RAGBRAI Dream Team youths overtake uphill lives

Mon August 02 2010
Posted Aug 3, 2010
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Not everything went easily during Desiree Reed's first attempt at bicycling across Iowa. The shy girl from Indianola was 14. Before her first Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, she was never too into sports. Desiree hadn't grown up with bicycles. Her single mother, who bounced around in jobs at Walmart and in housekeeping, simply couldn't afford life's extras. On that first ride, Reed got sun poisoning. She got shin splints because she was pedaling more with her toes than the flats of her feet. Mentors for the Dream Team, the group of 30 or so at-risk central Iowa youth who bike RAGBRAI yearly, wanted her to quit. Read the rest of the article