I’ve definitely seen a RAGBRAI III patch on the back of a bike, so my guess is 1975.

I too believe RAGBRAI III was the first patch, although my faulty memory recalls seeing a rider wearing a SAGBRAI (for Second Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) T-shirt on a fall ride in Wisconsin back in 1974.  Once I found out about it, I promised myself that I’d somehow go on that ride … although it took me until 1978 to do so, because the internet didn’t exist yet (heck, back then we still thought CB radios were pretty much cutting-edge tech … plus talking like a redneck hillbilly trucker was cool as hell!) and the D.M. Register wasn’t available in my area of Wisconsin.

-“BB”-

I remember in my early days of riding RAGBRAI in the early 80’s, I saw a few people with RAGBRAI 2 (SAGBRAI) patches on saddle bags, etc, and if I remember correctly, there was a poster for sale that had the first 40 RAGBRAI patches on it.

This reply was modified 1 month ago by CyclingCyclone.

I can guarantee you that there was a patch for 1974. If my profile picture shows up with this comment, you will be able to see what the patch looked like.