OK, maybe I’m just oblivious, but I really didn’t see anything wrong with the route into Davenport.  In fact, I liked it.  I didn’t notice any oily spot – where was it?  There was plenty of warning for the downhill, so it shouldn’t have caught anyone out.  I thought most of the route was very pleasant – winding our way through shaded neighborhoods and smaller back roads.  Sure, the finish through the warehouse district wasn’t scenic, but what are you going to do?  It wasn’t that long and it’s not like we didn’t ride down plenty of highways during the week anyway.  At least they coned off a lane for us.

Some thoughts from a kinda outsider in that I lived in Davenport for over 50 years-RAGBRAI and BIX, the BIX 7 is a long standing roadrace held every July and some years the race happens on RAGBRAI Saturday, and the Street Fest has been going on longer than the BIx run, though originally not called a Fest.  Davenport had been trying for years to get RAGBRAI back to town, as had Scott County when it ended in LeClaire.  There are a few routes to get into town from the west and we discussed them at length on this Forum, the route chosen was not the most scenic or nicest streets but me thinks politics had something to do with that.  But at least Davenport gave it a decent shot and it at least gives the RAGBRAI gods another ending town to possibly pick from, let’s see , how many times has it ended in Burlington or Dubuque or Clinton etc. dip sites at both ends of the state are limited.  

I expected Davenport to be total chaos, but it was not.  Had to ride some additional miles to retrieve gear from ,y support folks, but the traffice was nothing like I expected.  Thought they did a great job!

I thought D’port was ok.  I would have avoided the really steep downhill coming in to town  though.  Don’t know if anybody crashed there, but the road was a little rough and it was probably crowded at some point in the day.   Maybe the high water preventing the use of the bikepath was a blessing in disguise. 

I didn’t see any problems with Davenport.   In general, I don’t care for the larger towns because things get so spread out.   However, for an ending town, this can be a good thing.    There was a lot going on in Davenport, but I thought things were handled well.   Many of the larger clubs were sent to and loaded up in Bettendorf after the tire dip.   This was a good option IMO.   

Prediction:  Dozens of riders will complain about next year’s ending town.  It is tough anywhere to get that many people in and out and happy at the same time.  I am just happy that these towns keep inviting us back.

RIDE RIGHT

I got a whine for ya…….

Do we really have to wait a whole year before we can go again and will it really be January before we have the route announcement…….. or is it even later than that before they announce it………

I did see a change in our team the night it was so hot and there was no wind blowing. Really thought I would have issues  sleeping that night. One of our team members was just riding in circles to keep cool. I spent a couple of hours in the HyVee eating Ice cream and enjoying the AC. The Beer Cave was Awesome!!!!!!!

I thank Davenport and all the cities and volunteers for making my RAGBRIA a great one in spite of the heat .

We had no problems with Ragbrai ending in Davenport. They did a great job. We were in Bettendorf. The trail was nice. The worst over nite town was Coralville. They had everyone packed in by the swimming pool and rec center and they had all kinds of room on the other side of the street. We had a guy get hurt, couldn’t get the vehicle out to take him so they took him to the hospital and then he couldn’t get a ride back, waited 21/2 hours for a ride back and finally him and another guy hired a taxi to get back. It was the worst town. Couldn’t get in until 7:00 and then was still unorganized. Volunteers were nice. They can stay away from there.

Some people had a better time than others. I just am not a fan of the Quad Cites I guess. However, I thought Dubuque was a wonderful ending town last year.

Aside from that miserable oily hill (I still haven’t gotten all that crap off our bikes), I thought Davenport was fine.  Certainly better than the chaos in Dubuque last year.  Seemed pretty easy to find your way around and the downtown parking garage was great.  Plus it was easy to get to St. Ambrose to pick up your stuff.

As far as us playing second fiddle to the Bix run, the Bix is every year and we came to Davenport last time 29 years ago.  I can kind of see why they take priority.

Thanks to all the volunteers for doing a great job.

The melting tar and oil slicks were pretty bad when we came in late afternoon. Dangerous, for sure.

I thought Davenport was fine. When we got to the dip site, there was a huge line up and I thought we’d be there for at least an hour. But I think it was 15 – 20 minutes later and we had dipped and were on our way to our campsite. Very nice volunteers!!

…So, the princess DID ride this year! 

This was the first time in 3 years we decided to spend the night in the end town before making our trip home.  The reason we did not the first two years was that after everyone dipped their tires the towns soon resembled ghost towns!  Davenport was alive with entertainment, food and people.  We had a great time and got a good nights sleep before driving back to Florida.  Overall I think RAGBRAI was a huge success and we can’t wait till next year to do it all over again.  alontako, Team Spongers!