During this holiest of professional cycling months, as most velojos (Spanish for cycling-focused eyes; duh) are affixed upon Le Peloton de Le Tour closing in on the famous roads of the Champs Elyses, lest we forget about some other notable roads in the cycling world.

Shannon, 2 Mile Challenge ambassador extraordinaire, checks in from Le 2MC Tour after a great weekend along the famed cobblestones of Iowa at RAGBRAI.

RAGBRAI, baby! The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa is the world’s longest and oldest touring bike ride, and the riders we have seen here have been so awesome! This is year 36 for the ride; and over 10,000 people come from all over the country to participate in the seven-day ride across the great state of, you guessed it, Iowa.

It’s so cool to see that some of these devotees have been enjoying the tradition of this bicycling journey for over 30 years. The riders are huge CLIF Bar aficionados and they love our bus! Our 2MC Bus is quite the topic not only because it looks so cool, but also because many of the people riding in RAGBRAI are everyday 2 Mile’ers. This makes our message a lot of fun to talk about. Many people are sharing stories about their everyday commutes and we’re hearing tons of fun 2 Mile Challenge stories.

Not without our share of reasons why we personally love CLIF Bars, we’re meeting others with some great testimonials as well. One RAGBRAI rider informs us that he carries a CLIF Bar with him on rides for that reliable natural form of energy (of course), but also just in case of a split tire: CLIF Bar to the rescue! According to our new friend, a CLIF wrapper makes an excellent boot for a tire—much more durable than a dollar bill, says he. We love to hear how others are finding new ways to re-purpose that wrapper.

As we remember from Field of Dreams, you never know who you might run across in Iowa corn fields. No, we didn’t see Shoeless Joe or Kevin Costner; even better, we were visited by a couple of Luna Chix and Clif Bar & Company marketing folks participating in the ride as well. It’s always refreshing to see faces of other Clif family members while we’re out on the road.

All and all, this was a truly exciting and quality event! Riders continued to come to the bus for hours after we ran out of samples inquiring about the 2 Mile Challenge; it was awesome to see such enthusiasm for our message. As I write this, we’re cruising down the highways in old Sugar Booger, destination: The Land of 10,000 Lakes and, appropriately, the 10,000 Lakes Music Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. We look forward to seeing everyone down the road!

Thanks for that update, Shannon. And for all of you in the middle U.S., do keep an eye on our event calendar page for the latest on the Tour schedule. The next couple of weeks will see us headed for Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.

Also don’t forget to check out 2milechallenge.com for a look at our shiny, newly refreshed website! We’re out to bring everyone new and innovative tools to help people slow their roll. Over the past year we’ve talked to thousands of people about the benefits of choosing bikes instead of cars for those trips under 2 miles—and we’re proud to say that the cause is gaining momentum! Viva La 2 Mile Challenge!