Mind over Matter

Day 26 - June 29, 9:42
92 miles. Effingham, IL to Springfield, IL

First of all, I never really touched on the name our last town, Effingham. It's one of those things that you're relieved to find out you're not the only one who takes pleasure in.

Marisa and I were on sweep today meaning that we were suposed to be the last riders at all times. The last time i swept with Noah it was super fun and everyone ususally feels the same way since its basically an excuse to just take it slow and check out everything you can along the way. While i had high hopes for the day, we got a foreshadowing of what was to come when we did only 5 miles in the first hour.

It started out with my second flat tire of the trip. I've had a few tire problems in my time, but never an actual staple folded into my tire. Seriously, I don't think an actual stapler would have done such a good job of lodging it in there like that. It took 25 minutes altogether, not my best time. We then found out that Dennis' tire had one upped me and gotten actually slashed. When we caught up with them they had used a folded up dollar bill to plug the hole and inflate the inner tube. (It really works!)

The scenery was more of the same flat roads and farmland over and over and over and over again. We were literally in seas of corn. So much corn. So much. The only thing there may have been more of than corn was headwind. It just didn't want us moving. The craziest part was tthat no matter what direction the road turned, even when it did a full U turn, the headwind was still there to greet us.

Fortunately we hit a sweet bike path around mile 49 that took us about 11 miles to our second lunch. It was covered on both sides by trees so there was no wind meaning we could comfortably go 15mph or so as opposed to our previous of 9mph. It was so nice to be able to ride without worrying about 18 wheelers coming up on my ass and was a much needed mental break from the never-ending highway. It was so scenic and kind of made me feel as if i was riding through Narnia or something. Except without the centaurs and evil Ice queens and such.

I've established that after lunch is always my least favorite time since you've done so much but need to keep going and almost always gorge too much on food. But this time was especially bad. I hate to say it but around mile 70 I felt like i would shoot myself if I could. We were back in the Farm Sea and up against the worst headwind ever. The lack of a shoulder on the highway didn't help. Marisa was being a super soldier by powering on despite her bad knee, and it was no fault of her own, but it was personally maddening to have to pedal at 8 or 9mph when I knew that i could easily push 15 and get there twice as fast.

What really topped off this mess was that we could literally see 5 miles ahead of us at a time. The road was basically saying "Hey look at how much more of this constant peddling you have to struggle through!" It really reminded me of that shot from the wizard of Oz with the long winding road headed towards Emerald City with green on either side. It was basically that minus Toto and with a Corn Harvesting plant instead of Emerald City. Oh and I guess the yellow traffic lines do technically make it a "yellow road" I love it when analogies work out!

It was getting late and we just buckled down and kept pushing until we hit another bike path at 83, at which point the main struggle had finished. We ended up pulling into the church at 7:40, 12 hours after we had departed the first city. The church treated us to some great turkey burgers and Sherbet, that fun ice cream that instantly reminded me of those Flinstones Push Pops I used to inhale as a child.

This was definitely my most mentally challenging day yet, and speaks to how much cycling is not just physical. I had to start chanting at certain points to keep my mind from realizing how upset I was. It's kind of amazing how far we can push ourselves when we need to and I wonder/hope if I'll be able to carry this fortitude with me in my normal life.

Despite all of this, I did get to finally run through tall corn at one point, since it's been previously too short. It was super fun and way easy to get lost. I hope to venture deeper in the future. Maybe some bicycle themed crop circles wouldn't be too bad either...

Build day tomorrow!
Also, there are apparently some blog readers from Russia which is awesome, Privyet!