Day 21 – 28 May – Moline to Galena
93 miles ridden - 2800 feet climbed - temperature 33C With a long ride and temperatures expected to exceed 100F mid/late afternoon it was an early start - breakfast at 05:00 and load/leave at 06:00. I have to admit that facing food that early wasn't easy, especially...
Day 20 – 27 May – Galesburg to Moline
57 miles ridden - 1000 feet climbed - temperature 30C (more on that later!) Although today was a short day there was significant negotiation last night for an early start time as we knew it was going to be a very hot day. We settled on breakfast at 06:00 and load...
Day 19 – 26 May – Keokuk, Iowa to Galesburg, Illinois
94 miles ridden - 1650 feet climbed - temperature 29C Another fabulous day's cycling although at 5:30 this morning a thunderstorm came through town which woke us all up. While it caused some concern by the time we loaded at 07:00 we had a beautiful day ahead of us....
Day 18 – 25 May – Hannibal to Keokuk, Iowa
59 miles ridden - 1000 feet climbed - temperature 27C. Today was a glorious day's cycling. Lovely temperature, bit of a tailwind, great mix of urban and rural landscape, all in all it was spot on. We climbed out of Hannibal and crossed the Mississippi yet again and...
Day 17 – 24 May – Louisiana to Hannibal
38 Miles ridden - 2000 feet climbed - temperature 30C The shorter day was very welcome as was a gourmet breakfast in an artisan bakery instead of stale raisin bran and bagels in the hotel lobby. We had a much later start at 9am which didn't really matter on such a...
Day 16 – 23 May – St Louis to Louisiana
108 miles ridden - 2000 feet climbed - temperature 29C The first 46 miles today was on either dedicated bike paths or well-marked bike lanes so we didn't have to concentrate so hard on traffic. We followed a bike path for 11 miles out of St Louis past industrial...
Day 15 – Rest day – St Louis
0 miles ridden - 0 feet climbed - hot and sunny Today has been a fabulous rest day centred around three things - The old courthouse, the Gateway Arch, and a river cruise. The old courthouse is a magnificent building constructed in the 1820s to support the importance...
Day 14 – 21 May – St Genevieve to St Louis
85 miles ridden - 4700 feet climbed - temperature 21C. Today was great cycling but not so good for sightseeing. It was much cooler and overcast until mid-afternoon - we got splattered a couple of times by raindrops and went through occasional puddles but missed the...
Day 13 – 20 May – Cape Girardeau to St. Genevieve
70 miles ridden - 3100 feet climbed - temperature 27C. Today we passed the halfway point - 882 miles. We would have celebrated but we were trying to out-run rain clouds which I am pleased to say we did. The first 40 miles was...
Day 12 – 19 May – Union City to Cape Girardeau
93 miles ridden - 1800 feet climbed - temperature 29C. Today was long, hot, brutal but interesting. It started with the Royal Wedding which started at 06:00 here and coincided with breakfast. I was first there, got the channel changed on the TV and most of the riders...