gettin pumped

In NYC now, headed out early tomorrow.  Train ride was pretty sweet. 

So our stayover at Columbia somehow got messed up so the group had to split into two: one group at one of our riders apartments and another at the causin of another rider- conveniently on opposite ends of Manhatten.  Once we finally got settled into our spots last night, around 1030, we were super starving so myself and two other guys split an XL pizza and cheesesticks from this awesome local New York pizza place down the street.  It was called Papa Johns and it smelled a lot like the pizza place on Green Street in Champaign that I bike by every day.

Today was sweet.  Started by going to this small donut shop with some other riders- Donut Plant somewhere near Chinatown.  No joke, the best donuts I'd ever had.  I had a carrot cake, a peanut butter and jelly, and a toasted almond (putting me at six donuts in two days, after eating three of the donuts I brought on the train from Wegmans yesterday)... Even sweeter, after striking up a conversation with the owner about what we were doing, he donated a cool 500 dollars to us- super sweet guy.  Then we hit times square and rockefeller center followed by a well needed nap in central park.  After that, we all met up with the rest of the team and went to an event set up by the U of I alumni in NYC... ate a lot of appetizers and brownies.

Lookin forward to hittin the road tomorrow.  I still need to take the subway to other side of Manhatten, do some last minute bike prepping for tomorrow, and get some well needed rest for tomorrow. 

Lots of stuff on the internet, glad you're reading this

Day -2: A different type of training

Sleeping is not the easiest thing to do on the train. While the seats do recline a certain amount, finding a comfortable position can be quite challenging. Compound that with the occasional jarring motion, trains whizzing by in the opposite direction and the occasional old man walking around waking people up at 2am looking for his black address book, you don't get much sleep.While the sleep was somewhat expected, breakfast was surprisingly good. Somewhere around 7:30am a group of us wandered into the Dining Car looking for something to eat and most of us had the scrambled eggs meal. The eggs, while not great, weren't too bad, they may have even been made from real eggs. ALong with that we received hash browns and a croissant. After breakfast, we lounged around in the Cafe car since we didn't particularly want to go back to our seats. We didn't really do anything in particular while we were back there, just sitting around, avoiding being in our seats. While we were sitting around, we stopped in Buffalo and picked up another rider. He was kind enough to bring us some donuts and bagels.About noon, we hit our first major roadblock to the success of our trip. Our original stayover in New York had backed out on us Monday, and we thought that we had another place secured, however they had just called to say that they wouldn't be able to house us. So there was a bit of a scramble to start calling people we knew in order to find a place to house 23 cyclists. Zernyu, whose parents live in New York, were willing to house some of us, however we still needed housing for about half the team. Eventually Tim came through with his cousin who happened to live on the north end of Manhattan. It wasn't an ideal location, considering that Zernyu's apartment was closer to lower Manhattan, but overall some place is better than none.Not much happened for the rest of our trip into New York. There was a bit of a wait in Albany as part of the train was detached to go to Boston and some passengers boarded for New York.A few hours later we arrived in New York, surprisingly on time, which for Amtrak is somewhat of a rarity. While we were waiting for our bikes to come out of the luggage, we carried our gear out to the van. There was a light mist coming down as we stepped out of the station, nothing heavy enough to really cause any problems, but enough that was noticed it. After we loaded our bags into the van, we headed back into the station to setup our bikes. I had a bit more to reassemble than most, but I got everything together in the right place with a little help. Unfortunately I forgot my skewer key (something that locks my axels in place) so I could only hand tighten them, so they were bouncing around a bit and sometimes were falling out of the dropouts as we walked our bikes the 25 or so blocks to Zernyu's apartment. At Zernyu's we had a quick team meeting before we reorganized ourselves into our different stayover destinations. It would be another hour on the subway before we would hit our stayover location on the north side of Manhattan. Upon arriving we carried our bikes up six flights of stairs to the apartment we were staying at and begun to setup for the evening. Our hosts were pretty nice and had offered to abandon their apartment for the couple evenings that we would be around in order to give us more room. After getting settled in, it was nearly 11:30, however we had still not eaten dinner, so we set out to find something to eat. Being nearly midnight, many places were already closed, however we found a couple of pizza places which were still open. We filled up on pizza and walked back and fell asleep.

Day -3: Getting Ready to Go

Today was my last day in Illinois and there was quite a bit that I still had to do before leaving for the train station. My bike still needed to be boxed, I wanted to incorporate a photo gallery into my personal website, and I still needed to pack all of my gear. It took me pretty much up until the time we left at 2:45pm for me to accomplish everything, but I think I managed to get everything I wanted done.]Boxing up the bike was a bit of a challenge because I had never done this before. While I have had quite a bit of experience taking it apart to clean it, that usually only involved taking off the wheels. In order to fit the bike into the box I had, I would also have to remove the pedals, rear derailluer and the handlebars. After some fiddling around I had it figured out well enough such that everything fit decently well within the box, however the wheel axles were putting a bit of pressure against the sides, so I was a bit worried about the possibility of those getting bumped around and either scratching up the frame or possibly breaking a spoke.With everything in place, my father and I departed for Union Station in downtown Chicago. The ride down was fairly uneventful with traffic where traffic was expected. In total it took us about an hour and fourty minutes to get down to the train station. We unloaded the car and carried my backpack and bike to the Grand Hall where we met up with everybody else who had arrived. At this point most people were still in the process of packing up their bikes, however their task was significantly easier than mine before. The boxes that Amtrak provides to box up your bike are significantly larger than the box I had used (a box that the bike comes in before it is ever assembled). As such, most people only needed to remove their front wheel, their handlebars, and their pedals in order to get their bike to fit. Once we had a few bikes prepped to go, we carried them down to the basement where we checked them in for their journey to New York. There was a few other items of business to take care of such as receiving our team jerseys and t-shirts, but after this we were set free for the evening, with instructions to return before 8pm when we would head down to the train.Seeing how it was dinner time, my father and I walked around downtown Chicago in search of something to eat. We settled upon Giordano's Pizza and had a salad and small spinach stuffed pizza. We couldn't completely finish off the pizza so the last slice was boxed up for train food. With dinner settled, we went in search of some other train food like bagels or something. Unfortunately it appears that both Panera and the Corner Bakery both closed at 7pm, so we were out of luck in that department. We returned to Union Station where I said my final goodbyes and then stood around as various parents took photographs of their children and the team as a whole. When 8:30 rolled around, we boarded the train and found our seats and waited for the train to leave the station. Just around 9pm the train rolled out of the station, and then stopped. We couldn't have been more than 500 yards out of the station. We ended up sitting there for 45 minutes, I don't know exactly all of the reason for our delay, but during this time the conductors came around collecting tickets and eventually reseated me in order for a couple to sit together. I wasn't all together pleased with the decision because it took me away from my own group, but I mean, who am I to argue about this. Either way, once the train started moving we opted to go up the cafe car and hang out playing cards for a while before trying to get some sleep.

Ready to Roll

Well, here we are with only one day before departure. It seems like just yesterday that I signed up for this trip but getting under way has been a long time in coming. With months of preparation and thousands of miles of riding since the fall, I think I'm ready to go, but there are still many unknowns and certainly plenty of nights of sore legs to come. Luckily the cold I've been battling for about a month seems to have passed just in time but it has definitely made training during the past few weeks difficult.

I hope to update this blog every chance I get, sharing my experiences with all of our fantastic supporters. I want to specifically thank everyone that has donated to the cause : Joe and Pat Rupe, Darwin and Sally Lind, Stan and Lois Daulton, Aaron Midkiff, Zane and Etta Lilly, Steve and Diana Barthelmess, Cathy Ruddle, Rick and Tammy Barthelmess, Chris and Susan Smith, Jim and Rose Rupe, Melissa Johnson, Stormy Lunsford, Bill and Judy Wells, Dan Kryzak, James and Gloria Lyons, Jack and Virginia Booth, Jim Steigerwald, Joe Taylor, John and Sarah Byham, Jerry and Kay Davis, Dana Lance, Myron and Renee Harper, Edsel and Aileen Taylor, Janet Belliveau, Kevin Kung, Scott and Amanda Fox, Clella Strother, Brett and Angie Barthelmess, Kenneth and Lorraine Pollock, Cynara Pierzina, Judy Peirsol, Birgit, Eric and Christine Nordmark, Tim and Beverly Taylor, and all of the members of Alpha Phi Omega.

Finally all packed and amazingly everything fit in the tiny bag. Living from this pack for about 70 days.

Departing from Chicago for New York tomorrow. Can't wait!

Getting Ready

This is the first blog I have ever done, and I will do my best to keep up with it.  The past couple weeks have been crazy and gone by very fast.  First was graduation, then moving into a new apartment, and then training as much as possible.  I have put in over 1000 miles already this year in an attempt to be prepared for the rigors of this summer.  On May 21, I completed my first 100 mile ride with no real problems.  At this point I feel like I am as ready as I can be.

Now that I believe physically I am prepared, I spent the past week getting my bike ready.  I took my pedals off and replaced them with the pedals that were on my mountain bike because they will be better for this summer.  Then I gave my bike a little tune-up including a new chain, brake pads, tires, handlebar tape, trued the wheels, and adjusted the cables.  Today I added the last bit when I put the headlight on.

I would also like to use my first blog to thank all the people that have supported me and donated to the Illini 4000.  I have received donations from so many people, and I can't thank them enough.  Thanks to everyone who donated I was able to surpass my personal fundraising goal by $1000.  I would like to thank the following people/businesses for supporting me and the Illini 4000:

Luckey Timber, John and Sue Garrett, First Baptist Church of Percy, Illinois, Kim Rasnick, Martha Peebles, Amy Vinson, Schaefer Water Center, Rayburn and Linda Coleman, Wendell and Doris Coleman, Charles and Jean McCabe, Eddie and Marsha Witbracht, Russell and Louis Hagler, Brenda and Eddie Kutz/K&K Guttering, Tony and Mary Esker/Steeleville Pharmacy, David and Margaret Nicholson, Arthur Des Rocher, Franklin and Clara Rudisaile, Wanda Waters, Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Hendrix, Charles and Doris Sheible, Paul and Sendy Miller, Pam Culliton, Rudder Inc., Judy Koenig, Kathy Quinn, Ocean Electronics Design, Bowen Construction, Darl and Janet Bollman, Lisa Springer, Bill and Kathy Kutz, Scott Sutterer, Ted Gallup, Tom and Judy Grace, Mary Kiefer, Jerry and Linda Ruessler, Larry and Faye Balsman, Dale and Donna Rice, Wayne and Frances Taylor, Sondra Grindstaff, Jessica and Jon Miesner, Brooke Grindstaff, Jamie Grindstaff, Jared Kutz, Rehabilitation Professionals Inc., Bill and Mary Kiefer, Scott and Bridget Rice, and Jerry, Oris, Ben, and Emily Taylor.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported not only me, but the entire organization.

Gettin Ready

So heres my first blog in history.  I’m going to try to keep this updated throughout the trip for all of you to read, but I’m not sure how often I’ll have computer/internet access this summer so forgive me if I lag behind at times.  I suppose I may also end up starting a blog on another site if I find that I can do sweeter stuff someplace else, like post pictures, but this seems relatively simple for now.

First, many thanks to all of you who donated.  The support I received from family, friends, and even strangers has been amazing and this trip wouldn’t be possible without you.

Right now I’m in Pittsburgh, chillin with the Maddens (Zach is the bearded man whose back I’m on in my profile picture, not sure how that ended up as the picture on this site).  We’re about to take a stroll to a local bike shop to look for some gear I still need.

I’ll hop on the Lake Shore Limited route in Buffalo, the All America City, early Thursday morning and join many of my Illini 4000 teammates on their way to NYC.  Then, Saturday morning we’ll be departing Central Park on two wheels… Destination: Portland...

64 Days

OK, so I’m finally feeling like I’m ready for my trip.  This past week has been crazy, I’ve been running around doing everything possible to get ready.  I stayed down at school until Tuesday and then came home, and since then, I’ve gone to the dentist, got a haircut, picked up a new jersey, new biking shorts, a new seat, new cycling shoes(sweet Bontrager RLs), new Shimano SPD pedals, two underarmor shirts, a new cyclo-computer so i know how far I’ve gone, a new rainjacket, new sneakers, gone on two bike rides(42 and 30 mi), and gotten two flats on my bike and one on the car coming back from the city the other night. So, pretty crazy week.  And on top of all that I’m supposed to be worried about finding a job so that I have an income when i get back in August.

Anyways, I’m very excited about the trip, and I feel like I’m pretty ready. It's crazy to think about.  4000 miles, 64 days, 23 riders, 18 states and one incredible trip.  I can't even imagine what's ahead of me, but it's exciting.  I feel physically ready too, longer rides always tire me out, but it’s never really that bad, I feel like if I can do 60, another 20 or 40 miles is just a matter of getting it done.  I compare it to running, they always say that if you can do about 15 miles running without much of a problem, getting to 26.2 is easy because you’re just in that zone where you’re just running on endorphins and nothing else really matters. 

Once i find my memory card for my camera(or buy a new one), I will do my best to remember to post up pics of my bike and all my sweet gear for those of you who care.  Otherwise, I’m not sure when the next post will be.  My mom, my sister and I will leave Homewood on Wednesday morning, and have a few days in Pennsylvania/New York to visit with family that I haven’t seen in far too long.  I do plan on having my laptop with me the whole time(as long as it fits in the bag), and so hopefully I will be able to write here as much as I want, since I won’t have to wait for computer time every night.  Oh, thats the other thing I’ll put up pictures of; the team got backpacks for us, and it’s crazy to imagine that I will be living out of this not-so-big backpack for the next 64 days.

Also, thanks to everyone who donated, I couldn’t believe all the support I got.  I was expecting to have trouble reaching my goal of $2,500 but I’m proud to say that as of today, I have raised $4,692.50!!!  I couldn’t have done it without all the generous contributions from friends and family, and additional thanks to Mav and Maria who went around and got donations from the Illinois Evans Scholars house and helped raise almost $1,500 from the house alone!

More Content Elsewhere

I'll try to do my best to keep this space updated, however if you want the freshest information, I would suggest taking a look at my personal blog at eryanv.org~Erik

Follow us on Twitter as we bike to Portland!

As we bike across the country, we would like to keep you, our loyal supporters, updated on our whereabouts - one way of doing this is updating our website frequently.  This can be time consuming when we're meeting with people, doing Portraits Project interviews, interacting with our hosts, and of course recovering from a long day on the bike!

Although we will be posting updates on our website over the summer, we'll be keeping you up-to-date with frequent posts on Twitter.  We invite you to follow us at www.twitter.com/illini4000.  Thanks!

Getting Fit!

With the summer only weeks away and winter well behind us, the Illini 4000 has headed outside to start training and getting fit for this summer!  Biking 4000 miles is challenging, but with a few weekends of training together, the team will get strong and get a feel for the open road (but not the mountains - the drawback of living in a cornfield!)

Thanks to everyone for your support so far - 2009 is looking to be our best year yet!

2009: The year the Portraits Project took flight

Beyond sending students across the country on bicycles, the Illini 4000's other large endeavor is the Portraits Project - a multi-year effort to document the cancer's effect on the lives of ordinary Americans.  In the past two years, we have interviewed over 30 people whose lives have been changed by cancer and plan on conducting more during the year.  The end result can take many forms, and we are excited to announce the shape that they will take in the coming year.

Our fledgling project was recently boosted by a grant generously provided by the Hillel Foundation and the Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois.  This grant was awarded in recognition of our entry in a competition for philanthropic ventures sponsored by those organizations.  This grant will provide us with the resources needed to conduct more Portrait interviews, present them in an effective manner, and to further spread a positive message in the fight against cancer.

In the coming semester, a dedicated team of Illini 4000 members will be nurturing and helping the Portraits Project take off.  Their first major milestone will be the release of portraitsproject.org, the official website of the Project. - We plan on unveiling the website in May and hope to have a preview out in March.  Keep checking back on our website for news and developments!

Happy Holidays from the Illini 4000!

Big news part 2!

Yesterday Brad and Sean, the Principal Directors of the I4k, were proud to present Ellen and Sam from Camp Kesem at the University of Illinois with a $5,000 donation in support of their efforts

This is the second year in a row that the I4k have supported Camp Kesem, a camp for children whose parents have been affected by or are currently undergoing treatment for cancer. Our contribution helped support the first camp run by students from the U of I last summer in Hudson, IL.

We are excited to continue our support of this cause and pledge our support in the coming year!

Big news!

Today Brad Topol and Sean Laude, the Principal Co-Directors of the Illini 4000, proudly presented Juli Richards from the Eastern Region office of the Illinois division of the American Cancer Society a check for $50,000.

As we approach the end of the year, it is fitting to look back at our accomplishments and triumphs but also take the time to remember those we have lost and those whose lives have been changed by cancer.

Through our contribution we hope that research efforts in fighting cancer will remain strong.

We hope you look towards 2009 with as much as anticipation and hope as we do - Thank you for your support and generosity throughout the year!

I4K has a benefit show!

The Illini 4000 has a benefit show this upcoming Friday, November 14th at the Canopy Club, presented by the gentlemen of Chi Phi Fraternity!

If you're in the general vicinity of Champaign/Urbana, IL come out, have a good time and help the cause - all proceeds go towards cancer research and social support programs!

What: I4K Benefit Concert, hosted by Chi Phi Illini
Where: The Canopy Club, 708 S. Goodwin, Urbana
When: 6:00 to 9:30
Who's playing: World's First Flying Machine, No Comment A-Capella, Roses and Sake, and Organic Flow
How much: 10 at the door, 8 dollars presale on the Quad all week

All the best!

I4K

Get Ready.

The Board of Directors of the Illini 4000 is pleased to announce the names of riders who will be cycling across the country in the summer of 2009!

These 26 students have committed themselves to an outstanding experience this summer fighting against cancer and bringing hope to those whose lives have been affected by cancer.

So without further ado, we are pleased to introduce the third Illini 4000 Bike America team!

• Daniel Bartholomew: Ivy Tech / Greenwood, IN

• Bradley Bergstrand: Columbia College / Pittsfield, IL

• Isaac Bloom: UIUC / Chicago, IL

• Adam Boczar: UIUC / Wheeling, IL

• Matt Cady: UIUC / North East, PA

• Conor Canaday: UIUC / Channahon, IL

• Zernyu Chou: UIUC / New York, NY

• Adam Cook: UIUC / Roselle, IL

• Sarah Hubbard: UIUC / Sterling, IL

• Christa Kivarkis: UIUC / Chicago, IL

• Jesse Krantzler: UIUC / Homewood, IL

• Megan McDermott: UIUC / Chicago, IL

• David Miller: UIUC / Oswego, IL

• Christine Milne: UIUC / St. Johnsbury, VT

• Tim O'Connor: UIUC / Chicago, IL

• SaeBin Oh: UIUC / Vancouver, B.C., Canada

• Clinton Rice: Maryville University / Perryville, MO

• Luke Roberts: UIUC / Streator, IL

• Gretchen Shaw: UIUC / Pittsfield, IL

• Matthew Strick: UIUC / Blythewood, SC

• Justin Taylor: UIUC / Crystal Lake, IL

• James Terrones: Parkland College / Midlothian, IL

• Brad Topol: UIUC / La Grange, IL

• Caroline Thrun: UIUC / Chicago, IL

• Kristen Tully: UIUC / Downers Grove, IL

• Erik Volkman: UIUC / Lake Villa, IL

Team Announcement Coming Soon!

Now that the application phase is over, the I4K board of directors will be convening in the coming week to draw up a team roster. Check back next Monday to see our 2009 lineup!

In the meantime, look for us in the 2008 Homecoming Parade this Friday, October 10th from 6 to 7 p.m. - we'll be taking over Green Street!

All the best,

I4K

Don't delay - apply today!

Hey everyone!

Due to the high number of applications we've received, we are setting a cutoff date to apply for the 2009 ride.

All applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on September 30th. Any applications we receive either electronically or through the mail after this time will not be considered. If you miss the cutoff and will be sticking around until 2010, we can put you on our waiting list for the 2010 ride. E-mail us at contactus@illini4000.org.

After you apply, you will be contacted shortly by Jay, our recruiting director, in order to set up an interview. Please respond in a timely manner so he can schedule an interview with you.

We will be conducting interviews until October 10th. At that point, The Board of Directors will choose a team based on the application and interview process. If you have already been interviewed you will not be notified of your acceptance until after October 10th. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Again, our rider application can be found under the "apply for 2009" link to the left.

Thanks a bunch! Come out this Thursday for some custard!

Events this week!

Hey folks!

If you've been to one of our interest meetings or you know about our team and want to learn a bit more, stop by our strong interest meeting this Tuesday, September 9th at 7 p.m. in 119 English Building.  We'll be going over some of the finer points of the ride and getting you a little more informed about the ride and the commitment.

If you missed our initial interest meetings altogether, we'll be holding another one this Wednesday, September 10th at 7 p.m. in the South Rec. Room of Allen Hall.  Check us out and learn about the opportunity we have to offer!

And as always, every Thursday evening this fall we'll be riding out to Jarlings' Custard Cup and having some of the best frozen desert Champaign-Urbana has to offer.  Meet us at the Quad side of the Union by the ticket trailer at 7 p.m.  If the weather does not agree, we'll still be hanging out and getting to know one another.

Until then,
I4k

Beginnings and ends and beginnings

In celebration of approximately a 1 month anniversary of the ride's completion, I'll post a few developments and thoughts since the end of perhaps one of the most epic summers I have ever experienced. After arriving back to Chicago, the I4k related activity refuses to cease!

John, Connie, Andrea and I made a journey from Naperville, IL down to Champaign a few weeks ago. After clocking in 12 hours and about 160 miles in a head wind on a humid day, we decided that now, on our own terms, the summer riding had more or less ended. Our group of four had a traditional PB&J lunch and stopped in small towns for refueling water and such. Several passers by commented about our jerseys (still from the summer) and we had to explain that the real ride had ended and we were just doing the 160 miler for "fun".

And fun it was - I am happy to have spent the additional day with 3 of my teammates and friends.

 I was also glad to be a part of the recruiting process for next year's team. Several of us who were still on campus (for varying durations) made a presence at quad day. Others also made it to one or both of the information sessions for I4k 2009. The enthusiasm for the ride is already strong and an increasing number of people know about the organization.

2k7 and 2k8 got together and did a ride to Arthur, IL for the Labor Day cheese festival. Keith, Sean, Dana, Brad and I got to relive the riding yet again.

Many thanks to the team members who put me up for a place to stay in Champaign while I was there. Seeing people "on the outside" has been fun - especially our donut days and lunch days.

Just like many of us don't know what to say when asked how our summer was, I can't put into words how honored I am to have ridden with the other 2k8 riders.