Welcome to Prairie Spokes! We are about 180 riders of every age, speed and shape in the Des Moines area, and we've been riding together since 1979. Some of us race. Most of us don't. All of us like to ride a bicycle down a county road on a fall morning with the corn coming out of the fields and somebody waiting at the top of the hill.

I'm Hubert Reimer, ride coordinator. In real life I'm a high school guidance counselor, which means I spend all day helping people pick a direction and then making sure they have a plan to get there. That turns out to be most of what a ride coordinator does too. I started riding in 1987, after my doctor and I had a talk about my blood pressure, and twelve years and two bicycles later we don't have that talk anymore.

OUR WEEKLY RIDES

Every club ride is one of three kinds. Pick the one that fits you, not the one that fits your ego. You can always move up next month.

Fall 1999 Schedule

Daylight is running out. The evening rides start at 5:30 sharp so we're in before dark, and the last evening rides of the year are Tuesday, September 28, Wednesday the 29th and Thursday the 30th. After that it's weekends only until spring. The Saturday rides keep going as long as the weather lets us, which in Iowa can mean November or can mean next week.

Ride leaders: A, Glen Staats. B, Maria Tomko. C, Reba Tolley. Routes are in the newsletter, and the leader has cue sheets at the start. Rain at the start time cancels the ride. Rain later is just weather.

THE HELMET RULE

I know. I've heard every argument. I work in a high school. I have heard every argument about everything. Iowa law doesn't require you to wear a bicycle helmet. Our club does, on every ride, with the chin strap buckled, no exceptions for hot days, short rides, or people who have been riding since Eisenhower. I have stood in an emergency room with one of our members after a fall, and he walked out that night because he was wearing his. His helmet didn't. That's what it's for.

• Look for a sticker inside that says it meets the CPSC, Snell or ANSI standard.
• It should sit level, about two fingers above your eyebrows, not tipped back on your head.
• The side straps make a V just under each ear. Buckled, the chin strap should let one finger in, no more.
• Replace it after any crash where you hit your head, even if it looks fine. They are made to work once.

Sermon over. For now.

RULES OF THE ROAD

A bicycle on an Iowa road is a vehicle, with the same duties as a car. Every time one of us runs a stop sign, some driver decides all of us do. So:

There's more, about riding in a group and what to bring, on our Ride Etiquette page. Please read it before your first club ride.

THE HARVEST CENTURY
Saturday, October 9, 1999

Our big day of the year, and our twelfth. A century is a hundred miles in one day, and if you've never done one, this is the one to do: rolling country roads north of the city, five rest stops, a SAG wagon, and pie at the finish. If a hundred miles is too far, pick a shorter route. The 62-mile route is a metric century, 100 kilometers, and a fine first goal.

Everyone starts and finishes at the fellowship hall of Valley View Church, on the north edge of town. The routes are marked on the road with yellow arrows (what else) and you'll get a cue sheet and a map. The course closes at 5:00 p.m. Dorothea Barefield drives the SAG wagon, and she will pick up anybody, anywhere, for any reason, and never say a word about it. Bernard Russo is century chairman. He has already been out to look at the cornfields along the route and says the harvest should be in full swing, so watch for combines (see Ride Etiquette).

So a family of two parents and two kids, registered ahead and riding the 25 together, pays $30 and gets four pieces of pie. E-mail me and I'll mail you a registration card. Lunch at mile 46 and the pie at the finish are included. Helmets required. You knew I was going to say that.

About RAGBRAI. People ask whether the century is "like RAGBRAI." Not really. RAGBRAI is the week-long ride across the whole state every July, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi, with thousands of riders and a different town every night. Tradition says you dip your back wheel in the Missouri at the start and your front wheel in the Mississippi at the end. Eleven of our members rode all seven days of it this summer. Our century is one day and one pie. But if you can ride ours, you can start thinking about next July.

DUES

Dues run January to December. Join after October 1 and your dues cover the rest of 1999 and all of 2000, so this is a good time. Members get The Spoke, our monthly newsletter, the $5 discount on the century, and the warm feeling of belonging. Everyone signs the club waiver once a year. You can try two rides before you join.

Club Officers
President, Samuel Cochran · Ride Coordinator, Hubert Reimer · Treasurer, Laura Robinson · Newsletter, Joe Shultz · Century Chairman, Bernard Russo

More Bicycling on GeoCities.us

• Yellow Jersey: Lance Armstrong and Me. Lance's story and the 1999 Tour.
• Two on a Tandem. Oregon to Virginia this summer on a bicycle built for two.
• The Bicycle Commuter. Riding to work year-round in a Midwestern city.
• Friends of the Sandy Valley Rail-Trail. An old railroad bed in Ohio becoming a trail.