JEFFERSON, Iowa, June 15, 2010 – The second annual “Tour the Raccoon” ride, sponsored for the public by the Des Moines Cycle Club, seemed kind of star-crossed this year.

It was scheduled June 12-13, partially because participants love being able to stay overnight in the Raccoon River Valley Trail’s north trailhead of Jefferson on the same weekend that the community is having its annual Bell Tower Festival, which is one of Iowa’s finest small town celebrations.  However, Hy-Vee Food Stores decided to move their Hy-Vee Triathlon in West Des Moines to the same weekend, and a whole lot of would-be “Tour the Raccoon” riders wanted to participate in the triathlon or be spectators there.

Then two construction projects forced were delayed by rainy late spring weather, forcing detours on the trail.  The first of those when the trail passes under Interstate Highways 35-80 on the west edge of the Des Moines metro area, a route that riders from the city of Des Moines use to get to the trail going on to the west from Waukee.  The other construction project is the five-mile stretch of the trail between Panora and Yale, where a fantastic new concrete surface is being completed but wasn’t quite ready for public use.  That forced riders to use Iowa Highway 4 between the communities.

Finally, the weather was a problem.  It had rained hard much of the week before the ride, and there were thunderstorms raking the area early Saturday morning, June 12.  The rest of Saturday turned out to be very good for the ride, because the rain ended and there was a tailwind.  But the  crossings of country roads were difficult because they were so wet, and in a few scattered places, there was mud on the trail.  Predicted storms stayed away during the night Saturday, but they hit in a ferocious way early Sunday morning before they finally stopped about noon.

The combination of all that drove down the number of participants to about 40 from 180 a year ago, and that was far below the 250 that organizers of the event thought it might draw this year.  About half the riders skipped Sunday’s ride, finding rides back to Waukee.

But, still, there was a whole lot of fun.  Saturday afternoon and evening were spectacular in Jefferson, with so many activities the riders couldn’t possibly get to all of them.  The campground was at Jefferson-Scranton High School, and officials there allowed the riders to sleep indoors in the gym when the forecast was bad, and most did.  Besides all the food, drink and music offered Saturday night, there was also live theater from the new History Boy Theatre Company in Jefferson.  They did a 2004 Broadway hit “Brooklyn the Musical,” which was staged in Iowa for the first time.

Sunday morning, the riders  enjoyed the free continental breakfast by provided by McFarland Clinic, including Jefferson’s famous glazed donuts from the local Bunkers Dunkers Bakery.  And a real highlight for a few riders on Sunday was being invited to get out of the weather and enjoy snacks at the Windsor Hotel that owner Sarah Brewster is renovating in Yale.  Construction continues in the hotel, but when Brewster showed off three completed rooms, the riders who saw them were drop-jaw impressed.

Hopefully planning will start soon on a third “Tour the Raccoon” in 2011.  The Raccoon River Valley Trail Association works closely with the Des Moines Cycle Club on the event, knowing that having a few hundred cyclists coming through all the trail towns on two successive days can provide a major boost in those communities.  Plus, it’s fun!

You can learn more about the ride by browsing the photos below.

Too much rain this spring has delayed completion of the new surface on the Raccoon River Valley Trail between Panora and Yale, so riders had to use five miles of Iowa Highway 4 to get between the two towns. The detour was well-signed at both ends of it, as you can see from this sign on at Heritage Park in Panora.

Additional signs were placed along Iowa Highway 4 to warn motorists that they would be seeing bicycle traffic on the road.

Brigid and Eldon Rocca (left), of Des Moines, are shown just after they arrived in Jefferson on Saturday, after riding the RRVT from Waukee. Welcoming them is Danny Kruzic (in orange), who is president of the Des Moines Cycle Club, and another rider who was on “Tour the Raccoon.”

The windshields on the recumbent “trikes” that the Roccas ride show that it got just a little “buggy” on the RRVT during a part of their ride to Jefferson. But actually, Saturday was a terrific riding day, with a south wind blowing the riders toward Jefferson.

Some groups of riders preferred setting up their tents on the beautiful lawn east of Jefferson-Scranton High School. Because of the stormy overnight weather forecast, a gymnasium in the school building was opened up so the riders could sleep indoors if they wanted – and most did.

The high school hallway provided a place to get some of the bicycles out of the weather. Many others on the tour had plastic tarps to cover their bikes.

McFarland Clinic, which offers medical services in Jefferson, provided a free continental breakfast for the riders Sunday morning from 6 to 8 a.m., and serving were (left to right) Dr. Constantine Panakos, Emily Brooker and her mother Keri Brooker, the clinic manager, along with Rich Osborne (right), a partner in the Greene Bean Coffee Co., of Jefferson, who brewed a couple of pots of their special espresso blend in addition to the standard breakfast blend that was served.

It was early Sunday morning when Danny Kruzic (left) and another rider Ed Bryja, of Des Moines, took a quick look at the weather on Kruzic’s cell phone. Bryja was muscling his duffel bag to the luggage truck. There was a major thunderstorm with lightning and heavy rain from 7 to 9 a.m., then a steady rain for another two hours, so Sunday’s ride to Waukee was not real comfortable for those who did it. There was a tailwind, however. About half the riders got vehicle rides back to Waukee.

This photo, which is also featured on the home page of this RRVT site on the Internet, shows Brigid and Eldon Rocca in the early afternoon Sunday in the shelterhouse at Heritage Park in Panora. They took a “pie break” there. They’d eaten a late morning breakfast at the Uptown Café in Jefferson, and bought two pieces of pie to take on the ride back.