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.