This year’s near-400 mile RAGBRAI will conclude in the Mississippi River town of Dubuque, where planning has been underway for months to accommodate the battalions of bicyclists.
The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa last ended in Dubuque in 2010, and Mayor Brad Cavanagh says they learned many valuable lessons 16 years ago and they’re now in even better shape to handle the deluge of pedal-powered visitors.
“We’ve been preparing everybody for quite a while. The route was unveiled a few months ago, and we’ve been really getting everybody ready, especially the people along the route,” Cavanagh says. “We’re basically going to be cutting through some pretty main streets from west to east as the riders go through. We’re expecting upwards of anywhere between 25,000 and 40,000 riders to be coming through town.”
Saturday’s route is a short one, just under 35 miles from Dyersville to Dubuque, and the mayor expects the first cyclists to start arriving relatively early in the morning. He’s urging residents to settle in and enjoy the rolling show.
“I’m encouraging them, if you live along that route, I hope you have a great front yard party. Get some coolers, get some lawn chairs, camp out for the day and cheer everybody on,” Cavanagh says. “It’s an opportunity you don’t get very often, so it really is an exciting way to be able to show off our town. If you do have to get somewhere, just have patience and listen to the police officers who are directing traffic.”
In addition to a full force of police officers, Dubuque County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers, Cavanagh says hundreds of volunteers will be in place to help keep the cyclists happily moving along. In 2010, he says there was a massive bottleneck at the riverfront’s North Port area as many hundreds of cyclists lined up to dip their front tires in the Mississippi, so this time around, the long ride will conclude in a different spot for that tradition.
“There’s an in and there’s an out and everybody’s going to be able to keep on moving,” he says. “It’s at our A.Y. McDonald Park and the park itself is not an enormous place, but the route that we have to be able to work through there and then get down a large boat ramp to be able to dip into the river with all the other riders, with a stage there, entertainment right there. I think it’s going to work very well.”
It can be inconvenient for the locals to have so many key roads closed all day and to see such a huge influx of traffic and visitors, but the mayor says it’s all a matter of having the right attitude.
“RAGBRAI is such a special thing. I mean, people from all over the world come and see Iowa,” Cavanagh says. “We get to show it off and show off not just the place itself and its beauty, but the people of Iowa, and I’m really excited that the people of Dubuque get that opportunity this year.”
The inaugural RAGBRAI was held in August of 1973, going from Sioux City to Davenport. While about 300 cyclists started the ride, only 114 completed the full route.
