By Anelia K. Dimitrova
A group of 24 riders, inspecting the route for this year’s 52nd Register Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), rolled through Cedar Falls on Thursday afternoon to a warm welcome at River Place Plaza.
RABRGAI 52 will overnight in Cedar Falls on July 24, the fifth stop on the ride’s route, hence the importance of showing the inspection team the town’s proverbial hospitality.
The Cedar Falls RAGBRAI theme, Ride the Wave, was reflected on the plaza in the form of a surfboard ready for the riders to sign. The theme highlights the town’s new River Recreation Area, namely, Gateway River Park, which is designed for river surfing and will officially open on Saturday.
Once they parked their bikes, the riders signed their names on the surfboard, chatted with local media and greeters, and posed for a group picture along with local organizers before taking a well-earned break.
It had been a long day.
The inspection team had started the ride from Iowa Falls at 7 a.m. and having followed the designated route, arrived in Cedar Falls shortly before 4 p.m., escorted as honorary guests by police squad cars.
Among the greeters at the plaza were members of Cedar Falls Tourism, Main Street, the city and a sizable group of SciPlay employees, the title sponsor of the Cedar Falls RAGBRAI event.
Also on hand to showcase the town’s hospitality were UNI’s super sweet mascots TC and TK Panther as well as RIP, a new mascot making its unofficial debut here prior to appearing more formally during the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of Gateway Park on Saturday.
RAGBRAI social media team and JustGoBike podcasters Kathy Murphy and Andrea Parrott got a firsthand look and feel of the Ride the Wave theme when the Cedar Falls Tourism hosts took them to the Cedar River for a special boat ride afterwards.
And just like the actual bike ride, memories were made on the inspection ride as well. Among the riders today was Kelly Hayworth, from Coralville, who rode the last leg of the route from the edge of town to the plaza with his grandkids in tow sitting in a kids bike trailer.
Brent Johnson, the owner of BikeTech in Cedar Falls, and an on-route mechanic during the week of RAGBRAI, rode a tandem bike from Iowa Falls to town with his son, Elijah.
Scott Sumpter, the founder of BikeIowa.com, was also part of the inspection team.
After the informal meet-and-greet, everyone on the plaza posed for the collective commemorative picture.
It was a photo for posterity, but also for social media so the guests and the greeters waited kindly under the scorching sun until all photographers could get their shots.
Cory Mutch, RAGBRAI’s creative director, told me the team’s mission is to survey the locations and the routes riders will experience during the week-long RAGBRAI, which kicks off July 19 and sunsets on July 26.
Mutch, a Grundy Center native, said the route inspection group spent an hour in each town earlier today, to “prepare the towns for everybody,” as well as to try out the route and some dirt roads along the way, so they can report to the DOT any issues they might encounter.
Cedar Falls connections ran deep for some members of the inspection team. Mutch noted that his wife, Brandy, is a UNI grad and their daughter, Jillian, follows in her mom’s footsteps pursuing a degree in education.
“We are going to eat supper in George’s,” he said.