The history of the century ride I do not know, but as it pertains to RAGBRAI, there is always an option to ride a 100 miles one of the days--this year it was on the third day, from Carroll to Boone. There is a 'loop', known as the 'Karras Loop' (after John Karras, one of the two Des Moines Register reporters who started the ride across Iowa--they had a 110 miles ride that very first year--no options--you had to do it), which added 28 miles to the 72-mile day. My husband and my SIL elected to do it this year, despite the oppressive heat and the need to ride well into the day in order to complete the ride, which they did. Looking exactly like this once they arrived in our campsite about 7+ hours after they started.
It is a long ride, in any conditions, and this year was a scorcher. The nice thing about RAGBRAI in general is that there are food vendors and water along much of the route, that enables the rider to travel lightly--unfortunately the Karras loop this year had no such amenities, so the riders got back on the regular route parched--luckily they got some nutrition at the stop where they got their patch for doing the extra loop, so they had energy for the final hill into Boone. They were clearly beat when they pulled into our beautiful campsite, but once rehydrated had many a tale to tell of the day. Hats off to the two riders on our team who managed the feat this year!
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