In a statement released Tuesday the Director of RAGBRAI, TJ Juskiewicz, announced his resignation from the position. Juskiewicz said he and his organizing staff will be starting a new ride called “Iowa’s Ride” that is scheduled for the week of July 19-25, 2020, which is the same week as RAGBRAI.

In the statement Juskiewicz described his frustration with not being able to speak openly to RAGBRAI patrons after the fallout from the Register’s coverage of Carson King, the Iowa State fan who turned a sign for beer money into a multi-million dollar fundraiser for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Juskiewicz said he was told by Register Editors to refer any questions to the paper’s official statement regarding their editing decisions, and to run any statements he wanted to put out through a PR firm that was hired during the fallout from the coverage.

Juskiewicz stated “I can no longer be an effective leader when my principles are compromised by the leadership of Gannett/Des Moines Register. If we balked this time, I couldn’t imag(in)e any future thoughts of making decisions in the best interest of YOU the riders and the great state of Iowa.”

The new ride will have a Northern Iowa route this year with the official route being announced in November. The new ride will directly benefit Iowa based charities. You can find out more about the new ride and sign up at www.iowasride.com.  Officials at Gannett, the parent company of the Register, said late Tuesday, that RAGBRAI will continue in 2020, and that they are committed to donating $50,000 to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. A Gannett spokeperson said the company is exploring legal all legal options, but none had been taken against Iowa Ride organizers, as of last report.