Midwest Tour Day 1 (out of 6) ... Finally

Ok so I'm in Barcelona... surprise!  At least to those of you who don't know...

Long story short, I found it difficult to find work in Berlin for the moment so I hopped over to Barcelona because work is generally more plentiful there.  I think I have to blog about this (at least according to Tori), so more about all this later...

For now, the ride I did in the Midwest in September... which I cannot believe was over two months ago now.  Something that I've said over and over again, and every 4K alum knows is the paradox of the 70 days of 4K, that the days pass by quickly and slowly all at the same time.   A common saying on our team was, each day seems like a week and each week seems like a day.  So it's incredible to realize that over 70 days have passed by since not only the end of 4K, but this Midwest ride.  They both seem like they took place yesterday... did I mention I love to be nostalgic and reminisce?

West Lafayette, clearly the better of the two Lafayettes... duh doesn't everyone know that?

Anyway... day 1 of the Midwest Ride!

But before... what exactly was my Midwest Ride?  As the impending gloom that was the end of the 4K became more and more of a reality, those of us on the team made plans to hang out post 4K.  Not just those of us who lived close to each other (looking at you lucky people in Maryland...), but all of us for future reunions and parties and celebrations (think New Year's, annual reunion, etc.).  Realizing that one of my buds on the team, Lipsitz, lived only about 6 hours away by car, we figured, hey what the hey, why not she visit me in Chicago?  Of course during the 4K you don't think about school, work, or other worldly obligations all too much.  So when said worldly obligations hit after the ride, Lipsitz realized that she would be far too busy to visit me.  I responded, still riding that high that is the 4K, well... why don't I just visit you at Denison (a college east of Columbus for those of you who don't know).

But of course, unlike Emily I had no car, so my only way of visiting her would be taking a bus or train or renting a car or  riding my 4K bike there.

No fossil fuels needed

For those of you who know, the weekend before this Midwest trip, I rode to Milwaukee and back to Chicago on the same day, for a personal best of 207.67 miles in a single day.  Although none of the days of this trip would have as much mileage, to be honest I was a lot more apprehensive about this trip than the Milwaukee trip.  This is because with the Milwaukee trip, I always had a safety net, the metra train that runs from Chicago all the way to Southern Wisconsin and back.  If I had serious bike problems or was too tired, etc., I could always come back on the train.

For this Midwest ride, however, things were different.  I was going to be a lot more out of civilization, no train to take me to Denison if things went wrong.  In addition, the Milwaukee ride lasted only one day, so I could give it my all and not worry about totally wearing myself out.  With the Midwest ride, I had to be careful to not overexert myself as it would consist of three days of riding, one day of riding, then three more days of riding back to Chicago.

But putting these fears aside, I began preparing for the ride.  I felt much better about the ride precisely because of the Milwaukee ride and what I had learned from it.  I prepared my ultra high tech pannier (aka my shoulder bag bundled up), filling it with exactly one change of clothing, one pair of non-cycling shoes, bike tools, and food, food, and more food.

Despite my concerns about the trip, overall the first day went incredibly well. The ride would be from the neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago to West Lafayette, IN, where Purdue University is.  I left around 6AM in the morning, hopping on the beautiful Chicago Lakefront Trail, and it seems for the first time in my life, I had a tailwind.  After being interrupted for a few minutes by a large ship necessitating the raising of a bridge, I crossed into Indiana from Illinois.

I'm pretty sure I could have jumped the gap with my bike... right???

I'm making this picture extra large so you can see where the ship that stopped me is from... CANADA JOCELYN I KNOW YOU SENT THIS SHIP TO STOP  ME FROM GOING ON THIS RIDE

Anyway, after crossing into Indiana I hopped onto a different trail called the Erie-Lakawanna trail, which kudos to Indiana, is really beautiful and frankly maintained far better than the Chicago Lakefront Trail.  Thanks to the tailwind the first couple of hours flew by and I didn't stop for a break until mile 30 or so, at the end of the Erie-Lakawanna trail.

Of course first I had to go through a tunnel.  It was a really short tunnel, but no good 4K ride is complete without one.

Unfortunately I knew that from that point on, I would be riding mostly through cornfields.  I stocked up on some more water from the town of Crown Point, IN, then headed out to meet the corn and the cows.

Wouldn't be a true American bike ride without some corn

Reason #1 that biking is better than driving... it's much easier to moo at the cows.  Ok so it's really hard to see the cows in this picture but you'll just have to believe me that they are there

Actually this was one of the few moments during day 1 of riding that something went wrong, or at least could have gone wrong.  Up to this point, the riding had been incredibly safe.  I rode mostly on bike paths and trails, with a few miles on some low traffic roads.  For most of day 1 after Crown Point, I was on roads that my 4K team would call farmer roads, or corn farmer roads.  These roads are used only by farmers, and are labeled County 1000 W or some other inconspicuous number + cardinal direction combination.  Aside from the one disadvantage of being boring, these roads are great for cyclists because of the practically non-existent traffic, aka very safe.

But as I left Crown Point, I had to take one stretch of US highway 231 to connect to the farmer roads.  While part of my preparation for the ride had been to do everything I could to verify the safety of my route, to be perfectly honest in the end there is almost no way to be absolutely certain that a roads is safe before you get there.  You can look on google maps, but the pictures might be super outdated or maybe they were taken when there happened to be little traffic on the road.  You can contact bike shops or cycling clubs in the areas and ask for their opinion, but of course it's possible that what they perceive as perfectly safe might terrify you.

So I ended up riding on a three or so mile stretch of US-231, with cars zooming past me a bit too fast and the shoulder a bit too narrow for my liking.  I've definitely been on more dangerous and scary roads, but it wasn't exactly ideal either.  And in the aftermath of Jamie's accident this summer, I'm aware that I'm probably more cautious than most cyclists and less willing to ride on dangerous roads.  I guess the litmus test I have is to ask myself whether my 4K team would take the road or not.  With regards to US-231, in the end I decided that while we wouldn't feel great about it, most of us would continue.  So I continued, a bit unnerved, but determined to keep riding.

In case that last paragraph was too grim, here is an adorable picture of a kitty and putty cuddling.

Anyway, after that brief episode, I was fortunate enough to ride almost the rest of the way on the farmer roads.  I suppose they don't really make for an exciting ride or good pictures, but I do love the safety they provide.  Honestly, the next 40 miles or so flew by thanks again to that good tailwind.  The only mistake I made was not bringing a proper lunch (for me at least granola bars are not a proper lunch), but it ended up not being a big deal anyway, because I soon ran into a gas station with a gourmet steakhouse attached to it.  Just kidding, a Subway!  That last exclamation might seem trivial to non-4Kers, but I think the significance is not lost to 4K alumni (and definitely my team).  The truth is up for debate, but I think the food chains from which we ate the most this summer are McDonalds, Jimmy John's, and Subway.

After finishing my subway footlong #9999 of this year and feeling refreshed (nothing like that processed chicken patty to keep you going), I headed out.  The rest of the afternoon went very well.  I supposed I should confess that I forgot that Indiana is actually in the Eastern time zone (OOPS), so I was going to arrive one hour later than I anticipated and WOW I am dumb sometimes.

Maybe one of the few bad things about day one was that I lonely, seeing as I'm rather used to riding with a group of 25 other cyclists.  And of course, all that I had to keep me company was endless fields of corn.  

Ok so there was also this and I had to reroute, but again, would it be a true 4K ride without rerouting?

Thankfully, around 25 miles before I arrived at Purdue, I passed by a lovely family with an adorable toddler riding their bikes around (I think the fact that a family with a toddler can ride their bikes on these roads shows how safe they are).  I chatted with them for a few minutes.  It was a lovely break from the crippling loneliness (ok I am exaggerating, at least for day one).  Maybe the only possibly awkward moment during the conversation was when the dad told his adorable son, "I bet his [referring to me] is Jamie."  He did so because I had Jamie written on my forearms, to inspire me and remind me of why I am riding (definitely more on this in future posts).  It was difficult in so many different ways to correct him, and it reminded me of the fact that almost three months after the accident, I still don't really know how to tell strangers what happened.

Ok so I didn't get a picture of them, but you can imagine your own version of an adorable Indiana farmer family

I'm tempted to write more about this difficulty, which I'm sure my entire team is facing, but I feel that if I do so I will get too distracted from day one of the ride.  I'm going to assert that it isn't a cop out, based on my claims that I will come back to this matter in a later post.

After being encouraged by the family that Purdue was not too far away, I waved goodbye and continued.  I arrived at my host for the night around 6PM, in excellent spirit and not feeling all that tired.  My host for the night was 4K 2011 San Fran Alum Caity Schram and her boyfriend Jin Tao.  To brag yet again about how amazing the 4K is, pretty much all that Caity needed to be told to be convinced to host me for the night is that I was a 4K alum and that I was on a bike ride.  That's right, I had actually never met Caity or Jin before this ride.  So what I'm saying is, Caity and Jin opened up their home and provided a hot shower and GUEST BEDROOM to someone who is essentially a stranger, because we are mutual 4Kers.  See why you should do the 4K (ok there are also other reason obviously)?

4K Hosts don't have to stop just because your 4K is over... thanks Caity and Jin!  A pre-shower picture, in case you needed to know why my hair is sticking up so much

After a much needed shower and a quick trip to the local bike shop, Caity, Jin, and I went out for dinner at their favorite hangout.  It's somewhat of a blur now, but I can remember thinking how wonderfully the first day of riding had gone.  It helped me put aside a lot of my worries and concerns about the trip.  Of course there would be many difficulties to come, but I enjoyed myself, had a few beers, a giant burger, I'm almost positive I ate a second entree I was so hungry.  Thank you Caity and Jin for not making fun of me for eating so much.  Actually I'm pretty sure Caity was egging me onto do it :)

Caity and Jin if you ever read this post, thank you so much for hosting me.  It's truly amazing to arrive somewhere new and strange on your bicycle, sweaty and tired, and be offered a place to stay.  It's one of the most amazing experiences of the 4K to realize that there actually are kind people out there, so Caity and Jin I want you to know that you helped me get back some of that 4K magic.

While I'm thanking people and to finish, I should thank all of the people that sent me messages and encouragements during the day.  Although it was a relatively easy day, the messages made the loneliness feel much more insignificant and I am very grateful for them.

Ok so I spent the last five minutes trying to figure out how to rotate this image.  I give up, but if any of you knows how to fix it, please comment below.  Mileage for the day at 131.75.

That's it for now.  I'm a little concerned that because so much time has passed, my memory isn't all that fresh... but no use worrying now - I promise it will not take me another two months to write about day two!