RAGBRAI riders share stories...

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RAGBRAI riders share stories | Oelwein Daily Register | communitynewspapergroup.com Cedar Valley Daily Times

ADAPTIVE SPORTS GROUP
Eric Erickson, Estherville, rode a recumbent bike with the Adaptive Sports Iowa team of over 50 people, a number that includes sweeper support such as mechanical help.

Erickson, who has a noticeably smaller right arm, was pushing the bike with a U.S. flag attached on W-14 south of Hawkeye, on the turn east on 190th Street toward West Union.

“Letting people know we’re proud of America,” Erickson said of the flag.

“And it keeps me visible on the highway, training. If I can get somebody to take their foot off the accelerator for 35 seconds, then these guys don’t have to call the morgue,” he said, indicating the helping Iowa State Patrol troopers who stood by while waiting for his sweep crew. Troopers included Jason Marlow, Burlington — who used to officiate college basketball in northeast Iowa — and Paul Gardner, Fort Dodge.

When the sweeping crew arrived for Erickson, Jose Rodriguez, Minneapolis, got to work determining why the chain wasn’t turning the back tire.

Sweeping member Joe Laslo, of Kelley, Iowa, said about half of the 50-54 riders on the ASI team Farm Bureau presents, are challenged.

As the sweeping crew, their goal is to make RAGBRAI accessible for anyone with any physical or visual Challenge, Laslo said.

Laslo indicated the participants are bigger than their limitations.

“They have a heart bigger than any pro football player,” he said.

Participants have included people with spinal cord injuries using hand cycles (which are arm-powered), people with cerebral palsy using recumbent tricycles; and a blind couple each of whom brought their own sighted pilot, riding two tandem bicycles.

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