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. :)
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