MINEOLA, Iowa — Crazy.

You hear that word often on the Taco Ride, which takes place every Thursday night on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail.

What sane person would pedal a bicycle for 10 miles to a steakhouse in a tiny southwest Iowa town, just to eat some cheap tacos and drink some cheap margaritas?

Then get on his bike again, in a tired and slightly euphoric state, and pedal another 10 miles back to the car, all, hopefully, before dark?

Hundreds of people. Sometimes a thousand or more.

 It’s luau night at the Mineola Steakhouse.

 People are dressed in Hawaiian shirts, bike jerseys and shorts. A few women wear grass skirts. The guy in the gorilla suit who was here last year is nowhere to be found. Plastic leis hang from necks, and the band is playing Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl.”

Although steak and tenderloin are on the menu, most people order the best deal in the house: a basket of six good-sized hard- or soft-shell tacos and a pitcher of beer for $11. Add $5 for a pitcher of margaritas.

The Taco Ride, rated by Bicycle magazine as one of the 10 best weekly rides in the world, is also one of the best-kept secrets outside the Omaha-Council Bluffs area. But word is spreading and people, mostly bicyclists, keep coming in waves.

Bikes are scattered everywhere in this town of 200. They pack a grassy area across the street. People lean them against buildings including the hoosegow, a tiny just-for-show jail. Two vendors hand out free cans of Red Bull — for the ride home.

“It’s pretty crazy. In this small of a place, they can have over a thousand people on a Thursday night,” said Brent Marsh, who lives in nearby Silver City and was hawking beer outside near the deck. “It’s probably the most happening place in southwest Iowa.”

Steakhouse owner Clint Howard added the deck in 2001 because he needed more room. On a typical Thursday night, between 700 and 1,000 Taco Riders drop in. Last year, the Taco Ride celebrated its 400th ride, and about 1,300 people showed up to celebrate.

Howard and his staff of 25 usually serve up about 500 pounds of hamburger, 2,000 taco shells, 11 kegs of beer and about 30 gallons of margaritas, and the same amount of soda.

“We run out of shells before we run out of meat,” said the red-haired Howard, who has owned the place for 14 years. He’s open every day except Sunday. And the Taco Ride goes year round.

“There’s usually a handful of guys who don’t miss a week,” Howard said. “If they can’t ride down, they drive down.”

Marie Larchizk and her husband, Art Haney, of Council Bluffs snagged a table in the corner of the back room, which handles the overflow crowd. It was the 443rd Taco Ride night. Like dozens of hungry, thirsty and sweaty riders, they were craving food and drinks.

“It’s beyond crazy tonight,” she said.

Greg Losh, one of the founders and organizers of the Taco Ride, is amazed that the crazy event has lasted so long and has become so popular. What started out as a few friends riding their bicycles for cheap tacos has turned into a weekly ritual for many.

“We thought we were something special when we had 30 people,” said Losh, who was collecting a $1 day-use fee near the entrance of the Wabash Trace on Omaha Bridge Road.

The trail is owned and managed by Southwest Iowa Nature Trails, Inc., a private nonprofit group of volunteers. A former railroad corridor, the trail runs for more than 60 miles from Council Bluffs to Blanchard, Mo.

Losh and Bill Spitznagle, a friend and volunteer, check people’s annual trail passes or collect money. Last year, Losh said, he turned over about $4,000 to the group just from standing near the entrance for about an hour and half each Thursday night during the summer.

But Losh doesn’t stay much longer.

Margaritaville calls.

Soon he will hop on his lime-green bike and pull a dusty cart loaded with a sound system, amplifier, cooler and tiki torch. The tunes come from an MP3 player strapped to his handlebar.

“The volume is set at 60 percent of what it can do,” Losh said.

The only drawback with his rig?

“I can’t see in the dark what’s playing.”

Halfway down the trail, about 30 people mill around or sit on picnic tables. Many are drinking cans of beer they’ve brought along in small coolers. 

Some denizens are waiting for the two guys with the gas-powered blenders, made from chainsaw engines, so they can quench their thirst with a mixed drink.

Welcome to Margaritaville, a pit stop on the way to Mineola.

Clark Fry and Dave Ratekin, both from Council Bluffs, are there with Pete Lercara, a buddy from Omaha. Fry’s been coming on the Taco Ride for seven or eight years.

“It’s the only event like this in the world as far as I can tell,” Fry said.

Added Lercara: “It’s a good mix of people.”

The Taco Ride is not just for the 20- or 30-something crowd. Some parents bring their kids, early in the evening. Baby boomers like Clark Schroeder, 51, of Omaha like it, too. He does the ride most every week during the summer, mostly for the exercise and, he says, “the social activity.”

“I have quite a few friends that do it. They are bigger into biking. I guess it’s peer pressure,” said Schroeder as he pumped air into his bicycle tire.

There’s another stop on the Wabash Trace, too. It’s called Nite Train, and it’s a few miles before Margaritaville. Most people miss it because the stop — a bench, a bare spot and a big sign — sits on a rise above the trail.

This is home turf for a bunch of young dudes who like to ride their bikes at night, hence the name. Steve Mowery, nicknamed Scuba, said they started the group about three years ago. They like to ride between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. Once a year, they ride the trail all the way to Missouri.

They really like the Taco Ride.

“You get on your bike and get tanked and meet a bunch of ladies that are fit — it’s a good life for a single bachelor,” said Mowery, 22. “We’re definitely the coolest group for sure.”

The worst part of the Taco Ride is going home.

Ten miles on the trail, with a stomach full of tacos and libations. If you leave by 8:30 p.m., you may make it back to your vehicle before dark — if you pedal fast.

This is when a bicyclist has to be extra careful because riders are still coming down the trail, sometimes as late as 9 p.m. Although alcohol is allowed on the trail (because it is private property), Losh said the Southwest Iowa Nature Trails group encourages people to drink responsibly.

“There’s an unspoken rule that people look out for each other,” Losh said. But he admits there’s been a few serious accidents.

Losh said the trails group has people with vehicles in Mineola to give lifts to anybody who has had too much to drink or can’t make it back on their own pedal power. Some people bike one way and have somebody pick them up.

But most Taco Riders make it back without any problem. On a hot summer night, they may be lucky enough to have their way lit by fireflies under the trail’s dark canopy of trees.

Bicyclists do get flats or break chains. And when that happens, people often stop and offer assistance.

It happened on a recent ride. When asked if he needed help, the young man replied: “I lost my headphones.”

And in the next breath: “Do you have any beer?”

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.