A Warm Welcome in Oskaloosa
Today we rode 84 miles from Clive, to Oskaloosa, Iowa. We climbed 3,100 feet.
Our scheduled departure got pushed a few times this morning as we watched weather reports and tried to avoid thunderstorms. We successfully avoided the lightning/thunder, but started on wet roads and got almost as wet from the road as we would have from the rain. Another fire department escort to a nice bike trail that took us out of Clive and around the southeast edge of Des Moines. We try to avoid high traffic areas whenever possible; today we enjoyed some of Iowa's wonderful bike paths. Once we got clear of Des Moines we got back on some quiet country roads and did the climb/descend routine for the middle section of the day. We had another exceptional lunch provided by our All-Universe SAG team, sitting under a pavilion roof in a park while we waited out a rain squall. By that time we had about 24 miles left to the hotel, and it looked like a storm would hit us if we didn't get moving. We donned rain gear and headed out into the rain. We have all ridden in the rain before, and none of us really likes it; today proved unexceptional in that regard. Things got worse when it became apparent that a storm was moving in our direction and it began to look pretty scary. Dark clouds and sheets of rain were closing on us in the final miles. Thankfully, a strong wind preceded the rain and it pushed us to higher speeds as we raced to the hotel. The group pulled into the hotel parking lot just ahead of the storm and we watched the rain and lightning from the safety of the hotel.
This evening we received a warm welcome from Oskaloosa American Legion Post 34, including a personal welcome from Mayor David Krutzfeldt. We enjoyed good conversation and a delicious meal that will have us ready to roll tomorrow. Thank you very much Post 34.
Tomorrow we will ride fromOskoloosa to Washington, Iowa. We will cycle 53 miles and climb 2280 feet.
Totals to Date
Miles: 2,134
Elevation Gain: 70,727
Flat Tires: 30
States crossed: 5
Centuries: 6
