Richard Paulos has been taking part in RAGBRAI since its inception, and he isn’t about to break his streak.
Paulos, 70, of Cedar Rapids, has ridden in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa since 1973 because he loves biking. He also has a goal to be, as he says, “the last person to ride every RAGBRAI.”
He’s part of a rare group of riders on the 2026 ride who have been participating in RAGBRAI for at least 50 of its 53 years.
Jim Hopkins, 94, of Windsor Heights, also has ridden in every RAGBRAI. It’s been a family tradition, with his children joining in for many years and his wife Nancy handling the logistics since the 1973 ride.
His son, William Grace, who was 13 years old in 1973, blew the very first tire on RAGBRAI shortly after the opening remarks in Sioux City, the starting town for what was then called the Great Bicycle Ride.
Steve Swartzrock first rode on RAGBRAI (then SAGBRAI, or the Second Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) in 1974 when he was just 16 years old, having heard about it from his neighbor.
“I said, ‘If you can do it, I can do it,'” Swartzrock said. “It was a tough ride. I thought I’d never do that again.”
But something clicked, because Swartzrock was back the next year and has joined every ride since.
“If you want to interact with people and find out what Iowa nice is all about, there’s nothing like RAGBRAI,” Swartzrock said.
Fostering a love of cycling
Paulos got his love of biking from his mother, an avid rider and RAGBRAI participant herself. She arranged his ride to the Sioux City starting point when he was just 17 in 1973 and helped him find relatives to stay with along the way.
“I didn’t take a tent or a sleeping bag,” Paulos said. “I didn’t even take extra clothes. But I had relatives to stay with almost every night.”
Paulos has since organized bike races and now runs a bike co-op. He uses his skills on every RAGBRAI, helping out bike shops and riders along the route, often starting his own ride later in the day, though most riders start early in order to beat the heat.
Swartzrock lives outside Charles City and has been riding since he used a bike to get to town as a kid.
“Biking’s a good sport for me,” he said. “I’ve biked all my life; I don’t have any joint issues.”
His endurance has gone up over the years. He used to hang up his bike for the year after RAGBRAI and now rides through November.
“RAGBRAI has been good for my health,” he said.
He’s also participated in bike rides in parts of Africa, Europe and Australia, and was amazed to find Australians had heard of RAGBRAI.
“I would tell people I’m from Iowa, and they all knew where Iowa was because they were bikers and knew RAGBRAI,” Swartzrock said. “It’s unreal what it does for Iowa.”
Completing tradition no matter what
Though RAGBRAI had to be canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Swartzrock did his own cross-state ride from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, just beyond Iowa’s northwestern corner.
Paulos also has been a stalwart participant, estimating he’s missed only eight days of RAGBRAI, always because of injuries.
Once he hit a pothole coming out of West Bend, went flying over the handlebars and ended up spraining his neck. But he didn’t let that keep him down.
“They had to pull me out of my tent (the next day) and took me to the emergency room for treatment,” Paulos said. “They sent me home for another day to rest up, then I came back and finished the ride.”
Hopkins, a retired pediatric surgeon, is slowing down. But he’s determined to join RAGBRAI each year, including this year’s ride, despite his age, limiting the miles he rides to match his physical ability. He was out there Tuesday, July 21, chugging away, his wife confirmed.
“(I like) making new friends, visiting relatives, friends and former patients along the various routes,” he said. “Having grown up in a small Illinois rural community, I especially enjoy the small Iowa towns.”
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What keeps these RAGBRAI cyclists coming back after 50+ years?
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Celia Brocker, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
