Greene County was overtaken Tuesday by thousands upon thousands of bicyclists.

The 50th anniversary of the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) went through the central and southern portions of Greene County, as Jefferson was a pass through town and Rippey was the meeting town, which was the one chance that bicyclists had to be with their support vehicles for that day.

Scott Jackson from Fort Smith, Arkansas was participating in his first RAGBRAI after some people from the surrounding communities talked about their experience from 2019. He shared what he thought of RAGBRAI through the third day of the week-long event.

“(I’m) in awe of the sheer volume of cyclists, you’re constantly surrounded by other cyclists on the road. I’ve always heard and seen the videos (of RAGBRAI) of the Air Force crew that you’re on the side of the road, they just appear. I mean there must be millions of them out riding their bicycle. But another thing is the communities and the residents, they’re just out in their yard at 6am watching cyclists ride down their highway.”      

Jefferson Mayor Matt Gordon applauded the effort by all involved from preparing and executing everything that made the city stand out well.

“Yeah I think the city did a great job (including) Jefferson Matters, the city crews on both sides, the streets guys and everybody on that side and the PD (police department) did a wonderful job. The city looked great, traffic control was great. Up at the rec center they had music playing and that was really getting the crowd going as they’re coming into town and I saw a lot of people pumping their hands, and just having a good time as they’re coming through.”

Cyclists were coming from Carroll to Ames as the next overnight stop on the longest day of the route with 83 miles, along with an optional loop for an even 100 miles. Click here to see the photos of Raccoon Valley Radio’s coverage of RAGBRAI.