“You got like three feet of air that time” - Napoleon Dynamite
Illini 4000 is made of amateur riders, but this morning we felt like professionals. After breakfast from Camden’s parents, Denise Cortes and Edward Cortes (thank you so much!) the Chicago Fire Department set us up with an escort out of the city; being able to ride as one big group and breeze through traffic gave us a sense of importance… and maybe a bit of impostor syndrome…! We couldn’t be more grateful for such an easy and stress-free beginning to the 87 mile day. We were even accompanied by a few 2018 I4K alums! Special thanks to Stan Salata for fixing the van’s bike rack so we can keep things safe and organized!
Rolling out from the fire academy
Photo thanks to George Mac from the CFD! The team with the chiefs!
Just a few miles after departing from the escort, we got on the Prairie Path, then the Great Western Trail, and finally the Fox River Trail! Of course, just the other day I posted about bike paths being a rare luxury, and today we’re on them for over 70 miles! It really was a gorgeous ride, despite the 15 mph headwinds when unprotected by trees. Mulberry trees also rained fruit down on us as we passed under dozens (free snacks?) and a few snakes (non-venomous according to Google) showed face on the sides of the path.
Gorgeous path
We had some awesome steep hills in a lush forest and breezed across the flat lands on crushed limestone paths. It was a nearly perfect riding day, and we had a great lunch outside a Diary Queen, supplied by Ellie’s family (thank you!!!) When we finally got to Lake Geneva, we went to the lake once to rinse off the aforementioned limestone dust, and again after dinner to cheers with some classic Sprecher root beers. It’s been a long and tiring day, but Wisconsin is great so far and I’m excited to see more of it tomorrow!
— Marielle
Much warmer than Lake Erie
Morning circle outside the fire academy
During the escort!
Andy and Jacob
First selfie in Wisconsin! Rahul, Bang, Camden, Maya!
Camden
Bang and Rahul taking a splash break
Wheeeeee
The Claires at the border
Claire P. !!!!!
Lunch behind the DQ drive-thru. Essential sunscreen for Claire N.
Brian and Claire N.
Lunch near a lake
Stunning crushed limestone path
Gibby and the Volvo
Hahaha
Cheers to root beer! Bang and Camden