About Us
The Beginning of the C.U.B.S. It was after Ragbrai XXIII that the CUBS organization was created. Owing to the neglect of a company called Northwest Passage which had taken many of the 'original 13' to Ragbrai in previous years, on the bus ride back to Chicago, we decided we could run our own group. So that winter, the following CUBS joined forces:
Mike and Diane Conklin, Art Feldman, Jerry Turry, Peg Spengler, Anna Hanley, Arch Bryant, Vince and Judy McBrien, Ken Moss, Don Ross, Jen Ross, Ken Weller & Bob Kipper. We held our first organizational meeting at Hackney's Restaurant. Our actual name at the first meeting was U-B Cyclists.
We changed it shortly after that when Mike Conklin said the CUBS would be a great name, because Iowans loved the CUBS. Jerry Turry came up with Chicago Urban Bicycling Society. We had 43 riders the first year and we have gotten stronger each year since.
Ragbrai XXIV: July 21-27, 1996: This ride featured the beginning of the Chicago Urban Bicycling Society. It also had the smallest overnight town populations of any previous ride, making housing a real challenge. We had 43 CUBS that first year. We started in Sioux Center and stayed overnight in Sibley, Estherville, Charles City, Lake Milles, Cresco, and Fayette (pop. 983) before ending in Guttenberg. The route covered 437 miles. The real challenge was the 150 mile loop on Wedneday from Estherville to Charles City. Only CUBS rider Don Freihoffer was up to the challenge. He rode it averaging 18 MPH taking over 8 hours to get to Charles City.