C'est La Vie

I think it has only been about three days since I last blogged, but what a hard three days it has been!  Everyday since our last rest day has had some really strong headwinds, and almost 90% of each ride has been into those winds.  This new obstacle has made us work harder, but I feel like it has made me stronger than before.  Unfortunately, we've had a few spills the last few days that left some riders with some tough looking scratches.  Fortunately, I was not part of those incidents for once.

Today's ride of 95 miles was still tough, but offered a reward for some of us riders: several riders reached their 2000 mile landmark today!  It's hard to believe we are already half way done, but everyday just gets better and better.

Day 31 - 90 miles of uphill

Albert Lea, MN to Jackson, MN

The ride today was one of my least favorite, rivaling the day(s) we got lost in the PA mountains and the rainy crashy day into DC as the worst ride day.  We had to go even longer than yesterday and into a 30 mph headwind this time.  For those of you  who don't ride, riding into a head-wind feels like riding uphill with a flat tire, and todays route had us riding straight into the wind for literally the first 84 miles of the day, and the fact that we got to ride the last two miles with the wind at our back wasn't much of a condolence.  I hate head-winds more than anything else on this ride, and would rather climb a 10-mile mountain any day.  As we say, every uphill has a downhill, but head-winds have no end in sight. 

We also had only minimal fruit, cookie crumbs, and potato chips to eat at the snack stops, so that didn't help much either.  Our ride ended up being almost 6 and a half hours long, and my knees are not feeling very good right now, but I plan on coating my legs in Icy Hot tonight to try to solve the problem. Tomorrows ride is even longer, so we're hoping to avoid winds this time.  Tomorrow we enter South Dakota, another state I've never been to, so I am kinda excited about that.

States traveled through:13(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN)
Distance today: 86 mi
Total Distance traveled:  1909 mi

Day 30 - Windy? Oh sure, you betcha!

Rochester, MN to Albert Lea, MN

Winds today were a problem, we were heading almost straight west and for almost the entire ride, we were riding into a WNW wind of about 20 mph (almost 20 miles straight into us), so the day was tough and long, but we managed to keep ourselves entertained, and made it into Albert Lea by 1:30PM.  The amazing women of the First Evangelical Church left us some delicious cake from a baptism earlier that day, then made us a great meal of lasagna, salads, and tons of fruit, and some amazing desserts, including some really good strawberry fluff.  The women were also pretty heavily Minnesota accented, and were more than happy to repeat things like, "Doncha know, eh?" and  "Oh sure, you betcha," so we also really appreciated that.   We were also able to find bag milk(its just milk thats sold in a bag) for the first time, and the team loved it, and at least half the team bought bags of regular and chocolate milk, which was much more delicious than regular milk, for reasons which no one can really agree on.

After dinner, I did my first portraits project, where we met Wayne, who told us his story of how he survived bladder cancer.  It was really cool to finally be participating in a crucial part of this group that I hadn't gotten the chance to take part in yet, and I am very intrigued to see how the final project turns out.  For those of you who have forgotten, we are planning to make some sort of compilation like a website or coffee table book with all of these people's different stories, at some point in the future. 

States traveled through:13(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN)
Distance today: 71 mi
Total Distance traveled:  1823 mi

Day 28/29 - Entering Minnesota, doncha know?

Lacrosse, WI to Rochester, MN
 
Our trip to Rochester started early, which was actually pretty awesome, because we were able to avoid both the traffic and the heat.  We crossed the Mississippi at sunrise, which was pretty awesome, and then entered Minnesota.  Minnesota was very similar looking to Wisconsin, which I wasn't really expecting, and we made it into Rochester at around noon, which was pretty awesome.  Rochester is a medium sized town based around the Mayo clinic, one of the most famous and prestigious medical centers in the US.  We were lucky enough to be invited into the clinic for a tour, so we cleaned up and heading across the street from the conveniently located church which we were staying at, and arrived at the Mayo clinic.  We met a doctor and were showed one of the research facilities and some pretty cool( and very expensive) computers and cameras which they were examining DNA with.  After that, we saw the cancer research center, which has the largest collection of cancer information anywhere, and something like 1800 books and brochures about different types and cancer.  It was pretty incredible, since I never even knew this kind of place existed. 

After dinner, we headed to Rochester Fest, which we were lucky enough to be in town for, and had some enormous turkey legs and just relaxed for the night, which was fun, and much needed. 

The next day was our rest day, so we got breakfast and had our first pannekoeken, which is just a dutch pancake made with egg, so it tasted like a mix between french toast and a normal pancake, but it was very good.  Also, they sing "Pannekoeken, Pannekoeken" when they bring them out to you, so that made them taste even better. I also stopped at the Barnes and Noble and picked up some new books for the rest of the trip(Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, and Alice In Wonderland), so hopefully that will last me for the rest of the trip.  After that we relaxed until dinner, when we went to a chinese buffet and ate way too much, came back and relaxed some more.
 
States traveled through:13(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN)
Distance today: 75 mi
Total Distance traveled:  1752 mi

Greetings from South Dakota

The I4K crossed into yet another state today, South Dakota.  Once again, the wind was rough, but not as bad as the previous two days.  We are staying at Zion Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, who provided us with a great dinner, that really hit the spot after riding 94 miles in the wind and heat.  We ride 77 miles tomorrow, and then a well needed rest day.

Blown Away

Today's ride from Albert Lea, MN to Jackson, MN was a fun filled ride of 85 miles.  The ride gave us a great opportunity to ride against ~20 miles per hour headwinds that left us winded...literally.  Tomorrow, we are headed to the wonderful land of South Dakota.

Mail Drop!

I4k friends and families:  Want to send your loved one / best friend / favorite rider a care package or things they need from home?  Send it to Rapid City, South Dakota!   We'll be arriving on July 6 and having a rest day there the next day, so make sure you have it sent out soon!

Write your packages / letters out to:

[Name of rider]
Care of: General Delivery
Rapid City, SD 57701

Please allow at least 3 business days for letters and Priority Mail packages.  It'll show up at the main post office in Rapid City, and we'll pick it up on July 7.  In return, eternal gratitude from your rider out west!  Thanks!

Take a cow to lunch!

Wisconsin and Minnesota have been awesome!!!!! Aside from the fact that it has been in the 90s the past few days we've been riding, the rides have been absolutely beautiful. Both states have been really hilly- to the point that I thought I was back in the mountains at some points. Lacrosse was especially scenic. About 7 of us decided to take the long climb/extra ride to a scenic overlook to watch the sunset, which was amazing and worth the extra sweat and energy. My mom provided an awesome meal in Madison, and we were able to eat leftover tacos for dinner the next day also.

Now were in Rochester, MN on a rest day. The rest day has been very relaxing-most of us took multiple naps today. There's a festival going on in Rochester, so we checked that out last night. The main attractions was the greasy food and 3 hour parade. I did stop momentarily to watch the dog show while I was running today, but real life dogshows are just about as entertaining as the ones shown on TV, so i didn't stay very long.

We very luckily gained another rider today, Matt, who did the ride last year finally decided to join us. We're all pretty excited to have another rider, and Matt's been a huge to help to Brad.

I hear were supposed to have a pretty hefty headwind tomorrow, so I'm pretty psyched for the ride.

Follow the trail of bagels!

We have passed the Mississippi leading us to the west. I finally know that I am getting stronger. My muscules are growing and so is my spirit. The days of being pampered are become more sparse and the terrain is becoming less familiar, adventure continues to call. This past week has been one of my favorites. Swimming in two lakes in one day, stopping at rivers along the ride, outriding dogs and cutting through the thick fog in the valleys. Coming into Rochester we woke up 2 hours early and got to see the sun rise over the Mississippi and break through the trees in the river valley. I took countless mental pictures and felt absolutely untouchable. I can only hope for days as unexplainably wonderful as yesterday. Not to mention the trail of bagels that can lift one's spirit while climbing a hill.

Time for a real blog

As the ride has progressed, i feel we have all learned a lot of new things. Things like: Beer is acceptable payment for bicycle service. Always double check your cues. Always have the iphone charged. Eat everything you can get your hands on. Always double check your cues. Drink lots of water. Dont run a triple bottom bracket with a double crank. and if you have the chance bring this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eCdIe0wdvU

since this is my first real blog entry I feel the need to hand out some thank yous. First and for most i want to thank my family especially my Mom and Dad for being so supportive through this trip. Another set of thank yous to everyone we have encountered on the road that have donated to our cause. This trip so far has been amazing. we are all getting to see so much of the country and make such an impact on all the people we meet.

Of Bagels and Bicycles

Food donations, while always appreciated, can be a mixed blessing. Case in point: bagels.  During the ride along last Sunday, we happened to run into another fundraising bike ride for cancer research which was just wrapping up and had two garbage bags of bagels to get rid of.  Naturally, we happily took the extra food off their hands, but by yesterday many of us were wishing we handn't.  After six days of bagels for breakfast, bagels for snacks, bagels for lunch, and yes, even a pizza-bagel dinner, I don't think I want to see another bagel for as long as I can manage.  The good and bad news is that we can occasionally score bagels from Panera by the garbage bagful, saving us a boatload on food costs but testing our tolerance for stomach dry, dense food units for every meal.  To be fair, the pizza bagels were both clever and delicious, but I'm looking forward to some cereal for breakfast tomorrow and some white bread PBJ for lunch.

Matt Cillick (who, by the way, just joined the team today) somehow managed to score us a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester at 2, so yesterday we were on the road by 5:15 to be sure we were there in time.  As it happened, we grossly overestimated how long the ride would take, but it was nice to roll into the stayover by noon ahead of the sweltering hid of mid-afternoon.  After miles of rolling hills through fields of corn and soy dotted with the occasional dairy farm, Rochester suddenly sprung out of nowhere, complete with almost comically large buildings which towered amidst the surrounding agriculture.  We later learned that the majority of those buildings are part of the Mayo Clinic Campus, a metropolis of healthcare and one of the leading cancer research centers in the U.S.  Erik recently commented that you can tell a lot about what a town values by what's at the center.  In Mitchell, SD, they place a pretty big premium on corn, if the world's one and only Corn Palace is any indication.  In Rochester, health is king. 

The clinic was dazzling, and an impressive integration from "bench to bedside," that is, lab research to personal care.  We learned a lot more about the biology of cancer, and how malignant cells move throughout the body and establish themselves in new parts of the body.  This trip, in a way, in an integration was well - we do the fundraising, talk to patients, and learn the biology, all while somehow rolling 70 miles a day.  Not a bad deal.

-T

Minnesota, Dontcha Know

Today is our rest day in Rochester, MN.  As it turns out, Wisconsin, and the eastern part of Minnesota had some pretty big hills.  The night we stayed in La Crosse, some of us took an additional ride to the top of Grandad Bluff to watch the sunset.  Grandad Bluff was quite a climb, but it was well worth it.  It sits 580 feet above the city of La Crosse, and provides an excellent view of the town, the Mississippi River, Iowa, and Minnesota.  On the ride from La Crosse to Rochester I had my first flat of the trip.  I made it almost 1900 miles though, so I think thats pretty good.  Yesterday we got to tour parts of the Mayo Clinic, including some research labs, which was really cool.  This weekend is Rochester Fest so most of the team made its way to the streets of Rochester for some good food and live music.  Contrary to popular belief about Minnesota, I am yet to hear anyone say "Dontcha Know," which is really disappointing, but that hasn't stopped many of us from saying it while we are here.

long time no write

I have not blogged in a long time, and there is so much that has happened since then. The mountains were fun, the flats were fun, and now the rolling hills are wicked awesome. When we rode into Rochester MN the ride was one of my favorites so far. It was foggy in the morning and then as we climbed into higher places the fog disappeared and the scenery was beautiful. We arrived in Rochester early, and got to take showers before visiting the Mayo Clinic, which was super awesome. The rest day was really relaxing and I am excited to bike tomorrow. More to come in a little bit.

Farmers Tan

One of the perks of being on this trip is that you can take a shower outside of a church using a hose in a pretty metropolitan area and it is at least somewhat socially acceptable.

The rides into and out of Madison were the hottest days ever, both in the mid 90's, which made it tough.  In Madison, I got picked up by David and spent the night at his place.  We jumped in the lake in our underpants and then walked down the lakeside trail in just our sexy briefs to dry off.  We had some beers at the UW-student union... I think its awesome they serve beer at their student union.  Its outside, right on the lake, has a stage for live music, and is perfect for a summer night... After a few beers, we got some ice cream and then had an awesome sleepover.  Joe Silberschmidt is sweet.

About 15 miles outside of Madison we ran into the largest pile of tires I'd ever seen so naturally we stopped for a picture and some climbing.  That night we were in Reedsburg, nice little small town.  I got in a solid 6 mile run with Brad on a really nice trail that ran parallel to some railroad tracks.  We listened to some live music in the park, very reminiscent of the free concerts in Heard Memorial Park in North East.

The next day we headed to Lacrosse.  I had some bike issues that day, but I got them takin care of at a bike shop as soon as we got in.  I really liked the town of Lacrosse and the UW-Lacrosse campus.  Great town right on the Mississippi River with great biking and running in every direction, according to the locals I spoke with.

Crossing the Mississippi yesterday was pretty epic, plus we just had an epic ride that day itself.  We had a tour scheduled for 2 O'clock at the Mayo Clinic so we all woke up at 4:15 AM and were on the road just after 5 as the sun was coming up.  Luckilly, we had no trouble getting all the groups in by 2 and I even had some time for a run before the tour.

Touring the Mayo Clinic was awesome and a great opportunity.  It is one of the highest profile cancer research facilities in the world and since thats what this trip is all about, it was interesting to see the types of things the money we are raising is going towards.  The lab we toured was a molecular biology lab that focused primarilly on pancreatic cancer and they had some really cool stuff to show us.  Being around all the lab equipment reminded me too much of being back in Champaign.  It was more science than I planned on participating in this whole summer... really cool though.

This weekend is Rochester-fest so good timing on our parts.  Since we had a rest day today, it was game on last night.  The festival was great, complete with very typical parade, carney food, and bad live music.  The good news was they had beer.  I went out with a group of 5 or 6 other guys and we had a ball.  After the festival we ended up at this bar called Kathy's, which turned out to be pretty nice.  They had an open rooftop on the third story that we chilled on for a long time, trying to impress girls with our summer endeavor, but no amount of good deeds could cover up our gross facial hair.  Mine is beginning to fill in quite well, at least if I was a middle schooler... I also managed to get into a few conversations with people about my Bills shirt, including one with a great Bills and Sabres fan from Cheektowaga that I high-fived repeatedly... Bills fans are the best.  After the bar we ended up at some strangers house for way longer than I wanted to be, which was weird.  He did give us a couple of beers, a granola bar, and a twenty dollar donation.

Today I slept till noon then went for a 10 mile run.  Nice long bike trail here.  I think tonight a bunch of us are gonna hit up thise Chinese buffet. 

From here on out is the part of the trip I'm looking forward to the most.  Time to conquer the west.

Johnny Flynn got draft #6 overall-  Thats nuts.

Mayo on the Roc

Early day today, we all had to get up at 4:30am and hit the road at 5 am. We all descided to get up early because we schedualed a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester at 2pm. So we wanted to make shure we got there on time. We had lunch at 9am and ended up getting here way early than expected. We estinmated we'd all make it to Rochester around 1pm but in reality we all made it in before noon.

We had a two hour tour of the clinic. It was awesome to be able to walk around one of the best cancer centers in the nation. We toured the labs and learned alot about biochemistry and more aabout cell growth. We saw how they ran their tests on cancers effects on cells. They had this real big and expensive microscope that we were able to look at cells. The quality of the image was amazing, they have 3 filters, red, blue and green. that took pictures of the cells and when they were put togeather you get this amiazing image of the cell. It was called the HAL 100, but its way diffrent from its new models, like the HAL 1000 its more sentiant model.(movie refrence)

After the tour we were able to go to ROCFEST!! A really big festival going on down the block from our stayover. It was fun, lots of food and a 4hr parade. Unfortunitly the food was pretty expensive but besides the price the food was good, espically the bbq. All in all it was a pretty fun day.

Do you need an ice cream for father's day?

Wisconsin is so far the number 1 state for humorous signs. In addition to the title of this blog, we saw a sign that said "June is dairy month, take a cow out to lunch". The street signs are better here as well, if only Dreamland and Enchanted Valley came to a 3-way intersection with Okay rd...
More to come in a couple of hours.

Day 28: To Rochester MN

Early wake up this morning. We needed to be in Rochester before 2pm for a scheduled tour at the Mayo clinic, so wake up was pushed up to 4:30am in order to make sure everybody would arrive on time. Since the leaders had really pushed for everybody to be packed and ready to go as soon as they woke up, we were able to get out the door by 5:15 and were on our way to Minnesota. Despite having to wake up early, I think many people actually liked getting up early as it was nice and cool for most of the morning. The terrain was much like we saw yesterday, with rolling hills with an eventual long climb out of the Mississippi River Valley. By 8am, we already had already gotten more than 30 miles down the road, and nearly half way to our destination. With a bit of a tail wind, many of us were able to make it into Rochester before noon. With a little bit of time before we had to walk across the street to the Mayo Clinic, we searched for the local YMCA where we freshened up a bit before our tour.
We had a two part tour of the Mayo clinic in the afternoon. The first part took us through one of the cancer research centers at the clinic. The particular lab that we toured looked at how cancerous cells grow differently from regular cells and how they move about in the body. I understood some of what they were talking about, but at points it seemed like you needed a few courses in cellular biology to know what it was that they were referring to. After that we toured the cancer education library. The librarian there explained to us about the library, and how various people used it to understand what was going on with either themselves or somebody that they knew. We were given some time to browse the library ourselves after the tour and stumbled upon the guest book where we discovered an entry made by last year's Illini 4000 group after they had toured the resource center.
This evening was also the beginning of Rochesterfest, a local festival which brings in groups from all over the area. Tonight they had a very long parade through town, lasting well over three hours. I caught part of it, but after an hour of watching groups walk by, I continued on in my exploration, looking for food and something to drink. After satiating those needs I wandered back to the church we were staying at found a place to sleep, and by 9:30 was out like a lightbulb.
Today's Mileage: 76.0

Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

Rest day today!  We are currently in Rochester, MN on one of our rest days, and I think everyone is enjoying it so far.  The last few days of riding have been a blast for me, and I was almost disappointed that we have another rest day already.  After having my turn come up to drive the van I appreciated all my opportunities to ride with the group during the day.  The routes in Wisconsin and Minnesota definitely have more hills, sometimes so much that it reminds me of the mountains we passed through near the coast! Difficulty aside, I enjoy these hills after riding on the flat roads of Illinois and Indiana. 

Yesterday was especially fun as we had a 4:15am wake up to head on the road by 5am.  The early departure gave us a chance to ride through the Mississippi River valley right as the sun was rising through the hilltops. Within the first ten miles I had a staple through my tire and had to make some other adjustments which put myself and two other guys in the back group.  Luckily both guys were patient and helpful and by lunch time we had taken up the position of lead group.  All the groups made such good timing that we all arrived by 12pm, two hours before our appointment at the Mayo Clinic here in Rochester.  After a quick shower and lunch break, our team was given a tour of one of the 100 labs in the Mayo Clinic.  I am very grateful for this opportunity because each time we have a tour like this I become more interested in this battle our country has been fighting for so long.  The Mayo Clinic is a fantastic facility that is really setting an example in health care around the country currently, and now I can see why.

Food is a cruel mistress

Well today we had a rest day. It seems like we kinda don't know what to do on rest days...so we ride our bikes! We all woke up some time around 11 but the few of us who were up earlier went out to braekfast at this crazy pancake house that was called Pankuken, which is apparently a Dutch pancake. It wasn't too bad - real good breakfast. After that we all did our own things, some went to the pool, others hung around the church, others slept some more. But for dinner we went to kingdom buffet. (Lordy, we ate waaaay to much!) We all agreed that the ride back to the church was the worst ride of the trip. With our bellies overflowing with food we nursed ourselves back to being just full and rested easy, patiently awaiting the supposed 20mph headwind the next day. 

June is Dairy Month, Take a Cow to Lunch

Wisconsin wins for best signs. Hands down.

Yesterday we rolled into La Crosse, WI which is just on the border of Minnesota. We roda over some slightly surprising Wisconsin hills and saw tons of animals: horses, llamas, goats, sheep, donkeys, and an elk. That was pretty cool. Another great sight on yesterdays ride was when we went through Portland, WI.

Today we arrived in Rochester and what a short day it was. Although the ride was about 73 miles, we decided to get up at 4:30 AM so as not ot be late for our tour of the Mayo Clinic. I drove the van for the first time today and noticed that all the groups were riding pretty fast. They arrived at the Calvary Episcopal Church across the street from the Mayo Clinic almost an hour after I did, and all before noon!

Minnesota is gorgeous, however you travel through. It was nice to see the sun rising over the valleys in total quiet as I waited for the team to get to the water stop. Extremely peaceful. Another great thing about this state is that today and tomorrow-a rest day- there's Rochester Fest! So, there will be music, food, dancing, four team human puzzle competitions, everything you could ever want!

More to come!