![glee season 4 episode 1 videa glee season 4 episode 1 videa](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eMk6yikaDks/maxresdefault.jpg)
There are many other rides in the country that are more like what RAGBRAI used to be, fewer people, fewer amenities, more of just riding your bike for miles with not as many people around. BTW I do not use them and probably never will but I do appreciate what they do for those that do. Pork Belly Adventures is a prime example of that. I feel that if the ride stayed like it was without changing due to the needs and wants of the paying population the ride would have died. It is all about having fun and what is fun to some is not to others but that doesn’t mean it is better or worse, just different. They have fun during the day and at night and still ride every mile. Our team has many in their 60’s and has befriended a team of 28-30 year olds that camp with us. Younger people need to participate so that the ride can continue. In addition for this ride to survive change has been needed over time. Most local talent would not accomplish that. While I do not know many of the artists of the music they play I do recognize the songs and they get the crowd rocking. Every year it is different for me on how many nights I go to see the entertainment but I never miss the Pork Tornadoes. I feel that is better served in the pass-through towns along the way. I personally would have no interest in going out at night to see a local Glee Club perform. My first was in 1999 at age 41 and while there have been changes to me it is still an athletic event that has a ton of fun wrapped around it. I have to say RAGBRAI is still a bicycle event first and foremost but it has just evolved. It costs money to provide for that kind of a crowd - I’d hate to see just what the KYBO bill alone runs! So host town expenses rose, and in order to recoup some of that money host committees were forced to become more like concert promoters and bring in something that would get people into the entertainment tents - and more important, get them to stay there for a while - drinking those overpriced cans of suds. Within ten years that number had tripled, and while I haven’t ridden in almost twenty years I dare the number of riders and non-riders combined coming into an overnight town nowadays is on the far side of 25K people. My first RAGBRAI (RAGBRAI VI in 1978) had, according to most all reports, maybe five thousand people making the trek across Iowa. I blame a large part of that to the way the Register allowed the ride to grow into what it is today.
![glee season 4 episode 1 videa glee season 4 episode 1 videa](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/glee/images/d/d6/91_eiaIQqlL._SL1500_.jpg)
The point is it didn’t start out where every overnight town fell into an arms-race sort of mindset as to “who can we get to outdo last night’s town?” Sure it was more like Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour, but I didn’t think all that many people minded. Yes, it was local talent, like the high school glee clubs, the community band, the Porkopolis County Washboard and Kazoo Orchestra and Marching Society, or some local garage band playing covers.