COVID-19 Update - State of the 2020 Corn | Tour de Corn

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Tour de Corn Family:

First we want you to know that you have been on our hearts so much over these past few weeks. Our team has been reminiscing lately, recalling previous rides where you’ve made us laugh (and even cry) as you’ve shared stories of your rides, your families and your life journeys.

We know regardless of wherever you are, we’re all working together to stay healthy, financially sound, and supportive of our friends and neighbors. And frankly few things sound as good right now as riding past a cornfield in 95-degree heat with the famous headwind fighting you on that last stretch of the Century — all to be greeted at a Tour de Corn rest stop with buttered sweet corn, ice-cold watermelon and lots and lots of smiles. We miss our “family” (as we truly feel this Tour de Corn community is) and can’t stand the possibility of not seeing you in just a few weeks.

Will we ride the Tour de Corn on June 27?

While the outlook is indeed challenging, we simply cannot make that call just yet. As a committee, we’ve been working very closely with our partners and government/health officials to consider all our options for late June. We tend to be an optimistic bunch ‘round here and are praying daily that individuals and our country will have a marked recovery soon. But rest assured we will not host a ride that isn’t in compliance with regulations or could jeopardize our riders, our volunteers, and our communities both here or back at your own hometowns.

What We Can Tell You

We want you to know that we are considering all of the alternatives, including a virtual ride. We will work to be as transparent as possible with you in the weeks ahead as we navigate a daily evolving situation. We know many of you travel great distances to get here and we want to be sensitive to your arrangements, so our plan is to announce a go/no-go by mid-May.
We want to CORN-nect with you more than ever. To be honest, we’ve been a little quieter than usual lately as we (like you) have processed this new situation with our families and businesses. But we’re cooped up, we miss you, and we’re ready to re-corn-nect on our social media channels with fun memories, contests, recipes and just seeing what you folks are up to in your new normals. We think we all could use some Tour de Corn hospitality these days! Also look for some updates on how monies from the 2019 ride have been distributed to several local and national organizations and our COVID-19 support, too — some great stories to come!
Finally, even IF we are able to move forward, we understand that some of you who have registered may not be comfortable or able to join us this year for a number of reasons. We completely respect your situations and for the first time ever will be offering full refund/rollover/donation options to anyone who has a paid 2020 registration. We’ll have an update on that in the next two weeks, or you may contact Casidy at registration@tourdecorn.com in the meantime with immediate questions. This update will include details on fulfillment/refunds on any merchandise you may have purchased as well.

We truly thank you for your understanding as we weigh our possibilities and consider everyone's safety. We WILL ride again and we WILL celebrate the fun of the Tour de Corn. We just want our “family” to be as safe as possible while we do it. Please stay tuned...

Be healthy and stay corny,
Your friends at Tour de Corn

Tour de Corn was highly recommended by some friends in the area. I had this crazy idea that I wanted to do a century on a fat bike and everyone said this was the place to do it. I have no idea where to begin, everything about the experience was absolutely amazing! The townsfolk go the extra mile, celebrating the event with the riders. The Friday night festivities were a blast and EVERYONE is so friendly. The routes were the best marked routes I have ever seen, I didn’t use a map and there was never any doubt about which way I needed to go. The SAG stops were perfectly spaced, manned by incredibly friendly people and well stocked with everything we needed to make the ride. Please give my THANKS to the farmers that had their sprinkler systems spraying the road - what a huge boost that was, and it felt amazing! During my 100.5 miles I was passed by at least 20 sag vehicles. They were constantly patrolling and supporting riders. I thought maybe they were circling me because I was on a fat bike and they were ready to evacuate me, lol. Law enforcement was present and patrolling the routes as well. Even on the open highway commuters all waved and moved well away from the riders. You have planned and executed an amazing event. It is very clear your community rally’s around and wholeheartedly supports this event. I can’t wait to return, and I will tell everyone that I can this event needs to be on their calendar. Thank you so much for all you did - your entire community is amazing and it meant so much to me to see how they embraced this event! I finished 100.5 miles on the fat bike! Many of my friends are blown away that I did, I’m very proud of the achievement, and your incredible community and amazingly well organized event will always be part of my story.
--- Brad Hicks

Really enjoyed the ride Saturday! The weather was nice, great SAG support and wonderful rest stops! Everyone was so nice and hospitable. This was my first, and I will definitely be back next year!
--- Pennie Martin