DAVENPORT, Iowa — Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, also known as RAGBRAI, is celebrating its 50th annual ride.
30,000 bikers are expected to participate in this year's event. The ride begins in Sioux City, starting a 500 mile journey that has a total of eight stops across the state, ending in Davenport.
Visit Quad Cities marketing manager Jessica Waytenick says the ride ends in the area — but that's also where the fun begins.
"We have over 2,000 cars coming to park in the Quad Cities," Waytenick said. "After parking their personal vehicles here, they will ride a motor coach across the state and then ride their bikes all the way back, hopefully returning July 29th."
For some, this will be their first year participating in the ride including Derek and Christina Lawrence, who traveled from Kingsville, Ontario, Canada to take a joy ride across Iowa.
"We've been training since Easter," Derek said. "Four days of training, with three of those days riding 32 kilometers (19.88 miles) and on the 4th day, we went up to 40km (24.85 miles)."
Also participating for the first time is Bill Pearce from Pearland, TX. He says being retired gives him the opportunity to bike across Iowa and visit it for the first time ever.
"I'm just looking for an adventure," Pearce said. "I drove up here and then after this, I'm taking a big tour around the West, hitting almost all the national parks that are west of the Mississippi River."
Along with the daunting physical test ahead, this year's RAGBRAI is expected to be one of the hottest in recent years.
"I just pour water through my helmet all day long, and that works amazingly well to cool everything off," said Nessa Meguire. This is her third RAGBRAI and her husband John's tenth.
RAGBRAI is partnering with the National Guard this year to have an additional 800 gallons of water on the route everyday.
'It's amazing how much water your body can consume and not feel like it's too much when you need it," Meguire said.
Plenty of sweat is expected as riders embark for a week on two wheels.