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Washington Evening Journal
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Bike riders and roller bladers from near and far visit Wayland
RAGBRAI brings a variety of guests through Wayland
WAYLAND — Thousands of RAGBRAI participants from near and far cooled down in Wayland on Day Six of their ride Friday, July 26 on the way to their next overnight stay in Mt. Pleasant, and the small-town community showed up to welcome, feed, and entertain them as they did.
Wayland residents Janet Smith and Karma Leichty teamed up with WACO Alumni Scott Swan, who now resides in Houston, Texas, for the opportunity to ride through their hometown for Day Six of RAGBRAI. While they didn’t have a support team to help them make it through the whole seven-day ride, the trio said they had a blast catching up and seeing their corner of Iowa from a different perspective.
Rolling into Wayland from much further away Arnav Shah returned for the fifth year from Queens, New York to Rollerblade the entirety of the seven-day RAGBRAI route along with his rollerblading companion Kent Southerland of Washington, D.C.
For the last five years Shah has rollerbladed the whole route because he says he just doesn’t really bike. This means he rollerblades right alongside all the bicyclists through all terrains including gravel.
As Shah stopped in Wayland for a breather after completing the Century Loop, he shared some roller-skating advice.
“If you ever feel ‘Oh no,’ go low,” Shah said. “Your knees should always be bent. Knees over toes, always.”
While Shah and Southerland aren’t new to rollerblading, they admit there is a learning curve, but if skaters will stick with it, it only gets easier and more fun.
Overall, the rollerbladers said they skated the route pretty conservatively and didn’t take many risks that would make them lose balance. Shah did say, however, when it came to the gravel roads, it was less about knees over toes and more about “beast mode” to push through.
After making it from Ottumwa to Wayland, these skaters, local riders, and RAGBRAI participants from afar all enjoyed cooling down with plenty of food and hospitality in Wayland thanks to the joint community efforts.
According to volunteer Georgia Fort, many nonprofit organizations and other volunteers got together and made 14,000 protein bars, 13,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and 500 dill pickle Popsicles. The team also boiled and peeled 1,000 eggs all in three days. All the profits from the food booth put together by local nonprofits will be divided among all of them.
“It was fun,” Fort said. “And I have to stress, we’re very proud of our tow and volunteers.”
The WACO schools also had multiple opportunities for riders to contribute to various organizations. WACO Athletics encouraged riders to stop off at their Cailtin Clark shot activity and take pictures on a bench.
WACO’s Ag department also received donations during the RAGBRAI pass-through with freewill donations to snap a picture with a piglet and grab something to eat from the Washington County Pork Producers.
The Wayland Community hopes to have left good impression on those that came through their town last Friday, and they will have plenty of memories of their own from the event that made downtown alive with all kinds of activities.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
