RAID Riders Hustle Through Oskaloosa On Cross-State Race
RAID Riders made their way through Oskaloosa before 2pm on Saturday.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Bicycling across Iowa takes about a week right?
Most Iowans believe that the approximately 50 miles a day is the pace.
For a group of nearly 20 riders, the State of Iowa is but a day trip.
They get on their bikes in Council Bluffs at 4am, and pedal their way across the state, arriving in Muscatine.
Randy Wahl is the Race Day Director for RAID, or Ride Across Iowa in a Day.
For those who are looking for an easier day in the saddle, there is a half day ride as well.
Wahl was working the various checkpoints along the route, and Oskaloosa was once again a checkpoint on the route this year.
For riders, they must maintain a speed just over 12 miles per hour in order to finish the race in 24 hours. The lead pack was maintaining a 20 mile per hour average speed as they came through Oskaloosa, while the core pack was averaging 16 miles per hour.
Maintaining that speed was helped by a nice tail wind, and the pleasant fall temperatures.
“To train for this is altogether something different”, said Wahl of what riders do to prepare for the race. “To do 300 miles in a day takes a special kind of person”.
“There’s no replacement for time in the saddle”, says Wahl of the riders, many will do anything to prepare.
Those training rides can be 150 miles or more during the training phase.
250 miles isn’t uncommon for riders to do in training.
Over the past few years, interest in the race has continued to grow, with it now attracting riders from it’s start.
“We see a lot of potential for much much more”, says Wahl.
The ride has started to get some attention from other rides, such as RAAM, or Ride Across America.
Some of those RAAM riders took part in Saturday’s race, and there is some talk of incorporating it into the RAAM schedule.
Riders came from Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa.
You can learn more about the race, by visiting the RAID Facebook page HERE.
