Waking up in a climbing gym really was a novelty we were not expecting to have throughout the Summer. Something was just really neat about waking up in a place that feels like it holds some of the same adventure and outdoor motivations as we do being on this cross-country ride. Everyone was up and out of their sleeping bags around 8:00 am this morning. This is an early rise for most of us in normal times, but today it felt like a luxurious sleep in. In our ever persistent search for calories, we decided to bring the van, with all 12 of us here, over to a Bob Evans for breakfast before the bigger events of the day were to unfold. We certainly got some energy and probably a bit more stuffing than we were hoping for when we were trying to pack in the van again. As it turns out, 12 people do fit, and we make it work quite well, but along with 8 bikes it can be difficult.
The whole team packed in the van!
Breakfast then proceeded into our next short drive over to The Ohio State University. We were greeted by Professor Vladislav (Vlad) Belyy who immediately made a great impression on us by joining in the crowd in the van to help find us a parking spot. That was pretty bold! He then gave us a quick walking tour of the buildings leading up to the Pharmacy Building and Biological Sciences Building. We observed the strange crossing out of “M”s on any written signs and learned about some thermal engineering where a heating pipe was built in a meandering pattern to change the way it expands with heat from purely lengthwise to some in length and some in the side to side axis. Maybe this was more information than you needed to know, maybe this was more information than we needed to know, but alas. Inside, we sat down with Vlad and discussed some of his connection with Damon Runyon, our mission, and some about us personally. We found out that he was a Damon Runyon fellow for his postdoctoral degree which gave him the opportunities to work freely on projects of his own inspiration. Since Vlad is a great teacher too, he gave us a quick lesson on some of the mechanisms inside eukaryotic cells and some of the methods through which cancer treatments are targeting these pathways to stop uncontrolled growth of cancerous regions. Although we could not explain it all for you here, his research essentially focuses on the messages that are sent within cells telling them to go into cell death (apoptosis) and how they can be read and controlled in normal and cancerous cells.
Visit to Vlad’s lab.
We toured his lab spaces and looked at a $400,000 laser imaging setup, then met some of his students during pizza lunch (our favorite). Next, it was onto a visit with Professor Maria Mihaylova and her lab group. She was also a Damon Runyon fellow during her postdoctoral degree and has studied how cell aging influences cancer. While definitely a slightly different field from what Vlad looks at, this has some similarities. After hearing a few different scientists talk about cancer and related treatments over the Summer now, we are all picking up on some patterns here and there of the techniques trying to be developed to solve this disease. The reality is that many solutions will be for very specific scenarios and that there will likely never be one catch-all solution since cancer in itself is not all the same. In Maria’s lab, we had a demonstration of how they look at and sequence mRNA to try to uncover patterns in the messages being sent by the cells (see a pattern even in these two labs?). We also met some of her students and the whole time were in the Pelotonia Research Center which is neat because it is also a cancer fundraising organization based on cycling. Pelotonia has been around since 2009 and has raised over $300 million dollars for cancer research. We now have one of their magnets attached to our van!
Visit to Maria’s lab.
After an amazing tour of the facilities, with stomachs full of pizza and brains full of knowledge, the team was definitely ready for a much needed afternoon nap. Despite our stayover being a climbing gym we were much too tired from yesterday to think about climbing or really any other physical activity again until tomorrow. As it was such a nice day more than half the team decided to bring their sleeping pad outside and rest in the shade. (Maybe some of the best sleep of my life) As we gradually woke up, the team decided it was time for dinner. We all piled into the van once again, with 12 bikes this time! It was a tight fit as we all fell into our seats like tetris pieces and headed towards downtown to get a bite to eat. Most of us went to get poke bowls, but a few of us split off and got subway and one person even got persian food! After we had all eaten we decided to make our way altogether to a restaurant named Tasty Dawg. While primarily a hot dog establishment they also had ice cream which all the team was excited to eat.
After a long day the team all piled back into our van and made the venture back to our stayover to prepare for the long day of biking ahead. We made sure to prioritize our time well and get some necessary things done that come with a bike trip across the country. The first of these being taking out all of our bikes, backpacks, and numerous other random items that accumulate so we could deep clean the van. While half the team was cleaning, some others either took the opportunity to shower or do some needed bike maintenance. While nothing was catastrophic, accumulating this many miles on a bike in such a short time means that small issues are bound to occur, so we took advantage of our rest day to fix these problems that arose. While we ride our days usually blend together, so it is very refreshing to have a day to relax and (mostly) not have to follow a rigid daily schedule. This however can not last forever as our team is gearing up for a big ride tomorrow, but we made sure to try and get as much rest and do everything we can to prepare ourselves for the days ahead. The team is very excited as we are getting nearer and nearer to Champaign with every day of biking.
Cyclists’ Corner
Rider: Max Zhu
How are you feeling today?
Feeling good! The rest day was really good, feeling really strong on the bike recently. I was super sore at the last rest stop at Penn State or State College, but I'm feeling a lot stronger now.
What was your favorite part of yesterday's ride?
There were a couple standout points. Yesterday was 67 miles, so it was a lighter day, and it went really, really fast, which is really nice. We stopped by apparently the world's largest basket, which was cool. It was on the side of the road, I think it was a big headquarters for a basket company at some point. I believe since then they've moved out, but it's just like on the side of the highway, and you could see it for literally miles coming in. So that was cool. There were also a lot of bike paths yesterday, and the weather was really good, so it was good temperature. The sun was out, and we had tailwinds on the last 20 plus miles, so we were just booking on the way back. So that's really fun.
What motivated you to join a line Illini 4000?
I think my motivation to join Illini 4000 is kind of two part. I think it's both for myself and to be able to give back. For the first part, for myself, I've always been really active. I like to play just pretty much any sport I can get my hands on. A lot of intramurals, I think I was on seven new intramurals at one point in like one semester. I enjoy playing sports outside, just getting outside, lifting, doing whatever. So, Illini 4000 posed like a new kind of challenge that I thought would be interesting to kind of test myself with. I ran track in high school, but it was really short sprints. Doing cardio and stuff is not as fun as I thought, but it's alright, and it's a good time for sure. And then the second part is just really giving back, you know? I know a lot of personal family and friends that have experienced, or been affected by cancer, and I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I can do something to give back. So, I think it's good that I take the opportunity to do so,
Before joining Atlantic 4000 how much bike training had you done?
For bike training specifically? This is my first road bike. I've owned a bike and ridden a bike around before, maybe in middle school, but for cycling I've never clipped in or out until I applied to Illini 4000. I found out the hard way, I had fell probably like five times at a complete stop. So pretty new to cycling, but yeah, generally otherwise pretty active with other stuff.
What is your bike's model, and does it have a name?
My bike is a Giant Contend AR four. I don't know what year it is, but I bought it new this year, so I assume it's 2025/2026 or something like that. You put me on the spot for the name, but me and Tada have been calling each other little Jit, which Jit is just like Florida State slang. I think, for just kid. So basically we're calling each other little kid, and because my bike is a giant I'm gonna name my bike Giant jit.
What are you most excited about and nervous about?
Oh I'm really excited to get out west for a lot of the scenic stuff. Generally, I'm just really playing it day by day. I think thinking too far ahead is gonna get stressful, for sure, especially thinking about the mileage and what really is ahead or lies ahead. So, I'm taking it day by day, but I'm really excited for the West Coast. I think there's a lot of natural beauty out there, which would be cool, but we got to get through a lot of miles of flat midwest first. And then what I'm nervous about is, I guess, similarly, just like the sheer amount of miles that we continue to put in. I've ridden every mile so far, and I would really, really like to continue that streak, but obviously I'm gonna listen to my body, and if I need to rest, I'm gonna rest, so we'll see. But also, we have the 130 mile day tomorrow, so that'll be a test for sure.
Anything else you want to say to the world?
I don't know, again, put me on the spot. I think with something like this, something so unique, I guess my mindset going in, and I think what I want to tell everybody else is: continue to challenge yourself, have fun with things, and just take things one step at a time.
Are you on Team Sprinkles or Team No Sprinkles?
Absolutely no sprinkles. I want that on record, bang.