Day 4 ride statistics: 13.5 mph average, 77 miles, 4:43 hours train time, 105 average pulse, 151 max pulse, 4778 kcal

I rode with Joe all day this day.  Stacey drove the van and camping gear to the next overnight town, which was Tama-Toledo.

Joe and I did pretty good, stopping a number of times for food, water and Kybos. We hit Beekman’s about halfway and overheard a man talking about tacks that had been put on the road in several places. Sounds like lots of riders ended up with flat tires from the tacks. Thankfully, none of our group had any flats.

We arrived in Tama-Toledo about 1:15 PM. The host family we had in this town was once again great, ranking a close second to the Ames experience.  This host family let us use the shower and bathroom in the basement, and they had set out a cooler with a great assortment of drinks, and snacks.  I probably had more than my share of watermelon. I just couldn’t get enough.  Maybe I was a little parched.

They offered to let us all sleep in their basement, on the carpeted floor and we took them up on it. This allowed us to stow away all our camping gear that evening rather than first thing the next morning. It also rained that night, so we were very thankful for the basement.  Oh yeah, the air conditioning was also much appreciated

Josh, Jake and I ate at Dairy Queen. I had a double cheeseburger combo and a blizzard.

I took my bike to the main campground area and got my chain lubed.  I also bought a t-shirt while I was their.

Mindy came up and took Anna home after this day’s ride.  Anna had done a tremendous job, and would have completed the ride, but her little sister Sydney was missing her real bad.  Maybe next year Sydney will be able to let Anna go for a few more days.