Hello and welcome to the official Illini 4000 website blog of the 2024 Bike America Team! Our names are Maaike Niekerk (my-kuh nee-kirk) and Riddhima Patllollu (redeem-ah putt-low-loo,) and we will be your journalists for the summer. We are beyond excited to have the opportunity to document this incredible journey for friends and families to read along with, as well as for the riders themselves to look back on.

We’ve enabled comments this year, so feel free to share anything from words of encouragement to questions about the ride below — we’d love to hear from you in real time. Given that this is the first instance in I4K history where the team has two journalists instead of one, we look forward to figuring out a shared writing routine as the ride progresses.

If you’ve read last year’s journals, you’ll know that we’re delighted to continue 2023 team journalist Jonathan Boudreaux’s traditions — expect with every post a brief Ride Overview, a detailed Tales of the Trail section, and a sit-down with each rider in Cyclist’s Corner. We of course won’t forget to include a multitude of pictures and the handy I4K Dictionary to define any unfamiliar terms for our readers.

As we spend this week preparing for the ride, feel free to take in the mission of I4K. Here on our website, you can read up on The Portraits Project, learn about the work of our beneficiaries, familiarize yourself with the team’s rider profiles, and more. Head over to our Instagram (@illini4000) and give it a follow for more daily updates. The fight against cancer never stops and is the heart of our organization, so donations are welcome at any point from now to during the ride, and beyond.

We want to begin with a short preview of what to expect in each post.

First, the mother of all Ride Overviews — a rough look at the total mileage and elevation we’ll be covering as a team this summer. During the ride, this section will only concern numbers relevant to that day’s riding.

Ride Overview

Mileage: ~4,913

Elevation: +194,699’ (The equivalent of climbing Mount Everest almost seven times. Whoa!)

Covering the Points of Interest for the entire ride in one post would make for an exhaustive (and long) read, so head over the “Route” section of the website for more details on that.

TALES of the Trail

Here are some pictures from our training rides for a taste of what you can expect in the Tales of the Trail section!

Cyclist’s Corner (TEAM EDITION)

With a little under a week before the big ride, it’s safe to say that everyone is in a near-constant state of excitement and anticipation, especially with regards to the diversity of places we’ll be seeing. In the Cyclist’s Corner, we’ll usually be asking one rider a couple of questions, but we’ll sometimes change it up with poll-style team editions like this one.

What destination on the ride are you looking forward to the most?

• Crater Lake National Park, OR – Logan, Maaike, Olaf

• Eugene, OR – Izzy, Neal

• Grand Teton National Park, WY – Anthony, Dylan, Jack

• Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA – Claudia, Riddhima

• Mount Rainier National Park, WA – Emma, Olivia

• Reedsburg, WI – Michael

• San Francisco, CA – Kev

• Washington, DC – Joey, Lucas

• Yellowstone, WY - Tommy

When you’re about to embark on an adventure as grand as this one, there are things you do in preparation that make you realize with sheer awe, “oh my goodness, I’m about to bike across the country.” Writing this introductory post was one of those moments, and has only fueled our eagerness as I4K journalists.

So, we hope you enjoyed the preview, and make sure to come back for the real deal every day starting May 25th. We can’t wait.