Last Saturday the Iron Hippie, Allen and I rode 75 miles in eastern Iowa to raise money for diabetes through the Tour de Cure. We are on team Paige’s Pilots out of Portland, OR, but are not able to ride the Portland Tour de Cure because we are racing Ironman Boulder and logistically couldn’t make it work.
Friday evening we loaded the car and drove 90 minutes to Cedar Rapids where the Tour de Cure would be getting underway bright and early Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel and went to bed for our really early wake up call.
Saturday morning, the alarm clock went off at 4 am so we could eat breakfast, check out of our hotel, and head to the Tour de Cure start area. Registration started at 5 am with the ride starting at 6 am.
The course was BEAUTIFUL with lots of fun, yet challenging hills. Unfortunately the awful road surfaces overshadowed the beautifully and challenging course. There were a few stretches of road that were not covered with expansion cracks and potholes (thank you Iowa winters), but unfortunately these stretches of road didn’t last. The majority of the road surfaces were so bad that bike seats and bottle cages rattled loose. I even lost a bracket to the x-lab on the back of my saddle. Mojo was not happy at the end of this ride and needed some serious TLC!!
Overall, we had a decent day, but we all decided that unless the course changes to encompass smoother road surfaces, we won’t be participating in this event again.
If you have not yet donated and want to help me reach my fundraising goal, please do so here. Thank you to all who have already donated! I really appreciate it 🙂
PushMyLimits 
Great ride! Cute medal! I hate rough road. It seems to be everywhere! Makes riding not fun!!
I agree Leslie…it does seem to be everywhere and isn’t fun!
Great cause…too bad the roads were in such poor condition. The first thing I noticed in your photos is the arm warmers. I have not worn those in months! It seems crazy that the temperatures allowed you to wear them!
They are actually arm coolers. If we put water in them, they do evaporative cooling and keep me almost cold 😉 They are great sun protection too, so a win all around!!