A team of 20 “Crank Addicts” — named after the bicycle crank, not the drug — are preparing for Iowa’s annual bike ride.

This will be the third year that the team has ridden in RAGBRAI. In the past the team has consisted of mostly Iowa State students, but this year only five ISU students are riding with the team, said James Dimond, senior in chemical engineering and a member of the Crank Addicts. The rest of the team is made up of friends and relatives.

There are even two men coming down from Canada to ride, Dimond said.

RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, began in 1973. It all began as a casual challenge between John Karras and Donald Kaul, who were both employed at the Des Moines Register. Karras and Kaul were to ride across Iowa along with Don Benson, the newspaper’s public relations director. The men invited the public to ride along, and RAGBRAI was born.

The response the first year was light, but at various stops along the way, riding was heavy. After the ride was over, response to articles and columns was positive.

People liked the idea of the ride but were upset that it was late in the summer and conflicted with various other events. RAGBRAI was then moved to earlier in August.

Through the years, RAGBRAI has stopped at many different towns along the way. They vary in size and also in culture and entertainment. Each year the route is different than the last to offer variety for the yearly riders and also to allow many various communities to experience RAGBRAI.

The Crank Addicts, one of the many teams to hit the trail each year, travel around in a big, white bus. The bus has also been used to tailgate at ISU football games and was used at last year’s Iowa Games, Dimond said. He also said a few of the seats were taken out, and the bus was repainted with their team name.

This year’s RAGBRAI, which takes place July 19-26, will begin in Hawarden and continue through Cherokee, Rockwell City, Boone, Eldora, Cedar Falls, Monticello and finish in Sabula.

To many riders, RAGBRAI is a tradition which started when they were young. Dimond said he began riding when he was 13 or 14. He said his father signed him and his family up one summer, and he has been riding ever since. Although this is his third year with the Crank Addicts, it will be his sixth RAGBRAI experience.

Jeremy Williams, senior in computer engineering, has been riding on RAGBRAI since 1984. From 1984-87, he rode part of the ride, and since 1988 he has been riding the whole week. Williams said his dad started riding in 1979 and got him involved.

“We have a group of friends that we ride with every year,” Williams said. “The group changes a little year to year, but the one person who is always there is my dad. As he always says, ‘RAGBRAI is the most fun you’ll ever have with your clothes on.'”

Some cyclists begin training early on, but Dimond said his physical preparation has been limited.

“To tell you the truth, I have never really trained much,” he said. Some participants train for months, and others for just a few weeks. There are so many stops that if you are a college kid the ride is not too bad, he said.

“As soon as it gets warm enough to ride, I try to get out on the bicycle as much as possible,” Williams said. “I usually don’t start seriously training until school gets out.”

As RAGBRAI travels through the various towns, the riders usually camp out. However, Williams and his group have discovered a different route.

“Most people on RAGBRAI sleep in tents in the campgrounds,” Williams said. “I haven’t slept in a tent on RAGBRAI since Sioux City in 1988. Now we sleep on the floor in people’s houses. That way we get a nice, cool, quiet house with a hot shower to stay in every night.”

Dimond said his favorite RAGBRAI was two years ago. “The weather was perfect; there was a tailwind all week, and only a bit of drizzle,” he said. “Also, the ride wasn’t very hilly, and it was just a lot of fun.”

Although Dimond remembers a favorite ride, Williams said he does not. He said after so many rides, the fun of all the years blends together, and distinguishing from one year to the next becomes difficult.

Dimond’s advice to those riding on their first RAGBRAI is to have fun.

“Take the time to look around at the towns and stop and eat some of the great food and talk to the people,” he said. “If you just ride to get from place to place you miss a lot of great things. Each town has at least one live band at night, and most have two or three, and the churches have big pasta dinners as well.”

Williams offered some of his own advice.

“If anyone plans to go on RAGBRAI, be sure to properly train, be sure to ride safely and remember that RAGBRAI is an enormous amount of fun, but it isn’t just one big party,” Williams said.

“You’ll realize that the first time you try to ride 70 miles with a hangover.”