Our Review of the new book by John Karras and Ann Karras....
"RAGBRAI: Everybody Pronounces It Wrong"
(buy from amazon.com)
by John Karras & Ann Karras
Iowa State University Press
190 pages, softbound
RAGBRAI- Like a favorite relation who drops by once a year.
When we first found out that RAGBRAI #27 was going to come to Tripoli, IA (on the morning of July 29, 1999) for breakfast, I was tapped to develop the web pages for the Tripoli RAGBRAI Committee. This is not terribly surprising because I'm really the only one here who does this stuff.
Anyhow, RAGBRAI has long been sort of a not-quite-so-cottage-anymore industry in this state. Personally, I've never really ridden it from end to end. I've managed to get away and ride it for a day or two ever now and then over the years and that, unfortunately, has been about it.
I recall when it first started back in 1973. I think we all thought it was pretty amazing that anybody would want to ride from one end to the state to the other on a bycicle. In those days, I think a lot of people viewed it with just a bit of suspicion. I suppose there are a few who still view it with a bit of suspicion. In the years since, I've moved away, moved back, moved away, and moved back to Iowa. Some places where I've been, the only things they know about Iowa have to do with the Presidential Primaries and RAGBRAI. And, no, we don't grow potatos here...that's Idaho your're thinking of. Buckeye State?...that's Ohio.
RAGBRAI has cured a lot of people of the notion that Iowa is flat, by the by.
There have been times, over the years, when I think I found RAGBRAI to be irritating as well as interesting. When you have to get somewhere in a car, and RAGBRAI is between you and your destination...it's true, you might want to reconsider your travel plans.
But, mostly, we just kind of love RAGBRAI, in this state.
John Karras (formally of the Des Moines Register and along with Donald Kaul one of the RAGBRAI "key instigators") has written a pretty good book, here. If you've never heard of RAGBRAI, or witnessed the spectacle of 7 or 8,000 people moving down the road enmass on bicycles you might not think this to be a remarkable thing. But, after reading this book you will probably feel like you want to get acquainted. No doubt, you, too, will probably show up here, one of these summers huffing and puffing along with everybody else down Iowa's sylvan highways and byways (hopefully with the wind to your back) from west to east where you will triumphantly dip your bike tires in the Mississippi River. If you want to experience a "Moment Of Triumph" in your life...this is probably a good one to aim for. I felt pretty triumphant doing that, one time, and I didn't even go the whole trip.
If you've ridden RAGBRAI, this book should bring back some good memories. RAGBRAI is like an old friend who comes around just once a year. But it's an old friend with surprizing grace. It comes by, it visits for a while, and then it leaves. When it's gone you tend to think, "Well...that was okay."
