Iowans always deliver during my RAGBRAI visits
I rode for the fifth time this year on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. I would like to write a letter and address it to the citizens of the state of Iowa.
In the past five rides, I struggled and I laughed. I marveled at the sites and beauty of the farmland. I rode around the State Capitol and wondered what the legislators were thinking as they saw some 20,000 bike riders ride along with me. I saw the Field of Dreams and the overwhelming feeling of dipping my front wheel in the Mississippi River. Not bad for a 69-year-old man from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
But what I was most impressed with was you! The people of Iowa. Here I am, a stranger. Putting my lawn chairs in someone’s yard. Back home, I would hear,” What are you doing” not in Iowa. Not only were we welcomed, but they opened their home to my group. “You want a drink; the kitchen is open” You, the people of Iowa, truly practice Luke 6:31: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
In 2024, we rode into Greenfield. This was two months after the town was devastated by an EF-4 tornado. Greenfield had its own trouble and here we are riding through their town. I said to one resident, “I am sorry that they did not change the route.” The reply was, “No! This is the best medicine we could get.” This gentleman knew people who lost everything. He helped the children at a daycare center to safety during the storm. We were welcome with open arms. I cried that day. How could he be so kind after all that happened to them? Maybe this is why I keep driving over a thousand miles to charge up multiple hills on my bike. (Oh, Iowa is not flat!)
My mother was born in Savanna, Illinois. I have cousin still in Savanna. I always loved to make the trip to Savanna. Going downtown, watching the trains and watching the operation of the Milwaukee Railroad. The Milwaukee Railroad is gone now, but I have another reason to come, and that is to visit my friends in Iowa.
Now back to my training. Those guys in the RAGBRAI office cannot wait to find another hill like those in Guttenberg.
Michael Urbanik, Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowans always deliver during my RAGBRAI visits | Letter
Reporting by Michael Urbanik, Letter to the editor / Des Moines Register
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By Michael Urbanik, Letter to the editor | USA TODAY Network
