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:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Weigh what loss your honor may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmastered importunity.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“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)
“The cigar-box which the European calls a “lift” needs but to be compared with our elevators to be appreciated. The lift stops to reflect between floors. That is all right in a hearse, but not in elevators. The American elevator acts like the man’s patent purge—it works”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)