Yesterday was Day 21 of our ride…but we didn’t ride, it was a rest day we had plan
ned back in Twin Falls ID. The rest day turned out to be a family time. Monday our family gathered in Dubuque IA to celebrate the life of my step-mother Rosemary who left this world sometime in the night of July 1-2. When you get to be my age, it seems most family gatherings turn out to be either weddings or funerals. Although it was good to see my brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews and even a few great nieces and nephews, you still never want to see them under these circumstances.
We arrived in Fremont on Sunday afternoon after a 97 mile ride. My family (Kathy, Paige and Kyle) traveled to Iowa for a visit with Kathy’s family and hoped to be there when I came through Fremont. Paige and Kyle left on July 5th, one day before I arrived in Fremont due to prior commitments. Shortly after arriving, we were treated to the best meal of our ride to date (sorry Paul, you dropped into second), compliments of Kathy and her mom Bonnie. Since I needed to be in Dubuque for the funeral, Kathy and I left Fremont fo
r the three-hour trip to Dubuque shortly after we ate.
I returned Monday afternoon after the funeral just in time to enjoy another great meal. As it turned out, the temperatures soared to 96 degrees – a great day to be off the bike. Larry thought it would be a good day for a ride and took advantage of the opportunity by riding a quick 20 miles. He rode in the same head wind we had yesterday, but since he rode a loop (out and back in), he enjoyed a tail wind on his return. Storms hit just as we retired for the evening, cooling everything down by morning. Bonnie, thanks for putting up us for the past two days.
We started moving shortly aft
er 5:00 AM and hit the road by 6:45. We finally had the elusive tail wind we have been looking for, although it was a relatively light wind. Bob, our former support driver, had researched our route today due to the flooding over the past few weeks in Iowa. Bob chose a great route – light traffic and nothing but gently rolling hills. The total distance today was just over 123 miles, with almost 2,500 feet of climb. Thanks to our first tailwind today, we averaged 19.9 mph.
Our route started out on Hwy 23, traveled across Hwy 149 and then hit a series of county roads. We rode about 7 miles on the Duck Creek bike trail and ended in front of the Arsenal Bridge which will take us out of Iowa and into Illinois. We continue to ride a weather bubble across the country. Temperatures started a 69 degrees and ended at 82 degrees – absolutely perfect riding conditions.
Bob had called a local bike shop as we were in route to Bettendorf and scheduled a quick tune up. As it turned out this tune up was exactly what I needed since just over 75 miles into the ride, I broke a derailer cable. Larry unloaded our back-up bike and we were back riding again within a few minutes. Does support get any better than that? Thanks to the guys at Healthy Habits Bike Shop, our bikes are now ready to tackle the rest of our ride…hopefully our engines will be ready.
