DES MOINES, June 9, 2009 – With generally favorable weather forecasted for this weekend, bicyclists have suddenly become more interested in signing up and joining the first-ever “Tour the Raccoon” ride being organized by the Des Moines Cycle Club.

“Right now, we’ve got about 160 coming up pre-registered, including some kids,” Danny Kruzic, president of the DMCC, said Tuesday night of this week.  “But I got three calls yesterday from bike shops asking questions about the ride.  People are calling the shops asking questions.  I expect anotoher 100 or so to register on Saturday morning, but I really have no clue.”

Cyclists will leave from points all over the Des Moines metro area Saturday morning, June 13, and make their way to the Raccoon River Valley Trail.  They can register there at the Waukee Cycling & Fitness shop, in a strip mall adjacent to the trail.  Then they’ll be on their way on west and north on the RRVT, riding to an overnight stay in Jefferson at the north trailhead.

All the towns along the trail — Waukee, Adel, Redfield, Linden, Panora, Yale, Herndon and Cooper have special receptions planned for the riders.

In Jefferson, the “Tour the Raccoon” campground in Jefferson will be on the campus of Jefferson-Scranton High School on the southside of town.  The riders will find plenty to do in the town Saturday afternoon and night, as the 30th annual Bell Tower Festival will be underway.  A major crowd is expected for a full day and night of sight-seeing, music, food, drink and fun.  Vendors will be located around the Greene County Courthouse Square, there is a spaghetti supper at the United Methodist Church and all Jefferson restaurants will be open.

Sunday morning will begin with a free snack breakfast for the riders at the high school, sponsored by McFarland Clinic, which is headquartered in Ames with clinics in Jefferson and other central Iowa locations.  On the free menu will be locally-roasted Greene Bean Coffee, bananas, orange juice and the famous glazed donuts made by the staff at Bunkers Dunkers Bakery in Jefferson.  Most Greene Countians believe the Bunkers Dunkers donuts are the best on Earth.  Bakery owners Randy and Phyllis Bunkers normally aren’t baking in the wee hours of Sunday mornings, but they’re running a special shift to fill the McFarland Clinic order and make the visiting bicyclists happy.

After breakfast, riders will begin making their way back south and east on the RRVT, back to the Des Moines area, with all the towns along the trail again offering special receptions.

The Raccoon River Valley Trail Association has been coodinating the receptions being planned in all nine trail communities.   Most of the towns appointed a “trails activities coordinator,” and those coordinators all met in Redfield on May 11 to brainstorm ideas for rolling out big welcomes all along the way.

“This is a big opportunity for all the communities along the RRVT,” said Chuck Offenburger, of Cooper, who serves as secretary of the RRVT Association.  “It’s just the kind of event we hoped would get started — something that would bring several hundred trail users out.  What we in the communities should try our best to do now is to show the crowd on ‘Tour the Raccoon’ the best reception we possibly can.  We want to have hosts on duty in all the towns along the trail, to welcome riders, direct them to local restaurants and attractions, offer any help needed and answer questions about the communities.

“If we do a good job of this, two things are going to happen,” Offenburger continued.  “First, a whole lot of these bicyclists will come back again and again to use the trail and visit our towns.  Second, word will spread to other cycling organizations, and we might have others that will plan their own RRVT tours.  Imagine the impact if we reach a point where we have hundreds more  people every week riding into our communities!”

Trail communities that still have questions, or need ideas, about the timing of their receptions can contact Offenburger at (515) 370-2659 or by e-mail chuck@Offenburger.com.

For bicyclists wanting more information, they can do so at www.dmcycleclub.com or at www.bikeiowa.com.

The schedule of events and other information about Jefferson’s Bell Tower Festival is available at www.belltowerfestival.com.

Kruzic, of the DMCC, said “the most surprising thing to me so far about planning this ride is that about 10 percent of the registrations are from out of state.  That goes to show the interest in Iowa and our trails.”

The DMCC is partnering to sponsor Tour the Raccoon with Bike World, Waukee Cycling & Fitness, the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Peoples Trust & Savings Bank, DeeZee Inc., the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, Friends of Central Iowa Trails, Graphix, ESP Exceptional Specialty Products, and Mercy Clinics.   The ride is full-supported with baggage handling and on-the-tour bike repairs.