We had an early start today with van loading at 05:45 when it was still rather dark and I kept my fingers crossed that there were no Traffic Wardens about when I parked my bike.
We loaded then cycled the short distance to a restaurant for breakfast. I was looking forward to an early start but the waitress must have made a mess of our table's order as it was a full half hour before breakfast actually appeared.
Although today's ride was over 100 miles, we all loved the route profile for obvious reasons!
In actual fact, there was 1000 feet of climbing even though we finished at a lower point than the one we started at.
It remained nicely cool due to a lot of cloud cover and picture opportunities were few and far between because we were surrounded by pig farms and corn fields, rather like yesterday.
We did pass through the 'town' of Grogan, where the Lopez family appear to have moved on!
And then the town of Madelia where I nearly stopped to buy a Pepsi from one eccentric resident.
As we continued, some of the roads were a little bumpy to say the least but I was touched that the powers that be saw fit to plant vegetation in the cracks to make the ride more interesting!
The indentations you can see is what passes for a rumble strip over here and is downright dangerous as it both reduces the cycling area and means vehicles are much closer to danger than they would be if, like in the UK, the rumble strip was part of the white line.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to partake of the local squash.
Due to the flat ride, I still arrived early and was showered and ready for a stroll out by 2.30.
Another century tomorrow with a bit more climbing involved unfortunately.
Today's Stats.
Mileage - 103
Climbing - 1000 feet
Time in Saddle - 7 hrs 5 mins
Average Speed - 14.6 mph
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