RAGBRAI 2012: Happy birthday! Now go bike 54 miles

The first stretch of RAGBRAI 2012, from Sioux Center to Cherokee, was littered with friendly shouts: “Happy birthday, Connor!”

A sign posted to a bike seat announced the special day of Connor Demastes, today a 12-year-old. He pedaled with his dad, Jim Demastes, a biology professor at the University of Northern Iowa.

The Waterloo kid spent his last birthday at a water park. He’ll be soaked again this year, perhaps with more sweat than chlorine water.

This year mark’s Connor’s third RAGBRAI. He plans to ride three days, and said he trained by biking 20 miles “basically every day.”

“It’s fun,” he said.

So after heaving 54 miles to Cherokee, how will Connor celebrate?

“We’ve got a cake in the cooler,” his dad said.

–Josh Hafner / The Des Moines Register

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