Corn Sweats?!

I have now been in Iowa for over 7 weeks. That is pretty hard to fathom since those weeks have gone by really quickly, but it is a fact. Having lived hundreds of miles to the south for my entire life, I expected to have notably cooler temperatures in Iowa City. It is true for the most part that it has been 5-10 degrees cooler than my former towns of residence, but what has really perplexed me has been the humidity. It is pretty humid in Missouri, and I expected it to be better up here. However, I dare say it has actually been worse. For example, I certainly had bike rides where I sweat a good amount back in MO and KS, but there are rides here where I will get done and literally have soaked, pruned feet and liquid dripping out of my shoes. I have asked several people about this, and the response is usually one of surprise. But I finally got an answer that makes sense (though it sounds quite odd). My brother told me he has heard of "corn sweats", which occurs when the humidity is higher in areas where there is a lot of corn. My area has what appears to be an unlimited supply of corn, so this made sense to me. The photo I shot out of my front window below is good evidence. These corn fields are everywhere! I did some investigating with the magical tools referred to as Google and Bing, and sure enough there are multiple sources that talk about how this can be true. In a nutshell, it sounds like the corn can let off moisture that contributes to humidity levels. So I think I have my answer! Here is to hoping this gets better whenever they start cutting all of this corn down!

In other news, Gravel Worlds is this weekend where I'll be seeking my 4th straight singlespeed title. I'm feeling strong and prepared since I have worked my tail off this year, but as always there are some people I will have to pay attention to. My goal is, of course, to win again. But a way I think I can improve the odds of that will be to just race my own event. In other words, if I can set myself up to have a strong ride and finish strong I think I will be in with a good shot at it. I'll follow up in the relatively near future with some sort of update on what happens.