Sioux City, Iowa — If you’re headed to or through Sioux City today, we remind you that it’s RAGBRAI time and Sioux City is the starting city this year.
Thousands of bike riders will descend on Sioux City. The 43rd annual event will challenge bikers to one week of riding that averages 65 to 75 miles each day. Al Joens rides a tandem bike with his wife and says this will be his 32nd time on the ride. He has done the entire ride — roughly 500 miles — 17 times.
(as he says)”It’s the people that make it so fun, it’s just 20-thousand different interesting characters,” he says. “RAGBRAI is an equalizer. It doesn’t matter if you are millionaire or have no money at all. It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor or a laborer. When you are out on a bike climbing a hill, none of that means anything, you’ve all got to get from point A to point B.”
Bikers will follow the tradition of dipping their tires in the Missouri River Sunday in Sioux City before starting the ride. The ones that finish will dip their tires in the Mississippi River Saturday at the conclusion of the ride.
Again, be aware of lots of extra traffic in the Sioux City area this weekend.
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