Without taking the gravel roads it would be impossible to reach Colfax. Over its 50 years RAGBRAI occasionally has taken gravel roads when paved roads were blocked and alternatives would be too dangerous for cyclists. Take the advice of late RAGBRAI Co-Founder John Karras, who wrote of gravel riding in 1994, “Maintain a steady pace, rest your hands lightly on the tops of the handlebars and let the front wheel find its way through the gravel.”
Sumpter is an experienced gravel rider. Relax and leave plenty of room in front of you, he said, and when coming to a stop, tap your front brake lightly or your tire may slide.
"That road was pretty bare, but it was bumpy as heck," Sumpter said of the stretch leading to Colfax. "So the faster you go, the more you're going to bounce around, and every time you bounce, your wheel loses contact with the road and you have more of a chance of losing control."
Danger is everywhere
With more riders on the road than in any other RAGBRAI, pay attention at all times. Overall, roads taken this year are in excellent shape, but there are some tire-eating potholes.
After the route inspection ride, many municipalities fixed the potholes and hazards that we encountered, but danger is still everywhere.
There will be tar-covered cracks that will turn squishy in hot weather and make bikes wobble. There will be cracks between the center lines on roads. Or there will be cracks like the one I hit in Davenport, near the shoulder.
On the route inspection ride, roads were consistently the worst on the far right side of the road.
"Bicycling of course is risky, we all know that," Sumpter said. "Be aware of other cyclists. Do unto others as you'd want them to do to you."
Philip Joens is riding his 18th RAGBRAI. He has completed the river-to-river trek six times. He covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register and can be reached at 515-284-8184 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
