Ankeny's RAGBRAI route is official.
The city announced the route that an expected record number of riders will take through Ankeny on July 26, the fourth day of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, when the 50th anniversary edition of the world's largest annual bicycle tour heads from Ames to Des Moines.
Ankeny is the midway meeting town for cyclists and support teams, and there will be parties in Uptown and The District at Prairie Trail for the crowd, which could reach an estimated 70,000 or more. It would be by far the largest single-day participation in RAGBRAI history.
It will be the first time Ankeny has been on the route since it served as an overnight town in 2000.