Day 06: June 25: Cascade to Lowden IA: 39 miles

We woke up this morning in Cascade after a decent night's sleep under the pavilion. It did not rain like was thought, but this way we could keep off our rain fly to stay cooler. We packed up and headed for a good breakfast. Grandma's Kitchen was recommended by the locals. After eating up, we headed out of town only to be greeted by our first hill of the day. However, this hill was much smaller than what we had seen yesterday.

We encountered our first problem of the day when we were almost to our first town. My bike (Laura) was not shifting gears properly. We ended up wasting 1.5 hours fixing it. Hopefully it will work until at least the end of tomorrow, which would have a bike shop.

Just as we get going again, the rain clouds rolled in and began to sprinkle on us. We were really quite happy about this because it cooled us down nicely. We stopped at the next town Wyoming, Iowa; yes a city, not the state.

After a bite to eat at Teds Swinging Door, we rejoined the rain and headed towards our final destination, Lowden where we had booked a room to stay in. We stopped to celebrate Katie's 1000th mile on her bike near Massillon.

We quickly continued and were making great time when our next bike issue "popped" up. There was a huge parallel crack in the road and Chris did not see it in time. His tire was caught and ripped up. So there we are week 1 using a spare tire and another tube. His rim is also bent a bit.

Chris was able to get his bike patched up and we finally made it to Lowden. We checked into the Lincoln Hotel/Bed and Breakfast and went off to The Corner Cafe for dinner. The food and service were excellent! And now off to one of my favorite parts...sleep!!!

39 miles (253 total)
Google Earth File

Comments

Rim Damage

My rim is damaged and out of true. I have never true-ed an expensive wheel before, so I am leaving it for now. A pliers worked to get the rim in good enough shape to hold the tire bead, and it has held now for 4 days. The tire has a bit of wobble and disk brake rub, but it seems fine. I think it will be good to go. It does look a bit goofy now because I have 2 different front tires.......but this new one is faster. With the faster wheel on the left, but that brake rubbing, it should now balance out!

We are lucky the rim did as well as it did......... it took a major impact. I am amazed it isn't in worse shape. The tire was ripped open on the sidewall, so the tube blew out. Oh well. The tube will be replaced, and we are down to 2 spare tires. I expect Katie will need one soon, though Wisconsin and Iowa are now past us and she hasn't needed it yet!

Bikes

Laura - regarding your shifting issue -
While doing some of my training, I stumbled upon a book titled Becoming an Ironman. I found myself laughing outloud at the stories told from the athletes point of view. One person racing IM Canada stopped at a particular point along the bike route overlooking a beautiful lake below. When athlete tried to get back on the bike but was so tired that he could not clear his leg over the seat; the bike tipped spilling essential liquid caloric intake on the road. A second attempt yielded the same results with the athlete becoming so frustrated that he actually states he wanted to pick up his bike and chuck it into the lake.

Moral of the story - I have felt your physical and mechanical pain... but , Pain is temporary and finishing what you started, well, that lasts forever.

Keep up the good work. You just might qualify for a super duper endurance athlete tatoo. Like a big tough smiley face on the knee cap. LOL

Love,
Aunt Maria

Laura - you are awsome

Hi Laura,

Your doing sooo well, just wanted to tell you how awsome you are.
Love the pictures of you.
I think about all of you daily.

Love, Your Godmother.

Pedal on Goddaughter, Pedal on