Hi everyone! This is going to be yet another 2-day journal due to how much happened in these two days. We left Kankakee in quite an uplifted mood, ready for the two rest days ahead as well as meeting families and friends in Chicago. As a result, the riding on Day 19 went by quickly and painlessly for most, and even the weather was on our side! It was mostly cloudy and not hot or cold at all. We did a lot of trail riding and got quite a few “I-L-L” callouts from passerby along the way.

For our third rest stop of the day, we were greeted by a very nice surprise in the form of Cal’s family waiting there for us! They cheered for us as we arrived and departed and gave us lots and lots of snacks. Big thanks to Cal’s amazing family!

Another huge family shoutout goes to Matt H’s family. They were incredibly welcoming and let the whole team sleep over at their house on day 19, as well as hog their showers for a good 3 hours. They also hosted a potluck in the evening for other team members’ families and friends. And for people like me who had no other place to sleep at in Chicago they hosted us further for the next 2 days too! So, huge thanks to Matt’s family.

The evening was spent meeting everybody’s families and friends, consuming unholy amounts of delicious food, and having fun.

Day 20 started out at Matt’s house, getting ready to bike the rest of the way to downtown Chicago to take pictures with the famous “bean”. The original plan also included the rescheduled jump into lake Michigan which was originally planned for Ohio. The jump was rescheduled yet again, however, due to the cold weather.

Our ride was short at only 11 miles, and we had a lot of fun riding our bikes through Chicago (even despite the sometimes crazy traffic and many many potholes). It was a very nice, almost touching experience biking through the city knowing that we got here all the way from New York city in just 2 weeks, and remembering what biking through NYC was like on our very first day of the ride.

Our final destination for the day was the Cloud Gate which was referred to as the Bean exclusively all day. We took more pictures there than in any other destination so far I am fairly sure, and as a result got tons of awesome pictures.

After taking pictures, everybody went their separate ways for the next 2 rest days to spend time with their families before the next 55 days of riding.

And to wrap up this very special journal, our featured rider/bike for today is going to be Veronica and her bike! Veronica’s bike is called Bobby (in a British accent) because “it just fits.” Certainly can’t argue with that.

-Valerie