I love bagged milk. Its official. Maybe its the plastic of the bag, maybe its the price of one dollar and maybe it is the insane fat content, but whatever it is, someone somewhere blessed those bagged milk cows to make something wonderful. Maybe there is a bagged milk species of cow. If that is so, I plan on owning one in the future.Our arrival into Lacrosse was an easy one. So much so that I grabbed my running shoes and ran around town with Max, Tracy and Eamon. Little did I know that Max and Tracy were in for a long haul. Eamon and I wanted more or a two mile blow off run through a pretty town. We parted with Max and Tracy about 20 minutes into the run to use a bathroom. In the place that we went to the bathroom, I scavanged for a kitchen for some food. I found a fridge and in the bottom drawer was a drawer full of oranges. Heaven. Me and Eamon enjoyed a walk home with two oranges and gorgeous houses to admire.Lauren lined up a new Brooks saddle today with a local shop owner. Brooks are probably the most comfortable saddles on the market for bikes. It's like a pillow made out of cows. It is kind of funny that Lauren got a Brooks saddle after witnessing cow carcass being hurled in the air out of a meat packing plant that day.The man who sold Lauren the saddle was named Scott. News around the block says he is the best bike mechanic around. So I brought my bike to him to test his skills. My bike has a habit of always being the special case. He did a fine job and taught me a lot about how to maintain my bike as well as fix it. The day before I hit 52.6 miles an hour on a downhill. I did this without getting into my highest gear. If I had been able to shift in the highest gear, I may have had a good shot at breaking the Illini 4000 speed record of 54 miles an hour. Currently, with 52.6, I hold this years record. Let's see what the bighorns bring.The pastor of the church we stayed at invited the riders of age out to drinks to talk about the ride and to relax. He was so cool. I am not of age but talked to him a little bit beforehand. He does triathlons. Sick. A priest doing triathlons. I wonder how he finds the time to train for that. He looked at our route for the next day and offered to ride along with us and show us the Mississippi valley from a nearby bluff.I was really excited to cross the Mississippi river! The pastor of the church, decked out in his triathlon gear, kicked off the ride with an awesome 1.5 mile uphill to the top of the bluff. At the top of the bluff, I half joked that I wanted to do the hill again. Soon enough, I found myself on a descent with Conor and Greg ready to climb again. Yes, we are crazy. As we arrived at the top a second time, we met Jordan in the van who told us, "The race isn't over. Catch the next group ahead." Our group initially reacted in a lethargic way. Not for long. I was determined. I hopped to the front of the group and began to pace at 23 miles an hour. Conor and Greg were curious to where that energy came from because I was last to finish the hill.We chugged up hills, down hills and into a headwind at a bruising pace. We never caught up to the front. I had no idea why. At mile thirty, I called the van to see what was going on. Apparently, the team stopped at mile 15 for a rest stop that our group failed to see. Now we were in front with a large gap between us and the team. We continued on to the point on the route that the pastor was to part ways with the team.When we got to mile 40, Jordan (who drove the van) told us the pastor left at mile 30. Bummer! There was still a very large gap between us and the team. This was becoming a problem. We decided to continue forth to St. Charles where we planned our lunch stop for the whole team.The headwind and roads that we faced towards St. Charles was the worst combination of conditions. Oh, don't forget the rain. The 15 miles to St. Charles were painful! It made me angry. That anger translated into my taking the lead again on a bad shoulder in a headwind at 20 miles an hour. We were exhausted and hungry. We finally arrived at a Kwik Stop in St. Charles waiting for the rest of the team for lunch.Remember how much I love bagged milk? At this rest stop, we gorged on food. My menu included two fried chicken sandwiches, a chocolate chip and a double chocolate chip muffin (because I am indecisive), a bag of Lays from a friendly passerby and two bags of milk- one chocolate and one 1%. I was doing fine until I hit the chocolate milk. The chocolate milk brought me in a sleepy haze that was interrupted by a couple of rude Minnesota residents.I woke up surrounded by people in Illini 4000 jerseys. Conor, Greg and I had been asleep on bags of salt for an hour. We didn't even notice the arrival of the team. I didn't even wake up when the team took embarrassing pictures of me while I was asleep. It took us another hour to even agree to get back onto the bike from the amount of food that we inhaled. Not a bad sleep coma for $3.77 (no tax in MN!). Needless to say, Conor, Greg and I had to split our group up to avoid a fast pace for the last 23 miles of the ride and to keep our sanity.The last 23 miles were spent with Eamon and Mary on a route that was totally edited on the fly because of gravel roads. The way to Rochester was decorated with a strong headwind, a stampede of horses and a man playing guitar on the side of the road on his lawnmower. The stampede of horses was brought on by our screams and insults to the horses as we passed by. I couldn't help but laugh when their graceful trot was interrupted by a huge puddle that they all trampled into.Little did I know that our stayover was literally right across from the Mayo Clinic. Sick.Before dinner, the team headed to a Hope Lodge. A Hope Lodge is a place for cancer patients and caregivers to live in to make their treatment less hectic in terms of travel, preparing food, and personal care. Hope Lodges are funded by the American Cancer Society.At the Hope Lodge, I had the privilege and honor to meet Rudy and Victoria Butteri, an 81 year old man with leukemia and his wife. It just so happened that on the day that we visited the Hope Lodge, Rudy's daughter visited him from Texas. Eamon, Pi, Lauren, Kyle and myself got caught in a fantastic conversation with Rudy and his family. His relationship with his wife was unmatched. Their love for each other is completely selfless. That is very hard to do. He would choke up only when he talked about the love shared between he and his wife, not when he talked about his cancer.We did a portrait interview with him. From his interview, I found myself laughing throughout remembering experiences that I had that were similar. He talked about being positive. A quote that I won't forget from him is "That it doesn't matter what you did yesterday. It is what you did today." This guy handled his chemo just like me, a jokester. He always joked about it and continues to do so. Midway through the conversation about cancer, his daughter mentioned a very moving quote that he stated at the beginning of his treatment (which I don't remember but its on tape). It was one of those statements that you would see in quotes for others to draw inspiration from; he replied to his daughter, "God. I must have been drunk when I said that! Did you check the liquor cabinet afterwards?!" I will never forget meeting Rudy and will continue to pray for him on his ongoing fight with cancer.We ended the night with a rider concerns meeting. Today's frustrating spread brought out some emotions but we pushed past them recognizing that this day's spread was a little unique. I introduced the idea of setting out early some days to go to cancer clinics for more portraits. I hope that I will be able to execute it.I am excited to see the Mayo Clinic tomorrow. Goodnight!
Rain, rain, go away. Fitchburg and Lake Geneva, WI
I got up early this morning to warn the team that there was going to be rain and that they could throw their rain jackets in the lost and found to pick up mid ride. After running around all morning and making sure the team got out at a reasonable time, I do not realize that I forgot to take out my rain jacket. Bad choice.This morning's mosher was very touching. Megan had each member of the team explain why they are doing the ride and a pledge to make the for the rest of the ride. The experience was breathtaking and emotional. It certainly brought us all together.These rides were very similar weatherwise and distancewise. These days also included a few hills, something that Illinois failed to offer. The team faced the hills with more confidence and composure than that of Pennsylvania.Rain on a bike in my opinion is the worst rain that one can face. I don't enjoy wearing a rain jacket in light rain because I would get more sweaty and sticky and would rather be a little wet in just arm warmers than uncomfortable. Lucky me, the rain brought its "A" game and succeeded in getting me soaked and freezing from head to toe. I never felt so relieve to arrive at a stayover to warm up. The rain made me forget the majority of the day's events.Lake Geneva brought us to the Topol summer home of Brad Topol , a former rider. The Topol's were extremely inviting and cooked us a fantastic dinner and provided us a wonderful breakfast. Oh... and showers. Little did I know that this would be my last shower for a while....
Family ride-along to Rochester rest day
It's been a while since my last post so I have many updates!I had a great two days in Chicago and was able to see family, friends and neighbors at a BBQ at my house. It was fun to catch up with everyone, share pictures, and show off my pretty tan lines. Uncle Don was especially fond of the glove tan lines. Jane even spent the night and was able to help me pack and gave me some excellent braids.On family ride-along day I was greeted at Millenium park by a good family friend Judy Weingarz. It was such a nice surprise to see her and catch up. Since my family was late getting to the park, Mrs. Weingarz was there for me during the appreciation Mosher. I had a great time biking with my dad, Johnny and Carolyn and in Highland Park I was able to meet up with my mom and Aunt Patty.We had a great stay at Kyle's church and were able to meet with Jon Schlesinger, one of the founders of I4K. It was great to hear him talk about his original vision for the organization and I hope we're able to keep connection to the cause alive.In Fitchburg my mom, my sister (and her friend Annie) came and brought us dinner. They also brought us lunch along the way the next day. It was fun to try and coordinate the lunch stop with my mom because she had no cues and none of us had cell reception. Apparently she was channeling Sean Laude on the way and got the SUV caught in a ditch. It worked out in the end and we all layed a grassy knoll eating while Sadie begged for treats.The hills of Wisconsin weren't too bad but they led us to the headwinds of Minnesota. We're now in Rochester, MN. We arrived just after a bad storm and have seen some of the aftermath of its destruction around town.Last night we visited a ACS Hope Lodge center where cancer patients can live while they are undergoing treatment at the Mayo Clinic. We walked in and were greeted by a cute welcome sign. Donna was the woman working the front desk and she gave us a tour of the place and told us some amazing stories. Afterward, we ate fruit (!!), bagels and juice and got to visit with some of the residents and do some portraits. I helped interview a mother who was a breast cancer survivor and then her son who is currently being treated at Mayo for leukemia.Today we got a tour of the Cancer library in Mayo Clinic from Sara. She told us about the center and we were all able to read some material and take some home. The room had some artwork in it and one of my favorites was a paper mache sculpture entitled "Annie." It was of a woman with one breast kneeling on the ground with a butterfly in her hand. Strewn on the ground behind her was an appointment book containing various to-dos and meetings. The description of the piece said that these appointments represent banalities of a former existence. It seems like the people we have spoken to all say that having cancer has reoriented their perspective in some way.
"Come on Dad! Keep up!" Highland Park, IL 6/13/2010
Group ride day! This is my first day assuming the duties of being a ride leader. Oh no! Responsibility.At Millennium Park, I met my Aunt Therese, Uncle Tom and cousin Mary Kate before our launch. Their presence was very special to me. Also in attendance was two of my neighbors who also participated in the ride along, Sandy and Jessica Miller. I was happily surprised that they came along for the ride! Fortunately, I didn't get lost (which I have a habit of doing on this trip) in leading a group of family and friends to Highland Park, IL.Family included my brother (decked out in my Livestrong kit and a borrowed bike), my Dad (who had no confidence in finishing 30 miles of biking) and my mom (who had all the confidence in the world in driving 30 miles behind my brother and father.) Dad wasn't a happy camper when I decided to try and burn my brother down an open street. Now he has reason to ride his bike more... keep up Dad!The stayover provided us a very nice spaghetti dinner. Although I wasn't hungry, I naturally ate as much as I could. We were greeted by one of the three founders of the I4k, Jon Schleshinger. It was exciting to hear the intentions of the the formation of the Illini 4000 and the portraits project. One idea he threw out to us was a ride around Illinois. Because we are the Illini 4000, we should have a greater connection with the people and cancer throughout Illinois. I really hope to see this idea through.Gabrielle mention doing a portrait on me. Of course I accepted. She suggested that we do the portrait in the near future and I am honestly kind of nervous to talk about it with the whole team. This is odd because I am normally not phased by telling of my experiences with cancer.This night, Jordan and I had a briefing on the ride leader duty. There is so much that you haev to think of at one point in time. I am also not Mr. Decisive. I guess we will see how my leadership will pan out amongst the rest of my teammates.We also talked about a similar organization, 4k for Cancer that runs out of Baltimore to San Fransisco. Hearing how their organization is run and comparing it to our growing organization lets me know that the Illini 4000 is in for a bright future. Our team is decorated with devoted, caring individuals who all bring something unique to the table. Let's see what we can serve up.
Chicago, IL 6/10-12/2010
Sweet home Chicago. It is weird to think of how I got here- 1200 miles. When I walk around, this thought doesn't come to me. I didn't think riding in would be emotional to me, however, the experience and breathtaking skyline views of Chicago was enough for me to choke up while riding. Never mind the bug that flew into my mouth.We arrived in mellenium Park during a Cub-Sox game, blues fest and the Blackhwaks championship rally. Needless to say, it was entertaining to believe that the crowd was there for us. I met some family and friends who were in the city to greet my arrival. A special thanks goes to Chris Laughlin, Stefanie Miller and Jeane Young- some neighbors who trekked through the city to find the Illini 4000. After some pictures, eating cake and talked to some ACS representatives, I was ready to go home.On our drive home, we stopped at my grandma's to say hello and to show her that I am still alive. I know she is moved by my dedication to this ride and cause. Her reaction to my arrival was unbelievable, or maybe it was to my beard...My house was still the same. We ordered Gino's East and while we were eating I saw a best friend Elizabeth riding her bike down the street past my house. I hopped out of my seat in just my bike shorts to flag her down. I missed her! I had more people to see on top of finishing some nursing school paperwork and laundry.I went to my best friend tom's house to see his family. Again, I missed this kid. It has only been two weeks. Weird. We hung out later that night and I managed to fall asleep on a sidewalk mid conversation. I guess this ride has taken some of me with it.The next day was spent buying things I needed for the trip and hanging out with my brother. A couple of bike shops and a trip to Jewel later, I was out of the house to two graduation parties for two different Laurens. One was going to Georgia for grad school and one, Lauren Mazurski (on the ride) is going to Arizona after the the ride to grad school.More noteable was Laurn Mazurski's party where her family and friends already recognized me from stories from Lauren, my blog and her mom. It was a nice reminder that more than just your immediate family is looking out for you. This would be Lauren's last time being home until December. Maybe.After Lauren's, we hit the road, arrived at the UIC dorms and crashed. Before bed, I revcieved a call from a friend that had studied abroad in Rome, and now is on the road with Catholic Heart Workcamp out west. It was good to talk to someone who feels like they don't have a home for the summer. I guess that not fair to say.Eamon put the ride into a different perspective for me week ago. Instead of feeling detatched and removed from society, we are actually totally immersed in society, moved by a cause that hits a chord across the country, stopping in each town spreading stories of not only our journey, but the journey of others and their struggle with cancer.My trip home was not what I expected it to be. I wanted to be home as if it as just another day in summer. Instead, I was running around trying to see people that I miss, getting last minute errands done. It was frantic. Part of me wishes I had just been home without anyone knowing I was home.I miss "me" time. I guess that's what I skipped on my visit home. And... my room was still dirty. That never feels good. I am excited to ride out of Chicago and head west.
Gotta have it. Homewood, IL 6/9/2010
This ride was the slowest yet. The day was lazy in anticipation for Chicago. Too many country roads and missed cues later, we hit suburbia. This was such a new feeling for me. It is weird to ride through over 60 miles of country and then all of the sudden hit a city with angry drivers, smelly garbage and Cold Stone.I stopped at a Cold Stone with a few riders before pulling into our destination. I got a "Gotta have it" of Germanchocolatecake. This marked the first day of my 10 day streak of eating ice cream. I can't get enough of it.Today we had a concerns meeting regarding the past weeks of riding. After a really long, boring and extensive meeting, we finally voted for our new ride leaders. The team elected Jordan and myself to lead the ride into San Francisco. The job includes planning what the team eats, planning the rest stops and making sure the ride chores get done. I am pretty happy the the team finds a leader in me not because I boss around people, but because I like to be a good example.The night ended with Lauren, Eamon and I singing away on the piano for about forty five minutes straight about complete nonsense. The song comprised of lyrics reflecting on Conor's shaved beard, Eamon slaying dragons and Tracy dancing. Anticipation for Chicago couldn't be higher.
Sidewalks and corn. Clifton, IL 6/8/2010
I have not updated my blog for quite some time and I apologize. The blogs through Highland Park, IL and Lacrosse, WI will be a little lacking in detail. I will do my best to recall the event of those days.
The ride to Homewood,IL was our first experience with headwinds. In my opinion, any headwind is worse than a mountain or a very, very long ride. The headwind belittles the rider and has no light at the end of the tunnel. When climbing a hill, there is something to look forward to- the top. Riding against the wind only frustrates a rider. There were times during this ride that I just closed my eyes and pedaled, looking for strength.
Illinois is not a great biking state. The roads are subpar. Some are just sidewalks. There are no gas stations to rest in the shade and go to the bathroom. Just corn, smelly cows and sun. Sometimes my cleats would melt in the tar on the road. Rocks would stick to my tires. Heat exhaustion and a lack of sleep conquered my mind making what should have been an easy 67 miles into a mind game.
Arriving in Homewood, IL was a relief. The pastor there was really receptive. He was aware the the Blackhawks had their final playoff game that night and offered to record the periods as the game was going on to run over to the church. He also greeted incoming groups with leftover graduation food from a party he held recently. Amazing.
The highlight of my day came when Diana came over to me as I was playing piano and asked me to teach her the words and melody to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." I remember when we went to the Pirates v. Cubs game in Pittsburgh and during the 7th inning stretch, the ballpark sang the song. I looked at Diana, and because she is not from the United States, she did not know the words! Bam. Now she knows it. I make her sing it all the time now.
Rochester, MN 06/18-06/19
Pastor Taylor from our stayover in LaCrosse rode with us in the am. Taking the "scenic route" we started the day with some big old hills... and they never really stopped... they actually got worse, thanks to added head wind. With the knee, this becomes quite a challenging day and we had a 5pm arrival deadline so I had to jump in the van around mile 55 in order to insure making time. Being shoved in the backseat with bags and bikes, I instantly fell asleep, and was woken up by the van door being opened and my body falling out, ha. But when I exited, it was my dream come true. I stepped out of the van and there it was, Mayo Clinic. My future standing in front of me (I hope).The Hope Lodge is a building in Rochester, in connection with Mayo Clinic and ACS, providing a home for those undergoing cancer treatment and for their care takers. Our group was fortunate enough to get a tour of the building and speak with some residents. Myself, Pi, Steve, and Eamon dropped off in the middle of the tour after meeting Rudy Butteri and his family. I was drawn into a game of "BananaGrams" and the boys were drawn in by Rudy's stories of working out and push-ups. Kyle and Greg joined us and we went outside and did a Portraits interview with him... it was amazing to say the least. This 81 year old man was hands down the most inspiring person I have met on the trip thus far. From the way he praised his wife, to the way he spoke of his fight when handling his treatment, we were all extremely touched. Sue, his daughter, brought out left over pizza for us as well as fruit and juice and being savages, we devoured it. After talking with him for hours and taking pictures, Sue generously handed over her BananaGrams game and some of us picked up purple Hope bracelets from the lodge. I've collected 3 of these bracelets over the trip to keep on my wrist as a constant reminder of why I'm doing this and who I'm fighting for. When we hit the Rockies and I'm looking down struggling, I'll know that my purple Hope bracelet is for Rudy, and his amazing family.Saturday was as rest day for the team, and a number of us woke up early and headed to the laundromat. Once our clothes were so fresh and so clean clean, we headed over to Mayo Clinic for a tour of the Cancer Center library. Sarah Christensen was the woman generous enough to come in on her day off and provide us with this tour. Mayo is beautiful... from the people who work there, to the to the actual building, I only hope that one day, I'll be fortunate enough to be a part of the Mayo Foundation (There is one in Scottsdale, I'm working on it!!)Let's see, what else can I update you all on... Well, my butt feels better today, Priscilla's too... and, I think that's all I have for now. I hope you are all enjoying my blog as much as I enjoy sharing the stories. (: (: This trip is awesome, I wish everyone was lucky enough to have this opportunity.
La Crosse, WI 06/17
Hm, quite the eye-opening ride I must say... here's why.Jill, Disha, and I started the day out just lovely, riding around having a blast. As we rode down a hill at mile 35, I hit my top speed of the trip (43mph!!) and Disha hit a rock and got a flat. We pulled to the side to change it, stuck in a new tube, pumped it up and low and behold, it went flat again. After searching for the hole and making sure this wouldn't become another issue, I gave Disha my spare and as we pumped it up we heard, pshhhhhhhhhhhh. Hm, another flat. Jill has fatty tires and her tube wouldn't fit, so we decided that my tube would be the best option and Disha rode on this "slow leak" 5 miles to the next rest stop, averaging about 24mph. At mile 43.3 (I'll never forget), we came upon a town and there was a HUGE building on the right side that just smelled awful. As we rode past, a conveyorbelt stuck out of the side of the building with a dumpster underneath it. As Jill and I stared a very large, blood covered rib cage, rolled along this conveyor belt and dropped into the dumpster. We screamed for a solid 53 seconds at the top of our lungs, Disha realized what was going on as more rib cages rolled past, and we rode the next 14 miles in DEAD SILENCE... heads down, avoiding looking at all the animals around us, and trying not to vomit.Our lunch stop was awesome as well... we started by hitting an ice cream place for 50cent slushies, perfect for a hot day. We then had to ride up to a Taco Bell where the van was... this was very traumatic for us after our earlier experience. Lunch was fun, I made friends with some 14 year old boys who had sweet "dyno"esc bikes so that they would let me ride them. Steve of course stole some of my new friends, and they drag raced in the parking lot... Steve lost... EVERY TIME... hahaha.Arriving in La Crosse was amazing, at this point I was with Shea and Steve and we were slightly lost and stopped and asked a random woman with a bike for directions. She proceeded to tell us that her husband recently passed away from cancer, today was his birthday, the bike was his, and she was going to get it tuned up since it had just been sitting in her garage. Amazing. Another example of why we ride, another example of how cancer affects people across America.Coming into the stayover, I headed to a bike shop with Kyle to pick up some new brake pads and check out some new seats (to help with the issue). I ended up getting both, and a new black Brooks now sits beautifully on my bike, gorgeous as ever, begging to be broken in.
Reedsburg, WI 06/16
Ah yes, another fantastic day in the life of an I4Ker. I took off riding with Mary, Jeff and Stephe (pronounced Steee, PHHH) and we instantly jumped into some hills. Wisconsin has been so close in distance to me for 22 years, and yet just now I am discovering these mini mountains. It was a long day, but it was fantastic. Mrs. Russell found us on the road and provided a delicious lunch (thank you soo much!!). Riding this past week, I've discovered that the scenery is becoming increasingly gorgeous... either that or I'm just taking the time to actually enjoy it and take it all in.Upon our arrival, the team headed over to the local pool for some swimming and showers, HILARIOUS. Picture this... 28 college kids in spandex reaching from belly button to knee with tan lines looking like a permanent white tee-shirts, attempting to jump off a diving board while tons of 9-13 years olds stare. I think it's safe to say, a number of my teammates haven't been on diving boards in a while... either that or the boards weren't designed for full grown adults...While some of the team went out to dinner for the Chinese holiday, 11 of us stayed back at the church and prepped a lovely dinner of pasta, garlic bread, and other such things. With some Italian music playing in the background (provided by me obviously), it felt like a real family dinner, something which you start to miss when on the road. We all sat around one table, laughing and eating, and it was really nice to spend some time in a group smaller than 28... not that I don't love everyone, sometimes it's just nice (: Everyone pitched in on cleaning and dishes... a small water fight when down in the kitchen and then the 11 of us gathered in a tv room and threw in The Prince of Egypt. Hands down one of my favorite days of the trip thus far... until... well here comes another topic people often ask about...Common question, "Don't your butts hurt?" I'm going to keep this simple... Priscilla and my shorts got mixed up one and we wore each others on this particular day... and it didn't fair well. Coming into Reedsburg, I can tell you that, YES, my butt hurts. Enough said.
A day of rest and visit to the Cancer Education Center at the Mayo Clinic
A quick update from a rest day.We slept in this morning until the late hours of 8-9am this morning. Laundry and breakfast were of the most common activities.In the early afternoon, we were able to visit the Cancer Education Center at the Mayo Clinic across the street from the Calvary Episcopal Church. Despite it being a weekend, the center's coordinator, Sarah Christensen, came in and told us about the many programs and services. We were given time to explore the library consisting of books, magazines and pamphlets for cancer patients about treatments, nutrition, self-help and everything else. Thanks For more info, the website for the center can be found at http://www.mayoclinic.org/cancer-education-rst/.Afterward, some of us split for lunch at either a Dutch or Indian restaurant and a trip to Target and Toy Story 3 in 3D! And don't worry, we'll be back on the bikes tomorrow around 6:30am, we don't rest for too long!
Ride into Minnesota
It wasn't an easy ride. The pastor of the church we were staying at rode with us in the morning, bringing us up a BIG hill to see the valley of the Mississippi river. The long hill-climb was definitely worth the view. I wish I had a working camera to capture that. Praise the Lord that my knees no longer hurt! But Shao Zhe had to ride in the van the rest of the way because her knees were hurting too much. Poor girl... I know how much she hates riding in the van. Hopefully two days of rest will help it get better.We had to fight some pretty strong headwinds almost the whole day. I was so tired I tried taking a nap after lunch at the gas station, but failed. I need to learn how to sleep like Nate; he can sleep ANYWHERE. He was sleeping on top of the ice machine! Kudos to that.After arriving at our stay-over, we had a tour of the ACS Hope Center, a place where cancer patients receiving treatment can stay. It was nice to be able to talk to some of the residents there and hear their stories. I got to do my first portrait too!
A wet day in Fitchburg, WI
What a wet ride today. It rained for the most part, but the 68 miles of cruising up and down small hills were pretty enjoyable. We passed by a herd of cows that started standing up when we moo-ed at them. Jordan managed a pretty impressive rendition of an angry bull. We also passed a huge factory that smelled delicious. Jordan and I thought it smelled like freshly baked bread, Michell thought it smelled like cheese. Whatever that factory was making, it was a nice change from the manure and fertilizers from farms and fields.We had a wonderful breakfast of french toast, cereal, yogurt and fruits prepared by the Topol family. For snacks, we had some yummy granola trail mix given to us by Mr and Mrs Volkman, which everyone gobbled down. We arrived at our stay-over pretty early, and had a lot of time to take a nap or just chill. Mary's mum brought us dinner, which was so delicious. Thank you to all who have put in so much effort to make sure we never go hungry!After dinner, some of us went to at a sweet bike shop and had a van tour of the town before deciding to go on an ice-cream hunt. We drove around in circles before coming to a really nice ice-cream shop. It was a great day.
A comment about comments
Some people have mentioned that some commentators on our website have been using generic family relationships (such as "Dad", "Mom") in the Name field on comments. This can be confusing and inaccurate for those reading the posts and comments. Please use either your full name, or add who you are related to in the Name field (i.e. "Robert's Dad"). Future comments that do not meet these guidelines will not be approved.Thank you,~Erik VolkmanDirector of Information - Illini 4000 for Cancer
Rest Day/ Blog Day
Today is our rest day here in Rochester, MN, home of the Mayo Clinic. Our rest days are the perfect time to catch up on our blogs after many days filled with riding, eating, and sleeping. It doesn't happen often in my experience to have both an internet connection and the energy to recount recent events, but today I have both. You can also count on several other riders posting today, so feel free to catch up with the team.As we cover all of these miles, I have a hard time remembering which way to turn when we get lost or if the stayover has showers that night. But as I learned this morning, I do remember some things. After sleeping in until 8:30am, I got dressed and set out for a coffee shop to update this blog. As soon as I stepped out of the door I remembered where the closest coffee shop was and how to get there, instantly. It's a weird feeling because I've only been to Rochester once before, exactly one year ago, but I remember this shop and other restaurants and buildings as well. In fact this whole trip has been a bit eerie when it comes to the memories that come back to me as we ride. Sometimes I feel like not much has changed between the last time I was at one spot and now, other times I feel like a completely different person. This trip has certainly been a learning experience, and I'm a little worried because it seems to be flying by so fast right now and I want to enjoy it for longer.As far as the riding part of our trip, we've approached the rolling hills of Wisconsin and Minnesota, which I find a pleasant change after riding through the flat geography of Illinois and Indiana. Although our home state was a great break after riding through the Appalachians, I'm a big fan of hills. Wisconsin was nice because there are stretches of flat roads broken up by a hill or two which give us a challenge and something to overcome. Riding through mountains for my second time has been a complete 180 degree turn for me. Last year I complained about their difficulty and how they never seem to end, but this time around they have been my favorite part. The sense of accomplishment that I get after climbing for miles is hard to match. There are times when I felt that I couldn't pedal one more time, but I always end up thinking about the cancer patients who remain so exhausted from treatments that they are bed ridden. My exhaustion is from being outside and pushing myself to my limits all day, but for the cancer patients drained of energy, it is a struggle just to keep going every day through the harshest of treatments. There is no way we will ever be able to emulate the difficulty of undergoing treatment for cancer, but I think these mountains are the closest experience I will ever have. That is the reason that both last year and this year I vowed to never walk my bike up a mountain, I may have the luxury to get off the bike and take a break, but the patients we ride for don't have that option, they have to keep fighting everyday.
Happy Birthday, Disha and a visit to the Hope Lodge!
YO!! Its Disha's birthday!!! Whoohooo!!!! Celebrate!!!! PARTYY!!!!We woke up this morning at a usual 6am and were on bikes by 7:30. To our surprise, the church's pastor met us at 7 with his bike and gear. We talked to him for a while about our route and he told us of a different way in which we climbed a huge hill overlooking the Mississippi River. We hung out and took lots and lots of pictures as it turned out to be a wonderful treat.The pastor turned around and returned to LaCrosse as we continued to Rochestor, MN. We have to mention that the pastor is a cool dude: he's about to do his 6th IronMan competition, each involving a 2.5 mile swim, a marathon run and 125 mile bike ride, all in one day. Can you imagine?! The bike ride alone is more than enough for us cyclists.The ride continued with some sparse raindrops and intense headwinds. Nevertheless, we made it to the Calvary Episcopal Church of Rochester, directly across the street from the Mayo Clinic.Within 30 minutes of arriving, we made our way to the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, a housing location for cancer patients and their support group. We were given an in-depth tour by the lovely staff and spent some time meeting some residents, asking more questions and completing portraits. The lodge was very inspirational, full of hope and life and welcoming and we are very thankful to have gotten the opportunity to visit.The night concluded with a homemade dinner, team meeting and a small ice cream party for Disha. Wish us luck as we spend tomorrow here in Rochester with a tour of the Mayo Clinic's Cancer Library!
Cyclin' With Horses
Hello all!! Today was another day of biking in some beautiful USA! Picture this: breakfast of donated Panera bagels, rolling green hills, sunshine, temperatures of something like 70-80 degrees. Maybe there were some clouds in the sky but only the most beautiful kind that is imaginable. Szymon even taught us a word game called "Contact" which helped all of us pass the time and get there. We arrived in LaCrosse, WI in the late afternoon and teammates went on their own ways. Some of us hit the People's Food Co-op (thanks Amy Swanson for the bit of knowledge from the past), others went on a jog and others took naps around the church. The night concluded with ice cream for some and hangin' out at a Mexican restaurant with the pastor and his family from the First Presbyterian Church. It was a great day and thanks again to the First Presbyterian Church of LaCrosse!!Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention - some of us on the team got about 20 horses to ride by our side for maybe 200-300 feet. Beautiful, beautiful day.
Enjoying Wisconsin
So I know that I am in much need of an update here but unfortunately there is no time for that today. So for now I'll just talk about today!Left Reedsburg this morning after a nice breakfast of peanut butter slathered bagels and the millions of awesome chocolate chip pop-tarts we were given. I decided to head off in a smaller group today, riding with 3-4 people is much less stressful and you can get into some better conversations. Disha, Lauren, and myself took our time this morning going our own pace. We had a surprise issue at about mile 35 when Disha got a flat flying down a hill. We stopped at the bottom to change and it and when we put the new tube in... it flatted as well! So Lauren had a spare patched tube with her and we put that in but the patch didnt hold so that tube was no good as well. So we were stuck on the side of the road 5 miles from the rest stop being passed by multitudes of horse-drawn carriages with no tubes that functioned properly. The tube lauren had just had a slow leak, so we pumped it up as much as we could and rode as FAST as humanly possible to get the rest stop before all the air escaped.We made it safe and sound, changed her tube and tire and were on our way again. The next rest stop was even better! Just before the stop, some people were taking a break at a cute little ice cream place so of course i had to join them. Got some delicious ice cream, and a 50 cent slushie! Then when we got to the real stop we had cheese curds, fresh strawberries, kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe, and other scrumptious treats.Tonight we went our for ice cream..again... and then were able to find a Laundromat/coffee/ice cream/tanning place. Interesting combo, but they had internet so here we are! Im sure im missing many things from the day, but thats all i can pick from my brain at the moment. Soon im going to do an overall update on everything ive missed up til this point, and then i will try to stay more on top of updating this on a regular basis!! Miss you all!
Riding With the Horses
June 17, 2010 is now marked as one of the coolest days of my life. Today was the Illini 4000's 24th ride day of the summer and our destination was Lacrosse, WI. It has been a long time since we've rode over 70 miles, today was around 86. The day was awesome the whole time, and the sun shined bright. It was a little hot but nothing unbearable. For some reason the 86 miles flew by. Partly because of the game Szymon taught us to pass the time and we had a pretty good tail wind most of the day. There were a few hills that were challenging. My legs were sore today in ways they've never been sore and I felt muscles in my legs I didnt even know I've had. The first ride group I was in kept a very steady pace, a lot of the times around 23 miles an hour without even trying because of the tail wind and downhill. By far the best part of the day was when we rode with the horses. We were riding parallel to a grassy field and there were a couple horses standing there. So as we rode by, we started yelling at them to get them running "yaaaaaah yaaaaah". One of the horses started a slow jog along side us, and then started bolting next to us. A couple seconds later about 15 to 20 horses came around and all started running in a group a long side us for a good 20 seconds. It was simply amazing and something I will never forget. The sun was shining behind the horses and it was very majestic. I was a little upset because I had my camera in my jersey today ready to capture stuff and I missed it but I realized that was the beauty of it. The art of retelling such an event is what makes it special and the fact that I saw it with my own eyes for what it was.
Look back at the last few weeks
I suppose it's about time that I make my first real blog post regarding this trip. We're now about three weeks into the trip and things have been going really well in terms of how well the team has been getting along. They have been very supportive of each other and have had some great ideas on how we can improve the ride and reach out to more people through the Portraits Project. While we haven't seen the full impact of these ideas yet, they show promise. Along the way, we also had the chance to sit down with a few people from the 4k For Cancer based out of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Being several years older than our organization, they were able to provide us with some insights on how to improve our own operations as well as confirmed that we were on the right track with many other aspects of how we operated.We've just finished our last full day in Wisconsin, riding from Reedsburg to La Crosse, which is situated on the Mississippi River. Tomorrow morning we cross over into Minnesota as we make our way to Rochester for our third rest day of the trip. I volunteered to drive today, so I can't say much of what actually happened on the ride today, however there were significant revisions made from last year's route and for the most part the route seems much nicer. For sure, today was an excellent day for a bike ride.Farewell for now,~Erik