We are in Coralville, IA tonight, after about 60 miles yesterday and 75 today. Yesterday, we rode from Altoona, IA to Grinnell, IA. The route was hillier than the day before, but nothing as bad as the first two days. A lot of people really struggled with the end of the route because the hilliest section was there. Grinnell is home to Grinnell College, which graciously opened it's lawns to thousands of cyclists for camping. A tent city filled most of the open spaces on campus, but our group managed to find a relatively quiet spot (or at least it seemed that way until the train came right through the middle of campus in the night). Grinnell College also opened their dining hall for anyone who wanted to eat there. I have to say, my memories of campus food in college do not include edamame succotash and artisan bread, but that was the type of food that is served at Grinnell. After a week of eating (very good) fair food, fresh vegetables were a nice change.
Today's ride started out flat, but with a headwind. RAGBRAI's route always goes from west to east because the prevailing winds in Iowa in the summer are out of the west. For the last two days, those prevailing winds were absent, leaving us with cross and headwinds. SSW Spouse and I took turns in front, pulling for each other, so the wind wasn't too bad. We stopped for lunch, pie, ice cream, and lemonade. I can't say that we've lacked for good food this week. The only challenge at this point is that my legs need a recovery day. They aren't sore, but they are pretty tired and they are tired in the morning.
Tomorrow is the last day, which will end with us dipping our front wheels in the Mississippi River in Davenport.
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