Day 33: Sioux Center, IA (it's IA instead of IW...sorry) to Algona, IA

Actual Kms: 187 kms

Overkill: 0...although we were thinking about doing an extra 13 kms just so we could say that we had biked 200 kms in one day.

Road Things: A disgusting squirrel with brains coming out of it's eye, a skunk with it's innards all over the road and a black cat that was very decomposed. Overall, not a good day...just picture me going "Ewh...yuck, blah!" and shaking my head when I saw them on the road.

Quote: "Are you peeing out of the side of your shorts Josh?" -Me after seeing Josh from Alberta pee out of the side of his shorts about 5 metres away from me. Apparently bib shorts aren't exactly easy to pee in.

Money Spent: $6 inner tubes and I know I will spend $10 on a beer and some kind of food in a few minutes.

Interesting Person Pick: Nathan Beach who is 25, from Ann Arbor, MI and is going to work at Google in September. He is moving to San Francisco (one of my favourite "I want to see it someday" cities) and is a great biker. We had a good talk on the bikes today and he said "Wow, for the amount of biking you've done Sarah, your a really good biker". Smile.

Favourite Part of the Day: Joining the group of bikers (7 of us) around the 6o km mark after I had my tire fixed. The road was very quiet so we rode two abreast and talked. When we finished talking with one person, we would ride up to the next person we wanted to talk to and talk to them. We kept a pretty good pace (30 km + with our tailwind) and had some good conversation too. It was very nice.

Worst Part of the Day: Waking up at 6:45 and thinking I was late.

Today I woke up and my clock said 6:45. I almost hit my head on the Dordt College bunkbed above me. I got my stuff together VERY quickly, headed downstairs and hopped on my bike. Then I realized it was still dark outside. Then I realized it was raining. So I asked someone what time it was. They said, "Almost 6 am, I think breakfest is being served". Alas, I realize that after setting the alarm for Corinne at 5:15 this morning, I must have pushed the hour button on the time setting while trying to reset the alarm. So, unlike the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I wasn't late.

After breakfast, Matt and I left around 7 am. I was supposed to say hi to Chad Postmus who was working on campus and is an old friend from college, but totally forgot in the excitement of biking in the rain. We headed out and decided to try to name all 50 United States alphabetically. First we started on the large groups-namely the M's and the N's (there are 8 each). For a long time we could get seven of each but then asked Randy for the 8th N-New Mexico. And a van drove by with Massacheusetts plates, so we got that one.

A road sign that reminded me of Kelly O'Brien. :)

Then we tried for all 50 states and we got 49. It took us about 40 kms, over an hour, and then I blurted out "I got the last state-it's Vermont!" Ahh, satisfaction. We stopped at a church stop where we had gatorade, coffee and a power bar. A lady there told me I looked familiar and when I told her my name, she said "I read your blog! I really like it." So there you have it, Iowians like my blog. :)

Soon after, I punctured my tire and at Cory's SAG-about 60 kms out, Matt told me to check my tires, and sure enough, my back tire was flat. Rick Gritters (a recumbant biker) helped me change the inner tube. Matt went on and I left with a larger group-Steph W, Josh, Helena, Eritia, Katrina and Nathan. We had a great time talking and riding along. About 3o kms in though, I noticed my back tire was soft. So we pumped it up and hoped to get to the next SAG so that I could call Betsy's SAG wagon (she had my extra tires in her van). About 10 kms on my saggy tire, Betsy passed us in a small town, and I flagged her down. Here is a picture of Jono-the photographer and Art- a cyclist who can't ride right now, fixing my tire. I always say, if someone wants to fix my tire for me, have at it.

The larger group left, but I zoomed with the wonderful tailwind, passing people at around 45 kms/h and found them at Walter's SAG. The waited for me to use the jon and then we headed off again, contented with the promise of a few good downhills. We zipped along for the last 20 kms and talked about doing an extra 15 or so kms so we could say that we biked 200 kms in one day but then we decided it wasn't worth it because it was just bragging rights...or we tuckered out. :) You can decide.

Eritia, Josh, Steph, Katrina, Me and Bill's motorcycle. He took the picture just before my camera died.

Overall, even though the first 2-3 hours of the day was in rain, I wasn't cold or miserable. It was actually a nice to change to be biking in cool weather and it was nice to spend so much time talking on the roads. They were so deserted and in fairly good shape. The weather girl's (Katrina) promise of a tailwind turned true and it was a much easier day that most of us expected. We are camping at an elementary school, showering at a YMCA and I think most people will go to bed early tonight. That's all for now.