Today, we had a very quick ride, which meant that we had more time to enjoy the 4th of July! We started the day with an early coffee stop, and finished the ride around noon – just in time for lunch! We filled the day with fun activities, such as ice cream, movie watching, fireworks, and a pie-eating contest. It almost felt like we had a full rest day!
Quote of the Day
“The bitter and the sweet are like Jack and Jill, like two peas in a pod” - Matt
RIDE OVERVIEW
Mileage: 28 Miles
Elevation: 866 ft.
Points of Interest: LaLa’s Espresso Bar and Bakery, Farmhouse Market
Ride Dedication: Kay Voss
Tales of the Trail
The morning started at our usual time, with the prospect of a quick ride to enjoy the 4th of July! This morning, the team collectively decided to get coffee and food at LaLa’s Espresso Bar and Bakery approximately 0.2 miles into the ride. We had a great time enjoying our coffee and food in the morning, and everyone was exalted after our ride leaders announced that we could listen to music on the ride. The ride itself was very short, and there were no planned rest stops along the way. Throughout the ride, we took in the eastern Colorado landscape, with a gradual incline and some rolling hills. We also experienced a small amount of drizzle, which didn’t faze us! Some of us were already expecting mountains, but it felt like we were still in the heartland.
Once we arrived at the stayover, we were treated to Subway for lunch, and everyone was excited to enjoy the day after such a quick ride. After lunch, we did two amazing portraits with community members of the church, and we heard some very captivating stories. After the portraits, everyone got to showering and taking some well-needed rest. A group of us decided to drive around Yuma, and we ended up stopping at Farmhouse Market for ice cream — they had great flavors like “Sleepless in Seattle” (coffee ice cream). When we arrived back at the stayover, we were provided an amazing dinner of homemade burritos and tamales with some extra hot sauce. Some of us challenged eachother to eat spoonfuls of hotsauce, which made for a spice-fueled dinner! We were treated to a double rainbow after dinner, and it was great to take in the beautiful skies of Colorado, which we’ll expect more of throughout the ride.
The group finally finished Interstellar, and the movie put everyone in a trance for hours as the sun set. After the movie, the sky was dark, and we pulled out our fireworks which made for some great 4th of July celebration! The group went through plenty of sparklers, and we even got to use the long-exposure feature on Harbin’s phone camera to take a photo spelling out “Illini 400” with the sparklers. We didn’t have much, but setting off the fireworks we did have was a good time, and we still had some semblance of a classic Independence Day celebration! To end the night, we held our annual pie-eating contest, and everyone was assigned to a random team to finish a pie. Some of us were faster eaters than others, but we all got some pie down, and Micah and Sofia came out on top after quickly finishing their pies. After finishing the pies and cleaning up, everyone went to bed after a fun day!
Thank you, Yuma First Church of the Nazarene, for giving us a place to sleep and so graciously providing us with three meals during our stay – It was great to meet you!
Cyclist’s Corner
Today’s Rider: Veronica Kozak
How are you feeling today?
I’m feeling good. I’m feeling really good today. It’s a good day. Feeling good. I want them to know I’m feeling good. Actually, I’m feeling spectacular, euphoric.. Well… that’s a stretch, I’ll settle with, good. (Veronica, later that day after watching Interstellar for the first time: “It was a spectacular day”).
Do you have any go-to gas station/rest-stop snacks?
It usually changes every day, but if I were to do a go to I usually like to reach for something more salty, like a good bag of chips, preferably like either barbecue or the sour cream and onion. Those are good, some salty, good flavored chips. Usually my go to, salty chips, yeah.
What is your rest stop routine?
Typically, I would fill up water first, because I usually tend to run out of water right away, and I get really thirsty by the time I roll up to a rest stop. But lately, I've been noticing that as soon as I get there, I tend to fall asleep and take a nap, and after my nap, usually there is no time to do anything, so I have to scurry to fill up my water bottles and put on my sunscreen so that I could roll out with my teammates quickly. I usually cut it close, but naps have made it into my routine, and I like that.
How do you stay motivated on long/tough days on the bike?
Sometimes I play a song in my head. I get a song stuck in my head, and that's good motivation, even if the scenery isn't too spectacular, I usually try to talk to my teammates and build conversation, and that gets us through longer and tougher stretches. So I enjoy having a conversation. It makes the time go by.
For the remaining portion of the ride, where are you looking forward to visiting the most?
Probably Boulder, Colorado, which is coming up soon. I'm excited about Colorado in general. I've never biked through here. I've been here once before, but haven't seen much of it, and I'm really excited to bike through that part. I know it's going to be mountainous, but I know it's going to be beautiful, and I'm really excited to see it, and we have a lovely rest day coming up there, and I can only imagine everything we're gonna do. Is
Anything else you want to talk about?
I bought some cheese today, and I was really craving cheese, and I bought a block of Havarti cheese today. It was some of the best cheese I've had in a really long time, and I'm really excited to have that for breakfast tomorrow.