‘Iowa’s Ride’ now set as weekend event

Once envisioned as a new version of the venerable RAGBRAI, Iowa's Ride has deflated from a weeklong bike trek across the state to a long weekend around Eldora.

Organizers posted Tuesday on Facebook that the ride now is scheduled for July 16-18.

'Iowa's Ride Weekender will now take place in Eldora with camping and evening fun on Friday and Saturday (July 16-17). There will be a designated 40-50 mile route on Saturday and several riding options to enjoy on Friday and Sunday,” the announcement said. 'In addition to great riding, relax while floating in a tube down the Iowa River and cool off at the city pool located in the main camping area at the Eldora Municipal Park.”

In October 2019, the longtime director of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, T.J. Juskiewicz, left in a falling out with the Des Moines Register. He announced he was forming his own summer 2020 ride, which ultimately was planned to go from east to west for 416 miles across Iowa.

But the coronavirus pandemic spelled an end to that - as it did for any 2020 RAGBRAI, too.

RAGBRAI earlier announced that a west-to-east, river-to-river bike ride is back on from July 25-31 this year.

In its announcement Tuesday, Iowa's Ride said several of the schools and communities it had contacted for the 2021 route were 'still not comfortable opening their facilities needed for overnight camping throughout this upcoming summer.”

Organizers last year said they would refund most of the registration fee bicyclists had paid for the canceled ride. Tuesday, they said that if riders had registered for the 2020 ride, there would be no registration fees for this year's event.

'If you have friends that would now like to register, it is still a free entry, but we encourage them to make a donation to the Eldora Rotary,” they wrote.

Juskiewicz announced last year on Facebook that he was leaving Iowa to become executive director of a bicycle event in Tucson, Ariz.