Featuring Appearances by
Kittie Weston-Knauer
Kittie Weston-Knauer, retired Des Moines Public Schools educator and administrator, is known as “Miss Kittie†in the cycling world and "BMX Mama" on the racing circuit. At age 67 she’s the oldest female racer in the nation who still outpaces scores of younger competitors. She’s a proud alumna of Drake University who also runs her own consulting firm and web TV service. She has won numerous awards on and off the bike and has served on the National Bicycle League board of directors. She continues to mentor youth, including work again this year with The Dream Tream of young riders on what will be her 31st RAGBRAI.
Jason Walsmith
Jason Walsmith co-founded his alt-rock-country band the Nadas in 1993 with Mike Butterworth when the two friends still were students at Iowa State University in Ames. He also was an aspiring journalist and photographer, but music prevailed as his primary career. The Nadas steadily grew into a national touring act that has sold more than 200,000 albums to date through its own Authentic Records label. Walsmith also plays plenty of solo gigs, often to roomfuls of Spandex-clad bicyclists along one of Iowa’s popular recreation trails. He still works as a freelance photographer.
Chuck Offenburger
Chuck Offenburge is a lifelong journalist from Shenandoah and proud Vanderbilt alumnus. He is an iconic columnist who spent 21 years covering the state as The Register’s “Iowa Boy.†In 1983 he stepped in to host RAGBRAI alongside John Karras when Karras’ co-founder, Donald Kaul, retired from the ride. After leaving the Register in 1998, Offenburger went on to teach at Loras in Dubuque, Buena Vista in Storm Lake and Coe in Cedar Rapids, and still publishes his own Offenburger.com news and opinion website. He remains an active bicyclist and advocate for Iowa’s recreational trails. He and his wife, Carla, live on their idyllic “Simple Serenity Farm†in rural Greene County.
Jess Rundlett
Jess Rundlett is the special projects and outreach coordinator at the State Historical Museum. She is a fifth-generation Iowan and a native of Vinton. She describes herself as an Iowa State Fair aficionado, competitive baker, avid cyclist and Iowa enthusiast. Last year she even won the Van & Bonnie All Iowa Trivia Bee on WHO Radio. Rundlett credits high school speech competition for honing her live storytelling skills. As a bicyclist she’s also an activist who works to empower other women and to make the roads safer for fellow pedalers and pedestrians.
Sam Auen
Sam Auen is the thick-bearded entrepreneur who runs a growing, eclectic array of restaurants: Tacopocalypse, Krunkwich Ramen House and the forthcoming dim sum eatery Piu Piu. You might have spotted him on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives.†He's also a metalhead who loves loud guitar that blares from a wall of amplifiers. (His “doom metal†solo project called the Office, in which he plays all the instruments, has a gig July 16 at Lefty’s Live Music.) Auen also is a devoted bike commuter who is unafraid to pedal through all kinds of weather.
Agenda
July 10, 2016
Climb That Hill: Kittie Weston-Knauer - 'BMX Mama'
Kittie Weston-Knauer, also known as "Miss Kittie" in the bicycling community, is the nation's oldest female BMX racer. She talks about how bicycling, racing and education have been intertwined throughout her life.
July 10, 2016
Climb That Hill: Jason Walsmith - 'Switching Eyes'
The co-founder of Iowa rock band the Nadas also is a lifelong photographer. Here Walsmith talks about a fateful day during his first semester of college that helped to change his entire outlook as an artist, and the course of his career.
July 10, 2016
Climb That Hill: Chuck Offenburger - 'We don't walk hills'
The legendary "Iowa Boy" of Iowa journalism talks about how he stumbled into the world of bicycling and riding RAGBRAI -- a happy accident that years later probably saved his life.
July 10, 2016
Climb That Hill: Jess Rundlett - 'Forward is the only way on two wheels'
Jess Rundlett, an Iowa historian and avid bicyclist who also is a tireless advocate for bike safety, talks about a tragic and fateful ride in 2015 and how she has dealt with its aftermath.
July 10, 2016
Climb That Hill: Sam Auen - 'Ride from hell'
The Des Moines restaurateur, who also is devoted bike commuter talks about one of the worst bike rides of his life: It was a stormy, soggy epic struggle along the Great Western Trail south of the city that Auen never will forget.