Seth WeitzmanFrom Cape Cod, Massachusetts I’m vicariously enjoying your ride. The elevation feature on Google Maps often tells you a ride will be “mostly flat,” before you find yourself rolling up and down hills all day long. It reminds me of your comment about Ride with GPS. For what it’s worth, a blog I read maintained that a hill must be a minimum height in order for Google Maps to add it to the elevation. If the height doesn’t reach their minimum, they don’t count it, even if there are two dozen of them. I don’t know whether that explanation is right, but I couldn’t find another one. Mrs. Google, or whoever that robotic voice is, obviously doesn’t ride a bicycle. Best, Seth Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Ride with GPS fooled us again today. The elevation and grades were WRONG. We had more than double the elevation gain indicated and multiple 7-8% short climbs. It made us work, but we did fine. I wish I could figure out what's up with Ride with GPS. We need to look at it more closely and see what is not calculating correctly.
Apart from the climbing, it was a good day. We had very ridable roads and places with heavier little traffic had good shoulders.
Still Iowa, still corn and beans growing in rolling fields.
Kalona is the name of the town with the large Amish population. We intended to stop at the grocery store for a break, but it was up a gravel road and this place was right on the highway - and after all the hills, we really deserved it!
We shared a pint of "Pecan Pasture" - chocolate, pecans and brownie pieces. It was very good.
We're spending the night in Washington, IA. It has a central square that surrounds a park, rather than a courthouse. The streets around the park have angle and center parking. The town seems pretty lively, and if you're ever in the area, we recommend you check it out.
Coming into downtown, the road passed under railroad tracks. There was a cool train mural.
2 years ago