Lansing will be “tire-dip” final destination for RAGBRAI 2022 …

The Friday evening, January 28 announcement of the route for RAGBRAI XLIX to be held in late July this year revealed that Lansing will be the final destination for the annual event’s famous “dipping of the tire” in the Mississippi River to bring the ride to a close. That announcement was made at the RAGBRAI Announcement Party held Friday at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

Pictured in the foreground in the photo at right, members of Lansing’s local organizing committee display their excitement and the sign that revealed Lansing as the final destination community for this year’s RAGBRAI, as the remainder of the route reveal team displays signs on stage for the other communities involved as the starting point and overnight stops for this year’s 430-mile, seven-day ride. Pictured left to right in that photo foreground are Allamakee County Economic Development Executive Director Val Reinke, Lansing residents Andrew Boddicker and Ian Zahren, Lansing City Council member Curtis Snitker, and Main Street Lansing members Mary and Bruce Palmborg.

“This is excitement, and not just for Lansing but for all of our little corner of northeast Iowa,” shared Bruce Palmborg, who was instrumental in the initial application process for Lansing’s final destination selection. “This is a fun economic development tool, because in addition to the initial fun and excitement of having that large RAGBRAI crowd here, we want to inspire them to want to come back here any time they want.”

RAGBRAI, which stands for the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is a non-competitive bicycle ride first organized by The Des Moines Register newspaper in 1973. This year’s 49th annual edition of the ride will take place July 24-30, beginning in Sergeant Bluffs and ultimately making its way across the northern portion of the state of Iowa before reaching West Union for its final overnight stop Friday, July 29 and then officially ending in Lansing Saturday, July 30. Lansing had previously been a final destination of RAGBRAI just five years ago, in 2017, and initially 40 years prior to that, in 1977. The actual road route that this year’s RAGBRAI event will travel between its designated overnight and final destination communities is expected to be finalized and released sometime in March of this year.

Bruce Palmborg says that anyone who initially has further questions or who wants to join in the planning and organization of the local RAGBRAI effort in Lansing is welcome to send an email to LansingRAGBRAIXLIX@gmail.com or contact any of the Lansing committee members pictured above. Additional details will be published in The Standard as they become available. Submitted photo.