RAID Riders Fight Cold and Rain
Ryan Parlee made it into Oskaloosa on May 14th at 2:24 p.m. on his way to his finish at Muscatine Iowa at 7:41 in the evening.
The first ever RAID (Ride Across Iowa in a Day) took place on Saturday, May 14th 2011.
Everyone in Iowa is fairly familiar with RAGBRAI and its format, but RAID is for a different type of rider. The distances are similar, though RAGBRAI is a little bit longer. While RAGBRAI is traveled over a week with 6 overnight stops, RAID is a dash across the State of Iowa in just a single day.
32 people had initially signed up for the ride, but only 11 of the 32 decided to take on the adventure. The riders began their day in Council Bluffs, Iowa and pedaled their way across the State at speeds averaging 18 mph. Riders took off at 4:00 am, and by 6:50 in the morning they were at Griswold, Iowa, which is nearly 40 miles East of the starting line. They had a quick stop there, at a stop set up at the local Casey’s, and then they quickly continued on their way. The goal for the day was Muscatine or 271 miles from their starting point.
Indianola was next on the list, getting there around 11:15 a.m. Three more riders had, by this time, had enough of the wind and rain and bowed out at this stopping point. 5 riders remained of the 32 to have originally signed up.
Oskaloosa was their next stop. Ryan Parlee, race organizer, was out in front, over the next riders, by some 20 miles. Ryan took about 5 minutes off his bike in Oskaloosa to talk with locals, get his picture taken and grab some food. In Parlee’s case, food was replaced by some Ensure and Pedialyte. Parlee mentioned that he wasn’t nearly ready enough for the cold that had set in on the 14th.
Ryan Parlee rides into Oskaloosa on May 14th, 2011 (photo by D.Hubbard)
Parlee was quickly on his bike and heading East.
Ryan’s wife, Jessica, was along as support for him during his ride. I was curious, so I asked Jessica, why Ryan was interested in doing this. Jessica said, “He’s always been someone who likes a challenge, wants to push himself; and I think he just wanted to know if he could do it or not. Bragging rights may be a little bit.”
Jessica went on to explain why Ryan wanted to ride Iowa in a single day. “Bob Breedlove would show up on the last day of RAGBRAI and do the whole race in one day. They did 100 miles in the Breedlove Memorial Race and said, ‘Hey this is easy, we can do 100 miles, we can do 300 miles, we can do what Bob Breedlove use to do, and we’re going to do RAGBRAI all in one day’. “Ryan likes to do things big. ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to make a big race out of it, see who else can do it, see if I can win it.'” Jessica said of her husband and the motivation for such an adventure.
Jim Legvold (left) and Peter Laing (right) are seen here pulling into Oskaloosa on their ride across Iowa. (photo by D.Hubbard)
Robert Breedlove will be honored at the Hero’s Center in the Spaulding Center for Transportation on May 20th, 2011 in Grinnell, Iowa. You can follow this LINK to the amazing story of Robert Breedlove and his tragic death while riding in the annual Race Across America.
About 40 minutes later, 2 more riders pulled into Oskaloosa.
At 2:54 in the afternoon, fifty year old Jim Legvold of the Fort Worth, Texas area rode into town. Originally from Huxley Iowa, Legvold said, “I was born and raised in Iowa, wanted to come back and say I did something here.”
“This is miserable.” Legvold said of the weather that dogged the riders from the start of the day. Legvold talked Peter Laing, his neighbor in Texas, into doing the ride with him. Laing is originally from South Africa.
Legvold said that on such long rides, it is difficult to take in solid food. Best guess puts the riders burning nearly 15,000 calories over the length of the ride on Saturday.
After a brief period of drying off and warming up in one of the support vans, he and his neighbor took off on down the road. They finished the ride in 16 hours and 41 minutes.
The rider that suffered tire failure is to the left, then is Mark Seaburg and Chad Johnson while they took a short break in Oskaloosa
At 3:57, the last 2 remaining riders entered Oskaloosa. Chad Johnson helped to plan this event with Ryan Parlee.
“We got a little bit of sunshine for about an hour, other than that its just been miserable.” “I could do it up until now, this is about the only reason. I knew there was going to be a welcoming crew, about the only reason I thought I would make it this far. Otherwise, I would have quit long ago.” Johnson said of his ride into Oskaloosa.
Johnson continued by saying,”My workout buddy is the guy that scheduled all of this,” and like many friends they are in it from that point on. “I guess it’s general nature to want to push your limits, what ever that is. Some people find more sane things to do. Since biking is our thing, we thought we’d give this a try.”
Johnson said he burnt 12,500 calories on his journey from Council Bluffs and averaged 17.4 miles per hour during his portion of the ride.
Mark Seaburg, of the Minneapolis area of Minnesota, had this to say about the race, “I really like the race, I really like the whole idea.” said Seaburg. “This is a super bunch of good people.” He went on to say that, “20 years from now, there could be 300 people doing it.”
“Iowa’s a great state, your great people.” “You were hospitable.” commented Seaburg as he packed his gear to head for home.
One rider had the tough luck of having his tires pop twice, so he had called it quits earlier in the day.
Some 65 miles to the end, it was still Ryan, Jim and Peter in the final dash for the finish. Ryan was 15 miles from the end, and was now leading the half-day rider, Nancy.
At 7:41 p.m., Ryan pulled his bicycle into the finish,with a time of 15 hours and 41 minutes, with Jim and Peter finishing almost exactly one hour behind him.
A very special thanks goes out to Fareway and Hy-Vee for providing water for the riders and their support staff, and also to the Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Group for supplying a tent and a place to sit and eat.
