Bicycle Illinois Day 6 - Kankakee to Chicago

Ride Stats - Day 6

Distance: 83.71 Miles
Time: 6:46:28
Avg: 12.36 MPH

FINISHED!! Yes Bicycle Illinois 2009 has come to an end with a lovely ride from Kankakee into the great city of Chicago. It was the icing on a tremendous week long adventure cake! I rode my bike 580 miles in six days which is a personal best for me.

This was the adventure of a lifetime for me! I got to experience the finest people, places and things the state of Illinois has to offer.

My goal was to ride 600 miles in six days. I came up just short due to weather on the first day and weather on the last day. No worries. This just means I have a goal to shoot for next year! :)

Thank you to Bicycle Illinois Ride Director Rob Layton, Assistant Ride Director Josh Musinski and staffer Meredith Jump for putting on an AWESOME event!

Thank you Liz, Peggy, Mary and Erin for making me a part of your extended family this week as we shared laughter and good times across the highways and back roads of Illinois.

Thank you to all of the Bicycle Illinois participants for making my ride through Illinois a memorable one.

Finally, my thanks to Campbell Street Bicycle Shop in Arlington Heights, for making my bike ready to ride 580 miles in six days, Rachel Erlichman of Able Bodies Training in Buffalo Grove for making my body ready to ride 580 miles in six days, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team-In-Training program for helping me discover a passion for cycling, Bonnie Botoske for her inspirational cards I read before each day of the ride and Mom & Dad for all the love and support you've shown me in all of my cycling adventures.

I hope everyone enjoyed my blog. I sure had a great time writing it!

Take care,
Gary

Bicycle Illinois Day 5 - Champaign to Kankakee

Ride Stats - Day 5

Distance: 103.73

Time: 8:17:49

Avg: 12.50 MPH

Look who showed up on the course today! My friend, Quark the Ferengi, was in Onega, IL today and invited me, Liz, Peggy and Erin to stop and have some free cookies. This truly shows how universal cycling is. Thanks Quark! :)

In contrast to yesterday's tough day, today's ride was MUCH better. It still was a long day, but the time seemed to fly by as my aforementioned riding partners and I talked and laughed the whole day long. Several milestones were set today. Since it was a mandatory century ride, Peggy and Erin completed their first century rides today. And I continued my streak of century rides completed on consecutive days which now stands at four in a row. Congratulations to all!

Tomorrow, we complete our week long journey by riding into Chicago and ending the Bicycle Illinois tour. I'll post final comments and thanks tomorrow.

Keep the rubber side down!

Gary

Bicycle Illinois Day 4 - Effingham to Champaign

Ride Stats - Day 4:

Distance: 109.46
Time: 7:58:34
Avg: 13.72

When was the last time YOU were on a swing? It's been many, many, MANY years since I rode a swing. But since I just couldn't pass it up, I took the plunge and the result is this picture (thanks to Jen for the idea). After 80 miles, it was a fun thing to do and it was a good stretch for my legs. It really helped me with the last 29 miles of today's ride.

It was a tough day today. It started ominously as severe thunderstorms rolled through the Effingham area just before 5:30 AM. We delayed our start 1 1/2 hours until 8:00 AM. And even then, we were keeping our eyes to the sky as we cautiously started out. One of our riders (Evie) took a spill and wound up getting stitches in her chin when we got to Champaign. Many riders got lost (including your humble blogger) and there were some flat tires to boot. What can I say? Mama said There'll be days like this. And today was one of those days! But, I increased my personal best by having now completed three centuries in three days!

This is the first time I have visited the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. This campus is HUGE! We're here becuase Rob is a U of I graduate. Oh to be a college student again. NOT!

Tomorrow is mandatory century day. In order to get from Champaign to Kankakee, everyone will have to ride 100 miles. It will be the first ( and only) time each riding goup will finish together without options for extra miles. It will be nice not to finish by myself.

I'll talk to you from Kankakee tomorrow.

Hole!

Bicycle Illinois Day 3 - Centralia to Effingham

Ride Stats - Day 3:

Distance: 107.16 Miles
Time: 7:43:19
Avg: 13.88 MPH

Since Rob Layton was nice enough to route the course through my county today, I had all of the Bicycle Illinois participants over to County Hall for a big party and lots of gambling (hence my jersey choice today). A good time was had by all and then after we finished, I outlawed gambling for the rest of my citizens forever! It's good to be the king! :)

Butt Butter! I don't mean to be so blunt, but it saved me today. Now I know some of you are saying "Hey Gary - you've been cycling for six years. Haven't you used chamois (butt) butter before?" The answer would be a resounding no! Let me explain. When I ride a one day century event, I usually don't start getting sore until the very end of the ride. Since I usually would not ride the very next day, the soreness goes away. Problem solved! But the boys were not happy after Monday's ride. And I was not looking forward to today's ride. Enter Liz to the rescue! She gave me a tube of chamois butter and I used it at every rest stop. I felt TREMENDOUS! Needless to say, I will never, EVER participate in a ride without "the butter"!

Today our lunch stop was in Edgewood, IL. Some of the fine citizens of that town came out and provided delicious homemade cookies, carrot cake, zucchini bread cake and ice cold bottled water in addition to the lunch provided by Bicycle Illinois. They couldn't have been more friendly! In the front row from left to right is your humble blogger with my riding partners Mary, Peggy, Erin and two of the Edgewood residents. In the back row on the far left is Bicycle Illinois staff member Meredith Jump with the other four Edgewood residents who came out and provided the delicious treats for us cyclists.

I am having the time of my life with this tour! I set a milestone today with completing a 100 mile bike ride on two successive days. I hope to make it three with our ride to Champaign tomorrow. Until then.....

Car Up! :)

Rob Layton Talks About Bicycle Illinois

Bicycle Illinois Day 2 - Carbondale to Centralia

Ride Stats - Day 2:

Distance: 102.51 Miles
Time: 7:27:04
Avg: 13.76 MPH

That's more like it! :) The weather cooperated and I was able to complete the century distance today. Our route was a point-to-point distance of 72 miles with a 28 mile loop to complete the century. By the time I got on the loop, the wind had picked up and the temperature had increased. Since I was riding by myself, it made for a more challenging finish than I had anticipated. But as my TNT cycling buddy (and mentor) Paula knows, I was determined to get through it and I did!

The ladies you see with me in the picture above are Peggy to my left and Liz to my right. These are my riding partners for the trip. We have had a BLAST riding and exploring the sights and sounds southern Illinois has to offer! I can't thank them enough for making me feel welcome and letting me ride with them.

Well, I'm off to get the bike ready for our Day 3 adventure to Effingham, and then to bed! Thanks for reading my blog and I'll check in with you tomorrow.

Slowing! :)

Bicycle Illinois Day 1 - Cairo to Carbondale

Ride Stats - Day 1
Distance: 72.85 Miles
Time: 5:28:08
Avg: 13.32 MPH


What's the old saying about "The best laid plans..."? Well that certainly was in force today as we began our six day trek with a 71 mile ride from Cairo to Carbondale with an optional 30 mile loop for all us crazy riders who wish to do a century distance. I was feeling GREAT today. I was well hydrated (as evidenced by my frequent bathroom pit stops), feeling strong and was having a great ride as I finished the 71 mile portion. It was at that time a S L O W moving thunderstorm decided to end my ride day. When I saw the lightning and heard the thunder, I knew my ride was over. I was very disappointed. But I take comfort in the fact that I am here to talk about my ride as opposed to continuing my ride and possibly being zapped!

My riding partner for the day was Peggy who was a rock star! We navigated hills, steep hills and insane hills today with aplomb, vim and vigor! But we did not do the "Hill of Death", a 25% graded hill which my friend Mike said he had to walk up the majority of. Like Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations". And I do know mine!

But all in all it was a fantastic day today! Day one is in the books. Tomorrow we head for the hamlet know as Centralia.

Car Back! :)

The Adventure Begins-Welcome To Cairo!

You know you're in for an exciting trip when after stepping off the train in Carbondale, the ride director says "We have a problem!" I'll come back to that later.

We have arrived in Cairo (pronounced Kay-ro like the syrup) to hot humid southern Illinois weather. The Amtrak train ride down was pretty cool! I got to revisit (albeit briefly) the neighborhood I first lived in when I moved out on my own (Hyde Park) and the neighborhood where I spent the majority of my formative years (Rosemoor) on the far south side of Chicago. Ah the memories! I slept, ate in the snack car, talked with some of my fellow participants, slept some more, ate some more, lather, rinse, repeat. It was an uneventful trip until just south of Champaign the train conductor announced our arrival in Carbondale would be delayed due to flash flood warnings in Carbondale. Oh joy! We were supposed to arrive in Carbondale at 1:45 PM. We actually got to Carbondale at 3:00 PM. And when we stepped off the train, is when Rob Layton, Bicycle Illinois director made the aforementioned announcement. The truck with our bikes and regular clothes had the radiator malfunction in Champaign and could not go any farther. So Rob rented a car to bring our luggage to Cairo and that should arrive by 8:00 tonight. Our bikes however won't arrive until sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning. So our 1st day ride start will be delayed by half an hour. No big deal. It just makes things that more interesting.

We took a tour of the City of Cairo after we arrived. It is a fascinating place. It's a city trying to make a comeback in the midst our economic downturn. Yet in spite of this, the people are very friendly and welcoming. I also got to see the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Pretty cool stuff!

As I write this, dinner is just about to be served and then we'll have our opening meeting to go over the experience that is about to become Bicycle Illinois 2009.

I will have pictures starting tomorrow and may have an additional post later on tonight.

On Your Left!

I Hate Packing!

I really do. And for a trip of this nature, it's taken a herculean effort just to get everything organized and into my regular suitcase and cycling bag. When I go to a TNT event, I usually have two of each item (jerseys, pairs of socks, shorts and the like) which is fine. For this trip, I have to have six of everything. My Trek cycling bag weighs close to fifty pounds! Yikes! I better check Amtrak's website to see if they have a weight restriction for bags!

But I am done packing (WOOHOO!). Now I get to tidy up around the house, (hopefully take a nap) and pay some bills before it's time to head down to the Chicago hotel I'm staying at tonight.

I also want to thank everyone for all of the kind comments about the blog! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

More to come - Stay tuned!

I Can't Believe It's Here Already!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog which will detail the adventure that is known as Bicycle Illinois 2009. It's a six-day 600 mile bike ride from the southernmost tip of Illinois (starting in Cairo) to Northerly Island in Chicago. I know what you're asking. Why on earth would anyone sign up to participate in such an event? Uh..because it was there? In all honesty, I really don't know what the H - E - double hockey sticks I've gotten myself into. On the one hand, I'm very excited to attempt this. On the other hand I'm scared out of my mind to attempt this. I guess it balances out in the end.

So you'll get to read my thoughts and incoherent ramblings as I traverse the great (almost bankrupt) state of Illinois on my trusty Trek 2100 road bike.

Before I go any further, I want to thank Campbell Street Bicycle Shop in Arlington Heights for making sure my bike is in tip top shape for this ride. I also want to thank Rachel Erlichman of Able Bodies Training in Buffalo Grove for making sure I'm in tip top shape for this ride. Finally, I want to thank the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program for helping me find a passion for riding a bike.

The rubber meets the road starting Sunday July 12th!

More to come.....Stay Tuned!