Ragbrai 2013

Last Saturday TdA had a booth for the 2nd time at the RAGBRAI Expo in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Now in its 41st year RAGBRAI stands for The Register’s Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (The Register is the city of Des Moines largest newspaper). It’s also one of the world’s biggest organized bike rides, with 10,000 registered participants. On Sunday morning after the Expo they start a 6 day ride, that covers the 400+ miles across Iowa from the Nebraska border to the Illinois border. Along the way they will be joined in this celebration of cycling by another 10,000+ casual riders, and by the towns and villages en route who undertake a massive voluntary effort to feed and accommodate this community in motion.

As you can imagine, the RAGBRAI Expo provides TdA with a great opportunity to market its Tours to thousands of serious and casual road bikers. And while many folk will just shake their heads in disbelief as they pass by the huge banner that displays our Routes,  many others stop and ask questions, grab brochures, flip through our coffee table book of photos and tales from the Tour d’Afrique, and sign up for our e-newsletter. A few folk exclaim that our tours have been on their bucket list, while others are thrilled to discover such adventures exist. Based on our experience, we’re confident we’ll get a few future clients as a result of our presence here and all the impressions we make.