While one big bicycling event across Iowa (RAGBRAI) is on hold until next year, officials holding a similar event (The Iowa Ride) say they’re hopeful the spread of COVID-19 will have lessened and the ride can still take place.

In a social media post, Monday, organizers said “Our priority to keep everyone safe. A bike ride is never that important. We also know that the start of Iowa’s Ride is still close to 3 months away, so it is still early to decide at this point. We will remain hopeful that the health risks will subside towards the end of summer. Again, our top priority is the safety of everyone involved in our inaugural event.”

The Iowa Ride is scheduled to take place July 12th through the 18th, or one-week before the scheduled start of the now postponed RAGBRAI event. RAGBRAI organizers said Monday, the same ride planned for this year, will instead take place in 2021.

Instead of proceeding from west to east, the RAGBRAI, the 416-mile long Iowa Ride starts in Dubuque on July 12th and ends in Rock Rapids on the 18th.