RAID History

“My dad was good friends with Bob Breedlove,” Parlee said in an interview with the Oskaloosa News. They were weightlifting partners for many years. I grew up hearing these stories about Bob and all his cycling accomplishments. I was impressed, but being young I didn’t really understand …I couldn’t relate to 100 or 1,000 miles.

“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 1day what it took everyone else 7 days to accomplish! This was something I could understand and I thought it was amazing.”

After riding in the 100-mile Bob Breedlove Memorial Ride in 2005, Parlee and a few friends had the idea to pursue a cross-state bike race in a day, just like Breedlove used to.

Breedlove’s family agreed, Parlee said.

“Ann Peterson, Bob’s daughter, who works with Chad (Johnson, a fellow RAID rider), thought it was a great idea and helped us put the pieces together,” he said.

Now on its 4th year, RAID has no chance of slowing down, and neither does Parlee.