We are finally pretty much settled in Iowa. There is corn everywhere! We moved to Tiffin, which is on the outskirts of Iowa City, about 4 weeks ago. I'll be honest and say I wasn't too excited about the move, but it has been good. I wasn't dreading it, but I hated to leave Kansas City since we liked it so much there. I've also gotten used to being able to just go visit my family or friends at Cycle City on a whim, and that is no longer realistic. So I'll have to make my visits to KC strategic from now on to make sure I can stop and see people! The move itself was about as bad as one might expect, but it could have been worse. We hired help to load and unload the truck since I swore I would never do that again after moving in 2012, and that was a massive help. Not having to do all that lifting and puzzling all our stuff together in a truck was very nice! I did drive the 26' truck while also towing my Honda Pilot and bikes, but it also could have been much worse. It was a bit of a nervous experience to start as I drove out of KC in Monday morning rush hour traffic, but I handled it OK.
In the meantime since the move, Michelle has been crazy busy at work and I've been busy enough riding and teaching at the University of Iowa. We also figured out our next move since we've been here, and early next July we will be moving to Omaha. Michelle had pretty solid job offers from several towns, but the combination of the job offer in Omaha and the town itself sold us. The practice she will be joining seems fantastic, and we have really enjoyed Omaha every time we have been there. We also hear nothing but good things when we ask people about it, so we decided to go for it! That will be extremely convenient if and when I want to do Gravel Worlds in the future since it is just a short drive to Lincoln! It isn't the closest to our families, but it is no more than 4-5 hours from most of our family so we will make it work.
Speaking of Gravel Worlds, I have signed up to defend my 3x SS crown. I've been on the fence all year, but the situation in Iowa really pushed me over the edge. Iowa City is a small town, so our decision to live on the outskirts in Tiffin still has us very close. However, the riding in my area is pretty much incredible. I literally have a tough time finding routes that are entirely road with no gravel, and it is easy to find routes that are primarily gravel. Needless to say I'm getting a lot of gravel riding in. That forced specificity of riding on gravel is what made me think doing Gravel Worlds would be the right thing. I'll be training on gravel a lot, so I might as well take advantage of it! I also couldn't bear to just sit idly by and let someone take my crown (as I did this year at the Dirty Kanza by not racing SS), so even if I'm not lucky enough to win again I'll at least feel better that I tried.
