Today is the Greatest Day I've Ever Known.

 On Sunday we went on the Iowa City Culinary Ride. We've never been able to do it before, because we've always had cyclocross races on the same weekend. This year we were freed-up and ready to see what it was all about.

We started from the Co-op where they had wonderful samples of food and coffee. Then we headed to the University gardens where they served virgin bloody mary's  with really good veggies.

We went to Yotopia for excellent breakfast yogurt served with granola and fresh raspberries. I could have eaten a bucket of it.

We stopped at a berry farm and farmer's market outside of Oxford and they offered Cuban tacos. I did love the Culinary Ride, but I do wish they would have told us there wouldn't be all that many vegetarian options. The questionnaire we filled-out for the ride asked us if we were veggie or not and so I assumed that meant there would be veggie options. There were at a couple of stops, but the taco stop only had a very small amount of a veggie slaw and the rest of it was pork and we were told we could only have a tiny portion and I'm pretty sure it was gone before all the riders got there. Another stop only had a chicken pasta with no veggie option. Which, I get that it isn't always easy to make things veggie, but it would be good to know ahead of time that there wouldn't always be veggie food. If I were a stricter vegetarian, it might not have been worth it to me.

Again, I loved the ride and had a blast, but there is always room for improvement or better communication about everything.

 I also heard some people thought the ride was a little too hilly and hard. Friends of mine who had done the ride in the past said it wasn't quite as hilly in other years. I did feel sorry for some of the people who were having problems and exhausted after riding the end of course that seemed to be an endless succession of hills.

Of course, the last two stops were also my favorite ones. Augusta in Oxford served an amazing souffle', blocked-off the street and sold fun cocktails that I didn't indulge in, as I wanted to spend a quiet evening at home, alone, reading my book and didn't want to end up passing-out on my couch instead.

Our last stop was at a really cool farm. They raised chickens in a bus. No, really and they had adorable, but huge Pyrenees mix 10 month old puppies and food from Devotay. We had a 15 mile stretch left and we needed to get back home, so john could go play pool with his friend Bry, and I could, as previously mentioned, have my precious alone time. We missed the after-party at Trumpet Blossom, but our friends who went said it was a blast and they had the most awesome veggie food there...Of course.

If you like food, bikes and fun, I would highly recommend the Culinary Ride, just make sure you get some hilly training in ahead of time and be aware that there might not be a ton of veggie options, though I believe all the meat that was served was from animals that were happy when they were alive and could possibly have lived in their very own bus.