It's safe to say none of the two dozen bikers (and one neutral pedestrian commuter) at the finish line were cheering for her, but Supervisor Sally Stutsman scored the first-ever automotive victory in Bike To Work Week's annual Bike-Bus-Car race from Coral Ridge Mall to Downtown Iowa City.
As she strolled from the parking ramp to the finish line, bicyclists played the Death March on kazoos.
As Del Holland tries to figure out what went wrong, Sally Stutsman arrives in Victory Lane.
Thirty seconds later, the pre-race favorite, Senator Joe Bolkcom, was wheeling down Clinton Street accompanied by five other bikers.
Gracious to the biking cause in her unexpected, unwelcome victory, Stutsman said routing issues and good luck paved the way for her win:
I owe it all to Coralville and Camp Cardinal Road. No one said we had to take the Coralville Strip, and that would have been different. And I only hit one red light and got a good parking space right away. But I still have to pay to get out of the ramp...
Joe Bolkcom and Team Bike.
Bolkcom and his co-bikers got spread out, and Joe found himself fighting headwinds and an unanticipated hill.
Three minutes later (5:17 according to official Olympic Swiss Time) Amy Correia emerged from the Coralville bus (note bike rack on front of bus). Amy was surprised at her last place finish but was happy with the two chapters she finished in her book, a feat neither Stutsman nor Bolkcom could claim.
The Three Great Racers.
Prior to the dramatic finish, bikers talked up cycling issues with the two TV crews and handful of print reporters present.
Del Holland and his locally famous recumbent bike.
Del Holland, serving on the Johnson County trails advisory committee, said bikes need to be seen as part of transportation: "We need routes as well as trails." He also cited the relative low costs of on-site workplace shower facilities for bikers, compared to parking ramps.
Current champ in the Longest Bike Commute contest is Steve Rudin, who was flipping pancakes at this morning's bike breakfast (pictured above with Supervisor Terrence Neuzil). Steve takes a 16 mile route in from North Liberty to Iowa City in the morning, and a more direct 8 mile route home at night. Makes my 1.7 miles each way look wimpy.
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