Eight "host communities" are selected each year by the RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) organizers, except that there were only seven in 1973. Two of the communities are the beginning and end points, while the other six serve as overnight stops for the bicyclists. From 1973 to 2012, the distance between consecutive host communities has averaged about 68 miles. The average length has been 471 miles.
At the beginning of the ride, riders traditionally dip the rear wheel of their bikes in either the Missouri River or the Big Sioux River (depending on the starting point of the ride), and at the end, the riders dip the front wheels in the Mississippi River.
| Year | Length (miles) | Route (start to finish) |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 412 | Sioux City, Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Ames, Des Moines, Williamsburg, and Davenport |
| 1974 | 422 | Council Bluffs, Atlantic, Guthrie Center, Camp Dodge, Marshalltown, Waterloo, Monticello, and Dubuque |
| 1975 | 450 | Hawarden, Cherokee, Lake View, Boone, Newton, Sigourney, Mount Pleasant, and Fort Madison |
| 1976 | 430 | Sidney, Red Oak, Harlan, Jefferson, Nevada, Grinnell, Iowa City, and Muscatine |
| 1977 | 400 | Onawa, Ida Grove, Laurens, Algona, Clear Lake, New Hampton, Decorah, and Lansing |
| 1978 | 440 | Sioux City, Storm Lake, Humboldt, Iowa Falls, Vinton, Mount Vernon, Maquoketa, and Clinton |
| 1979 | 480 | Rock Rapids, Spencer, Rockwell City, Story City, Tama, Fairfield, Wapello, and Burlington |
| 1980 | 468 | Glenwood, Atlantic, Carroll, Perry, Webster City, Waverly, Elkader, and Guttenberg |
| 1981 | 490 | Missouri Valley, Mapleton, Lake City, Greenfield, Leon, Centerville, Keosauqua, and Keokuk |
| 1982 | 523 | Akron, Cherokee, Estherville, Forest City, Charles City, Independence, Tipton, and Davenport |
| 1983 | 492 | Onawa, Harlan, Guthrie Center, Ames, Clarion, Grundy Center, Manchester, and Dubuque |
| 1984 | 474 | Glenwood, Shenandoah, Creston, Adel, Pella, Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant, and Burlington |
| 1985 | 540 | Hawarden, Sibley, Emmetsburg, Humboldt, Mason City, Waterloo, Monticello, and Clinton |
| 1986 | 479 | Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Audubon, Perry, Eldora, Belle Plaine, Washington, and Muscatine |
| 1987 | 437 | Onawa, Denison, Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Forest City, Osage, West Union, and Guttenberg |
| 1988 | 433 | Sioux City, Ida Grove, Carroll, Boone, Des Moines, Oskaloosa, Fairfield, and Fort Madison |
| 1989 | 479 | Glenwood, Clarinda, Atlantic, Jefferson, Story City, Cedar Falls, Dyersville, and Bellevue |
| 1990 | 495 | Sioux Center, Spencer, Algona, Hampton, Oelwein, Cedar Rapids, Washington, and Burlington |
| 1991 | 432 | Missouri Valley, Atlantic, Winterset, Knoxville, Grinnell, Amana, Anamosa, and Bellevue |
| 1992 | 494 | Glenwood, Shenandoah, Bedford, Osceola, Des Moines, Oskaloosa, Mount Pleasant, and Keokuk |
| 1993 | 525 | Sioux City, Sheldon, Emmetsburg, Clarion, Osage, Decorah, Manchester, and Dubuque |
| 1994 | 511 | Council Bluffs, Harlan, Carroll, Perry, Marshalltown, Marion, Maquoketa, and Clinton |
| 1995 | 493 | Onawa, Lake View, Fort Dodge, Iowa Falls, Tama, Sigourney, Coralville, and Muscatine |
| 1996 | 437 | Sioux Center, Sibley, Estherville, Lake Mills, Charles City, Cresco, Fayette, and Guttenberg |
| 1997 | 464 | Missouri Valley, Red Oak, Creston, Des Moines, Chariton, Bloomfield, Fairfield, and Fort Madison |
| 1998 | 488 | Hawarden, Cherokee, Rockwell City, Boone, Eldora, Cedar Falls, Monticello, and Sabula |
| 1999 | 487 | Rock Rapids, Spencer, Algona, Clear Lake, Waverly, Decorah, Manchester, and Bellevue |
| 2000 | 450 | Council Bluffs, Harlan, Greenfield, Ankeny, Knoxville, Ottumwa, Washington, and Burlington |
| 2001 | 506 | Sioux City, Storm Lake, Denison, Atlantic, Perry, Grinnell, Coralville, and Muscatine |
| 2002 | 525 | Sioux Center, Cherokee, Emmetsburg, Forest City, Charles City, Oelwein, Anamosa, and Bellevue |
| 2003 | 495 | Glenwood, Shenandoah, Bedford, Osceola, Oskaloosa, Bloomfield, Mount Pleasant, and Fort Madison |
| 2004 | 490 | Onawa, Lake View, Fort Dodge, Iowa Falls, Marshalltown, Hiawatha, Maquoketa, and Clinton |
| 2005 | 485 | Le Mars, Sheldon, Estherville, Algona, Northwood, Cresco, West Union, and Guttenberg. |
| 2006 | 444 | Sergeant Bluff, Ida Grove, Audubon, Waukee, Newton, Marengo, Coralville, and Muscatine. |
| 2007 | 479 | Rock Rapids, Spencer, Humboldt, Hampton, Cedar Falls, Independence, Dyersville, and Bellevue |
| 2008 | 471 | Missouri Valley, Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama/Toledo, North Liberty, Tipton, and LeClaire |
| 2009 | 442 | Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant, Burlington |
| 2010 | 450 | Sioux City, Storm Lake, Algona, Clear Lake, Charles City, Waterloo, Manchester, Dubuque |
| 2011 | 454 | Glenwood, Atlantic, Carroll, Boone, Altoona, Grinnell, Coralville, Davenport |
| 2012 | 471 | Sioux Center, Cherokee, Lake View, Webster City, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, Anamosa, Clinton |
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, overnight, stops and/or year:
“I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.”
—Linda Pastan (b. 1932)
“All is possible,
Who so list believe;
Trust therefore first, and after preve,
As men wed ladies by license and leave,
All is possible.”
—Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?–1542)
“Like other cities created overnight in the Outlet, Woodward acquired between noon and sunset of September 16, 1893, a population of five thousand; and that night a voluntary committee on law and order sent around the warning, “if you must shoot, shoot straight up!””
—State of Oklahoma, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A solitary traveller can sleep from state to state, from day to night, from day to day, in the long womb of its controlled interior. It is the cradle that never stops rocking after the lullaby is over. It is the biggest sleeping tablet in the world, and no one need ever swallow the pill, for it swallows them.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán (b. 1953)
“They give us a pair of cloth shorts twice a year for all our clothing. When we work in the sugar mills and catch our finger in the millstone, they cut off our hand; when we try to run away, they cut off our leg: both things have happened to me. It is at this price that you eat sugar in Europe.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)