Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 24, 2003, Pages 1 & 2 & 14

"Now this is what RAGBRAI is supposed to be."

That was the comment of one rider from Cedar Rapids as he got ready to get on his bicycle and head on to Leon and Osceola after spending 45 minutes in Mount Ayr Tuesday morning.

Over and over again the riders on the Register's Great Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa commented about the good things they found in Mount Ayr. Maybe they say that in every community. That wasn't the impression they were giving here, however.

Months of planning and many hours of effort had made Mount Ayr a stop to remember along the RAGBRAI trail.

Riders were first welcomed to the county with Burma-Shave type signs placed along the roadside. The signs had been made by high school students during a community service day in one of the many aspects of the celebration planned for the visitors. They told of many of the things to look for on the brick square.

"You have a beautiful community," a rider from Texas said. "That trip down the tree-lined street was great."

More volunteers had been involved in making that trip memorable. Bicycle planters with flowers had been placed along Shellway Drive, leading to the arch over Madison Street, which featured bicycles, flags and a welcome banner. Welcomers were located there, greeting the visitors.

About 6 a.m. the first riders began reaching Mount Ayr and there were still a few stragglers coming in after the 1 p.m. deadline that the Des Moines Register set for getting riders to move on down the road.

A warm Mount Ayr welcome was offered to each.

The post office was a popular early stop with its stamp cancellations drawing many visitors. One rider had just made it to the square and was looking for the post office. When told he had just passed it, he said he had learned to ride with his head up more. "I think I've ridden right past the post office in every town so far," he said.

Another popular spot for a photo was the hay stack set up by Ladies Unlimited that allowed bikers to climb up to a second story perch to illustrate the community theme -- "It's all down hill from here."

After having braved several of the long hills between Bedford and Mount Ayr, there were many riders who were hoping that the theme was literally true -- that there wasn't quite a much up hill the rest of the way.

I told a couple of riders that they truly had reached the high point of their, trip, but that didn't mean that there weren't quite a few hills left to climb.

The Sites for Learning students were on the square asking people to put a sticker on their home towns. By 1 p.m. riders from 49 states and nine foreign countries had checked in. If there were riders from West Virginia, the students missed them.

There was plenty of entertainment on the stage for visitors. The HYNEK family from Beaconsfield, or "Pumptown" as they call themselves, played. Also performing were the HARDY Family from Grant City, Mo, the Tingley Kitchen Band, The Dance Connection and more.

Another nice touch in Mount Ayr was the Iowa Telecom trailer, which allowed calls home and Internet access to people as they came through town. Many people were asking where the trailer was after seeing signs along the road telling about it.

It was a beautiful day for the visit. The person on the committee who was to arrange the weather should get a gold star. All morning the temperatures were cool. In the early afternoon, it was a bit warm when the sun was fully out, but when it dropped behind a cloud it was nice even out of the shade.

About every combination of bicycle imaginable came through in the 10,000 of so riders who came through the community. One of the longest trains was [Page 2] Team Able from Des Moines. Mom and Dad riding a tandem bicycle, there were two smaller bicycles attached behind them, and a trailer for the youngest members of the family on back.

Some riders made the trip on bicycles using their arms from the movement instead of legs. There were recumbent bicycles, expensive bicycles, homemade bicycles, you name it, it probably rolled down the streets of Mount Ayr.

Along with the sights of RAGBRAI are the smells. When the wind shifted so you didn't have the smell of food from the outdoor grills there was one recognizable smell in the air -- suntan lotion. Adding up the lotion used on the trip would probably bring another interesting RAGBRAI fact. From people who looked like ghosts from the white lotion spread over them, to those who looked like they were baked and needed some aloe vera quickly, the riders rolled through.

"You were so well prepared for us," a rider from Wisconsin said. "This is the best welcome we have had so far this week."

There was food of about every kind available around the square, from fruit kabobs and pancakes to beef burgers and sweet corn. Guessing how much of which kinds of food to have was the only real question. Most of the guesses seemed to be in the ball park.

"Where is the pie?" one rider wanted to know. His wife noted that after one recent RAGBRAI week her husband had gained 10 pounds. How had he done it while using up so much energy cycling? He ate a piece of pie in every town he came to -- meaning he was eating up to six big pieces a day.

The Mount Ayr Record-News literally opened its doors to the RAGBRAI visitors. We had the hose hooked up to our building for the water fountain where RAGBRAI riders filled their water bottles. The RAGBRAI committee had its hot dog booth right out in front of our doors, and we left our doors open for visitors and rest room users.

Our staff was very accommodating. How about giving up the shirt on your back?

Sandy MAIN was wearing a Mount Ayr RAGBRAI shirt in the office Tuesday morning. A lady came in to use the rest room, spied her shirt and said, Is that a medium? They are all out of medium shirts and if that's a medium I'll buy it from you."

Sandy let her look at the tag, and it was a medium.

"I only live a couple of blocks away," Sandy said. She ran home and got another shirt and sold hers to the visitor.

Attire for the riders was a varied as the vehicles they rode. While a great majority of riders had on cycling shirts and shorts, they were all very colorful. Other riders were not quite so stylish, wearing whatever they had. Some had little, it seemed.

Helmets were also a way to be unique. While all helmets were colorful, personal statement decorations such as foam watermelons, tutus, bones, shark fins, and cartoon characters were in evidence.

Keeping track of your teammates can be a job among the cycling hordes. "Batwoman" stopped and asked if we had seen "Superman" come through yet. We had. She asked us to tell the man with the lightning bolt on his chest that Superman and Batwoman had already arrived. When he came pedaling through, we did.

Another group slapped a sticker on a greeter, hoping that when the rest of the group came through they might notice the sticker and know that part of the riders were already here.

People were looking for folks they knew in Mount Ayr as well. One of Delwyn SHOWALTER'S former teachers was on the ride and was trying to meet up with him. Another rider had been a friend of Ward CAMPBELL and was tying to look up Doyle CAMPBELL. The best man at Pat HENDERSON'S wedding was coming to Mount Ayr for the first time, so Marion HENDERSON came over from Atlantic to meet him on Henderson Street, appropriately enough, and give him a quick tour of town. Chuck OFFENBURGER and his wife stopped in the Mount Ayr Record-News to say a quick hello.

The crowds were not only in Mount Ayr. The support vehicles were traveling a route through Diagonal, and the filling station there was busy most of the morning. Benton and Kellerton also welcomed the riders.

Riders met up with their support vehicles in areas off the square throughout the day. The support vehicles ranged from classy like the Kum 'N Go team's vehicle to the less so, like that of "Team Rohdeo," a barely repainted school bus.

One of the many buses -- some of which were painted in vibrant colors like pink and purple -- had some fun with the "School Bus" label on the back of the bus. They had not painted over it -- just crossed out the "s" and "h" with paint to come up with a "c ool" bus.

There is plenty of trash left over when the population of your community swells to four of five times its normal size. The back of the city dump truck was filling up fast as booths were being taken down as 1:30 neared Tuesday. But what a day it had been.

But what about all the effort involved to provide six of eight hours of entertainment for the cyclers? For many, the positive comments from the riders made the effort worthwhile.

"There's nothing quite like having RAGBRAI ride through your community," one said. "You wouldn't want to do it every day, but it is fun once every 10 years or so."

Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012