The morning was cloudy and cool, but the wind was light/non-existent from the east. So I took the most direct route to gravel I know, and then more or less followed a path that Steve and I rode last November when I tried to follow him on one of his 100 mile gravel rides. I got a little turned around once, but it worked out in my favor as I just got to add a few more gravel miles to the ride.
The route was beautiful. Everything was green and lush. There were also lots of little purple violets and bright yellow dandylions and plenty of other things that I don't know the names of. At this point it started raining on me. I guess May showers are needed to maintain the May flowers. It wasn't hard, though, just a steady sprinkle, but it lasted for almost an hour. It cleared up a bit shortly before I rolled into West Branch for a pizza and fluids stop. And the sun even came out. I felt great here at the halfway point, I had 49 miles in and 45 of them were on dirt.
After lunch I rolled north a little ways before turning back south. I decided to start eating again almost immediately, even though I wasn't really hungry, and I think this was a good decision. It kept my tummy happy and the winds started to pick up, so I was definitely riding harder at this point. At first it was mostly a crosswind, but after I had skirted Iowa City and continued south a ways the winds picked up dramatically and were coming from the east and the south.
This area had also received a lot of fresh gravel. Combined with the headwind, this made for a very frustrating section. I spent most of it riding all the way to the side of the road, half in the grass at times, trying to avoid the deep sections of chunky gravel. I had originally planned to ride east towards Lone Tree and ride some of the nice roads I remember liking that are south and east of there. But that direction had more fresh gravel, and I wasn't up for it.
So I took a break and got some road miles in. I had hardly ridden any pavement since Iowa City. I decided to continue south towards the Tri-County Bridge and then Riverside. It seems I have been going there a lot lately, but that's ok. When I turned off the pavement the loose gravel and wind were still annoying me, but that ended as soon as I crossed the bridge. My speed and my spirits lifted as I rolled back north on the hard pack dirt I enjoy. Thank you Tri-County Bridge!
Nearing Riverside I was almost 90 miles into the ride and I was having no stomach problems. This excited me. I had almost no sugary drinks on this ride and I ate more food, so perhaps this is the way to go. I was quite starving when I pulled into the Casey's there. They were out of pizza, and this bummed me out. But when my eyes saw a bag of potato chips I realized those salty fats would be fine, too. So I grabbed a bag and a chocolaty, milky, Starbucks coffee drink and headed back to the bike.
The ride back into Iowa City was nice. I had a tailwind almost the whole way and I did a bunch of it on pavement. I ended up with just over 82 miles of gravel (I stopped counting at 80, but I know I got at least two miles in after that). The total ride ended up being 104.5 miles. My on the bike time was 6:40 and the total time was around 7:10. I also had some luck with me at the end, because when I pulled my bike into the porch I noticed the rear tire had about 50psi or less in it. And sure enough, this morning it is flat.
After a shower, some food, and some lounging, Robin and I went over to Cody's art opening. It was very fun. The mural was being painted by so many enthusiastic artists that I was happy to hang back, drink beer, and enjoy some great conversation with friends. I was a little dazed at the end of the show, so Robin and I skipped the after party at the Fox Head and strolled home in the rain.
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