Before RAGBRAI there will be Trans-Iowa mountain bike race

Sat February 19 2005
Posted Feb 19, 2005
11,288

Before the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) in late July, there will be TIMBR - Trans-Iowa mountain bike race. The race will be held the weekend of April 23-24 with Cresco listed as a pass through town. TIMBR is a race; RAGBRAI, which will stay over night in Cresco July 28, is not. Trans-Iowa will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 23 in the western Iowa community of Hawarden and is to conclude no later than 3 p.m. Sunday, April 24 in Decorah. The route will be approximately 310 miles in length. There are numerous differences between the two events in addition to the dates. There will be thousands of people spending the night in Cresco as part of RAGBRAI with only about 60 riders participating in TIMBR. The race participants will be spending the weekend riding their bikes through the daylight and night-time hours continually with 95% of the route on gravel roads. Only one stop is scheduled on the TIMBR route at Algona, where the participants will check in and receive a map of the eastern portion of their trip. The route will take the riders through the communities of Orange City, Primghar, Emmetsburg, Forest City and Osage before they reach Cresco. The six communities are the only pass through towns, although the route will take the riders near other towns. A map of the first half of the race will not be released until the bike racers prepare to begin their ride at Hawarden. Race participants are to contact their support vehicle only at Algona to replenish their supplies and make repairs. Otherwise, the racers are on their own for the entire route. The race will include participants from Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Kansas, Illinois and Manitoba, Canada. Race director Jeff Kerkove closed the entry list last Thursday when it surpassed 50 participants. Three of the racers are women.