RAID Riders Once Again Trek Their Way Through Oskaloosa
Ryan Parlee talks about the RAID ride, and how it’s grown, while taking a quick break in Oskaloosa. (photo by Ginger Allsup)
Oskaloosa, Iowa (Spetember 29, 2012) – For the second year in a row, a bike tour across Iowa made its way through Oskaloosa. No, it wasn’t RAGBRAI, but instead something known by its acronym of RAID, or Ride Across Iowa in a Day.
No, this isn’t some leisurely ride on your Harley across our great state, these guys hop on their bicycles in Council Bluffs in the early morning hours and start to pedal their way.
Jason Laughlin was one of the riders participating in the afternoon half-day ride. Laughlin started his ride at about 10:12 am in Pleasantville, arriving in Oskaloosa around 1:23 in the afternoon.
“It’s been a great time. It’s a little windy at times, but it’s the hills that will get ya.” Laughlin says of the ride.
This was Laughlin’s first year of the ride, and he opted for the half-day ride to help give him a better idea of what would be in store for him in a full-day ride.
Joe Mann from Muscatine, Iowa was one of the several dozen riders taking part in the RAID. He was headed home to Muscatine, after making the start in Council Bluffs. Of all the riders, one could joke that his motivation for completing the ride might be most easily understood.
Mann said the ride was going pretty well, and the winds were favorable. Mann made the quick 45 second stop in Oskaloosa to refuel after tackling some of the rougher hills west of town.
Mann thanked his support crew for helping to keep him on the bike. Mann said that with their support he wasn’t having to stop much at all, thanks to them “feeding and watering me,” as he was still on the bike and pedaling down the road.
Ryan Parlee is one of the race organizers and he talked about why he wanted to ride across Iowa the first time.
“Bob Breedlove is someone who’s pretty famous around here in Iowa for doing long endurance rides. He was a good friend of my dad’s, and I grew up hearing stories of how on the last day of RAGBRAI he would wake up and ride the whole thing in one day. At the time, I didn’t know exactly how long that was, but I thought it was pretty cool.” Parlee said.
“So when I got into biking a few years ago, I was doing my first 100 mile ride. I had one of my buddies with me. At about mile 80, I said, ‘you know, this is pretty fun, we should do what Bob did and just see if we can make it across Iowa’. So that was the start of it,” Parlee says of how the idea took hold.
Parlee says that his friend agreed, saying, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ Parlee thinks now that his friend might have just been putting him on, but once Parlee got home from that ride, he sent out an email to all his friends announcing “Me and Chad are doing this”.
So, after the planning started, it became apparent that others wanted to take on the challenge as well. “We made an event out of it and had fun.” Parlee said.
Last year’s ride took place in the middle part of May and the weather was brutal for the riders. Cold temperatures and a driving rain made conditions miserable for the riders, with many of them calling it quits upon making it to Oskaloosa.
That rough first year was almost the last for the ride. “It was terrible,” Parlee remembers of that first year’s weather.
“It’s kind of funny, last year there was three of us out of the thirteen that finished. When we got done, one of the first questions they asked us was, ‘are you going to do it again?’ I happened to be the first one, and I said, ‘no way’. The other two guys came in, they were asked the same question, and they both looked at each other and said, ‘no way’. But you know what? They’re back and I’m back and we’ve now got thirty people here riding across Iowa.” Parlee said of those first thoughts after finishing last year, and the satisfaction of riding again this year.
“You forget about the pain, eventually, you know.” Parlee says smiling.
Joe Mann was the first rider to arrive in Muscatine, covering the State of Iowa in 15 hours and 50 minutes on his bicycle. Ryan Parlee, who was gracious enough to take time out of his quest to talk with us, finished in 17 hours and 11 minutes.
For a complete list of winners, you can follow THIS LINK to the Ride Across Iowa in a Day website, or join them on Facebook HERE.
