Our Crest Ink Editor asked me to recap our summer trek across Iowa as a follow up to my article written six months ago, when it was still quite warm outside. Readers may recall that my wife Lisa, a cancer survivor, and I were planning to ride our bicycles across Iowa from Glenwood to Muscatine during the month of July. The 420 mile journey was the third shortest over the 44 year history of the event and at 18,488 feet of total climb, was the 24th flattest. The beginning of our route toured the relatively rugged terrain of southern Iowa, devoid of the endless acres of cornfields, characteristic within the majority of the state.
Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa July 23-29, 2017 http://www.ragbrai.org/
by Jeff Friday
Downtown on Main Street in Ashton has occupied the same two blocks for well over a hundred years. That doesn’t mean that these two blocks haven’t seen a lot of changes though. The recent upgrade of the road and sidewalks lead us to thinking about what Main Street has looked like since horse and buggy days until A long time ago... 1923 We are now looking forward to the 2017 ride. This will be, hopefully, my eleventh and Lisa’s sixth trip. We are again planning for heat, humidity, hills and headwinds, not to mention rain and maybe severe thunderstorms or the threat of a tornado. As we stare out the window onto the winter ice and snow, we know that July is coming and RAGBRAI is what we do. As always, it’s great to be alive, healthy, strong enough to ride, and enjoying everything that God gives! Beyond those hills, the heat, humidity and headwinds (the 4-Hs of RAGBRAI), were less of a problem than other years with storms staying away as well. Sometimes people ask about bicycle repairs and flat tires along the way. While we carry gear to deal with simple repairs, including tires, this year we were fortunate enough to have abso- lutely no problems along the way, until the moment that I dipped my tire in the Mississippi River. I picked up a shard of glass at the dock and ended on a flat tire. At that point, I was able to rack my bike and fix it at home. We both completed every mile and dipped our tires into the Mississippi River on Saturday, July 30th after a brisk 50 mile morning ride into Muscatine.
16 Crest Ink January, February & March 2017
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