The display on the Raccoon River Valley Trail drew lots of attention from a crowd estimated at about 3,000 for the Iowa Bicycle Summit & Expo on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Five members of the RRVT Association’s board of directors and three other members of the association all staffed the RRVT booth, and they stayed busy all day long. In the larger photo here, Pam German of Dallas Center is shown answering questions about the trail from riders who were looking at a map of the trail on a RRVT banner. In the smaller photo, Jim Sievers of Panora & Guthrie Center is showing off one of the RRVT cycling jerseys designed by artist Brian Duffy, to two cyclists considering buying one of them. Following the summit & expo, more than 1,000 people attended Saturday night’s RAGBRAI route announcement party at the same site. That’s when the overnight host communities for this summer’s big ride across Iowa were announced – Sioux Center, Cherokee, Lake View, Webster City, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, Anamosa and Clinton.

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Charlie Wittmack, attorney, veteran bicyclist, global adventurer and cancer-fighter, said his "World Tri" was "fun, hard and humbling."

Wittmack in 2010 and 2011 completed an almost incredible “World Triathlon” covering more than 8,000 miles from England to the summit of Mount Everest.  He swam the Thames River through England and continued right on across the English Channel, then rode a bicycle 7,700 miles to India, then ran through Nepal, and finally, in early May, climbed 29,035-foot Mount Everest.  It was his second time he’d climbed Everest, the first having been in 2003.

“That year, doing all that, was a fun year, you know?” Wittmack said in a recent interview.  “But at the same time, it was so hard.  And it was an incredibly humbling experience.  Every aspect of it seemed to be for some greater purpose.”

One of those purposes now is sharing his story with audiences across the nation and around the world, with his speeches, photos and video.

And that’s what he’ll be doing on Saturday night, February 18, when he speaks at the RRVT Association banquet, which will be held at the Lake Panorama National Resort Conference Center, located just north of the trail town of Panora.

That event includes a social hour starting at 6 p.m. and a big dinner starting at 7 p.m., followed by the Wittmack program and then the fundraising auctions that support the work of the trail association.  That is the non-profit group that does the marketing and promotion of the RRVT, the paved trail that now stretches 69.5 miles in west central Iowa.  An additional 20 miles of paved trail is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Tickets for the banquet are $40 and are available now to the public.  You can purchase them online on this Internet site by going to the “RRVT Store.” You can also buy memberships in the RRVT Association there. 

Capacity for this event at the conference center will be about 300.

“We’re thrilled that Charlie has agreed to come share his story with us at the banquet,” said Carla Offenburger, of Cooper, president of the RRVT Association.  “He’s been riding our trail from when it first opened back in 1989.  Then my husband Chuck and I got to know him real well in 1995, when we were organizing the Iowa 150 Bike Ride across the U.S., and we hired Charlie – who was then a senior in high school – to be the mechanic for the 308 cyclists on that 100-day ride.  Over that summer, we learned what a fun character he is, but we could also see that there was a lot of bold adventure in him, too.  We all called him ‘Wrench’ that summer when he was our mechanic.”

The Offenburgers and Wittmack stayed in touch over the years and, after Wittmack first climbed Mount Everest in 2003, Carla Offenburger brought him to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake in a lecture series she was coordinating then.

“His story and photos were amazing then,” Offenburger said, “and of course, what he did that year hardly compares to what he did on the World Tri in the past two years.”

Wittmack, the grandson of a former Iowa governor, Norman Erbe, grew up in Des Moines. He graduated from Roosevelt High School.  He worked at the Barr Bike & Fitness shop in West Des Moines during his high school years.  Following his summer as a mechanic on the Iowa 150 ride, he enrolled at the University of Iowa, began mountain climbing and earned his undergraduate degree in 2001.  That’s when he started training for his first Everest ascent, although he didn’t tell family and friends he was thinking about doing that for a long time.

He also decided to look into an interest he’d long had in practicing law.  To test that, he took a job as a paralegal in the summer of 2001 at a law firm in Washington, D.C., he met another paralegal Catherine Scharf, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a recent graduate of Villanova University.  They fell in love and eventually married.  Their son James is now 3 ½ and Cate is pregnant with a second child, due February 10.

After Charlie’s first climb of Everest, he enrolled in law school at the University of Iowa and graduated in 2006.  He then went to work as a trial lawyer and lobbyist with the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines.  He continues to be “of counsel” with that firm, although this fall he took a full-time job as executive director of the new, Des Moines-based “Above & Beyond Cancer” program.  That was founded by Des Moines oncologist Dr. Richard Deming, who has become a close friend of the Wittmacks.

Charlie and Cate became sensitized and involved in the battle against cancer when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2008.  She has recovered from that, but both of them continue to be dedicated to improving life, treatment and recovery experiences for cancer patients everywhere.

Charlie and Dr. Deming have built a partnership for Above & Beyond Cancer with the American Cancer Society.  They put together an “Everest experience” in the spring of 2011 that took 14 cancer survivors and 15 caregivers to Nepal – with all of their expenses paid by Deming’s organization – to do a trek to the Everest Base Camp.  Wittmack spent a lot of time with the group around his own six-day climb to the summit of Everest.

They are now putting together another group of cancer survivors and caregivers to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in Africa.

Meantime, life is hectic for Charlie Wittmack.

“I’m traveling pretty much all the time, doing a whole lot of speaking and working on a book on the World Tri,” he said.  “Since Catie is pregnant, we decided for her to live for now in North Carolina because she’s got a good network of support there from family, and I’m back and forth all the time.  We no longer have our home in Des Moines – you remember, we sold it to raise money for the World Tri – but I have an apartment.  Seems like I’m almost never in it, though.”

He said that it has been difficult physically to wind down from the tremendous level of fitness he built himself up to for the World Tri.

“Of course, I took some time off from training and exercise after I got home from Everest,” he said. “But, you know, when you’re used to exercising 8 to 10 hours a day, it’s hard to scale it back.  At first, it was hard to sleep if I wasn’t working out 4 to 6 hours a day.  But gradually I dropped it back to an hour or two a day, and that’s where I am now.”

We’ll learn a lot more about it on February 18 at the RRVT Association banquet.

Guest speakers in past years at the banquet have been cartoonist Brian Duffy, TV news anchor Kevin Cooney and former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack – all of them veteran cyclists and longtime users of the RRVT.

When we told Wittmack that the former speakers had a good enough time at the banquet that they’ve been coming back to successive ones as ticket-buying attendees, he said, “Well, those are three of my own favorite people in Iowa, so I’ll probably be the same way.”

Wittmack, on part of his 7,700-mile bicycle ride across Europe into India. “I spent 18 days in sand in Kazakhstan,” he said.

The bicycling part of his “World Triathlon,” said Wittmack “was a nightmare.” He went through eight bicycles.

Wittmack is shown here on the summit of Mount Everest in May of 2011. He also climbed to 29,035-foot summit of Everest in 2003. (All photos are from the Wittmack collection.)

The plans are being developed and coordinated by the local Cyclists Of Greene bike club.  Their first announcement about the event was timed for this late-January weekend, when thousands of cycling enthusiasts are gathering in Des Moines for the Iowa Bicycle Summit, and for the big party Saturday night when the route of this summer’s RAGBRAI route is being announced.

The new festival is being promoted as “a celebration of the bicycle and those who ride it,” according to Craig Berry, who is president of the club and is also mayor of Jefferson. The City Council approved the plans at its meeting earlier this week.  Berry said “the council is very much in favor of this event and will be encouraging all citizens and bicyclists in Jefferson, Greene County and Iowa to attend.”

It will be family-oriented, with activities for all ages going on from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., all around the courthouse square and stretching east to the Jefferson Depot and Raccoon River Valley Trailhead.  All events will generally be with a bicycle theme, but they will be put together with the idea of appealing to the general public as well as bicyclists. 

Plans include a late-morning or midday parade, featuring RAGBRAI team buses from all over Iowa, a couple of bands, people of all ages riding decorated bicycles, some highly unusual bikes, and more. 

After the parade, there will be a “custom bike show” around the square, just like there have been “custom car shows” there, including team buses. And the crowd at the festival will be invited to paint a RAGBRAI team bus, too. 

The festival will include a juried “bicycle-themed art show,” with artists from across the Midwest invited to enter work that will be for sale and also will remain on display for a few weeks after the festival.

There will also be escorted “bicycle tours of Jefferson,” pedaling to see our notable landmarks.  And there will be competitions and contests involving bicycles, like a “fastest tire-changing contest.”  Another event will be a “bicycle apparel fashion show.”

Local food vendors are being invited to serve on the square, but visitors will be encouraged to use all local restaurants, too.  There will be no beverage garden or street dance, at least this year.

The Greene County Board of Supervisors has approved use of the courthouse grounds and the atrium of the building.   

One activity in the courthouse will be a series of brief “bicycle seminars,” hosted by Chuck Offenburger, with such topics as the Raccoon River Valley Trail, other Iowa trails, RAGBRAI with that event’s director T.J. Juskiewicz, Iowa’s bicycle clubs, the Greene County Conservation recreation facilities & programs, and cartoonist & cyclist Brian Duffy has tentatively confirmed doing a program on his own bicycle artwork.

For more information, you can contact Mayor Berry or John & Ces Brunow at the All Ability Cycles shop on the square in Jefferson, or via the Facebook page for “Iowa Bicycle Festival.”  An Internet site will be launched soon for the festival.

“No TIGER grant,” Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director, wrote in a short note to other county officials.  “It was worth trying, though.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced in Washington, D.C.,  that 46 transportation projects in 33 states and Puerto Rico will receive a total of $511 million in TIGER funding, but none of those projects are in Iowa.  “TIGER” stands for  “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.”

When Dallas County officials decided in mid October to apply for the grant, they had only days to complete an application and solicit letters of support from other interested communities, businesses and organizations.  More than 130 of those letters were gathered in about three days’ time.

“We’re told this is a very competitive grant program,” Wallace in October, as he was completing the paperwork.  “There will be applications for a lot of good projects around the country, but we think we’re making a pretty good case for our project.”

The Dallas County “connector” trail was envisioned as being built between Perry and Bouton, in conjunction with the paving of what is now a gravel road between those two towns.  Perry is located at what could be described as the northeast “corner” of the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which will be 89 miles long once a new “north loop” is completed in 2012.  From Bouton,  the trail was to be built on the right-of-way of an already-paved county road that goes on east from Bouton to Woodward.  The town of Woodward is the west trailhead of the High Trestle Trail, which is 25 miles long, stretches to Ankeny and includes the 13-story-high trestle bridge between Woodward and Madrid.

The trail was going to be built in the rights-of-way of both roads, but not on the shoulders right next to the road surface.  Rather, the trail ‘s path was gong to be on the sides of ditches or on fencelines, so there would be separation between the paved road and the paved trail.

It is presumed that now, with those project plans still in hand, officials will continue looking for other funding possibilities.

This grant was among six announced January 10th by the Iowa Transportation Commission.A total of $1,239,400 in funding was awarded through the program, which was created in 1991 for the purpose of developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both motorized and non-motorized trail users.

The new $300,000 Fed Rec Trails grant will be added to the existing $365,000 in Transportation Enhancement funds already secured for the same project. Both grants are to be used in the initial corridor acquisition phase of the project.

A match for both grants is being provided by a land donation by the private company Shippers Consortium, directed by Roger Koppen. This gift consists of over seven miles of abandoned rail corridor between Herndon and Bayard. Says Koppen, who is also CEO of Farmers Cooperative, “We are pleased to support this project due to the many benefits it will bring to Guthrie County.”

An ISU Extension economic impact study estimates that, when completed, this 17-mile trail will serve over 50,000 annual users, between snowmobilers and bike riders. These users will bring more than $1 million in annual spending, $200,000 of new income, and twelve jobs to the region.

Snowmobilers, and possibly hunters, will be some of the first to enjoy the benefit of the recreational corridor once it’s secured and opened for public use. Snowmobiles are able to use temporary bridges and operate with their own insurance. The segment between Herndon and Bayard lies on the path of a planned cross-county snowmobile route from Saylorville to Lake Okoboji.

Paving the trail will take much longer, but once surfacing is complete, the trail is expected to attract large numbers of bicycle riders coming from the Des Moines metro area along both branches of the Raccoon River Valley Trail. The RRVT segment through Panora has been complete for many years; and the segment through Perry is currently under construction.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), a Des Moines-based non-profit that plays a lead role in many land protection and trail development projects across the state, is also assisting with the project. INHF will play an intermediary role in the corridor acquisition phase, assisting with negotiations with landowners all along the route, including the BNSF railroad, the Iowa Department of Transportation, and various private landowners.

These negotiations will start in 2012, and their progress will determine the final routing and costs for the trail. Trail planners anticipate that the $665,000 grant dollars in hand will be sufficient to largely complete the corridor acquisition and stabilization phase.

Fundraising for the Herndon to Coon Rapids trail is being done free-of-charge by the non-profit Creating Great Places. CGP board president Curt Thornberry, of Panora, says, “We are thrilled to get a second grant for this project. The extension of the existing Raccoon River Valley Trail 17 miles west to Whiterock Conservancy should help pull additional trail users through Panora and Yale, and bring new users to Bagley and Bayard. The corridor has the potential to bring additional clients to restaurants, bars and convenience stores in all of these communities.”

The current public sponsor for this trail corridor project is the City of Coon Rapids. The city agreed to step forward as public sponsor in May of 2011, after the Guthrie Supervisors voted in March 2011 to cancel the initial $365,000 Transportation Enhancement grant awarded to the project. At that time, Supervisors Cliff Carney, Jerry Caraher and Mike Dickson opposed the trail project due to concerns over future trail maintenance responsibilities.

Creating Great Places has established a dedicated “Trail Maintenance Fund” to help allay concerns from public sponsors about eventual future trail maintenance costs. According to CGP’s Rachel Garst, of Coon Rapids, nearly $40,000 has already been raised towards an initial $60,000 goal. She urges all trail backers to show their support by sending tax-deductible donations to: CGP, 401 Fifth Avenue South, Coon Rapids, IA 50058, with the words “Trail Maintenance Fund” on the memo line. These funds will be invested to grow over time until they are eventually needed to help maintain the future trail.

The newspaper is the Daily Times Herald, and the trail is the Sauk Rail Trail.  That is a 33-mile paved trail stretching from Swan Lake State Park, just southeast of Carroll, to Blackhawk Lake State Park at Lake View.  Trail permits for a year’s use normally sell for $15 per adult.  For businesses that want to provide trail permits for their employees, the permits sell for $13 each for businesses with five to 50 employees, and $12 each for businesses with more than 50 employees.  Youths 17 and under can use the trail free.

Revenue from the user permits is divided between the Carroll County and Sac County Conservation Boards, which share ownership of the trail.

“Providing these passes (to employees) has a dual benefit,” wrote Douglas Burns in his column for the Daily Times Herald.  “You help your county and your bottom line by encouraging exercise.”

Burns reported that so far in 2011, the Sauk Trail permits have brought in $7,972 for the counties.  That’s up from $5,478 in 2010.  The increased usage of the trail, and thus the increased revenue, came after paving was completed on the full length of the trail.  The conservation boards use the permit receipts to help pay for maintenance of the trail.

On the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Greene, Guthrie and Dallas Counties, the fee for a year-long user permit is $10.  However, more than 400 people during 2011 decided to take the additional step of joining the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association for $20 per person, or $35 per family.   Those memberships bring one or two trail permits to use the RRVT for a year, plus making a contribution to the association, which does all the marketing and promotion of the trail.  For those who want to help even more, there is the “trail user plus” package of $50, which buys two user permits and makes a larger donation to the association.

“We’ve never had an employer buy trail permits for its employees, like is happening in Carroll, but then we’ve never really promoted that idea before,” said Carla Offenburger, of Cooper, the president of the RRVT Association.  “We’ve talked about doing something like that several times, but we’ve just never gotten around to doing it.  So, if any businesses want to do that now — buy trail user permits as gifts for its employees — we can make them available.  In fact, we’d like for companies to consider taking the additional step of buying memberships in our association for their employees.”

Providing those permits, and encouraging employees to make regular use of the trails for exercise, ”would be a good way to improve the health, fitness and morale of your workforce,” Offenburger said.   

She can be reached at (515) 370-1516 or by email carla@Offenburger.com.

The mayors of the two towns — Bill Peard of Waukee and Mitch Hambleton of Dallas Center — used a large pair of scissors to cut the ribbon opening the trail.

“It’s taken a long time to get this done,”  Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director, told the crowd.  “But about a week ago, our board approved a contract to build the trail on from Forest Park (just south of Perry) to Minburn, and then in 2012 we plan to complete the rest of the new trail from Minburn to Dallas Center, and from Dawson to Herndon.  At that point, we will then have the longest loop trail in the nation.  I think then we’ll all agree that it’s been worth waiting for.”

Total mileage of the RRVT then will be 89 miles, with the loop itself totaling 72 miles.

Chuck Offenburger, a member of the board of directors of the RRVT Association, served as emcee.  He announced that when all that trail work is completed, “we’re going to celebrate in a really big way — we’re all going to go to Jamaica!”  Then he acknowledged he was referring to the west central Iowa town of Jamaica (pop. 237), one of the towns that will be on the new trail loop.

You can see more about the ceremony in the photos and captions below here.

Bicyclists rode from both Dallas Center and Waukee for the ribbon-cutting, which was held on the trail about midway between the towns. Here, just rolling in from Dallas Center, are Brian Myers (left), Mayor Mitch Hambleton (right) and several others in the background.

Laura and Forrest Ridgway, of West Des Moines, are shown here leading a group of bicyclists who pedaled in from Waukee for the ribbon-cutting.

Chuck Offenburger, of Cooper, a member of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association board of directors, is shown here serving as master of ceremonies for the brief program that preceded the ribbon-cutting.

Among the officials on hand at the grand opening of the new section of trail were (left to right) Jim Miller of the Dallas County Conservation Board; Mark Hanson of the Dallas County Board of Supervisors; Daniel Willrich and Gary Stevens of the Dallas Center city council; Waukee Mayor Bill Peard; Dallas Center Mayor Mitch Hambleton; Mike Wallace, the Dallas County Conservation director; Bob German and Carla Offenburger of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association board of directors, and Glen Vondra of the Dallas County Conservation Board.

More than 70 people attended the ceremony, and most of them rode bicycles to it. Nearly all gathered for this photo to commemorate the ribbon-cutting by Waukee Mayor Bill Peard (in purple) and Dallas Center Mayor Mitch Hambleton (in blue), who can be seen in the middle of the group. The youngster out front of the crowd on her bicycle is Ella McCarthy, 8, of Adel, who said she is a frequent rider on the RRVT in her community.

Just after the ceremony ended and most people were pedaling away on their bicycles, rider Greg Johnson, of Waukee, discovered his bike had a flat tire. Forrest Ridgway, who owns the Bike World stores in the Des Moines area, showed that even though he doesn’t spend much time on repairs any more, he still knows how to change a bike tire.

Letters of support for the project were needed to include with the grant application being prepared by Dallas County Conservation director Mike Wallace.   He put out a call for such letters on Tuesday, October 25.   After stories about that need were published on this Internet site and aired by KCCI-TV news in Des Moines, more than 130 letters were received by the deadline of midday Thursday, October 27.  They came from individuals, organizations, community leaders and government agency heads from across central Iowa, as well as members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation.

The funding possibility is in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “TIGER” grant program, with that acronym standing for “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.”    Applications will be filed for projects across the nation, seeking portions of $1.5 billion total grant money being made available.

For the Dallas County connector, the project description envisions a trail being built between Perry and Bouton, in conjunction with the paving of what is now a gravel road between those two towns.  Perry is located at what could be described as the northeast “corner” of the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which will be 89 miles long once a new “north loop” is completed in 2012.  From Bouton,  the trail would be built on the right-of-way of an already-paved county road that goes on east from Bouton to Woodward.  The town of Woodward is the west trailhead of the High Trestle Trail, which is 25 miles long, stretches to Ankeny and includes the 13-story-high trestle bridge between Woodward and Madrid.

The trail would be built in the rights-of-way of both roads, but not on the shoulders right next to the road surface.  Rather, the trail would be built on the sides of ditches or on fencelines, so there would be separation between the paved road and the paved trail.

The total cost of the road and trail paving for the Dallas County project is estimated at $5 million, with $1 million of that coming from Dallas County and $4 million from the federal grant.

“We’re told this is a very competitive grant program,” said Wallace.  “There will be applications for a lot of good projects around the country, but we think we’re making a pretty good case for our project.”

The deadline for filing the grant application is Monday, October 31, and a decision is expected from the U.S. Department of Transportation sometime in late January or February, of 2012. 

Here is the full project description:

“This project consists of paving a rural gravel road that connects the Cities of Perry and Bouton.  This project also consists of the development of a trail that connects the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail (connecting from Perry to Woodward).  The connection of the two trails is connecting two of the most significant trails in the state of Iowa.  The Raccoon River Valley Trail will be 89 miles in length and contain a 72-mile ‘loop’ making it the longest paved ‘loop trail’ in the nation.  By connecting this trail to the nationally recognized and award winning High Trestle Trail bridge, we are creating a one of a kind nationally important trail system.  This trail connection utilizing the paving of a much needed rural road enhancement will create numerous economic, recreational, improved transportation opportunities. 

“The paving of 130^th street from Perry to Bouton helps both communities to have the ability to grow in development potential.  Many current road users from Perry especially in the north part of the community head north on U.S. Highway 169.  The proposed paved road would connect the north part of the city with Highway 169 directly.  Current paved access to Highway 169 require road users to go through the city of Perry south to Highway 141 then back east to connect to Highway 169.  This is a very inefficient transportation connection.  There is a similar situation in the city of Bouton.  They have to go south to Iowa Highway 141 and then back west to get a paved access to Highway 169.  The Dallas County Road Department initiated a significant effort in the mid 1980s to straighten 130^th Street from Perry to Highway 169 and built three bridges crossing Beaver Creek.  The goal has always been to follow-up with a paving project. 

“The Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail are two major nationally recognized multi-use paved recreational trails.  The closest connection between the two would be from Perry to Woodward.  Perry is part of the Raccoon River Valley Trail north loop.  Woodward is the west starting point of the High Trestle Trail.  Between Perry and Woodward is a 9-plus-mile segment.  Four miles of this consists of gravel road from Perry to Bouton.  This is proposed to be paved as part of this application.  The remaining five miles is an existing paved county road that would be enhanced with the construction of a paved trail within the Right of Way corridor, also part of this application. 

“In addition to the benefits of the paved road, this project would also help alleviate a growing concern of bicyclists riding on the busy four-lane Highway 141 from Woodward (High Trestle Trail) to Perry (Raccoon River Valley Trail).  This Tiger Grant application will make a safer trail connection and a more efficient overall transportation system for this region.  The trail project alone will make possible the connection of six counties and 21 cities.”

On Friday, October 28, Wallace said he was grateful for the quick response of all the individuals and organizations that sent letters of support to be included with the application.  No additional letters are needed at this time.

We hope to publish some excerpts from some of the letters later on this Internet site.  And, of course, we’ll monitor the deliberations of the U.S. DOT officials as they consider all the applications.

The story by Eric Hanson , who has covered RRVT enhancements for five years, told how sections of the new loop have been completed between Dawson and Perry and, most recently, between Dallas Center and Waukee.  The rest of the loop project is scheduled for completion in 2012, meaning it should be open to trail users a year from right now.  That will include the town of Jamaica, where Hanson based part of his story.

You can see the story online on KCCI-TV News website by clicking here.

Even on the coldest winter days, when you might find snow cover on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, it seems like you can always find some life on the trail. Here, a couple neighborhood dogs share a late-afternoon trail experience south of Cooper.