RAGBRAI’s 50th anniversary edition in 2023 drew so many riders on some days that it could be bit overwhelming — especially on Day 4, when it rolled from Ames to Des Moines with up to 60,000 people in tow.
This year’s 51st ride through hilly and sparsely populated southern Iowa has been a return to normal — until Wednesday, that is. For the second time in two years, it will be passing through metro Des Moines as it makes its way from Winterset to Indianola before turning south as part of the journey to Knoxville. And that’s an invitation for thousands of registered and unregistered day riders from the 750,000-population metro to join in. A similar route in 2019 drew an estimated 40,000 riders.
Wednesday’s RAGBRAI route
Winterset to Knoxville.
What to know
We noted Tuesday that Winterset is the county seat of Madison County — the setting of the hit 1995 movie “The Bridges of Madison County,” starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, and the novel it was based on.