Iowans who’d like to forget about ice and frigid temperatures for a moment should think ahead to this weekend’s Iowa Bike Expo, one of the largest bicycling shows in the Midwest.
Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says the free event in Des Moines should attract some 45-hundred cycling enthusiasts from across the state.
“Saturday is going to be a blast,” Wyatt says. “We have 140 vendor spaces with bikes, gear, events, destinations. We’ll have people shopping for their summer in bicycling.” Whether you’re looking for cycling clothes, a helmet or a complete new two-wheeled ride, he says you’ll be able to find it at the expo.
“We have bike shops from across the state that are going to be there,” Wyatt says. “There’s plenty of things to see and do. We have unique specialty vendors, jewelry and bikes and keepsakes and all kinds of things. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Bike Expo runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Saturday night, there’s a ticketed event focused around the naming of the RAGBRAI route for this summer’s statewide ride. There will also be educational seminars helping Iowa cyclists get in touch with bike advocacy, find the latest consumer trends and learn about new places to ride.
“We have a conference on fat bikes, we have a conference on kids who walk and bike to school,” Wyatt says. “Thursday night, we’re going to do a program on business, bikes and beer at Peace Tree in Des Moines, and Friday, we have our Bicycle Summit which is an educational conference for planners, engineers and city officials.”
That educational conference will cover things like federal highway policies regarding bike trails all the way down to what sort of green paint to use in setting off city bike lanes.