The Iowa Bicycle Coalition is hosting this year’s BIke Banquet on January 25 at the Iowa Events Center. The event will celebrate the power of cycling and highlight Iowa’s robust cycling community. Olympic cyclist Nelson Vails, the first African American to win an Olympic medal in the sport, will be joining the coalition as the event’s keynote speaker.

Luke Hoffman, Executive Director of the Coalition, said, “I can't think of a more electrifying speaker. He knows how to move fast and build things, and that is exactly what the Iowa Bicycle Coalition is all about."

Nelson Beasley Vails (born October 13, 1960) is a retired road and track cyclist from the United States. He rode as a professional from 1988 to 1995 representing the USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where he won the silver medal in the sprint, behind countryman Mark Gorski. He was inducted into the US Bicycle Hall of Fame in 2009. Vails appear in the film Quicksilver as a bicycle messenger, a position he worked in New York City and gained the nickname "The Cheetah." Nelson's life and career is featured in a documentary called CHEETAH: The Nelson Vails Story.

Other speakers include Dr Richard Deming, Medical Director of MercyOne Cancer Center, Rob Moore, a data analyst and Vice President ofGross National Happiness USA, and Brenna Bird, Iowa’s Attorney General.

The Bike Banquet, scheduled 3-6PM on January 25, will also feature live music by Joshua Sinclair, food and beverage, and the presentation of awards to honor local leaders in cycling. All funds will go to support the Iowa Bicycle Coalition's mission to promote safe, accessible, and enjoyable bicycling for all in Iowa. The event will start immediately after the Iowa Bike Expo, which typically attracts more than 5,000 attendees and about 130 exhibitors showing the latest cycling technology of the season.

Registration and more information can be found on theevent website.