RAGBRAI 2018 Day 1: Goals for the Week

When thousands of bike riders pedal a route across Iowa for the 46th annual RAGBRAI cycling event, a team of pharmacists, including Pharmacy Times Editor in Chief Troy Trygstad, will be among them. Wearing custom, white coat cycling jerseys, the 20 members of the Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA) Foundation’s RAGBRAI team plan to assist other participants and promote their profession as they ride.

Founded in 1973 by the Des Moines Register newspaper, RAGBRAI (the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) is intended to be a celebration of Iowa. The ride annually averages about 468 miles, beginning at the state’s western border and ending on its eastern border. The route changes each year, and is designed to take 6 days to complete.

Trygstad said RAGBRAI is not a typical bike ride. “It’s tens of thousands of folks of every shape, size, and proportion riding all the way across Iowa, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River,” he said.