CEDAR FALLS, IOWA: My Cartoon Alter-Ego Prevails And We Ride Into The Downpour

September 18, 2018

Well folks, the Iowa heat wave has come to an end. Ahhhhhh yes, the cool air felt great when I stepped outside of my motel to look at the sky. What didn't feel so great was the powerful wind and the first drops of rain that signaled an impending storm. More signs of an impending storm were the dark clouds, the thunder, and the flashes of lightning moving in from the east.

I was a little upset at both weather.com and the local KCRG-TV weatherman for predicting that the storm wouldn't roll in until around noon. It was only nine o'clock and here they were. The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong was all loaded up, but I didn't check out. I retreated back to my room to sit and wait and look at the weather radar and twiddle my thumbs.

After an hour-and-a-half of boredom and anxiety, it was still pouring rain out there. It was 10:40--20 minutes before check-out time.

"I don't know, G-2, whaddya think? Should we head out?"

"Damn right we should. It looks like the lightning has passed."

"Oh, don't be too sure. The latest weather report says we're in for waves of thunderstorms up until 3:00 p.m."

"How can you possibly trust the weather reports? They never seem to get anything right when it comes to our bike travels. Don't be a sissy. Let's get going!"

"Hey mister, don't call me a sissy. Even though we might not get electrocuted, the pouring rain will soak me to the bone . . . and soak you to the ink and paper."

"Look, punk, you've pedaled The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong through worse than this. If waves of storms are truly on their way, this is our opportunity to get out."

G-2 was right. A little wind and rain is nothing I haven't dealt with before, and I know how to handle myself in a storm. In addition, we were going to be booted out of the motel in a half-hour anyway unless we paid for another night, which is something I simply will not do. That would be almost as embarrassing as calling my dad to pick me up because it's too hot outside.

I donned my rain gear, put the raincoats on my panniers, turned on my flashing lights, checked out of the motel, and slowly pedaled into the rain. "Take it slow, make progress, don't worry about it," was my mantra.

Once again, my bike touring luck was with me. After about five miles the pouring rain was reduced to a sprinkle. The wind continued to blow me sideways as I rode north though, and I dreaded the point where I would inevitably have to turn directly into it. "I'll deal with that when the time comes," I thought, "take it slow, make progress, don't worry about it."

I took a snack break underneath the Highway 20 overpass where I felt comfortable digging my phone out of a zip-lock bag for a picture.

Four miles later it was time to face that wind head on. "Take it slow, make progress, don't worry about it." I didn't care how slow it forced me to go, my mental resolve was ready to ride all day if necessary and take me as far as my wet feet could pedal.

The first three miles were brutal. I took another short break and then the pedaling seemed to be a little easier after that. Ride some more. Take another break. Ride some more. Take another break. "Take it slow, make progress, don't worry about it." The wind seemed to be reducing with each break I took until it was down to almost nothing. I was feeling soooo lucky. That's when it started raining again.

Another picture of corn. I'm only posting it to prove that, like snowflakes, no two stalks of corn are alike. You probably didn't know that, did you? That's because I just made it up.

I'm pretty sure there aren't enough pictures of ME on this page.

Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 602 miles (969 km)

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