Day 28- Springfield, IL > Champaign, IL (91 miles)

 June 4

Route for the day as we roll to a rest day:

See those big blue things at the top of the map? The Great Lakes are a big hint that we are making progress!

Yes, it was pretty flat, but was also longish, hottish, and windyish. We decided to ride with the big group today and had a great time. The route was not difficult or scenic, and we had better winds than expected. Riding in a group of 15-18 riders is fun and relaxing, and you actually worry less about cars.

Yes, we are in cicada apocalypse country...it is loud, and they are everywhere on the ground, flying around, in my helmet, etc). If these things ever get organized, we could be in trouble.

We crossed the Illinois River yesterday, and it was an important river for the Indians and the French traders as the primary water route connecting the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River (this was before Amazon could get you all of your junk in a day.)

This was Raff and I catching back up to the group after watering a tree yesterday.

This was our crew heading up a roller yesterday...an unofficial count from that last day of Missouri rollers was 148 hills. I challenge someone to disprove that number. I think it was definitely somewhere between 83 and 2,129. 

If you will recall from an early blog, Greg D had checked with Chat GPT to get a picture of our crew from Griffin, and this is what he came up with:

Well, Greg has refined his data set, turned his antenna slightly north, had another beer, and see his new results below.

I think this is looking better. Previously, I said he should be a comedian if Caterpillar fires him, but now I am starting to think he could be a Chief Technology Officer at IBM or some big, fancy company like that.

Today's quote is a poem that you might know...as I get older, it means more to me, and I have a son and son-in-law who score higher on this test than I probably do! I know it is long, but it is worth the 45 seconds it will take. 

Rudyard Kipling - IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
    And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    ⁠And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    ⁠Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
    ⁠And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

   

We have a rest day here in Champaign, and we plan to eat sushi tonight and lay low tomorrow like bike monks lay low...do laundry, wash bikes, inspect chains/tires, and determine which bike clothes no longer pass the smell test. 

I'll post a blog again on Thursday after the day off...we head to Crawfordsville, IN where we will be on east coast time zone...I miss my wife and the rest of the family, but the adventure is a blast.