July 20 2009 - Marshalltown - Cedar Rapids

Today we rode into the city of 5 seasons, Cedar Rapids

The weather was nice and cool and the ride went by quickly as we made our way into town. When we arrived, we were greeted by participants at the Arc of Cedar Rapids. We then made our way across the street to the YMCA where we showered and got ready for our friendship visit in the evening.

The friendship visit was at the Arc where there where tons of board games and video games to play. I played polar bear bowling with two girls for a bit before shifting over to monopoly. I was beaten badly in both games, but I had a great time! After the friendship visit was over, we had a fantastic meal and then had the rest of the evening free.

Ali and I had a second dinner where we celebrated her passing her nursing boards! It was great to spend time together so that we could finally catch up.

Tomorrow we have short ride into Iowa City!

July 19 2009 - Marshalltown - Cedar Rapids

Today was the best day of the entire trip!

My pace line started out in the middle of the pack today and remained there until we were about 20 miles from Marshalltown. At that point, Joe Borghoff told me that he wanted me to be the first rider into Marshalltown. He cycled as fast as he could up front for 10 miles and then allowed me to lead the last 10 miles. We managed to pass the lead group a couple miles from Marshalltown and make it into town first!

When we arrived into Marshalltown, we went straight to Saint Henry’s Catholic Church where Ali, her mom, and her aunt Tracy were hosting a fantastic meal for the team. We had two amazing pasta dishes, corn on the cob, garlic bread, cookies, and banana bars. It was the best lunch of the summer! After lunch, we headed to lodging at Marshalltown Community College where we were staying on the gym floor.

We were fortunate enough to have a fantastic friendship visit at the Totem Bowl this evening where we spent our evening dancing and bowling the night away. Ali and her friend Allison were nice enough to come to our friendship visit and participate with all of us!

When we were done bowling we returned to lodging and had some free time. Ali, Joe Borghoff, Jimmy Vaeth, and I had some legendary Taco Johns and then returned back to lodging.

I have had a smile on my face all day thanks to a fantastic time with Ali!

July 18 2009 - Winterset - Des Moines

We made it into Des Moines today after a nice short ride!

The ride was rolling hills like the rest of the days in Iowa but today we were fortunate enough to have a nice tailwind. Ross, one of our crew members, rode along today for the ride which was extremely exciting. He had never been on a road bike before and he was cycling along fine until mile 30, when he started getting really exhausted. He then needed to stop every 1 mile to take a break. It made his day very long, but we were all very proud of him when he finished the ride.

Our lodging was at an Easter Seals Camp a few miles outside of Des Moines. Once we showered and had dinner at the camp, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and cleaning off our bikes. I am going to head to bed early today because tomorrow is a big day! We are going to make our way to Marshalltown, Iowa and I will finally be able to see my wonderful fiancée Ali!

July 17 2009 - Griswold - Wintereset

A beautiful day in the state of Iowa!

We left Griswold this morning around 7 am and everyone completed the 65 mile trip by 11:30 a.m, which is extremely fast. Most of the teams were averaging around 20 mph thanks in large part to the tailwind for the last 20 miles of the trip. When we arrived, I was able to do some miscellaneous items such as washing clothes and seeing John Wayne’s birthplace.

Afterwards we headed back to lodging for some walking tacos. For those of you who don’t know, a walking taco is a Doritos bag with the top cut off filled with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, salsa, and Doritos. The meal was fantastic and afterwards we laid down for a much needed nap!

After napping for a few hours we went to the local Lutheran Church for a sponsored dinner from the Winterset Rotary club. The meal consisted of lasagna, garlic bread, and salad and was a nice change of pace from the regular barbeque. The last bit of the evening was spent catching up on blogs and bicycle maintenance. Tomorrow we head to Des Moines, which is 1 day closer to Marshalltown and seeing my beautiful Fiancee Ali:)

July 16 2009 - Omaha - Griswold

Welcome to IOWA! (Home of the most beautiful woman in the world – my fiancee, Alison)

The ride was supposed to be a short 50 miles, but we had to be rerouted due to construction, extending the ride to 70 miles. This didn’t seem to be any real problem until the thunderstorms kicked in around mile 56 and the torrential rain began. We were able to ride for a couple of miles before the crew chief made the call to pull everyone off of the road and wait for the visibility to improve. We sat in the vans for 10 minutes before getting back out onto the road again. The worst part of the whole ordeal was getting back on the road because were soaking wet and the temperature dropped dramatically after the storm passed. We hit one more bout of rain for the last 6 miles, but we made it into lodging safe and sound.

When we arrived we found that our lodging was the retreat center for Creighton University.. We basically had a large cabin out in the middle of nowhere to ourselves! We all setup for the evening and spent a couple of hours napping. We were roused around 3:45 pm and we made our way to our sponsored dinner at the rock quarry in Macedonia, Iowa. It was an absolute blast as we played volleyball, cards, and went swimming in the water. The food and friends were great tonight including 2 alumni from Iowa State University who told us about their experiences with the Journey of Hope and how it has impacted their lives. We were sad to head back to lodging, but we have another full day ahead tomorrow.

July 15 2009 - Lincoln - Omaha

Today was another extremely busy day so I’m going to keep the entry short!

We made it into the great city of Omaha, Nebraska today after what was supposed to be a 50 mile bike ride. Unfortunately, we had some difficulty getting out of the city and so we were only able to ride 42 miles before being racked to our arrival point which was the Saturn of Omaha Dealership. While the arrival wasn’t as exciting with our bikes on top of the vans, we still enjoyed a wonderful sponsored lunch from the folks at Saturn.

We had to eat quickly and get to showers so that we could make our 2:00 pm friendship visit and KOB in Council Bluffs, IA. We spent a few hours with MOSAIC in Council Bluffs before returning back to Nebraska for a dinner/dance/swim party. Our evening dinner party included Luau music and decorations for everyone. We had a fantastic time tonight, but now I must return to bed to catch up on some much needed rest.

Tomorrow we enter IOWA!!!!!!

July 14 2009 - Grand Island - Lincoln

We were back on the bike today for another 100 mile cruise into the big city of Lincoln!

The ride was relatively normal with very little excitement along the way (other than road kill and corn). When we arrived in the city, we found out that we were staying at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. It was strange to stay in another fraternity’s house, but the gentlemen of Beta Theta Pi were very welcoming and friendly. The reason that we were staying at their house is that there isn’t a Pi Kapp house at Nebraska currently. Fortunately, the newly colonized chapter should be up and running for future North Route teams.

Arriving into the city was made better by the copious amounts of candy, snacks, and cookies provided by one of the cyclists families. We hustled to shower up before leaving for a dinner sponsored by the Saratoma club, which is a local service organization specializing in helping those with visual and auditory impairments.

We were on a tight schedule tonight because we needed to leave for another big dance! The dance was a blast and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be absolutely exhausted for tomorrow’s ride! Fortunately it’s only going to be 50 miles into Omaha!

See you then!