Tar-iffic!

Day 25 - June 28, 8:43pm
85 miles. Linton, IN to Effingham, IL

Decided to try waking up and plugging into my ipod for the first few minutes of the day. I played my usual wakeup songs as i packed my sleeping bag, brushed teeth, etc and it really helped me center and focus myself. I really think the morning sets the tone for the day and I think I'll keep doing this.

I was really feeling it today and rode in the fast group with 4 others. We totally tore it up and were flying. After one of us got a flat we were in the back again but soon changed that. While the riding is by no means a race, it does feel kind of awesome to totally zoom by and pass every single person once in a while.

We passed into Illinois, "land of lincoln" i think. It was a pretty cool sign and funny since the Indiana sign had claimed "boyhood home of Lincoln". Guess everyone just can't get enough of good ol Abraham. I also introduced the group to the group guessing game "Contact" which is kind of like Boticelli. By the end of the day everyone was playing and enjoying it which was cool.

Soon we got into the country roads and basically crossed over into a new universe. When 80% of the road traffic consists of tractors and the only intersections are at least 1 mile apart, you know you're in the heartland. Making a wrong turn would not have gone well. But seriously it was crazy farmland as far as you could see. I just couldn't get over the expansiveness of it. Also the weather was perfectly nice, super clear blue sky.

Just in case we were close to getting a break, a wonderful headwind decided to say hello. The lowest i clocked was 8.6mph cranking my hardest on totally flat land. Yes, It was windy and kind of ridiculous

Also, my fuzzy leopard dice are officially back in business. The string had snapped but i finally fixed them yesterday. I realized that they're not actually dice though since they only have a leopard print on them. Maybe i should call them cubes? Oh decisions...

Changed time zones today! how crazy is that. Pretty cool to have gone 40 miles and have it still technically be 9:30am. Saw a confederate flag flying on a flagpole under an american one and got really excited. Sonya and are still trying to figure out if the motorcycle on it added or detracted from its hardcoreness.

Right before the second lunch at mile 65 I was totally ready for naptime and running on fumes. Within 2 minutes of pulling in started a vigorous 30 min nap that was great. It's after that when the day got interesting.

I decided that i really wanted to ride alone and enjoy the scenery. It was really great to just take it all in in silence and to focus on my thoughts, muscles, and feelings. Large spaces really help me reflect on myself, I guess sort of how people like looking at stars. Plus, racing tractors was a highlight.

So the only issue with this is that all the tractors had somehow spread tar all over the gravel roads. Now tar, gravel, and tires are not the best cocktail, and my bike didn't have the best reaction if you get me. Basically at lunch i was talking about how hilarious it would be if the sticky tar slowly pulled our bikes to a halt. Well, it was not so funny when it actually happened. Basically i realized that even if its not rain, hills, heat, dogs, dehydration, or headwind, something will still find a way to go wrong. My only options were to ride on the tar part of the road and gunk up my tires with more tar, or ride on the gravel, and have it get stuck to the tires. I still never found out what option C was.

I eventually powered on through at a pretty lame pace but it was so awesome to have persevered through such horrible roads. I think everyone felt this way. (Maybe not Larry and Carlos, whose derraileurs actually completely snapped off their bikes) We might as well have been riding on a beach at some points.

Along the way, Debbie was kind enough to fill up my Camelbak with ice from her home which was great. The only thing worse than tar and gravel is tar, gravel, and dehydration. A group of us also took a shade break only to find a beautiful black dog come play with us. I wanted to call him chocolate because of his brown eyes, but the group decided on aptly calling him Tar.

A couple days ago i had started riding and accidentally forgot my helmet. The deal with that is that if you even straddle your bike without a helmet, you have to wear it until you sleep. So yes, i am now walking around in my normal clothes eating dinner wearing a helmet. Guess what i'll never do again...

We're staying at St. Anthony's High School today and are staying in the gym. We played some pickup soccer and basketball which was great destressing, especially the soccer.

Fun happening: I finally wrapped my elbow wound by myself today. I value autonomy and independence very highly and it felt oddly great to be able to accomplish something so small. Being able to be totally in charge and in control of yourself and everything that happens to you is just very appealing to me.

Most guys are growing out the facial hair and its not too scary so far. I may or may not be in that group but I'm definitely growing it out all the way through. Will be fun to see people's reactions in September.

Off to pizza and 91 miles tomorrow!