a wednesday night in des moines

brian duffy addresses approximately 500 cyclists on the west steps of the iowa capitol who had gathered to show support for strict--hell, ANY--enforcement of currently existing laws against motorists who run over, maim, kill, or otherwise assault bicyclists in general, and in the case of john lynch and doug smith, specifically.

brian duffy and ken sherman, chief instigator, enjoy a moment's rest

maria ruhtenberg, and emily smith, doug's daughter, address the crowd

senators joe bolkham [iowa city] and bill dotzler [waterloo] stepped out from the capitol where business was being conducted to speak to the cyclists. joe and bill, along with matt mccoy [des moines] are among the very few legislators who not only support bicyclists in the senate, they actually ride bikes AND, they "get it." we need more elected officials like joe, bill, and matt.

among out-of-towners who came to des moines and took part were cody gieselman and steve goetzelman, owners of 30th century bicycle , a brand new bike shop opening april 22 [that's earth day, you non-hippies!]. never mind the crush of things to do to open a bike shop, they came to town to ride and show support. these folks get it, too, and they deserve your support. visit them when you go to the old capitol criterium next weekend. their shop is located at 310 east prentiss street. you might recall steve is one of the few cyclists ever to actually finish transiowa [back when it was a trans-iowa event], and who later went on to win some crazy 200 mile gravel road race in kansas. despite this, i still think he's a nice guy. he's the guy who painted the orphanage purple. cody is a hell of a talented artist, and a whiz-bang bike mechanic who can fix your three-speed hub quicker than you can spell sturmey-archer.

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photos by chris "mr. pinkie" maharry, who also gets it.