RAID Riders Pass Through Oskaloosa On Their Qwest
Mark Linser stops for just a few moments to converse with Ryan Parlee in Oskaloosa.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – There were bikes making their way through Oskaloosa on Saturday. No, they weren’t late RAGBRAI riders, but instead a dedicated group of riders that pedal the entire state of Iowa in a single day.
RAID Riders (Ride Across Iowa in a Day) have made their way through Oskaloosa for the 3rd consecutive year.
The first year, the ride happened, much like Saturday’s ride, on a very cold and wet day in mid-May, 2011. Back then Ryan Parlee, founder of RAID, was setting the pace. This year, after a few family adventures, Parlee ran out of time to train. He did complete just over 60 miles as they took off from Council Bluffs at 4:00. Friend and co-founder Chad Johnson was there to see it off on its journey, as well.
Parlee drew inspiration to create RAID from one of his father’s friends, Bob Breedlove. “So my dad would tell me the story of how on the last day of RAGBRAI, Bob would wake up early and ride the entire course; riding in 1 day what it took everyone else 7 days to accomplish.”
Parlee had drawn on that memory about a year before starting the RAID event. He had been out on his bicycle, doing a 50 mile ride when he got the idea. So he mentioned it to his friend Chad that one day, they should do what Bob did.
The future of RAID was uncertain for this year. Parlee, with the growth of his family and a busy work schedule at Flying Hippo Web Technologies, where he is the owner, “I’m really too busy to talk about it or promote it,” Parlee said. “I felt really unorganized this year, but it all came together at the last minute.”
That type of schedule, and the inability to have time to train could have derailed RAID for the future, but once Parlee sat on his bicycle seat, he thought that it truly is a lot of fun.
The riders started making their way into Oskaloosa shortly after 5pm, with Keith Wells leading the way. Second place Mark Linser hit town at 5:36 followed shortly by two other riders.
Keith Wells made it to the finish line in Muscatine at 8:16 pm with second place Mark Linser riding in at 10:25pm.
If you would like to learn more about RAID, you can visit them on their Facebook page HERE or their website HERE.
