Call

Blog

Law
02

Blog

Bike Law at RAGBRAI

Since I have returned home from riding across Iowa, a lot of people have asked, “What’s RAGBRAI like?” Well, it’s a lot like riding your bike for the fun of it with your friends and meeting lots of like-minded folks along the route—kind of like when you were a kid.

It’s also like a choose-your-adventure book with options for how you might spend your day popping up every mile or so.

IMG_3879

Pancake Stop. So good.

It’s like going for a ride to get something to eat and finding it at a roadside stand, but instead of noshing and returning home, you just keep riding until you feel like stopping again. It might be a homemade slip and slide that entices you, a tour of an historic “Axe Murder House,” or an inviting pool.

You go with the flow of thousands of other riders—at whatever pace you like—until you reach the next town. When you get to that town, it is throwing the biggest party it has likely thrown in years and you and all of your new friends are invited. So you party, or keep riding, or nap, or whatever you feel like doing. Until you reach the day’s travels’ end. Then you likely eat, party, or sleep. When you wake up the next day, you do it all again and it is the same as it is completely different.

This year was my first time riding RAGBRAI and it is a massive, colorful, delightful wander through Iowa on bikes. I went with my friend John and met up with Lauri from Bike Law Maine and her husband Ethan, Bike Law Colorado’s Brian, Bike Law Kansas & Missouri’s Vance, and of course, Bike Law Iowa’s Jim. We quickly added to our rolling crew with Jeff, Marie, Randy, Doug and Rob. IMG_3840

Forget your computers/Garmins/heart rate monitors, you can measure the distance in signs to upcoming Amish Pie stops and daily beer gardens. After a while you are able to discern distance by calibrating off the sign denoting the mileage to Mr. Porkchop  and the visual of the smoke trail up ahead.

Mr. Porkchop is only one of the many roadside eats available. There was also Brewer Family Farms  that set up at each of the Iowa Craft Beer Tent /Backpocket Brewing stops (the lunch stop and the party stop). The lunch spot featured a “Hot Beef Sundae” and the party stop featured skinless brats in a delightful variety of flavors. If you had a beer at 10 of the stops and got your card punched, you could earn a t-shirt proudly proclaiming you, “Earned it.” I earned it.

In the mornings there were plenty of coffee stops, pancake stops, bagel stops and yogurt/granola stops to fit your routine all along the sides of the roads.

When you stop in towns you can get just about anything you want from a quick bike repair to free sunscreen to a “cooling dip” in an ad hoc “pool” at the local fire station.

IMG_3877

Meet the Mayor Night?!?

You can also find some interesting people both locals and fellow travelers. In Creston, IA we met the mayor  while knocking out deep-fried pork tenderloin sandwiches and Goose Island IPA on the sidewalk. We started talking because I liked his tie. He had just stepped out of the VFW hall.

IMG_3889

Erik and his Proteus.

IMG_3925

Nelson Vails and me!

In Leon, I met Erik from Maryland. He built his Proteus  tandem. It caught my eye not only because of how sharp it looked, but because Proteus bicycles is part of my earliest cycling memories from growing up.

In Centerville I met Nelson Vails,  former bike messenger, track and road racer, Olympic Medalist and National Champ and all-around good guy.

RAGBRAI towns are also notable for the people you do not meet. In Centerville, I tried to get a shave at a barber shop but BOTH! were “Closed for RAGBRAI.” Presumably the proprietors were out riding.

If people weren’t riding, they seemed to be out enjoying the party. I, as well as what seemed to be the entire town, was blown away by the Hairball  show in Centerville and equally impressed by the dude who rode his bike down the bowling alley at 2:00 a.m., too. RAGBRAI gets weird and it’s great.

IMG_3911

The whole ride was fun. Sure there were crashes, a few sketchy riders here and there, but overall, everyone is in it for the good time. I only saw ONE jerk on the road and he was riding a motorcycle right on the yellow line giving the road version of “chin music.” Not bad considering we traveled almost 500 miles west to east over the course of the week.

Along the way, you start to make new friends. You tend to recognize folks that leave about the same time in the morning that you do and tend to stop at some of the same types of places along the way. You get a whole new group of riding buddies if just for the week. I was really proud and excited by the enthusiastic response we received not just to being part of the rolling show, but to the sharpness of our kits. We received more than a few shout-outs along the way.IMG_3939

I’ll be back. I will also be armed with the knowledge of my virgin mission across Iowa. I will be back better prepared to enjoy as many of the attractions and distractions as I can and the bike Law crew will be, too. Buckle up.

Comments

Ann Groninger Jan 04, 2024

Many of our cycling clients find themselves having to interact with the criminal justice system. Typically, it’s because the driver who hits them (or their family member) is charged with a crime or traffic offense. Occasionally bicyclists themselves are charged with traffic offenses! Every state’s criminal laws are different, but there is a lot of […]

Read More
Bike Crash Road Defect Georgia
Peter Wilborn Jun 14, 2023

We recently shared the story of a trial victory from the State of Texas where a bicyclist was injured due to a defect in a road maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas Road Defect   We now can tell the story of another huge win in a road defect case, this time from […]

Read More
Road defect dangerous to cyclists
Charlie Thomas Mar 14, 2023

Recently, attorneys with the Bike Law network took a case to a trial against a titan of a defendant: the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT was represented by the Attorney General’s Office, one of Texas’ largest legal teams. We had a great client, but it was a tough case to prove. So tough, in fact, […]

Read More
bike path charlotte
Ann Groninger Jan 13, 2023

  2023 got off to a rough start for Charlotte, North Carolina, particularly in the context of road safety. Within about a week, we lost a young woman who was riding her bicycle, a pedestrian killed in the same area of town, and four people were killed in a car wreck on I-85 in the […]

Read More
North Carolina Bike Crash
Ann Groninger Dec 06, 2022

Unless you’re a very recent follower of ours, you’ve heard us talk before about “contributory negligence.” To recap: “pure contributory negligence” is the law in North Carolina and only 3 other states (Alabama, Virginia, Maryland). In pure contributory negligence states, if a person is injured by someone else’s fault and the injured person contributes even […]

Read More
Is It Illegal to Ride Your Bike on the Sidewalk bikelaw
Peter Wilborn Aug 01, 2022

The laws dictating whether you can ride your bike on the sidewalk differ depending where you live. Different states have different laws on this matter, and local ordinances also vary. Let’s take a look at the legal framework behind various state laws related to cycling on sidewalks. The laws of sidewalk-riding can be very complicated […]

Read More
Ebike crash
Bruce Hagen Apr 26, 2022

DRIVER ON METH KILLS 17 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST, BARROW COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY REFUSES TO CHARGE DRIVER WITH FELONY.   On August 23, 2020, at approximately 8:40pm, 17-year old Obianuju Osuegbu was on her way home from her summer job working at a grocery store. She had earned enough money that summer to buy herself a […]

Read More
Stop as Yield
Brian Weiss Apr 25, 2022

Finally, “Stop As Yield” (the much sought after common sense traffic law for bicyclists) is coming to Colorado in 2022, likely July 1st.   Stop as Yield, aka the “Safety Stop” After the Governor Polis signs the law and the Safety Stop becomes effective, anyone who rides a bicycle or scooter on public roads will […]

Read More
Contributory Negligence
Ann Groninger Apr 25, 2022

It took losing at trial and a long appellate process, but it ended in a blow to contributory negligence in North Carolina. We just won an appeal on a bicycle crash case that happened in 2016 and came to us in 2018. The case went to trial during the spring of 2021. Our client was […]

Read More
Load More