July 23 is a day many may circle on their calendar in the central Iowa/metro area. It's the day RAGBRAI passes close to Des Moines, going from Winterset to Indianola.
This will be a day when many take the day off to pedal.
“The entire week is 427 miles. This day when we go from Winterset to Indianola, it’s only 39 miles,”said T.J. Juskiewicz, RAGBRAI director. “It's going to be a day we could have a record number of people on RAGBRAI.”
Juskiewicz also said that RAGBRAI will help small towns like Cumming, where the owner of the Cumming Tap said he has seen business drop, due to lots of rain and a flooded bike trail.
“Just like it affects farmers and obviously in a big way, but even things like restaurants like the Cumming Tap, where bikes typically come up on the flooded trail, that’s going to have a tremendous impact,” said Juskiewicz.