Distance 113
Saddle time 4:52
Average speed 23.2
Max speed 55.0
Total ascent 837m
Total descent 908m
Another good riding day. We were
woken up by some excitement. Some of the
group was sleeping in the main hallway of the camp we were staying at and some
were sleeping in tents. Around 630, the
main hallway was flooded by the tent people who had seen a storm coming (the
wind was blowing pretty fiercely and the clouds were dark), so they had QUICKLY
packed up their tents and headed for shelter.
Fortunately, there actually was very little in the way of “storm” (it
was windy and there was some moderate rain) and everybody stayed pretty dry
(especially tents/sleeping bags etc) but it certainly was an exciting way to
start the day.
We had a hilly 113 km day with some rain in the morning (which meant I
got to clean my drivetrain AGAIN – not my favourite chore!) and an occasional
moderate headwind. The other excitement
of the day was courtesy of my inattention.
We were riding single file on a country road when I failed to notice the
shoulder I was on abruptly ended. My
riding buddies had moved over and I hadn’t noticed. I went off the 2-3 inch pavement onto the
gravel, grass and broken pavement at about 30km/h. I was trying to decide whether I wanted to
fall to the right (landing on the softer grass, but also landing on the
derailleur) or the left (hitting the pavement, but protecting my drivetrain),
when I found myself slowing enough to unclip and not fall EITHER way. A big relief for sure! I was shaking from the adrenaline, but got
back onto the road for the rest of the day.
We had a great stop for lunch in the town of Norton (population 61, but
home of a delicious restaurant – try the grilled chicken salad with the
“Dorothy” dressing, which is apparently only available in Nebraska). As we neared our camp site, the group wanted
to stop at Wendy’s, but I felt like continuing on, so I rode 8km all by
myself. It was actually a bit strange to
be riding alone after spending 4 weeks always riding with others. I think overall I would choose to ride with a
group, but I had a great day in total!
Day 30 Sidney, IA to Diagonal, IA (HALFWAY POINT TIMEWISE OF THE
TOUR!!!)
Distance 140kmSaddle time 6:07
Average speed 22.8
Max speed 52.9
Total ascent 1334m
Total descent 1325m
It’s a bit depressing to think that our net elevation gain for the day
is only 9m. After a gruelling day of
climbing up and down and up and down across southern Iowa, we are sleeping only
9m further from sea level than we did last night. We left Sidney a bit later (8:15ish) and I
rode with Zach’s Angel’s. I had so much
fun over the first 30km. The hills were
lovely and rolling, and you could get enough speed on the descents to carry you
up much of the ascent. The sun was
shining and the corn was tall. It was
awesome. When we got to Shenandoah, a
town about 40km into the ride, the Angels decided to stop for a second
breakfast (not too uncommon a practise).
I, however, was feeling a bit stressed out, considering we still had
100km to go, the service at the restaurant we chose was not super fast and I
was on the sweep team (ie. Had to help set up by supper which starts at
5:30pm). I was feeling a bit of pressure
to get in a bit faster, so Kaitlyn and I struck out on our own and had a great
day chatting, climbing hills, and climbing more hills (This was the third highest
elevation gain day for the tour - the highest two days being in Colorado and
New Mexico!!).
Once in camp, we had a delicious supper (mmmmm…Iowa corn!!!) and then
the United Church from Diagonal, who is raising money for their new building,
sold us AMAZING pie and homemade ice cream as a fundraiser (they are also
cooking our breakfast tomorrow!). It was
incredible. After Pelaton, we enjoyed a
bunch of skits (our devotion groups are facing off in a small group story
telling/joke/skit challenge) and now it’s time to call it a night! Looking forward to a great day of riding
again tomorrow (hopefully with just a few less hills).
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