Supplemental Picture post:

Picture #1

The town sign post for Hillsboro, which reads; " The Home of 600 Happy People and a few old soreheads" It must be an inside joke.

Picture #2

Some of the flowers I smelled today. There were fields of Tiger Lilies. I have never seen so many.

Picture #3

My helmet with all the Post-It notes on it. It was pretty funny.

Picture #4

The land shark helmet. Wow!

Stop and smell the roses:

Today's leisurely 80.8 mile ride in 90+F with a 10 mph head wind took us into beautiful Crawfordsville IN. "A really nice place to raise your kids up." Crawfordsville ranks as 43rd on the roster in The Best 100 Small Towns in America according to author Norman Crampton's 2nd edition of the book. Hey! I don't make this sort of stuff up you know. All joking aside it was a nice ride. I decided that to day was a take it easy day just ride along and stop to smell the flowers. I rode along by myself and had a great time just cruising. Sometimes riding hard sometimes just puttering along however it struck me.

We crossed the state line in to Indiana and immediately the shoulder of the road increased from 0 to 18". The country side has changed as well. We have gone from wide open flat with straight see for miles roads to very slight rolling hills with winding tree lined roads. The tree lined roads were very welcome as there was shade along parts of the road. Although I didn't stop for a lunch as such I did stop a bunch of times to eat a little snack out of my bag or to just stop have a drink and take a picture.

Today was also helmet decorating day. I thought that the participation would be low due to the lack of formal judging or prize (this is a verrrrrry competitive group - unlike myself), however I was quite surprised at the level of participation. Out of the 34 riders there were 18 people with decorated helmets. The level was unbelievable. There were helmets with sharks, flowers and all manner of creative designs. See the supplemental picture post. I decorated my helmet with Post-it notes. Most of them blew off during the day but a bunch stayed on and a couple of them provided a hum in the wind.

Today's picture is of this old trestle which I believe was part of the old road. It has been replaced with a new concrete bridge over the little creek. There was some shade here from the large trees so I stopped to eat a bar and sit on the bridge rail. The weeds have grown over the timber trestle and the sun was shining though the treed canopy. It was really pretty and the sound of the creek was very soothing. It was just one of those moments.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments.

Remember to smell the flowers!

Terry

Lazy Daze:

Today was a very welcome day off in Champaign IL. After last week's 625 miles I don't think there was a single person who wasn't ready for a day off. The heat and head winds of last week really did me in.

I haven't been able to find the motivation to get out for a run for the last week. It seems like after I drag my butt in after 6-7 hours in the saddle when the temperature is 90+ F. I just can't seem to get out for a run, and some how 30-60 minutes on the treadmill just doesn't seem to be in the cards. So I got up at 6:00 Am and was off for a 75 minute run. Just south of our hotel is this lovely older neighborhood. The tree canopy totally covers the street. Some of the roads are cobble stone. The homes are of mixed age but lots of really nice Victorian homes. There were several homes which had "For Sale" signs with the little flyer's in the box. So I stopped to look at the prices and it seems that the prices are about $125/sq ft. It was great I loved it

Other chores such as cleaning my bike and doing office work were the main high lights of the day. It has been nice not having to go outside in the 90+ F heat.

Tomorrow is helmet decorating day. I asked if there was a prize for the best helmet, but was told no prize and so I kind of think that the participation level is going to be low. I was walking around telling people who asked me what I was going to do, was use the same material to decorate my helmet as the Emperor's New Clothes were made from. However I walked across the road to Staples and bought some stuff which Jim and I used to decorate our helmet with. More tomorrow as no one is tipping their hand on what they are doing.

Pictures for the week that ended yesterday have been posted at: http://community.webshots.com/user/hot_biker They are titled Abiliene KS to Chanmpaign IL. Total of 81 pictures.

The picture of the day is --- Well what do you think it is? It is quite large in fact is probably two stories.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments. It is great coming in after a hard hot day in the saddle and hearing from you.

Mon yana

Terry

PS: The picture is of the chandelier in the lobby of the hotel. It is taken standing directly under it and looking up. The chandelier is not really a fixture as such but just a bunch of those plastic light ropes hung down from the ceiling.

Hot Headwinds:

Today had been billed as an easy day being that we had only 87 miles to ride and 1100 feet of elevation. However the temperature started to climb almost as soon as we left the hotel. By 10:00 it was well over 85 and the moderate head wind which was predicted had turned into 20+. By 11:00 AM I had only made 47 miles. Not much for 4 hours of hard riding. Oh did I mention that the road was so rough and broken up that it was almost un-rideable. Every 30 feet there was a crack that had a 2" offset. However I found a Subway and went in for a sandwich. I thought I would take Tony Stewart's advice "fills you up without slowing you down" and I sure didn't need any slowing down. Twenty minutes later I am back in the saddle and with only 40 miles to go am going to be in the hotel by 3:30 Pm

That idea lasted for a total sum of 19 miles. Here I am crossing this wide open area and the wind is just howling into my face. Out on the hot pavement it is probably well over 95F. I carry three water bottles on my bike as I know that I perspire a lot and I have to keep drinking. But now the bottles are empty. Usually I can make 10 miles/bottle of water. Here I made just over 6 miles/bottle. I can see the perspiration dripping from the front of my helmet at the rate of a drop every 3 seconds. So I know I don't have long in the heat and hot wind. Fortunately the SAG wagon came up just then and the chose was fill up my bottles and grind it out for another 2+ hours or get into the nice air conditioned van, with soft seats and be in the hotel in 20 minutes. A hard decision which took less than blink of an eye to make. That right I got in the van.

Rest day tomorrow. I should go for a run as I haven't had a run for 9 days. Right now I don't think I could run to the wash room. However I will have the pictures of the week up for your viewing pleasure.

Today's picture is of a cow which is dressed up as a chef. I am not sure what the message is here. Maybe that you should eat more chicken. I can't imagine why he would be promoting eating beef. But what ever the message was it didn't work because the place was closed.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your great comments.

In a while crocodile!

Terry

Children of the Corn:

There was lots of corn today and I mean lots. There was 108 miles of corn and it went out to the horizon. We left Quincy IL and cycled to Springfield IL. The temperature was 86 F and the wind was 8-10 mph in our face all day. So it was a long hard day. I took me 7:31 to cover the miles.

However having said that the first 35 miles were really pretty as we sailed though rolling hills with lots of trees and fields of corn. A deer ran across the road right in front of me. It was pretty neat. As I was closing on Don a squirrel ran out right in front of Don. Then the squirrel saw Don and hesitated, I thought Don was going to hit the squirrel for sure. I have never seen a cyclist run down a squirrel. Then not two minutes later a raccoon ran out in front of Don. I guess that proves that not all the raccoons have been hit by cars.

I got passed by a tractor today. I could hear it coming and see it closing in my mirror for quite a while but I couldn't get away. I was tired at this point and the wind was in my face, so the best I could do was about 15 mph. The tractor was doing about 18. Finally the tractor pulled into the on coming lane and went around me. I tried my best to get in his draft but I just couldn't manage it. I sure could have used the pull.

Today's picture is of one of the children of corn. I walked in to the field and Tom H took my picture. It was pretty tall for this early in the season.

Well there isn't much to tell for such a long day so I am going to say thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments. Scroll down and check out the supplemental pictures.

Woof! Woof! That's my dog imitation.

Terry

Supplemental Picture Post;

Bridge over Illinois River

This is one huge bridge over the Illinois River. Up until we got to the within about three miles of the river, the country side was rolling hills with lots of trees and smaller fields. Then there was a short down hill and we were on the the river flats and there were no more trees or hills. Just corn.

Latest in salt stained biking attire.

After a hard day in the saddle.

CB Shop?

What do you think this guy is listening to? All the windows have tin foil on them. A lot of antennas. Is it a secret US listening post? Or maybe it is some one listening for aliens? It would have been interesting to go in but I was afraid to.

State Of Mind:

Maybe not a state of mind but how about the seventh state line. This afternoon we crossed into Illinois. I think that Missouri has been given a bad rap. We had been told about bad Missouri, bad roads, bad drivers, bad, bad bad. I thought that although there were a few spots where the roads were a little rough, but 90+% the roads were great. I found the drivers exceptionally courteous. I don't think there was one driver that was rude or crowded me. Just a guess but I would say that 70% of the truck drivers gave me a wave and 100% of the tractor drivers did. Hopefully Illinois is as good.

Today was cloudy and cool. Just as my luggage was being loaded I thought maybe I should grab my rain clothes but I didn't really want to drag it with me, and besides it wasn't suppose to rain. Ten miles down the road the skies opened up and a deluge ensued. Fortuitously I as 100 feet from a gas station where wonderful Margret was, within 10 minutes there was a dozen cyclist in the gas station. Margaret was busy handing out garbage bags which we all pulled on. Off down the road wearing a garbage bag. At the 30 mile mark was the SAG were the truck was with the luggage. There every one was digging though their luggage and pulling on rain gear. A second deluge ensued but by the 45 mile mark it had cleared off. So I stripped off the rain gear and rode on. I decided to stop for a burrito out of a convenience store for lunch at the 50 mile mark. This left just 23 miles to go. However the big adventure of the day was still in front of me as today we crossed the Mississippi river. Now this is not as big a bridge as the Golden Gate bridge or the bridge across the Columbia at Astoria Oregon, but it is still a huge bridge. It has no shoulder, so you have to take the lane, and just let cars move to the other lane and pass you. Just before I crossed the bridge I caught up with Gil and Toni. Then Frank and Jim came along so the five of us all crossed together. On the far side we had a big celebration.

The other big event of the day is that we crossed the 2000 mile mark on our journey. I guess that it is also kind of a personal mile post as the furthest I had ridden on a trip was 1400 miles.

So here we are in Quincy Illinois. It is very pretty city. As we rode in I was really impressed with the nice downtown (although it does look like it is hurting). We then rode though this neighborhood of incredible stone and brick Victorian mansions. A leaflet in the hotel room says there are 2000 structures in Quincy which are listed on National Register of Historic Structures. Can,t be here take the virtual tour http://www.quincynet.com/housetour/ It is really cool. Boy would I like to live in one of those.

Today's picture is of the bridge across the Mississippi River. To give you some perspective it is about 0.5 miles long.

Well thanks for visiting blog and thanks for your comments.

Singing in the Rain

Terry

27 Gears and used them all!


How do you describe today? WOW! Zowie! Zounds! I don't know pick one. But before you do let me give you a little back ground. The sun is out, with not a cloud in the sky. The temperature starts in the high 50's and is going towards mid 70's by lunch. The scenery is beautiful green hills covered with trees and fields. The road is this little used back country road with almost zero traffic. Now here is the kicker. We are riding 75 miles from Chillicothe to Kirksville, and there are 148 hills. The pitch on these hills is up to 16% with and average height of maybe 200 feet. You can stand on top of a hill and see 4-5 of these ups and downs. The perfect roller coaster. The only way to ride these is flat out. I am talking big ring time here. You start from the top of one of these hills pedaling as hard as you can by time you hit the bottom you are at 35 mph. Then your are into the up slope down shifting as you go. I had been saying that you are pulling 2G's at the bottom but my aeronautical engineer roomie says that it is only 1.5G's. If you get it right a little bit of standing carries you over the crest. By now you have done the math and realized the each hill is only 0.25 miles down and 0.25 miles up. However their not all the same length and there were lots of mile long climbs and down hills. So there was lots of spinning it out to crawl up a mile long hill in low gear at 6 mph. It was huge fun on the hills.



However they do wear you down and by the 69 mile mark I am exhausted. Just 2 miles to a store where I can get some food and have a rest. Then there is my friend Jose. Together we sat and chatted while I had a convenience store burrito (actually they aren't bad, but then I have very low standards especially when I am starving and exhausted). Feeling much revived we cruised in the last 4 miles.

The town of Kirksville was the scene of a civil war battle. I don't think it was a very big one but it seems to be its claim to fame. It is also home to the Truman State University. I saw that on a sign. Our hotel is on the side of town that we came from so I haven't ridden though it. However being a university town you know that your bike isn't safe. Tomorrow is Sunday and we leave at 7:00, so the kids will not be up when I ride though town.

Today's picture is of the rolling hills. From this vantage point there are five hills which are visible. They were just a ton of fun to fly over.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your great comments. At the end of the day it is great to open the journal to see what people have said.

Ride it like you stole it!

Terry

Supplemental picture post

Picture #1 family of locals

Picture # 2 The fisherman in the boat in case you couldn't find him

Picture # 3 The chef who made the cinnamon buns

Picture #4 A wall painting in downtown Chillicothe