And on the 6th Day the Lord Said, "Let there be sweet corn."

And He said, "this place will be called Adel, and it will be good".

And the Lord sayth, "let there be a Fest where all the faithful come to enjoy sweet corn".

"And All Ye People, save the best ears of corn for those who peddle their bicycles to the Fest".

A small group of riders, including Squirrel and his family, met at Rasmussen's Bike Shop for a ride out to the Adel Sweet Corn Fest.

This would be about an 18 mile ride, one way, and our route would connect several of the area's bike paths. Katie was joining me and Jackie's cousin Cale for the ride. We would try to get some dirt on Cale's disturbingly clean bike and Katie would try for her longest ride ever - but to best her previous 20 miler (which now, in fish story fashion, has grown to 25,30,35 miles) she would have to ride out and at least part of the way back.

The night before the ride I changed the tires out on her bike for some old slick touring tires I had bought years ago but never used. I also put a shorter stem on her bike. She liked the new rubber, while tooling around Rassy's parking lot she declared, "the most thing I like the best is the tires." I think she put in close to 5 miles just zooming around the parking lot. While the smooth tires helped her roll easier the skinny tread was harder to control. I would look back and see her zig zagging her way all over. I'm sure that contributed to her energy getting pretty zapped. She also said she didn't sleep well the night before. Ah yes, pre-ride jitters - been there.



It probably goes without saying but, Katie was pretty fired up for this ride. She observed her tradition of wearing her helmet in the car on the way to the trailhead. This time she also wore it, along with her new sunglasses, into Quick Trip. Its just how she rolls.

My camera died after only a couple of pictures. I think the battery is bad now (I swear I didn't break it this time). Jackie let me take a couple of Fest shots but she doesn't trust me with her camera (or really any of her stuff).

Jackie's friend Jill stood in line to provide her family with sweet corn. Her family wasn't in the immediate vicinity so the Sheesley's took care of her "extras".



Jill and her husband Dave do their own version of the Iowa Corn 500 race. Dave won and it really wasn't close.



Their youngest daughter, Sophie gives a suspicious look. Someone might be trying to steal my corn. You, with the camera, back off.



Katie about to do some carbo reloading. Allie hides behind bangs. She doesn't do corn because its not a Chicken McNugget.



The band featured a guest blues guitar player. He was five, but he rocked hard.



The Fest was awesome. You could quite easily eat yourself to death here. FREE (yes, I said FREE) all you can eat sweet corn was augmented by burgers, dogs, walking tacos, corn dogs, kettle corn, homemade ice cream and any number of other fabulous treats. All of it was cheap, darn near ridiculously cheap. It was the anti-Fair.

After munching our fair share of what the Fest had to offer Cale and I were on our way peddling back home. Katie decided to hitch home with Mom and little sister in air conditioned SUV comfort. She put in a great effort during the 18.5 miles out. I was really proud of her. Next year its out and back for sure. I think Cale had a good time too on his first major ride.

And the Lord looked down to see all that was the Adel Sweet Corn Festival and it pleased Him.