Day 72: Fin

Friday, August 7th, 2015

What a summer with Illini 4000! It was an amazing experience that we are so glad happened. I wanted to just write a quick note to let folks know that we made it over 4600 miles from New York City and arrived this past Sunday. From there, many of us have split paths, some of us heading home to see much missed family to moving to new jobs and others heading back to Champaign to get ready for a new school year. Before you know it, the next year’s bike team will be chosen and starting their preparation for the ride.

We want to thank everyone so much for their support during our preparation time for the trip and throughout the ride. It has truly been an honor for us to be the 2015 Trek Bike America Team for Illini 4000. And thank you so much for following the blogs from this summer! It has been an honor for me to share with you some of the awesome experiences we have had during this summer.

Signing off for now…Lauraleigh

Day 71: Last Full Riding Day

Saturday, August 1st, 2015

Start/End: Kelseyville/Petaluma, CA
Mileage: 70.8+
Weather: Beautiful. Highs in the mid 70s, sunny.

Ok. So I have to admit that I spoke too soon when I titled yesterday’s blog, because today we had over 5,000 feet of climbing today. But don’t worry, it was, well, it was. We are so thankful for the Grace Community Church in Kelseyville for hosting us. We were so thankful for the wonderful breakfast they provided for us this morning. They brought in grape and orange juice, strawberries, watermelon, donuts, muffins and other pastries. This was a great start to the day.

We started off our day in Kelseyville very thankful that the wind had cleared any smoke from the nearby wildfire out of the area we were in. Today our ride was dedicated to a rider’s friend’s father, Bill Dove. During the earlier part of the ride, we learned that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and was given a very small outlook. So today, we are riding for Bill and his fight.

Our ride started with a lot of uphill, which is an interesting way to warm up our muscles, especially after all of the climbing yesterday. Before too long, though, we entered this beautiful, green forest which had trees that draped over roadway. This is not something that we have experienced much during this trip at all, surprisingly. It was just so pretty! And it was great to climb hills when you aren’t sweating.

It took a while of going uphill, but we finally got some decent downhill to relax and take a break from pedaling. We had some great downhills that were steep and slightly windy, which was a lot of fun. We were all able to go at our own paces. Before lunch, we had a beautiful downhill that took us down into Napa Valley. We saw some beautiful vineyards and even went past the Old Faithful Geyser of California. Apparently there are 3 Old Faithful Geysers in the world, so it was pretty cool to see another.

After lunch we had another hill that just seemed to last forever. It overlooked the valley and was pretty to look at, though the hill was just not very fun. After our final rest stop, though, it was mostly downhill from there. We went through Santa Rosa on our way the Petaluma. We are so thankful to be back in the area of bike lanes and beautiful roads. It sure is nice! As we got near to the stayover, as usual, we had one last hill (well a few, but one that had a 21% grade,mor something truly ridiculous). Some battled their way up the hill, which is super impressive.

After arriving, we were so thankful that our wonderful hosts provided a great dinner of sandwiches and chicken, with sunny D to drink. It was amazing. Additionally we got to meet an amazing Illinois student, Lindsey Coleman who lives in the area. She will be a senior next year at U of I and has made some connections with I4K. She very generously brought us some water buffalo gelato! It was amazing and was such a great treat and we are thankful that she came out and hung out with us!

Well, it is our last night together so we are busy getting all loose ends tied up, from packing our bag to signing each other’s journals and reminiscing on memories from the trip…

Well. That is all from me now. Will try to write a blog for tomorrow, but it may be a little delayed,mom watch out on our social media for news of our arrival! Thanks for following this summer- I am so glad that we were able to share our amazing experience with everyone!
-LAH

Day 70: Over the Last Big Hills

Saturday, August 1st, 2015

Start/End: Orland/Kelseyville, CA
Mileage: 99.9+
Weather: Hot and sunny, with a little bit of a breeze

Well, it was another amazing morning in I4K with a sharp 4:40 AM wake up, which seems a little crazy, but the team all agreed that they would rather leave early and avoid the heat. Fortunately, our amazing hosts who had offered to provide breakfast, we also ok with this early morning wake up and arrived and set up an amazing spread including bagels, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy and lots of fruit. It was deli scouts and we did not seem to make a very big dent in the food…strange. We are so thankful for the crazy amount of generosity we received from the First Lutheran Chruch of Orland that truly went above and beyond with hosting us.

Today our ride was dedicated to a rider’s aunt who passed away two years ago today to her fight with breast cancer. This trip has been a huge reminder of the progress that has been made with certain types of cancers, but also a reminder that not all types of cancers are the same, nor are the diagnosis. We are very honored to ride for her today and our thoughts are definitely with her family today.

The ride started off not too hot at all, fortunately. It was mostly flat for the first part of the ride and not too exciting. One thing that was noticed was the large amount of fire trucks that passed us. They were coming from all over, with more than 12 departments were counted by riders. For lunch, we stopped at a really awesome fruit stand. They had fresh raspberries, blackberries and just lots of other great stuff, including flavored pistachios and almonds. It was really nice to be in the shade and enjoy such fresh fruit.

Around mile 65 where we had a rest stop, wee started to notice smoke rising up into the sky in very large amounts from a nearby wildfire. At this point, though, we could not smell the fire, nor were we impacted by the smoke. As we continued along the ride,mew had some beautiful spots of downhill that curved around the hills. These were well deserved, but we could see that we were getting much closer to the Rocky Fire. Around mile 80, we started to be impacted a little by the smoke and for safety’s sake, many groups pulled off at that point at a gas station where they could hang out inside outside of the smoky air. Based on the wind, even though we were going away from the fire, we made the decision to shuttle riders the remainder of the route. It was not a fun choice to make, but most of the riders, even though we wanted to get more miles in, agreed that was the right decision to be made.

Our awesome ride leader did some exploring after we all arrived at the stayover and found us a route that will keep us out of the way of the wildfire to,or row, so we are all very excited about that. We had our traditional dinner of pasta and lentils tonight as we sat around in a circle as we had done on our 90 mile training ride day. We told jokes and told stories about the ride and it was just a lot of fun. I think we are all going to miss this group and the lifestyle (though showers and a bed sound super appealing for us right now).

Today was our last long day and we are pretty excited that tomorrow we will have normal wake up at 6 AM! Some of us have already laid down though… It has been a long couple of days in the heat, so here is to hoping for some cooler weather and a safe journey tomorrow!
-LAH

Day 69: Christmas in July!

Saturday, August 1st, 2015

Start/End: Redding/Orland, CA
Mileage: 68+
Weather: Hot, sunny

We are so thankful for the amazing hosts we had at the First United Methodist Church in Redding. Because of the anticipated heat for the day, the team elected for an early wake up and we are very grateful that our hosts, who generously provided an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage links, and bagels, even at the early hour. We also had some great juice selections and coffee which was another amazing addition to our breakfast routine.

Getting ready to go outside, we already felt the warmth in the valley even though the sun had hardly risen at that point. Alas we got ready to go, dedicating the ride to a few people for today. The first dedication was for a rider’s grandfather who had passed away from cancer. Additionally, we dedicated the ride to another rider’s uncle who passed away from cancer a few years ago. Finally, we dedicated the ride to one of our amazing hosts who lost her husband to cancer several years ago.

Today was a very special day for many reasons, with excellent hosts and three people who we were riding for, but to add to that, it was I4Christmas! Some of the team members had organized the event, even having folks draw names from a cup to determine who they would have for the secret Santa event. Our secret Santa was a little unique, though, because all of the gifts had to be found along the road. More on that later! But nonetheless, some folks were getting really into the holiday spirit searching for gifts and singing Christmas carols. Along the route, one group even picked up some ugly Christmas sweaters at a garage sale and some ornaments to decorate.

Our ride was not too bad as it was very flat today through the valley, not long after we had left our stayover, we did come upon some very light smoke which was from a small nearby forest fire. Our support vehicle and front group checked it out and felt comfortable riding through it and the entire group was fine. After leaving the Redding area, the smokey haze was no longer an issue and we were in a more rural, desert area. I think it has been very surprising how much of this country is desert! But there were cacti and very dry dirt everywhere. It was surprising because we did pass quite a few farms which grew various types of produce, including olives! That was kind of something new and different.

Most groups worked pretty hard to take the earlier hours a little bit faster to minimize their heat and sun exposure. It was kind of cool coming into Orland because we passed under an archway commemorating not the towns centennial celebration. Once we arrived at our stayover, we were greeted by some amazing people from the community. There were cool refreshments and snacks available for us upon arrival and somehow, food kept appearing throughout the afternoon! From fresh peaches to homemade cinnamon rolls, it was amazing.

We had an amazing dinner prepared for us by the folks in Orland. We had lots of different foods, including lasagna, garlic bread, many different types of cobbler, ice cream and it was all just amazing. It really was like Christmas!

After dinner, we had some fun Christmas celebrations with our gift exchange. There was an artificial tree in the space we occupied and the pastor even suggested we decorate it with the ornaments we had gotten. It was the perfect celebration. We exchanged gifts and told stories of where along the road the gifts had been acquired, from licenses plates, to hub caps to giant pine cones and well, just about everything in between. It was a fun exchange. We thought about watching a movie, but with the early wake up, we knew we probably should head to bed.

We were very fortunate in that many members of the congregation brought in blow up mattresses and pillows for us to use! It was a very kind gesture that was definitely appreciated.

Long day tomorrow, so off to bed we go!
-LAH

Day 68: Valley Heat

Wednesday, July 29th, 2015

Start/End: Mt. Shasta/Redding, CA
Mileage: 64+
Weather: Very chilly in the morning and very hot as the sun climbed above the mountains

This morning we are just so thankful for the Hope Community Church in Mt. Shasta to allow us to sleep in the gym of their facility. It was a very large space that accommodated our group very well.

When we got rolling this morning, earlier than usual in hopes to avoid the heat, we found ourselves very chilly. The sun had not yet risen over the mountains and the trees so for the first 15-20 miles, we were in the shade, primarily going down hills feeling the brisk air. That brisk air would completely vanish before long, though. We followed along side roads of I-5 as long as we could before those roads became very non-existent and we jumped onto I-5 heading south. It was actually labeled as a bike route, which was very encouraging from a safety standpoint. Along the interstate, there were signs reminding drivers to be aware of cyclists and to share the road, as well as a generous shoulder with rumble strips separating us from traffic

The day was truly a beautiful ride as we were passing through smaller mountains/hills that were beautifully and thickly forested. This part of California was definitely not the heavily populated Cali that we all thought of, but instead had signs warning of wildlife crossings (including for bears!). Fortunately, the only wildlife we saw on the interstate were these gecko/lizard guys that were enjoying the sun-heated pavement.

The day was mostly downhill and quick, but we did have some decent climbing in the region. During some of these climbs we observed the most of what was around us, including Lake Shasta, whose water levels are noticeably very low. Hearing about the drought and actually seeing the honest impact can be very different.

As we neared Redding, we could tell we were approaching a more populated region and the interstate was no longer an option for bicycles, which was fine because there were many bike route designated roads and bike trails. As we neared he stayover, many groups decided to first check out an In-And-Out burger place, which can be found only in California. Afterwards, they rolled to our stayover, which had amazing fixings for sandwhiches, chips, cookies, fruit and carrots prepared for us. It was such a wonderful surprise and we are so thankful for their willingness to make sure we were not up hungry.

Once the groups arrived, we began shuttling the team to the nearby YMCA, who had arranged for us to use their pool and showers if desired. For a few of us, it had been a few days since a shower, so this was a very appreciated gesture. We all began to realize how dirty we all were…. Alas, we were clean and we are so thankful for their generosity.

For dinner, our stayover arranged an amazing carry-in where many members of their congregation brought different types of dishes for us to eat, including pastas, breads, salad, fruit and a wonderful spread of desserts. We were so thankful for the time we got to spend interacting with members of this community who had a strong interest and passion for our organization. We got to hear about their lives, and for some, their connection to cancer, and in return, we answered their questions about the organization. We had a great time sharing some of our personal reasons for doing the ride and how for many of us, these reasons have evolved to include a much larger group of people. Oh. And I can’t forget to mention that we had white paper placemats with crayons, which brought out the artistic side of all of us.

It was an amazing time with this community and are so excited that this is our second year visiting the First United Methodist Church here. We are so thankful for their support and generosity of our group and the organization as a whole.

Tomorrow again we are hoping to leave early in order to get some miles under our belt before it heats up to the triple digits, but we will take it easy, stay hydrated and for now, head to bed so that we can be rested and ready!

It has started to hit many of us how little time we have left together….
-LAH

Day 67: California!

Tuesday, July 28th, 2015

Start/End: Klamath Falls, OR/Mt. Shasta, CA
Mileage: 82+
Weather: Pleasant morning with a warmer afternoon (no jackets today!)

Hey everyone! Today we had an amazing, but long day. We crossed out final state line, met amazing people along the route and finally had a day when we were not freezing. I am excited to tell you about the day but we are actually going to be doing an early wake-up to avoid the heat tomorrow, so I am going to head to bed soon with the rest of the team, but tomorrow this post will be updated :) Happy trails and thanks for all of your support!
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Updated:
PS: I forgot to put this with yesterday’s blog, but riding into Klamath Falls, we saw our first sign for San Francisco! Ah! This is exciting, sad and a little scary for us.

Thank you for being patient in waiting to hear about the ride today! We awoke at the Yeti’s Lair, or The Ledge, which not only agreed to host us for the evening, but also provided an amazing lunch cookout and a delightful pasta dinner with garlic bread and salad. It was amazing and we were fed very well by our wonderful hosts. Thank you so much for being friends of this organization.

After getting ready for the day, we travelled over to the Gathering Grounds Coffeeshop/Cafe in Klamath. The owner of the shop generously volunteers to host us for breakfast, providing blueberry pancakes and some delicious coffee in a great atmosphere. We are so glad that the large influx of our team in orange did not scare away any other customers, as we had the opportunity to share about Illini 4000, even getting the opportunity to get a few portraits, including one of the shop’s owner, Brandon, a cancer survivor.

It was such a meaningful morning and we are so happy that it started this way. We could not have asked for a more welcoming community. Thank you so much for everyone in Klamath Falls for making our short stay such a wonderful stay.

Our day just kept being great as we got on the road. Before we even reached our first rest stop at mile 25, we crossed our final state line into California. This was very exciting for groups and a little emotional for some. We had an impromptu dance party at the state line, likely causing confusion from vehicles passing, but we were excited. Not long after the sign, we would see another sign saying that San Francisco 357 miles away…so perhaps we are not as close as we thought.

That is ok, though, because we were traveling to Mt. Shasta, a huge (~14,600 ft peak) snow covered mountain that we had been seeing yesterday afternoon. We passed through a very flat area in the morning that had signs warning about blowing dust, and even saw some pretty cool dust devils far off in the distance. We wouldn’t realize how dusty we got until later when we cleaned, but it was kind of remarkable that anyone let us in :)

Then we transitioned into some decent climbing as we began to conquer the foothills around Mt. Shasta. It was a steady climb and the day was already a little warm, but like some of many other climbs, it seemed to last quite a while, remarkably, though, the entire team conquered the hills with an admirable effort and attitude, really honing in on their hill-climbing confidence. We ate lunch near the summit, which unfortunately had been impacted by wildfires and was being cleared. Before long, though, we were on the road again. Shortly we reached a summit and began to descend before another good climb to the second summit of the day. After that, we had a beautiful descent into the valley around the mountain, which just seemed so close, so big. The descent for the day was very enjoyable, especially since the shoulder of the road was in such good condition. The wind in our faces definitely help relieve us of the summer heat we had felt during the climbing.

As we descended, we entered the town of Weed, CA which is home to the Hi-Lo Cafe which had been recommended to us for their milkshakes and malts. Nearly the entire team took a break out of the sun and got an afternoon treat. It was a huge shake, but somehow we ate them and then biked for 11 more miles to our stay over for the evening. It was a nice forested road we travelled on and was shaded in most areas, which was great. It unfortunately was not downhill the entire way and did involve a few hills, but we got through it and arrived at our stayover.

It had been a very long day, especially with our later departure, state sign stop and milkshakes, so it was incredible when we arrived, our gracious hosts had left a pasta dinner in a crock pot with accompanying salad and bread for us to eat. Nobody went hungry and we were all quite tired. Tomorrow we will be waking up early to hopefully avoid the heat…not quite looking forward to that, but always looking forward to new adventures and new people to meet!
-LAH

Day 66: Friendly Faces in New Places

Monday, July 27th, 2015

Start/End: Crater Lake/Klamath Falls, OR
Mileage: 54+
Weather: Cold morning with warm sunshine :)

Today we said goodbye to our camping experiences in Illini 4000 for this summer and for many of us, that is a welcomed notion. We woke up to a chilly 40 degrees in the Mazama Campground at Crater Lake. Most of us put all of our layers on for the morning to keep from shivering, but some required some group hugs. We packed up everything and ate some large bowls of cereal and were off.

Today’s ride was dedicated to my great grandma who passed away a few days ago. It was such a blessing to grow up knowing her for so much of my life and at 97 years old she lived a pretty exciting life. Unfortunately at one point in her life, that meant facing breast cancer. I am proud to call my great grandma a cancer survivor and wanted the team to ride for the hope of more survivors living rich, long lives in honor of her.

So into the cold wilderness we went! The first 15 miles consisted of pretty gradual downhills from the crater into a beautiful valley full of ranching and some other agricultural production. It had been very cold when we departed the campsite, but once we were out of the forested area and had sunlight, it felt a lot warmer and we shed a few layers. Our first 24 miles seemed to fly by as we made our first and only rest stop for the day.

So we continued along and passed a protected wetland region which was in fact a huge lake which we would follow for the rest of the trip today. There were so many waterfowl everywhere and lily pads along the shores. Also along the shores were some beautiful houses with even more magnificent views of the lake of course with scenic backdrops of mountains.

As we got closer, we rode along U.S.-97 as it was squeezed between mountains the lake and a train track. But it still managed to have a beautiful shoulder with plenty of space for us to bike safely and comfortably.

When we rolled in after our shorter day, we were met with a barbecue feast for lunch consisting of cheeseburgers and hamburgers and great conversations. We were also very thankful for Rodeo Pizza that dropped by with more food, including pizzas and salad. We had some awesome members of the community stop by and talk to us about our organization and their experiences with cancer. We are also very thankful for those who allowed us to take their portrait for the portrait project! We collected 3 or 4 today at least! We also were interviewed by a local radio station and the local NBC news affiliate. Oh! And the mayor of Klammath Falls stopped by to say hello and welcome us to town. Could our day get more exciting?

Well, our stayover is actually a rock climbing gym so many of the riders are trying their hand at some rock climbing in a safe environment with padded floors that we are pretty excited to sleep on tonight. Additionally, a local masseuse stopped by and offered her services to relieve some of the tension that has been built up throughout the trip.

We were so excited to get to Crater Lake, and did not expect anything like the outpouring of support that we have received in Klammath Falls. It has just been wonderful. Though it was a short day, I am sure we will sleep well tonight as we have done so much more than ride today and it has just been a very meaningful day. I think we will all miss Oregon a lot, but we are looking forward to our next and final border crossing day tomorrow!
-LAH

Day 65: Climbing Up to the Crater

Monday, July 27th, 2015

Start/End: La Pine/Crater Lake, OR
Mileage: 84+
Weather: Another cool morning that stayed cool throughout the day with some wind

Another great start to the morning at the High Lakes Christian Church in La Pine, OR! We are so thankful for their generosity in hosting us for the night and not only providing an awesome dinner last night, but also a delicious breakfast in the morning, adding yoghurt and bagels with cream church to our morning oatmeal! Can you tell that we really love to eat? Today was an especially good day to eat a lot, because we had a long day with quite a bit of climbing ahead of us.

Today’s ride was dedicated to 2 family members of one of our riders, which really motivated her to support this cause. Her Grandpa Bohdan who passed away from leukemia not long after she was born, which meant she did not have the opportunity to meet him. Additionally, she wanted the team to ride for her Aunt Olga who was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy and has been cancer free for a few years.

In the light chill of the morning, we were off again, returning to US-97 heading south for about 50 miles. The wind was just right that we were able to really be cruising all morning at a decent pace and all of the groups stayed relatively close to each other. It was really nice. We passed through a few smaller towns along the route, but we did not stop since we were all pretty excited to get to Crater Lake. As we made our turn off of the highway towards the national park, we saw a hill that was stretched out before us to climb…after lunch.

We ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and mentally pumped ourselves up for what was about to happen. As we got on the road, we realized that we had turned into a slightly less favorable wind, but we fought on as we began our ascent up to the rim of the crater. This would last about 25 miles. It was not too steep, but it did just continue on. We actually ran into a group of riders with Trek Travel adventures whom we had met earlier in the day at a gas station! They were doing the same climb for the day once we got into the national park. The views were amazing. I can’t imagine going through this climb without the views of the cascade mountains in the distance and e forests. At one point, we crossed over the Pacific Crest Trail! As we neared the rim of the crater, the roads seemingly got much steeper, but we pushed on.

Then we saw the lake. It was beautiful, an icy blue color with dark blue and Aqua coloring around Wizard Island and the shoreline. Many groups stopped to take pictures, but got going again really quickly as the wind was so cold and the sun stayed behind clouds. We had about 4 miles until the summit and the. The rest would be downhill to our campsite. We took our final rest stop at Rim Village where some folks got some hot cocoa while others looked for mementoes to remind them of the occasion. After that, 8 miles of downhill! For some,this was fun, while others were a little more apprehensive of the sharper turns. We all made it down to our campsite safely and we’re glad for this long day to have come to an end…except that we were cold and the sun was still up.

We set up our tents and layered up for the long haul. We had a campfire at one of our sites, providing an excellent place to make s’mores and share stories. And after that, we were off to our tents, nestled in our sleeping bags….hoping the bear boxes at the campsite would keeps bears away from our tents during the night (spoiler alert! We didn’t see or hear any bears, thankfully). Tomorrow will be a shorter day…and maybe warmer?
-LAH

Day 64: Museums, Lava Caves and a Bike Ride

Saturday, July 25th, 2015

Start/End: Bend/La Pine, OR
Mileage: 30.7
Weather: Cool and slightly windy

Today we had a very short ride ahead of us, but we we excited about the route we had ahead of us, knowing some cool landmarks we would pass. So we slept in until 7 and then started our day. We are so thankful to the First United Methodist Church in Bend, OR for generously opening their doors to our team for the past few days to let us stay there and use their facilities. It was nice to not be camping!

Today as we prepared to leave, we dedicated today’s ride to the dad of one of our rider’s friends, Liz. Liz’s dad passed away on this day from stage 4 esophageal cancer. He is dearly missed and so on this day, we are riding for Brian Masterson. Dedications like this are always tough, knowing that this parent was taken too soon from their family.

As we left Bend, we said goodbye to a town we came to embrace, as well as beautiful roads with bike lanes as we got on Us-97 heading south. It appears to be the only major road that takes this route which we will be taking. We are thankful, because even though it is busy, there is a very generous shoulder in which we can ride. For a short ride, it sure did come with some hills that reminded us that we have been cycling for quite a while now. Before long, we passed the High Desert Museum, which some groups stopped and checked out, while others continued on to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Some rider’s climbed the Lava Butte and saw a great view of the area. Others explored the rocks that came from the most recent eruption from 1,3000 years ago! We learned that this is actually still considered an active volcano which is monitored for seismic activity. After seeing that part of the park, most of the team went down to the Lava River Cave, which had been formed by lava tubes. It was very dark and a nice, cold 42 degrees. So with jackets and bike lights, we explored the cave, walking 1.5 miles to the back of the cave. We did not see any of the bats that apparently live in the cave, but I don’t think many people minded.

After that, we had about 18 miles left for the day so groups got rolling as they were ready. It was primarily downhill at that point, but did have some inclines. We continued through the Deschutes National Forest which was lined with huge pine trees. There are still some very large mountains that we can see from the Cascade Range, but we did not have any significant climbing today.

We are so thankful for our wonderful hosts who donated a delis ours pasta dinner with garlic bread and Kool-Aid to drink! It tasted amazing. Some of the riders headed back to Bend tonight to watch some of the time trial bike races this evening, while the rest of us are hanging out here, relaxing, getting caught up with things. Tomorrow we get to go to Crater Lake, which we are definitely excited about, but it may be a long day. Oh. And I think it may be the last day of camping on our journey. Here’s to not wanting to accept that we are getting close to our destination…. Also, in case you missed it, be sure to check out a blog post a few days back about details for our arrival and lunch. If you are planning to meet us and would like to order a boxed lunch, the information is available!
-LAH

Day 63: Our Final Event Day

Saturday, July 25th, 2015

Well, this is it! Our last event day on this trip! It is a very bittersweet time for many of the riders as we have realize how little time we have left I. Our journey. Looking at a map, I can hardly believe that we have come so far.

We did not have a planned event for the day to report on, but we did have a pretty fun day from what was shared. Many folks got up and sought out some good breakfast venues, while others slept in a little later and then went tubing along a river. We are so thankful for the discount our rider’s received on rental equipment! Laundry was done, and that is definitely always nice. People went shopping and exploring and it just seemed like a typically summer day that you might think of for a weekend. It was fun and I am pretty sure many of us are just in love with this town, for no particular reason. It just had a great feel.

This evening, some rider’s went to a park to watch a hot air balloon festival where all of the balloons lit up and floated throughout the sky. I heard it was very spectacular. Then we enjoyed another night of being inside and not being cold overnight :)

-LAH

Day 62: A Quick Journey to An Exciting Town

Saturday, July 25th, 2015

Start/End: Ochoco Divide/Bend, OR
Mileage: 65+
Weather: Another cold morning with warming throughout the day

Sometimes it can be really tough when you make it to the top of a mountain and do not get to go downhill but that is ok. This morning we woke up…nearly frozen. So that may be an exaggeration, but it was very cold and at least in the 40s when we woke up. As yesterday, a little tough to crawl out of our warm tents and sleeping bags, but especially when the sun began to leak through the trees, we felt its warmth, as well as a slight sense of urgency to get going.

Today our ride was dedicated to Andrew Park, a classmate of one of our rider’s from high school. During his senior year, Andrew went from being a perfectly healthy young man to being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He fought throughout the entire academic year, and had a few moments where there was so much hope. By the end of the year, though, Andrew lost his battle with cancer. This was a very real example of how devastating cancer can be in such a short time. So today is in Andrew’s honor.

As we got rolling for the day, we headed down Ochoco Pass which we had climbed the day before. Compared to some of the other downhills that we have down, this one was definitely not very exciting, but it did allow us some time to look around us and enjoy the thick, green forests which surrounded us. As we went through the day, traffic overall got a lot more busy, especially as we were within 30 miles of Bend. We were passing through this beautiful valley filled with corn and wheat fields and lined with large foothills that led to several snow covered mountains in the distance. They were so beautiful to look at throughout the ride.

As we got closer to Bend, we were so amazed to see a huge cycling community. We had team vehicles with sponsorships carrying bicycles that cost a lot and were decked out with top components. As many of us are newer to cycling, seeing these bikes was really interesting. One group even saw a professional cycling team with at least 15 cyclists riding in close formation with a chase vehicle. We would later learn that this week is the Cascade Classic, which is apparently a series of races for professionals and amateurs through Bend, OR.

After so many days of being in very unpopulated areas, seeing this much traffic was quite a transition and a reminder that other people do exist! We were delighted that there were so many bike lanes in Bend, in addition to vehicles that were friendly to cyclists.

We rolled through Wall Street through Bend on our way to our stayover for the next few days where many of us scoped out some coffee shops, places to eat and just a cool community to explore. Very excited because today we get showers!

We want to thank the community of Bend as many local shops agreed to donate some awesome pizza for our team to eat for dinner. We especially would like to thank Abby’s Pizza, Versante, and Round Table Pizza. We are very well tonight :)
-LAH

Day 61: Camping on a Mountaintop!

Saturday, July 25th, 2015

Start/End: John Day/Ochoco Divide, OR
Mileage: 83+
Weather: Sunny and cold in the morning with a very warm afternoon

There are some really awesome things that this team can check off of their bucket list or just list of things they have done and after tonight, sleeping at the top of a mountain will be one of those things! The predicament about that, though, being on a bike trip, there is only one way to get to a mountain top…climb it on your bike.

Today we arose a little earlier than usual and fortunately our location relative to the time zone favored this early wake up. It was very cold, though so crawling out of warm, snugly sleeping bags was not exactly welcomed by everyone, but none the less, we all woke up and got ready for the day, one we knew would be a challenge.

Our ride today had two dedications that were very special. First we wanted to dedicate the ride to Taliq, a ten year old boy who has a brain tumor. Today is his 10th birthday and we hope that he got a card from us! One of our rider’s heard about his story from social media and we just couldn’t say no.

So we got on the road heading west, ready for the first 31 miles that were just a little downhill. This was pretty helpful in allowing us to save our energy for later. Despite the cold, it was a beautiful morning. We saw some beautiful fields that were nestled between large hills. We did follow the John Day River for quite a while in the morning, passing through the John Day Fossil Monument Park. We passed through the Picture Gorge….and gosh! I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. The road just disappeared through this gorge as we followed the river that apparently has a lot of fossils in it!

Our first stop of the day was in Dayville, which was a quaint little village. We stopped at a cafe near a general store, which actually was a full service bike shop! We took a little bit longer of a break getting to meet some great people and exploring the store and before long, were on our way again. We had a little more downhill before we started to climb our first peak. We have definitely climbed with steeper grades, but this hill just seemed to drag on. It was kind of amusing because we did pass a tree that had been adorned with hundreds of shoes… It was definitely random, but kind of a fun sight to see.

We stopped for lunch before reaching the top and it was very hot. Sitting at lunch, many of us were sweating when we weren’t in the shade, so it was a quicker stop for lunch and we were back on the hill. Then we received our beautiful downhill that was very earned. The wind as we descended felt nice, as did not having to peddle. We then came upon a town called Mitchell, Oregon and of course we stopped to explore a little, being sure to buy some ice cream and/or freshly made maple bars (donuts). Others got some refreshing iced coffee and relaxed because at that point,me had about 15 miles left, about 10 of those would be uphill. And uphill they were!

Through the hot afternoon, we fought our way to the top through the heat. It was really interesting because we actually passed a part of the Forrest which had been burned from wildfires in past years. Seeing the remains of this Forrest fire was really interesting. It seemed so dead, but because the trees had been burned, fresh green grass was growing on the surface, which, when the trees are fuller, would not be possible.

As we got closer to Ochoco Divide, we were feeling so tired and ready to be done for the day. The forests became more fuller and less impacted by wildfires in past years which was reassuring. Once we reached the summit, we could not have been more exciting, especially when the campsite was within site! It was very basic, but hey! We don’t need much. We set up our tents quickly and many fell asleep to take naps. Dinner came later on with some fresh watermelon and cold cut sandwiches. They tasted amazing and bed could not sound more appealing at this moment.

-LAH

Hello San Francisco (Almost)! Plans for the near Future

Thursday, July 23rd, 2015

Friends, family, avid blog readers, hello! The 2015 Bike America Team is rather close to their final destination. The riders will reach San Francisco and cross the iconic Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, Aug 2, 2015. So, what better way to get together and celebrate their accomplishments than with fellow Illini and food.

The San Francisco Bay Illini have graciously planned an event day at Crissy Field and are looking forward to seeing the team. But, as always, everyone is welcome! So, if you’re nearby, stop in. I’m sure riders will have tons of amazing stories to regale us all with. The complete details are included as a link below. Thanks!

http://www.sfbayillini.org/article.html?aid=484

Day 60: Through the Evergreen Forests

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015

Start/End: Unity Lake/John Day, OR
Mileage: 50.3+
Weather: Sunny, but not too warm by the time we rolled in!

Today started out pretty refreshing. As we had just crossed the time zone, we were back to a point where the sun rose pretty early, but that did not stop most of us from getting a great nights sleep along Unity Lake. For breakfast. As usual with camping, we had big bowls of delicious cereal and milk. Just a few more days of this as opposed to our usual oatmeal routine!

Today’s ride was dedicated a rider’s great grandparents whom she had the pleasure of knowing while she was growing up. Doris and Orville Schmid both were very impacted by cancer as Doris was a breast cancer survivor and Orville also had fought a type of cancer.

Our route started off as we left the state park and wound around the lake back to some heavily forested hills where we were reminded that trees do in fact exist! As we have traveled through Utah and Idaho and even pats of Colorado, scrub brush really became the only type of vegetation that we saw in nature. The first big climb of our day was right off the bat with the Blue Mountain Pass. It was a big one to climb, but the grade was not too steep and there was such beautiful scenery to look at. After conquering this, we stopped and had some fruit to eat. While at this stop, we saw a deer safely cross the road, but other than that, no wildlife today!

So we kept climbing again up to the Dixie Pass. This climb seemed longer, but still was not too steep. Additionally, it was still cool enough to be comfortable. It was great to be in this forested area as it was very beautiful to look at, but as we began to descend again after the summit, the forest went away and the desert characteristics returned. This was ok, because it opened up some very scenic views of the area, including one that was near a giant covered wagon! It was so cool and many of us stopped for some fun pictures.

Today’s ride was a shorter one, so we have been in John Day for a while today already. Some of us have sought out food or coffee shops, while others are enjoying a calm afternoon at the campground. Tomorrow we will start a little early, taking advantage of the early sunlight and the lack of heat to begin a long day with lots of climbing and a good amount of distance. We will be camping again in a region that we have been warned is very remote, so as many of us did not have cell service yesterday/today, we may not tomorrow as well. I look forward to updating you in a few days about all of our adventures though! I can’t believe it is already July 21st….
-LAH

Day 59: No Shrubbery Here!

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015

Start/End: Ontario/Unity, Or
Mileage: 84+
Weather: Hot. Cloudless for most of the day.

if you happen to come across a Knight who says, “Ni”, just hope that you are not in eastern Oregon, because there are no good shrubbery here. There are instead, plenty of scrub (bery) brush along our trek. Today we had a decent day that was without a doubt one of our tougher days in the past stretch.

We woke up in Oregon, but not yet in the Pacific time zone, and got ready for our day. Today’s ride was dedicated to a friend of a rider who was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma at age 17 as she was going into her senior year of high school. She took a semester off to get treatment, causing her to lose all of her hair in addition to her experiencing a lot of other symptoms from chemotherapy. We are really happy to say that she has been cancer free for 5 years now, but we wanted to dedicate today’s ride to Gabi as well as any young person who is battling cancer.

Today we had a decent ride ahead of us so we got started right away. We continued to drive through more desert areas and the hills were fairly desolate, except for some occasional cows. As we went through the day, we climbed two very decent hills reaching Brogan Summit and El Dorado Summit. Both were under 5,000 ft of elevation, but we climbed just about all of that distance from sea level. So that was fun. One of these hills that we climbed was actually under construction and was cut down to a single lane with a flagged and an escort vehicle. The construction workers were so generous and offered to use a different support vehicle to escort many of our ride groups who had caught up together (I don’t think he knew what he was getting into and how slow we would go uphill in the heat). Alas, we made it safely and we were very excited that the crew was so accommodating to our safety.

As we descended our final climb through El Dorado Pass we finally passed into the Pacific Time Zone at mile 68 into Oregon. We were surprised it took this long and some of us were hoping to take a picture with the sign but honestly it was a nice decent and we were all getting pretty tired and hot.

As we continued to wind down to Unity, Or, we passed some pretty remarkable rock formations. They are known as the balancing rocks and were great to look at.

As we pulled into Unity, we stopped at a gas station/cafe and a lot of us hung out enjoying some food and the cool air before we finished our journey to Unity Lake State Park. When we felt refreshed and ready to move on, we continued to the campground which was very nice. It overlooked the lake and had showers on site! So we pitched our tents and got set up for the evening. We enjoyed some nice cold cut sandwiches for dinner with carrots and some miscellaneous leftovers.

We were glad to sit in the shade and enjoy the evening. Good day, but sleeping seemed nice…

Day 58: Fast Day, New State

Sunday, July 19th, 2015

Start/End:Boise, ID/Ontario, OR
Mileage: 61.4+
Weather: Sunny and not too hot!

Today was a pretty delightful day, as it was shorter than a typical day and remarkably not windy, a great relief from a few days ago. Because of this, we woke up a little later than a typical morning and were not as rushed as normal to get our bags together. We are so thankful to a rider’s family in the Boise area who generously provided breakfast this morning of donuts and watermelon. It was delicious. We are also incredibly thankful to the First United Methodist Church, or the Cathedral of the Rockies, in Boise who has just been amazing hosts for us for the past few days. They had an amazing facility, complete with laundry machines, which are always a plus. Additionally, eye were very close to downtown which allowed a great location for us to explore.

This morning we also did not rush because we were set to meet fellow Illini! A man and his wife were members of the church which we stayed at and both had a very interesting experience with cancer. Both came from families where cancer was very prevalent and took lives of loved ones. But more recently, they have both been battling cancer. In 2012, John was diagnosed with a cancer of the lymph nodes. He underwent very aggressive radiation treatment, while also experiencing a more holistic treatment, learning about yoga and meditation. He has beaten it, but now him and his wife Pam have switched roles, as she has been diagnosed with a similar cancer and is undergoing a similar aggressive treatment. One thing that John did mention was the book titled, Anti Cancer which talks about ways that one can take an aggressive stance against cancer through prevention, based on medical studies. I have not read this, but it may be something to look into after the ride! It only seemed fitting to dedicate today’s ride to John and Pam and their fight against cancer. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us!

The ride went remarkably quickly that it is a little tricky to recall the main points, but let’s see how that goes! Leaving Boise, we got a little tripped up as we were taking the Greenway Bike Path, which had a few points of construction. Overall, though, it was a beautiful path. After that, we took Idaho-44 for quite a while through a few smaller towns. Northwest of Boise is a lot more populated than south of Boise which we travelled through coming into town.

Eventually we did get into a much more sparsely populated area. We were impressed by the amount of horses and foals (baby horses) that we saw along this stretch. Another interesting thing that we saw (well, smelled) were fields of onions! It makes sense that they would be grown in fields, but I don’t think I had ever seen that before. Oh. And we saw some great looking corn growing! It was like a beautiful reminder of where we come from and how far we have come since our first training ride, when the fields around Champaign-Urbana were not even tilled.

Today we entered the Ore-Ida region (in case you were wondering where the name of the frozen potato products came from). From Idaho to Oregon! We are not far from the border where we are staying, but it is crazy to think we have entered a state that touches the Pacific Ocean! Ah!!!

We are so thankful for our wonderful hosts this evening who prepared us a great cookout meal with burgers, salads and pasta. Additionally, they set up with several nearby households to open up their homes for us to shower in. This was very appreciated and just such a kind gesture from this community. I know that I really enjoyed sitting in someone’s house, getting to know them and kind of feeling like a real person :)

We are also thankful for the support we received with the many letters and packages that arrived here for our rider’s. Wether they were words of encouragement or some necessary supplies to help us get through our next stage, we just want to say thank you! Also, we should be finalizing some of the information about our San Francisco arrival. Once we have the information, we will be sure to post that here!

Another reminder, 3 straight days of camping coming up! We are excited (and hoping for good weather)..and cell reception. See here is to happy trails and tailwinds!
-LAH

Day 54: Yellow

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

Start/End: Rupert/Twin Falls, UT
Mileage: 43.6+
Weather: Pleasant

Today was a remarkably short day. It was kind of a great ride to approach in the morning, knowing that we would be done with our ride before lunch! We cannot thank Trinity Lutheran Church in Rupert. We woke up and were treated to great breakfast foods, like baked French toast bread and quiche dishes. Though our departure was a little later than we had hoped, we were on the road before long, but not before dedicating today’s ride. Today’s dedication was special, because we dedicated it to the women who are a part of the metastatic breast cancer support group in Hinsdale, IL. This ride is for you ladies! We are so glad you have a support group and wish you well no matter where you find yourself in relation to cancer.

Today’s ride was beautiful, and goodness, there was so much yellow. There were fields of wheat, sunflowers that lined the roads and even a yellow plane which was spraying crops. There was just not many reasons to not smile at all of the color :)

The ride was pretty generic, until after the only rest stop we had when we crossed over Snake River, over a very deep canyon. It was kind of scary crossing the bridge because of how high we were, but it was beautiful. After crossing, we were able to pull over and take some pictures of the canyon….well, we did until some groups saw a giant snake (almost 3 feet long) hanging out. I guess it is something fun to say that we have seen, but it was gross and definitely encouraged some of us to keep rolling on our adventure.

After the ride, we had the day ourselves to do whatever we pleased. Some of us took naps, while others caught up with friends and family over the phone. Even more went into Twin Falls and explored, even getting interviewed by the local news channel (visit http://www.kmvt.com/content/news/College-bikers-go-cross-country-for-cancer-awareness-315573281.html for the news coverage). Some of the riders visited the falls of Twin Falls, which are apparently known as the ‘Niagara of the West’. It was a beautiful site.

We are so thankful to our generous stayover, River Falls Christian Fellowship who provided us with a great cookout dinner of hotdogs, chips, sodas and some other miscellaneous treats. It was a great space, that even had a shower! So we slept well and felt fresh for tomorrow, which will certainly be a slit lay longer day.
-LAH

Day 57: Paddling Out Cancer in Boise

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

Today was a beautiful day in Boise. After yesterday’s very long and tough ride, most of the team took full advantage of late wake up and slept in for quite a long time. We left our stayover around 10:30, which allowed us to sleep in and for some to find some good places to get coffee and/or breakfast.

Today’s event was pretty special as we got to participate in a river float! Even better, this was a fundraising activity to ‘Paddle Out Cancer’. The event coordinators were so generous in setting our entire team with three large rafts, with life vests and some paddles. We had 4 miles to float, and what an eventful 4 miles! From avoiding other rafts to avoiding the shore which had lots of branches and rocks (which some groups did not do a great job of avoiding), we made it down the river. We got to swing on ropes to jump in the river and swim whenever we wanted. It was so much fun. Alas, at the end of the day, this event sure did make us very tired!

After we finished the float, we got to hang out in a park and listen to live music and hang out in a cool atmosphere. As participants, we all got a grilled wrap from a food truck. They tasted great and were worth the wait.

We really want to thank Ben who was a huge point of contact for this event and generously supplied the rafts. Additionally, Ben was amazing and spent several hours last night at the stayover looking over some bikes, generously taking his time and skills to fix many things that were not working well for riders.

Well, I have caught up on today, gotten all of the day’s properly labeled, but I do realize that I am still missing a few days. Hopefully they will pop up soon. I do want to make sure that you know that tomorrow we are entering Oregon, and we have been warned that it is a little sparse in some of the areas that we will be traveling. I will keep updating as I can, but that will be very dependent on cell phone reception, so we shall hope for the best! Oh. And we switch into a new time zone, so another hour back. That is all for no we! It was a good day, exhausting day.

Resting in Boise!

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

We have made it to Boise where today we have a great lineup of activities. It has been a crazy last couple of days, wherein I noticed that I actually mixed up the numbering of the days. So today, expect the numbers to change a little and some blog posts to pop up later today (likely in the evening). Sorry for the holdup on things, but I wanted everyone to know that we have made it to Boise! :)
-LAH

2024 Team Fundraising Total: $60,000

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