Many good things must come to an end. This remains true for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, also known as RAGBRAI. On October 15, T.J. Juskiewicz and several team members that worked for RAGBRAI announced their resignation and along with it a new biking path, Iowa’s Ride. 

This new ride will be held the same week as RAGBRAI and the marketing team plans to still donate to the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. After the recent events with Carson King and the Des Moines Register, the marketing team realized this was best for RAGBRAI and allowed those who boycotted the register to still partake in a biking event. 

I can kind of understand why the two routes were split, but I also do not like how they did this because RAGBRAI has always been a community event,” senior Grace Ries said. “Everyone has always been able to ride the route and be friendly.”

There has been a lot of backlash towards the team since the announcement of the new route. Many individuals do not agree with splitting up the community event, much like Ries. Despite the team’s resignation, RAGBRAI will still be held for those wanting to participate. 

“I like RAGBRAI because of the wack people you meet and the good food and beverages,” senior Quinn Hanigan said. “I don’t like that they split it into 2 routes because the whole fun of RAGBRAI is meeting and riding with the thousands of people that show up, the ride isn’t going to be as big or fun because of the split.”

Both Iowa’s Ride and RAGBRAI will be held July 19 through July 25, 2020. Iowa’s Ride plans to have their route in northern Iowa, RAGBRAI will be announcing their route in January. As of November 1, there have been almost one thousand people sign up.