Hello everyone,

The ride to Rooster was a long one of 97 miles with some pretty steep climbs. It was coolish as we left Marysville that morning unlike  what I am hearing of the temperatures inSt. Louis. I recalled how hard this ride was in 2012 when the temperature was in the mid 90’s with high humidity. For the most part it is not a particularly hard day other than the 10 miles or so around mile 70.  I had worked really hard the prior day and felt some lingering affects as the day wore on.

This was a two Sag day with the first in the small town of Marengo tan ice cream stand that hadn’t opened yet but a couple of the workers wanted to take our pictures. The second SAG was at a corner stand just before the limbs began. It was pretty easy up to that point with some really scenic areas around small stream. At one point we heard this noise – a kind of humming that i couldn’t figure out. I was with Kevin and Howard, the duo I spent most of the day with. I speculated that it was electrical wires, frogs or water. When the noise got louder, we stopped to ask some locals and it turned out to be the 17 year cicadas.

We also passed quite a few Amish farms and stands and someone bought some strawberries from some of the Amish children selling them by the road. I had warned everyone about the 10 miles of hills but most thought it wasn’t as bad as presented. It was probable;y 20 degrees cooler than 2012 and we had favorable winds most of the day.

When we were doing the claims, I noticed Ian up ahead and I usually pass him with ease. he fought every hill and  I didn’t overtake him until well after. he had some day android like a man possessed. Howard had powered through the climbs and I also chased Kevin trying to overtake him as well. I think we actually raced until we got to town. Howard had stopped to wait for us and we all rode into town together. We stopped at Ride on Bicycles and bought some stuff. It was a Cannonade shop and they lavished praise on my bike. They also showed us the wireless version and it is really cool….. After that we went and had a coffee at a local shop. Dinner was at Broken Rocks Cafe and was one of the best of the tour.

All in all it was an awesome day.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck