Hi everyone and welcome to days 74 and 75 journal entry for one final time! The last two days of our trip were very bittersweet and emotional for all of us, so I think talking about how these days went in detail is unnecessary. I am sure each and every one of us will remember the things that matter most from these two days even without the help of this journal.
One of such moments was our I4K Prom - a celebration of the team finishing the ride by dressing up in silly costumes and dancing like maniacs. We also sat together as a team, enjoyed each other’s company, and reminisced about the trip just one last time.
Prom kings and queens
Day 75 was even more chaotic and bittersweet. We biked our last 40 miles of the trip, got our last McDonald’s breakfast, finished our last climbs, and spent the last day ever as the whole entire team with just us and no one else.
Final van art
Last morning circle
Last McDonald’s breakfast stop :(
Signing jerseys at the last stop before crossing the bridge
And bodies
Snails escargot
Fearless ride leaders alert
Last moments as a team
And thus, our journey ended with us crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (all in one piece!!!) finishing our trip with a picnic thrown by family and friends of the team members at Crissy Fields.
There are no words powerful enough to describe how grateful, happy, and privileged I feel to have shared such a special journey for such a great cause with such amazing people. This summer was the happiest and most special for not just me, but the majority of my teammates. We will never forget our adventure, our camaraderie, and all of the countless special moments we have shared as a team - heartfelt and sincere, tough and challenging, silly and ridiculous.
I would like to thank every single person who made this ride possible for us. Firstly, thank you to the 2021-2022 Illini 4000 executive board who planned and executed all of the very complicated and hard work that goes into sending a team of cyclists across the country. We would never be able to finish (or even start!) our ride without these amazing people. Special thanks to our ride leaders Marie and Julissa for passing on their I4K wisdom and knowledge to us and making sure we don’t get in trouble and leave our stayovers spotless always. Secondly, thank you to all of our stayovers, donors, and everybody who helped us along our journey in any way. It was astonishing and incredibly heartwarming to see the kindness that people showed a random group of sweaty college students on their bizarre journey. Thirdly, thank you to all of the team’s parents, families, friends, pets, and anybody else who helped and encouraged our team members to go through training and the ride. None of us would have made it here without your priceless moral, emotional, monetary, etc support. And lastly, thank you to each other for being amazing team mates, great friends, and the best support at the toughest moments.
For the final little treat of the last journal for 2022 Illini 4000 bike across America team, I would like to share each of the team members’ favorite moment of our trip. Enjoy!
Rose: “Playing wood chips at a playground in the beginning of the trip.”
Cal: “I4K prom.”
Matt H: “Penn’s cave. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I learned a lot about the cave and the surrounding area and received a spiritual lesson.”
Peter: “Tracking down the guy at the Clown Museum in Baraboo.”
Jessica: “Biking down the Bighorns. It was the first beautiful descent and it just went on and on and I was just blown away by the beauty.”
Julissa: “Biking down to the Tetons with Jung and Valerie.”
Maddie: “The long descent from the Bighorn mountains.”
Jung: “Grand Tetons when we turned that corner and saw the Tetons for the first time. Or just any kind of mountains when you wee them and just go “Wow”.
Angela: “Right now, because we have all completed the ride, we are all so proud of ourselves, we have all grown so close made so many memories. And we are about to do one of our favorite activities - eating.”
Matt W: “Talking to each other on the bikes. And Penn’s cave.”
Max: “The rest day in Champaign when we had the bonfire at Julissa’s and then we all went to the movies, we were hanging out at Zona’s house and we had a Birthday party for Matt W.”
Veronica: “I loved all of them, but playing wood chips on that one playground. It was the first time I felt like the team actually got together and had fun and acted silly and goofy. It was when I started getting more comfortable with the group, it was really fun. Another moment that really warmed my heart was when I was riding with Cal and Vikram and I really wanted to have a crazy story from the ride like other groups have done before. I found it really sweet because they really tried to find the craziest and best story and it warmed my heart, they really went out of their way. We spent over 2 hours at this creepy ghost town and it was such a fun and funny experience. It was very heartwarming, I really felt like a part of the team.”
Zona: “When I rolled up to the coffee house in Baraboo and Cal and Matt come up to me and go “You will not believe this…” and they start this story which I thought wasn’t true, but I found out it was true. And then proceeded to find out how to get into the Clown Museum and that moment of realizing it was all real was one of my favorite ones of the trip.”
Mercedes: “One of the moments that sticks out to me most is the further along we got in our trip, the more shocked and appalled the random bystanders would be when we would say where we started from. It was hilarious every single time. It made me feel this huge sense of accomplishment.”
Clara: “My favorite part of the trip was the end of the ride when we were all standing in that circle and it was really special, I felt like I really recognized what an awesome it was that we just did. And I felt really connected to you guys and really accomplished, it was a really good feeling. I will miss you guys, it was a great trip overall.”
Lucas: “The Clown Museum. The whole insane adventure of riding around this small town, having no idea what the next turn would be, the people we met, the stories we had, and in the end the clowning that was done. It was something you could only experience on the Illini 4000 2022 bike America team.”
Bryan: “I like the Bighorn day when we climbed for 40 miles. We kind of raced it and were really tired at the end.”
Rick: “There are no favorite moments, only many good moments. My favorite memories of this entire trip are the meaningful conversations while riding on our bikes, the smallest things that we laugh at - we just laugh at anything, it just happens for some reason. Also the hottest climbs we have done - these are the ones that push you to your limit and give you the sense of satisfaction that cannot be described when you finish them.”
Vikram: “When I went on a nice ride to mount Rainier solo on the rest day. Got some nice time away from you guys. “
Sam: “Right now is pretty awesome. It is really great to be done and it feels so successful to actually have made it all the way across the country. Also all the times that we have been able to just hang out together as a team, everyone is just laughing so hard and goofing around. It was the reason this trip was so much fun for me. If there is no more biking involved I would hang out with you guys for the whole year.”
Marie: “When we all went cliff jumping even though it was so cold and painful, but it was just a nice moment together.”
Valerie: “My favorite moments were all the times we just got to spend time together with the whole team and chat, hang out, laugh. So, basically all the dinners we had, all the camping evenings of talking and bonding, watching movies together, the rest stops. The rest stops specifically made it so much easier for me to go through tough days after hanging out with the team for just a little bit and getting to laugh and bond over our shared suffering with everyone, it really reminded me of why I signed up to do I4K in the first place and gave me mental and emotional strength to continue the journey in the hardest moments.
Also - river ;)”
And on this note, I must say my final goodbye to being the Illini 4000 2022 Bike across America team journaler. It has been a real privilege documenting our entire trip day by day for our families and friends to read, as well as my team mates to remember the time we spent together and all of our awesome adventures. I am so proud to be a part of this team and so happy I was lucky enough to meet everyone on it, and to feel like I truly fit in and can be fully completely myself in such a huge group of people for the first time in my life. It has been the best 3 months of my life and I will always cherish every single memory from them. Thank you to all the previous Illini 4000 riders for paving the way and good luck to all the future Illini 4000 riders.
Tailwinds,
Valerie
Goodbye from your friendly neighborhood journaler and her faithful assistant/one time journaler