JULY 22, 2026
Day 4 – Boone to Marshalltown
Today was a 68-mile ride with only six climbs. After the first two days with 63 climbs, only having 10 the past two days was very welcome, as were cooler temperatures (80s).
Our group of four, Dave, Louis, Susan, and me, rolled out of Boone at 7:18 a.m. The first town we came to was Gilbert (MP 18), population 1,200, the “Breakfast Town.” Sue and I had lost the other two but stopped here. We waited for Dave and Lou, and Dave came in with a breakfast burger with egg from The Open Flame. I decided to opt for one as a better fuel than a Skratch energy bar for breakfast.
We meandered through the town as we were leaving, and just like that I lost all three. I had decided that they left; mostly, we didn’t make a concerted effort to ride with one another, me least of all, so I departed on my own. I stopped at the first lemonade stand because I tried to stop at every kid’s lemonade stand.
This was their chance, their one big chance, to be an entrepreneur, and I didn’t want to see them lose all their business to commercial vendors and restaurants. I tried to stop at every kid’s lemonade stand. I drank some really good and some not-so-good lemonade every day.
At my lemonade stop, I checked messages and discovered they hadn’t left Gilbert yet. I told them I would wait for them at the first lemonade stand on the way out of town. Go over the tracks, and it will be the first stand on the right.
We mostly stayed together. To know RAGBRAI and Iowa is to know rumble strips. Most of the country roads we rode on were two-lane, and when one comes to a stop sign, they have a series of grooved rumble strips in the concrete, perhaps 300, 200, and 100 meters from the stop. They will shake your bike and, if you didn’t have both hands on the handlebars, cause you to lose control. Often, I made sure that I was in the left lane of the closed road; the rumbles are for traffic calming in the lane approaching a stop, and even if not, other riders called them out. But on this one, they didn’t; I hit the first one at full speed (probably 15 mph/25 kph), and it broke the mount my front light was on. That light went flying, at the speed of a light, I guess, and hit the pavement hard.
I had to pull over to a stop and even ride backward on the shoulder about 100 meters to be able to step into the road and pick it up. I also lost my group. While I was backtracking, I saw a “Just Married” couple go by on a tandem. I knew I wanted to catch them and get a photo.
I got rolling again and jumped in the left lane and ramped up my speed, passing everyone. I thought I would see this couple before catching my group, but I flew by them, saying only, “Photo opp.” The tandem was going at a good clip, but I finally caught up to them. I shared my well wishes and grabbed a photo, then soft pedaled until our team caught up to me.
We regrouped and stayed together until Nevada, pop. 6974 (Na-VAY-da), the meeting town, MP 36. I had a Smoothie, and saw the Lazer/Shimano tent. At the tent were chairs in the shade. I sat down. Lou found and joined me for a while, but then he left. And I had already lost Sue and Dave. Having lost my group, I would ride solo to the end.
I’m okay riding solo. Unless someone is depending on me for support, as a solo rider I am free to stop quickly for a photo op or speed ahead to catch someone. I hope I’m not a jerk.
Only seven miles past Meeting Town was Colo (MP 43), population 845. This is known, to the people of Colo at least, as the Crossroads of the Nation as Lincoln Highway and Jefferson Highway intersect here. But I didn’t see that. The town was named for Colo the dog who was crushed by a train. There was a sign to get your photo taken with a statue of Colo, but I didn’t find that either. Also near here is Hickory Grove Park, which is where many of the scenes in the movie Twister were filmed.
Just before State Center, I saw a sign advertising burgers. It was a beef producer and I got one ($5). That would sustain me to the end. While there I saw a dad come in with his two sons. One was on a single bike, and he was probably 14-15. The other was maybe a little older and was on the back of the tandem with his dad. He was blind. I took the time to admire this family for being out here together. It was 16 miles farther to Marshalltown.
Marshalltown, pop. 28,000, was the only repeat town I had from 2012. On that occasion it was an 80-mile ride, but I continued an extra 10 miles out then back to make it a Century. I swam in the Iowa River that day and remember being bitten by small fish. Didn’t hurt; it was just annoying. This time we were nowhere near the river.
The showers were in a trailer. There were 12 stalls in each end, a women’s and a men’s. While I was in the shower, I heard someone fall. Instantly, a voice called out, “Are you OK?” And the person responded that he was. Another voice called out, “Are you OK?” Again, he answered that he was okay. Then a voice came out of my stall, “Is the bike OK?” Alright, I’m a jerk.
After my shower, I went to the camp central where Brancel was serving free ice cream. They advertised chocolate, vanilla, or twist, so I went with twist. “Oh, we’re out.” I tried chocolate. “Oh, we’re out of that too.” I will have vanilla. LOL.
Brancel set up a central location each day with 4-5 large tents, a number of white lawn chairs, plus their charging station with a number of generators. They had drinks on ice, including sodas, Gatorade, water, and some alcohol. They sold all but the alcohol. That was “donation” only. There were coffee cans where one could deposit money.
Brancel also had some tables and always had snacks out. I saw chocolate chip cookies and cheese puff balls. One guy had the container on his lap and was reaching in with his bare hands and eating cheese puffs directly. In Brancel’s defense, they also had scoops for each container. I passed.
Steve and Mary Pat went ahead to dinner. Sue was doing her own thing, as was Lou. Dave and I scouted out our options and settled on the First Presbyterian church in town for lasagna. We had to take a shuttle and pretty much explore the town. It was a school bus, and the driver was super accommodating. When a family wanted to go to a park, she told them she doesn’t go there and added, “Get in, I will take you there.”
The lasagna ($15) was very good. We met Steve and Mary Pat exiting as we were going in, and they suggested opting for downstairs seating. We did. There were only three other people eating in the basement with us. It was the best of the three church dinners this week. I asked a woman about making the church budget on this dinner, and she told me that all the money they make was being donated to a local food bank in Marshalltown. They served more than 500 dinners.
MILES RIDDEN: 68.8
MILES WITH PWCC: 36
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