In my travels yesterday I stopped to take a look at Pella going West off 77, wet with standing water. B's are in bad shape at the moment...
Tuesday night ride, gravel was soft but actually in pretty good shape. Last night, gravel was in great shape. Everything drying rapidly. That brings us to the subject of Iowa gravel. How is it different than ours? Well...I guess I would say it's more gravelly. Here in Lancaster Co. our gravel is borderline pavement-esque, extremely well maintained with a rock hard base. Iowa...is a different animal. The base must not be as compact. You never see a frost heave around here. Last year at TI the roads were so water logged that anything other than a 4-wheel drive would have struggled, never seen anything like it. I remember cresting a hill last year, my front wheel sinking in to the quagmire & just tipping over. I'm guessing by the forecast we won't have the deluge of rain we saw last year, but with some periods of rain predicted & cool temps the roads are going to be...challenging. Getting ready to wear the B Rd. mud slippers.
Is anyone ever truly ready for TI? The answer is most likely, no. Am I ready for TI? Of course I am, or at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Pre-ride last night I had the in the garage ride-postponing buzz-kill front flat, on the ride I had the rear version. I'm looking at it like I'm just getting the flats outta the way.
Later,
TK
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