Cross-state bike ride wraps up today

The annual bike ride across the state takes off for its final day today (Saturday) in West Union and winds up in Guttenberg on the eastern edge of Iowa. Nancy McClellan, one of the co-chairs of the Guttenberg RAGBRAI committee, says the last leg of the cyclists’ ride will be downhill — a very steep downhill run. She says they come on the Great River Road from Garnavillo on through town to the boat landing on the south end of Guttenberg. McClellan expects the riders and support vehicles to hit town by mid-morning. She says they expect the first riders to hit town by around nine in the morning with the last riders in by 3:30 or four in the afternoon. She says Guttenberg residents have been getting ready for some time. She says they’ve been working about seven months, recruiting volunteers for the hospitality crew, the housing crew and the parking and traffic controls. This is not the first time Guttenberg has been the final stop on the ride. She says this is the third time they’ve come into town and the last time was nine years ago. The final act of the ride includes the tradition of dipping the front tires of the bikes in the Mississippi River.