Illini 4000

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Kickapoo, just for kicks

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It was such a nice day yesterday, that Keith and I decided to do a bit more riding after the day's training ride was complete. Given that the winds were out of the east, we decided to pick a destination to the east. We do this primarily because after working hard to get to your destination, you get a nice relaxing ride back. Going out with the wind may place you out further than you have energy to return, but this way it generally works out pretty well. In any case, we happened to settle on Kickapoo State Park. I had never actually biked all the way out there, so it seemed like it could be an exciting trip.Leaving around 1:45, we started out journey east, taking many of the same roads we had used earlier for the training ride, however once we hit S Water St (2100E) we headed north through St. Joseph and over I-74 to 1700N. From here it was pretty much a straight shot all the way into Vermillion County and Kickapoo State Park. As soon as we neared the park, it was clear that we were no longer traveling through the farmlands of east central Illinois. There were hills (kind of) and trees, and not a soybean or corn stalk to be seen. All was a welcome change of scenery after having spent week after week biking over the same landscape.30 miles since our start, we finally arrived at Kickapoo. I probably should have grabbed a picture of the park entrance, however I wasn't really thinking too much about it at the time. Keith and I sat around for half an hour, but seeing as it was getting to be late, and knowing that we'd probably need a couple of hours to get back, our break was shorter than we really wanted. However the return ride was much kinder to us than the return ride from Homer Lake. We maintained a pace between 18mph-19mph without much difficulty and by 6:40, were back in Urbana.Between the morning and the afternoon rides, I knew that I was approaching 100 miles for the day. I was about 34 miles out to Homer Lake and another 61 to and from Kickapoo, so I thought I might as well round off my first century by riding another 5 miles or so. Despite the fact that I had nowhere near enough training this season take on a ride of today's magnitude, and that my energy reserves and water was running thin, I spent my last hour of sunlight plodding on. If I could just make it those few extra miles, I knew that I would have achieved an important cycling milestone. When it was all said and done, and the miles were totaled up, I had ridden 104.8 miles. For this accomplishment, I treated myself to some custard, and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing.Next weekend looks like it will be even nicer than this weekend, so there might be another long ride in store.