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Mon June 27 2005
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Posted Jun 26, 2005
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Bicyclists will travel through small towns in northern Iowa
This year's RAGBRAI route is as far north as it has ever been. It's enough to make Minnesota jealous.
"We're scooting just below Minnesota the whole way," said RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz. "We're just teasing Minnesota."
But tempting Minnesota is only part of the 485-mile Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa this year. Juskiewicz said the real charm comes from the fact that the cross-state ride is visiting some seriously small towns. The largest town on the route is Le Mars, an overnight town, with 9,237 residents. The smallest is Jackson Junction with a population of 60.
The towns on RAGBRAI are so small that the ride will truly be the focus, he said.
"That's the neat thing about these communities," Juskiewicz said. "They're involving everyone. They could not possibly do it without involving everyone in the community."
Chatter at the small-town coffee shops along the route has changed from politics and high school sports to - what else? - RAGBRAI, Juskiewicz said. It has been at least six years since RAGBRAI last made the trek through this part of northern Iowa. The lack of gravel roads is new this year. Juskiewicz said the route typically includes gravel, but as of now, the ride will take RAGBRAI-ers on paved surfaces only.
This is the first time in about a decade when not everyone who submitted a valid application will get to ride RAGBRAI.
Juskiewicz said that to keep RAGBRAI manageable, they limit numbers to 8,500 for weeklong riders and 1,500 for daily passes.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't take everyone," he said.
Six hundred people were turned down. Juskiewicz said their money has been refunded. Daily passes are available through July 1 while they last at www.ragbrai.org.
And yes, there will be a century loop.
The loop, an optional 100-mile day on the ride, is typically revealed with the rest of the RAGBRAI route, but when the 2005 route was announced at the end of February, plans for the John Karras Loop were not announced until mid-April.
Juskiewicz said there was always going to be a century loop, but staff members were just "unsure of the progress of construction projects in Humboldt County." The roads are now good to go, he said.
The century loop will take riders through Ottosen and Bradgate. Juskiewicz said he wanted the ride to go through Bradgate because the town was almost leveled by a tornado in May 2004. All 42 of the town's homes were damaged.
Even though each overnight town has its own theme, there is one overriding message that all the towns are preaching in the last month before RAGBRAI: "We're ready to go."
Here's what's happening in each overnight town from the start on July 24 in Le Mars to the finish July 30 in Guttenberg.
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DAY 1: LE MARS
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In Le Mars, it's all about the ice cream. Riders will receive red, white and blue Bomb Pops - made in town, of course - at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Social from 5 to 7 p.m.
If patriotic popsicles aren't the No. 1 choice among riders for a cool treat, vendors will be on hand to scoop up a variety of other delights from Wells' Dairy.
The national anthem will play during the town's opening ceremonies, "Red, White and Bike," and a typical Fourth of July tradition - fireworks - will light up the sky that evening.
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DAY 2: SHELDON
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Entertainment in Sheldon will be a reflection of the town.
"We're really about our faith and the people of our town and our troops and our veterans," said Jlynn Postma, co-chairwoman of the entertainment committee.
"The Passion of the Christ" will be shown, and a worship service will be held. The town's welcome will include veterans and the Army Ceremonial Brass Quintet.
"We hold our troops close to our heart," Postma said.
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DAY 3: ESTHERVILLE
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To get in the spirit for Estherville, riders can warm up their vocal chords with holiday carols.
Estherville's "Blizzard of Bikes" will transport riders ahead - or behind - two seasons as snowflakes line the trees in Fort Defiance, where riders enter Estherville.
Around town, riders will see inflatable snowmen, wooden snowmen in planters, snowmen made out of bike tires and more.
"It'll look like winter wonderland," said Dusty Heland, executive director of the chamber of commerce.
Fortunately, it won't feel like one.
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DAY 4: ALGONA
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Concerned about surviving the jungle? Put your fears to rest. Survival packs await. Algona expects you to "outparty, outplay and outpedal."
The Algona RAGBRAI committee is preparing a bag for each rider that will include water, bananas, Band-Aids, aspirin and suntan lotion.
Preparing these bags is no small task.
"We're getting ready to hand out 10,000 bananas," said John Bilsten, part of one of the town's three husband-wife co-chair teams.
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DAY 5: NORTHWOOD
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Welcome to the wild, wild West. Confused? Come to Northwood, where the theme is "Ride to the Top."
"We're going to try to make it look like west Texas in north Iowa," said Ben Hengesteg, community development director.
He said Northwood will have a Western theme, "from the names of our campgrounds to the beer garden."
Lots of bandanas, hay bales and split-rail fencing will dot the scenery. Mechanical bull riding and calf roping will be available.
The whole town will go country for RAGBRAI, except for the entertainment.
"We're going to be the Western theme with the hip-hop sounds," Hengesteg said.
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DAY 6: CRESCO
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There's no need to play games. Cresco already knows it's "The Greatest Show on the Road."
Laura Ollendick, chamber director, said downtown businesses will play up the circus theme in their windows, and they're planning to host a home-decorating contest to illustrate the circus fanfare.
A juggler will perform throughout the day, and Ollendick said plans are in the works for a petting zoo. Balloons will line the routes to the campgrounds, and red-and-white flowers will be planted along Main Street.
Evening entertainment will include a battle of the bands between Skeeter Louis, a blues band out of La Crosse, Wis., and 2nd Hand Band from Cresco.
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DAY 7: WEST UNION
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West Union's "Welcome to the Jungle," will be less about survival and more about Tarzan and Jane.
There will be a Tarzan and Jane costume contest, a competition for the best Tarzan call and another where partners have to peel a banana and eat it without using their hands.
Cut-outs of jungle animals and palm trees will be displayed around town.
Entertainment will include the Waterloo-based band WiLd CaRd, playing country and rock music.
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DAY 8: GUTTENBERG
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Get ready to polka. The German Band, a 20-piece community ensemble, will provide the music if riders can supply the moves.
M.J. Smith, a volunteer for the RAGBRAI advisory group, said the band is a representation of Guttenberg's German flavor.
Another band, Sounds of Nashville, will give riders country tunes for dancing down by the river.
Other than that, it's all about what's naturally there. Guttenberg intends to entertain, but it doesn't intend to put on an act. It's the "Natural Place to Ride"
Souvenir stamp books no longer available
In the past, about 2,000 RAGBRAI participants have enjoyed carrying a booklet from the U.S. Postal Service with them on the route. Riders could get the pages of the booklet postmarked with a special pictorial postmark at each stop on the route or visit a traveling postal station in the overnight towns to receive all of the day's stamps. The Postal Service has offered this since 1997, with a year's break in 2002. But Richard Watkins, spokesman for the Postal Service, said the costs of offering the service simply became too great.
A change in overtime laws would require the postal service to pay overtime to the workers staffing the traveling postal station. They had been salaried and exempt from overtime pay in the past. Watkins said making money was never really a goal, but the Postal Service can't afford to lose money, so the postmarks won't be offered.
By ELIZABETH OWENS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 26, 2005
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