Today was a normal day for I4K, as we dealt with rolling hills, average temperatures, and a bit of rain. We made our rest stops quick, and got through the day as usual — Yar!!
quote of the day
“Sometimes I just like to touch Jason’s bike”
ride overview
Mileage: 89.4 Miles
Elevation: 4,090 ft.
Points of Interest: Parnell Park, Vivarium Coffee (Montezuma)
Ride Dedication: Bela Shah
tales of the trail
The morning started out strong with another early wake-up to beat the heat. It ended up being a cloudy and cool morning, with a beautiful view of clouds in the distance. There were also a lot of rolling hills throughout the ride, which weren’t too steep, but very repetitive. Luckily, we hadn’t experienced rain so far, and it was a chill morning to enjoy the Iowa countryside. The groups also spent the day creating their own I4K parodies of popular songs, which was a fun way to pass the time! As we rolled through the countryside, all the groups stopped at a bale of hay to take a picture, giving us the true Iowa experience! Soon, we rolled into our first rest stop in Parnell, and everyone snacked up before quickly getting back on the road. On our second stretch, it started to rain a bit, but it was nothing we weren’t used to! As we continued on our way, we had a second stop in Deep River, where we enjoyed meeting some of the local chickens!
Two groups decided to take an impromptu stop at Vivarium Coffee, and everyone enjoyed taking a nice coffee break! We quickly got to the lunch stop, which was on the side road, and we ate some PB&Js before finishing out the day. Unfortunately, some of us had run-ins with ticks. After our final rest stop at Casey’s, the teams split up between two houses to shower, set up, and prepare for dinner. Everyone shuttled to Our Savior Lutheran church to eat dinner with the community and share our mission against cancer! After dinner, we split up again and returned to our stay-over houses, where the hosts were kind enough to offer us beds! We wrapped up the night with some laundry and hit the hay!
Thank you to the community of Our Savior Lutheran Church for providing us a meal, and thank you to Julie, Ron, Bob, and Joann for letting us stay in your homes!
cyclist’s corner
Today’s Rider: Jessica Fornek
How are you feeling today?
I'm feeling really good, considering we had 90 miles that turned into 95 miles today. There are a lot of hills, which is kind of unexpected for Iowa, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I kind of miss climbing and descending a little bit, and it was a really fun ride day. It didn't feel like 90 miles at all, and I feel like the team was all in high spirits. So, yeah, good.
What was your favorite part of today’s ride?
Iowa has actually been nicer than I expected, because during my ride, we only went into like a corner of Iowa for like 10 miles, maybe, so I didn't really get to see much of it. But the farmlands are actually pretty, and the sky was really pretty today, and there weren’t a lot of cars on the road so we were able to talk, and our group was just being really goofy today. So I feel like we were able to just laugh our way through the day, which made it a lot of fun. We did stop at a coffee place, it was really good coffee. I got an oatmeal cookie latte, and it was really good. Yeah, our group was team shenanigans today, so we were stopping a lot. Oh, the hay bales, yeah. We pulled off at several hay bales and got fun pictures on the hay bales, which I've been wanting to do. So that was a lot of fun.
What motivated you to join Illini 4000?
I've had a lot of my immediate family affected by cancer, and then also a ton of extended family, but my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my brother had leukemia, so very close relations with cancer, and part of that was at the same time so it was a huge thing that affected my family. I was young at the time, but now, thinking back on it, it's like crazy that my family went through that, and my brother was in college at the time, so to think that he was diagnosed with cancer, and then was still able to finish his degree is really crazy for me to think back on, now that I've finished my degree without those conditions. Yeah, just the cause, and I've always wanted to do something like this, like a grand adventure, where I get to see a lot of the country and travel. So it was kind of the best of both worlds, and it's been great.
Before joining Illini 4000, how much bike training had you done, and did you have any other athletic background that you feel prepared you for this ride?
I didn't have a ton of bike training. The most I did was like, maybe, well, okay, before my first ride, I did do the ride already, but before my first ride, the most I did was like, maybe 20 miles, which is like a really long ride for me. I had a cheap mountain bike that was really heavy and hard to bike on, and I would just go on bike rides during COVID. That was about it. But I've been in sports, like, my whole life, so that helped in some way I'm sure. But yeah, cycling, no. Now the second time around, I definitely have the mental preparation, I know I'm capable of it, so it's like, okay, I'll just do it. But yeah, physically, it's still hard not gonna lie, mentally easier.
What is your bike's name? Model?
My bike still doesn’t have a name. I care about my bike, but I care about it too much to the point where I can't commit to a name, so I need to name it by the end of this ride. If anyone has any ideas for a coral bike, please let me know. I don't like the name coral though. Model, its a Specialized Diverge.
What are you most nervous/excited about?
I'm really excited for Colorado. I know everyone's a little bit nervous about that because of the climbing, but I think it's going to be so beautiful. So even if it's hard, like, I know I'll just be having such a great time with the views. I'm also really excited to go back through the national parks that I went through on my first ride, like Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, those were just amazing, and camping, camping is fun.
Anything else you want to talk about?
Shout out to my mom and my family for being so supportive and helping me out with whatever I need during the times when I'm home, and you know, everything before the ride, helping me get ready and deal with all the issues. Yeah, thank you.