Hills and Hamstrings

Day 33 Pella, IA to Coralville, IA
Distance 150
Saddle time 6:08
Avg speed 24.8
Max speed 24.5
Total ascent 1503m
Total descent 1542m

Today was a good riding day again!  I had a bit of a rough start.  I got out of camp a bit later than I intended (I was the VERY last person to leave camp today!), but with a group of 3 other riders, we hit the road on the way to a second breakfast at Sully CRC (30km from Pella).  My legs were very unhappy this morning, especially my left leg; that’s the one I fell on when I crashed Thursday.   Everywhere I have a bruise on that leg (calf, lateral quad, posterior hamstring) spasmed like crazy as we got started.  Fortunately, after about an hour of riding, the spasms subsided and I’m hoping they don’t return.  I rubbed some ice on the unhappy areas during second breakfast and that seemed to help.

Descending before yet another ascent - the theme of the day!

After breakfast, we had a very hilly 150km total day.  We climbed 1500+m which is one of the biggest climbing days for the tour.  I counted 5 hills with grades over 10%, including one up to 13%.  Gladly, none of them were too long and we made it through without too much difficulty (even on the 10km stretch of hills where we were riding right into a nasty headwind).  We were treated at one of the SAG stops to homemade boterkoek – amazing!  I love being Dutch!  I am so excited for a rest this weekend as my legs are pretty sore.  Hopefully with some stretching and ice, I’ll be good as new for Monday’s 150+km ride!