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Cedar Rapids, Anamosa to be overnight RAGBRAI stops
Iowa's second-largest city hasn't hosted bike ride since 1990
CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s been more than two decades since bicyclists have made an overnight stop in Cedar Rapids as part of RAGBRAI, but that drought ended with an announcement Saturday of this summer’s route.
Cedar Rapids was one of eight host communities identified for the weeklong bicycle ride across Iowa, scheduled for July 22 to 28.
The others are Sioux Center, Cherokee, Lake View, Webster City, Marshalltown, Anamosa and Clinton.
The last time the ride stopped in Cedar Rapids was in 1990, when campers were headquartered at Noelridge Park in northeast Cedar Rapids. Anamosa was an overnight stop for RAGBRAI in 2002.
This time, the city’s core will be the primary focus, said Marilee Fowler, president and CEO of the Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“The plan is to have a downtown party,” Fowler said, “to really showcase where Cedar Rapids is, four years after the (2008) flood.”
Campsites are tentatively planned for May’s Island, she said, with shuttle buses to Czech Village and the New Bohemia district for food and entertainment.
“We really want people to experience the comeback of Cedar Rapids, four years later,” Fowler said.
The Cedar Rapids overnight is scheduled for Thursday, July 26. Anamosa will host riders the next day, July 27.
Fowler said supporters have been working on the effort since last summer.
More than 20 committees have already been formed, working on street closings, safety and other details, she said.
Besides showcasing flood recovery, Fowler said the stop can be used as a fundraiser for organizations that provide food and other offerings for the riders.
This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the event, which attracts thousands of bicyclists every year and is coordinated by the Des Moines Register.
Coralville was one of the host cities last year and other area towns, such as Hiawatha, have been overnight stops in recent years.
I think it is great. What more is there to say?
I suppose it’s great if your one of the people who will profit from it, not so great if you don’t and happen to live along the route. Then it’s just a day of trying to avoid running over idiots on bikes that seem to think that riding in a pack of five or more protects them when they pull in front of vehicles that have the right of way. If you live along the route make sure your vehicles brakes and insurance are in good order, you’re going to need at least one of them and possibly both
“Then it’s just a day of trying to avoid running over idiots on bikes that seem to think that riding in a pack of five or more protects them when they pull in front of vehicles that have the right of way.”
Ohhh….K. That’s not really a problem along the route. Bicycles, for the most part, have the right of way there, and usually police direct traffic at major intersections. Where you may have problems are in Cedar Rapids itself when cyclists tour the area off route.
I get the sense that you must live somewhere where cyclists ride leisurely on a regular basis. Sorry that you’ve had a negative experience, but don’t confuse your bad experience with (1) the RAGBRAI experience and (2) the cycling community as a whole.
actually it is a problem along the routes and has occured to me with every Rag ride I’ve encountered (4-5 over the years). The last time there was an officer directing the bicyclists to stop at a rural intersection and most did except for the group of about 6-7 that appeared to be racing each other ignored him and forced me onto the shoulder to avoid hitting them, the cop just shrugged his shoulders and I don’t think the idiots ever saw me. And yes I’ve had encounters with the leisurely rider too, like the time I came over a rural hill doing near 60 only to find two bicyclists stopped in the middle of the road talking on phones, or another incident on Sand rd in IC, coming around a curve to find an irresponsible parent towing thier child behind them as they rode in the center of the road. Good brakes and paying attention to what I was doing was the only thing that saved those people from at the least serious injury. The list of near misses with regular riders is long though those were the ones that alarmed me the most.
William, there is one week a year when bicyclist from all over the world come to Iowa and you cannot conjure enough patience to allow them the use of our roads?
I just cannot believe it.
Not only that, but they are in the area for about a day and a half, and then they’re gone.
So, the route is not starting at the Missouri river this year?
It starts in Sioux Center, near the Missouri River.
Not a big fan of RAGBRIA. We always called it “Drunks on two wheels”, The only ones that will profit from this annual debacle will be the bars downtown (as usual). Wish they were going far, far from here.
I think Tim might have been into the spirits a bit when he wrote this comment. *RAGBRAI I believe Rich Greer said it best. Should be a great time for the city, hopefully it will be a nice day. Can’t wait.
It is a great time for the state too.
Mr Cardimon – we will make extra effort to stay off your lawn so you do not have to yell at us.
Better two drunks on bicycles than driving a car. What I’d like to see is state troopers who coordinate their traffic direction so that one trooper doesn’t direct cars to merge with bicycle traffic at the same time another trooper directs bicyclists trying to merge with RAGBRAI at the same time.
My then 72-year-old father on a bicycle was hit by a car directed to merge at the same time he did. Of course, the troopers denied it.
One trooper said to me, “You can do anything you want to” after I asked him if I could merge. I realized he didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t care, so I waited. Unfortunately, my father didn’t wait and got hit.
I am going to offer a shuttle bus service for anyone in Iowa City who want to sell homemade lemonade to the bikers…
Kevin Curl, you do know that you have to have a vendor’s license to sell anything on RAGBRAI, right? Further, you have to apply for the license before July 1st. It’s not cheap, either.
Marie Houser Conzemisu – you have heard of sarcasm, correct? And the implication was a satire at the uproar of IC/Coralville police shutting down lemonade stands run by little kids at last years RAGBRAI…
If you want to profit, all you need is – a sign, a cooler, some ice, some bottled water and bottled gatorade.
….And a permit, and a sales tax number….
I think this will be a great route!!! Especially since it will come now where near my home, business or service route. Ragbrai is a wonderfrul time for those who ride in it, but it causes sheer misery for those of us who have to actually work around it. They ride into a town as if they own it and are entiteled to do what ever they please with private property. Basically, if you have a business in one of their stop-over towns you might as well close the doors for that day. The only businessses that profit from this ride are bars. If you are like us though, you might need to hire security to protect your property from being used as a toilet. If you are a rider or a business along the way, have a great Ragbrai 2012!!!!
Not to mention the schools and church groups that come out to support us. Ragbrai went through my hometown a few years back and the small private school that I graduated from made just over $25,000.
I enjoyed the spectacle when RAGBRAI went through Oxford and Coralville last year. As for the grumblers, come on: give people on bicycles a break. Maybe you’d be happier if YOU rode one on occasion.
However, bikes aren’t nearly as much fun as horses…