Day 35 Springfield, IL to Champaign, IL
We all left the State House Inn after a great, extremely fast serviced breakfast. Before we left, most of us tossed in a dollar to play "bicycle poker" where we each received a card at subsequent rest stops. At rides end, the player with the best hand would win the pot. With a 7 of clubs in hand, I hit the road for this 103 mile ride!
Saturday morning in Springfield is VERY quiet but our departure route out of town had us hit no less than 15 red lights. Talk about a momentum breaker! Eventually we got rolling and at about the 10 mile point I caught eight of our middle speed riders. Since I was still waking up, I joined their pace line and eventually sat up front for a while as we tried to catch Bob Shaw who was about a mile in front of us. As our group motored along at 20 mph, we inched to about 1/2 mile behind Bob before his testosterone kicked in and he began pulling away again. My challenge as the lead was to hold this group together without losing anyone and, somehow, catch Bob. While we never did catch this sly rascal, we had lots of fun pulling some of our team members a little faster than they normally ride.
Our rest stop was at a Lincoln Trail Memorial Park, the site of President Lincoln's first Illinois home. Imagine building a 16 x 16 log cabin after a six month wagon trip and then living in this cabin in sub zero weather for a LONG winter. Not exactly the same as a "no HBO" hotel, huh?!
After receiving my second card, a 6 of diamonds, I realized I was not going to win the poker hand and hit the road again!
I departed this SAG with ride leader Mike and Clarence, and we kicked it together most of the day. Riding corn field/soy bean roads with surfaces that varied from smooth to rough gravel, we pushed each other for long periods at 24-28 mph. By rides end, we were definitely tired.
The three of us cleaned up slightly and headed to Bob Evans where an ambitious waitress named Tabitha made us homemade milkshakes (not even on the menu) and fed my friend Tim an omelet that disappeared in three minutes. Yum, yum!
The "animal of the day" was the Japanese beetle. On several occasions I was glad I had goggles and a helmet on as I came in close contact with these BIG pests.
The highlight of the day occurred after the second SAG stop when one of our riders, Alan, with a bicycle cap on his head (kind of like a small baseball cap) departed the rest stop without his helmet. In his tired state and with that small hat on his head, he genuinely thought he had his helmet on. He rode into the next town before we stopped him and asked him if he always rides his bike this way. He was quite chagrined and enjoyed the laugh.
After yet another Chinese buffet, our bicycle poker winner, Bob Shaw, treated us all to a drink at Chili's.
Saturday morning in Springfield is VERY quiet but our departure route out of town had us hit no less than 15 red lights. Talk about a momentum breaker! Eventually we got rolling and at about the 10 mile point I caught eight of our middle speed riders. Since I was still waking up, I joined their pace line and eventually sat up front for a while as we tried to catch Bob Shaw who was about a mile in front of us. As our group motored along at 20 mph, we inched to about 1/2 mile behind Bob before his testosterone kicked in and he began pulling away again. My challenge as the lead was to hold this group together without losing anyone and, somehow, catch Bob. While we never did catch this sly rascal, we had lots of fun pulling some of our team members a little faster than they normally ride.
Our rest stop was at a Lincoln Trail Memorial Park, the site of President Lincoln's first Illinois home. Imagine building a 16 x 16 log cabin after a six month wagon trip and then living in this cabin in sub zero weather for a LONG winter. Not exactly the same as a "no HBO" hotel, huh?!
After receiving my second card, a 6 of diamonds, I realized I was not going to win the poker hand and hit the road again!
I departed this SAG with ride leader Mike and Clarence, and we kicked it together most of the day. Riding corn field/soy bean roads with surfaces that varied from smooth to rough gravel, we pushed each other for long periods at 24-28 mph. By rides end, we were definitely tired.
The three of us cleaned up slightly and headed to Bob Evans where an ambitious waitress named Tabitha made us homemade milkshakes (not even on the menu) and fed my friend Tim an omelet that disappeared in three minutes. Yum, yum!
The "animal of the day" was the Japanese beetle. On several occasions I was glad I had goggles and a helmet on as I came in close contact with these BIG pests.
The highlight of the day occurred after the second SAG stop when one of our riders, Alan, with a bicycle cap on his head (kind of like a small baseball cap) departed the rest stop without his helmet. In his tired state and with that small hat on his head, he genuinely thought he had his helmet on. He rode into the next town before we stopped him and asked him if he always rides his bike this way. He was quite chagrined and enjoyed the laugh.
After yet another Chinese buffet, our bicycle poker winner, Bob Shaw, treated us all to a drink at Chili's.
posted by Steve King at 4:42 PM
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