With only one month to go before we kick things off from New York City, it is important to see where we stand as a team. We're now down to 28 riders, however that has not prevented us from having record breaking fundraising. We're less than $14,000 from reaching our goal of $100,000 dollars, so if you haven't contributed yet, please help us make this goal a reality this year.A little over a week ago we also held our first, "24 hours of cycling event" on the UIUC quad. We had over 25 riders and alumni come out to spend an hour or more on a bicycle from noon Thursday to noon Friday. Pictures from this event can be found on our website in the photo gallery. In the process we raised $1,252 through donations and the sale of Illini 4000 t-shirts and wristbands. If you didn't make it out to see us, we'll have our online store up and running in the next couple weeks.Last weekend also brought about the our first ever, Alumni Weekend, where alumni from every previous ride were out riding in support of this years team. After a windy ride through Sidney and Philo, riders and alumni met up again for a tasty meal at Mas Amigos and indoctrinated the future riders in the culture of "Great Friends".Finally, next weekend riders will undergo our longest training ride to date, riding 90 miles and culminating in a night camping under the stars at Kickapoo State Park. Stay tuned next week to see how it went!