Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

I put the word out for a casual Saturday ride and 6 people (including Paul) took me up on it. Coffee, rail trail, quiet paved roads......an impromptu stop at a bike shop when Paul's bike developed a click-click we could all hear (no quick diagnosis though). Perfect weather.

Made it to boot camp! Work was calm enough that I could escape from the office.
Pyramid of dumbell chest presses, goblet squats, squat hops, some TRX stuff and some core.
I'll feel this tomorrow.

We got home from our travels at 5 pm so I hustled with the unpacking and jumped on the Warbird for the Banded Goose ride. I got to pick the route and everyone was game for a mix of trail/gravel/pavement. So we went "into" the wind on the Greenway which actually protects you from the headwinds. Then sweet tailwinds for the return trip on the road....crosswinds were on roads with good treecover. Then we planned for a couple future rides......

Winterset IA to Roseman Bridge (yup, one of the Bridges of Madison County.....). Absolutely lovely route (I searched the map on my Garmin for the bridge, set it as a destination, then pressed "go"). After some pics at the bridge, we rolled back by a different route. Paul still wasn't up to snuff, so there were a lot of stops and soft pedalling.

http://movieposters.2038.net/p/Bridges-of-Madison-...

Yup, that one.

BTW.....Winterset was where John Wayne was born (but he had a different name at birth.....Marion Mitchell Morrison).

Easy ride on the rail trail (Wabash Trace) from Shenandoah IA to Melvern IA. With some slow exploring of Imogene, about 1/3 of the way along the route. Very rural.....lotsa corn and beans. Paul wasn't feeling it, so was moving pretty slowly.

After lunch in Melvern, and a restocking with Gatorade, we cruised back south. Took a couple short detours on adjoining gravel roads and a sweet Minimum Maintenance Road......sweet cuz' it was dry! It would be a bike-carrying fest if it was wet. Still super hot (above 90 F) but it was much cooler in the shade of the trail. Stopped for a beverage in Imogene at the bar (the town consisted of a large Catholic church, a grain elevator and a bar.....and a dozen houses). Of course I started a conversation with the 2 older fellows (wearing seed corn caps) at the bar about the corn crop. And with the young bartender about RAGBRAI (which came through there a couple years ago).

RAGBRAI is a weeklong bike ride across Iowa each summer, with hundreds of riders stopping at small towns for lunch/supper/camping/breakfast. Local service groups sell food and drinks along the way. To tiny towns like Imogene, I suspect RAGBRAI would provide a huge influx of cash to their service groups (church, 4-H, minor baseball teams......) and private citizens who embrace the wall of hungry/thirsty riders that come through their town. Of course, you would have hundreds of bike riders in your town for a couple hours (if for lunch) or overnight, but I suspect the consensus is that it is worth it.

Cruising around Lincoln "recovery ride" with a stop for lunch. Pizza with sliced baby red potatoes. I am in love.
Highlights included going into the stadium with the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team play, seeing some of the after effects of the flooding earlier this year, and the neat network of bike routes in and around Lincoln. And wild cannabis growing along the bike path. Yup, even smells like skunk, just like the medical marijuana greenhouses down where we live.