Day 23: Iowa City, IA to Ladora, IA

• Distance: 50.42 mi
• Elevation: 2,625 ft
• Dedication: David Sampson and Uncle Tim
• Ride group: Maggie, Jack, and Santi
• Host: Lake Iowa Park Nature Center

After a really long day yesterday, we took advantage of having a shorter mileage day to sleep in a little. We also decided to stop at Midtown Family Restaurant for breakfast– shockingly they were able to accommodate 15 cyclists with relative ease, and the food was delicious! Unfortunately it was only a mile from our host, so really we ended up rolling out for the day close to 11:30… thankfully we only had 50 miles to cover!

Also unfortunate, it was a relatively difficult 50 miles. We didn’t have any gravel until the last few miles but we had some steep “rolling” hills and our legs were so beat from all the gravel yesterday.

Otherwise the ride was pretty uneventful! I had a good ride group today; we tried a new method where everyone picks a partner (mine was Maggie) and then partners were randomly grouped (we got Jack and Santi). The most eventful thing we saw was a dead cow in a pasture along our route, which was very gross. Maggie insisted it was just giving birth… it was not giving birth :(

Tonight we’re staying at an awesome nature center on Lake Iowa. It feels like summer camp! Host van got us an incredible pizza and Olive Garden spread. A few of us went down to the lake, which had a dirt beach but was still so peaceful and pleasant. I caught up on journaling/blogging, chatted with friends, and just enjoyed the evening :)

Until tomorrow!

Lauren