GLEENWOOD, Iowa (KTIV) – Over 20,000 cyclists took to the roads of Iowa Sunday for Day 1 of RAGBRAI 51.

This year’s ride started in Glenwood, a few miles south of Council Bluffs.

The first day went through Silver City, Henderson and Emerson before ending in Red Oak, Iowa. Day 1 was 41.9 miles and had nearly 2,500 feel of climb.

On Monday, cyclists will leave Red Oak and travel through Elliott, Griswold and Lewis before ending Day 2 in Atlantic.

This year’s route is the hilliest ever in the ride’s history and has riders participating from every U.S. state and several countries.

RAGBRAI 51 comes to a close on Saturday after 434 miles in Burlington, Iowa.

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EMERSON — For Brian Clarke, waterslides are a must-do on RAGBRAI.

“You should always do the slip and slides whenever you see one,” said the 35-year-old Iowa City cyclist who is riding in his sixth RAGBRAI this year. Clarke, who stood akimbo feet away from the inflatable palm tree waterslide, was drenched, trying to catch his breath from running at top speed and flinging his body on the slide where he was met by the rush of swashing water.

Like many others participating in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, Clarke spoke about community as the reason why he comes back year after year.

“RAGBRAI is just too fun,” said Clarke, flashing a cheeky smile as he watched his friends from a distance take their turn on the waterslide posted on a patchy green lawn near the entrance to Emerson, the last pass-through town on Day 1. “It’s such a great Iowa experience, and you meet great people from all walks of life and from all over the country. It’s a great way to bring everybody together.”

Further down, 76-year-old Gene Hassman was under a tent with his family serving cyclists with another way to cool down from the summer heat. “Our Grandkids Ice Cream Stand” set up shop for the second year in a row for RAGBRAI 2024.

It all started when Gene Hassman’s grandkids wanted to set up a lemonade stand for the cyclists on last year’s historic 50th anniversary ride. But he had a bigger idea in mind.

“Last year, the grandkids asked me what I thought about them selling lemonade as the RAGBRAI went through Ankeny … and I said, ‘Well, how about if we do all of RAGBRAI across the whole state?’ and we did it all the way across state,” Hassman said. 

More: Good deeds on RAGBRAI might result in being ‘ducked’ by Colorado rider

It’s now the second year the family has come together to serve up root beer floats, ice cream sundaes and brownie sundaes. On Wednesday, they will start selling a variety of pies including apple, cherry, triple berry and, an Iowa favorite, strawberry rhubarb.

The grandparents, based in Cedar Rapids, and the rest of the family, based in Ankeny, are scooping up and serving ice cream all across the route.

Tuesday: Atlantic

Wednesday: Lacona

Thursday: Chillicothe

Friday: Wayland

Saturday: Kingston

It takes weeks of preparation to get ready for the statewide ice cream scooping.

“It’s a little bit stressful getting ready, making sure you got everything,” he said. “But once we’re out here and going, it just seems to go smoothly… We’re all enjoying it.”

“It’s very rewarding,” his daughter Kristin Prenderghast interjected. “It’s teaching the kids good entrepreneurial skills, how to give quality products, how to give good service, how to get repeat customers… And it’s fun for them!”

The grandkids, Cole, 15, and 12-year-old twins Chase and Emma, are excited to serve the cyclists.

“It’s a really fun, new experience,” Cole Prenderghast said. “It’s fun meeting so many new people and have so many great interactions with everybody.”

Just steps away from ice cream sundaes was a different frozen treat: pickle-‘sicles’.

Jessa Bears, 38, of Farragut, and Michelle Bacher, 26, of Sydney, were selling $2 popsicles made with pickle juice and a pickle to raise funds for Local Iowa Food Empowerment 5b, a nonprofit in southwestern Iowa that, with funds through the federal Local Food Purchasing Assistance program, purchases produce from local farmers to give to Iowans in need.

Bears told the Des Moines Register that the funding her nonprofit relies on expires next year, and their appearance in Emerson was an effort to help sustain their program.

“It’s been very popular in the area,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of producers in Iowa, and unfortunately, we have a lot of people in need.”

As Bears and Bacher wrapped up the interview with the Register, a passerby handed them $20 and told Bears to give away 10 free treats to anyone who wanted one.

Bears did.

Bears, who rocked a cardboard cut-out tank promoting the popsicles, stood in the middle of the crowded street, drawing attention to the treats, which she yelled out was “courtesy” of a kind donor.

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her atftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter@writefelissa.

With an interest in reproductive rights, I did some research to find out how a young woman (or girl) not intending to have a child might navigate this new legal landscape.

• Dr. Timothy Olson is a psychiatrist practicing in Des Moines and a lifelong Iowa resident.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled June 28 that the state can hijack a woman’s body if it has a reason (“rational basis”). This means that the “fetal heartbeat” law, passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by the governor, can soon take effect.

The law is intended to force a woman (or girl) to bear a child. Pregnancy and childbirth threaten the health of the woman. Among other things, in about 30% of cases, she must have a cesarean section. The law caters to religious groups that consider intrauterine life the spiritual equal of a woman.

The “fetal heartbeat” can be detected by Doppler ultrasound at 6 weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. At this stage, the embryo — not yet a fetus — is about the size and shape of a pea. It is life, but not what most people would call a child.

More: As Iowa’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion ban looms, clinics prepare for an uncertain future

The law is backward and cruel, but it is the law. I am a medical doctor with a specialty of psychiatry, not obstetrics. But with an interest in reproductive rights, I did some research to find out how a young woman (or girl) not intending to have a child might navigate this new legal landscape.

Most obviously, try not to get pregnant. Intrauterine devices and long-term implants are nearly 100% effective, but they are not right for everyone. Other methods often fail due to imperfect use. With condoms, for example, the real-world pregnancy rate approaches 20% per year. Strive to be perfect.

Consider the morning-after pill for contraceptive lapses. Generic levonorgestrel, 1.5 mg, is widely available for about $6. It should be used as early as possible after sex, generally within 72 hours.

Diagnose pregnancy as early as possible. On the first day of your missed period, you are already four weeks pregnant (from the last menstrual period), leaving just two weeks to get an abortion from an Iowa provider. Monitor your periods and test frequently. Pregnancy test strips are available in bulk for about 30 cents apiece.

There are other good reasons for diagnosing pregnancy early:

• An early abortion is less traumatic, physically and emotionally.
• For the 15% of women who are Rh negative, incompatibility risks rise later in the pregnancy.
• An early medication abortion is more likely to be successful.
• If an early medication abortion fails, there is time to repeat it.

If you miss the six-week cutoff in Iowa, you can still get an abortion at a clinic in Illinois (24 weeks), Minnesota (24 weeks), Kansas (22 weeks), Wisconsin (22 weeks), or Nebraska (12 weeks). An abortion in a clinic can be expensive, but financial help is often available.

Desperate women might be drawn to online clinics or pharmacies for a medication abortion, from about 10 to 13 weeks. The clinics violate Iowa law and provide only limited medical support. The pharmacies sometimes provide pills that are counterfeit or expired. As an Iowa physician, I can’t recommend these options.

Although the fetal heartbeat law doesn’t impose penalties on women, there are still legal risks. But if you have an illegal abortion and have problems, don’t hesitate to see a medical provider. Simply say that you think you are having a miscarriage, and ask the provider to avoid sensitive topics unless medically necessary.

If, for whatever reason, you wish to keep your abortion private:

• Tell a minimum number of people about your pregnancy and plans.
• Avoid mentioning your situation in text, email, or social media. Promptly delete any revealing content from all folders, including trash.
• Keep your abortion research private. Put your browser in incognito mode and use the DuckDuckGo search engine.

So, Iowa women, you can still control your own body. You can still choose to have a baby or not. You can still live by your own religious beliefs. Just don’t expect help from your state government.

Dr. Timothy Olson is a psychiatrist practicing in Des Moines and a lifelong Iowa resident.