thanks for sharing the article, was only 4 when it was written but very cool to read about the early Rides.
Grew up in iowa, as a kid - I did a couple days of RAGBRAI as an unauthorized rider around Des Moines in the early 90's, I had to ride to it and back home from it which was practically twice the distance. Had no plans on what I would do if I broke down, no extra tube, no real money, just a 15 YO kid wanting to be part of it, with a tent strapped to my Schwinn World - good times, I have thought about trying to do the whole ride one of these years but PTO tends to get prioritized to other areas.