Group ride day!  This is my first day assuming the duties of being a ride leader.  Oh no!  Responsibility.At Millennium Park, I met my Aunt Therese, Uncle Tom and cousin Mary Kate before our launch.  Their presence was very special to me.  Also in attendance was two of my neighbors who also participated in the ride along, Sandy and Jessica Miller.  I was happily surprised that they came along for the ride!  Fortunately, I didn't get lost (which I have a habit of doing on this trip) in leading a group of family and friends to Highland Park, IL.Family included my brother (decked out in my Livestrong kit and a borrowed bike), my Dad (who had no confidence in finishing 30 miles of biking) and my mom (who had all the confidence in the world in driving 30 miles behind my brother and father.)  Dad wasn't a happy camper when I decided to try and burn my brother down an open street.  Now he has reason to ride his bike more...  keep up Dad!The stayover provided us a very nice spaghetti dinner.  Although I wasn't hungry, I naturally ate as much as I could.  We were greeted by one of the three founders of the I4k, Jon Schleshinger.  It was exciting to hear the intentions of the the formation of the Illini 4000 and the portraits project.  One idea he threw out to us was a ride around Illinois. Because we are the Illini 4000, we should have a greater connection with the people and cancer throughout Illinois.  I really hope to see this idea through.Gabrielle mention doing a portrait on me.  Of course I accepted.  She suggested that we do the portrait in the near future and I am honestly kind of nervous to talk about it with the whole team.  This is odd because I am normally not phased by telling of my experiences with cancer.This night, Jordan and I had a briefing on the ride leader duty.  There is so much that you haev to think of at one point in time.  I am also not Mr. Decisive.  I guess we will see how my leadership will pan out amongst the rest of my teammates.We also talked about a similar organization, 4k for Cancer that runs out of Baltimore to San Fransisco.  Hearing how their organization is run and comparing it to our growing organization lets me know that the Illini 4000 is in for a bright future.  Our team is decorated with devoted, caring individuals who all bring something unique to the table.  Let's see what we can serve up.