Well, Day 2 has come and gone. It was a great weekend and now I can officially say that I've biked a considerate amount of distance 2 days in a row!
After I got back to the B&B (around 7:30pm or so) I immediately charged my phone and answered a few texts and Facebook messages. Then I took a shower. That felt glorious!! I was asleep by 10pm! HA!
I did wake up with a very sore neck/shoulders!! Not from not having a pillow but from haunching over my handlebars in the rain and trying to keep warm Saturday morning. (I had the same problem the first day of RAGBRAI last year.) Awake at 6:30a and out of the room by 7am.
Ate the breakfast the innkeeper cooked up. I asked for hashbrowns but unfortunately she used way too much grease and it was just one big pile of mess. I remembered she did that last year too. Some fresh fruit as well and walked back up to Loras College to catch the shuttle back to Clarke College where the bikes & baggage trucks were located.
This was a few minutes before 8am and the bike lockup area was practically empty! Only 10 or so bikes left! I have no idea what time they all leave in the morning but it must be pretty darn early!!
Had my bike tires checked out and come to find out they were low. They were also low Saturday. So low in fact that a lady riding by me on a hill told me about my back tire. When I looked down I could see how low they were. So I stopped and got out my CO2 cartridge and luckily 3 guys were nice enough to stop and help me out. Both tires were low. They managed to figure it out (I had the instructions with me just in case no one ever stopped) and they "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over my nifty CO2 pump! They liked it so I must have done good. Unfortunatley, I only brought one CO2 cartridge with me so they had to split it between my 2 tires. But after that little pump it, it made a world of difference on the bike. I could feel myself gliding along a lot better.
Then on the road. First bit of the ride was through a great Mines of Spain Recreation Center. Pretty shade and the like there. I managed to ride with a few guys. Ended up passing them on a hill too. They commented on the fact that I wasn't breathing hard. One guy had on his cycling computer a hill grade percentage readout, so he was calling out the numbers. That one was an 8% incline. Not too bad.
Back down a few hills, one hill was great fun but at the very end was a railroad crossing that the tracks did not look safe at all and I didn't notice that until AFTER I was already on top of it! It was a rough crossing. Not cool going so fast.
I was able to take a lot more pics today than Saturday since the weather was better and I have pictures last year from the Saturday ride.
I did also managed to meet a few people on the ride. I think bikers are a bit nicer than runners. Anyway, one guy passed me wearing a jersey that said "Best Singletrack in Central Illinois" and hten another one passed me. I was like OK, I have to ask where, so I did. They said Peoria. I said sweet! He asked if I ride and where, I said yea I go to Rock Cut. He asked if I ever went to Kettle Moraine, I said no but I've heard of it. Then he said that if I ever get to Peoria (they have 5 parks) that I should look them up. I told him I will but I'll never be able to keep up with them. They said that I was keeping up with them now! They had a point. :-)
I saw them at the first SAG stop but everyone looks so different off of their bikes, sunglasses and helmets I didn't think they would remember me so I didn't say anything. Then I guess I took off before them and they passed me again later on. One asked me if I always had my CamelBak on me. I said yes, you were just in front of me by that time! We stayed together again talking about biking, road vs mountain and this ride vs others. I managed to draft off them for a while and stayed with them going about 17mph. That was sweet. I think they were impressed. :-)
This route had some rolling long hills. But the good news is that again I never got off my bike and actually I never unclipped my pedals either. They were tough and again I went into the highest gear on all of the hills. I needed to. During this one hill I did pass 7 people! That was awesome. For some odd reason I was really good at the hills. It's not like I have the strongest quads or anything, I guess I just liked to attack them and maybe I recover fast from the burning.
When I got back to Preston, around 12:30pm, I was walking around the Lion's food table and then I heard my name. The Peoria mountain bike people recognised me without my helmet on! And they told me not to go anywhere. A few minutes later one of them came up to me with a napkin and had written their names on it with their cell phone and the website for the Peoria Mountain Bike association they're in. That was totally awesome of them! I told them that I'll be going down for the air show on Sunday in July so maybe I'll catch up with them then. It'll be fun to catch some good rides somewhere else!
And now for some pictures!
People were walking their bikes over this bridge. It was wet and slippery. Last year we were able to just ride our bikes over.
A farm that I stopped in front of. Kitty cat wanted to see me! It kinda stunk too. :-)
A guy with no seat to his bike. He rode 106 miles that Sat doing that!!
My food. This was just the 1st plate. I went up for seconds. Yes, I still ate my food one item at a time!
An ad for the B&B on the shuttle bus.
The next morning at 8am. Very few bikes left in the lockup.
Beautiful Iowa Scenery!
My one and only shot of me and my bike from this weekend.
Yay for biking and Iowa fields!!
Baby horsies!!!! I only captured these two but come to find out the other 5 mares had foals too, they were just hiding behind them!
Look at that. A hill. Yay.
I heart Iowa!
I went down and went back up. Whoa.
That's the same hill in the background.
Yep, look at that yet another hill.
Oh, more hills. *rolls eyes*
My Peoria Mountain Bike friends!
So begins the permanent high thigh look.
This was from my knee brace. I only had the one that I wore on my right knee.
This was on the bottom of my knee brace on the same leg. Such an odd tan line.
I put on sunscreen but since I had my watch on, I didn't get around it, so I missed my wrist. And you can see on my fingers that I got burned from my gloves.
Of course the back of my arm. I got the front of my arms but I guess I forgot the back!
I also got sunburned on the side of my face. And of course it was only on the left side and a little bit on my nose. My right wrist had some burns too. I had my GPS watch and my Ovarian Cancer bracelet on so a few marks there.
Speaking of Phil, my Garmin, I did wear it on Saturday but it died 5 hours and 30 minutes with the GPS watch on (I knew it wouldn't last the entire ride.) I rode from 9am to 6:30pm, I think. That was with plenty of SAG breaks and one long one in Galena. I mean, it's Galena, how could you NOT stop?! Then on Sunday, I forgot to start it until I was out of Dubuque for quite a while.
I edited the Saturday's post with the Bones In Motion info from that days ride. The reason why there are two of them is because I forgot to change the setting from Running to Biking. And then there's the quick line over to the other side of the river because I didn't click on the right button to reset the Garmin. Below is Sunday's info. I forgot to put it on and then start it in Dubuque so I didn't get to it until well outside of it. After a few hills already. You can see how insane some of the hills are!!
After I got back to the B&B (around 7:30pm or so) I immediately charged my phone and answered a few texts and Facebook messages. Then I took a shower. That felt glorious!! I was asleep by 10pm! HA!
I did wake up with a very sore neck/shoulders!! Not from not having a pillow but from haunching over my handlebars in the rain and trying to keep warm Saturday morning. (I had the same problem the first day of RAGBRAI last year.) Awake at 6:30a and out of the room by 7am.
Ate the breakfast the innkeeper cooked up. I asked for hashbrowns but unfortunately she used way too much grease and it was just one big pile of mess. I remembered she did that last year too. Some fresh fruit as well and walked back up to Loras College to catch the shuttle back to Clarke College where the bikes & baggage trucks were located.
This was a few minutes before 8am and the bike lockup area was practically empty! Only 10 or so bikes left! I have no idea what time they all leave in the morning but it must be pretty darn early!!
Had my bike tires checked out and come to find out they were low. They were also low Saturday. So low in fact that a lady riding by me on a hill told me about my back tire. When I looked down I could see how low they were. So I stopped and got out my CO2 cartridge and luckily 3 guys were nice enough to stop and help me out. Both tires were low. They managed to figure it out (I had the instructions with me just in case no one ever stopped) and they "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over my nifty CO2 pump! They liked it so I must have done good. Unfortunatley, I only brought one CO2 cartridge with me so they had to split it between my 2 tires. But after that little pump it, it made a world of difference on the bike. I could feel myself gliding along a lot better.
Then on the road. First bit of the ride was through a great Mines of Spain Recreation Center. Pretty shade and the like there. I managed to ride with a few guys. Ended up passing them on a hill too. They commented on the fact that I wasn't breathing hard. One guy had on his cycling computer a hill grade percentage readout, so he was calling out the numbers. That one was an 8% incline. Not too bad.
Back down a few hills, one hill was great fun but at the very end was a railroad crossing that the tracks did not look safe at all and I didn't notice that until AFTER I was already on top of it! It was a rough crossing. Not cool going so fast.
I was able to take a lot more pics today than Saturday since the weather was better and I have pictures last year from the Saturday ride.
I did also managed to meet a few people on the ride. I think bikers are a bit nicer than runners. Anyway, one guy passed me wearing a jersey that said "Best Singletrack in Central Illinois" and hten another one passed me. I was like OK, I have to ask where, so I did. They said Peoria. I said sweet! He asked if I ride and where, I said yea I go to Rock Cut. He asked if I ever went to Kettle Moraine, I said no but I've heard of it. Then he said that if I ever get to Peoria (they have 5 parks) that I should look them up. I told him I will but I'll never be able to keep up with them. They said that I was keeping up with them now! They had a point. :-)
I saw them at the first SAG stop but everyone looks so different off of their bikes, sunglasses and helmets I didn't think they would remember me so I didn't say anything. Then I guess I took off before them and they passed me again later on. One asked me if I always had my CamelBak on me. I said yes, you were just in front of me by that time! We stayed together again talking about biking, road vs mountain and this ride vs others. I managed to draft off them for a while and stayed with them going about 17mph. That was sweet. I think they were impressed. :-)
This route had some rolling long hills. But the good news is that again I never got off my bike and actually I never unclipped my pedals either. They were tough and again I went into the highest gear on all of the hills. I needed to. During this one hill I did pass 7 people! That was awesome. For some odd reason I was really good at the hills. It's not like I have the strongest quads or anything, I guess I just liked to attack them and maybe I recover fast from the burning.
When I got back to Preston, around 12:30pm, I was walking around the Lion's food table and then I heard my name. The Peoria mountain bike people recognised me without my helmet on! And they told me not to go anywhere. A few minutes later one of them came up to me with a napkin and had written their names on it with their cell phone and the website for the Peoria Mountain Bike association they're in. That was totally awesome of them! I told them that I'll be going down for the air show on Sunday in July so maybe I'll catch up with them then. It'll be fun to catch some good rides somewhere else!
And now for some pictures!
People were walking their bikes over this bridge. It was wet and slippery. Last year we were able to just ride our bikes over.
A farm that I stopped in front of. Kitty cat wanted to see me! It kinda stunk too. :-)
A guy with no seat to his bike. He rode 106 miles that Sat doing that!!
My food. This was just the 1st plate. I went up for seconds. Yes, I still ate my food one item at a time!
An ad for the B&B on the shuttle bus.
The next morning at 8am. Very few bikes left in the lockup.
Beautiful Iowa Scenery!
My one and only shot of me and my bike from this weekend.
Yay for biking and Iowa fields!!
Baby horsies!!!! I only captured these two but come to find out the other 5 mares had foals too, they were just hiding behind them!
Look at that. A hill. Yay.
I heart Iowa!
I went down and went back up. Whoa.
That's the same hill in the background.
Yep, look at that yet another hill.
Oh, more hills. *rolls eyes*
My Peoria Mountain Bike friends!Now for some yummy sun goodness. I did put on SPF 30 spray but I guess not good enough. I have to remember to get up and under my shorts to make sure I don't miss any skin in case anything rides up.
So begins the permanent high thigh look.
This was from my knee brace. I only had the one that I wore on my right knee.
This was on the bottom of my knee brace on the same leg. Such an odd tan line.
I put on sunscreen but since I had my watch on, I didn't get around it, so I missed my wrist. And you can see on my fingers that I got burned from my gloves.
Of course the back of my arm. I got the front of my arms but I guess I forgot the back!I also got sunburned on the side of my face. And of course it was only on the left side and a little bit on my nose. My right wrist had some burns too. I had my GPS watch and my Ovarian Cancer bracelet on so a few marks there.
Speaking of Phil, my Garmin, I did wear it on Saturday but it died 5 hours and 30 minutes with the GPS watch on (I knew it wouldn't last the entire ride.) I rode from 9am to 6:30pm, I think. That was with plenty of SAG breaks and one long one in Galena. I mean, it's Galena, how could you NOT stop?! Then on Sunday, I forgot to start it until I was out of Dubuque for quite a while.
I edited the Saturday's post with the Bones In Motion info from that days ride. The reason why there are two of them is because I forgot to change the setting from Running to Biking. And then there's the quick line over to the other side of the river because I didn't click on the right button to reset the Garmin. Below is Sunday's info. I forgot to put it on and then start it in Dubuque so I didn't get to it until well outside of it. After a few hills already. You can see how insane some of the hills are!!
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