Day 62: Back to Back to BACK!

I got ready in the morning at a normal pace, using the grill again for oatmeal and supplementing with a V8, raspberries, banana, and half a honeydew bought last night. I broke camp and hit the road at 11:30, not really sure where I'd end up for the night. Ideally it would be Decorah since my dad has friends there I could stay with, but that would be another 100+ mile day and I didn't think I would have the endurance for it.

Starting out didn't help my confidence either as I had a 15 mph crosswind that was slightly in my face. But I pulled out the music and pushed on. The past couple days I've had the iPod set to shuffle all 9500 of my songs and wow does it come up with some interesting stuff, like the Guerneville School WHAT rap recorded by some friends in high school. But overall it helps keep me in the rhythm so I skip songs when necessary and keep moving.

I was traveling along IA-9, which in many places has no paved shoulder, only a gravel one. In most cases all the cars and truck gave me plenty of room, but there were two or three times I could see a semi coming towards me and from behind and knowing it would be tight, ride into the shoulder. One of these safety diversions nearly wrecked me, as the gravel was soft and a couple inches thick. I fish-tailed quite a bit, nearly crashing a couple times, and was able to maneuver the bike back up to the pavement when the truck had passed. I kept going like this until taking a long lunch stop in Osage. Since when does Subway have Powerade in the soda fountain? It was pretty awesome and soon I was filled up and reenergized. Looking at my mileage, it was 4:30 and I had just over 50 miles to go. My body felt okay and I seemed to have the energy so I pushed on.

I've had some hard pushes on a few days but I don't think any lasted nearly as long. I had my music going, the wind had calmed down a little, and all of a sudden I found a bike lane in the middle of nowhere! Iowa has had a few good bike trails, but hardly any bike lanes, and to find one that stretched several miles between New Haven and Ridgeway was truly a welcome surprise. Another surprise was the Confederate flag I saw in Osage, I thought for sure I'd have to wait until the South to see that kind of blatant racism.

A little before Ridgeway I noticed a bit of a wobble in the rear tire. Worried it could be a flat I stopped to check it out, finding a spoke broken. I have spare spokes but I couldn't make Decorah and replace a spoke, there just wasn't enough time, so I pushed on and asked Babe to hang in there for me for the next 40 miles. At this point every bump and dip made me nervous, half expecting the rest of the wheel to unzip at any moment.

I made it to Ridgeway and gave my dad's friend Jim a call. Sure enough I planned on making it to his place and would be there just before dark. I had some quick conversation with a couple guys at the Fireman's Inn where I refilled my water and got a beer for good measure. Upon starting for the last 14 miles I put an 8tracks mix that Steph made of electro-pop and hit the road. She called it the Rolling Hills eMotivation mix and sure enough I hit some big rolling hills but was also motivated. The beats kept me in the zone and feeling like a Machine! Just give me some S&M leathers and the costume is complete (if you don't get the reference look up Brian Wilson and The Machine videos) (that's Brian Wilson the Giants pitcher, not the Beach Boy). I finally came into town and faced the final hill Jim had warned me about. I dropped into my granny gear and started up it, definitely the steepest hill since L&C Caverns, but still had to stop part way up for a quick breath. These legs are doing amazing things but climbing a steep grade after 105 miles is not their forte at the moment. Nonetheless I made it up and rolled into Jim and Diane's after topping 106 miles for the day, my third century in a row! It's unlikely I'll repeat this effort so I just revelled in how far I've come in the last three days and in general.

Jim and Diane made for amazing hosts and once I was showered up Jim and I went downtown for a drink and food, also meeting up with another of Dad's college buddies Kyrl. It was fun to hear some college stories and the conversation and food were great, thanks for dinner Jim! I was actually surprised I didn't eat more than a chicken sandwich, potato salad, side salad, and two pints. Curious, I had looked up a calorie burn estimator and found that me, 175 lbs now, with 60 lbs of gear, riding 14-16 mph for 405 minutes today, burned an estimated 7600 calories! That means that in the last three days I've probably burned over 22,000 calories, a pretty ridiculous number.

I'm looking forward to seeing Decorah a bit more tomorrow and having a leisurely 40 miles ride to the Mississippi where I'll get to camp in a state park along the river in Wisconsin.

P.S. As promised here is the old time photo that Steph and I took in Deadwood.