We pick back up on the series with Pat 2 of the 2019 GTDRI. If you missed Part 1, you can click to it HERE.
Clouds had been gathering all morning up to our Mile 30 stop at Jon's truck. Then by the time we left it started to sprinkle. Thunder increased in volume and intensity. At one point, my friend Tony said he wasn't going to look when I pointed out that there was lightning in the area. He "didn't want to know" because he didn't want to quit the ride, but knew it wasn't a great idea to keep going. It was unsaid, but the comment meant that to me, at any rate, and from that point on I was considering calling it all off.
There were two problems with that. One- we were out almost as far as we were going to go, and secondly, I knew most of the guys would not quit. So, as I put a death grip on my wet bars as I descended another rough, rutted Level B Road at 25-30mph, and I hoped against hope that we could ride things out.
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| There was a big storm to our Northwest. We rode on the fringes of the Southern edges of it. |
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| When I felt safe enough to take an image, we were usually climbing. Descents were fast and scary! |
All along I expected the worst, but the rain never really got beyond a "heavy sprinkle", and the roads stayed rideable, despite the moisture, which usually causes mayhem. My main concern then was the lightning, and not knowing which direction the rain was going in for certain.
Our course went mainly East, and we would have a bit of a Northward trek until we reached Tama County, and then it would be a Southeasterly course down a "ridge road" off the normal grid. Would we be riding right into this storm? I had a lot of concerns.
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| N.Y. Roll (shirtless- of course!) fixes a flat while the rest take a break. |
Down one particularly fast, rutted Level B Road, N.Y. Roll encountered a bit of a tire issue and just past that section everyone was stopped to gather up while he repaired the tire. This allowed the storm time to drift off North and East of us and we had a clearer sky, for a little while....
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| A fascinating intersection where all roads were Level B. The guys seemed to really be impressed by this. |
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| Up in Tama County on 390th St. |
We got up on the ridge in Tama County which bordered the Iowa River Valley to the Northeast and the plains of Poweshiek County on the Southwest. As we rode along, the storm built back in and down towards us. Before long it was sprinkling again, but this time there was no lightning to worry about.
Tony and I were the tail-on-the-dog and were just cruising along at a nice pace. I had been dialing it back due to the hills and humidity. I had tweaked out my back lifting a heavy pick-up cap made of fiberglass with my neighbor only the day before, so I was also trying to take it easy on my body for that reason. So far, it all had been working out just fine.
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| Just moments after I took this shot I fell and aggravated my back injury. |
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| Trying to get to the next rest stop. I was in agony by this point. |
Rolling up to a tree next to a farmhouse to get out of the steady rain, I caught a rut in the grass and high-sided myself into the ground. Basically body-slamming myself and that tweaked my back again. I was keeping it to myself, and hoping against hope, but after this I was pretty much toast.
Resolving to go as far as I could, I tried to make it to the next stop at 60 miles in, which would be at Rob Evans' vehicle where his girlfriend was supposed to rendezvous with us at a predetermined point. By this time the rain was done and the heat and humidity were ratcheting up to really intense levels.
I made it to the rest stop, but after that.......
Next: The last part of GTDRI 2019.
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