Safeguard for RAGBRAI raises quandary for business who wanted to stay open for customers

SOLON - RAGBRAI 43 wheeled 20,000 bicyclists through town late last month, bringing the nearly 2-year old Big Grove Brewery its busiest day ever.

Inside, patrons grabbed lunch or a local brew. Outside, others squeezed under a big tent for shelter from a two-hour rainstorm and then blasts of sunshine.

July 24 was a great day, managing partner Doug Goettsch said, but one that ended with a bitter aftertaste.

Around 4:30 p.m., law enforcement swept through Solon - closing the beverage garden, telling cyclists to move on and bars to stop serving.

Private establishments were told to wait for notice to reopen. It wound up being an hour and 20 minutes, just as the evening crowd would arrive, Goettsch said.

'They told me I have to stop serving food and beer in my restaurant,” he said. 'I said, ‘I am not just serving RAGBRAI riders. I have a business to run.' ... It wasn't presented as optional.”

The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, a weeklong border-to-border bike ride, is one of the state's biggest tourist draws. But it's one that creates a public safety quandary: How do you move thousands of bicyclists - many consuming alcohol - across the state both safely and efficiently?

In 2002, RAGBRAI and law enforcement began enforcing 'service times” that cap when each town en route must end festivities, said Lt. Dan Schaffer, a Mason City district commander for the Iowa State Patrol who helped institute the practice.

He said he began leading a team of troopers on RAGBRAI each year to curb out-of-control partying after packs of 200 to 500 two-wheelers were found on the roads at 2 or 3 a.m. 'It seemed like a tragedy waiting to happen,” he said.

Through the week, troopers mingle in bars and beverage gardens, posing for lighthearted pictures with riders. When the service time end arrives, they are responsible for getting the bulk of people moving.

Service times are coordinated based on 12 hours of riding 10 mph to get into the next overnight town by 6 p.m.

On July 24 of the most recent RAGBRAI, cyclists pedaled 65 miles from Hiawatha to Coralville. Along the way, Springville was supposed to shut down at 2 p.m., Mount Vernon and Lisbon at 3 p.m., and Solon at 4 p.m. to reach Coralville by 6 p.m. But rain forced adjustments.

Local leaders, who have say over the beverage gardens, bands and food vendors on public property, agree in advance, RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz said.

'If they would not agree to that service time agreement, we simply would not go to that town and choose a different route,” Juskiewicz said in an email. 'This practice has been in place for over 15 years in an attempt to make RAGBRAI as safe as possible.”

The rules become more tricky when applied to businesses, which gear up for one of their busiest days.

This year, RAGBRAI hosted a workshop for community leaders and license holders on March 28 in Webster City, in which the times were discussed, Juskiewicz said.

Schaffer said they count on businesses to cooperate voluntarily. Neither RAGBRAI nor law enforcement can force a licensed business to stop serving unless there is immediate danger, Schaffer said.

Some establishments say that is not what happened this year.

'I think they said if we kept serving, the bar owner would get fined.” said Jamee Fisher, at Brogan's Pub and Grill in Palo, a stop on RAGBRAI's July 23 route.

Nate Dooley, owner of Solon Station, said he initially complied with a request to close until 5:30 p.m. on July 24, and troopers threatened arrest when he reopened.

'He said whoever would sell beer would be arrested,” Dooley said. 'My wife was bartending. He said if she sold a beer she'd be arrested and your customer will be arrested.”

Schaffer said it's possible there was miscommunication, but that is not how troopers operate. Solon City Administrator Cami Rasmussen said while she wasn't inside the bars, the interactions she saw on the street were professional.

For non-compliant establishments, Schaffer said officers won't typically seek violations but can often spot bars serving intoxicated patrons, which is illegal.

”Never are they told, ‘If you don't shut down you are getting fined.' It is entirely up to them if they will help us out,” Schaffer said.

In most cases, he said, businesses are glad for the break.

Randy Howell, owner of Baxa's Sutliff Store & Tavern. a mile off the July 24 RAGBRAI route, had up to 2,000 people around his bar when officers asked him to stop. While he said he would have liked for the party to last longer, he had no problem complying.

'I totally understand it,” Howell said. 'The people who weren't happy about it were probably the people who need to stop drinking anyway.”