I flew into Omaha on Sunday to join my bike group in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We are currently 13, all but one are old friends from previous trips. Yesterday was a bust—a cold, windy, steady rain all day. Fortunately, we had just planned to check out our bikes with some local sightseeing. Instead, I did a lot of reading, with exciting breaks to climb the hotel stairs.
Although today felt more like March, highs around 50 and winds frequently blowing in our faces, we had no rain on our 50 mile ride. We did discover that all the warnings about the the hills of Iowa are indeed correct. We encountered one unexpected challenge about four miles into the ride, a long stretch of mud, as the bike path was under repair. I was one of the advance team who waded in to see how far the path was torn up. I made it about six feet, and after all of Monday’s rain, was quickly getting mired in the mud. It took about 45 minutes to get enough mud off my tires and shoes so that I could ride. That did give those who avoided the mud a chance to map out an alternative route, which fortunately only added about three miles to the route.
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