Cyclists are taking over Iowa as RAGBRAI kicked off Sunday.
Committee members held a final strategy session in Clear Lake Sunday before months of work goes into action.
"It should be a pretty full area. It'll be like a little town," said RAGBRAI Campground Manager Ernie Klein.
Klein and his committee are busy making final preparations for the thousands of people who will call clear lake home for just one night.
"It’s been a lot of work but we got more work to do but I’m ready for it," said Klein.
Klein says when cyclists hit clear lake on Tuesday they'll easily double the town's population.
"We usually have about 9,600 people that live in town here so it'll be close to having another Clear Lake out here all in tents though," said Klein.
On Tuesday Clear Lake High School grounds will be home to more than 6,000 people camping in tents; but the total number of people coming to Clear Lake for RAGBRAI is more than double that.
"Actually we'll have about 17,000 people camping in Clear Lake," said General Chairman Diane Thompson.
Thompson says Clear Lake is ready for the big event to come.
"All of a sudden it's becoming so real we're actually being able to see what we're going to be doing," said Thompson.
And they'll have the chance to show people from around the country, and even the world what Iowa hospitality is like.
"All over the united states, from every state and so far two countries that I know of Italy and Ireland they're coming over for this," said Thompson.
She's confident the 17,000 plus visitors, and even Clear Lake natives, will enjoy what's in store for the next couple days.
"It’s going to be a great day. If you haven't seen a RAGBRAI before it'll be like nothing you have ever seen or could imagine and if you have you know it's going to be a good time," said Thompson.
Thompson says it is also important to plan ahead. There will be many road closures in Clear Lake starting Monday.
You can find more information about traffic during the event on the Clear Lake RAGBRAI website.
