UpperMiss

Day 12

Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Iowa City, IA to Fort Madison, IA
93.3 miles, 7h11m, 13.0 mph
Elapsed Time: 9h29m, Max speed: 40.8mph
Total Climbing: 2021ft, Max elevation: 776ft
Total mileage: 863.1

Today was all about crancking out miles. Good thing. There wasn't really anything to see. Just Iowa.

And this is about as Iowa as it gets.

Conditions were excellent. Sunny, crosswinds that helped more than hurt. Not many hills. I broke one of my own rules and listened to my iPod while I rode. (Legal argument: I did not break the rule, I simple reinterpreted the rule. It is no longer a bright-line rule, now it is a balancing test involving factors such as traffic volume, mental state, and length of ride.)

I stopped in almost every town and bought a Vitamin Water, even if I didn't need anything. A guy in Lone Tree gave me a preview of the roads ahead before he started talking about his time in Germany after WWII. Most people expressed amazement that I was riding to Fort Madison--let alone St. Louis. I guess I'm a bit off the usual bike touring routes, so I was a bit of a novelty.

I started feeling a little funny after about 50 miles, so I stopped for lunch in Winfield. It was about noon, and I was making good time.

There wasn't much to see, so I didn't take many photos.

Had this weird sky thing going on. So I got to watch that all day.

I didn't stop at a little town called Lowell because it was at the bottom of a hill and I didn't want to lose my momentum. That might have been the hill where I broke 40mph--my high speed for the trip. My last stop was in West Point, and then I just rolled to the finish. The motel is just off the bluff, so I finally gave back all that elevation I earned a couple days ago when John and I left Prairie du Chien.

The plan for tomorrow is to get to Hannibal, Missouri. Problem is, I don't think I'm allowed to bicycle across the bridge there. Solution is, Linda is flying out tomorrow. She will drive me across. It looks like I might need to put in some heroic days in order to reach St. Louis on Saturday. I might just keep riding south tomorrow until I meet Linda--even if I pass Hannibal. That way I might be able to reduce Friday's necessary heroism. We'll see.

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