2019 - BIKEIOWA Year In Review

Posted Dec 27, 2019
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2019 was a banner year for promoting cycling in Iowa. LOTS happened and lots of changes!

If BIKEIOWA were a child, they'd be graduating high school and on their way to college or a good trade school... Or who knows, they might take a couple years off for some two-wheel travel before adult-life kicks in.

BIKEIOWA has been around for 18 years. EIGHTEEN! wow! 2020 will be our 19th year as an informational website dedicated to making cycling better in Iowa.

As we look back at almost two decades, a LOT has changed. 18 years ago, there were no cell phones, no Google, no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The internet was just a baby and your best place to find out about rides was Club newsletters and bulletin boards at your local bike shop. BIKEIOWA (e.g. CIBROC) was initially created to house a small list of events and has become home to the most comprehensive event calendar for Iowa bike rides and events. There are so many more trails and cycling amenities than there were in the early 2000s and we thought we had it pretty good back then!

2019 flew by as we enjoyed another year of promoting, advocating, writing, riding, racing and spending time with friends. Here are some statistics for 2019.

Our social media presence is still going strong with Facebook (13,095 followers), Instagram (3,221 followers) and Twitter (7,274 followers). It is definitely a time commitment, but we keep it fresh and frequent.

By the numbers

These numbers reflect new posts and changes for only 2019.

$5,815 - Merchandise given to local events and organizations to be used for fund raising, prizes, swag and awareness. We are able to make this happen with our great sponsors!
$1,420 - Dollars donated to directly cycling causes. Again, thanks to our great sponsors!
706 - Events posted to the event calendar with 579,779 views.
431 - News posted with 241,938 views.
37 - Features posted with 57,952 views.
32 - Reviews posted with 24,214 views.
2 - Blog posts with 2,384 views.
27 - New trails added with 11,699 views (294 trails in total with 2,446 total trail miles and 2.51 million lifetime views).
63 - Trails updated with new information with 814,388 lifetime views.
14 - New cities added with 8,440 views (1009 cities in total with 5.96 million lifetime views).
27 - Site enhancements - mostly behind the scenes changes for better viewing on mobile devices, increased security, better validations and error handling.

We believe

We still believe that BIKEIOWA's event calendar is a worth-while cause to keep up. We realize not everyone is on social media and if they are they are most likely inundated with data. BIKEIOWA not only shows consistent data for upcoming events, but also every past event is easily found too. We are seeing some events that are only posted to Facebook these days, and that's OK. We decided a few years ago that we will only promote events that are listed on the BIKEIOWA event calendar. We are not going to scour Facebook looking for missing events and our time is better spent doing other things.

We believe in product we created in early 2017 called Pogie Lites - A 4-season super-lite-weight, water-resistant, wind-proof pogie that keeps the wind, rain and muck off you hands. After several nasty muddy, wet races in 2016, we knew there was a better way to keep your hands warm, so we proto-typed and developed something better. To date, Pogie Lites have been sold in 31 states and 6 countries and 6 bike shops carry them. There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear and we created a product to deal with it and although we make each pair in Ankeny and it takes up a many evening and some weekends, it is still exciting to see folks out riding more comfortably with a product we created.

Monthly highlights

There were lots of events and excursions we attended and didn't list , but WOW - what a year!

JAN

Speaker at People for Bikes 'DRAFT' event at Confluence Brewing
BIKEIOWA Race Team re-launch
Trail and Greenways Committee Meeting
Triple D Winter Race - Dubuque
Iowa Bike Summit
Iowa Bike Expo
RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party
co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - speaker Paul Black

FEB

GRRtoBRR - Gravel Ride to BRR Ride
BRR Ride
Iowa Gravel Expo - Cedar Falls
Twin Cities Bike Swap - Pogie Lites Promo
Bacon Fest
CIRREM - crazy icy!
Raccoon River Valley Trail Banquet
2019 DSM Mayor's Ride Planning Committee
BIKEIOWA Race Team pot-luck

MAR

Washington DC Trip for pleasure, but interesting to take note of the bicycle amenities in our National Capital
Iowa Spring Classic in Cumming - BIKEIOWA Hosted - a muddy mess!
COG 100
Co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - Megan Hill - traveling by bike

APR

Decorah - weekend of exploring trails and amenities
Gravel Camp - gravel training in Winneshiek & Allamakee county
Gents Race
Iowa Wind and Rock
Des Moines Mayor's Ride
Trail and Greenways Committee Meeting
the EPIC - 150 mile gravel race in the Ozarks
co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - 1000 Miles to Nome with Steve Cannon

MAY

Bike Month Promotions
MADCO 100
Cyclo De Mayo
Ride of Silence (15th year hosting)
Ride of Silence - honor page

JUN

Sterile Iowan - inaugural event - 200 mile race in Alden IA
Ride to Malvern, Race Loess Hills Enduro, Ride Home (300+ miles)
Promoted National Trails Day
Iowa Games Gravel Race (set-up crew)
Trail and Greenways Committee Meeting
Follow Your Folly - Cruiser 100 ride! (a redemption ride since hardly anyone finished in 2018 due to historic rainfall in Central Iowa)

JUL

Iowa Chapter of "Iowa Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.)" - Back the Blue campaign - We donated $770 more info.
RAGBRAI - Expo
RAGBRAI - Promoted and vended all week from Council Bluffs to Keokuk
Co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - Open Mic RAGBRAI Stories

AUG

Cyclocross History Art installation Party at FireTrucker Brewery
Gravel Worlds
Trail and Greenways Committee Meeting
Sponsored Des Moines Cycle Club's Pedal off the Pounds
Co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - Atypical Ultra-running with Larry Kelley

SEP

Cannonball Cross
Dirty Wooden Shoe
Fat Bike tour in Utah
Hosted Capital City Cross - 2 days this year
Trek Cup - Madison WI
Co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - Heather Poskevich - HooDoo 500 Winner
Hosted Renegade Cyclocross Practices

OCT

the GRAND
Coordinated Des Moines Marathon Course Support
Spooky Cross
RAGBRAI resignations and Iowa's Ride formation
Co-hosted FireTrucker Adventure Biking Talk - Steve Fuller & Sarah Cooper on their Adirondack Trail Ride in New York
Trail and Greenways Committee Meeting
Hosted Renegade Cyclocross Practices

NOV