Chicago, IL to South Bend, IN

Today may have been the worst day of riding I have ever had on the trip so far. Everything that could of gone wrong, went wrong.

We woke up at 5:30 and brought all out bags down to the lobby. We were greeted by pouring rain and thundering. It was pretty demoralizing, but we waited it out until it stopped. I was really looking forward for today’s ride, and I took the lead GPS tracker thinking that my paceline was going to be the first one’s there. We had a sponsored breakfast by a Pi Alpha from Indiana University, who provided us boiled eggs and croissants with almond butter, a nice change.

I was with Alex (Illinois), Jason (George Mason), and Matt (Colorado), arguably 3 of the fastest riders on the team. We wanted to be the first ones to South Bend, and it was very possible that we would be. Right from the beginning, things didn’t go our way. The verbal directions that our crew chief gave us were a little off and we ended up lost looking for the bike path. Once on it, it was pretty cool to see the city’s skyline, and the gorgeous park. There was a race going on so the bike path was packed with runners and bikers. Three miles in and Jason gets a flat tire. No big deal, and we’re on our way. After we left the bike path, the roads became a lot worst. It was easily the worst roads we ridden on. We past the state line, and were in East Chicago, Indiana where I got my first flat tire for the day. I changed the tubes, but the tube ended up pinching and got another flat. Half hour later, we were back on the road with experience over with. I now had a tire with a massive gash in it that may or not make it for the rest of the trip, let alone the rest of the day. It wasn’t fun either to be in East Chicago looking clueless and stranded. I swear the same pickup truck past us three times in the desolated part of town.

10 miles later, we hit another rough patch of potholes and I got another flat, this time my back wheel. I change out the tube, but the tube wont fill up air. My guess was that it was a faulty tube. We replace the tube, but when I put back the tire, my tire lever snaps. It’s just not my day. A half hour later, I already had two flat tires, and was down 4 tubes and a tire lever, and we only have completed 24 miles by 10:30 central, 11:30 eastern. We kept trucking along and then Jason’s clips started to get stuck he was unable to unclip. Basically, his shoes were stuck on his bike. This made it pretty tough to stop at red lights and stop signs, and wasn’t exactly the safe by any means. Props to him for finishing strong though. When we thought it couldn’t have gone worst, we were going on a bridge, and there was a 6 foot crack in the road, which was covered in the shade. I was the third guy in the paceline, and the front guy didn’t see the crack. My tire lands in the crack. At that point, I panic and try to drive left, but the crack was about 4 inches deep, and so my bike fails. I instinctively unclip and push my bike down, flip over the handle bars, and use the momentum for a run. At that point, I was in the middle of the road, and luckily, there were not cars in site. Had there been a car, it might not have been able to tell this story. After talking to few other people, there crack proved to be a huge problem not only to my paceline, but what seems to be most of the pacelines. We were now 40 minutes behind and the second to last paceline besides the sweeps. We get some water at the next crew stop, and recuperate. We then booked it, and go a straight 40 miles without stopping at any crew stop. I think we averaged 22 mph. One by one, we passed every paceline and were the first one’s lunch. That last 5 miles to lunch for awful, as every member of our paceline bonked. First Alex, then Jason, then me and finally Matt.
For lunch, we were sponsored by the same alumni from breakfast, who provided us sandwiches and cookies. We gobbled it down, and got ready for the last 12 miles to lodging. We headed out as the first group. One and a half miles until lodging, we were red flagged. After a 10 minute wait, we headed to lodging, but we were closely bunched up with the rest of the team. We went down this hill with a bend, and my water bottle fell out. I decided to pick it up, so I parked my bike up onto the curb. We had a crew van following us and he was way to close me so he stopped, however there was multiple bikes behind him which caused a little panic. Everything worked out in the end, but he shouldn’t not been so close behind me. He later apologized but it was an honest mistake and sticky situation. Because of the water bottle situation, we ended up getting passed by a few pacelines. 1 mile to go, and we still didn’t finish first. We were cursed.

We were staying at a catholic school across the street from Notre Dame’s campus. We took a quick shower and got ready for dinner, which was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, a local rotary club. They provided us with a spaghetti dinner and some icecream. I wasn’t too hungry, so I didn’t eat too much but the food was good. After dinner, we toured Notre Dame’s campus. It was pretty stunning, and absolutely gorgeous. I got a few pictures of the founders of Notre Dame conveniently holding up a Michigan flag, and it was neat to see the legendary “Touchdown Jesus.” It’s easy to poke fun at this school, but honestly, I have nothing but respect for Notre Dame.

After the tour, we headed back to the gym, where we had the rest of the night off. It was rough day, and I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say I’m glad today is over. I must admit, Indiana was so far the friendliest state, as everyone waved at us and were very encouraging. Nevada can take a page out of Indiana’s book.

Chicago, IL (Day Off)

I woke up at 7 AM, when to the gym to grab a quick workout, and went to the lobby to meet for lunch. Most of us went to West Egg, a breakfast nook a few blocks away. It was really good but had way to big servings and thus, overfilling. We went back to the hotel, and had basically the rest of the day off until 3:30. I wanted to check out Millennium Park and the bean. However, I needed some well deserved rest, and pretty much passed out until 3.

Yeah, it was a 5 hour power nap, no big deal.

I woke up, and got ready for dinner. I was a little groggy but not too bad. We walked to the subway station and took the “L” to Allison road, next to Wrigley Field. We walked around a little bit, and got a free tour of the rooftop seats for Wrigley Field. We then walked to Souco’s, an Italian restaurant. We were sponsored by a few Pi Alpha’s. The food was great and basically never ending pasta: alfredo, spaghetti and meatball, and sausage and pepper.

After dinner, stuff out of mind, we took the “L” train back to the hotel. Randomly out of nowhere, I saw Jack Butz, a friend from my chapter at Michigan. He had an internship in Chicago and it was nice catching up with him.

Once back at the hotel, I met up with my parents, which we went out for dinner, again (yeah, I felt like a hobbit today). We went to Banito’s, a really good Mexican-American food. Since it was a Friday night, the wait was unbelievably long. It was nice to see my parents and my sister one last time, and made me excited for DC. After the dinner, they dropped me back at the hotel. A solid day off, but I’m ready for the bike tomorrow, 95 miles to South Bend.

Glenview, IL to Chicago, IL

We woke up at 6, had the usual breakfast, and departed for Chicago. The ride was only 17 miles to lunch, where we were to have a friendship visit.

The ride wasn’t too bad at all. There was a lot of turns, which caused a little panic for the crew, and thus, too many red flags, but overall it wasn’t too bad. I was a little disappointed in the scenery of the ride, as we only passed the northwest suburbs of Chicago and nothing to extraordinary. We arrived at the friendship visit, which was roughly 8 miles from downtown Chicago and lodging. With a little flair, we prompted our bikes up in a line, and shock the hands of all the participants. The friendship visit was with an organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities of low income status. Most of the participants were black or Hispanic. We first started off by having a Jimmy Johns sponsored lunch. It brought back memories of hours of hard labor I once poured into the franchise. After lunch, there was a little basketball being played on the courts, along with a dance floor playing 90’s rap. One thing that I found a little interesting and partly disturbing was how all entire facility wasn’t maintained much, but there were state-of-the-art video cameras watching everyone from above…just in case. I met a kid named Patrick who gave me a one on one lesson on rapping.Basically, throw in some profanity every other word and syntax isn’t especially important. It was stream of consciousness but a little vulgar. After a while, a dance off begin between the participants and the Journey of Hope riders. Much of it was blurb but the roof was raised.

The friendship visit was different than usual. The participants were really into it, and it was a lot of fun. It was an experience, to say the least. We said our goodbyes and racked our bikes onto the vans. Because of the road conditions, the Project Manager decided on not riding to the hotel, mainly because of safety.

We arrived at The W hotel on Lake Shore Drive. Wow, it was the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Right next to the hotel was a beach on Lake Michigan. On top of that, its service was great, and the rooms were spacious. After settling in, a bunch of us decided to check out the beach before dinner. We took the 5 minute walk and I pretty much worked on my tan. Seeing the beach with the Chicago skyline in the background was absolutely stunning.

After relaxing in the sun for an hour, we headed back to the hotel where we got ready for dinner. For dinner, we were sponsored by, by the University of Illinois student’s parents, Alex and Tommy’s parents. We went to one of Chicago’s most famous pizzerias, Lou Malnati’s. It was a little different than I thought Chicago deep dish pizza to be. It was a little less cheesy than I expected. Regardless, it was delicious and quite filling.
After dinner, I had desserts with my parents and my sister, Sasha. They met me at the hotel, and we walked to Michigan Avenue, where we had desserts at the Grand Lux Café. The banana crème pie, the New Orleans Beignets, and the Chocolate Mousse cake did not disappoint. After saying goodbye to my parents, they headed. I was a little bored, so I went to the hotel gym and got a quick workout. After a long and fun night, I headed to bed, looking forward to my day off.

Milwaukee, WI to Glenview, IL

We had a pretty packed day, so there was no time to ride to Glenview. This doesn’t happen often on the trip (actually, this is the first and only time), but because of all the events that we were attending, we had to prioritize over cycling.

We woke up at 7 AM, rolled out of bed, and packed our bags for Glenview. We drove over to the headquarters of Independence First, where we had a similar breakfast to yesterday but included egg casserole…yum.

After breakfast, we drove to a Laundromat on Marquette’s campus, and did some laundry. I walked a little bit around the streets as our laundry was getting done, but we really couldn’t find the heart of Marquette’s campus.

After our Laundry was finished, we went to an Independence First “Power Lunch” with guest speaker, Lou Faligno AKA “The Incredible Hulk.” It was the first lunch fundraiser to this caliber that I have ever been a part of. The lunch was quite fancy, with a ham chipotle sandwich, grilled asparagus, and cheesecake for dessert. It was really interesting to be at the lunch, considering each ticket was $60 apiece. The Power Lunch promoted sports for people with disabilities and Kathy, our main sponsor, spoke about the bike rally that we attended, and a few personal stories. Another segment was about our trip, and our ties to Independence First. Finally, we ended with a slideshow movie about different persons with disabilities and how they overcame many obstacles. The slideshow was a little redundant and I fighting sleep throughout it.

Finally came the moment we were all waiting for, Lou Faligno’s speech. He basically spoke of his insecurity as a kid because of his speech impediment, and his ability to overcome obstacles in his life, such as his father’s respect and his lack of early career opportunities. He also spoke on how his passion for bodybuilding gave him the tools that made him the person he is today. Overall, I found his speech really motivating, although it was tough to understand him for the first 10 minutes.

After the speech, we got a hold of his notes from Kathy, and I thought it was funny that on top of his notes he wrote in big letters, “Slow Down!!” Surprisingly, Lou has really good handwriting. Although, there’s a good chance he didn’t actually write it.

After mingling a little bit with other people in the Power Lunch, we headed back to the headquarters for Independence First where we loaded our bikes, and took a picture with Lou Faligno. We then drove to Glenview. I did feel a little irritated that we couldn’t ride, but if we did, I wouldn’t get to meet Lou Faligno.
Once we arrived to lodging, we quickly unpacked our bags in the YMCA in North Brook, and we headed to our friendship visit. Today, we were hanging out with a few kids with autism at Pump it Up, an indoor inflatable playground, with slides and a trampoline castle. It was a lot of fun, but tiring, nonetheless. Regardless of all those miles on a bike, I still felt out of shape trying to keep up with these kids, bouncing up and down. After over an hour of racing and King of the Castle, we headed to the banquet room, where they had pizza, cookies, and salad.
After dinner, we headed back to the YMCA where I was greeted by my parents, who live 20 minutes away. My parents and I went back to their house where I saw Sasha and hung out with Blake. I had a quick snack with Mom’s special Biriyani and some mangos. After relaxing and watching TV, time flew by and I had to leave, to make it back to lodging before curfew. Once I arrived, I went straight to sleep, after another tiring day off the bike. Tomorrow is suppose to be pretty much another day off, with only 20 miles to downtown, all flat.

Milwaukee, WI (Day Off)

Today was technically our day off, although we have a 4 day stretch where we only do 40 miles, mostly flat.

We woke up at 7 AM, took a lukewarm shower, and headed to breakfast. For breakfast, we drove to the headquarters of Independence First, where we ate at their kitchen. The meal was great, there was a ton of fruit, and some granola and yogurt, the perfect fix for a parfait.

After the light breakfast turned heavy, we went to an underprivileged elementary school in the city of Milwaukee. We performed our Kids on the Block puppet show for over 200 children. We then walked to the nearby park with a few kids. To get the kids get excited about their “field trips,” they ride in “cars,” or cut out cardboard boxes. They were quite a tight squeeze on me.

After the steady walk, we went to a playground and campground specifically designed for people with disabilities. At the camp, we were given cold-cut Subway subs and chips. After lunch, we hung out with the campers, splashing around in the 10 inch deep waiting pool, and swinging on the swing set. This one camper kept calling me Michael Jordan, probably because of my height.

We then drove to the mall, where we had a few hours to hang out, and relax from the busy days. We windowed shopped a little bit, but by the end of time, most of us were craving a nap and were about to collapse in the chairs at Barnes and Nobles.

At around 5, we were to have dinner with a few middle school girls with disabilities. My van was paired with a girl named Kate. She had a disorder similar to CP, meaning she was not intellectually disabled, but couldn’t talk and had trouble expressing emotions. We had dinner at Five Guys Burgers, which was surprisingly good and pretty greasy. After gobbling down the burger and fries, we headed to Build-a-Bear Workshop, where we made Kate a stuffed Monkey. You could tell that she loved every moment of it. Once we were finished, we took a couple elevator rides, and we went back to show the rest of the group our new monkey friend. The sponsors loved the idea, and the other vans were definitely jealous but adored it.

We then headed back to the vans where we experienced Milwaukee rush hour traffic at its finest. Not too long after, we arrived at a school, where we got to play wheelchair basketball for 10 minutes and beeping baseball for an hour. Wheelchair basketball is basically, just as it sounds, and was a blast. I was pretty mobile on the wheelchair but struggled with the shooting aspects. I met a few of the guys that played regularly and they were intense, to say the least. I also played with a kid named Andrea who had a really sad story. He basically goes to this school that only has 20 students, and being a person with disabilities, he gets picked on by his classmates. He said to me, “I hate my friends, because they pick on me nonstop.” He asked for advice and I really didn’t know what to tell him, I felt so sad for him.

After basketball, we headed to the park outside, where we played beeping baseball. Basically, the pitcher (who can see) throws a ball that constantly beeps, and the batter (who is blind or blindfolded) hits the ball and runs to two poles (stationed at 1^st base and 3^rd base in traditional baseball). If the ball is closest to the 1^st base pole (that beeps), the batter would run to that pole and score a point. If the ball is closest to the 3^rd base pole (that beeps), the batter would run to that pole and likewise, score a point. However, if the infield (who is blind or blindfolded) finds the ball before the batter runs to a pole, than no point is awarded. After all players have batted, the opposing team gets to bat. It sounds a little confusing, but is not as complicated once it is seen.

I have pretty bad hearing, so I struggled. At bat, I came close to hitting the ball, but missed all 5 attempts. I then hit the ball off a T. Running to the closest pole was a lot tougher than I thought, and ended up not getting a point. When I was in the infield, I had trouble finding the ball, and at one point, ran into the batter. Needless to say, this was not an easy sport. I met this one guy, named Chuck, who was in his 70’s and was blind and had pretty bad hearing. However, he just loved to play and be out there, and you could tell he was having the time of his life. He apparently works for Independence First, which I thought was pretty neat.

After being annihilated by mosquitoes, we called it a night once it got too dark, and we headed back to lodging, where I took a nice shower and got ready for bed. After another long but fun day of programming, I was wiped and ready to sleep.

Waukesha, WI to Milwaukee, WI

Today, we basically had a day off, even though we were suppose to ride 30 miles today. There was so much programming and so much to do, we really didn’t have time to ride.

We woke up at 8 AM and packed all our stuff up and put it in the vans. It was the latest wake up we have had yet. We had breakfast served by our sponsors. It was pretty much a feast from blueberry French toast to chocolate fudge brownies. It was also nice to actually eat a heavy breakfast since we didn’t have to ride after it.

After breakfast, we drove the vans to our lodging for the night, roughly 30 miles away in Milwaukee. After we unloaded all our bags, we headed to a hockey rink where we were scheduled to play wheelchair hockey.

Now, I heard of most of these friendship visits and events during orientation, and I’ve been most excited about this one ever since. We got to the rink, and we put ourselves in the wheelchairs. I was a little confused on how this would work, because I thought it would be sled hockey, but it turned out great. We went on the ice and messed around on the wheelchairs. It brought me back to Denver when we played quad rugby. We finally got a puck and started the game. I took the starting faceoff and won it, no surprise there. Overall, it was a ton of fun. It was tough to move and stickhandle at the same time (pretty much impossible). Thus, the key was passing. I did make a couple toe drags and absolutely embarrassed people but it didn’t happen too often, because when I would get the puck, I would have to stop moving the wheelchair and pretty much come to a halt. It was nice to score a goal, but it wasn’t too pretty.

After wheelchair hockey, we were donated lunch by Q-Doba, so we had soft tacos and chips, along with a giant cookie. After the filling lunch, we headed to the Harley-Davidson Museum. Harley Davidson goes back since the turn of the century, so there’s a lot of history in the museum. It was neat to see the company’s involvement in both of the World Wars and its influence on pop culture. There was an exhibit showing the life of Evel Knievel, which neat to see where he came from and his impact on society. It’s amazing to see his crashes and how on earth he survived them.

After the museum tour, we headed to a local movie theatre. The theatre was the venue for a event held by Independence First. The event basically promoted bicycle riding for people with physical disabilities, and gave out 16 disabled-friendly bikes for different families. I got to try a hand-cycle bike, which basically works by cycling with your hands instead of your legs. Maneuvering was insanely tough because to move, you shifted the weight of your body, as opposed to a regular bike, where you just move your arms. They served some pizza and fruit for dinner, which was pretty good.

After dinner, we headed to Comedy Sportz, a comedy improve club. I think today’s act was also sponsored by Independence First as there was people with physical and intellectual disabilities in the show as well as in the audience. It was basically a scratchy version of “Whose Line is it Anyways.” Some of the jokes were pretty funny, but I can’t really say that about all of them. Regardless, it was a pretty neat experience especially since I’ve been to the Comedy Sportz club in Chicago.We headed across the street to the headquarters of Independence First. We took a quick tour, but it was rushed because of time.

After a long day, we headed back to lodging, which was at a day camp facility. We were in a lodge-like room, and we could tell the mosquitoes were not going to treat us kindly tonight. Regardless, we called it a night especially after the exhausting but fun day.

Rockford, IL to Waukesha, WI

Today was a little frustrating at first, but as the day went on, the frustration started to get better.

We woke up at 5, got ready, and had a crew chief breakfast. Today was suppose to be a long day, starting with a century ride.

We headed out as soon as we can, especially with the rack point being 90 miles by 12:30 PM. Jorge asked if I wanted to be in his paceline, and I didn’t want to be rude, so I joined: that was my big mistake of the day. We were joined with Jon (RIT) and Tucker (Iowa State). In order to make rack point, we had to go constantly fast, at least 17 mph…a realistic goal, but a challenge nonetheless. We headed out, taking turns of 3 mile pulls. When it was Jorge’s turn, we went ridiculously slow, like at 10 mph on flats. Obviously, we would not make rack point at that speed. So I made the on-the-spot decision to pull for like 40 miles straight. It was tough, but we were moving at a speed that could take us there. After mile 60, I was getting a little tired, and getting to the realization that racking was inevitable. I tried to push Jorge as much as I can, but it gets annoying when he yells “slow down” every minute. I ended up losing my patience more than once, but seriously, that kid wants to get racked…why did he join this trip if he didn’t want to work. Today was a manageable day. We didn’t finish because we chose not too, laziness. We ended up getting to the 80 mile mark before having to finish. We had 20 more miles, and we would be there. It was the first time on the trip that I had to rack, not due to weather constraints or bike problems.

At the road side crew lunch, I gulped down lunch, and we drove off to lodging. We were staying at a pretty nice Lutheran church, which had a well equipped basketball gym. After showering up, we headed to the friendship visit, which was at the local bowling alley. There were a ton of people to greet us, most with the organization called Independence First. Although I was having a pretty frustrating day at that point, and felt pretty down about racking, I instantly had a smile once I saw all the warm hearts of the people around us in the bowling alley. You could tell that they loved us. The participants in this organization were children with physical disabilities. They were all pretty smart and talented. Some participated in races and obstacle course in Chicago last week, and finished first in their division.

We bowled for a few hours and they provided us a snack platter. I bowled with the children of the person who ran it all, Kathy. Here sons, Jacob and Nathan, helped out and were currently in middle school. We talked a little and I got my mind off of this morning and Jorge. Overall, it was a lot of fun. I got a pretty high score, 86 and 84, but in fairness, I had bumpers.

After the friendship visit, we had dinner at a yacht club provided by the Davidson family. Now, the Davidson family owns the company, Harley Davidson (maybe you’ve heard of it), and were direct descendants of Harley Davidson. I thought it was funny that they were totally a yachting-type family and I could never see them on a bike. They were really nice and provided us some pulled pork sandwiches. After playing some bocce ball and cornhole, we headed back to the gym, where we had the rest of the night off. After wandering around for a little bit, we saw a room filled with sports equipment including lacrosse sticks and hockey sticks. We all of it out to the gym and started playing some floor hockey. Man, I never have had so much fun. I was deke-ing people left and right, and sniping with no mercy. I taught a couple teammates to do wrist shots, and just had a lot of fun. It was cool to see everyone get into it, I think we had half the team playing hockey.

After exhausting ourselves playing hockey, we did a quick upper body workout before heading to bed, we get to sleep in until 7 tomorrow.

Dubuque, IA to Rockford, IL

We woke up at 5:30 today. It looked really muggy outside, dark and depressing. From what we heard, there was flash flood warnings all over the state. Last night was filled with loud noises of thunder.

We had breakfast at the mess hall, it was surprisingly good. They served us eggs, and honey-curled ham, and sausages. Even though the eggs weren’t exactly fresh, there were really good probably because I haven’t had them in a long time.We headed out in groups of 6. In my paceline today was Tyler (Southern Miss), Paul (U of Toledo). We were doing fine. 10 miles in, we biked across the Mississippi River and onto Illinois. It was pretty nice to finally east of the Mississippi. Biking across the bridge brought memories back from biking across the Golden Gate in San Francisco, which feels like eons ago. The Mississippi was disappointingly murky and dirty. I would not want to take a swim in such a toxic swamp.

Once we got to Illinois, there was some dangerous construction, so we racked for approximately 10 miles. We hopped back on our bikes and started trekking. We passed the downtown of this small city and because of the traffic lights, about 4 pacelines clumped together. Basically, we had this mass body composed of 24 cyclists take over the town. It was much like a peloton. You could tell we had Tour de France fever. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike. I could tell that we completely confused every driver on that road by our presence.

We took a nice easy pace, and made it to lunch by 1. We were then told that we had to book it, because we had dinner plans at 4:30. So we did just that, we booked it. We started getting serious and were going at 25 mph on flats, not too shabby. A couple of times, we were going a little faster than our own good. One of the guys in my paceline accidently ran over a dead raccoon, and sprayed the guy behind him with maggots and raccoon guts…gross. Luckily, I was in front of him. We slowed down a little, but then picked it up considering that we were cruising through Rockford's worst area of town. We did pass Rockford Icehog's practice facility which was pretty neat.

At lodging, we took a quick shower, and headed straight to dinner. We were doing bad on the time constraint so we were rushed quite a bit. We went to a Italian restaurant for dinner, sponsored by a Saturn dealership, who have been sponsoring Journey of Hope for over a decade. The pasta was awesome, especially the home cooked meatballs and the chef’s special lasagna. We headed back to the Elk’s lodge where we relaxed for a half hour, and then had our weekly team meeting. We basically got chewed out for how unsafe we rode today. I understand that there are rules, but there are exceptions to every rule, and I personally think us cyclists made the right call. On top of that, crew doesn’t really know what it’s like to cycle 70 miles a day…they don’t see our perspective at all. Of course we couldn’t say anything, so we basically nodded our heads and played along. Regardless, I had the most fun riding today, and I would do it again. It kind of sickens me that Push America doesn’t really care about my safety, but more of their liability. After the long team meeting, we called it a night, considering it was already 10. Tomorrow was another century, but hopefully it doesn’t rain.

Davenport, IA to Dubuque, IA

There were a few obstacles in my day, today, but thankfully, I think I overcame them.

We woke up at 5 today, mainly because someone was late waking up yesterday. We had the usual breakfast and got ready to leave. Because we were late waking up yesterday, we just sat around until we could leave, at 6:30. It was not fun at all, just sitting around wasting time, especially when storm clouds were brewing.

By the time we were about to leave, it was getting dark, and the humidity kicked it up a notch. We headed out and drops of rain started to sprinkle and then pour. 10 miles in, we were soaked, our socks squishy with water, our sunglasses condensed with drips. We were miserable. I have always wanted to ride every mile of the trip so far, but I, along with the rest of my teammates, were praying for lightening. We noticed one car pass us, it the car for the show “storm chasers.” When you pass a “Storm Chasers” car, its not usually a good sign. 20 miles in, the rain was pouring hard, I made sure I kept a good distance from the cyclist ahead of me. One slip up could be costly. This was, by far, the most dangerous riding of the trip so far. 25 miles in, we heard the most heavenly sound of all, thunder. We pulled by the side of the road and waited for the crew van. Sure enough, a few minutes later, one appeared. We racked our bikes, strapped up, and waited for instructions.

The Project Manager decided to have us drive the rest of the way up to Dubuque. It was a smart call. We would of have to ride on Highway 6. Unfortunately, the only alternative rode, Highway 52, was shut down because of flash floods, and thus there was pretty bad traffic on 6. Top it off with some pouring rain, and it was a dangerous situation. As we drove on the roads we were suppose to ride, we could see pools of water on the sides of the road. Luckily, we weren’t riding through it. Eventually, we had to take a detour because Highway 6 became unbearable.

We arrived at lodging at around 11. Today we were staying at a summer camp serving people with disabilities. During this day, however, there were no campers staying, so we got to sleep on beds. After we unpacked, and showered up, we had lunch at the mess hall. I don’t know why, but I really don’t like camps. I could barely eat the food, and I just felt uncomfortable and longing to leave. I would sleep on a cold floor of a school gym over a bed in a summer camp, any day of the week.

We then took a tour to a place that was a complete surprise for me. We went to the movie site of Field of Dreams. It was 20 minutes by car from where we were staying at, but needless to say, we passed nothing but corn for miles. At the movie site, we got to see the entire field, play around a little bit, and took a few swings with a baseball and bat. It was a nice treat to a frustrating day.

We headed back where we had an hour to kill before dinner. I decided to take a short power nap, a very good decision. For dinner, we again ate at the mess hall, where they served burgers. I again, was not feeling it, so I didn’t eat too much. Not my favorite meal of the trip, by any means.

After dinner, we headed back to the lodging room, where we had the rest of the night off. The project manager, Drayton, bought Field of Dreams, the movie, and we watched it off his computer. It was neat to see all those scenes of the field, and we stood on the same grounds, 22 after the movie was shot there. After the movie, we rested, ready for the 120 mile day tomorrow. However, its suppose to pour, so hopefully it doesn’t get too bad.

Iowa City, IA to Davenport, IA

Today felt great. Its getting to the point where my legs are not even tired at all after 70 mile rides, and I literally could ride this Midwestern flat terrain all day.

We woke up at 6, had our usual breakfast, and headed out onto the road as soon as possible. We had to complete 65 miles before 11 today, not a tough task at all, but still a little bit of a challenge.

In my paceline was Jorge (George Washington), Trent (Nebraska), Rich (Iowa), Jon (RIT), and Chris (Michigan State). We were cruising just fine. We got a little frustrated at Jorge, who I felt was a little lazy today, and kept telling us to slow down. We’re going on literally, the flattest terrain ever today, with really good roads. We could go at 25 mph with not problem, yet we only moving at 13 mph…see my frustration.

Regardless, we kept on pedaling, and ended up getting there a half hour early. We arrived at our lodging, which was at a Clarion hotel, greeted by a few organizations that serve people with disabilities. There may have been a little over 100 people to greet us, and served us caramel popcorn, so it was a pretty sweet arrival. We put our stuff in the hotels and got ready for lunch.

For lunch, we walked to an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, called Happy Joe’s Pizza. It was a lot like Cici’s pizza, and was pretty good. I wasn’t too hungry, so I didn’t eat too much, but what I had was pretty good.
After lunch, we went back to hotels to relax until our friendship visit at 5. I ended up getting a buzz cut from one of the crew members, and watched a little bit of a movie on TV, before taking a nice hour long nap.

At 5, we headed to our friendship visit, which was at the local pool. When we arrived, it was packed with people, most of whom greeted us at the arrival. Because of my wound from kickball yesterday, I decided not to swim, and instead worked on my tan.

It was nice to just sit and relax, and mingle amongst our sponsors. Our sponsor for lunch and dinner today, was a graduate of University of Toledo, and was a diehard U of Michigan football fan. Finally, somebody that understands my pain from the past two years of the mockery of the Michigan tradition. Hopefully things change,…please, not again, Rich Rod.

After a couple of hours, we finally had a quick dinner, of walking tacos (basically beef and taco condiments on a bag of Dorritos), we headed back to the hotel.

I ended relaxing in my room until bed time. Overall, a pretty good day.

Cedar Rapids, IA to Iowa City, IA

Today was a really easy ride. We woke up at around 6 and had a sponsored breakfast by one of the Iowan natives, a student at Iowa state, Tucker Harrison. The breakfast was delicious, a little different from what I’m used to. I had breakfast pizza, a cinnamon bun, and a cookie. I was rolling over, complete stuffed. We headed out to our destination, Iowa City, completely south of Cedar Rapids. It was only 30 miles away, so we tried to sprint it out, and get there as fast as we could. We ended up getting there about 2 hours ahead of schedule. We staged up for arrival, and basically waited it out, until 11. Looking around, I was pretty impressed with the city. It was basically a complete college town, for University of Iowa, and I was really impressed by the scenic campus, especially the river through the campus.

We then rode our bikes right to the center of campus, where we headed to the old city hall. At the old city hall, we went upstairs to the convention center, and were greeted by the Arc of Southeast Iowa, and a couple guest speakers. One of those speakers were the president of University of Iowa, who gave a really entertaining speech about our journey.

We then rode to lunch, which was at the local cafeteria. It was all you can eat, and to say the least, it was awesome. Pizza, salad, double cheeseburgers, chocolate milk, they had everything a growing boy can dream of. I definitely ate a good 5 pounds. I am truely jealous of U of Iowa. If Michigan’s cafeteria was as good as this then...I would be fat. I guess its for the better.

We walked our bikes to lodging (a block away). We could of biked it, but most of us could barely stand up after that lunch. We were staying at the student union, which basically doubles as a pretty good hotel.

I then did my turn of scouting, checking out the first 20 miles of tomorrows ride. It looks like not a bad ride, except a few rolling hills here and there.

We headed back to campus, to have dinner at the same cafeteria. Man, I could have the same meal...and I did. Except, tap on some bacon-wrapped turkey fillets, and we were golden.

After my third overstuffed meal, we walked across the street to park, where we had a friendship visit with the local Arc chapter. We just hung out for a while, and got a kickball game started. It was a lot of fun, until I slipped, and totally scrapped my knees. My first booboo on the trip, funny it was on a bike. Actually, not so funny at all. Kind of sad.

We then had the rest of the night off. A few of us went to Tucker’s house, where we spent the rest of the night, until curfew. We played a few games of pool, a couple games of Wii, and got to meet Tucker’s family. It was a good time. Tucker lives basically on a farm, and has a cow and a calf. It looked delicious. The calf was very cute, and pretty adorable, like a little puppy. But still looked delicious.

We headed back to lodging, where we slept off a pretty fun day.