Saturday biking in NW Iowa

OK...forgot my camera, but then again I don't know if I could have held onto to take pictures anyway.

Saturday morning I woke up after driving to my parents and not getting there until 1:00am I was still tired. Knowing I needed to go for a ride I headed downstairs for breakfast.
Found some cheerios with fresh strawberries and then downed a banana.
As I was getting ready Mom asked how soon I was leaving. "very soon" was my reply. "Good as the wind is supposed to pick up today" was her reply. GREAT...I hate wind!
As I'm getting ready I can't find my sunscreen...of course my mother has none as she rarely burns! So I take my little stick and at least coat my face and tattoos. Yep, the important things!

Finally headed out at 10:00am.
As I head North out of Marcus on Hwy 143, I am already getting blown to the east because of the wind. I figure only 3 miles and then I'll have a tail wind...no problem.
As I turned east towards Cleghorn, I had a GREAT tail wind. It's not very often I get to go anywhere from 25-30mph!! Then I started to get nervous. What is the ride going to be like coming back....should I turn around? Nope keep going, it's only 8 more miles to Cleghorn, you can do it! Turning south into Cleghorn, I still had a slight tailwind, with a slight cross wind. Still able to keep it going at about 19-21mph.

Heading into Cleghorn I get a few weird looks from the Softball girls. I suppose it's not very often they see someone rolling into town in spandex and wearing a bike helmet. I'm guessing most don't even own a bike helmet...I know I didn't growing up!

Stopped at the pop machines at the community center to get a water to mix up my drink. GREAT...the dollar thing is working. Well, the next machine is cans and only 50cents...let's hope the dollar thing works. Got a Coke, stretched the legs and mentally prepared myself for the ride back.

Heading back out of Cleghorn, I was already dreading the next 8 miles. As I headed north the headwind was pretty strong, but not too bad....oh and this was slight uphill as coming in was obviously downhill! Only 4 miles until I had to head west into stronger wind. Not bad kept this around 12mph. Then I turned west...holy cow...where the hell did this wind come from. I managed to keep my bike on the road and go along at a pace of 8-10mph! Every mile intersection was a saving grace...it was awesome to finally see the cars on Hwy 143!!

Heading south back into Marcus was a pretty good tailwind with a slight cross wind...woo hoo only 3 more miles and back up to the 19 to over 20mph range!

As I got back into town, I needed to spin slowly for a little bit, so I did a loop around town. I was at 22m and wanted to get in 25m at least. I did the main perimeter around town and headed back to my parents...who live on the east perimeter. By the time I rolled into the alley I was just over 25m and pooped! Oh...and all of it done in 2 hours and 1800 calories burned!! My butt hurt bad...but it felt so good!!

Back to the no sunscreen...well, as the night went on, I kept getting more red and started getting the chills. NOT good!! I think I had a combo of wind burn and sunburn. I have never had a sunburn feel so tight and itch so bad! Even today it is still bright red on my shoulder blades as I had a T-back jersey on! Oh...and when I arrived back in DM, I found the sunscreen in the bag with Alexa's pull-ups...aauughh!

I also have to commend the drivers in NW Iowa! Every single person that passed me went all the way into the other lane and didn't come back over until they were far in front of me. It was nice to see all the friendly waves too. It's not very often you see a driver of a car waving at a cyclist! WAY TO GO!!