Countdown 26 Days: The Extremities

Today's was supposed to be a 75-mile Kickapoo loop ride. I woke up at 4.30 am with my stomach still full of food from last night's dinner at Dr. Rapik's house. When I woke up, honestly I didn't want to leave my bed at all. It was raining outside, while I'm hiding under my nice and warm comforter. It took me like 10 minutes to finally leave my bed. Well I had milo oatmeal for breakfast, then started to check my lights, tyres, and refill my water bottles. After that I heated up the rice from err few days ago for lunch. I got eveything done by 6pm so I went to wash clothes for a bit before I left at 6.20 am lol. There was Illinois Marathon too this morning, so we had to leave before the roads were blocked. We gathered at Ceramics building, had briefing, and left at 7am. 

It was cold this morning (about 7 degree C). I put on three layers of clothes and felt okay actually. But 30 minutes into our ride, the drizzles became heavy downpour. My sunglasses started to fog up. The reason I wore sunglasses wasn't because that the sun was too bright-in fact I used it to block the rain drops from entering my eyes. The rain still got in from the side somehow and it's really hard to see clearly. Then there was this part of the journey that the rain got so heavy that it hurts so much when the rain hits my face. Also I was literally drinking the rain water. I had the mucus all over my face, my saliva dripping with the rain water. I just had everything on my face but I didn't even care anymore. 

That was still not the worst. As I biked, the rain started to collect in my eyes. I was wearing contacts and I felt like I couldn't see clearly at all. I was blinking at the rate of 10 blinks per second to clear up my eyes. Gosh. I got so cold that I was shivering so hard while biking. I couldn't feel my fingers and feet at all. When I took my hands off my handlebar, I couldn't straighten my fingers and it hurts so much when I tried to straighten them up. I couldn't hold my bottles, couldn't unlock my phone, couldn't zip/unzip my saddle bag. I just...couldn't feel my fingers at all. I felt so unsafe when I couldn't even press on my brakes and change gears. I need extra 2 minutes to come to a complete stop. And when I got off my bike and tried to walk, I could only hear my cleats dragging on the floor, and I couldn't feel my feet at all. 

We finally came to our designated rest stop at Kickapoo State Park by 10 am. And that was the end of the ride for today. We did only 30 miles today, and wasn't able to complete another 45 miles. First, there was an expected lightning on our way home, and it's super unsafe to bike when there's lightning; Second, we were all freezing, and it's unsafe to bike when we couldn't even press on the brakes. So the directors went back home with the van to pick up their vehicles. It was a 35-minute drive from Kickapoo State Park from/to Champaign-Urbana. I was in the last group to get home. I got home about 1.45pm. My clothes were all soaked and I had been shivering for 3 hours. I hope I don't fall sick though... I don't have time for it... :3 

Thinking back the ride that we had last week, it was hot and sunny. I'm not too sure what was the temperature, but I would say it was about 27 degree C. I got terrible sunburn and super obvious tan line on my arms and legs. I don't complain, because I like hot weather so much. I'm tired of having so much snow and rain since last Fall. I really have no idea how Illinois weather works because one day it's summer, and another day it's winter. 

Last week was the hottest training ride, and today's was the coldest training ride ever. I tell myself, I survived today, there's really nothing much that I can't pull through. I'm not boasting though. Try walking out in 3 layers of wet clothes, under a 7 degree C weather, with wind speed 20 kmph for 5 minutes, then amplify the whole thing to extra workout on legs (pedalling), stronger wind (biking against the wind), and staying for 3 hours in that condition. 

I'm not that kind of person who would give up easily, but at some point I was really exhausted, and felt like taking a break. The only thing I've got in my head was we're 20 miles closer, 10 miles closer, less than one mile closer to our rest stop. At least when I biked, I know the more effort I put in, the quicker I get to rest. Then it got me into thinking about one thing, what is the motivation that cancer patients could have? Rest stops? No. They don't even know if they fight very hard, will they be able to recover. There is no rest stop at all for the battles. I'm always impressed by the people who fight very hard to survive. The stories of them warriors always break my heart. I really give them the highest respect for being able to be so optimistic and strong despite what they have been through. If they are not the strongest persons, I really don't know who are. 

Many of you that I have talked to about what I am about to do in three week-biking from NYC to San Fran have been so supportive towards me. I'm totally grateful for your support. And I like you guys' "WOW!" hahaha. The first impressions  that I got from you guys are amazing! :') People think that this mission is crazy, but I know what I'm doing, I'm just a little adventurous. Most importantly, I want to fight for something, or maybe I should say I want to prove that nothing is impossible as long as you really fight for what you want to do. I want to devote my time, energy, and money to help those who are in need. Not so much of money since I am struggling to support my basic living too right now. I just want to help as much as I could. Anything that I could help, I will definitely help. 

I've been helpless, if possible, I don't want anyone to feel helpless. I've gotten  a lot of help too, so I want to pass on the good deeds to others. I'm thankful for all of the people and things I have in my life. :)

Countdown 45 Days: First weekend training with "Snow White"

It's April. The month that the cold starts to fade off, and the flower starts to blossom. And it's also the one month before my 4500-mile journey starts.

Last Wednesday (April Fool day) was the first time I hopped on "Snow White" and went for a ride with the team. If I'm not mistaken, we did a good 6-7 miles that day. It was sunny, and the wind was blowing at just the right strength. I did not know how to clip in and clip out at all when I first started biking with "Snow White". I biked from home to Armory (the place we gather for training) with full of nervousness. The thing I felt most insecure of was that my feet could barely touch the ground, so as soon as I lose my balance by 0.01% I will fall on a road full of cars. As I pedaled, when I saw the stop signs and red light three blocks away, I slowed down to ~2mph (no kidding!), as soon as I approached them, and thought that it was safe enough to pass, I accelerated and rode at ~12mph. Yes that was exactly how scared I was.

Last Saturday (4/4) was the day the team went on a long 30-mile ride. We detoured a little and ended up with a total of ~35 miles (56 km), started at 7am, and ended at 11.30am. We gathered at 6.45am at Armory, and made a loop to Homer Lake. I totally sucked at reading cues (directions) because... I'm just that kind of person who will lose my way even if gmaps is on, navigation is on. I'm just... really bad at directions. I mean, even I've been on campus for 1.5 years, I will still take the wrong bus, and end up in somewhere that has no one. I personally enjoy doing callouts (provided that I'm not the one to lead, cause I'll panic) and paying attention to potential dangers such as cars, gravels, sticks, etc. I'm super comfortable doing that. The best thing about the ride was that I finally got to experience real biking on long miles; whereas the worst thing about the ride was the wind. Wind sucks. The wind made it so hard to propel forwards, to hear callouts clearly, and to breathe cause I kept breathing in air and the mucus kept coming out from my nose. Plus, it was really cold that morning (~ -3 C). I was literally shivering while biking, and my fingers and toes got numb, ears got pain, etc. After the ride that night, my hip hurt so much that I couldn't lift my left leg at all. All of a sudden, all of the bad thoughts came to my mind--I thought I somehow broke my ligament, and I will not be able to bike forever. O.O

The day after, Sunday, I went to bike again early in the morning at 8am with Julio. As usual, we biked against the wind @@ We did approximately 12 miles that morning before he rushed back to RAL for subgroup meeting. After his meeting ended at 1pm, he picked me up and brought me for lunch at Courier Cafe. That was the best meal I have had in a while. Thanks, Julio! He is this one person that I am always grateful to have. From helping to solve Chemistry problems, relentlessly teaching me old and new things, to supporting me for me doing this incredible bike ride, alongside a lot of other things like picking up my bike for me, bringing me out for good food, cheering me up when I was down, there is just too much to list here. Sometimes, I'm really amazed by how two people from the opposite ends of the world will meet and can actually "click". With Shampa joining the lab few months back, R348 is officially my favorite place on campus. They are the two people who are always there when I needed help. 

On a side note, I spent my spring break (3/21-3/28) volunteering at Give Kids The World, Kissimmee, Florida. This is definitely the best volunteering experience I have had by far. GKTW is a resort that works with wish-granting organizations. It allows kids with life-threatening illnesses and their family to live there for a week at no cost. It's basically a theme park with Carousel, Lori's magical flight (flying Dumbo), Castle, Amberville (arcade center), Ginger bread house (food service), water park, Ice cream palace, etc. The volunteers get to learn how to operate the theme park, serve food, and join the daily special events. My group was lucky enough to be involved in Halloween night and Winter Wonderland Parade, in which we did face painting, hair spray, giving out candies on Halloween, and dressed up as fairies, soldiers elf for Winter Wonderland Parade. My favorite place in GKTW is the castle. There is a pillow maker, star tower, and a play land in the castle. Each wish kid has the opportunity to put his/her name on a golden star, and the star will be put all over the ceiling or in the star tower. There are over 100,000 stars on the ceiling and in the star towers, because once it's put up, the stars will never be taken off. I was kinda sad to see the kids whose height was only as high as my waist having to go through surgeries and treatments at such young ages. It really made me ponder a lot about my life. Did I appreciate every opportunity I have in my life? Did I help to make the community/society a better place? 

I remember Jerry who worked in Champaign Cycle once told me, "Every time when the ride gets hard, think about the people you know who have been through a lot more hard times, that will help you to pull through the rough days you'll have on your ride." That's absolutely true. No matter how hard it is, I know I'm gonna pull through it, because I know nothing could be worse than living with illness everyday. Probably the reason why I am so passionate about I4K is that I hope I4K could at least be the source of strength for everyone who needs it, not just for cancer patients. When you think that everything in your life is going downhill, read the portraits, and you'll know that as long as you're alive, there are still chances to make something up. You'll learn to see bad things in a good way, a process to learn and grow. 

Coming up next: 45-mile ride on Sat and Portraits reception on Sunday! Woohooo!

P/S: Snow white is my new bike's name! :)