Benson helped launch, coordinate RAGBRAI

By Reid Forgrave, The Des Moines Register

The man who made RAGBRAI run for its first two decades has come to the end of the ride, but his family can take solace that Don Benson milked it for all it was worth.

Benson, the longtime RAGBRAI leader who died Sunday at age 82, will always be remembered as the logistics man for the first 19 RAGBRAIs – or the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. But plotting cross-state routes, coordinating with municipalities and shouting “Take no prisoners!” to begin each ride are only the Nebraska native’s most prominent contributions to the annual event.

Benson was also a 29-year Navy and Naval Reserve veteran whose son, Mark, became a Navy lifer. He was a Shriner, a Boy Scout leader and a longtime Iowa Cubs season ticket holder who attended nearly every game through last year, when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And he was a master explorer who put together two dozen group bicycle trips through Holland, Belgium and Denmark. He also rode a two-person railcar all over America and visited the North and South poles with his wife of 59 years, Jackie.

“There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for anybody,” said his daughter, Nancy Riederer. “RAGBRAI was just something he enjoyed doing, seeing Iowa and all the people. He didn’t know a stranger.”

Benson wore paths across the state’s highways and county roads in his 27 years in The Des Moines Register’s promotions department. But his favorite mode of transportation was railcar. The grandson of a depot agent, Benson was a member of several railroad fan clubs.

His RAGBRAI legend was cemented by his attention to detail. And he was sure to solicit input from each community on how to organize its section of the ride.

The event has skyrocketed in popularity since Benson, along with Register writers Donald Kaul and John Karras, organized the first RAGBRAI in 1973 with 114 riders. The ride is now capped at 8,500 cyclists. But there’s a certain nostalgia for those early years.

“He kept the event rolling,” said former Register columnist and RAGBRAI co-host Chuck Offenburger. “He knew how to do things like find a detour that couldn’t be used for vehicles but was just fine for bicycles.”

Like in 1995, when Benson organized the “Iowa 150” bike ride celebrating the state’s sesquicentennial. Benson mapped all 5,048 miles of the cross-country, 15-state route.

In Wyoming, Benson figured that the riders should bike through a cement culvert – which saved them from having to ride over a mountain.

Benson is survived by his wife, two children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Westover Funeral Home in Des Moines, with a memorial service at 11 a.m. Thursday at Covenant Christian Church in Urbandale.

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