DAY 20 Colfax Iowa to Mount Pleasant Iowa....A DAY TO REMEMBER.....

Distance 141 miles
total miles to date: 2450
1200 more miles to go
Climbing 5303
total climbing To date 80,000 feet
Avg speed today 15.9


After having said that yesterday was BORING. God must have listened because today was a DOOZY.

Our riding began at six thirty am and right from the start it began to rain. The first twenty miles lightly showering, then the wind picked up turning into a torrential downpour. Or maybe I should say side pour because the rain was literally coming down sideways. The wind was in excess of twenty miles per hour, straight into our faces, we had a hard time keeping our speed above 16 mph. There were several points where we had to walk our bikes through valleys of mud, over 1 ft deep. The riding groups were kept small today for safety reasons; only 2 to 3 per group.

Finally at the 100 mile point the rain and wind subsided and we were thrilled thinking we would just cruise in the last 40 miles, unfortunately then my riding partner Greg took a very bad spill on his bike. He was banged up and Both of his wheels were bent to the point that he could not ride his bike. We waited for help from one of the sag trucks which took awhile as they had to replace both of his wheels. At that point we were wet, tired, bloody and dirty. we were Finally Relieved to see the hotel at 5:00 pm, making it a a ten hour bike day! Greg limped into his hotel room to recover; hopefully he will be ok tomorrow .

Mount Pleasant is the largest town we have been in the last week, complete with a wall mart! woo hoo! So that is where I went tonight to stock up on supplies; baby powder for my butt and candy for my gut. :) I finished the day with a big Mexican dinner. It's ten o clock now, I'm very tired and and have to get ready for tomorrow as we go 140 miles - AGAIN! onward to Pekin, Illinois. A new state! ...... eleven days to go.....

So far I have raised $18,508 for JDRF. A phenomenal accomplishment, thank you so much to all who have donated! (you can still donate at http://ride.jdrf.org/) That equals about $7.55/mile ridden so far. Not to shabby an hourly rate, so with that in mind I'll keep on pedalin....... hoping that I reach my goal of $20,000 and the first ever to ride across America for this cause in honor of my granddaughter, Casey! good night!

DAY 19 Dennison Iowa to Colfax Iowa..... a bit boring.....

Distance 140 miles an Additional 10 miles as I got lost!!!
Total climb 4341
Avg speed 16.5
Elevation of Colfax 833

Not much to tell about today's ride, how many pictures of corn fields can I take? The climbing grades today were moderate, my roommate thought today's ride was boring, there were very rough roads, most without a shoulder and cars were pretty aggressive, maybe they are not used to seeing bikers? The humidity is incredibly thick, In the pic below where it looks cloudy, that's actually humidity.

Tomorrow is 140 miles to Mount pleasant, Iowa. We have a bunch of long days than a few short ones. We have lost a couple of riders the past few days; several are injured or sick or pooped. Hopefully they will recover soon. I'm feeling pretty good however my butt sores are not getting any better I'm just trying to ignore the discomfort and ignore the pain, which is really impossible. ): Going to hit the hot tub, maybe that will help.

Just heard on the wheather channel 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow hope they are wrong! Here's some pics of my sister in law Nell, her husband Jack and my nephew Jeff from yesterday's visit.

DAY 18 Vermillion SD to Dennison Iowa ... MORE CORN.....

Distance 128
2037 miles total
Total climb 6758 feet
Avg speed 16.5


After almost 8 hours in the saddle its nice to know that Progress continues to be made as we are in a new state today; The enchanting state of Iowa!!

Today's ride was easier than yesterday as the temps hovered the mid 80's down from the blazing triple digits. The wind calmed a bit too and the humidity was bearable. Last night it rained , bringing with it a little needed freshness to the air. The climbs today were moderate; rolling hills averaging grades of 6 to 8 percent. There were some really cool kids helping at the last sag stop today too. We always appreciate all the volunteers and support.

I'm getting some visitors in this segment of the tour, as my wife Verla, is from these here parts!! hee haw! ;) This evening my sister in law Nell, her husband Jack, along with my nephew Greg came down several hours from Sheldon Iowa for a visit . We enjoyed a nice dinner together. Must say the prime rib really hit the spot after all the tour food! Tommorrow Colfax,Iowa. 135 miles.

DAY 17 Mitchell SD to Vermillion SD

Miles 115--last five days 500 miles
Climbing 2760
Avg speed 16mph

Today was the same as yesterday and the day before: wind, heat, humidity and lots of corn and soy bean fields. The miles are taking it's toll on people especially some of the big guys, it's very hard to stay hydrated in these conditions. The last 20 miles
I got heat rash on my legs. I think I'm ok now but will find out tomorrow as we go 127 miles to Iowa.

Verla's nephew, Jeff Nieuwendorp and wife, Cindy who live in Sioux Falls, S.D. along with their kids; Jaycee, Hunter and Skyler drove several hours to Vermillion to greet me at the day's end. We went to dinner at pizza Hut and just tallked for a couple of hrs, I had not seen them since their wedding in 1993. Jeff completed the ride across Iowa in the 90's, it's the largest state ride in the country and over ten thousand people participate every year. They are a very special and loving family and it was great to reconnect with them. Their kids are close in age to my grandkids and reminded me of them. They were impressed with how light my bike is! Seeing them was definitely the highlight of the day! I am missing all my grandkids so much this summer!

Tomorrow 127 miles to Denison Iowa.

DAY 16 Murdo South Dakota to Mitchell SD -- Toughest day yet.

Miles 145
Climbing 2973
Avg speed 15.1 slowest speed to date
Elevation Mitchell 1289

If you like wind ( 25 mph plus ), heat (90 plus) , humidy (90 percent) and sharing the road with combines, then today would have been your day because that is what we got!..... that plus plus 145 miles of riding which added to yesterdays 148 miles is just shy of 300 miles in 2 days.
Many of the riders today did not complete the entire ride because of the conditions. About half were sag'd (this means transported on the sag vehicle) part way or to the motel this evening. One of my friends (Jim from NY, pictured here) was sick,
so he only rode part of the way. I was in the saddle for 9.5 hrs, the most time I have been in the saddle since day one. The miles are starting to take it's toll; I'm sore and tired. tomorrow will be a little shorter day 115 miles but the winds are predicted to be the same or worse.
In these conditions the trick is to ride steady and not go out to fast or you will blow up. We knew early on that today was about survival, not speed, so we picked a doable pace, and stuck with it. The other thing is to manage your liquid intake, today I drank 24 ounces of various drinks every ten miles for a total of 360 ounces of liquid ....more info than you want but I'm giving it to you anyway.
South dakota is very sparcly populated many with many towns less than 1,000 people. Lots of farms and corn fields. I'm getting along very well with my roommate Tom, we ride together and have similar riding strategies and ability. Tomorrow vermillion south Dakota.

DAY 15 the HALFWAY POINT and 1,653 miles DONE!

RAPID CITY SOUTH SD to MURDO SD.
Distance today 148 miles,
Total distance to date: 1653
Total climb 3712 ft
Elevation of murdo 2270
Well I must say I'm very happy today is in the books! Were half way now. Today was Almost 150 miles and I was in the saddle for seven Hours +, battling very strong headwinds, high heat, challenging hills and millions of grasshoppers! never seen so many grasshoppers in my life; they invaded like a plague, annoying and pesky, constantly jumping on your bike and down my jersey. Now i know how the mormons felt! I rode strong today, hard in fact, and My legs have been cramping off and on this evening. I am wearing my compression socks to try and minimize that. The cramping could come from de-hydration although i drank 12 - 22oz bottles of various fluids. It was 95 degrees today and I lost 5 pounds. More of the same tomorrow, 145 miles again! trying to eat as much as i can to replenish.

Total miles to date is 1653, which is more than the itinerary shows. Often the daily map shows two routes to get to the destination and i always take the longer one.

Here's a picture of John, the crew masseuse, and some female riders doing a great job! There are some neat (and unusual) characters on the trip.

DAY 14 Custer, to Rapid City South Dakota

75 miles today
1503 miles total
6536 climbing grades up to 12 percent
17 mph
Internet and phone are very spotty today:Custer SD is in the middle of nowhere and i'm not kidding. It's about as desolate a place as you'll find.
Todays ride we went up to Mt rushmore which was truly awe inspiring. To see those faces chiseled in stone; really its amazing.

We also rode in the middle of buff herds which were within ten feet of us. I wanted to take a closer pic but it was too scary! Still in Some of the most awesome , beautiful meadows I've ever seen; yellow and purple flowers, aspen and pine trees. weather to day was perfect. I recovered from yesterday's bonk and I'm feeling really good. Overall better than I thought I would, especially since some of the early days put some doubt in my mind. It took some time for me to settle in, but I seem to be feeling stronger as the days go along and am riding up front with the fast group. Some of these guys are hard core riders; CAT 1 and 2's of their era's as bikers. Some people are starting to hurt and slow down. One guy was on his bike for 12 hours yesterday; which when you really think about it is a terribly long time. Tomorrow we go 150 miles. The longest day so far not much climbing but could be windy and hot.