Great sleep in a corner of the gym of a church in Sioux City, with a hundred of my buddies. No snoring or lights could keep me awake, as the brutal battles against the headwinds caused tired bodies to drift off quickly. Morning broke beautifully and Claire woke me early, but I slept in half an hour more. The wind looked calm and we felt optimistic about the day, which is supposed to be a "recovery day" before the demanding 3 days of 184, 182 and 160km. This morning I felt my nearly 50 years as my legs were heavy and unresponsive. Thinking back I discovered that I may have had too much V8 tomato juice due to salt cravings, but I had forgotten about the high acid content, which, combined with lactic acid residues in the hard working quad muscles, could be responsible for this lethargy. So I set out alone with the intent to have a quiet ride in solitude, to revive the body and soul. This happened, and I enjoyed the lovely farmland and unbelievably tall corn (8 to 10') I kid you not...see the picture elsewhere! This, and soy bean stalks of 3'high are produced without irrigation on this fertile land, which obviously had lots of rain this season. Passed by many smaller feed lots and several...uh...really "evident" piggeries right next to the road. Just how long can a cyclist keep one's breath before dropping dead off the bike? I know....I know we all love bacon..... and farmers gotta live, and we have to endure the smell of money in order to enjoy the smell of frying bacon!
Some mischievous young guys drafted vehicles, or tried to. This is unsafe and not allowed, but young goats have to push the limits, eh? I just prayed for them, and admired their energy which I seemed to be a bit short of today. The CRC church in Ireton spoiled us with banana and strawberry smoothies, and root beer floats....what a delight with the "Blue Bunny" ice cream!
The profile was rolling hills, enclosed by a velvety green carpet of soy and corn as far as the eye can see. I'm speechless at the millions of acres of food grown here. Saw seed lots where new hybrids of corn and soy are being developed. The total climbing today was 2600 feet, but I hardly noticed it as my quads are apparently getting stronger and these little hills are nothing compared to the climbs we did in the mountains. Some people mentioned they were hurting much because of our wind wars the previous 3 riding days and the 105F temps.
Dordt College gave us a delightful and well planned welcome, all very organized and professional. We could sleep in double dorm rooms - air conditioned with powerful superfast Wifi in the rooms!! Wow, what a delight! Being early, I took a nap, a shower and a fantastic hour in the hot tub with massaging jets at the fabulous swimming pool nearby. We enjoyed a sponsored dinner of fried chicken, pizza and homefries, with bottomless fountain drinks. Local ladies served us delicious pies of all kinds for desert. I chose the homemade pecan pie with Blue Bunny ice cream....totally unequivocally.... divine!!! Then came the celebration and peloton in the big auditorium, which was packed out. Great event and appreciated by all. Our media team created a nice new video with glimpses of the tour in many aspects. This will be online soon.
Dordt is a great place with a special atmosphere and now I understand why alumni are so passionate about it. Great improvements are being made and nice landscaping projects are in progress.
Tomorrow we have the 184km day, and I am on sweep which means us as sweep team must remain behind the slowest riders all day. So it is going to be a looong day on the road! Nice opportunity to try more of that Blue Bunny ice cream and good coffee...I hope! Tomorrow we are going to take another group photo and we all have to wear our yellow cycling jerseys.
Looking forward to the rest of the tour...it is flying by.....great stuff!
I posted many photos today but don't have time now to add subtitles, so please look at them only by night when I can complete it, as it is past midnight and we have to be up at 5am.
Responses welcome to mdp@rogers.com. Thanks for all the e-mails - much appreciated!
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