As a Davenport citizen living in downtown Davenport by the great Mississippi River & riding the Ragbrai for the first time this year, I have never been so excited for the end of July! The city of Davenport as you can see is just shy of 100k population. The Bix 7 will bring in about 12-18 thousand runners. Having these two events come together will be insane.
Here is what I recommend, don’t limit Davenport for your plans! Even though Davenport is the end city, Bix7 is a Quad City party (our metro of 3 other cities), their are plenty of bike trails to hop you over into Illinois where the party continues. This will perhaps relieve some congestion I can see happening.
Also since these two events will bring in a lot of out of town guests that plan on staying in hotels, I would recommend booking one now if you plan on staying in one. Also search Rock Island & Moline, IL for hotels as well, as they are less than a 5 min bike ride away!
I’M SO EXCITED!
18 Replies
<font><font size=”2″>In this photo left to right. Dean Mathias, Tony Buck, Joe
Taylor, Dixon Novy, T.J. Juskiewicz, and Donnie Miller at the
announcement party in Des Moines. Dean Mathias is QCBC QC-TAG
representative. Tony Buck QCBC RAGBRAI Charter Service Director, Joe
Taylor CEO and president of the Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors
Bureau. Dixon Novy QCBC RAGBRAI Charter Registrar. T.J. Juskiewicz RAGBRAI Director. Donnie Miller QCBC Board
Member. The Quad Cities Bicycle Club members were attending the Iowa
Bicycle Summit, RAGBRAI Charter Service meeting, RAGBRAI Club and Team
meeting, and the RAGBRAI route announcement party. All of us are excited
Davenport was selected. We are looking forward to working with the
community leaders and volunteers to make this a grand event. I want to
thank TJ and his staff, again, for our city’s selection. TJ, Wes and
the rest of his staff do a incredible job getting 10,000-20,000
bicyclist across Iowa. Mark Wyatt of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition does an
outstanding job improving bicycling in Iowa and working with state
legislature. Mark and his crew sponsored the party tonight.
Approximately 800 in attendance.
</font></font>
Tony, you gotta be pumped about Davenport being the end town!
The MRT (Mississippi River Trail) intersection with the ADT (American Discovery Trail) is at Government Bridge. Take Government Bridge across to Rock Island Arsenal. Stay on the path do not enter the Arsenal. Exit the island into Rock Island and get on the Great River Trail. Take it to Sunset Park where it ends. Then get on Sunset Ln and take it to HY 67. HY 67 to Milan. From there you have multiple choices to Galesburg. The QCBC has bicycle maps available on its website.
http://www.qcbc.org
Tony is right. Government bridge is the best way. If the dipping spot is downtown Davenport (which I’m sure it will be), follow the bike trail there East. Once you pass the dam you will see a steel bridge, that will be your crossing point.
Some local stories about the ride ending in Davenport.
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_3354dc28-2c1a-11e0-b425-001cc4c03286.html
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=528679
http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=13929455
And it’s possible to do both the full RAGBRAI and the BIX 7 Race! It will mean a long 140 mile ride on Friday, but it has been a few years since I’ve run BIX and miss it! Gotta logistically figure it all out, but what a challenge!
A group of us the did it – the “double day” – in 2008 when RAGBRAI ended in LeClaire … Fun Fun!
We discussed this last night. We intend to take this up with the Cornbelt Running Club, Davenport RAGBRAI, and Joe. I think the best option is to shuttle runners from Coralville in the morning or Friday night to Davenport. Then shuttle them back to Coralville afterwards to ride there bikes to Davenport. So stay tuned.
I’ve already talked to a couple folks on my team about it, and looking like we are going to try and make this happen – riding Friday and Saturday route both on Friday in order to get to QC for the BIX that morning, then still hook up with our team when they roll in to town.
Plans do change, but thinking about activity in the heat of summer is nice change from the big snowfall coming!!!
Jimmie Mac can you tell me about the jazz in Davenport? As a native of Louisiana I am interested in the party after Ragbrai (my first!).
It’s a huge festival consuming several city blocks. It’s to celebrate a musician named Bix Beiderbeck. Expect plenty of food, bands, partying, etc. Recommend staying allll night long! Hehe, just google Bix7 race or Bix Festival for pictures. ;-)
I am seriously thinking about getting a room at the Bloodmobile Inn and spend the night in Davenport. Sounds like an extension of a week’s long good time.
@ JM and Davy, I’ve got my room for Sat night in Davenport! You guys should get down here for Jazz Fest in New Orleans some time…it is worthy. Hope so see you guys for a beer!