44 hurt
In preparation for RAGBRAI in three weeks I’ve been *thinking* about cycling a bit more than usual. For me the hardest part is leaving; once I’m on the road I’m good. Anyway, today I did a 44 mile loop north of Cedar Rapids going through Alburnett, Center Point, Palo, and then back to Marion in just under 3.5 hours, including breaks.
Overall the trip was good, There was a minor wind from the east but it wasn’t too strong. As usual, I got attacked several times by little red and black birds that either liked or hated my also red and black helmet. One neat part of the trip was passing the Palo Nuclear Power Plant. Unfortunately the trip ended rather poorly due to Blair’s Ferry road between Palo and CR. It is 2 lanes, no shoulders, and even though most drivers went out of their way to give me ample space there were those select few who liked to get as close as possible to me. I see why Steve’s dad carries ball bearings on his motorcycle.