For bicycle riders who can’t wait until next year’s RAGBRAI, about a dozen communities in southeast Iowa are holding their own bike ride this weekend. The 15th annual Bike Van Buren ride starts this morning.Stacy Glandon is executive director of the Villages of Van Buren — which is comprised of 11 towns in Van Buren County. The ride covers 59 miles today and 72 tomorrow — but Glandon says there are a batch of short cuts for those bikers who don’t want to go the distance.Riders will pass through Amish and Mennonite communities and will pass an historic round barn, which served as everything from a livestock pavilion to a speakeasy during the 1920s. Glandon says the bike rides start and end each day in the community of Keosauqua, with registration today from 7 to 10 a-m.For more information, call 800-Tour-V-B-C.
