The Director and staffers of RAGBRAI are ditching the entity that represents the "R" in their name: the Des Moines Register.

KCCI reports that these staffers have created "Iowa's Ride" with all proceeds to charity, half of which will benefit the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. The new race will be run by now-former members of the Register staff, who resigned and say "we put our heart and soul into this event, but when our principles are compromised, we just can't go on", according to T.J. Juskiewicz, former director of RAGBRAI.

The Register recently took heat for reporter Aaron Calvin's article which pointed out old, controversial tweets by Carson King, who raised over $3 million for the Stead Family Children's Hospital. Calvin was fired in the wake of public backlash.

In a lengthy Facebook post (below), Juskiewicz describes why he could no longer continue his association with the Des Moines Register and RAGBRAI.

The Des Moines Register says RAGBRAI will continue next year. Iowa's Ride is scheduled for the same week, July 19-25.

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