RAGBRAI 2024 Day 1 preview: What to know about Sunday's RAGBRAI route, Glenwood to Red Oak

After three rides starting in northwest Iowa, including last year’s 50th anniversary RAGBRAI that began in Sioux City, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa is beginning its second half-century with a change of venue.

Here’s what’s ahead.

Sunday’s RAGBRAI route

Glenwood to Red Oak.

What to know

This is going to be a southern route. That means smaller towns, more cows, fewer pigs and lots of hills. In fact at 18,375 feet, this year’s ride has the most elevation gain in RAGBRAI history.

The climbing will start right away, as riders ascend from Glenwood in the Missouri River valley though the scenic Loess Hills. After the first pass-through town, Silver City — a stop on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail — the ride turns east, first on Carey Road and then Brothers Road. Narrow, though paved, farm roads, they begin the saw-toothed roller coaster ride that will characterize much of this year’s route. You climb to a view of the green fields below, then zoom down and do it again until you lose count. The day’s distance is less than 42 miles, so it’s a good warm-up for what’s to come.

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