Okay. So, the last week has been insanely busy with celebrations. Mostly, we celebrated John's birthday. If you know me at all, you know that I celebrate birthdays like a mad woman. Birthdays should be celebrated for at LEAST a month, and the birthday person should get to eat and drink and do anything they want. Duh.
John's birthday was on a Tuesday, so we both took vacation days on Monday and Tuesday to give us a four day weekend. Ahhhh.
When we got off work Friday, our friend, Nick came over, and we picked up Pagliai's pizza for dinner (Pagliai's is a local pizza place that uses a VERY thin crust). Then we watched "The Conjuring" outside to make it extra scary. John loves scary movies, and I do too, but I also get a little stressed-out, ESPECIALLY when they are super suspenseful and they have creepy dolls in them. I don't mind telling you that I had my head under a blanket for parts of that movie.
On Saturday, we woke up pretty early. I ran to the Farmer's Market to get a cinnamon roll and some cookies from the Mennonite lady there. If I'm going to ride at least a hundred miles, I'm going to eat as many cookies as I can fit into a day. Did I mention that we were planning on riding 100 miles that Saturday? Did I also mention that I had only done four road rides altogether in the last two months, and all four of them only added up to a little over 100 miles? Am I some kind of an idiot or something? Yes. Yes, I am.
The plan was to take the Cedar Valley Nature Trail all the way from where it starts to Waterloo, Iowa. Then sleep in a hotel, then ride that same distance back. Remember, I am an idiot and thought that was a great idea.
We did that ride five years before when we were heading to RAGBRAI with some friends, and really loved it. Of course, I was younger, and less perimenopausal, and thinner, and in better shape, and I was probably prettier and smarter back then too. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. ANYWAY, it's a beautiful ride and most of it is on one of the rails-to-trails bike paths.
People along the trail will dress up their backyards to make things fun for the cyclists, and you know how much I love a good photo op.
We rode the first 33 miles and made it to Cedar Rapids for lunch at around 11:30. We go to this place called Parlor City that has decent food and a good beer selection. Then we rode and rode and rode some more.
iI made John stop in Brandon, Iowa so we could take pictures in the World's Largest Frying Pan. I mean, who wouldn't? Also, it's probably not the WORLD'S largest frying pan, but definitely Iowa's largest.
There are always cool things along the bike path. I'm assuming these gigantic structures are somehow ag related, but I grew up in the Phoenix area, so I really have no idea about farming. I think they'd be great props for some post-apocalyptic movie, where our protagonists could try to use them as shelter, only to find a gaggle of zombies (what is the correct term for a group of several zombies?) hiding inside.
Okay. So, next we made it to La Porte City. I can honestly say using my expert opinion, that the BEST thing in La Porte City is Tootsie's ice cream place. Look! It has a Volkswagon Bug on top of it. Also, the only time I've been there is when I've been in the process of riding 100 miles on the bike path, so my opinion might be just a little bit skewed.
Ninety-five miles and a VERY sore ass later, and we made it to our hotel in Waterloo. It's the second time we stayed at the Fairfield Inn there. It is a great little place, the people who work there are always so sweet, and most importantly, they are just a couple of miles off the bike path.
We rode seven more miles there and back to Single Speed Brewery for dinner. It was worth riding the few extra miles. They are located in an old Wonder Bread factory, and they use the old walk-in cooler doors for their bathrooms. Pretty cool. They have really good, fresh food, and I like their beer. With my migraines, I can't really drink that much, but I did make an exception and had their Oktoberfest beer. I really like those malty Oktoberfest beers, and Single Speed's was superb.
The next morning we were back at it and left Waterloo by around 8:30'ish. If I thought I was sore and tired the evening before, that shit just gets worse after you let yourself rest overnight.
We rode along and stopped for a few photo ops. I'm not exactly sure what this cross with a bunch of bikes under it is supposed to be. Some kind of bicycle graveyard? I've seen weirder things...
The longer we rode, the sorer (more sore?) my ass got. Apparently, there isn't enough Chamois Butter in the world for this perimenopausal woman. I'm not gonna lie, I was in some pain.
It helped to stop here and there and take photos, but since the bike path seemed to run past a bunch of stagnant ponds, the mosquitos were horrible.
We rode over bridges, and through tunnels, and on paved surfaces, and dirt roads.
Parts of the trail were closed, because they were working on them, but we're always so sure those closed signs never pertain to us. Basically, except for about two miles, that whole section was paved, but the chunks in between weren't quite connected yet, so we had to do some finagling.
I made it about 60 miles from Waterloo to Cedar Rapids on Sunday. We had some friends meet us there for lunch, and then they were going to ride back to Iowa City with us. I was shot, done and dusted, and my butt and legs were so sore that I really couldn't go on. Our friend Doug had driven all the kids to Cedar Rapids and kindly offered to give me and my bike a ride home. Thank jeebus!
After I left John to ride home and play with his friends, I made myself the biggest, hottest, stinkiest bubble bath and tried to live in it. I had a lovely weekend, I rode my bike 161 miles in two days, and tried to make John's birthday weekend as special as possible, and most importantly, I didn't die.
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