Susan made omelette and oatmeal for breakfast with more of the delicious blueberries from the night before, excellent riding food! She then cycled with me to the store where I bought some athletes tape to strap up my ankle. The extra support worked a charm and made the ride a lot less painful.
Susan rode with me for the first 12 miles and took me along a side road that runs parallel to the US 30. Eventually the road turned to gravel and we had to get back on the highway for a bit before she turned around to head home.
The rest of the day was spent on US 30 running directly west. The straight line road was only made more interesting by the gentle rolling hills that were tough on the ankle on the way up, but let me relax it on the way down. Tomorrow is basically all US 30 again, so more of the same to come.
Iowa is a lovely place to cycle (when not on highways all the time!) and every year in July they hold the 'Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa' (Ragbrai) that runs West to East and is a large traveling bike festival across a week. Apparently it involves a lot of pie and beer too! Maybe another year!
At midday I finally took a rest for a sandwich and to sort the motel for the evening. I first called the Motel 6 who told me they only had one room left at $80 for the night, yikes! I then tried the Super 8, Best Western and Hampton motels (all within a mile of each other) and none of them had and vacancies at all! I finally called the Motel 6 back and bit the bullet. The manager was English to my surprise, from Leicester, not too far from my university! He gave me a $10 discount for being a fellow Brit, but it's still ended up being an expensive nights stay.
Around Toledo and Tama there were lots of roadworks apparently going on and for several miles one lane of the highway was coned off. I cycled on the other side of the cones expecting to have to move into the traffic lane at some point, but luckily throughout the whole section of 'roadworks' I only saw one hi-vis pushing a wheelbarrow! It was like having my own private bike lane!
I finally reached Marshalltown and checked into the motel. I had some paperwork to sort out for my house rental back home and the helpful people in the local Staples sorted everything right out for me, very helpful!
Dinner choices tonight were basically limited to Applebees or McDonalds as the other local restaurant was under refurbishment. I went for Applebees and ordered a shrimp scampi linguine and a bottomless root beer, with a triple chocolate meltdown for dessert. Need to stock up for the long ride tomorrow!
Miles today: 69.0
Total miles: 1261.5
Susan rode with me for the first 12 miles and took me along a side road that runs parallel to the US 30. Eventually the road turned to gravel and we had to get back on the highway for a bit before she turned around to head home.
The rest of the day was spent on US 30 running directly west. The straight line road was only made more interesting by the gentle rolling hills that were tough on the ankle on the way up, but let me relax it on the way down. Tomorrow is basically all US 30 again, so more of the same to come.
Iowa is a lovely place to cycle (when not on highways all the time!) and every year in July they hold the 'Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa' (Ragbrai) that runs West to East and is a large traveling bike festival across a week. Apparently it involves a lot of pie and beer too! Maybe another year!
At midday I finally took a rest for a sandwich and to sort the motel for the evening. I first called the Motel 6 who told me they only had one room left at $80 for the night, yikes! I then tried the Super 8, Best Western and Hampton motels (all within a mile of each other) and none of them had and vacancies at all! I finally called the Motel 6 back and bit the bullet. The manager was English to my surprise, from Leicester, not too far from my university! He gave me a $10 discount for being a fellow Brit, but it's still ended up being an expensive nights stay.
Around Toledo and Tama there were lots of roadworks apparently going on and for several miles one lane of the highway was coned off. I cycled on the other side of the cones expecting to have to move into the traffic lane at some point, but luckily throughout the whole section of 'roadworks' I only saw one hi-vis pushing a wheelbarrow! It was like having my own private bike lane!
I finally reached Marshalltown and checked into the motel. I had some paperwork to sort out for my house rental back home and the helpful people in the local Staples sorted everything right out for me, very helpful!
Dinner choices tonight were basically limited to Applebees or McDonalds as the other local restaurant was under refurbishment. I went for Applebees and ordered a shrimp scampi linguine and a bottomless root beer, with a triple chocolate meltdown for dessert. Need to stock up for the long ride tomorrow!
Miles today: 69.0
Total miles: 1261.5
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