Woke to sound of rain on roof. tried jumping out of bed and threw a new cramp in left inner thight that wouldn’t stretch out. I am paralyzed listening to rain that is falling on the bikes. Cramp let loose and rain abated also but put cover over bikes as precaution. It did rain lightly sporadically until I left.
Slept in as stayed up till almost midnight.
Stopped at co-op & bought local beer, Hub City, a Brown Ale.
Plan is to ride Yellow River SP trails. get there, it has been raining off & on & trails are just horse trails. Decide to bag it w/o even getting bike off rack.
Drive to Dubuque where info on IL rides resides w/ 2 guys that deke turned me onto. Called Frfee Flight cyclery to learn more. Drove to store. Info these guys had was for WI actually so that flopped. Turned me on to a local riding area near by.
Followed instructions, dfrove down a slippery muddy 2 technical features road hoping that i wouldn’t get stuck & that I could get back out. Cloud burst before leaving. Headed out. A tgrail system that plays across the hill sides on either side of a small stream. Tighter that Decorah but more open than Maplelag. However the tread was wet and slippery. High humidity. I understand why Specialize includes posts for their shoes. Might have to use them. Trail beat me up. Way slippery roots & mud. I saw several about 14′ square frames w/ fencing laying on the ground. They covered these sink holes where the underlaying rock has dissolved and the ground falls in.
Way muddy & it stuck to me & Spot. washed bike & shoes off in stream.
Drove out successfully, slithered & slid by 2 road concerns. Stopped @ gas station to learn of location for a shower. Told me to go back thru town the way I came for a XG on the Miss. Got lost in interchange. Ended up back in WI. Turned around & got off @ same intersection. Went into gas station to ask for directions to XG. 3 young guys listened to exchange and offered a shower in their motel room. Free shower. Drove back thru town to almost where I did my ride. 1 guy had a mixed martial arts fight later that evening and they were chilling before the fight. They were also mtn bikers which created the bond after they saw my van.
Drove back to bike shop area to the Courtside a sports bar to watch the OSU/USC football game and a tavern dinner. OSU was horribly outplayed in first half when i left for bike shop dirtbag.
On drive to Dubuque I stopped at several river cities. At an overlook A woman & I struck up a conversation that turned to the Postville kosher slaughter house running afoul w/ the Imm igratgion Dept for employing illegal aliens, all 400 of them. Postville was less that 40 miles from where we were speaking. She gave me a book about Postville community and the slaughter house Jews. Book was published before the raid that occurred just months prior.
Had interesting discussions again w/ non bikers. And thought provoking.
No pictures taken.
Riding is getting tougher. I am behind the curve but showing progress. I chicken out but today it made sense how slippery surfaces were. There were several crossings where painted boards were laid down. They were snot slippery. Made sense to walk.
Flies in the van. Think I have a farm in here. They fly in & don’t leave. Tomorrow it is fly paper.
Sunday is Rock Cut in Rockford, IL.
Fat from french fries stirred my acid reflux up.
Hate humidity. land is all green photosynthesizing bio mass. All farmed land is in corn and soy beans. And then there is the river. This place is probably more humid than the Puget Sound. Add high humidity to the long list of undesirable criteria. Yay for the Palouse. Wonder about the Black Hills?
Off for ride research