TOMRV 33 - pics and musings

About 210 miles on bike over two days, with about 10,000 ft of elevation change.  Not terrible for the Midwest. Hot food and shower, sleep in a real bed at the overnight.  Kudos to the Quad Cities Bicycle Club for their premier well run event.  Good friends made it all the better.  Teri, Nancy, Craig, Joe...you guys made this special.  Let's do it again next year!

• A couple of accidents. Fellow went down on the wet Savanna/Sabula bridge over the Mississippi on scary serrated bar grating.  Rain, narrow bridge, low guard rail, high pressure tires.  Not a good combination. Another rider went down on the US151 descent into Dubuque.  Four lane divided road with rumble strips also not your friend. 
• Consistent rain most of Sat morning and late Sunday morning.  Rode through Saturday rain, but took shelter in a bar in Low Moor, Iowa after weather radar looked bad.  Earned a new name "weatherman" from a Fox and a Lyon.
•  Visited the re-invigorated Dubuque riverfront, and had a beer at the Star Brewery, watched the sun set and the river go by. Good to see downtowns and riverfronts come back.
• Took the short 200 ft cable car Fenelon Place Elevator up the bluff for a view of the town.  Felt good enough to ride a few extra miles, and then climb back up the bluff for an overnight at Clarke College.
• Replaced my standard 53/39 double chainring with a compact 50/34 chainring a few weeks prior on my Cannondale.  Glad I did it.  Made a lot of difference on the climbs.  Good job to Greg Harper and Harper's Bike in Muscatine for one day turn around.  Shifts like a dream and climbs like a goat.
• Happy enough with level of fitness to jump right back into running speedwork in quest for short distance PR's. Onward to July Firecracker, Ride Across Indiana and Bix.

-Larry