Road to RAGBRAI: Storm Watch

Distance: 33.9 mi / 54.6 km
Time: 1 hour 56 min & 1 hour 55 min
Route Taken: UNI/Big Woods/Greenhill Loop

My friend Karie expressed a desire to go riding with me today, so the first thing I did was ride to her dorm room. She hasn't ridden much, only a couple times, so I knew that I couldn't go all "pro" on her and take her for a 30 mile ride or anything.

I was looking at the weather all morning, worried. The radar and the forecast both said that there would be a storm this afternoon, so I didn't want to get caught in it. Regular rain I don't mind, but thunderstorms aren't really want I want to be riding in. The wind was already pretty bad when I started. It was blowing north, so the first part of my trip (to UNI) was all kinds of fun....

I took Karie north, through Pfeiffer park, over Krieg's Crossing, and up to Big Woods. I did go much slower than usual, but I was prepared for this, and I really didn't mind. I had to keep stopping to let her catch up, but, like I said, she had only ridden a couple times so I didn't blame her. When I first started riding again, I could only go 3 miles before pooping out. She made it a total of 12 or so. Not too bad for a windy day, either.

We made one loop around Big Woods, and then headed back. We both went to the campus dining center, Piazza. I used to work there when I went to UNI, but it's been about 3 years since I've been there. Nothing has really changed. Most of the cooks are the same (of course the student workers are all different). I even talked briefly with one of my former coworkers. The other cooks saw me but I'm not sure if they still recognized me. I didn't really feel like chatting all of them up, so I kind of walked past them and got my food.

After I left UNI, I decided to go for a bit longer of a ride. I had no idea when the storm was going to happen, but I couldn't really see the front at all, so I kept riding. I went south to the Greenhill trail, a route that I hadn't taken yet. I proceeded to ride east; right into the wind. It was a brutal grind uphill, and at this point, the wind was blowing at least 20 mph. I managed to make it, though, and the turn to go north was a nice break.

I took North Riverside trail, and stopped a nice little deck overlooking a lake off the Cedar River. I didn't sit down, but walked around a bit to rest my butt as it was starting to hurt (as usual).

I decided to take a loop around Big Woods to push my odometer over 1000 miles. I put the computer on the bike back in August, so that's, well, 1000 miles since the end of August. Doesn't seem possible, but numbers don't lie. Two years ago I wouldn't have been able to make it 10 miles.

I got home, tired and sweaty, but no rain yet. I was beginning to wonder if it had completely missed us. It certainly was humid, though, so it couldn't have passed us by very far. A look on the radar confirmed that it had, in fact, completely missed us. I'm glad I decided to ride.

I might get another 5 miles out of today by riding to trivia league, but we'll see. The hills are brutal and my legs are tired. I also don't know when I will be riding a long ride next, as I work every day for the rest of the week. I might be able to get a 20 mile ride in on Thursday or Friday, but I'll see.