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Rain, heat greet cyclist in Midwest

By JON WILSON
Published July 16, 2006

This is one among occasional updates of CASA director Linda Osmundson's 52-day, nearly 4,000-mile bicycle ride across America.

Linda Osmundson has crossed the Rocky Mountains, wheeled through flat Kansas, negotiated rolling hills in Missouri and passed mile after mile of corn, soybean, wheat and hay fields through Illinois and Indiana.

Thursday evening, her group of about 34 riders pulled into Richmond, Ind., after the trip's first really rainy day.

"It was a fairly warm day and I stripped off my raincoat, even though it was still raining, because it was making me sweat," Osmundson said in an e-mail.

The constantly rolling Missouri hills, she wrote, were harder than the days spent climbing over mountains.

Thinking about one of the tough days in the Show Me state, Osmundson wrote:

"I felt a little scared that I would have to admit defeat and couldn't ride out the day. But as each roller came I managed to conquer one more and feel a small sigh of relief and a growing sense of accomplishment."

She has had to buy a new set of pedals and has experienced a flat tire and chafed skin. She also has enjoyed seeing farm animals throughout the Midwest.

"When I'm alone I usually call out to the horses and moo at the cattle. The horses sometimes look up but the cattle never seem to hear me."

The group was scheduled to reach Niles, Ohio, which is close to the Pennsylvania line, today . The riders are due to finish in Portsmouth, N.H., on July 25.

[Last modified July 15, 2006, 23:27:31]