Day 41: WyOmInG

Crossed another state line today! Although today was hyped up to be one of the hardest rides due to almost 7,000 feet of climbing and the 81 miles, most of us felt very good at the end of the day.  We had the opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, and Black Hills National Forest. It was such a beautiful day. Seeing the famous monuments up close was also super cool. It amazed me at the level of detail the sculptors used to create the eyes, hair, and clothing on the president faces, and all using only sticks of dynamite. Before today I was unfamiliar with Crazy Horse. Similar to Mount Rushmore, it is a carved mountain depiction of a famous Lakota chief, Crazy Horse, with an outstretched bow and arrow riding a horse, or at least it will be once it is finally finished. It is much larger than Mount Rushmore. With 80 years of being in the works it still remains unfinished, likely due to budget constraints because the builders refuse to take government money to fund the project. Unfortunately we decided that the $5 cover entrance to the park was out of our price range so we took pictures at the gate.Out of the three things we got to experience today, the Black Hills were the most impressive to me. Although I have mentioned this before, today actually felt like the West we passed by real mountains and got to smell pine. And even though there was a lot of climbing, being able to zoom back down at 40 mph made it worth it. So far Wyoming has been really pretty and I hope it stays that way.BRB buying a cowboy hatMB 

Day 40: Rapid City Rest Day

Rest day in Rapid City. Since we are staying at the local YMCA we had to be out in the morning by 7 AM and could not come back until 8 at night, we had to find ways to entertain ourselves for the whole day. Most of the team went out for breakfast to treat ourselves to pancakes, omelets, and French toast. After breakfast we ended up splitting into smaller and smaller groups as we walked around the two blocks that made up the main area in Rapid City. Since the town was so small most of us made our way to just about every store there was. Other activities included seeing a movie, walking around to vintage stores, going out to lunch, and spending time at the street fair with live music.While browsing through a bookstore Schuchen and I encountered a book called Haunted Hotels of the West. We noticed that one of the haunted hotels, The Alex Johnson, happened to be two blocks away from us. We walked up to the guest counter to find a journal where guests left stories of haunted happenings. For example, a flight attendant reported getting a voiceless phone call in the middle of the night and hearing children’s voices from the corner of the room. The 8th floor was also supposedly haunted because a young bride had committed suicide by throwing herself from room 812 back in the day. To investigate this we snuck past hotel security and took the elevator to that very room. We did hear a strange faint noise as we stood in front of the room…Overall a nice dayMB 

Day 38/39: The Badlands

Day 38 marked the official halfway point of our trip! Progress IS being made. We checked the first national park off our list yesterday: the Badlands. Since most of you are wondering “why is it called that” we learned that the name is a translation of the Lakota naming. It was titled this for its rugged and dry terrain.Yesterday was probably one of the best riding days. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and being able to witness the beauty of it all from a bike gave the experience a certain level of intimacy that merely seeing it from a car window just couldn’t offer. Our group made sure to take as much time to stop and experience the park. This entailed stopping at a gift shop to feed ground hogs, then stopping at every scenic point to climb the rocks and take pictures, and riding at a slower pace to take it all in.  We even got to see mountain goats up close once the sun started to set. Once we were on our last leg of the 60-mile day at the top of the hill we got caught in a lightning storm and had to be rescued by the van. Right before the storm got really bad the mountains looked so beautiful with muted tones of blue and pink, better than any of the pictures in the postcards.  Being in our uniform gave us the opportunity to chat up with many tourists passing through, and they were very generous with giving us water and congratulations. Today we rode another 60 miles to Rapid City where we will have a rest day tomorrow. We saw glimpses of mountains in the distance as we biked up the rolling hills. Since most of the towns we have visited in SD have been extremely small I had low expectations for Rapid City. I was surprised by all the cute shops and unique restaurants in the ‘downtown’ area. Most of us are looking forward to being able to do laundry and chill out tomorrow.The West just keeps getting betterMB 

Day 37: You Don't Know Small Town Until You Know South Dakota

This morning Jay offered up the dedication who spoke of Doug and Brick friends of his who also battled prostate cancer.We could not have asked for better conditions for today’s almost-century (96 miles).  For the first time in a while the scenery seemed to change and we swapped the usual cornfields for…mostly nothing but rolling hills and cows. According to Mack, “today finally felt like we are making progress.”  We spent the whole day on a road off the side of the highway (one panel of cues, woo!).  There was a slight tailwind, around 70 degree weather, and nicely paved roads. Our last rest stop took us to a literal one horse town where we befriended a white pony tied to a sign post and spent some time at the only storefront in town, a gas station with about four shelves of goods.Kadoka, where we are spending the night tonight has a population of 654 people. If you went to an average Chicagoland high school picture your graduating class starting their own civilization, and that is the size of the town we are staying in. Unfortunately, we had to break our amazing no-team pasta and lentils streak, which was still pretty good, especially after a long day.After seeing no less than ten ‘Wall Drug’ advertisements today on our ride I am excited to finally see what all the hype is about tomorrow.Home of the Free Ice WaterMB  

Day 36: Still Zero Pheasants

Today we rode for Joe and Doug who we recently completed portraits with. Both of them are prostate cancer survivors. And also Pastor’s Matt from Miller whose step children whose father passed away.The 20mph headwinds finally let up today making today’s 73 miles so so much better (even though we still had 10mph winds). The scenery we’ve ridden past has remained pretty much the same in recent days, except the sky has been noticeably bigger and the few cars that we do see passing on the interstate seem to vanish into the never-ending horizon.As we pulled off for ice cream across the street from First Methodist Church, where we are spending the night tonight, we encountered a cancer survivor. Although our interaction with him was brief, he thanked us for our commitment and summed up a cancer survivor perspective better than anyone else with “it scares the sh*t out of you” as he walked off.Later in the evening Jay, an exceedingly interesting man and church member of First Methodist, took it upon himself to entertain us for the night. He set up a backyard bonfire and provided us of-agers with some cold ones as he impressed us with his extensive knowledge from everything to famous architects to obscure Romanian dictators. As a veteran teacher with 49 years experience under his belt, he was well rehearsed in public speaking, and we all listened intently as he outlined his life for us, from his years teaching Latin in Germany, to students he still keeps in touch with. We were all starry eyed during his somber, yet lighthearted portrait documenting his experience with prostate cancer. To cap the night Jay  served the 21+ people his finest selection of tequila in his ‘That So 70’s Show-esque’ basement. As we were all leaving his place we exchanged knowing looks with each other that this was one of those ‘I4K’ moments that we will never forget.South Dakota you continue to surprise meMB 

Day 35: Wind and Pheasants, That's What South Dakota Does

Dylan dedicated the ride to his uncle David (dad’s brother) that passed away from bladder cancer 5 years ago.Another day of heavy headwinds. Luckily we had a shorter ride today of only 45 miles. To treat ourselves as we pulled into Miller, a few teams treated themselves to broasted chicken and ice cream at the local hot spot. After arriving at the United Methodist Church, pretty much everyone took a nap. Later on we gave a presentation about our organization to some church members and then indulged in a feast of a plethora of salads and some fresh burgers and a top notch dessert table.One thing that I noticed about South Dakota is that there seems to be a subtle obsession with pheasants, as both of the past two towns we have stayed at have had pheasants on their town sign, with Redfield claiming to be “the pheasant capital of the world”. For some reason I question this…We were informed by a congregation member that “The west begins in Miller” so it is official. We OUT HERE! So far South Dakota has been treating us pretty well (except for the headwind) and the people we have interacted with have been very gracious and welcoming.The weather channel app informs us that the headwinds will be slowing down tomorrow as we roll into the capital city of Pierre.Haven’t seen a single pheasantMB 

Day 34: More South Dakota Wonders

Today I wanted to dedicate the ride to Pat McNamara. Today was the annual 'Pat Mac Pack' ride from the south side of Chicago to Long Beach Indiana. Pat got a brain tumor when he was two years old and passed away when he was 13. I knew Pat from growing up as the energetic kid I would see on fourth of July, since our families were close. He always had a good sense of humor, and even when he was balding from his chemo treatments he dressed up as the old six flags man for Halloween to keep things light hearted.Two words: HEAD WIND. For a total of 73 miles today we battled 22 mph headwind on our way from Watertown to Redfield. To put things in perspective for you, Watertown has a total population of 22,000, which makes it the 5th largest city in the whole state. The entire state itself has less than a million people total. As a few of us walked around Redfield after dinner we noticed that it seemed to be a town stuck in the past. Many of the signs were hand painted and the main street looked like it had remained static since the 50’s. Since time is not our priority while on the ride we were shocked when the gas station clerk informed us that coming up is fourth of July weekend. It is really crazy how fast yet slow this trip is moving.Today we stayed on route 212 for 70 miles today and only passed four gas stations the whole way. Morale started pretty low this morning as we faced rain for the first twenty miles. Luckily for us the sun eventually came out for the last 15 miles. It felt so freeing to be able to shed our layers of coats and feel the wind on our skin at the end.  Once the sun eventually came it it really changed our whole mood. Although South Dakota is not technically the Midwest, it is nice to know that we only have a few days until we start hitting the real scenes like the badlands and Mount Rushmore, and from there, the rest of the west should also be beautiful.Looking forward to tomorrow’s short 50 mile day.Where them president heads atMB 

Day 33: You Are Now Entering South Dakota

Mason had the ride dedication today. Here is his statement:“My mom is a chemo nurse and I have met a lot of her patients throughout her career. There were so many people that I met who were so grateful for my mom to be a caretaker and she has shown that kindness back tenfold to others and myself. By doing this ride I just wanted to keep in mind the work that we do and my mom does go towards them (the patients). I want to keep the memory of the patients that have passed and their fight alive. There was one patient that I remember talking to the night before he passed away. We had a really nice conversation and he was only asking me questions, even though it was his last night alive. It has been inspiring to see the selflessness of people through my mom’s patients and by meeting people during this journey.”Today’s ride was heavy rain in the morning which eventually cleared up around noon. Our first stop in South Dakota has treated us pretty nicely. We had showers, food provided for us and WIFI. Our awesome hosts even brough us to Thursday night out which featured an Irish band and outdoor seating. They even invited us onstage in front of the audience. Since Watertown is such a small town many of the locals recognized us as outsiders and came up to us to ask us about our I4k shirts.We have already started to see advertisements for the famous “Wall Drug” in Wall, SD. Will all the hype be worth it? Stay tuned.Describe your home town: Plantation Florida (close to Fort Lauderdale) classic suburb. Pretty close to a Chicago suburb. Population is pretty close to Naperville “not as rich, much more Jewish”How did you learn about i4k: I was at Illini sights and sounds. A couple groups that talk. Then I checked it out again on quad day.How did people react when you told them you were doing this? Spanish side of my family thought I was insane to be doing any physical work over the summer. My stepmom’s family was confused as to why I didn’t want to be with my girlfriend. My parents were supportive. My dad knows that I will randomly pick up things that others might not expect of me.What were your expectations for this trip: I thought it would be much harder. I thought I would be in much more pain and I would be struggling. Either I have gotten stronger or the routes aren’t as hard as I expected. I thought it would be fun but being able to sit in on Portraits has exceeded my expectations. Meeting people and talking to them has given me much more of a push to finish the ride. I have been surprised at the kindness of the random people we meet. Complete strangers will show you kindness and it has been a bit overwhelming. What has been your favorite state so far: I really liked Wisconsin. The lakes were great. And even though we rode through Minnesota we didn’t actually go into any of the lakes. Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin was really cool. I liked being able to explore the nature of the state. Favorite stayover: Hutchinson. The water park there was awesome.Favorite ride: The first century with Mickey and Nodus was real fun. It sucked, but it was a good ride because we made it fun. Favorite team memory: Dan’s rant about Notre Dame. When we were in the thunderstorm and stuck at a gas station. Phil got a pizza that got stuck in the oven when the power went out, so it was just kind of sitting there kind of half-baked and then our group was hanging out in the carwash in the gas station waiting out the rain. What are you still looking forward to: Wyoming and the state parks like Yellowstone Describe I4k in one word: memorable.Bein’ stoic and managing.MB 

Day 32: Supersize Us

Christina Su dedicated the ride today because she found out that her grandmother has recently found cancer cells.At this point, any ride that is under 70 miles the team considers an easy ride, even though today’s ride was 68.6 miles. Although we expected rain, once again, we lucked out and didn’t even see drizzle as we rolled out. With near perfect conditions: warm but not too sunny, a tailwind, and clear and well paved roads, the first 40 miles practically flew by. So far Minnesota takes the prize on state with the best maintained roads. However, a half mile of construction led us to an extra 3-mile detour which included walking our bikes through a gravel road.We arrived in Montevideo (Minnesota, not Uruguay) at around 2:30 today. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the Montevideo Middle School most of the team claimed a spot (pro tip: always go for a space with an outlet), had set up their sleeping bags, and took a well-deserved post ride nap.Today’s unexpected happening was McDonald’s donation hooked up by Mason “Floridaman/dolphin killa” Metzkes. It is nice to not have to worry about calorie consumption on ride days, and because of this, many of us got a hamburger side along with our free fries and double cheeseburgers.  When I think about it, we don’t actually even eat that many “nutritional foods”. Some weeks we don’t see a single vegetable on our plates, unless you consider tomato sauce on pizza a vegetable (I know the FDA does).  Hopefully I will be able to resume healthier habits once this is all over.  For now I will live in ignorant bliss of the my daily fat count as long while I spend 8+ hours a day on a bike.On the CLIF bar diet for now.MB 

Day 31: Water in Minnesota

Alia stepped up to dedicate today’s ride to her friend Jasmine’s mom, who recently passed away from cancer. Jasmine attended Lake Forest High School with Alia.Dylan’s breakdance Mosher this morning surprised us: Colin “Lil T” Tainter is an avid breakdancer. Who would have thought…Simple 60 mile ride today from Minneapolis to Hutchinston Minnesota. Luckily a rain shower only lasted for about 10 minutes as we rolled out in the morning and we had warm breezy weather the whole way through. So far I have been very impressed with the landscape of this state and it has been cool to see the “10,000 lakes” slogan in action.  We rolled through a ritzy suburb today and had our first rest stop in an upscale downtown area off of Lake Minnetonka.After finishing up the ride we were surprised with passes to the local water park and everyone got to dip a toe. We took turns swinging off of the zipline into the pool and jumping off the diving boards. After a pizza dinner some of us got frozen yogurt while others (Tyler) completed the “leg waxing challenge” as Alia took off his leg hair to “make him more aerodynamic while riding”. Sure…While eating our frozen dessert Nick Su, David, Analisa, Schuchen and I were discussing what it is about I4k that makes it so enjoyable.  We were saddened at the thought that it would probably never be possible for all 27 of us to be together again after the ride (unless someone on the team gets married, which we’ve seen from alumni that it is). Towards the end of this talk we agreed that the unexpected things that happen every day like getting to go hang out in a random water park in Minnesota, are what make every day memorable, and the ride overall awesome.There’s water parks in South Dakota right?MB 

Day 30: If You Can Dream It, They Can Engineer It

Fourth rest day today. To kick off the morning we visited with cancer researchers Dr. Chris Stack and Stephen Heinsch on the University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul. Their shared discipline falls into the field of synthetic biology and specifically mammalian cells.  Their research focuses on reprogramming t cells to attack tumors on cancer patients.We learned that at the moment, the University is licensing technology to a company to use in car t therapy. This works by extracting a patient’s t cells, engineering them to recognize and kill tumors, and then administering them back to the patient.Since I am not a student in the sciences, I expected the meeting to be a bit over my head, however, the two kept the meeting very lively by engaging us in interesting happenings in the field of synthetic biology.  Although it focused some of us to try and remember the basics of the last intro to bio class we took, it was still very interesting. As we listened, each of us tried to see how this talk connected to our specific field, and actuarial science man Dan joked “can a genome have insurance”.During their talk they brought up the possibility of synthetic blood, to help the dilemma of shortages in surgery. I also learned that genome sequencing is becoming standard practice in places such as Europe, and Stephen even pointed out that he “had a small device that plugs into his laptop that could sequence genomes” as if it were a casual thing to own. These two proved to be fanboys of the famous George Church aka the father of synthetic biology. As they began to delve deeper they revealed that they were interested in that type of sci-fi bioengineering you know of from movies like Jurassic Park or Gattica. And at one point they discussed a researcher at Harvard that is actively trying to recreate wooly mammoths.After the meeting the team broke up and either made their way to one of the many local bike shops in the hipster neighborhood that we are currently residing, or took to exploring the town. To cap off the night many of us visited the famed Mall of America and treated ourselves to a sushi dinner. Overall Minneapolis was a very clean, bike-friendly, hipster city. I wouldn’t be mad if I ended up here (during the summer only).God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs. Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth. MBLook up George Church yourself if you are not familiar. (He is impressive)*(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M._Church) 

Day 29: Centuries Getting Better

Julissa stepped up today to take the ride dedication for a portrait we did recently. Sargent Dewyane Schweinler died of lung cancer in 2002 and we interviewed his daughter who expressed her struggle in dealing with his passing.As a special Father’s day surprise for our resident dads (Tyler and Zach and even Logan) we organized a special effort to ramble the troops and roll out extra early this morning. Tyler was so pleased at the 7:08 line up that he “nearly fainted”. As a special Dad’s day touch Madeline made the Mosher for the dads to talk about their favorite memory being the team dad.This century felt so much different than the last. With slightly cooler weather and not too much elevation change there were exactly ZERO accidents and we arrived in Minneapolis at about 6:00. As we have come to realize about the land outside of major cities, most of today’s views were farmlands or what David referred to as “the wild”. When we arrived at the stayover, Hennepin Methodist Church we were all in awe. This is hands down the nicest church we ever stayed at complete with couches (beds) and showers. To top it off Christina Su organized a donated pizza dinner for the whole team.Even the brief views I was surprised that Minneapolis was such a nice city and also very biker friendly.  Most of the team is looking forward to having the day off tomorrow to explore the city of fix up their bikes.MB 

Day 27/28: MIN-EH-SOTA

MY B. I feel like I personally let people down when I miss a day of posting so I apologize for that.Alert Guinness Records, we actually made a 7:15 roll out time yesterday. Proud dads Tyler and Zach beamed as our group circled up to start the day.Yesterday’s ride was “the most casual 80 miles ever” as Dylan put it. We crossed the state line into Minnesota and spent our rest day in Rochester. Pretty small city. Weirdly strict rules on apparel in dive bars. ANYWAYS riding into this state was really beautiful and all the rolling hills looked incredibly nice. We only had two large hills of climbing but my group talked the whole way through it (who would have thought debating which states are part of the Midwest could be a conversation that could distract you from a 20 minute uphill climb).  Hotshot phone caller Julissa finessed us all free Chipotle yesterday AND pizza so we all loaded up.Being the home of the famous Mayo Clinic, which specializes in cancer services, we visited another Hope Lodge. We learned that due to its proximity to the Mayo clinic, it is always at max capacity of about 60 people and their caretakers. We got to meet with a brain tumor support group. Robin, our tour guide described the Hope Lodge as “a bubble of good. Our saying here is that if we can spread the good that comes out of this place to the rest of the outside, the world would be an amazing place”.  Robin also told us that she had amazingly, “not met one grumpy patient”. Things like this highlight the insane resilience of people experiencing cancer.As the team gathered in the kitchen area, a woman who overheard us giving out elevator spheel came up to us in tears and thanked us for what we are doing. It is moments like these that capture the effect our team really has, and it makes all the long days’ worth it.From speaking with people in the support group, Robin, and even a waitress at a restaurant we visited for breakfast, it is easy to see the warm vibe that Minnesotans give off and it seems to be a very welcoming place. Bob, one of the gentlemen of the support group even said he had left Georgia for Minnesota because the people in Minnesota are better.After that, a few of us got to sit in on a Portrait with Bob. Bob described Minnesota weather as “winter, winter ending, construction, and almost winter” He said that when his doctors found a tumor on his brain 9 years ago, he used his sense of humor as a way to cope. He told us that he had even named his tumor Fred, and when he learned that cells in the tumor were dead, he organized a “Fred is dead” chant a la Wizard of Oz in the chemo center. Bob was truly an amazing person and I felt so lucky to have the chance to sit in on during the portrait and hear his story.After the Hope Lodge, many us of spent the day eating out or catching up on some sleep in Zumbro Lutheran Church where we are staying. Tomorrow holds our second century ride to Minneapolis with the promise of another rest day!Eh *Minnesota accent*MB 

6/16 - Land of 10,000 Lakes

Today we made our way into Minnesota, our 7th state on this trip. The Midwest seems to really vary on the characteristics of its states. From hilly and bumpy Ohio to beautiful and fun filled Wisconsin, it seems as though each state is a whole new world...at least to me(a southern fella). But even though the paths may be horrible, hilly, or confusing, every day is amazing. Over just the past few days, we've biked through state parks and old railroad paths, we've spontaneously swam in lakes, we've waited out a thunderstorm in a gas station car wash, and we've told endless stories and jokes. This ride has been amazing so far and with roughly two thirds of it left to go, I'm looking forward to every moment. Even the West, where food may be sparse and cell signal even more so.That's all for now, this is Dolfin Killa/Florida Man/Mason Derulo, signing offP.S. A "dolphin" where I come from is a fish, not like Flipper...a bottlenose dolphin is like Flipper

Day 26: Don't Wanna Leave Wisconsin

We dedicated today’s ride to Michaeline’s teacher who passed away from pancreatic cancer this past November.I must say, so far Wisconsin has consistently been best state that we have ridden through. Even though most of what we rode past today was farmland, something about elevation change just makes the backdrop that much more beautiful, and it was nice to see the green pastures with cows grazing. I did not know how bike friendly this state was. Pretty much all of today’s 81 miles were spent on a bike path that led us through several caves, a cute roadside ice cream stop, and even the “bike capital of the US” in Sparta Wisconsin.Yet another over-the-top church member let us swim in their pool and Jacuzzi this evening, motivating us the move as quickly as possible during the day.  La Crosse surprised me. With the college campus nestled next to the church we are spending the night tonight, a nice looking downtown, and views of the Mississippi river running between here and the town on the other side of the river, which happens to be Minnesota. Tomorrow holds the promise of another rest day and another state line to cross.But I didn’t even get cheese curds :(MB 

Day 25: Dippin in at Devil's Lake

Day 25: Logan had the ride dedication today in honor of his teacher’s father who passed away from pancreatic cancer.It was a bit tricky leaving Madison this morning because of all of the trails. Our day in the heart of UW Madison campus yesterday might have been the one of the best so far. As of late the team has been taking more time to enjoy small moments in the places we visit, and we decided that it would be a good idea to jump in the lake in t shirts and shorts after the long and hot ride. We also watched the sunset on the terrace to cap off the night. Their Union gives the one at U of I a run for its money. @UofI alcohol at the Union=$$$$Today was somewhat of a challenging day, but it completely changed when we spent our lunch rest stop at Devil’s Lake State Park. By the time we stopped most of us were soaked in sweat from the humidity and climbing, so we jumped in the lake (which was surprisingly warm) to cool off. Since most of us come from Illinois, seeing the cliffs in the backdrop of the lake prompted us all to take pictures. It seems the further west we head the most beautiful the sights we begin to see.Although the weather channel told us that we would experience rain later in the day most of us doubted it. Unfortunately, we were caught in a sudden thunderstorm in the last 20 miles of the ride. For shelter my group went to a veterinary office awning and waited out the rain. To pass the time we played charades and made up raps until we got the go signal from Tyler.And of course rule #1 was not broken today as we noticed our church home for the night just HAPPENED to be on the top of one of the only hills in the town (apparently). To celebrate this tradition my team chanted "rule number one, rule number one, as we pedaled to the top".Special thanks to Julissa, Jessica and Rebecca for finding the team food for tonight! We were lucky enough to pick up some taco’s and pizzas from some local places in Reedsville.Wisco you have been treatin’ us well so far.MB

Day 24: I LOVE WISCONSIN

Zach had the ride dedication today for his friend Max who passed away as a result of cancer.Today’s ride: 71 miles, hot but not too hot, lots of cornfields and slight hills.Logan Orr is one of our graduated senior riders. His degree is Bioengineering and he is one of the resident team Dads. His spirit animal has been chosen by the team as the Golden Retriever.Describe your home town: So I’m from Reddick IL. It’s outside of Reddick actually. On a good day it has 200 people in it. It’s a small farm town. I went to high school in another farm town in the area. Reddick has a bar, a post office, and a school that is closed down now…and a couple churches.What are you going to be doing after this trip? I will be working at Eli Lilly Company in Indianapolis. I’ll start there a couple weeks after the ride.Your older sister did this trip. How did your prior expectations compare to the reality? I knew it would be a lot of fun from hearing stories from my sister and that I would see a lot of things that I wouldn’t normally. But I underestimated the friendships that I would make. I really enjoy our team and getting to know everyone on it. I also underestimated the kindness of random strangers. I knew that the people at the stayovers would be super nice, but I didn’t expect receiving a bunch of random stuff from strangers. And how many people that thank us when they are the ones that are hosting us. It has really surprised me and it makes the trip really rewarding.Have you noticed any changes in yourself since we started? My legs have gotten stronger and I’ve gotten to gain a new perspective on a lot of things. Our team is full of people from different backgrounds and walks of life. I’ve gotten to hear what they think of things and what they call things, and how they don’t know a lot of farming terminology (laughs). Gaining perspective on how I myself have changed and gaining more of an appreciation for people.What have you enjoyed most so far? I have enjoyed getting to know the team. I feel like we have a lot of cool people who are all really different. I really liked meeting the mayor of Rochester with a police escort. Any time that there’s been a pool, we’ve all gone back to the days of being 12 and acting like little kids and that has been really nice to see.Where has been your favorite spot we’ve stayed so far? I think my biased answer would be… Kankakee. Just because I got to see my family and old teachers and friends from home and my family took me out for ice cream after. Showers, really good food, and family were the best.What are you still looking forward to? I’m really looking forward to being out west. My sister said her favorite state was South Dakota because of being able to ride through the Badlands. I’m also stoked for the National parks we’re going through like Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I’m really excited for Portland because my brother lives in Seattle and he’s coming to see us ride through there.What do you do while riding? I talk a lot, probably too much. Sing, play hot seat, I try to look up as much as I can. Every once in a while we’ll pass through parts of small towns that are really pretty and I know I’ll probably never go to the same places again. I want to see as much as I can.Do you see yourself continuing cycling after the ride? I see myself riding around Indianapolis just for fun because they have a lot of trails. Possibly biking to work. I don’t see myself doing any races or another cross country trip anytime soon (haha).Describe I4k in one word: impactfulDon’t want to leave Madison with its prime stayover location and beautiful Terrace views.Will accept Spotted Cow donations.MB 

Day 23: So This Is "Real" I4k?

Day 23:Special shoutout to Mackenzie's uncle for providing us with the desserts from Pie Five and Alia's family friend for the cookies! We loved them!I must apologize to those loyal daily readers out there for my slacking on blogging these past few days. I hope today’s post can make it up to you.We dedicated today’s ride to Phil’s grandpa John who passed away from cancer before Phil was born.*Speaking of Phil’s birth, fun fact: he was born in his driveway (in an ambulance).Somewhat of a rude awakening today after a day and a half of a rest in Chicago and a combination of the longer mileage and extreme heat. During our time off we enjoyed spending down time with family and friends, and those who do not hail from Illinois got to explore the city and do “touristy” Chicago things.With the hottest ride day yet from downtown Chicago to Lake Geneva Wisconsin many of us were wiped out by the time we arrived at our lake house stayover.  We have a team saying that “rule #1 is that every stayover must be located at the top of a hill”. However, since today’s spot did not follow this rule we rationalized that if it isn’t at the top of a hill, then it’s also not at the bottom…Special shout out to my dad Paul and Steve Bailey for making it through the 80-mile day, you both exceeded my expectations. The tough day was broken up by the awesome rest stops we enjoyed. First stop was my alma mater of Loyola Academy in Wilmette where we were provided with refreshments, and then we cruised through to Mundelein where Phil’s family hosted us for lunch.  (The hose sprinkler was MUCH appreciated). After the awesome food at Alison’s in Frankfort two days ago, then being able to have access to our pantries at home, and today’s lunch, it will be hard to have to go back to PBJ.Each day while on the road us riders find ourselves explaining the point of the ride, and then talking about the logistics of the trip, and what it took to prepare for a journey like this. Most of the time people seem shocked and respond something along the lines of “Oh I could never do something like that”.  Even though many of us were nowhere near the fitness level we are currently at, before joining the team none of us told ourselves that this insane mileage was something that we could not accomplish. And even though many of us never even got on our bikes for the first time until April, I don’t think any one of us ever doubted that we would be able to reach San Francisco.I have been asked a few times if people ever quit and go home midway through the ride. I don’t think any of us ever even considered this as an option. For us, completing the ride each day is all about breaking it down. Making it to through the first 20 miles, playing games and chatting to get us to the rest stop, playing music or making up raps while looking forward to being able to get to lunch and chow down on some sandwiches, and finally cruising through the last 15 (because the I4k rule is last 5 miles don’t count).  Even though riding an average of 70 miles a day seems like a huge feat, for some reason each day is actually fun, and this crazy lifestyle is something we are all dreading being over.While on the ride today, Steve expressed to me that he didn’t think he would be able to finish today, and surprised himself at being able to get as far as he did.  From our conversation it was clear the strategic rest stops made everything possible. Once you make a daunting 87-mile day just a series of three ride segments of 20-25 mile intervals, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore. After witnessing the progress this team has made and will continue to make, I am now a believer that anyone can reach a goal with a clear vision of what the ‘finish line is’ and the will to push through to get there. It is all about just breaking that seemingly far-fetched goal down into smaller steps.  I really hope that people reading this understand that none of us are superhuman or possess anything close to superhuman qualities, but rather we are just a determined group of college students that share an affirmative mindset.Heat is still > RainMadison or bust.MB 

Coming Home To Illinois Was Pretty Cool

After the hype of the first few weeks had died down, riding into Champaign and Chicago was something to look forward to. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all essentially look the same, so it was nice knowing that we would get to see some familiar faces pretty soon. The time spent at home seeing family and friends is very much appreciated. That being said, I'm real excited to start moving out west in a week or so. I know the riding will only get more challenging and the weather will get hotter, but it will be worth it.Phil "I hate Ohio" Kagebein

2024 Team Fundraising Total: $60,000

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The Illini 4000 • PO Box 2431 Champaign, IL 61825 • The Illini 4000 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.