Coralville to Davenport
Once again, we were up an out by 5:30 AM. We decided to catch the route just outside Iowa City, avoiding the traffic in Coralville. The previous night’s storm had brought in a little cooler temperatures but the humidity stuck around.
This stage had only 1800′ of climb so we felt real confident about the day. We had a little headwind but it kept us cool. The first town stop was West Liberty.
Now I’d like to take a moment for some early reflections. The previous two days, we found rib-eye sandwiches for sale. On Thursday, the $12.00 price had been crossed off and marked down to $8.00. The sandwhiches really hit the spot! On Friday, we found the same tent in Marengo with the price marked down to $6.00. Once again it tasted great, even at 10:30 in the morning. I joked with the cashier that maybe tomorrow’s price would be $4.00. She smiled and said, “maybe”.
Well here we were 7:30 AM in West Liberty and there was the rib-eye tent. The sandwiches were indeed marked down to just $5.00. But that early in the morning, it just didn’t seem to be a good idea to knock down a sandwich then ride another 40 miles. So we passed. I now regret that decision. We should have bought them and stuffed them in our packs for later. This was the last town greeting before the 25 mile ride to Muscatine.
We figured Muscatine would be a big reception and we could get food there. Muscatine was a big deal but it was set up all wrong. The park was fenced in and to get to the food court area was almost a 1000′ walk back south down the line. From our view, not many riders were going to that end. So there were no rib-eye sandwiches today.
We decided to get back on the ride headed to Buffalo, the last town before Davenport. Maybe we’d find something there.
We rolled into Buffalo about noon and while it wasn’t set up quite the same as the other towns, it was very busy.
There weren’t too many vendors, mostly local businesses. We got in line for brats and sloppy joes at Clarks’ Station.
We were now less than an hour to the finish. It was still just 79 degrees. We took a little time to enjoy the moment. And then were were off.
We rode into the park and for a moment, thought about dipping our tires in the Mississippi but since we only did three stages and there was quite possibly a thousand people waiting in line, we opted out.
We packed up the bikes, said our goodbyes, and headed towards home.
We got as far as Galesburg before we decided we were hungry and stopped for coffee and sandwiches at Innkeepers Coffee in Galesburg, IL. When we parked, we realized we’d stopped here before.
We had a very good cup of coffee and chicken salad croissant sandwich. Very tasty. The shop is in the downtown area about 10 minutes off the interstate. It is definitely worth the stop!
I downed the whole cup and then proceeded to take a nap. Before long we were home. What a week.
So, will I do the ride again? If you’d asked me on the Friday ride, I’d have said “NO!” But Saturday was such better ride, now I don’t know.
Here are things I do know that if I did it again:
I’d do the whole ride.
I’d definitely have at least one riding partner
I’d train on hills a little more
I still wouldn’t sleep in a tent
I would start the rides at 5:00 AM
I would spend more time in each town
We started each stage a little bit east of the start point to avoid traffic. If I did it again, I’d want to go to the start point. We missed some interesting activities and sites by skipping the start.
Sam and I both trained for this ride but I think we were a little unsure of how we would do. We did just fine. After handling the 95 degree heat and a flat on Friday, along with the hills, we now know how to approach and meet those challenges.
We also tended (after a bathroom break) to keep going once we hit the towns. I know we missed a lot-not just the food. There were a lot of fundraisers happening and I caught a couple, but missed so many more. One that I discovered later was the dunk tank at Oxford. Turns out it was the high school baseball team raising money for new uniforms. That’s the kind of stuff I wouldn’t want to miss on a future ride
Logistics is another big issue. It was fine working from a central location for the three days. The whole ride would require more planning. Some of the overnight towns have limited hotels. One-night Airbnbs can get really expensive. One idea is to rent a motorhome but finding a driver might be challenging.
Oh and one last thing I do know: if there is a next time, I’m buying that $5.00 rib-eye sandwich even if it’s 6:00 in the morning!