Good morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are!
Today marks the -56th day until we fly out of Chicago to begin our Illini 4000 cross-country ride! My name is Jonathan Boudreaux and I will be your journalist for the coming summer! :) Our excitement is ramping up as we complete our pre-ride fundraising goals, begin our longer training rides, and continue to count down the days. Tonight, we are staying in, you guessed it, beautiful Champaign, Illinois! Today and tomorrow were supposed to consist of an overnight training ride, but due to some uncooperative weather, we have rescheduled the majority of the ride to Sunday. What this doesn’t stop us form doing is training for our chores at a local church.
Chores are the various tasks that are needed and completed throughout the ride; they range from duties such as packing the van, making breakfast and dinner, and waking everyone up (truly a selfless and necessary task), to repairing bikes, managing our funds, and running our social media accounts (@illini4000, go like and follow!). We are also getting our first taste of I4K spaghetti, which will be a common dinner for us throughout the summer.
I am currently sitting in front of a riveting chess match between Paul and Adam as we eat and get ready to head out before the thunderstorms arrive. We will ride 50 miles beginning Sunday morning at 7 AM sharp, followed by a 70 miler and two 90 milers in the coming weeks. We will see you again on May 26th for our flight to NYC and the beginning of our journey! :)
Pictured L to R: Adam, Hanna, Nabeel, Sam M., Paul, Sam R., Jonathan