Today the ride had two halves: the first half on a major highway (US 69). The second on smaller roads past some very small towns. Like Lucy/Charlie Brown and the football – I keep learning the same thing – RideWithGPS doesn’t always keep track of closed roads or gravel.

I was on the road early. The most obvious route was to follow US 69 for ~45 miles and then another road the last part to Williams. Efficient but not particularly exciting. US 69 doesn’t have much shoulder (nor do most other Iowa roads I’ve cycled in the past), but moderate traffic and generally I’ve found Iowa drivers to be patient in passing bicycles. My plan was to start on US 69 and if it got busy find alternate, likely gravel roads.

It was nice riding in the cooler morning hours. Corn is taller than I am. It was also fairly flat. Before I knew it I reached Belmond and took a short break.

Signs already telling me the distance to Ames.

Goats. This was along a busy highway so they weren’t too excited as I made goat noises.

I reached the 24 mile mark with 24 miles to go. I was making good time, despite a headwind that seemed to start. At the intersection with Iowa 3, I decided to see about an alternate route that might bring me through smaller country roads. RideWithGPS picked a route and even better told me it was 100% paved and only 3 miles further than my original plan. So I tried it.

This was the first turn – nope, not paved…

This was the second turn. That “bridge closed” sign wasn’t a good sign, but perhaps one could get past on a bicycle…

A short while later, the road just ended. It all looked overgrown and I didn’t see a path or a bridge. OK, now time to backtrack and try a different road.

Fortunately, the next road went through and brought me to the small town of Rowan. This is the main street. After this roads to Dows were very smooth and to Williams were reasonable. So despite the initial gravel and closure, this was a good choice vs. the default larger US 69.

I passed these large buildings. They had fans on the sides and grain feeders for each. They didn’t smell much, so I wasn’t sure they were poultry barns but there were no signs and so not sure what these were…

Dows is a slightly larger town and even had a Casey’s.

Towards the end of the ride, came past Williams including a sign someone decided to post.

Overall, a straightforward ride today with two halves. Each day this week seems to be 3F warmer than the preceding day, but I was done before it became too hot. Tomorrow the plan is to ride to Ames where I meet up with the RAGBRAI ride. Su