We’re Not the First!
It’s no secret: RAID is not the first organized ride across the country. In fact, we’ve created this page to dedicate to those that have come before us.
1980
FBRAIIOD: The “First Bike Ride Across Iowa in One Day”
“I came across your website while I was searching for my old friends from the ride in 1980… I still have the folder containing the newspaper articles and I was trying to share those with Russ Clarke and the others. To no avail, but perhaps you might get a smile out of your predecessors…
Des Moines Register dubbed it FBRAIIOD: the ‘First Bike Ride Across Iowa in One Day.’ I was a support person on that adventure and have attached newspaper articles. Polaroid pictures fadded long ago, as you can imagine, but our guys looked much like your folks…. exhausted, but very happy to have accomplished the ride!!
Keep up the good work, folks! Although I have never experienced the trans-Iowa ride in the saddle, I have completed it in the van and that was hard enough for me!!!”
-Chuck Ellis
Here are the newspaper articles that Chuck Ellis sent us:
Time Frame Makes Bike Trip Unique
4 stalwart bikers pedal across Iowa in one day / What? More people riding bicycles in Iowa?
