Back to Ride Itinerary   Meet the Riders   Bamacyclist Home

Day 34
Honest Abe...lived here

ROUTE: Quincy IL to Springfield IL DISTANCE: 102 miles WINDS: Light and variable in the morning, SE 5-10 by afternoon
WEATHER: Beautiful...sunny and mild, 85 for a high TERRAIN: Rolling to hilly for 45 then flat TOTAL CLIMBING: 1750 feet

DAILY DOINGS: I know it's starting to sound like a broken record, but we've got another great day to ride our bicycles.  We've been blessed with super weather ever since leaving St Joe.  Today we had another mild summer day...usually it's near 100 when we come through here.  We'll take it.  It looks like we'll have another few days of nice weather too at least till we get to our next rest day in Indy.

I don't know about the riders, but I'm getting a bit tired...pooped is more like it.  I'm only riding about half of what they are and my legs are a bit dead to say the least.  I usually ride hard everyday...I need a day to just spin and take it easy, but usually I have to be someplace.  Luckily, we are out of the hills for the next few days.  But today we had a bit of a headwind to finish...not bad, but a bit pesky none-the-less.  Our route this morning wasn't entirely sans hills...it had a few hills until about 45 miles but after that, it really flattened out into fertile Illinois farmland...heck, after the first SAG the biggest hill they had was a climb over the Illinois River.  The main crops around here are soybeans and corn...this time of year the corn is over 6 feet high which makes it nice to have a place to sneak into to go to the bathroom. 

It was pretty much an uneventful day...Scott didn't even have a flat after he left the motel.  That's the way I like it...boring for me means safe for everyone else.  I think everyone was enjoying the "easier" terrain and the change of scenery.  Today's route rode through fertile farm land and crossed the Illinois River.  At our first SAG, we visited our friend, Glen Riley (left), who is the owner of Riley's Wrecker Service and Towing in Chambersburg Illinois.  He's in his 70s and has been sitting in the same chair every year that I've come through here...that's been since 1997.  He enjoys meeting the cyclists every trip and the cyclists enjoy talking to him.  He is part of the local color and he's always willing to share tales of days gone by and how it was when he got started in the 40s.  His dad helped put the road in that we are riding...we thank him for his hard work.  We really enjoy riding through here every year.

Everyone got in fairly early in spite of the headwinds this afternoon and spent the late afternoon at some of the cities sites...Lincoln's Library and museum.  President Lincoln moved here in 1837 and lived here for 24 years while practicing law.  I got this photo of Karen as she rode by the Capitol building just across the street from our motel.  We're always watching the flag on the top...we hope it's pointing toward Champaign tomorrow morning, but I've been here 13 times and it's always been pointing toward Quincy...or Missouri.

These riders are getting so strong that now they can actually take in some of the sights after the ride.  From here on in, we have a couple of things we can do besides ride.  On Monday, we are going to tour the Roark bicycle factory and see bicycles in various stages of production and talk to the experts of bike fit and fabrication.  We're in Indiana already?  Weren't we just in Nevada a day or two ago?

Tomorrow we head to Champaign...the weather is supposed to be good again...yippie, I'm riding after the first SAG.  See you when we get there...thanks for following.

DAILY DISCERNING DIALOGUE:

"Guess what?  I had a flat in the room last night."
"Scott, you're the only person I know that can get a flat on a motel carpet."
"But it was a shag carpet."

"Boy, my butt was ready for this SAG stop."
"What about the rest of you."
"The rest of me is OK, but my butt was ready to get off the seat."

"The bicycle people are here!"

"I have a 6 man team scouring the area for Jeff's luggage.  We should get it on the van OK this morning."

 

 DAILY DUH:  OK, no one did anything today that they'd admit too so I'll claim one.  A couple days ago I said we crossed the Mississippi River two days after our country's 209th birthday...let's see...2006 minus 1776?  Hmmmmmm...yep, I was right...209.

DAILY DIGITAL DELIGHTS

Mike, can I keep him?  David found a new friend at the local bike shop.

Are those brussel sprouts next to that whipped cream? 

Wasn't his face orange yesterday?

Sue spent most of her time at the first SAG sighting in her "obnoxious car vaporizing ray gun" she has mounted on her handlebars.

Larry offered a special blessing on Barbara's rear wheel, it's been used as a spare on just about everyone's bike over the last few days.  Plus, Scott changed the tire needlessly last evening...that could have been a bad omen.

Yep, only 3/4 more to go around to log enough miles for my 6th time around the world since 1989...but I'm going east.

Where's Scott's bike when we need it?

If they were going the other way, I'd be tempted to hitch a ride.

Copyright © 2006 by Bamacyclist  
All rights reserved.