Ramblings from Pud Kearns: Monday, July 26

Day 2 of the ride was a big one – about 80 miles, with an optional extra loop that brought the total up to 100 miles. Registered riders who do the loop will receive a special patch, so most ride the extra loop. And for others, it’s just the idea of riding 100 miles in a day. Joe Johnson, who was riding ahead of the main bunch, realized he missed the turn-off for the extra loop, so when he got to town, he turned around and rode 10 miles out and back so he could say he’d done it. That’s determination!

The route to Algona, IA, departed along Storm Lake, providing beautiful scenery for the first few miles.

Fortunately, the terrain was pretty flat, so it was an easy ride for everyone. That meant there was time to enjoy the surrounding vistas – lots and lots of corn and soybean fields. Although both bikers and support team have remarked on the amount of agriculture, we all agree there is a real beauty to these regimental-straight plowed fields interspersed with neat farms under tall trees. When we were looking over everyone’s photos of the day, this picture stood out as one that really captured the essence of scenic agriculture. Ed Ramos said, “You think they grow some corn in Iowa?”

The support crew had lots of chores to do before we could get off, including servicing the motorcoach and purchasing groceries and supplies. Storm Lake’s Wal-Mart was the place to be. The parking lot was full of team buses (more on those in a future blog) and even some teams who hadn’t departed yet. Inside at McDonald’s, we met members of Team Bat in line for breakfast. Their activity is to trade their personalized team koozies with other riders and locals along the way. Here are 3 members proudly showing their trophies. We also really liked their logo - the bat symbol inside a bicycle gear.

About 10 miles into the ride, the bikers usually stop for breakfast. Churches and service clubs in the first pass-through town will often host a breakfast fund-raiser. The “pancake guy” travels from place to place on the ride, cooking for the crowd. But you have to work for your food, catching the flying flapjacks as they sail high into the air. Look at the center top of the photo to see the pancake. The fellow in the blue shirt is supposed to catch it on his plate.

Our pedalers had a great time on the

road today. And they remembered to take photos of the sights for your pleasure, too. More than one took shots of the same attraction, so I’ve chosen the best photo. The pass-through towns offer food, restrooms and other diversions for the riders. Here’s a wonderful shot showing hundreds and hundreds of bikers taking a break in town.

This was a popular shot….

And one took a photo of this bike, while another got the shot of the rider on the road. As Gerry said, he’s got a tough ride – no gears for the climb and no brakes for the downhill.

The bicycle next to him is one of the recumbent bikes, which makes the size contrast even more interesting. We figure his head is about 6 to 7 feet off the ground!

As the day grew warmer, folks looked for activities to cool off. The Ice Cream man had a line. Gerry struck up a conversation with the couple behind him, only to discover that one of them was blind! Now that’s courage.

At the same time, others found different diversions. Bill called Cathy to say, “We’ve found a beer tent with a slip ‘n slide – we’ll be a while…” We have a movie of the spectacle for you to enjoy, too! Paul and Corbett provide the entertainment two at a time!

The highlight of the day for the riders was in the town of West Bend, where everyone was invited to tour the Grotto of the Redemption. This was the life work of Fr. Paul Dobberstein, a Catholic priest, who died in 1954. He gathered rocks and precious stones from around the world and began construction in 1912. For the next 42 years, Fr. Dobberstein created hundreds of intricate rock settings that form the Grotto’s walls and ceilings. The Grotto of the Redemption is the largest grotto in the world (defined as man-made cavern). It is comprised of nine separate grottos, each depicting a scene in the life of Jesus. All the riders said it was amazing. Some took the time to tour it and shared these photos:

Meanwhile, Richard was hard at work in Algona. In each overnight town, his team sets up a booth where they sell and service their brand of bicycles. (In fact, Mike and Rita – the other two members of the Specialized bicycle team, have now joined our merry group for dinner and sleeping space). Riders who are interested in purchasing a bike from Specialized (or any of the big bicycle companies, for that matter), can test-ride a bike for a day.

When the support caravan arrived in Algona, we quickly parked and dashed back up the road to a spot where we could watch the bikers whiz by. A cooler, four lawn chairs and a shady spot for Maggie and we had a blast. It was a wonderful way for Steve and Denise to get a sense of the scale of this event as we watched an unbroken stream of riders for over an hour. I remember well how that was so hard for me to grasp last year.

Folks waved, honked, dinged their bells and otherwise greeted us as we shouted encouragement and, “You’re only two miles from town – nearly there!"

Even Maggie barked encouragement until she succumbed to thirst.

Within the space of 15 minutes, everyone from Team OWBNID was at our intersection. Another spectator at the intersection snapped this team photo for us.

Our hosts, Janet and Ervin (“Erv”) have a lovely place on 10 acres just west of Algona. Janet returned after a day spent volunteering to help us in her spacious kitchen. Erv and his sons have a jewelry and gift store in town, so he joined us in the evening. Their lovely home had the prettiest garden – lush vegetables surrounded by flowers. Cathy and I were so envious of her green thumb! She was kind enough to share from her stand of rhubarb so Denise can make strawberry-rhubarb pies one night. Yum!

All of the riders were tired and sunburned, but we all agreed that Dustin won the prize for the best line of demarcation. Look at those legs - it's gotta hurt!

It was Corbett’s birthday, so we stuck candles in the chocolate-peanut butter-pecan pies, and he obliged us by blowing them out.

After dinner, the younger crown went to town to celebrate Corbett’s birthday further. Each night, there’s a live band in town and everyone enjoys the music.

All these little towns also have bars (Toto, we’re not in Texas with its local option laws), so when the music stage shuts down at midnight, there are still plenty of places to party. Our group made sure to try several.