Getting Ready

This is the first blog I have ever done, and I will do my best to keep up with it.  The past couple weeks have been crazy and gone by very fast.  First was graduation, then moving into a new apartment, and then training as much as possible.  I have put in over 1000 miles already this year in an attempt to be prepared for the rigors of this summer.  On May 21, I completed my first 100 mile ride with no real problems.  At this point I feel like I am as ready as I can be.

Now that I believe physically I am prepared, I spent the past week getting my bike ready.  I took my pedals off and replaced them with the pedals that were on my mountain bike because they will be better for this summer.  Then I gave my bike a little tune-up including a new chain, brake pads, tires, handlebar tape, trued the wheels, and adjusted the cables.  Today I added the last bit when I put the headlight on.

I would also like to use my first blog to thank all the people that have supported me and donated to the Illini 4000.  I have received donations from so many people, and I can't thank them enough.  Thanks to everyone who donated I was able to surpass my personal fundraising goal by $1000.  I would like to thank the following people/businesses for supporting me and the Illini 4000:

Luckey Timber, John and Sue Garrett, First Baptist Church of Percy, Illinois, Kim Rasnick, Martha Peebles, Amy Vinson, Schaefer Water Center, Rayburn and Linda Coleman, Wendell and Doris Coleman, Charles and Jean McCabe, Eddie and Marsha Witbracht, Russell and Louis Hagler, Brenda and Eddie Kutz/K&K Guttering, Tony and Mary Esker/Steeleville Pharmacy, David and Margaret Nicholson, Arthur Des Rocher, Franklin and Clara Rudisaile, Wanda Waters, Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Hendrix, Charles and Doris Sheible, Paul and Sendy Miller, Pam Culliton, Rudder Inc., Judy Koenig, Kathy Quinn, Ocean Electronics Design, Bowen Construction, Darl and Janet Bollman, Lisa Springer, Bill and Kathy Kutz, Scott Sutterer, Ted Gallup, Tom and Judy Grace, Mary Kiefer, Jerry and Linda Ruessler, Larry and Faye Balsman, Dale and Donna Rice, Wayne and Frances Taylor, Sondra Grindstaff, Jessica and Jon Miesner, Brooke Grindstaff, Jamie Grindstaff, Jared Kutz, Rehabilitation Professionals Inc., Bill and Mary Kiefer, Scott and Bridget Rice, and Jerry, Oris, Ben, and Emily Taylor.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported not only me, but the entire organization.

Gettin Ready

So heres my first blog in history.  I’m going to try to keep this updated throughout the trip for all of you to read, but I’m not sure how often I’ll have computer/internet access this summer so forgive me if I lag behind at times.  I suppose I may also end up starting a blog on another site if I find that I can do sweeter stuff someplace else, like post pictures, but this seems relatively simple for now.

First, many thanks to all of you who donated.  The support I received from family, friends, and even strangers has been amazing and this trip wouldn’t be possible without you.

Right now I’m in Pittsburgh, chillin with the Maddens (Zach is the bearded man whose back I’m on in my profile picture, not sure how that ended up as the picture on this site).  We’re about to take a stroll to a local bike shop to look for some gear I still need.

I’ll hop on the Lake Shore Limited route in Buffalo, the All America City, early Thursday morning and join many of my Illini 4000 teammates on their way to NYC.  Then, Saturday morning we’ll be departing Central Park on two wheels… Destination: Portland...

Finally hit the 1000 mile mark...

Finally hit the 1000 mile mark on the odometer today. What took 5 months to achieve this spring will take only 2 weeks this summer.

64 Days

OK, so I’m finally feeling like I’m ready for my trip.  This past week has been crazy, I’ve been running around doing everything possible to get ready.  I stayed down at school until Tuesday and then came home, and since then, I’ve gone to the dentist, got a haircut, picked up a new jersey, new biking shorts, a new seat, new cycling shoes(sweet Bontrager RLs), new Shimano SPD pedals, two underarmor shirts, a new cyclo-computer so i know how far I’ve gone, a new rainjacket, new sneakers, gone on two bike rides(42 and 30 mi), and gotten two flats on my bike and one on the car coming back from the city the other night. So, pretty crazy week.  And on top of all that I’m supposed to be worried about finding a job so that I have an income when i get back in August.

Anyways, I’m very excited about the trip, and I feel like I’m pretty ready. It's crazy to think about.  4000 miles, 64 days, 23 riders, 18 states and one incredible trip.  I can't even imagine what's ahead of me, but it's exciting.  I feel physically ready too, longer rides always tire me out, but it’s never really that bad, I feel like if I can do 60, another 20 or 40 miles is just a matter of getting it done.  I compare it to running, they always say that if you can do about 15 miles running without much of a problem, getting to 26.2 is easy because you’re just in that zone where you’re just running on endorphins and nothing else really matters. 

Once i find my memory card for my camera(or buy a new one), I will do my best to remember to post up pics of my bike and all my sweet gear for those of you who care.  Otherwise, I’m not sure when the next post will be.  My mom, my sister and I will leave Homewood on Wednesday morning, and have a few days in Pennsylvania/New York to visit with family that I haven’t seen in far too long.  I do plan on having my laptop with me the whole time(as long as it fits in the bag), and so hopefully I will be able to write here as much as I want, since I won’t have to wait for computer time every night.  Oh, thats the other thing I’ll put up pictures of; the team got backpacks for us, and it’s crazy to imagine that I will be living out of this not-so-big backpack for the next 64 days.

Also, thanks to everyone who donated, I couldn’t believe all the support I got.  I was expecting to have trouble reaching my goal of $2,500 but I’m proud to say that as of today, I have raised $4,692.50!!!  I couldn’t have done it without all the generous contributions from friends and family, and additional thanks to Mav and Maria who went around and got donations from the Illinois Evans Scholars house and helped raise almost $1,500 from the house alone!

Fundraising Success!

Today I was informed that I officially met and exceeded the fundraising goal set out at the beginning of the year. Thank you to everybody who helped contribute to these two great causes. Through the end of the ride I will continue to update my fundraising total, increasing the targeted goal in $500 increments. Lets see how high we can get that total!

One Week!

So much has happened in the last few weeks, and so much more will happen in the upcoming week. Here's a short run down of everything that has gone on.

• A couple weeks ago we had our last team meeting before the ride, detailing many of the specifics of the wheres and whens. So in case you're interested, we're leaving at 9pm on Wednesday May 27th from Chicago's Union Station. We're supposed to arrive at the train station a few hours earlier, allowing us to pack what we need to into the support van, make sure all the bikes are packed properly, and in general make sure that nobody ends up being really late. So we'll have a few hours between then and when we actually board the train. Besides all that fun information, we also received our team backpacks (not I4k branded, just the same for all team members) which as you might imagine provided quite the distraction for the duration of the meeting. We also had a brief slide show, highlighting a few more things that we'll see and encounter on our journey this summer. I think it was at this point that it really hit me that I was going to be spending my entire summer on a bike. The nerves are undoubtedly building in anticipation.

• The following weekend I organized an optional bike ride through some of the hilliest terrain that we have in the area. Unfortunately nobody showed up, however it was still a pleasant 70 mile ride, with a good chunk of scenery I had never seen before.

• Last weekend I began my ramping up for the ride, trying to get a ride in every day. Long distances weren't the primary objective of these rides, just getting out and riding every day to build a good base for the first week. Most rides I've done are in the 30-40 mile range so by the end of the week, I should be nearing 200-220 miles for the week. This is about half of what I will be doing every week during the summer, but probably enough to prevent most of the anticipated soreness that people will encounter in the first couple weeks. I'll continue to ride as much as I can until we leave Wednesday evening.

• Tomorrow morning I leave Champaign and head for home. I plan on spending my last week before this trip in the far north suburbs of Chicago. Besides offering a different environment to bike in (suburbia, where roads a much more likely to be crowded with people who are not used to cyclists on the roads), it also allows the the opportunity to try out the route that I designed over Spring Break. This is not the only reason I'm heading home though, I also have a few other things I'd like to do before leaving for the summer including a trip to the dentist, seeing family, visiting IMSA, and hopefully seeing a few friends as well. I don't know if I'll get to doing those last two, however I'll try to put in a good effort.

• While at home there are a few things that I will need to take care of before starting this trip. While I have everything that I need for this trip, there's a few things that I could get which would make the experience a little easier. Most of what I could still use is cold weather gear, leg and arm warmers, as well as a rain jacket that would help keep me warmer than my current one. It would also be nice to pick up an additional pair of cycling shorts to replace the ones which I scuffed up from when I fell a few weeks ago and as well as a new seat bag and possibly a feed bag (a small bag that goes between the head tube/stem and the top tube used for holding food and other small objects).

• There are also a few things I still need to do before setting out for out trip. There are a couple of things I still need to do in order to get this website where I want it, specifically integrating an online photo album and a few small modifications to the style of this website to incorporate potential Twitter posts. More importantly, there is still quite a bit of work left to get the Portraits Project ready for the trip. Not only do I need to roll out a new design which is only marginally conceptualized, but I also need to organize the paperwork and files which we'll need to conduct our interviews.

• The last major item which I need to accomplish and won't be able to start until the night before is the packing of my bike so that it can be taken with me to New York on the train. Sometime between now and then I'll need to get a bike box (obtainable at nearly any bike shop) as well as a pedal wrench. I should be able to get these at any bike shop, so I'll probably get them wherever I go for the clothing and storage that I'm looking to get before I depart. With a box, a pedal wrench and the multitool I already own, I should have all the items I need to deconstruct the bike well enough to fit it inside the box. The other option is that I skip this and just buy a box from Amtrak. They tend to be larger, thus requiring less disassembly and we'll have the tool kit available at the train station so I wouldn't need to get my own pedal wrench.

I certainly have my work cut out for me between now and a week from now, but with a little planning, I should have no issues accomplishing everything before next Wednesday rolls around.

More Content Elsewhere

I'll try to do my best to keep this space updated, however if you want the freshest information, I would suggest taking a look at my personal blog at eryanv.org~Erik

Stayover elevation profile

Here is a graph of the approximate elevations that we'll be sleeping at, each night of our trip.

Interesting Observations about our Route

As I've been looking over the route we'll be taking this summer, I've made some interesting (at least I find them interesting) observations about our route.We pass through at least 18 states and Washington DC, staying the night in 16 states. These states are (in order of apperance): New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC (not a state), Virginia (no stayover), Maryland (again), Pennsylvania (again), West Virginia (no stayover), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It is possible that we may also end up in Iowa briefly as we'll be traveling a few miles from the Minnesota/Iowa border.The shortest distance we'll travel in any state is in New York, at somewhere between 5 and 8 miles, depending on where we start in Central Park. West Virginia was a close runner up at 8 miles, where we cross the northern thrust between Ohio and Pennsylvania.West Virginia almost has a second appearance in our trip on the day out of Washington DC. We'll be within a quarter of a mile of the Virginia/West Virginia border as we make our way towards Maryland. That also puts us only about a mile and a half outside of Harpers Ferry, WV. On that same day we'll pass Antietam National Battlefield only 3.5 miles to the east of it.Traveling out of Newark, DE, we'll pass through an area called "The Wedge" a geopolitical anomaly defined by the creation of the Mason-Dixon line. For over 150 years, Pennsylvania and Delaware each held claims on this square mile of land. This was eventually resolved in 1921 Pennsylvania agreed that the land should belong to Delaware.The state we travel the most miles in is Wyoming, at around 485 miles. However, South Dakota deserves an honorable mention with approximately 460 miles.As I notice other characteristics of our route I'll continue to update this post.

Follow us on Twitter as we bike to Portland!

As we bike across the country, we would like to keep you, our loyal supporters, updated on our whereabouts - one way of doing this is updating our website frequently.  This can be time consuming when we're meeting with people, doing Portraits Project interviews, interacting with our hosts, and of course recovering from a long day on the bike!

Although we will be posting updates on our website over the summer, we'll be keeping you up-to-date with frequent posts on Twitter.  We invite you to follow us at www.twitter.com/illini4000.  Thanks!

Tuscola Loop

Today was the final official training ride before we leave for New York. For reasons unbeknown to me not too many people showed up, which I found to be somewhat disappointing. Perhaps, after having done the largely anticipated camping trip last weekend, nobody thought that there was still going to be more. Or maybe everybody was competing in the triathlon (I know a couple of people were), but more likely, finals season was approaching and people had projects and papers which took more importance than riding down to Tuscola.It's a real shame that these people didn't make it out because it was a beautiful day to ride. In fact, with the exception of last weekend, all of the days we've gone out riding have been pretty nice. Besides the weather, today's route was also important as it incorporated the most city riding that we will experience before arriving in New York City. Until now, most of our rides have been on country roads or through small towns where there isn't much traffic, however our route this morning was going to take us through downtown Champaign in hopes that we would have to deal with the situations which generally present themselves in more populated areas. Unfortunately as we rode through downtown Champaign, we encountered none of these situations, mostly because there was almost no traffic to be seen. This may be typical for Saturday mornings, I don't know, but the streets did feel pretty empty.After our ride through downtown Champaign we headed south down State Street, passing (relatively) close to where I lived before cutting back towards 1st Street which we would take all the way down to Tolono. In Tolono we would find more nearly empty streets, however being a much smaller town, this was not entirely surprising. By the time we had reached the southern outskirts of Tolono, we had already formed a sizable lead over the next group of riders. We stopped for a few moments just to get our bearings and relax, hoping that those behind us would eventually catch up. As we were setting out again, we happened to see the next group of riders nearly a mile behind us. At least knowing that they were there, we continued on towards Tuscola, another 10 miles to our south.That sighting was the last we ever saw of any other riders that day. After reaching Tuscola, we stopped for at least 15-20 minutes, hoping that somebody else would show up, however we never saw anybody. We suspect it was because we stopped further along on the route than any other group, so they were all resting elsewhere in town. The ride back was otherwise uneventful.Sorry, no pictures from the ride this week.

A camping trip cut short

This weekend was supposed to be our camping trip shakedown ride. The plan was to do bike out to do a long ride out to Kickapoo State Park, spend the night and then come back the next morning. For many of us, I think this was the most anticipate training ride yet, not only because it would be our longest ride yet, but because camping is always fun and exciting. I will admit, it surprised me a little to learn that a few riders had never been camping before in their life, and that this would be a first for them.Before we could go camping though, we had to get there. Our plan was to break the day into two rides. The first would be a 42 mile loop into countryside for Uni High's Boomerang ride, which benefited a local Women's shelter, followed by a 30 mile ride from Urbana to Kickapoo. Because of the trip, and because we were participating in another group's ride, our departure time was bumped up an additional hour to 8am in order to get the van packed and make it to the ride registration on time. Geoff (one of our sponsors) was kind enough to cover the registration fee for all of this year's riders, so after collecting our route sheet and snacking on a few bagels, we set off into the morning sun.From the beginning it was clear that today would not be an easy day. Winds were a constant 20-25mph from the southwest, meaning it would be slow going for the segments that were into the wind. To complicate things, my rear tire got a flat before we had even left town! I don't know if I'd call it an honor, but it was the first flat that anybody had had on a training ride to date, which in it's own respect was momentous occasion. Being prepared for such a situation, I had the bike flipped over and tools out shortly thereafter, however it still took several minutes to get the tube off and the new one in, putting our group at least 10 minutes behind everybody else. While we aren't racing, it's still a good feeling to know that you aren't the last group, so we set off, set on catching up with the next group.We eventually caught up with the next group on the outskirts of Sidney, some 14 miles later. Sidney, as it is known to many in the cycling community is home to the Dairy Barn, which is apparently a very good place to go to get ice cream. For a few minutes, the three of us joked about calling the ride short and just hanging out there for a few hours, but in the end we plodded along leaving town headed to Homer.This is when our second mishap struck, once again to me. While I'm still not sure entirely what happened, I know that I was the last person in our group of three, travelling around 20-22mph (the wind was slightly at our backs, pushing us along). Whether it was a gust of wind, a rock, or just not holding onto the handlebars firmly, but all of a sudden the bike was sliding out from under me and I was going down. I hit the ground and scraped myself up pretty well, my right knee and right elbow seemed to take the majority of the fall, however there were also scrapes on my thigh, shoulder, and on my forehead where my helmet pushed against my head. All things considered, it was about the closest you could come to a best case scenario. Except for a few minor cuts on my knuckles, my hands were unscathed, I had fallen onto asphalt (instead of gravel), which kept the scrapes clean, and whatever cars that were behind me managed to stop in time. I picked myself up and and collected my cycling accessories which had scattered themselves around where I had fallen. While I spent a few minutes collecting myself from the shock of falling, Geoff and his friend took a quick look over my bike and readjusted a few bits that had been bumped out of alignment due to the fall. While we were doing that, the group we had passed about 20 minutes ago had caught up to and passed us yet again. While I was sore and shaken up, I was not bleeding heavily and not in desperate need of medical attention. Eventually we made it back onto our bikes an continued along to the designated rest stop.I was a bit surprised to find out that they didn't have a first aid kit with them there, but they ran to a local gas station to get some rubbing alcohol so I could at least clean out my wounds. After restocking on carbohydrates and water, we turned back to the west and into the wind. Most of the team was waiting at the rest stop so we did a bit of reshuffling of groups and at this point, I was more than happy to travel in one of the slower groups. Geoff and his friend went ahead with a few riders though we would catch up with them about half an hour later as something on Geoff's friend's bike had broken, so they were waiting for the support vehicle to arrive. It turns out that the bad luck wasn't limited to just me today.Eventually we made it back to Urbana, and set a departure time of 2pm for our next leg out to Kickapoo. In the hour and a half I had before then I decided it would be a good idea to purchase a new tube (since I didn't have any patched spares at the time) and then go home for a shower and bandages. I had two options for getting a new tube, either by visiting Durst, where I had originally purchased my bike, or going to The Itty Bitty Bike Shop at Rentertainment. The nice thing about The Itty Bitty Bike shop was that a portion of the proceeds went support local cycling organizations, so in the end, I made my way over there. After picking up a new tube it was time to go home to refuel and clean up before heading out again.While I was pretty set on still going camping (after all, this was the big event of the spring), I had already planned to ride along in the support vehicle for at least the ride out that day. It soon became apparent that I was not going to be able to clean myself up sufficiently before then, so I received approval to get driven out later. Then as my bandaging continued, my roommates began pressuring me not to go at all. Eventually I caved under evidence that I might have been suffering from a minor concussion and made sure it was ok that I missed the camping trip. So instead of eating lentils and bean soup that evening, we went out for a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and slept in my comfortable bed. While I certainly wish I could have gone, in retrospect, it really wasn't a good idea and I'm glad that my roommates were there to stop me from putting myself in a potentially worse situation.

Reconnecting to the cause

With all this talk of cycling, it's important to remember why we're doing what we're doing. This evening we visited the Carle Clinic Cancer Center in Urbana, where we received a tour of the facilities. Overall it was a very nice building, it was clear that quite a bit of thought had gone into designing a comfortable flow for those using the facility. From the entryway, to changing rooms and examination rooms, treatment facilities, and consulting areas, the layout created a warm and welcoming environment. Our tour leader also emphasized how the Center has become a place for holistic healing. Not only do they have dozens of cancer treatment methods at their disposal, but they also help their patients along by providing dietary and exercise advice, financial services, relaxation classes, and much more. From our tour we gained a better understanding of the process that somebody goes through from detection to treatment and all the steps along the way. Knowing that we have a quality facility for people in the region to visit for their cancer needs is a definite plus for our community.

The Illini 4000 has left the county!

In what is sure to be the first in a series of repeat performances, the Illini 4000 had it's first trip which crossed the county line. No longer are we restricting ourselves to the empty farm roads of Champaign county, but Piatt county as well (and Vermillion county next weekend). This weekend's ride extended our daily distance once again, to 61.6 miles, barely enough for a metric century. Due to this extra distance we left a bit earlier as well, kick off time scheduled for 9am, opposed to the usual 10am, however despite the earlier departure, the weather was quite cooperative and warm.Pulling out of Champaign, the front group (which included myself) took an early lead over the rest of the field. By the time we had reached the outskirts of town, the groups behind us were nowhere to be seen. I guess people were just trying to take it easy. As we worked our way through the countryside we practiced more of our group riding skills particularly, looking out for cars. About 15 miles into our trip, we stopped for an early break and waited for everybody else to catch up to us. We had about a 10 minute wait before the next group arrived, indicating that we had managed to pull about 2-2.5 miles ahead. After we had rejoined and rested for a short while we set off again.This time I chose to hang back and try to stick with the second group, whomever that happened to be. While the group went slightly slower than I really wanted to go, it was ok. At least this way I could talk with some people. Shortly thereafter we pulled through Monticello. The approach we took on 900N/1500N was considerably less hilly than the county road a mile to our north, which I had used last fall, though there was short downhill as we passed the airport and came into town proper. Eventually we made it through town and out traffic on the last leg to Allerton Park. It was at this time we learned that the front group was actually behind us as they had missed one of the turns and had to turn around, so inadvertently I was once again leading the way.Allerton presented a few surprises as we entered, including a very steep though still quite short hill, forcing most of us to downshift into our "granny gears". While waiting for the other groups to arrive, Sean led some stretches, just to make sure our muscles stay loose and we don't cramp before getting back on our bikes for the return trip. Soon enough everybody had found their way and we headed back to Monticello. In town, a group of us decided to go on the recommendation of one of our sponsors to a local restaurant called "The Brown Bag", which not only has great sandwiches, but also delicious pies. Not wanting to over eat and be uncomfortable on the way back, I stuck with a sandwich. While waiting to order our lunches, several locals came up and asked us what we were doing, after all, it's not everyday that you see a dozen cyclists standing around in your favorite restaurant. Most were impressed that we had ridden out from Champaign, and then stunned to find out that we'd be biking across the country this summer.The ride back to Champaign was fairly uneventful. The dozen of us began splitting up into our smaller groups and from there we didn't see too much of each other as we travelled at our own pace back into town.

Rantoul Loop

Yesterday was our second training ride, and what a beautiful day it was for a ride. The temperature was in the low 50's, a little wind, and sun everywhere. It was also ideal for a marathon, which we crossed paths with a couple of times before leaving town. Following our cue sheets for the day, we were soon out of town on our way out to Rantoul. After battling against the wind for an hour we had reached Rantoul, and waited for everybody to regroup before doing a bit of urban riding. Rantoul happens to be one of the few places in this county that I hadn't biked to yet, so it was a bit of a new experience seeing what was around. Overall, it seemed like a pretty decent place, though we did run into our first real problem with our cue sheets trying to get out of Rantoul. Who would have thought that a road labeled "NO Rd" wouldn't have existed?It ook us a little bit of wandering through an industrial park, but we eventually found ourselves a mile south of where we intended to be. Thanks to the mile road grid system setup in many farming counties, we were soon able to get back on cues. From there is was a little more work as we worked ourselves further east, but as soon as we turned south, it was clear sailing all the way down to St Joseph. Unlike last week, where I tried to keep up with the fast group, I decided to hang back. There didn't seem to be much point in over exerting myself, particularly after last weekend's very long ride. Though despitetrying to take it easy, I still ended up in the second group of riders. Once we departed our first rest stop, I took the lead on our route through Rantoul. As the group started to separate as we headed out from town, I once again found myself in the lead group, however the group had a different composition and wasn't trying to make it a race to the next stopping point. No doubt we were going fast, but we weren't pushing ourselves in the process and could have kept up the pace as long as the wind was blowing in our favor. Eventually some others caught up to us while we stopped for a quick stretch and we followed them into St Joseph where we tried to regroup once again. While most of the riders eventually found their way to St Joseph, a few of us wanted to take off and get bak to town, so I don't know exactly how far behind the last few people ended up.After getting back into town, and knowing that my day was approaching a metric century (100km or 62.13) miles, I decided to ride around town a little bit longer as I took care of a couple errands and met up with those who were getting back into town. Having met and exceeded that goal, I then treated myself to some frozen custard for dessert and spent the evening relaxing.<a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/il/champaign/127123948498030666">I4k 4/11 Training Route</a>

Kickapoo, just for kicks

It was such a nice day yesterday, that Keith and I decided to do a bit more riding after the day's training ride was complete. Given that the winds were out of the east, we decided to pick a destination to the east. We do this primarily because after working hard to get to your destination, you get a nice relaxing ride back. Going out with the wind may place you out further than you have energy to return, but this way it generally works out pretty well. In any case, we happened to settle on Kickapoo State Park. I had never actually biked all the way out there, so it seemed like it could be an exciting trip.Leaving around 1:45, we started out journey east, taking many of the same roads we had used earlier for the training ride, however once we hit S Water St (2100E) we headed north through St. Joseph and over I-74 to 1700N. From here it was pretty much a straight shot all the way into Vermillion County and Kickapoo State Park. As soon as we neared the park, it was clear that we were no longer traveling through the farmlands of east central Illinois. There were hills (kind of) and trees, and not a soybean or corn stalk to be seen. All was a welcome change of scenery after having spent week after week biking over the same landscape.30 miles since our start, we finally arrived at Kickapoo. I probably should have grabbed a picture of the park entrance, however I wasn't really thinking too much about it at the time. Keith and I sat around for half an hour, but seeing as it was getting to be late, and knowing that we'd probably need a couple of hours to get back, our break was shorter than we really wanted. However the return ride was much kinder to us than the return ride from Homer Lake. We maintained a pace between 18mph-19mph without much difficulty and by 6:40, were back in Urbana.Between the morning and the afternoon rides, I knew that I was approaching 100 miles for the day. I was about 34 miles out to Homer Lake and another 61 to and from Kickapoo, so I thought I might as well round off my first century by riding another 5 miles or so. Despite the fact that I had nowhere near enough training this season take on a ride of today's magnitude, and that my energy reserves and water was running thin, I spent my last hour of sunlight plodding on. If I could just make it those few extra miles, I knew that I would have achieved an important cycling milestone. When it was all said and done, and the miles were totaled up, I had ridden 104.8 miles. For this accomplishment, I treated myself to some custard, and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing.Next weekend looks like it will be even nicer than this weekend, so there might be another long ride in store.

Training Ride Recap

Yesterday was our first ride as a group. The day started off at a nice, but not too chilly 47 degrees with winds from the east at 10mph, and the temperature slowly warmed up through the afternoon. At 9:45am we assembled ourselves at Allen Hall, and after a few last minute checks and reminders, we were ready to set off across through the barren fields out to Homer Lake. Of course we couldn't leave without first taking a team photo. This was the first time (almost) everybody was together with their bikes.With the formalities out of the way we were on our way through the streets of Urbana and out to the countryside. One we hit Homer Lake Road (about 1/4 of the way there), we begun to split up, with the stronger riders splitting off and taking the lead. I ended up in a group which kept a steady pace of 15-16mph, not the fastest of the groups, but a nice quick and easy pace.Upon arriving we snacked, chatted, and made minor adjustments to our bikes while waiting for everybody else to arrive. Once we had all made it, there were a few announcements, reminders, and additional chit-chat before we made the return journey. On the return, I tried to keep up with the fast group, though, even with a slight wind at my back I was finding it difficult to keep up with the 21mph pace. I did hang on in the end, however it was clear that my muscles were pushed a little beyond their capabilities.Overall, I think it went well. Everybody seemed knowledgeable and well prepared for the trip ahead, and I look forward to next weekend's ride, where we'll step up the total distance to 50-60 miles. My guess is that we'll probably take a trip out to Monticello, but that has yet to be determined.

Bike safety, for drivers

Transport for London has some great videos for making you aware of your awareness. While the videos aren't exactly cycling related, the message they're trying to get across is. http://www.dothetest.co.uk/Be aware, drive safe.

Getting Fit!

With the summer only weeks away and winter well behind us, the Illini 4000 has headed outside to start training and getting fit for this summer!  Biking 4000 miles is challenging, but with a few weekends of training together, the team will get strong and get a feel for the open road (but not the mountains - the drawback of living in a cornfield!)

Thanks to everyone for your support so far - 2009 is looking to be our best year yet!

The first group ride approaches

Tonight was the safety briefing preceding our first group training ride this Saturday. Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera and get some pictures of us as we bike out to Homer Lake (about 35 miles round trip). Additionally, it appears that the weather is going to cooperate with us, sunny with temperatures in the upper 50's.