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KANSAS BOB: KANSAS BOB PREPARES TO INVADE IOWA
Bob Sutton
July 18, 2009
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Ragbrai® is the oldest, largest and longest running cross-state bicycle tour in the United States. It was founded by two writers for the Des Moines Register newspaper way back in 1973. Columnist John Karras talked their Washington correspondent Donald Kaul into riding across the state to meet the people and see the sites of Iowa. They mentioned the ride in columns written before they departed, and to their surprise, about 300 people joined them. One of those riders was 83 year-old Clarence Pickard, who showed up on an old, heavy woman’s bike. He was out-fitted in long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, old dress shoes and a pith helmet, then to everyone’s surprise, he proceeded to ride the entire distance across the state. This year marks the first time that the tour visits his hometown, Indianola, Iowa. And by the way, Ragbrai stands for: Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
Ragbrai XXXVII, starts this weekend with their Annual Expo (billed as the largest bike related expo in the mid-west), hosted by this year’s first overnight city, Council Bluffs, Iowa. The host city is expecting a crowd of 35,000 bicyclists to attend. There will be displays of bicycle related items from many of the top bicycle companies and other vendors. The Demo trucks from Cannondale, Giant, Shimano (I hope that I get to ride their new electric shift Dura-Ace), Specialized and Trek will be there allowing riders to test ride their latest offerings. Following a day of looking for deals on clothing and accessories, most of us will head for the Bare Naked Ladies concert scheduled for tomorrow night.
This year, I’m going to ride a 2009 Specialized Roubaix Pro, and post a traveling review of the bike. After riding my own personal 2006 Roubaix Pro, the last three years, I’m anxious to find out what’s changed with the new model. I suspect that I’m going to love it.
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