Roosevelt Riders Prepare for RAGBRAI

The Rider Cyclers have been a club since Emily Weeks and Zoey Mauck started going on casual rides along the Bill Riley Trail a couple of years ago, often with a destination of a coffee shop or restaurant. Since then it’s grown, in terms of both numbers and ambition.

“We had about thirty-five participants on our largest group ride ever,” said Weeks. “As the club progressed, our main goal became training for our very first RAGBRAI last summer.”

The group trains by riding the Urban Loop and the Great Western Trail. They designed the club’s cycling jerseys and pitch in as volunteers at the Greater Des Moines Bike Collective, helping restore donated bikes which are then recycled to the Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa.

Next week 18 club members will saddle up and pedal from the Missouri to the Mississippi. After all, what would RAGBRAI be without plenty of Riders? Good luck to Team Roosevelt High School. Whenever you find yourselves going uphill bucking a headwind remember the famous word of Teddy on horseback:

“CHARGE!”