Day 20: Colfax to Mount Pleasant, Iowa

No pictures today, folks. Never got the camera out of the waterproofs.

Iowa turned from really flat to pretty hilly (though smaller hills) today with hardwood forest where it hadn't been cleared for crops. More small towns with a variety of old well-kept, old run-down, and newer homes. The farms appeared to be smaller and family owned - with a homestead on each section. More like southern New England or Pennsylvania farmland. Still all corn and soybeans as the primary crops.

Mount Pleasant has 8000 people, but has the Midwest Threshers Reunion every year and draws 100,000 visitors to see old farm equipment and listen to country music. sorry I missed it.

The day started raining within miles of the start, turned into significant thunderstorms with lots of electricity striking all around, heavy changing winds and heavy downpour for about an hour (no hail), then another couple hours of lighter rain and finally a few hours of sun. It was warm enough to be very enjoyable (at least to me) riding in the rain. Luckily I was at the lunch stop when the worst of the storm hit and just took a leisurely lunch and waited it out.

One epic mudbath construction area - about 50 yards of gooey deep clay well soaked by the rain. Unrideable. If you walked through in your shoes, the cleats became unusable. If you tried cleat covers, they got pulled off and lost in the mud. Socks weren't a good idea. So, most of us opted for what seemed the best choice, shoes and socks off and wade through the mud (felt good slooshing between the toes - apologies to the bard of Wasilla), then wash the feet in a puddle on the other side.

Plenty of climbing over those little hills, and plenty of head winds made it a long day.

9.3 hrs in the saddle (12.5 hr total because of the extended lunchbreak waiting out the worst of the storm), 226 KM (141 miles) at 24.3 km/hr (15.0 mph), 142 watts at 91 pulse, 4264 kJoules.

Epic delightful riding day.