I’m sitting in a athletic field that includes baseball diamonds, rec center and a water park that is filled wall to wall with colorful tents and life is good. Later this evening near by the movie “Field of Dreams” will be shown in a large outdoor screen. Things are winding down on the ride, only one more day until we finish in Davenport on the banks of the Mississippi.
We’ve had wonderful weather on the ride, cool in the morning and warmer in the afternoon. For this time of year, it’s been perfect. Stories abound about previous years of rain, rain and more rain or extreme heat all week long. So it’s not a big surprise that today was less than perfect.
Started off overcast. By the 20 mile point it became evident that by looking at the sky that showers were heading in our direction. We stopped once or twice for snacks, coffee and water and by 11:30 it started to drip on us, that turned into spitting rain and finally showers as we pulled into a town for lunch. With the rain falling we found a food stand selling pull pork and brisket sandwiches that didn’t have a line. Jim, Lauri and myself stood huddling in a doorway of a storefront eating our lunch followed by ice cream sandwiches.
We decided to head out though the showers were continuing. The temperatures were not cold nor was the rain and as long as we kept moving, we would be warm. The roads had several rolling hills that kept us working pretty hard including a couple of 12% grades that forced many of the less experienced riders to push their bikes up the hills.
Looking over my shoulder I could see a line of clouds that allowed the blue sky to start to appear and I can see over several minutes that the blue sky was moving in our direction. With 5 miles to Coralville the showers taper off. Buy the time we entered the RAGRAI finish line, the rain stopped and we rolled across the red carpet laid out for out for the riders.
We found a brewery and had a couple. As we sipped the beer, the sun came out and dried us out and warmed us up.
We made it to our campsite. Following showers we all headed out to a Whole Foods type of place that served sandwiches and such. As I sit on the grass blogging away, I could my blessing to be able to enjoy the company of great friend and experience Iowa in the summer.
In the the the movie "Field of Dreams" there is line that has become an tag line of sorts and is often repeated. In the movie, a the Shoeless Joe character asks; “is this heaven?” and the response is: “No it’s Iowa.” After such a wonderful week riding the roads, enjoying the camaraderie, who am I to say if it’s Iowa or Heaven?
Happy Biking,
Brian
We’ve had wonderful weather on the ride, cool in the morning and warmer in the afternoon. For this time of year, it’s been perfect. Stories abound about previous years of rain, rain and more rain or extreme heat all week long. So it’s not a big surprise that today was less than perfect.
Started off overcast. By the 20 mile point it became evident that by looking at the sky that showers were heading in our direction. We stopped once or twice for snacks, coffee and water and by 11:30 it started to drip on us, that turned into spitting rain and finally showers as we pulled into a town for lunch. With the rain falling we found a food stand selling pull pork and brisket sandwiches that didn’t have a line. Jim, Lauri and myself stood huddling in a doorway of a storefront eating our lunch followed by ice cream sandwiches.
We decided to head out though the showers were continuing. The temperatures were not cold nor was the rain and as long as we kept moving, we would be warm. The roads had several rolling hills that kept us working pretty hard including a couple of 12% grades that forced many of the less experienced riders to push their bikes up the hills.
Looking over my shoulder I could see a line of clouds that allowed the blue sky to start to appear and I can see over several minutes that the blue sky was moving in our direction. With 5 miles to Coralville the showers taper off. Buy the time we entered the RAGRAI finish line, the rain stopped and we rolled across the red carpet laid out for out for the riders.
We found a brewery and had a couple. As we sipped the beer, the sun came out and dried us out and warmed us up.
We made it to our campsite. Following showers we all headed out to a Whole Foods type of place that served sandwiches and such. As I sit on the grass blogging away, I could my blessing to be able to enjoy the company of great friend and experience Iowa in the summer.
In the the the movie "Field of Dreams" there is line that has become an tag line of sorts and is often repeated. In the movie, a the Shoeless Joe character asks; “is this heaven?” and the response is: “No it’s Iowa.” After such a wonderful week riding the roads, enjoying the camaraderie, who am I to say if it’s Iowa or Heaven?
Happy Biking,
Brian
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