Shemp

It's a 2 day affair, bike from the Quad Cities to Dubuque on Saturday, stay at a dorm room there and ride back a different route on Sunday. A shorter option starts and ends in Preston, IA.

I did it last year and shared pace line work with three very pleasant Chicago triathletes on the way up and suffered solo on the ride back into a southern headwind, including the century loop option.

It's a nice ride. Just hope I get myself back into shape before then....

https://www.qcbc.org/tomrv/

slushlover2

You forgot to mention the hills! The climbing on this ride is a close as you will get to mountains in the midwest. It is a very challenging ride.

whitesox

yep, the boyfriend and I will be there

pkgman

Hills? And, I'm doing this ride?
Being from Chicago doesn't offer the opportunity to do much hill training. The earlier comment about hill scares me a bit.
Is the whole ride up and down or just the area around Galena?
Pkgman

Shemp

Definitely some big rollers, especially the farther north you get. The biggest insult is the last hill up to the campus at the end of day 1. You're already past the century mark and you have a big climb up through Dubuque.

I saw on the site that there was a little reroute near Galena on Black Jack Rd due to winter related issues.

racebrat61

Yea, the last climb of the first day, when was the last time you got cheered to the finish by complete strangers! Plus the beer garden is near, oh so near!