We’ve come a long way….

Today we rode 98 miles from Wisner, Nebraska to Dennison, Iowa. We climbed 3,842 feet. 

 As I begin writing this, our start this morning seems like a very long time ago, although it was only ten hours. Our days are filled with constant motion and they have begun to run together. We started at 0700 with another fire department escort to the edge of town. Another dawn start with clear skies and a temperature of 44 degrees fahrenheit, cold enough to numb fingers through gloves.

The route began with a long series of rolling hills; we seemed to be either climbing or descending for the first forty miles, nothing flat. Climbing hills tends to stretch the group, as it eliminates any benefit we get from drafting; everyone climbs at their own pace. From the back of the group we could see riders ascending hills to the east directly below the sun rising through fog. It was quite a scene and many of us tried to capture the images with our phones. For safety concerns, we crossed the Missouri River in cars, our first portage of the trip. We rode into Iowa under a warming sun and bid Nebraska a fond farewell. Sixty miles into Iowa we are enjoying more wonderful scenery, as our route makers have taken us onto a number of scenic byways.

We had a nice stop at Russell Brasel American Legion Memorial Hall in Dow City, Iowa. The wonderful people there made us feel very welcome, feeding us pizza and making a donation to the ride. After loading up on pizza and iced tea, we pushed the final ten miles to Dennison. While our official mileage today was only 98 miles, most of the team clocked an additional two miles so they could record a personal century ride.

We've come a long way...

Hello, World!