Day 43 - Today turned out to be one of the hottest as temperatures shot up to 104 degrees fahrenheit (40 degrees C) and we struggled to churn out the miles in the heat but relief was on its way in the form of torrential rain, thunder and lightning.
Unfortunately this bad weather was matched with bad driving as two of our riders were forced off the road by trucks into gravel and the resultant grazed knees. Despite the amount of water and spray on the road, the speed of traffic did not reduce and, frankly, it was quite scary to be cycling in this weather. As result of the rain, temperatures came down to 66 degrees fahrenheit which was much easier environmentally but the spray and rain made the cycling equally difficult so we assembled ourselves into groups to avoid anyone being on their own. I matched up with Ann Coleman and Ginny Hughes.
It did not take long for the wet roads to drain and dry out and by the time we reached Osceola in Iowa temperatures were once again starting to climb. Another century of miles crossed of the list!!
Day 44 - Today I was one of the sweepers alongside Beth Erquhart and to celebrate this Beth and I wore silly hats!! Mine was a red crab which kept encouraging Beth as it clapped it's claws if we went fast!!
Everyone was doing fine until the last few miles when one of the riders suffered a puncture so Beth and I waited until they were able to finish the ride.
Then to finish off the day, a few of us were interviewed by a local TV company to outline and explain our bike adventure and, yes, some of my quotes made it on to the news!
