Grinnell & Des Moines: Iowa's hills and the Marriott

Greetings from Des Moines!

Yesterday we rode from Iowa City to Grinnell, and it was one of the toughest days of the ride for me mentally.

The first 20 miles went okay, but they were hard. It got hot very early in the day, and every pedal felt like work. The rolling hills were wearing me out quickly. It seemed like every time I crested a hill and was about to feel relieved, I saw the next giant hill looming in the distance. 

Iowa rollers

The route was very straightforward and involved staying on the same road for most of the day. It was also a road where we definitely had to ride single file, so I couldn't talk to my teammates. It got boring fast. 

After the first water stop, things really started to go south. (Not literally, we're going west). First, Paul got a flat. No big deal; we stopped and changed it. Then, around mile 40, I got a flat. It was only my second flat of the trip -- the first being on Day 1! I was really annoyed to get a flat because my inner tube had held up for over 1200 miles and I was worried that once I changed it I'd start having the bad luck that some of my other teammates have had (i.e. multiple flats in one day, 10 total so far, etc).

There was also no opportune place to stop as we were in the middle of nowhere, so we pulled off the road into an open area that was not shaded and was muddy. We had been expecting the water stop in the next few miles, so we were all low on water, hot, and hungry. A recipe for hangriness!

I changed the flat with the help of Porter, our mechanic. I can do it all myself except for getting the second edge of the tire around the last part (you have to really muscle the tire and actually stretch it a little to get it back on the wheel). Changing the tire was frustrating because I got all muddy, dirty, and even more hot and sweaty. Then to top it off, we found out the water stop was set up another 9 miles away.

As we were JUST about to roll back onto the road, we heard the dreaded HISSSSSSS of a flat. We all groaned in unison. (This happens at least once a day and we all know what it is as soon as we hear it). It was coming from Sarah's bike.. she had gotten a flat while her bike was not even being touched. Porter said it was probably because of the heat- that it cooled down while it was not being touched.

I wish I had pictures to show you but usually my mood correlates with how many pictures I take, so I have none!

As our levels of hangriness escalated, Sarah was a good sport and changed her tire. But...while Porter was helping her with the last step, he accidentally popped the tube. Flat #3 at the same stop!!! It wasn't even over then. The exact same thing happened a SECOND time to Sarah, and she was on her third flat of the stop. With mine that made 4 total, and we had been there for about an hour. Sitting in the hot sun on the side of the road for so long was really frustrating. We were all low on water. 

When we FINALLY got back on the road, we were so far behind that the water van was able to finish giving the other groups water and come back to us, but we were all in such bad moods that all we could do was glare at the van drivers (it's okay, the van drivers are used to getting glared at). 

Then we were in for something that picked up our moods at least a little bit. We came across two cross-country bikers going in the opposite direction! Their names are Owen and Allison and they are biking from California to New York. Their route for the day was basically ours but in reverse. We talked a bit about our trips, and let me just say one thing... I am SO GLAD we have our support vans!!! These two were carrying ALL their gear, including tents, on their bikes. They said they each had 80 pounds of gear. That's ridiculous!!! I can't imagine going through these hills, or the mountains, with 80 pounds of gear. They were really cool, though, and we wished each other luck on our journeys and went on.

The rest of the day involved several more setbacks as Paul got another flat just half a mile from our lunch stop and then Paul and Sarah had to replace their rim strips at the lunch stop, so we waited while they did that. Luckily we had lunch in an air-conditioned church. I laid down on a pew and immediately fell asleep for about 20 minutes. It was great except for the dream I had about my team leaving without me.

The remaining 15 miles of the day had even more fun in store for us. On top of the continuing rolling hills, we appeared to be riding straight into another storm. We subconsciously rode faster as if trying to race the storm. The winds picked up and the skies looked threatening. Luckily, no lightning. At first we just got drizzled on, but when we were just 5 miles out from the host it started pouring... and possibly hailing, we're not sure. Someone saw lightning so we pulled over and stayed under cover (standing up against a farm building was the best shelter we could find) for 10 minutes.... The rain cleared and the sun came out. Iowa weather is crazy!!!

Rolling into Grinnell after the rainfall.

When we finally got into Grinnell I was in for a special treat. My grandparents and cousin Deborah had driven all the way from St. Louis, Missouri to see me! I was so excited to see them :) My team was jealous of Deborah's awesome pink hair. I quickly showered and then we went out for dinner at a really adorable place in the also-adorable town of Grinnell. I got seafood chowder and pasta because, well, pasta is awesome and seafood is something I'm probably never going to eat on this trip. It was great!! 

Afterwards they took me to Wal Mart and bought my team a ton of food for our breakfast and snacks for the next few days. We loveeee fresh fruit & veggies!!! The team nearly drooled upon seeing the selection in the morning. I also left my grandparents with some things from my bag that I haven't used at all yet. I figured if I haven't used them by now I'm not going to use them the rest of the trip (with the exception of some warmer cycling clothes I expect to use in the West).

After that I rejoined my team, which was at a lady's house eating dinner. Apparently they also had a great dinner and I arrived in time to get a fancy iced tea and chat a little with the host, who was super nice. We then went out for ice cream, and then went to bed at the awesome dorms of Grinnell College!

In the morning my grandparents came to watch our dedication circle and see us off. I was sad to see them go but very happy I was able to see them!! 

Today's ride, a 54 mile ride from Grinnell to Des Moines, was also a tough one. 

Casually posing with an owl painted on the side of a barn

Luckily we didn't have any bike problems in my group, but we did have some TOUGH hills, the likes of which we have not seen since Pennsylvania. The hills were long, steep, tall; you name it and I guarantee we saw it today. Even though it was only 54 miles it was very physically tiring. The day started perfectly sunny and ended very windy and raining... again! Iowa weather has not been very nice to us. 

You can say that again.

Getting into Des Moines was relatively painless as it was still pretty early in the day. All groups were in before 2 pm... to our host, the Des Moines Downtown Marriott!!!! It is a 4K first to have a Marriott donate rooms for everyone, and this Marriott is crazy nice. We are very lucky and so grateful :). Half the team went out for lunch for Dave Wolfe's 22nd birthday, but I stayed back to hold down the fort and sort things out at the hotel. Aka I enjoyed a glorious shower. 

The view of Des Moines from our rooms on the 30th floor!

Kiera in our room

Fruit-infused water?!? We are so spoiled!!!

Marriott Lobby

Marriott Lobby Take 2

The team then gathered together at 3:00 for a reception the Marriott was holding for us. As if giving us rooms wasn't enough, they fed us fruit, cheese, crackers and cookies and 10-12 staff members showed up to enjoy the free food and chat with us. Andrew and Dave gave a quick presentation, and then the manager of the hotel came up to thank us for what we are doing. The cause is important to him as he is a cancer survivor himself, as is his executive assistant, who coordinated our stay. 

The Marriott has been amazingly generous to us and I must say that all this luxury has made us realize how much we've forgotten how to be real people! After the reception some of the girls and I decided to turn ourselves into girls again so we put on dresses, straightened our hair with Gina's mini hair straightener, and did our nails. It was fun!

We then headed out to longtime 4K supporter Shelly Argumedo's house for a dinner. Shelly hosted a few of the riders last year, but as homestays didn't work out this year, she agreed to cook us dinner this year! She and her friend Birdie had a ton of great food prepared for us and Shelly had a bunch of great stories to share with us. Unfortunately her life has been very touched by cancer: she has 8 ribbons tattooed in a spiral on her lower leg, each representing a family member that has been affected by cancer. As she said, "if you guys can bike 4400 miles, I can feed you a dinner." She even let us do multiple loads of laundry and sent us with goodie bags.

Shelly welcomed us with this sign in her yard :)

Dinner at Shelly's

Well, Des Moines has a lot of cool things to do -- some of the team went to free swing dancing lessons on the lake, while others went to look at art, and some are enjoying the hot tub in the hotel -- but honestly I'm so low on sleep that the only thing I feel like doing is curling up in the extremely soft bed waiting for me on the 30th floor. So I'll leave it at that for the day. 

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Atlantic tomorrow as well as our entrance into Nebraska on Saturday :).