RAGBRAI Newbies,
We’re so excited for you to join us for your very first RAGBRAI! Whether you are riding for the whole week with us or a single day, we hope that it’s a wonderful experience that will make you want to ride with us again for years to come.
For those of you who don’t know me yet, my name is Erin Oliphant and I head the customer service team for RAGBRAI. This will be my fourth year working the ride and I think it will be the best one yet. My main role with RAGBRAI is to respond to all your emails that are sent to [email protected] or [email protected]. Because of that, I have a VERY good feel for what the biggest and most common questions are from our first-time riders. In addition to working for RAGBRAI, I also am a virtual endurance coach helping athletes reach their goals in everything from bike events to open water swims to marathons to Ironmans. This experience as a coach allows me to help you all out with training and nutrition tips for the ride.
Now that you know my qualifications, let’s get into it!
Q: What is RAGBRAI?
A: RAGBRAI stands for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa and is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state of Iowa. This year it will take place July 18th-25th.
Q: How do I get to the ride and how do I get home from the ride?
A: The answer to this largely depends on where you are coming from. The best (and cheapest) way is to be dropped and picked up if you have a friend or family member able to do so. If not, no worries! Here are some other options for weeklong riders:
- If you are traveling by car from the east side of the country, I recommend purchasing long-term parking in Dubuque and buying a shuttle ticket that will take you and your bike from Dubuque to Onawa before the ride. Long-term parking will be available to purchase early April on Dubuque’s website (linked through ours). There are many companies that offer shuttle services from Dubuque to Onawa. You may view these companies and visit their sites to purchase through our Logistics page here. You may also use Mr. Car Shipper to have your car towed from Onawa to Dubuque so it is ready for you to drive home when you are done without ever taking a shuttle.
- If you are traveling by car from the west side of the country, I recommend purchasing long-term parking in Onawa and buying a shuttle ticket that will take you and your bike from Dubuque to Onawa after the ride. Long-term parking will be available to purchase early April on Onawa’s website (linked through ours). Out of Staters will be running the shuttle service from Dubuque to Onawa after the ride. You may purchase your shuttle tickets here: Services & Pricing | OOS Bicycle Club. . You may also use Mr. Car Shipper to have your car towed from Onawa to Dubuque so it is ready for you to drive home when you are done without ever taking a shuttle.
- If you are flying, shuttle service to and from RAGBRAI is available for purchase from Omaha (OMA), Chicago (ORD and MDW), Des Moines (DSM), and Quad Cities (MLI). To view the companies offering these services and to buy your ticket, please find their website through our Logistics page here. Many airlines allow you to check your bike bag just like you would your suitcase. You may also ship your bike before and after the ride via Bike Flights or Send My Gear, or you may rent from a local Iowa bike shop.
For our single day riders, I recommend arranging drop-off and pick-up with a friend or scheduling car service that can accommodate you and your bike. If you want to ride multiple days but not the full week, Pork Belly Ventures does have a mid-week exit shuttle both on Tuesday night and Wednesday night that will take you from Boone/Marshalltown to the Des Moines International Airport as well as a mid-week enter shuttle that will take you from DSM to Boone. Along with these shuttle offerings, Pork Belly also offers a shuttle that can take you from DSM to Onawa at the start of the ride and Dubuque to DSM at the end of the ride making them a one-stop shop.
Q: What is Expo? Do we start riding on 7/18?
A: Expo, which will be held in Onawa this year on 7/18, is the kickoff to RAGBRAI. It will have many different vendors to shop, bike shops and mechanics to help you, live music, first-time riders and first-time support driver meetings, new registration, packet pickup for those who are international or will be out of town during packet mailing (which happens in June), and more. Most people will camp in Onawa the night of 7/18 to be ready for the biking portion of RAGBRAI that starts on Sunday, 7/19.
Q: Camping/Luggage/Showering
A: Access to our main campgrounds is included with your registration as well as the use of baggage truck for your soft-sided bag up to 50lbs. The baggage truck will be parked in the main campground each day for you to drop your bag off between 5-8AM and then pick up from as soon as we can get to the next town until 6PM. Baggage must be picked up and cannot be left in the truck past 6PM due to safety concerns. There will be mobile showers in the campground available for 10$ along with towels for rent for $2.
Q: How do I charge my devices?
A: Access to power will be limited. We recommend carrying a battery pack with you and charging that as well as your devices when you see an opportunity to do so. Backroads Battery is also a phenomenal option to take advantage of. They will provide you with a fully charged battery pack that you can swap out with them for another fully charged battery pack each day of the ride.
Q: How do I prepare for the ride?
A: The most important thing to do to prepare for the ride is to spend time in the saddle. The ride is 391 miles with 16,027 feet of climbing over the course of seven days, so no matter how fast you are, you will be spending a lot of time on your bike during the ride.
If you don’t get your legs, lungs, heart, and quite frankly your crotch ready in training to ride that long during RAGBRAI, the ride will not be as enjoyable as it could be. I recommend working your way up to a weekly volume of around 140 miles at your peak. I also suggest doing a few bigger mileage days back-to-back so you get used to riding long and then having to do it again the next day like you will on RAGBRAI. This is for the mental benefit as much as it is the physical one.
I know they can be pricey, but I highly recommend investing in a Wahoo trainer. I have the Kickr Core and it has helped me tremendously with training when the weather is bad or I can’t get an outside to ride due to a busy work schedule. While getting the miles in, I also recommend experimenting with the apparel you wear. Primal has a lot of different apparel options at varying price points so you can find an option that works for you. There are few worse feelings than not being able to ride because you have saddle sores from bad bibs/shorts. You should also be working on your fueling while you train, but we can talk more about that in a future blog post as those miles start to increase.
Additional Resources
I hope this has addressed your most pressing questions! We will continue to be blogging about FAQs as they come up. Another great resource for first timers our the RAGBRAI Townhalls that are hosted monthly. We have a portion of it specifically dedicated to answering your questions. If you are unable to make them live, you may view them on our Youtube channel. You may also reach out to me anytime through email at [email protected].
Keep on riding,
Erin
Find All 2025 Training Blogs
Find all of Coach Oliphant’s Training Blogs, as well as the 2025 Training Plan in our Training section on RAGBRAI.com.
Coach Erin Oliphant
Coach Erin Oliphant has been passionately coaching endurance sports for the past 10 years. In addition to coaching, Erin also works for RAGBRAI full-time in customer service. You can find out more about her accomplishments and Coaching Programs here: https://erin-oliphant.com/
