RAGBRAI returns to Red Oak
RED OAK – On an unusually cool July morning, the 37th Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) rolled into Red Oak.
This was the fourth time in the ride’s history that RAGBRAI participants would stay overnight in Red Oak and the first time since 1997.
This year’s event features 8,500 registered riders, as well as at least 8,000 non-registered riders, and about 500 people working as support teams for those riders.
“We’re looking at having about 1,300 people staying on the grounds tonight,” Cindee Hays of St. Mary’s Church said. “We have people sleeping in tents just about anywhere they can find grass, people in the pews and the church basement. Even the father has 12 people staying at his house tonight.”
St. Mary’s Church, along with many other organizations in the community are using raising funds for their various needs.
“We’re raising money for their prom,” Connie French said about the Clarinda Jr. Class’ fundraisers. “This year we saw the Junior Class run about $250 short of what they needed for their prom, and we didn’t want to have to go through that.”
Funds raised from their “BBQ Brisket and Water Balloon Fun” will also go toward buying the entire class caps and gowns for graduation.
Having RAGBRAI riders stay the night in Red Oak certainly makes an instant impact on the community’s economy with approximately $200,000 spent during a 24-hour period, according to Co-chairman Dave Jennings. The Chamber of Commerce is also looking ahead.
“Our job is to put our best foot forward and present our community to these people,” Jennings said. “We don’t know who these people are that are riding through town. We may have a plant owner or plant manager that decides they want to build a new plant here, or professionals that decide to re-locate to the area.”
The biggest part of putting that “best foot forward” is the volunteers from the area that came to help with this year’s RAGBRAI.
More than 400 volunteers from all over southwest Iowa helped with everything from medical attention, to shuttle drivers, to the police helping control traffic through town.
“I’m out here for the betterment of the community,” K-9 Officer Raymond Houston said. Houston spent his entire day off helping traffic control and assisting cyclists with directions on Old Highway 34 just west of Red Oak.
“This is a great opportunity to showcase our town,” Red Oak Ambassadors member Diane Sifford said as she was welcoming riders into town. “And we have a really good time doing it.”
“RAGBRAI is a fantastic way of showcasing the Midwest, the state of Iowa, and right here in Red Oak,” Red Oak Ambassador Carol Allensworth explained. “People from all over the world have misconceptions about the Midwest and this shows them how neat we are.”
This year’s overnight stops will include Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant, and end in Burlington.
For Minneapolis resident Sonja Salveson, this is her 36th RAGBRAI. She did her first with her son when he was 10 years old.
Salvenson’s group consisted of a third generation of riders this year as she and her husband are riding across with her son and three grandsons.
“The first time we did this I’d never ridden more than five miles at once and my son asked if I would do this with him.” Salvenson recollects. “(Now) I am biking probably 100 miles a week to train. Then the fun begins. The friendliness of Iowa and you meet so many people.”
Salvenson, as in the case of many riders, stays with local families rather than in the “tent city.” They call ahead to friends they’ve met along the way or sometimes just someone in the phone book that is in the same profession as her or her husband.
“Having a common interest helps,” she explained, “but usually people are pretty trusting and you end up making new friends. It’s really great.”
As RAGBRAI rolls in to Red Oak, a true sense of what it was originally about comes to town too.
“It’s a great way to make people join together in a new way.”