Grueling gravels. To be song to the tune of "dueling banjos"

Oh man, I am burnt toast tonight, legs are totally fried. 4 days and 3 metric century gravel rides, close to 90 degrees each day, and pushing the pace. Drinking from 10-15 lbs of fluids per ride.

I saw more riders today then I have in a long time. Some were rabbits and some were turtles, I had the silent/secret race with one rider we flew wide open for 15 miles on gravel, he passed me first, I followed for aways, and passed him when he fiddled with his water bottle, kept the lead, I couldn't even grab water. Then we went different ways. That was well with me because I was close to blowing up, is that crazy or what? EGO.

Perhaps a lot of those riders were getting some miles in for RAGBRAI training.

I wanted to get a good ride in today because I am not sure how much my schedule is going to let me ride the rest of the week. Tomorrow I take ma and pa to the Memorial Day parade and then it's my watch, to help ma and pa out for the rest of the day.

This the baby morning dove from their nest on my front porch guarding my son's bike. Every year ma and pa morning dove come back and raise a couple kids. Dad sits on the nest too. They have a solid relationship, and come back year after year. There is another couple on the back deck, same thing, raise a couple of babies every year. We humans could stand to learn something from them.

Good ole Iowa Country side.

This is a happy ending to hot day on the bike.