RAGBRAI: 'It’s going to be one heck of a party'

DES MOINES - Thousands of cyclists will ride en masse into Davenport on July 30, marking the first time in 29 years the city will be a part of RAGBRAI.

Davenport joins the towns of Glenwood, Atlantic, Carroll, Boone, Altoona, Grinnell and Coralville as part of the 39th running of the bicycle ride called the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. All eight were named during an announcement party Saturday at the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines.

The announcement was an event in itself with live county-rock music from the Johnny Holm Band, a cycling-enthusiast-inspired silent auction, buffet tables piled with food and drink and 800 people in attendance.

Among those was Joe Taylor, executive director of the Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, who was on his cell phone when Davenport was named the end point of the ride. He said he was delivering the good news to Davenport city officials who were at the grand opening of the Hotel Blackhawk in downtown Davenport.

“This is fantastic,” Taylor said. “I think we worked really hard for this, and that's why we got it.”

This year's 454-mile course is the 14th shortest in race history. Its 21,206 total feet of climb make it the 24th flattest since the race began. Race officials combined those two figures and called the 2011 RAGBRAI the 22nd easiest.

Race Director TJ Juskiewicz said there were several reasons that Davenport made the cut this year, including the fact that the race hasn't been there in nearly three decades and the chance to have post-race RAGBRAI riders mingle with the post-race runners of the Quad-City Times Bix 7, which runs the same day the cyclists are scheduled to hit town.

But most importantly, Juskiewicz said, “They demonstrated that they'd love to see it come to town.”

Taylor said a coalition of city officials worked for the better part of the past year lobbying to get Davenport a spot on the course.

“There are two things T.J. asks everyone who wants to be part of the RAGBRAI: ‘Can you handle the crowd?' and ‘How bad do you want it?' I think we gave him the right answers to both those questions,” Taylor said.

Cyclists will be riding from Coralville to Davenport on the final day. The ride is 64.8 miles, and even the swiftest riders aren't expected to get into town until the early afternoon, which puts them past the time most of the Bix 7 runners will have crossed their finish line.

Juskiewicz said given the time difference in the events, the logistics shouldn't be much a problem even if Bix 7 runners stick around for the estimated 10,000 RAGBRAI riders and mix with the crowd, which Taylor estimated will top 30,000 on race day.

“Our No. 1 priority is that everyone finishes safely,” Juskiewicz said. Then, after a pause, he added, “It's going to be one heck of a party.”

- By Mike Wiser, Lee Des Moines Bureau