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For riders climbing Walnut Street on Tuesday morning up to the Iowa Capitol, the must-have photo of the gold dome was a welcome relief.

RAGBRAI riders from other states commented as they rode past the building. One woman bragged to a teammate about how many times she’d visited as a child.

Neil Schneider, a Sacramento police captain, stopped by the grounds to look at the many monuments. The word that came to his mind when he saw the building: pretentious.

“It’s very pretentious, I have to admit,” he said. “It stands out.”

It’s not a word used often to describe anything in the land of “Iowa nice,” but Schneider said it with a laugh. It was a bonus for him to see the ground’s Civil War monument.

Overall, Schneider said he was impressed by his stay in Des Moines. But since he drew the short straw to drive his team’s bus today, he planned to bike around the city to see its trails and scenery downtown without all the crowd.

“Now I’m actually looking forward to going back there when it’s not so busy and vibrant so I can actually see some of the sights,” he said.

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