Day 32: Sioux City, IW to Sioux Center, IW (Dordt College)

Some pictures from the weekend that I didn't get uploaded. This is the courtyard area of the Lutheran Church who randomly met us, gave us food and drink and let us sleep in their building.
Renita (from Fredericton) and I.

Actual Kms: 100 km...yes!

Overkill: 2 to the Bike store and to the Dutch store.

Road Things: Not really anything today of note. Oh, a huge man that was made out of tires.

Money Spent: $13 White and Black Handlebar tape (By bike now looks like a Holstein which I thought Wisconsin people would enjoy), $3 Fat Tire beer at pub (and free cheeseburger and onion rings from the owners because we are on Sea to Sea...yes!, $3 tip), $6 Willimena peppermints, fruitella and Stroopie, payed back Matt, $7 stamps and mailing letter to mom.

Interesting Person Pick: Barb Mellema. She is an administrative person at Dordt who is on the tour. She's a great biker, a masher (likes to use the harder gears even on hills..like me) and a great blogger (check out her blog via the website). She organized our stay and all the perks (great food, people to greet us) at Dordt. Everyone's a fan of Barb.

Favourite Part of the Day: Taking a nap today in the room I am sharing with Corinne at Dordt. Then having a bath in a real tub. Ahh.

Worst Part of the Day: Realizing my heat rash isn't gone yet. Yah...that's the best I could do.

Today Team Sweet reunited and rode through Sioux City together. We skipped the first SAG and rode through a slight headwind. The day was nice and a few of the boys drafted behind the Betsy's SAG for a little bit.

Team Sweet in Sioux City, taking up the empty road.

Then we got to the second SAG and Alex (19 year old Redeemer student) and I kept going. I felt like riding without stopping. I kept going until Ireton (I said Hello Craig :) and then stopped for delicious strawberry slushies and rootbeer floats. I talked to some of the locals and then moved onto the 25 km finish. We were welcomed well at Dordt, given maps, a room and I sent out some mail after being shown where the ATM was by a student there.

Then I headed out to the Bike store (which was small indeed) and got some nifty tape for my handlebars. Hans, Matt and Brian met me there and we headed to the Dutch store, where I bought some sweets.

Then we headed to a pub, I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger and onion rings on the house and we enjoyed our Fat Tire beer. Notice the label. :)

After I took a nap, had a real bath and ate some amazing supper (including delicious strawberry cream pie...you could go on this tour just for the food), we had a Celebration Rally where about 400 people applauded for us as we came in. I felt like a celebrity....well, except there were 150 of us and we were wearing yellow.

The eager faces of the cyclists after about an hour and a half of singing, speakers, and a dang good slide presentation.

After blogging, bed time. 180 kms tomorrow. Blah.

Day 31: York, NE to Sioux City, IO

Actual Kms: 152 kms

Overkill: 8-Matt and I missed our first left turn by 4 kms. Opps.

Road Things: Lots of beautiful butterflies (especially monarchs...wait they are called Viceroy butterflies), a lot of dead racoons, and some other squished somethings.

Money Spent: $5 For a delicious meal with mashed potatoes, corn, homemade noodles, chicken and gravy and a coffee and $1.50 for the pool (I.O Matt Z). Oh, and, I confess $4.50 for a delicious sundae at DQ.

Quote: "Well, we're in Iowa." -Matt. "Yup. We're here." -Me. Burst out laughing at unexcitement.

Interesting Person Pick: Len our Chaplain. Today in Peleton he had to remind our group about watching our behaviour in public, especially when it comes to our witness in public establishments. He did it very tactfully and respectfully and firmly. It is difficult to say something tough and do it that well. I admire him.

Favourite Part of the Day: Dinner was really good today. Spaghetti, Ceasar Salad, Garlic Toast and Peach Cobbler with Ice Cream. Love it.

Worst Part of the Day: Matt and I left this morning and we had some good conversation, but after about 30 kms I got antsy and went hard by myself for about 60 kms. During this time, I thought a lot about Tim and I missed him. I kept having to remind myself "16 more days until I see him". I don't think I've ever biked so fast, especially in a head wind. It's hard to enjoy the ride when your thinking about the future. But something I read in "The Shack" (which I decided I didn't really like) is true. You can't live in the present when you are constantly thinking about the future. So I think the next few days will be about praciticing peace in the present in the midst of a strong desire to see him.

And sorry people, the pictures would not upload for some reason.

Day 30: York, NE to Fremont, NE (Saturday)

Actual Kms: 150 some. I was losing count because once again my speedometer wasn’t working and I was on sweep, so I tried not to pay attention to how slow we were going.

Overkill Kms: 0. I got in at 7:15 pm. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Road Stuff: Small birds, snake, and we had lots of corn and wind.

Money Spent: $5 Chicken Corn Chowder and coffee, $0 for an ice cream…a lady bought me some because she thought what we were doing was great.

Wipeouts: 0

Quote: “What you doing over there, open heart surgery?” –Reuben in response to my effort to fix my flat inner tube today.

Interesting Person Pick: Lynn, Matt’s fiance. She drove 24 hours to see Matt today and waited for 3 hours to see him. She looked so incredibly happy when he rode in, all sweaty and cranky after a long days ride. I smiled.

Favourite Part of the Day: Eating at the “Café on the Square” where they had some great décor and we had good conversation. Also, riding in the last 10 kms hard and fast at the end of the day.
Worst Part of the Day: Getting to the ice cream store in Wahoo 35 kms from camp and it being 5 pm. It wasn’t “wahoo!” in any sense of the word. People were hot, cranky and just wanted to get to camp by that time. We had a nice road after that though.

Today I was on sweep, so I woke up late, did some blogging in the AC living room at York University, ate my pancakes and bacon slowly and drank my coffee with relish. Then I packed up stuff and helped clean up breakfast. We very slowly loaded the gear truck with everyone’s bag and then we very slowly headed out.

The sweep team taking our time. Jason's amazing invention: taping his ipod and speakers to his bike.

We looked for a coffee shop close to town but didn’t find one, so we biked to the next town, around 30 kms away. There was a headwind and we went slowly, but when we got there we were rewarded with a cute café called “Café on the Square”.

The awesome decor...an old tandem bike!

The desserts...I wanted to eat them all. However, I controlled myself and had none. A rare feat!

Later on we stopped at Julie's SAG wagon. She is so awesome that she let me and Brian clean our sunglasses on her cotton shirt. When your shirt is all sweaty, all you can think of is finding cotton.

This is Gayle. Who reminded us with a smily face balloon to "be happy" when we were on sweep. Some people didn't get it today because (as you can see), we were sweaty and hot.

Here I am, taking off to do a fast 20 kms to Wahoo by myself to find some ice cream and wait for the rest of team sweep.

The ice cream place was great. A lady bought me and Brian an ice cream because she thought what we were doing was so amazing. The place was decorated in 1950's decor, and this is an engine I am lifting. :)

When Matt Zantingh, Reuben and I finally got into camp (7:00), who should be there but Lynn, Matt's finace! Matt was hot, sweaty and dazed with excitement. Lynn had been waiting for about 3 minutes. She looks like she is about to play peek-a-boo, but she's really just blocking the hot sun. It was good to see them together at the end of a long day.

After supper, a bunch of people went to a bar across the street and we played "I want to ride my bicycle".

On Sunday, we had a great rally in Omaha with a CRC there and a fantastic potluck with pizza. It was a really hot day so everyone was glad we weren't riding. When we got back to camp, I took a nap, read a book in the hockey arena (very chilly but refreshing) and then watched Batman. It was a good rest day. (Money spent: $1 coffee...the coffee pot wasn't working on account of a breaker...not too uncommon. $30 new breaks that John VanderSteen bought me and helped me install, $7 movie, $4 frappaccino from Starbucks. Ahh).

Day 29: Minden, NE to York, NE

Actual Kms: 152 kms
Overkill Kms: 0-or I don't know because my speedometer wasn't working for the first 30 kms.
Road Stuff: A lot of dead little birds, some undistinguisable flattened stuff and a diaper.
Money Spent: $2.25 hamburger and watermelon slushie (I.O Betsy), $5 Applebees appetizers, chocolate mouse mini desert (I.O Johnny), $20 new headlamp (the Canadian Tire one I bought earlier is horrible) peanut butter M&M's, Gummy worms, card, $2 laundry (I.O Matt).
Quote: "I don't care, my kids getting a click in his name," Russell Peters (A very funny Indian Comedian). To find out more, watch Russell Peters on Youtube. He is hilarious.
Wipeouts: 0
Interesting Person Pick: Josh from Detroit. He just joined in Denver and he's about 28? He's a painter and very excited to be on the tour. Anyways, we met around 30 kms in and he's a good biker. He was keeping a good pace through the headwinds, so I biked with him for the rest of the day.
Favourite Part of the Day: Watching Russell Peters in the AC TV room at York Christian College. We would like to stay here for a weekend because it's beautiful, but off to Freemont.
Worst Part of the Day: The headwinds, especially for the first 60 kms.

Day 28: McCook, NE to Winden, NE

Actual Kms: 161 kms. Another century. Done.

Overkill Kms: 4 or so, dilly dallying and winding.

Road Stuff: Dead: turtle, mouse, skunks (notice the plural), cat and lots of squished unrecognizables.

Money Spent: $9 Denver Omlette and Coffee, $2 Manjo Raspberry Shake, $4 cookie and Mikes Hard Limeade, $2 beer, about $50 on ITunes music.

Wipeouts: 0

Quote: (In the ladies shower) Sarah "I think my bum is getting numb with these long rides". Older lady "Your bum is numb, you're lucky! I wish my bum was numb...then I couldn't feel how much it hurts".

Interesting Person Pick: Matt Rekman who is 19 and is going to be a nurse. He was so easy to ride with. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we listened to our ipods or just rode quietly. We rode side by side and it's nice to keep pace with someone.

Favourite Part of the Day: Finding this cafe with coaches, AC and cheap beer.

Worst Part of the Day: Didn't really have one.

This is a picture from last nights Peleton meeting, where people are looking through the two baskets of lost and found items. We dump stuff every couple of days because the baskets get filled so regularily.

Here is Betty Terpstra and Diane Slofstra (in my small group) who are on kitchen crew. They were excited to be able to chop outside, but they had to make the table higher with cans.
This is the bakery (a dutch one apparently) in McCook who donated a lot of donuts to our morning breakfast. So I got a Shifting Gears book and some bracelets from Ed and a bunch of us visited them as we were heading out. We sang "We wish you a good Thursday morning, We wish you a good Thursday morning and thanks for the donuts".
Yummy Donuts...even comparable to Tim Hortons.
At the first SAG Matt Rekman and I hid in the corn fields with some other cyclists who were there. It was fun.

Around 65 kms a bunch of us stopped for food. I had a delicious omlette with kraft cheese...and then they didn't take Visa. I think we were in the sticks.

This is Kevin Pasma, a Redeemer guy who went on the 05 tour. He has pretty small legs so I took this picture because it looks like his legs are big and he liked that. He's a joker and always makes me laugh.

Just to prove that I am actually biking, here I am. Notice the great road shoulder. It was like this almost all day.

I don't have much on my bike which makes it nice and light...just about 18-20 pounds. I usually carry my lunch in my jersey pockets and my camel back. My camera and ipod is in my jersey and I usually carry sunscreen, extra contacts, lipgloss, and my wallet in my camelbak as well. This is me using my arrow bars which I only usually use when I'm going down hill because they are so low. They are so low that my thighs touch my stomach when I'm really tucked down.

We saw a McDonalds about 30 kms from camp and we all agreed that it was a necessary stop. :) It was a hot day.

We had to take a picture at the little town of Funk. And the slogan "Living on Easy Street" is all too true of this summer.

What I'm doing now...except about 35 people have joined me. Wifi is definitely a draw with this crowd. Tomorrow looks like another long day but I just downloaded about 50 songs on my ipod, so that should be helpful.

Day 27: Wray, CO to McCook, NE

Actual Kms: 160 kms...yes one more American Century under my belt.

Overkill Kms: Today was only supposed to be about 150 kms but it turned into 160. I only did a few kms in town, so the rest must have been winding and stops.

Road Stuff: Dead racoons, dead foxes- very flattened, dead pigeon, lots of grasshoppers again.

Money Spent: $7 Orea Shake at Baskin Robbins and batteries for camera. $0.95 coffee at Sehnert's Bakery in McCook. $8 Shampoo, brush and gatorade. $2 Post Office package. $2.50 pint from last night...yes U.S beer is that cheap.

Wipeouts: 0. One bad bump where I unclipped by accident, but no fall.

Interesting Person Pick: I need to socialize more because once again I don't really have anyone. Brian rode with me for the first 2 hours and I spent a lot of time with my music and the open road. Mmm...maybe I need to be more inclusive. The girls at this bakery just got my blog address though...can I count them?

Favourite Part of the Day: After I showered and set up my tent, Brian and I went to the ALCO, which is like Giant Tiger and I got shampoo, a brush and gatorade. We met four other cyclists, including Jono (the photographer who rode a bike today-the whole way) and we sat in the store, eating ice cream and just enjoying the day.

Worst Part of the Day: When I got to Julie's SAG-which was 20 kms from McCook, the sun was really bright-it was about 12:30 and I was pooped. I felt dehydrated, but had forced myself to keep sipping from my camelback the entire day.


These are two pictures from last night. The girl to my right is KAREN (not Lynn-inside joke) who is in my small group. Then we have Renata from Fredericton (ex-boyfriend's sister). A bunch of people went to a bar last night and after I got off the phone with Tim, I asked the 7Eleven girl where a group of cyclists might go to have a drink, sure enough, she pointed me to the very place. When I got there, we discovered it was all Canadians, so Manley turned the jukebox to "You Shook Me All Night Long" and we all sang along. I had a quick pint of Micolob Ultra-a low carb beer ironically enough (I think Neal introduced this to me) and left pretty quicly around 10:30.


Today was a long day. I woke up at 6 (seems I can't make myself get up earlier than that) and headed out with Brian Garrett today. He said he wanted to boot it (go fast) the entire way to camp and I said I would keep up with him for as long as I could. He was gracious and slowed down a little and we pulled each other-taking turns riding in front at around 32-35 km/h for about two and a half hours. Then we got to Walter's SAG and decided that we would go at our own pace, use our arrow bars and listen to music. That's where I lost speedy Brian, but he was very good incentive to go fast for a while.

This is a picture about 15 kms into our journey. We were wondering if Nebraska is the good life, why are their shotgun holes in the sign?

When I got to Betsy's SAG there was shade, so I ate my huge tuna sandwich, piece by piece and after about 10 minutes, took off again. The sun was coming up and the 40 C (no kidding) day was starting to show how hot hot is. I took it a little slower by myself and discovered some hills! YAH for hills. It was nice to use my arrow bars and feel myself pull down the hill and grind up the next one. I rode for a long time and just as I was about begging for a SAG for cool water and shade, there was Julie! I sat in the truck for a while and found out I was near the front of the pack, apparently a lot of people had Brian's idea of leaving earlier and making camp early. We also lost an hour today because we entered Central Time Zone, so it's a shorter day that way. After that, the last 20 kms were slow, there was a nasty headwind, and I felt very silly starting my day at 35 kms/h and finishing it at 23 kms/h. Just goes to show you that you never know what you're going to get. I was also pretty tired for the last 20 kms.

When I finally got to McCook, I realized it was probably big enough to have a Dairy Queen, so after chasing down a few pedestrians, I found a Baskin Robbins and had an oreo/chocolate ice cream shake....the perfect recovery food. What I mean by recovery is, after a particularily hard ride, your body is pretty depleted of calories and needs something to bring your energy back up. A.k.a ice cream. Mmm. That's my version anyways. Today I did an average of 26 km/h which isn't my best, I guess I'll blame it on the headwind.

Then I headed into camp, found a nice cool shower, set up the tent and headed to ALCO with Brian to get shampoo, a brush and gatorade (yep, I was still thirsty...and as Betsy our nurse says, "Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate"). We sat at the ALCO for a while and then I found wireless internet at a bakery. The picture is me blogging this post entry. I also mailed Tim's letter and now I'm going to write some postcards and maybe read before supper in thirty minutes. I really don't want to go outside because as soon as you do, your skin is covered in sweat. So far, Nebraska isn't all that impressive.

Day 26: Fort Morgan, CO to Wray, CO

Actual Kms: 151 km

Overkill Kms: 5 km to the pool where we showered and to the shopping centre.

Road Stuff: Dead blackbird, turtle, snake, mouse, and lots of grasshoppers-small and big.

Money Spent: $8 for breakfast bagel and amazing caramel frappacino, $4 for green iced tea that was putrid and coffee cake, $6 blank cds, $17 shopping for t-shirt in Wray, $8 Main Street Melt and coffee in Wray. Wow. I need to stop spending money on food. It's just so nice to take a break in the towns we pass and chat in a coffee shop. I really need to start just buying black coffee.

Wipeouts: 0

Interesting Person Pick: Don't really have one for today. Sadly.

Favourite Part of the Day: Having my speedometer flip over to 3000 kms. I started it at the beginning of the tour and it just made me realize how far we've gone. I can't believe I get to do this trip.

Worst Part of the Day: The last 20 kms or so were difficult because there was a killer headwind, but I'm glad Matt was there with me so we could pull each other in. Usually we are pretty quite when we ride, concentrating on the pull and it's nice to trust someone and know their riding style.

The coffee shop that I'm getting wifi off of is about to close, so I will be short. Today was a tough day, I set the alarm for 5:30 because I heard there was going to be a wicked headwind, but couldn't get up until 6. I found Matt Z and we decided to ride together. We rode about 30 km and stopped in a little town at a coffee shop called Cornerstone. A guy from the local paper took a picture of a bunch of the cyclists there and was going to write a story. Everyone seemed to be in a quiet mood, and we all picked up a magazine and probably spent about 45 mins there.

This is me and Teresa. Notice my awesome new $25 jersey. After that, we took off but I lost Matt. I waited for him for a while, but he didn't show, so I jumped on Jason, Gresh and Melinda's pace line. It was good. When I found Matt again, it was by the side of the road about 3 hours later and about 40 kms from camp. He had busted a tire after getting his derailer fixed.

So while we were waiting for Betsy and the SAG wagon to come with a new tire, we took a picture of the town sign we were near...Yuma. No, we couldn't find a train, but if we had we would have made a mini 3:10 to Yuma movie.

We got to camp safe and sound after a crazy headwind, and very long and flat roads (blah). We set up camp and hopped in the wonderful pool (complete with waterslide and diving board...you know how I love those diving boards). I showered and found the local internet cafe. Tonight I plan to write some postcards and read. It is good to be able to relax. :)