Iowa mission #1 Report

As we had mentioned before we had in mind to get together and do a Iowa Mission ride for the upcoming Death Ride Invitational which is happening on the weekend of July 13-14. Cookie had to work an event and was not going to meet me in the secret location until 11 am. So as I arrived at set time Trans Iowa finisher Derek and Cookie were waiting. We loaded gear and bike onto Cookie's Element and took the 3 hour drive out to Iowa. 
     There we were suprised to see Jakey La Cruz, Agatha and our new Iowa friend Chris. Agatha had just purchased an awesome Surly Karate Monkey Single Speed and was dying to go rip up some trails. She loaded up and hit some trails around the Dubuque area. 
     We got ready and hit up some gravel. As usual it took a long while to warm up as the legs were stiff from wrenching all week and driving for 4 hours. Chris was an awesome guide and helped us make some corrections to the route we had mapped out. The hills were punishing and I felt completely out of shape. I had moments where I felt great followed by stiffness and pain. We hit some really nasty hills just short of Dubuque and also did some amazing B-roads. 
     AT around 630 pm. we broke for dinner and had Bison burgers, drinks and homemade Carrot Cake. Agatha and Jakey headed home, Chris went home and the 3 remaining continued on in the dark. Our first greeting into the darkness was a rather large group of Coyotes yelping and crying in the night. The cold, damp air triggered my asthma and i used Jakey's baselayer to wrap my face and warm up the air. 
     We hit another long B-road with a sharp uphill that burned our legs and my lungs. At this point we had hit our targeted mileage and headed south to the car. We ended up riding 74 miles, with an average of 12.3 mph, max speed was 43.68mph and our ride time alone was 6 hours. We started the ride at 2 pm and got back at 10 pm. 
The terrain around that area of Iowa is extremely hard and I figure that with luck we will cover 10mph on the Death Ride. 

HEre is the link to the flick page with the Iowa Mission Set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20897064@N02/sets/72157633965095835/


Hope You enjoy the photos, 

Ari 

The meet up 

Getting out of town to hit the Gravel

The valley roads are always my favorite and picturesque

Our new friend Chris

The skies parted and it was awesome!

Way north almost into Dubuque

Eveyone had a blast

We hit quite a fair amount of B-roads. They were all very dry. 

And the hills never ended.

The most obscure B-road ever. Only Chris knew about it. 

This neverending hill would break my legs and make me see stars. I  used my 26 front and 36 in the rear on my 2x10  29er. 

We would later have double Cheese Bison Burgers for dinner. 

My faithful Slender Fungus member Cookie

night took over and so did my Asthma. 

Glorious to have finished such a hard day on the saddle. 

Thanks for reading and hope to see you in July. 

Ari