July 29, 2010

We have finished day 5, the longest day of biking. It lived up to its reputation – it was just a long day. The weather was fine and there was no wind, so that wasn’t the problem. We were served coffee and breakfast before we left Charles City, so searching for food wasn’t the problem. I think what made it long for me is that as we were leaving Charles City, I saw the sign for Cedar Falls – 46 miles and this is a city across the river from Waterloo and they decided to take us on an 82 mile trek to get there. It wasn’t like they took us somewhere interesting like to see a Grotto or fossils. It was just a day of biking.

My day did not start out well. My chain fell off within the first 5 miles. I kept putting it on and it kept coming off. Finally a gorgeous DM Register ambassador guy stopped and offered to help. He was very sweet and it came right back off for him as well. He had to adjust my derailleur but fixed the problem.

Our first stop was in Clarksville, 20 miles down the road. I noted a sign that said “Visit the library – restrooms available”. That sounded great to me. The librarians and volunteers there were gracious and took great care of us. There was a donation bucket and I left a great tip. Outside the library, I met a freelance reporter from the Ames Tribune who interviewed me. I happened to be wearing my KMF jersey and so told him about the foundation and why I was riding. He said he had been a chaplain at Toledo Children’s Hospital and so seemed to understand what I do for a job. I will have to check and see if I made his paper. From there we followed another sign for homemade pie and while we were having pie, we were joined by 2 men who came all the way from Australia for this event. The shark-bike arrived as well and I finally got my picture of that bike.

The next stop was Parkersburg, a sad little town. 2 years ago, they were nearly wiped out from a tornado. Last summer, their beloved football coach was murdered by a deranged former player. The tributes to him on the way to the town were heartwrenching.

After that we just rode and rode. I noted a sign for a golf demonstration at a country club outside of Dike. It said to come join us in the clubhouse, so that meant air conditioning, real bathrooms, and drinks, so it was next to the country club. My friend is a writer and she thinks her column about Ragbrai should be about how it is summer camp for baby boomers. It does seem like everyone is my age. I thought about calling Kristen from there (I had done 60 miles by that point, wasn’t that enough for the day?), but pressed on instead. It took a lot for me to get up again and get back on that bike, but ride I did. It is a good thing that I did because otherwise I might have missed the home of Julie Theusen, the first woman in Iowa (and probably the country) to exercise her right to vote.

We finally arrived at Waterloo, but then realized that it was probably another 8 miles to where we were staying. We thought about having the girls come and pick us up, but the traffic was terrible there, so ride some more we did. By the time we got to our host family, we had put 89 miles on the bikes and it was 7PM. Very tiring day.

I have decided that there is no way to train for being on a bike for 8-11 hrs per day. My legs can take it and I seem to have the stamina, but there is no way to get your butt ready for the experience unless you are going to be on a bike 8 hrs a day. Who has that kind of time and why do it?

Again, we are staying with a charming retired couple who are just thrilled to have us. They have actually been to Hershey once on their many travels. They have a wall of their house where they have framed their favorite photos from their many trips throughout their lives.

Kristen and Monika have managed to stay busy all day. They checked out the fossil park by Rockford and then made their way to Cedar Falls, the home of the University of Northern Iowa. They found the art museum and the charming downtown. They also picked up some bengay packs for aching muscles. Kristen thought I could use this. They do seem to be helping.