We love our home state, but we have to admit that she doesn’t offer a particularly unique landscape for cycling. As we work our way up to the more picturesque West coast, we try to make the most of what the country’s more humble regions have to offer. Today was a simple enough route, made a little more difficult by the weather being on the hotter side. Thankfully, though, the headwinds went surprisingly easy on us, and groups were able to find ways to combat the heat, whether it was a faster pace or more rest stops.
ride overview
Mileage: 83.2
Elevation: 890’
Points of Interest: Allen Hall, The Gathering/Front Porch Cafe, Adventure Christian Church, Planet Fitness of Kankakee, IL,
quote of the day
“If you have any grand ideas for world domination, save ‘em. It’s my turn.”
tales of the trail
We rolled out from Allen Hall in the morning, bringing back memories of starting team training rides there in the early spring. Mike Rotter, Sam Rosner, JB, Ed Guo, and Adam Wallach – all previous I4K riders – joined us for the first stretch, which was an enjoyable blast from the past. Thank you to Ed for taking a ton of professional photos and making us look extremely cool :)
The heat started beating down on us as we rode further into the day. Sunscreen was responsibly applied at rest stops, slushies bought from many Casey's, and shady respite found wherever possible. One group pulled off at a Dollar General in Paxton just to stick their heads in the coolness of its ice machine and also for entertainment purposes (in their defense, it was an especially boring section of road).
Emma, Izzy, and Riddhima unabashedly take refuge in the sweet, sweet coolness of a Casey’s ice machine.
Olivia fulfills her primary role as Ride Leader and provides Anthony with some shelter from the sun.
Logan deftly balances a Casey’s slushy — have we mentioned our teammates’ list of oddly specific yet impressive talents?
Given the increasing warmth of the ride conditions, some groups preferred the “beat the heat” method and zoomed to our stayover for the night, Adventure Christian Church, as fast as possible. Others made small stops here and there in search of stimulation. One group stopped at The Gathering/Front Porch Cafe for free fudge samples and a talk with locals, as well as to examine a quirky double-sided car.
Neal and Lucas capture the spirit of the double-sided car.
Either way, we all made it to the same endpoint eventually. It was fascinating to find out that Kankakee was not just another small American town but one that instead had a developing downtown. Some of us appreciated the more urban landscape of the last few miles, which provided a bit more excitement than the main roads from earlier on.
Dinner tonight was generously donated by our stayover and felt especially delicious after the efforts of the day. To top it all off, our hosts offered us the cool reward of ice cream sandwiches. Our stomachs are now full and we couldn’t ask for anything more.
We then headed to a nearby Planet Fitness who were kind enough to let us use their showers for free, before which we learned that Lucas, one of our ride leaders, will be joining us for the entire summer (he had initially only been able to join us until Chicago)! The team has never cheered more loudly or collectively, and we sang “See You Again ft. Charlie Puth” by Wiz Khalifa with fervent spirit in the van on the way to Planet Fitness. The moment was made all the sweeter by Lucas breaking out his already iconic Chamois Butt’r T-shirt.
After we absolved ourselves of any and all sweat, we made the most of our expansive stayover. Out of everything its premises offered from basketball to air hockey, we chose to play a classic game of mini golf (Dylan emerged victorious). We are incredibly grateful to our hosts for the opportunity to rest and relax after long days like these.
Dylan’s stance of success.
cyclist’s corner
Today’s Rider: Riddhima Patllollu
How are you feeling today?
I’m doing surprisingly well. I came off of like, a knee sort of injury I guess? And I was very nervous about getting back on the bike because I didn’t want to get re-injured, but it was actually really nice! I really loved my group today — we took it slow, and we had fun, and I think we kind of had a perfect day on the ride…I had a lot of fun. It was very hot, but we persevered, and I genuinely could not have done it if I didn’t have other cool people with me. Oh, and we found out Lucas is joining us for the entire summer! AND he wore his Chamois Butt’r shirt today for the first time!
What make and model of bicycle are you riding?
I have a Trek Domane AL5. She’s beautiful, black and silver — just the way I like it. I want to say her name is Simone, after Nina Simone, who’s one of my favorite singers ever…I really love Nina Simone, and in her songs she comes off as very strong, and she’s persevered through a lot, and I like to think that Simone and I will do that together this summer. But I don’t call her Simone that often. If I was asked, if I was forced to, her name would be Simone. And also, I’m very grateful to have the bike that I have. She’s a very very nice bike…She hasn’t failed me once — crossing my fingers and toes — she hasn’t had a flat once. Honestly, she’s been great. I love her so much. Sometimes I look down at her and I’m just like, I love you, man.
Before joining Illini 4000, how much bike training had you done, and did you have any other athletic background that you feel prepared you for this ride?
I think the longest bike ride I ever did was like 30 miles. And that was like, on a paved, fairly flat bike path, and it was at a pretty slow pace on my hybrid bike. But it was a lot of fun… I just casually biked. I learned it as a child, and I did it for school and stuff like that. As for athletics, honestly I’m not that athletically experienced. I haven’t committed to a lot of sports, I briefly did cross country my freshman year. I respect it as a sport, but it was not for me. Ever since then, I’ve just been on and off with physical training on my own time.
What has been your favorite part of the ride so far?
I find the climb moments are most memorable. It was Olaf, [Maaike], Neal, and I on this fairly long climb…I was silent, but you guys were just talking about the most random things, and I remember feeling like I was never gonna make it, but I just kept pedaling and kept listening to you guys like you were my personal podcast. It was really helpful! It was really pretty, and it felt really good to get to the top. The other climbing moment was with [Maaike], Olivia and I, and you guys were singing “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift. I was like, I don’t know how they’re singing right now because I’m gasping for air, but it felt good to get to the top.
Is there anyone you’re doing this ride for, or any specific person you think of when you’re on the ride?
I think I’m quite fortunate to not have any stories of cancer close to me, just purely by chance. So there’s not anyone I specifically think of during the ride. As of late, it’s been certain people that we’ve met, like Randy, and a portrait that we did recently. Like a few other people, I’m mostly doing this for myself. I’ve never really done anything like this before, and I think it’s challenging in every aspect of life, which is the team aspect, learning how to work with people — the physical aspect, learning how to get up and do this every day — and the mental aspect, learning that you can do much more than you actually can. I think the last one is the hardest one, but also the most useful one, because at the end of the day, your mindset frames a lot of what you do.
Is there anything you want to say to the people who are cheering you on during this ride?
Thank you so so so much. Literally could not do this without you. I’ve just lived a very, very privileged life in like, every way possible, and I always try to acknowledge that. And it’s easy to lose sight of it, but I like questions like this because I can acknowledge it again. I’m just so deeply grateful. I don’t think I could have done any of what I’m doing today without the people in my life… I know my parents are probably going to be reading this journal, so I do want to personally thank them. They’re amazing people, and they support me so much, and they text me every day — and I’ve been very bad about responding, but it’s just because I’m tired! Thank you to everyone who donated, and just who supports me, regardless of donations.
Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?
Two things… the journals! I love doing the journals, and obviously I have to say thank you back to Maaike, who is sitting right in front of me, and laughing. She’s just really cool. She’s just so helpful…I could not do the journals without her. She’s a great leader. But yeah, I just love doing the journals, it’s a great way to process the day. Sometimes we end up staying up a little bit later than we’d like to, but it’s worth it! Like, I’m going to come back to these and read these — I already come back to them like, every morning, and reread them…and it’s great having a live audience who like, react to what we write. That’s a very unique experience as a writer that I’ve never had before and I really enjoy it… And the second thing is the team! I am not a very outwardly affectionate people-oriented person, so I wouldn’t say this is hard for me to admit, but it’s not something I’d admit often — I don’t know, I don’t think I could do this without them. I’ve expressed a lot to other teammates how surprised I’ve been at how quickly the team has become a team. And I really enjoy the special social circumstances we’re in. We’ve been put in this situation where we know we’re going to commit to each other for the next 70 days, and that creates this kind of immediate bonding that you just don’t find anywhere else… I just think it’s really cool. I really appreciate the fact that everyone seems to have a role. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t have their place in the team.
A bonus look into the behind-the-scenes of the journals — I capture Maaike transcribing my interview :)
(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)