The quirkiest (and creepiest) shop on RAGBRAI

La Porte City, Ia. — Even among the horde of bikes, it was nearly impossible to miss the 7-foot-tall foam mushroom situated along Main Street in downtown Vinton. Then I spotted the grotesque masks and the name of the shop behind the giant fungi: Midnight...

The perils of spandex, bladders on RAGBRAI

A line of portable toilets awaits a crowd of RAGBRAI riders. Timothy Meinch/The Register Spandex, full bladders and portable toilets. The combo gets a wee-bit complicated when multiplied by the thousands along the RAGBRAI trail. Some riders avoid the situation...

Belly dance troupe goes pirate for RAGBRAI

Riders Thursday morning pedaling up the last big hill out of Hudson were entertained by Prairie Rose Dance Troupe. The Waterloo-based foursome of Middle Eastern belly dancers turned pirate for RAGBRAI in keeping with the first pass-through town’s chosen theme....