A quick jaunt to Milwaukee and back...

I'm sitting at a cafe in Manhattan's Upper East Side (swanky I know!) called Cafe Jax.  I have to admit... life is pretty good right now.  I'm still riding some of the high I got from finishing the 4K, I successfully completed my tour of the Midwest (I SWEAR I will actually blog about that once I get a chance), and since that has finished, I went to one of my old roommate's amazing wedding (congrats Peter and Bobby!), flew to Boston where I saw several friends, including two 4K teammates, then took a bus to Glens Falls, NY where I saw yet another teammate, and now here I am in NY, seeing friends and actually staying with a 4Kouch (4K's couch surfing program) host, Rob Keleher (who is incredibly nice, like NEBRASKA NICE and anyone who reads this blog knows how obsessed I am with how people are nice in Nebraska), and after NY I will be traveling down the East Coast even further, seeing friend and teammate after another, and finally to top it all off, I fly off to Germany in a few weeks for new adventures and even more bike rides through the forests of Germany (oh yeah also this thing called working and making money or something), and also as a bonus I just wrote a massively long and run on sentence that takes up the entire paragraph that is totally not grammatically kosher but I'm so excited about all the things I am doing / will get to do that I don't know how else to write it and I don't even care #4kgrammarok.

I guess what I'm failing to mention is that going to Germany to bike (and teach to make money when necessity dictates) requires uh... planning.  So here I am, no ticket yet (oops), no job planned (which is actually not so bad, because in Germany you can only get a job once you get there... it's a very face to face culture), no idea of where I will stay in Berlin (comforted by the fact that Berlin is not as expensive of a city as say London or Paris).  At the same time, while I have this daunting challenge after me, I feel very calm and not nervous about it really at all.  Maybe it's the "wow turns out if I put my mind to it I can do anything!" mentality that completing the 4k gives you, maybe it's just pure laziness, maybe it's just sheer delusion.  Buuuuut in the spirit of those three maybes, I figured instead of doing what I should really be doing and buying my tickets (yikes $$) or working on my resume or cover letter or looking for housing, I'll just blog!  I have so much to blog about and I'm afraid that if I don't start now, I'll get so behind that I won't ever catch up... so here goes... Chicago to Milwaukee and back to Chicago...

So I get to the Milwaukee City Hall and it's under construction...

Why

200+ miles in one day... I think when I told people about this ride, the number one response was... why???!!!! why???!!!! but seriously, WHY????!!!!

To be perfectly honest, I don't have one uniform answer for this question.  I could say that I was doing it to train for my Midwest Tour (which had some crazy mileages as well... not as quite as insane as this one, but still), but that's only a very small part of it.  Doing this ride definitely taught me A LOT about doing long rides by myself, but that wasn't really the main reason.

It certainly wasn't to see Milwaukee, because as you'll read below, I spent only a few minutes there before I had to bike back (fortunately I have visited Milwaukee before with a car so I didn't really feel like I was missing out).

I think the only answer I could really give is... why not?  I had a free day, I'm in good shape from the 4K, I know the roads there and back are safe... why not go for it?  So I kind of have to leave this section seeming incomplete, but I honestly don't know how else to do it... plus I'm hoping that you'll be more interested in hearing how I did it, rather than precisely why.... so here goes...

How (and how not)
I left super early in the morning, around 5:30AM.  Of course it was pretty dark then, but one of the nice things about biking out of Chicago is that because the city is lit so brightly everywhere, you can bike safely in the dark (as in biking in the dark in Chicago is very common).  I also knew that I would be on a path right dby the lake front for a good hour or so at the beginning.  Basically one of the main concerns with such a long ride is that you just need an incredibly long time to do it, so the earlier you leave, the better.

Ok I admit it I stole this picture from one of my friend's facebook page... but it basically shows what I got to see as I left Chicago that morning... sorry and thanks Molly

The morning started really well.  I even had a slight tailwind!  A rarity for 4K riders it seems, no matter what direction we're headed.  The only thing I was TERRIFIED about was my rear rack / pack.  You see, when most people go on long rides and need to bring large amounts of food and gear, they use panniers and all kind of special bags to hold their stuff securely.  But of course here is how I brought my stuff:

Ok this picture is actually from my Midwest tour, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what I had with me.  And yup... those are basically the cheapest bungee cords I could find.   It is pretty jenky, but it did its job.

The pack added a good amount of weight to the bike (it was noticeably heavier to pick it up) and I was terrified that I was going to break a spoke.  Despite the fact that you should really never break a spoke, on our 4K ride we had so many broken spokes (usually the just the spoke nipple actually) that I guess the fear of breaking one lingered in my mind.  I actually have a tool to replace broken spoke nipples and kind of the ability to do it (I admit once I was trying and I broke my teammate Chris's spoke... sorry Chris), but obviously it seriously cuts into the time you have to ride.

Actually about fifteen miles into the ride, my bike started making this awful noise and I was TERRIFIED that I had broken a spoke.  Fortunately the "only thing" that had happened was that one of the bungee cords had gotten loose and gotten wrapped around the wheel and started rattling against the spokes... ok that actually sounds REALLY BAD but you'll just have to take my word for it that it wasn't.  I was able to just pick up the bungee cord and I found a way to tie it around my pack more securely.

Anyway, aside from that brief scare, the morning went really well.  I rode through the north suburbs of Chicago (for the most part very nice to bike through and actually I saw a lot of other cyclists, which was really encouraging and made me feel more comfortable).

Almost at the Illinois Wisconsin border... look at me, so optimistic and not worn out at all

 I made it to the state line with really good time.  It helped that Illinois is flat as a table.  When people think of the Midwest they think flat... but I promise you that is a lie  Maybe it's flat in a car when you're going on the interstate, but when you're on a bike, you feel every tiny gradual change in the grade.  Most of Ohio is really hilly, Indiana is mostly flat but still has some very, very gradual changes in the grade.  And despite what certain 4K alumni tell you *ahem* Iowa and Nebraska are NOT FLAT they are very hilly.  Illinois was really the only truly flat state.  In fact, as soon as I crossed the state line into Wisconsin, I encountered some very gradual hills (much like Indiana actually).

I actually took a selfie at this sign, but turns out I am REALLY BAD at taking selfies so you'll just have to trust that I actually biked here instead of stealing a stock photo from the internet *ahem*

Wouldn't be 4K Portland without going through at least one tunnel, even on a bike path

Also wouldn't be 4K without going through a tiny town.  Although compared to some of the towns we went through I suppose 6000+ is a metropolis

Honestly I have to say the ride to Milwaukee was really smooth and nothing went wrong.  No flats, no broken spokes, parts of the route I took were really bumpy but still overall felt safe (a lot of trail riding too which is very nice).  The only issue I really had was that for some reason when I go on long rides by myself, I have this really weird habit of forgetting about eating meals.  I guess that's what happens when you're introduced to long distance biking with a van that literally delivers meals to you along the route?  As I got close to Milwaukee (close to completing the first century), I became pretty hungry (because it was lunch time duh).  But for some bizarre reason, instead of stopping and getting lunch, I decided it would be smart to just try to eat granola bars and other snacks I had brought with me (including just balls of cooked rice).  Of course that didn't work, and I became weaker and weaker, but couldn't figure out why (sometimes I have very little common sense).  Finally my stomached yelled at my brain loudly enough and I stopped at a Wendy's just outside Milwaukee for a quick lunch.

Again.. it wouldn't be 4K without fast food for lunch.  I'm pretty sure I had a bunch of healthier options available.. but I didn't even think about it and just went for the Wendy's.  In my defense, I went with a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger, which would have been the true 4K choice.

 Feeling much better after that meal (surprise, eating meals is something you should do while biking long distances), I headed into Milwaukee.  Like I said before, I spent a total of about fifteen minutes in the downtown area, snapping just a couple of pictures before getting back on the road.

First century.  I would like to be able to say that I put safety first and stopped biking to snap this picture with my iPhone, but unfortunately my bike computer exposes to the world that I was moving at a speed of 13.9 mph when this picture was taken.  I'm pretty sure I was on a bike trail when it was taken... yes... that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Didn't know where to put this pic, but I thought the mural of the cyclist was pretty cool... so enjoy

Ok so this picture obviously someone else took for me.  Because of that it should have been a much cooler picture with more of the water behind me instead of this random building, but *sigh*

I think this picture is much better and it should have been more of the background for the picture above

Milwaukee City Hall.  Looks really cool from this perspective but...

this is the base of the building when I was there... oops of course they would be doing construction when I was there

I was in such a hurry to leave Milwaukee that I took this picture of this cool looking building, but I have no idea what building it is.  Bonus points if you find out what it is and post a comment about it.  By bonus points I mean everyone will know that you have no life and spend way too much time obsessed with my blog... just kidding... please read my blog

After snapping these pics in Milwaukee, I headed back towards Chicago.  It was definitely daunting to look at myself on google maps and see that I was so far away from home, that I had a ways to go still.  But I was still optimistic, my legs felt good.  Maybe the only thing was that I could feel myself chaffing slightly but it really wasn't too bad and so I just ignored it.  I mean... what could go wrong with that??? Dun dun dun...

Back in the flattest state in the Midwest... see what I mean by terrible selfies?

This picture is dedicated to Victor, my 4K teammate / son from this summer, who was fond of saying, "it's all good, it's all good"

On the way back, I did encounter some headwind briefly, but honestly it wasn't too bad.  But being as hard headed as I am, I forgot the lesson I should have learned from the ride up to Milwaukee, and didn't eat dinner until 8PM or so.... oops.  In retrospect it was incredibly stupid, because it really the exact same problem I had with lunch.  I felt hungry and fatigued, but instead of stopping for 10 minutes to eat a dinner, I just kept biking and trying to compensate with granola bar after granola bar.  Finally my stomach (which I'm sure was in disbelief that this was happening yet again... the same day...) yelled really loudly enough at my brain and I stopped for a quick dinner at a gas station (oh yeah... what could be better than a nasty gas station sandwich).

By this point it had started to become dark, but I knew that was totally fine because the last 40 miles or so into Chicago are basically a combination of trail and city riding, which are both pretty safe at night.  Even before I left for the ride, I knew this was something that was likely to happen so it didn't worry me at all.  

But what I hadn't anticipated happening was that the little bit of chaffing that started back in Milwaukee would morph into probably the worst chaffing I've ever experienced.  Surprise surprise when you ride 200+ miles in a single day with a high cadence and put butt'r on only once you have problems... in retrospect it's a lesson that I shouldn't have needed to learn through such a painful last 25 miles or so.

For both of our sake's, I do not have a picture of my chaffing.  But I think this picture is a nice substitute.  I would say I was at pain level number 4.

Unfortunately the chaffing was rather crippling because I couldn't ride with a high cadence which is how I always prefer to ride (high cadence = thighs and butt rub a lot against each other, against saddle, etc. = very painful when you have a lot of chaffing).  So I was forced to put my bike in a very high gear and ride with a super low cadence (my 4K teammates are laughing at me right because they know how OBSESSED I am with high cadence.. I mean I guess the rest of you know too, just look at the title of my blog).

But despite all the chaffing and getting too hungry and biking in the dark (again which was safe I promise!), I made it back around 11PM, safe and sound.

Hard to see, but the distance is 199.99 miles.  For some reason I had this terrible fear that my computer would reset to 0 miles once I crossed 200 so I took this picture just in case.

Within one mile of home and way way more tired and sore and chaffed than at the beginning of the day

Double century!  Finished at 207.67 miles

So that's the story of my first double century.  As happy as I was to finish the miles, the more I think about what I did, the more insane it seems.  But of course I regret nothing (except maybe the chaffing) and I'm really really glad I did the ride.  If nothing else it makes a great story and lets people know that I am insane (always a good thing)!

My tips on a double century ride
As I wrote at the beginning of this post, the main reaction I got when I told people that I was going to do this ride was... why?  Having finished now, far as I am concerned not only do I not regret doing the ride, but I want to do more double centuries, and eventually a triple century (I mean.. it's perfectly logical, after two comes three).  Buuuuut having said that, there are some things I might do differently if I did it again... and I thought I would share them with you.  So may I humbly suggest, my tips on doing a double century ride (or any other super long ride) solo... I mean one of the things I would like to do through my own biking is get other people excited about biking and inspire them (if I may use such a word is to go on their own long bike rides!

1. Bring a lot of food... like more than you think you might need.  Riding a double century is NOT the time to be worried about calories or losing weight.  You are not riding a double century to lose weight.  You are riding a double century to ride a double century.  So you will need to eat really often... like around 250-300 calories an hour, which is actually quite a bit.  In fact, it's definitely better to overeat slightly rather than undereat.  There is nothing worse than becoming fatigued because your blood sugar is dropping because you didn't eat enough.  At the same time, I suggest trying to eat moderate quantities often rather eating a huge amount of food infrequently.

Also, it is a good idea to actually carry lunch and dinner with you rather than make stops.  I suggest bringing a couple of sandwiches.  This way, you'll never have to be afraid of not having a place to stop for meals, plus stopping for meals and buying food usually takes longer than just pulling out a sandwich from your bag.

If none of this is convincing, here is a list of what I ate that day (ok I probably could have eaten a lot more healthfully...):

Breakfast of 2 eggs with a lot of rice + vegetables (it was a big breakfast )
11 granola bars
7 oz bag of beef jerky
3 large gatorades
1 large powerade
1 large coke
1 Wendy's meal
1 gas station sandwich
1 large bag of sun ships
5 rice balls
a post ride meal of a giant burger + fries + a slice of of chocolate cake to celebrate

Basically me that day

I calculated the calories, and I think it comes out somewhere around to 7000-8000 calories, and that's just a conservative estimate.  And trust me when I woke up the next morning I was really really hungry.

Also, don't be afraid of sugar.  You really have to work hard to keep your glucose levels up on such a long ride, and even if it's not so good for you, once in awhile it isn't the worst to buy a bottle of coke just for the sugar.  At least that is my opinion.

2. Bring spare bike parts... ok this one is pretty obvious so I won't spend too much time on it, but bring extra tubes, a pump or CO2 cartridges, a patch kit,etc all that good stuff.  I lucked out and didn't have any problems, but obviously it was a good idea to not count on getting lucky.  Also a roll of duct tape can perform miracles if you need it.

3. Try to never stop... ok maybe not never, but in order to complete so many miles, you just have to keep moving.  A lot of times it isn't your speed that makes it impossible to complete so many miles, but rather just how often you stop.  Obviously you have to stop once in awhile.  So my suggestion is to make the most out of each stop.  Whenever you do stop, try to do everything you need to do - so fill up on water, grab snacks out of your bag to put in your jersey pockets, use the bathroom, put on butt'r (very important), check directions, make bike adjustments, etc.

4. Use butt'r... often.  I think I don't need to elaborate on this one.

5. and last but certainly not least... ride with a high cadence.  My teammates are probably either laughing or about to call me and scream at me to stop talking about cadence, but honestly without a high cadence there is just no way to you can completely such a long ride.  If you ride with a low cadence all day, more than likely your knees will hurt like crazy, your legs will be sore, and you will tire yourself out way faster.  Even after 200 miles my knees felt great and my legs weren't that sore, because they never had to work all that hard (plus it is mostly flat).

So that's the story of my Milwaukee ride.  And you know what?  I did take a break from riding for one day afterwards (due to the terrible chaffing especially), but despite what I thought initially, within a few days of the ride, I was ready to get back on my bike.  I'm not exactly sure what it is about biking I am finding so addictive (perhaps it's eating several day's worth of calories by lunch, seeing the land in the most unique way possible, or something else), but hopefully you enjoyed about my adventure, and even more importantly, go on your own adventures...

Til the next ride (hint which took place just six days after this ride)...

4k forever... my beloved teammates...

Hello from Denison (Granville, OH)!  I can't believe I biked out here (well most of the way).  While I would love to write about biking from Chicago to Denison, I won't just yet because the trip is still ongoing and I'd prefer to write about it after it is over.  Also... I have yet to blog about my Milwaukee trip, which... won't happen this post, because I have so much to say about my teammates.... so keep reading!

My teammates.  What can I say.  What can I actually say to explain what it's going to be like between us for the rest of our lives?  Other 4K alum will understand, but even still, how to explain how we feel towards each other?

Well, I think I have a way... and *dun*dun*dun*... it's going to take the form of a confession, which will be quite the surprise for even my own teammates.  Also enjoy some of my favorite pictures with the team (there are SO MANY MORE PICTURES than I have space / time to show here).

Ligonier, PA Day 3... one of the earliest and one of the best

Hmm not sure where this was taken either, but it must have been very early in the trip because my hair is not insanely long yet.  Those of you who are art critics will be able to appreciate the sharp contrast between Taylor's light tone and my mocha tone

On May 30 when I flew into Baltimore, I felt very mixed about the trip.  It isn't that I didn't want to go or anything so drastic, but I had no idea what it would be like to spend 70 days with people who are essentially strangers (oh how that has changed).  And to be brutally honest, I felt uneasy about spending that much time with that many non University of Chicago people.  Let me explain what I mean (I went to University of Chicago in case it isn't obvious by now).

As my University of Chicago friends know all too well, UChicago people... often do not mesh well with non-UChicago people.  I don't know if it's snobbery (on our part that is), whether it's just a different way of thinking about the world, whether it's whatever it may be, but for some reason a lot of UChicago people have the mentality that no one in the world can really understand us except for other UChicago people (hmm yes it is sounding more and more like snobbery).  I'm not joking when I say that when I walk around everyday, I often think about how to better apply Aristotle's concept of the philosophical friendship to my life, what lessons about language I can take from Antony's famous funeral oration in Julius Caesar, what exactly Heidegger means by present-at-hand vs ready-at-hand and thingness and the meaning of being and yadi-yadi-yadi you get the point (wow I am a snob someone stop me).  Above all we're supposed to be intellectual.  The purpose of our education is NOT a job or a career (although those are nice too), but the improvement of our minds.  Every year at UChicago a professor gives a speech called the "Aims of Education."  It's a very big honor and privilege as a professor to be asked to give this speech.  It's funny, every professor has his or her own style and delivery, but in the end EVERY YEAR the speech has the same message: that education's value is education itself, and that everything else is secondary and not as valuable.

At the Navigator's in Columbus

Peter's birthday in Oakwood, OH

Maybe to hammer home this point about UChicago even more, in the early 90s President Clinton offered to come to the University of Chicago to give the commencement speech for that year's graduating class.  Bill Clinton!  The President of the United States!  And you know what UChicago students, faculty, and alum said?  No thank you... you can give a quick speech about policy, but we want our commencement speech to be given by a member of the academic faculty and not a politician.  That is how dedicated UChicago is to pure intellectualism.

The point of saying all this is to try to explain just how much of a culture shock it was for me to start the 4K.  The things that make up the essence of 4K - sharpeeing people's names on your legs, team cheer and dedication circle every day, biking across the country to fight cancer - these things do not belong to the world of UChicago.  We're talking about the school that had a president who wanted to abolish all sports, fraternities, and most extracurricular activities, because he saw them as a distraction to the intellectual development of the students (this place is insane!  although I love it...)..

Not even sure where this was taken but thumbs up.  I think it was Columbus actually

Cancer Hope Lodge in Cincinnati, OH.  Feels like a lifetime ago...

Maybe the final point about this confession will be that as UChicago students, we have a tendency to question EVERYTHING, and especially question things that are intended to be symbolic and gestures of goodwill.  When I told some of my UChicago friends post-trip about what we would do each morning... write people's names on our calves, dedicate our rides to people in our lives and let them know we were riding for them that day, I was greeted with skepticism.  Nothing malicious, but questions like, well what's the point of that?  It's not like riding 120 miles for your cousin who is fighting cancer right now is going to cure him or her of cancer.  I don't want to make it sound like my friends didn't support me during my 4K ride (they definitely did) or that they don't support the program, but again, a lot of what we did on the trip simply does not belong to the world of UChicago.

To be perfectly honest, I was just as skeptical as they were about all of this at the beginning of the trip.  I remember thinking to myself it was a bit odd or maybe even awkward to dedicate your ride to someone who wasn't even there, someone who might not even know that you were riding for them.  But as my teammates can attest to, I don't feel that way anymore.  I don't know exactly when my mind changed, but I can tell you what changed it.

I saw how much it meant to our hosts along the ride when we told them that we would ride for either them or their family who were cancer survivors or had lost their battles to cancer.  I saw how much it meant to Jamie's family that we were riding for her and those for whom had intended to ride.  When I saw all these things, I realized that the things we do on 4K are not only symbolic gestures but real and meaningful ways to make a difference in people's lives.

But most importantly, I saw the example of my teammates, who truly took to heart this coast to coast bike fight against cancer.  I saw them set an example for me as they got up everyday at 5AM (or 4AM sometimes ugh) and cover themselves with sharpie, send text messages to those for whom they were riding, and so much more.  When I saw how riding for someone made my teammates ride that much stronger and helped them finish days that they might not have finished otherwise, I couldn't help but change my own mind about everything on the 4K.  My teammates are the ones who truly made 4K what it is.

One of my favorite from Chicago... my Chicago friends will (or at least should) recognize where this is

Sorry Dorothy, but I don't care what you and your dog think.  We're definitely in Kansas.  Now take Toto and go home before your aunt and uncle get worried.

If it weren't for my teammates, I would never have made this transformation.  If it weren't for them, I would still be stuck in the pure UChicago mentality, wondering if I could ever really get close to non-UChicago people.  They're the ones who helped me break out of this mentality.  Without them I would not be the same person I am today.

with Team San Francisco in Boulder, CO (also for some reason Team San Fran's average height is 2341241 inches more than our average height... although I certainly do not help even out the difference

Not sure what is going on here but I think I need an adult (by the way I'm currently drinking out of that water bottle sitting in Denison's library... I don't think drinking of a cup will ever feel quite right)

As if it isn't incredibly obvious, we are still in contact constantly.  Our GroupMe (group texting app) has new messages every single day, most of us have left our Life360 on (GPS tracker) so we know where we are... I know a bit creepy, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  There have been a number of visits and reunions already (including mine in Denison right now!) and more to come.  In just about a week I start a two week long trip down the East Coast, going friend to friend and visiting so many teammates.  Leaving Portland was truly depressing, but I can't tell you how good it will feel to see so many of my teammates very very soon.

Bend, OR.  Kelsey (right) LOVED licking my shiny sweaty legs.  I mean... the dog, not Kelsey... it went on for a solid 5 minutes.  I wonder if I went back now if it would do it again.  I'm secretly hoping the answer is yes.  Doesn't that dog look so happy?

Beach + champagne + bikes = win

Finally team picture at one of the best hosts, Tillamook.  This is when Jamie's family began riding with us

So that's it for now.  If my words don't tell you how much my teammates mean to me, hopefully these pictures will help.  I can't imagine not talking to them every day.  Sometimes we joke about buying a 4K Team Portland house in Arapahoe, NE (basically the middle point of our trip) and while I know we're joking, sometimes I can't help but wonder... BUT WHAT IF WE ACTUALLY DID BUY A HOUSE AND ALL MOVE OUT THERE AND LIVE IN A GIANT COMMUNE.  COME VISIT US SOME DAY?

4K forever... biking and adventures beyond... also a nice trip out to the Chicago suburbs

Ok in the last post I said I would write this post in a day or two... and it's been almost a week.  OOPS.  Sorry about that.  Truth of the matter is I have 92341241242 things I have to get done, but I just can't wait any longer to write this post.

Last time I said that I wanted to talk about how I want to keep 4K going forever in my life.  But not just in a wishful or sentimental way.  Rather, in a practical way that is meaningful and requires real action.  The first of these, which I want to talk about now, is the most physical - to keep biking and the thirst for adventure it brings.

Now in a strange way, 4K isn't really about biking... it's really about the fight against cancer, being a team, and so many other things before biking.  But for me, even if it's not priority #1, an undeniable part of 4K is biking, and biking long distances at that.  It's looking at a 100 mile day and saying, well that's not so bad compared to when we biked from x to y.  It's looking at 5,0000 feet of climbing in 120 miles with headwinds and saying, well hey at least we're in the Rockies so the roads won't be as nearly steep as in Pennsylvania.  So to that end, I have been fortunate enough since coming back to Chicago to bike quite a bit.  I've been biking to my Teach English as Foreign Language (TEFL) class and back, so I've been hitting around 25 miles a day.  I had a great trip out to a Chicago suburb called Arlington Heights last last weekend (August 22-23, around 80 miles total and a great story by the way... I'll tell the story at the end of this post ).  When I first got back to Chicago, I actually didn't have my bike for about a week and a half... and I have to tell you it was the longest (but in a bad way and not the good 4K way) week and a half of my life.  Towards the end of the trip I thought that once the trip was over and I got back to Chicago, I would want a break off of the bike for a week or two.  That turned out to be completely wrong... when I got back on my bike it felt so right and I was so happy that I honestly thought I might cry.  It's not the same without teammates of course, but some of my best moments during my days post 4K are definitely while I'm on the saddle.

Plus... if I don't keep biking a ton, I'm going to have to stop eating 3000+ calories every day, and far as I'm concerned that's just not acceptable.  I guess post 4K, some people learn and adjust to eating less, but far as I'm concerned, oh no no.  I'm going to keep eating thousands of calories a day and just keep biking.  I like being able to eat x whenever I feel like it...

Following right behind never stop biking is the amazing sense of adventure and the confidence you need to fulfill that sense of adventure that 4K gives you.  It's strange, until Tillamook Oregon, I didn't realize just how far we had come.  Someone at the church said, "wow you guys have been everywhere!"  It's a phrase and compliment I heard many time son the trip, but for whatever reason, it didn't sink in until just then.  I thought about our ride through the entire southern side of Nebraska.  How many people can say that they have driven through that area, let alone biked it?

The confidence is analogous to what I said about biking on the 4K.  At the beginning of our trip, I think our average mileage was somewhere around 60-75.  As the trip progressed, the average also increased gradually, and in leg three I lost count of how many century rides we had.  But of course the amazing thing is that every century made the next one easier.  And once we hit a couple of 120s and one 133 mile day, century rides really seemed like nothing too special (ok still hard, but you get the point).

Completing the 4K really gives you this kind of confidence, a kind of confidence you never had before.  For example, before 4K, my longest ride had been I think a pitiful 75 miles, maybe 80 miles at best.  But now I just rode to Milwaukee and back (will be blogging about that trip in the next post I promise!), I'm planning a seven day solo tour out to Denison University in Ohio (three days there, one day rest, and three days back to Chicago).  Eventually, at some point in the future, I would love to do ride across Iowa, since our team missed most of the state to go back to Maryland for Jamie's service.  I would love to visit again the small towns of Nebraska and Wyoming and Idaho, where people were so kind that I didn't realize that people like that still existed in this country.

Prior to 4K, I would have had neither this kind of thirst for adventure nor the confidence to quench it. But post 4K, all of those things not only possible but quite within reach (okay a long reach, one where you really have to stretch, but you get the point).

Of course, this sense of adventure and confidence come as a double edged sword.  Since I've been back, whenever I feel like I'm not doing something that is absolutely amazing and adventurous, I feel restless and bored and almost depressed.  I can't help but feel like this lifestyle is unsustainable in the long run.  At some point I'll have to actually get a job, bike "only" 10-15 miles a day, go back to eating a 2000 calorie diet, and stop peeing outside (well we'll see).

But right now, to go to the grocery store, to clean the house, to do work for a class, all feel somehow inadequate and mundane and almost pointless.  Fortunately, I only feel that way sometimes (otherwise I think I would go absolutely insane).  Maybe I'm already adjusting somewhat back to a normal way of living... but here's the crazy thing.  In a sense, I DON'T want to adjust back.  I want to stay crazy and feel restless whenever I'm not on my bike. I feel like I'm losing something by adjusting back to normal life, even though I know that it's inevitable.  I want to stay adventurous all the time, I want to go ride to Milwaukee and back in the same day all the time, to find myself doing things that other people look at and say, "why????!!!!"

So those are my thoughts on biking and the sense of adventure and confidence that 4K gives you.  Much more complicated than let's just get out there and bike I suppose....

But to lighter matters.  I've been really excited to write about a bike ride I made out to Arlington Heights a few weekends ago (August 22-23), and I'm hoping that my teammates / alum will be really excited to read about it, because it resembled a 4K day so much more than I could ever have anticipated.

I wanted to ride out to Arlington Heights, which is a suburb northwest of Chicago, about 40 miles from where I am staying in Chicago.  One of my old roommates' family lives there, so I thought I would ride out there, say hello, grab a snack at their house, etc. and then head back.

Things started going slightly awry when I woke up far later than I thought I would that day.  I was also  delayed just by having to get ready to go (getting food, preparing bike, etc.), and so instead of leaving around 10AM or so, I didn't end up leaving until about 1:30PM OOPS (4K like experience #1).

I think it still would have been completely fine and I would have made it there and back before sundown (plus once I get into the city everything is well lit and I don't mind biking at night)... except that I ran into some trouble on the way there.  First, the road I took to leave Chicago was great at first, with a nice bike lane and everything, until all of a sudden I ran into some crazy construction and the road condition just became horrible horrible horrible.  Okay no matter, I figured I would just reroute (4K experience #2!).  But just as I figured out a better road and was on my way, it started pouring rain... with a nice side of thunder and lightening.

I ended up taking shelter underneath a 711 and waiting out the rain for an entire hour... maybe an hour and a half.  My roommate's dad actually offered to pick me up (aka shuttle... for you 4K people), but seeing as he was an hour drive away due to traffic, I said no and that I would wait it out.  To be honest I didn't think I would make it at that moment and I was really tempted to ask him to pick me up... let's just say it wasn't just raining, the roads look like they were about to flood (hey in my defense the forecast said only 10% of rain the whole day).

Mandatory video: the most lovely of riding conditions

But I waited and the terrible weather finally stopped, and actually in the end I was really glad I kept on riding.  It was a moment that taught me to just be patient and be willing to wait when things start to go wrong.  Life lessons on post 4K rides, you know.

So I kept on riding and after maneuvering my way through many many residential roads (a good ride by the way, leisurely and very safe), I arrived at the Anderluh home... wet... my cue sheet turned into a piece of pulp... and too late to bike back safely.

Well, being the kind people they are, the Anderluhs just offered to let me stay in their home overnight!  So I basically had a 4K host (4K experience # 3) for the night... and as I had no clothes to wear besides my cycling jersey / shorts, John (the dad) offered to let me wear his clothing.  Which is a lot funnier than it might sound, because I am about 5'5" and he is 6'3".... so I wore a very large T-shirt (XL instead of my usual medium or even small) and XL gym shorts (trust me I had to make sure to tie that drawstring very very well).  

For some dumb reason I didn't take myself wearing that awesome outfit, but you might be able to see how humongous those shorts are on me... my legs look really skinny in them, and trust me I do not have skinny legs.

The Anderluhs (John, his wife Liz, and high school daughter Jamie) were kind enough to let me even wash my cycling clothes, which I thought initially seemed unnecessary, but I have to tell you it was a really good decision, because cycling in wet / dirty chamois = possible bacterial infection in the taint = no fun

So laundry at the host (4K experience #4)

If you don't think this ride sounds 4K enough... it gets better.  Turns out that the Anderluhs were supposed to go over that night to a friend's house for a very informal dinner / hang out... Although John offered to let me stay at the house alone, of course that is not the spirit of 4K so I went with them!  It was quite amusing to hear John say, "wow it's going to be interesting explaining who you are exactly...."  But I had a great time (there was plenty of good beer there... so check) and had a lot of chance to talk to everyone there (whose names I have unfortunately forgotten already) about 4K, biking, and just everything else.  It was definitely a surreal experience, but a good time in the end.

There's one additional factor I should mention, which is that the Anderluhs aren't just any family that I know.  I'm really close to them... they've been kind enough to host me for Thanksgiving Dinner for two years.  And maybe most importantly, they are a family that lost a daughter, Shea, to cancer just over two years ago.  In fact an important part of why I did 4K was for Shea and her family (Megan is my roommate by the way, the oldest of three daughters).  So to be able to talk to the Anderluhs about the 4K, cancer, Shea, and even my teammate Jamie was an amazing experience that I'll cherish for a long time.

So the next morning, after what I have to describe as a truly bizarre but 4K like experience (i.e. wonderful), I left the Anderluh's home and made it back to Chicago without incident (thankfully good weather the whole way).  It was my first real ride back from 4K, and I'm glad it wasn't my last (next post will be about my single day ride to and back from Milwaukee as well as thoughts about my teammates and what they will mean to me).

Now some random photos:

Selfie with a local water tower

Selfie taken to creep out my old roommate Megan, who wasn't there

Jamie and her very adorable but awkward dog Bailey

Wilmette, IL say what????!!!!!

Chicago, covering Wilmette's ass