Thousands of cyclists are arriving in Ames on Tuesday on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). 

Get to know them here.

Name: Bobby Rodriguez 

Age: 68

From: Des Moines

First RAGBRAI: 1986

Number of times you have participated: 32

Amount of the route you are riding: The entire route as a member of the Team Me Off support team

Why you participate in RAGBRAI: “It’s fun — best time you can have on two wheels.”

What RAGBRAI means to you: “it’s a good time, and we have done it for so long. It’s great”

Who you ride with: Team Me Off

Name: Chris Cole

Age: 49

From: Birmingham, Alabama

First RAGBRAI: 2018

Amount of the route you are riding: The entire route

Why you participate in RAGBRAI: Cole said he had not done it yet before 2018, but really wanted to. 

What RAGBRAI means to you: Cole said it is just another bike ride for him, but he did say he enjoyed seeing the countryside.

Who you ride with: Team Fly, a team that started out of Christiana, Tennessee. The group consists of 23 people from Utah, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Kansas and New York. Their bus is built almost entirely out of commercial airliner parts.

 Name: Franklin Johnson

Age: 32

From: Atlanta, Georgia

First RAGBRAI: 2014

Number of times you have participated: 4

Amount of the route you are riding: The entire route

Why you participate in RAGBRAI: “It’s such an awesome event. It is the Mecca of touring cyclists.”

What RAGBRAI means to you: “It goes to show you can get anywhere on your bicycle. It’s freedom on two wheels.”

Who you ride with: Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG), of which he is the director. 

Name: Dylan Feik

Age: 33

From: Windsor, California

First RAGBRAI: 2013

Number of times you have participated: 5

Amount of the route you are riding: The entire route

Why you participate in RAGBRAI: “Ten percent is riding, the other 90 [percent] is getting to see rural Iowa where everyone is nice, friendly and the food is great.”

What RAGBRAI means to you: “It’s a fun way to relax. You are beat tired, you smell, there are big lines, but it is part of the experience and it’s worth it.”

Who you ride with: Team Ah Jeez, which consists of friends and family.