July 22, 2008: Lance Armstrong expected on Tuesday
The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa announced the eight cities that will play host to stops on bike tour from July 20 through 26.
The overnight towns on the west-to-east bicycle route are Missouri Valley, Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama-Toledo, North Liberty, Tipton and Le Claire.
RAGBRAI says the this year's route is 471 miles long.
10,000 to 20,000
Although this route heads through the midsection of Iowa, it travels a bit south of Crawford County, the county that banned RAGBRAI from its roads.
This is the 36th year for the rolling bicycle party, that draws between 8,000 to 10,000 registered bike riders. With the independent riders, support crews for teams and various people selling various stuff, the number of folks hitting one of these host towns swells to 20,000 or more.
T.J. Juskiewicz, the director of the bike ride sponsored by the Des Moines Register, says that some towns report the economic impact in the neighborhood of $2 million.
The route
The Register reports that the 2008 route isn't as flat as the one in 2007. Bike riders outfitted with GPS will note the route has about 22,000 feet of climbing over its length.
As always, lots of partying is expected. Maybe more than usual. The Register:
“If there is a theme, it could be overnight exuberance. Several towns are near large population centers, including Missouri Valley (near Omaha-Council Bluffs), the college town of Ames, North Liberty (near Iowa City) and LeClaire (near the Quad Cities).”
Registration
You're supposed to register for this event. You can find information at the RAGBRAI website. Mail-in registrations must be posted by Feb. 15; the deadline for online registrations is April 1.
More people register for the bike tour than the event can handle. Participants will be chosen among the registrants on May 1.
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