Tri-State Ride Day #5

Day 5—Dyersville, IA to McGregor, IA: 52.90 miles
Comments: Ride Time was 4 hours 39 minutes, average speed: 11.3

This was to be our last ride day ending the Tri-State Tour for this year. We started out around 6:30 a.m. and stopped for breakfast at the Groovy Grounds before leaving Dyersville. We were thankful for the many miles before hitting the challenging hills around Guttenberg and Pike’s Peak State Park. We stopped for lunch in Guttenberg at the Riverview Café and had a very healthy meal of chicken, steamed vegetables and fruit as we watched a barge go down the river.

We had a long, mountainous hill to climb out of Guttenberg but the encouraging words along the pavement kept us cranking forward and upward. We stopped at the top to enjoy the view, take pictures and watch other riders sweat up the hill. It was on our minds that we now had only one more hill to climb to finish and it was a few miles away so we popped back on the bike to enjoy riding the ridge for the time being. The views are always so amazing from above rewarding each rider making it to the top.

We now have less than 15 miles left of this journey and try to prolong the end by stopping at Pike’s Peak State Park—as John Johnson would say, “WOW, WOW, WOW!” This stop was definitely a highlight to the tour. We stopped to take many pictures and say some good-byes to tour riders enjoying the view.

We were quickly back to McGregor where our van awaited to take us home after 5 days on tour. Rick and crew were there to greet us with clean towels and a shower before we all travelled for home.



The trip was a challenge with many new experiences—some good and some not so good. The hills were not only hard on us but also on our bike. On our way home, we paid Kevin a visit at the Blue Heron Bike Shop. The rear free-wheel hub will need to be rebuilt so no biking for a least a week but the rest will be good as we also need to rejuvenate our bodies.