Date: 5/31/2015
Time: 8.45pm
Weather: 8°C (real feel: 4°C), heavy rain, wind speed 24 kmph (14 mph)
Location: United Methodist Church Westfield
Terrible day to ride today. We left Niagara Falls stayover this morning at 7.15am and we were told that the rest stops were gonna be at mile 25, 40, and 75. The plannedroute was gonna be 92.6 miles. When we started rolling out, it still wasn't that cold yet. But one hour in, the rain started to become heavier, and it got so cold. I was in the aame group with Angelica (AGAIN), Diego, Sean, and Brian. Despite the heavy rain, we were actually going at 14-16mph. We did 25 miles and stopped at a gift shop.
My fingers were frozen and hardened that I couldn't feel my fingers at all. The finger that was stung by the bee was even worse, it was turning black. I warmed myseld up using the hand dryer in the restroom. I couldn't even open my handle bar bag after 10 minutes of warming up. I stayed in the restroom for about an hour and was finally not shivering anymore. Then I went to Tim Hortons with Liz and Angelica and got a cup of dark chocolate, a nutella donut, a chocolate vanilla donut, and a blueberry muffin.
Then we went back to the gift shop, and continued drying myself. I got some buffalo wing nuts and hot cajun mix fron the shop. I was 6 cents short but the cashier said it's fine. I still ended up paying her tho just that it was 30 minutes later. The person in the gift shop was really generous though, she gave out so many bags to the team cause we needed those. There was a restaurant on the opposite of the gift shop. The lady from the gift shop gave us hot coffee but only Khrystyna and Lisa had it cause the rest of us had already went to get other food.
Westfield is 1 hour 15 minutes away from the first rest stop. Ben had to come to the church to unload the van first, then drive back to bring first group of people back, then finally one last round to fetch the remaining. The last group came in at about 9pm and we had pizzas for dinner, thanks to Zack and Hannah R.
Time to sleep! Forecast says that tomorrow will be a cold day again. Hopefully there'll at least be sun and no more rain. Hope the the clothes will be dry too so we could wear them again tomorrow.
4°C for a summer, totally ridiculous. :3 Let's all hope for a smoother journey! :)
Ps: Third day of not showering. :/ But we're grateful to have people being so nice to us, giving us shelters and didn't mind that we were dirty and all; also people who have been donating food to us for the past week. Everyone has been so nice to us. :') #thankful #goingstrong
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Day 9: Rochester to Niagara Falls, NY
Date: 5/30/2015
Time: 9.45am
Weather: Hot, sunny, super windy
Location: First Prebysterian Church, Niagara Falls
Today is our official riding day 7. Can't believe we have been riding for a week! Including today's ride of 88 miles, we have accumulated a total of 532 miles over the past week.
I slept at 12.30am last night and was awake since 4.30am but was too tired and only woke up at 4.45am. I was supposed to be up early cause I'm on van packing chore. I have to get my stuffs packed before everyone else. I woke up, cleaned myself, and packed my sleeping bag. I'm getting better at keeping sleeping bag d!
I was in the same group as Angelica and Khrystyna, just the three of us. We rolled out at about 6.20am and gotten the first 20 miles done pretty fast. First rest stop was at 7.40am, lunch was at 11.30am. The journey starting from after the first rest stop was terrible. The wind was going against us at 21mph. We were biking at only 7mph. My energy was totally drained and for the first time, I felt like I wasn't biking forward at all. The wind was coming from all directions and it almost got me off the road . The final 20 miles were the hardest. We were taking breaks almost every 4 miles. Ibwas pretty excited to be able to come to Niagara Falls again but I'm just so worn out that I didn't want to go anywhere else but to stay in the church and rest. Well we did go to TGIF to get food though. I got the brownie with ice cream, and shared potato skin with Lizzie. I also got myself a homemade lemonade cause I'm feeling a lil heaty already.
I put sunscreen on at every rest stop just like everyone else did. But today's sun was so hot that rash starts to build up on my thighs. I'm not even sure if it's cause of the sun, the sunscreen, or me not bathing for the second day already. I feel soooo sticky and dirty :/ I hope the rash will go off by its own though.
Today's ride was the hardest so far. Hills weren't that bad as compared to strong wind cause you know you'll be done with hills as soon as you reach the peaks. But this wind has never ended and was going against us at such fast speed the entire 88 miles. I have never felt so exhausted before, and have never felt like I want to give up before.
Day 7 of riding, everyone seems to be having serious cyclist issues already. I personally have numb fingers and toes, rash, and knee problems. Most people have the same problems too. Hopes everything goes okay before Colorado. :3
Have been up since 4.45am, started cycling at 6.20am, and finished riding at 4.30pm. That was 10 hours of working against the 21mph-wind though. 88 miles done. Tomorrow is gonna be a super long day again. That's gonna be a 90+ mile ride tomorrow. I just think that it's ridiculous that we did 60+ two days ago and only 20+ yesterday, but today they make us do 88 miles. I needed some consistency there though... If it's Wasn't cause of the wind, we will be going at 20 mph (the route is super flat today) and will be able to reach Niagara by 2pm.
Good night! Loves.
Time: 9.45am
Weather: Hot, sunny, super windy
Location: First Prebysterian Church, Niagara Falls
Today is our official riding day 7. Can't believe we have been riding for a week! Including today's ride of 88 miles, we have accumulated a total of 532 miles over the past week.
I slept at 12.30am last night and was awake since 4.30am but was too tired and only woke up at 4.45am. I was supposed to be up early cause I'm on van packing chore. I have to get my stuffs packed before everyone else. I woke up, cleaned myself, and packed my sleeping bag. I'm getting better at keeping sleeping bag d!
I was in the same group as Angelica and Khrystyna, just the three of us. We rolled out at about 6.20am and gotten the first 20 miles done pretty fast. First rest stop was at 7.40am, lunch was at 11.30am. The journey starting from after the first rest stop was terrible. The wind was going against us at 21mph. We were biking at only 7mph. My energy was totally drained and for the first time, I felt like I wasn't biking forward at all. The wind was coming from all directions and it almost got me off the road . The final 20 miles were the hardest. We were taking breaks almost every 4 miles. Ibwas pretty excited to be able to come to Niagara Falls again but I'm just so worn out that I didn't want to go anywhere else but to stay in the church and rest. Well we did go to TGIF to get food though. I got the brownie with ice cream, and shared potato skin with Lizzie. I also got myself a homemade lemonade cause I'm feeling a lil heaty already.
I put sunscreen on at every rest stop just like everyone else did. But today's sun was so hot that rash starts to build up on my thighs. I'm not even sure if it's cause of the sun, the sunscreen, or me not bathing for the second day already. I feel soooo sticky and dirty :/ I hope the rash will go off by its own though.
Today's ride was the hardest so far. Hills weren't that bad as compared to strong wind cause you know you'll be done with hills as soon as you reach the peaks. But this wind has never ended and was going against us at such fast speed the entire 88 miles. I have never felt so exhausted before, and have never felt like I want to give up before.
Day 7 of riding, everyone seems to be having serious cyclist issues already. I personally have numb fingers and toes, rash, and knee problems. Most people have the same problems too. Hopes everything goes okay before Colorado. :3
Have been up since 4.45am, started cycling at 6.20am, and finished riding at 4.30pm. That was 10 hours of working against the 21mph-wind though. 88 miles done. Tomorrow is gonna be a super long day again. That's gonna be a 90+ mile ride tomorrow. I just think that it's ridiculous that we did 60+ two days ago and only 20+ yesterday, but today they make us do 88 miles. I needed some consistency there though... If it's Wasn't cause of the wind, we will be going at 20 mph (the route is super flat today) and will be able to reach Niagara by 2pm.
Good night! Loves.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Day 8: Palmyra to Rochester, NY
Date: 5/29/2015
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: Hot and sunny
Location: Church of Love and Faith Rochester (lol I think I just made up the name haha)
Today is a short ride day but a long day. We did only 26 miles from Palmyra to Rochester. We could've got everything done by yesterday and have a full event day today though hmm. We had yogurt and pumpkin granola, I think, for breakfast this morning. This is like 80% better than oatmeal. Love those crunchy granola. <3
I rode with Diego and Angelica today, just the three of us. We were the first group to roll out, and we were going so fast. Our max speed was 24 mph, averaging at 15.5 mph. Ashley's group rode past us along the way cause Diego was trying to teach me to shift fown on a traffic light but failed. That was the time they rode past us. We then tried to go super fast to catch up with them. Lol. But along the way we stopped by CVS cause Diego wanted to get shades, and I grabbed Arizona too. We were actually just chilling and chatting on our way there until we saw Ashley's group at the trail. There was a reroute for the trail. Diego asked Angelica and I to follow him to take the reroute path , while Ashley's group took some other paths. Eventually we reached this stayover first yay! This is the first time I'm in the first group to arrive at stayover! #achievement
I really like to ride in a group with people who can push me to go beyond my limit. I like to go fast but I'm not that strong yet. I need (crazy or ADHD) people like Diego and Angelica to push me so I can get stronger and better. Thanks guys! #sincerelythanksOKAY <3
We rolled out at 7.20am and arrived at 9.30am. 25 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes, that is a pretty good pace. As soon as other groups started to roll in, we had burrito for brunch (kudos to the Chipotle restaurant that donated burritos to us!) #thankful We chilled until 11am then we were divide into 2 groups. One group headed to American Cancer Society hope lodge, and another headed to Gilda's. We spent few hours there conducting portraits and all of us gathered at Damon Runyon Research Center in the University of Rochester campus.
I was in the hope lodge group, the people we talked to were all very optimistic and supportive. They love what we are doing. There was this couple that we conducted portrait with-the husband is having colon cancer. The couple has been married for 54 years, if I'm not mistaken, but they are still so sweet. When signing the consent form, the husband asked the wife to sign for him cause the form says "18 and below, you need a guardian to sign". Another thing the wife said was, " We are always friends, it's not easy to spend so much time with someone for so many years, yet you still have a lot to talk about everyday. The husband's reply to that was, "Yeah we are friends, just that I always talk, and she never listen. In other meaning, she's smart."
I love conducting portraits. If only I'm better at talking to people, I'd totally killin this role haha. The best thing about portraits is that you get to hear stories-funny, sad, inspiring, and meaningful ones. It brings all of us back to our emotional sides and reminds us of why we're doing this ride. We're not professional cyclists, getting sores, hurts, nunbs, everyday, yet we are killing it miles by miles, days by days. It's impressive to see how we've bike for 6 days, from Manhattan to Rochester, rolling into Niagara Falls tomorrow. Many have said that even by driving that would take me 3 days.
We had dinner at 6pm just now and we're pretty much free to explore the town after dinner. I followed the girls to do laundry at a shop 1 or 2 miles away from this church. Somehow there was this guy, Mike and his wife were there too doing laundry-the squirrel broke into his wardrobe and messed up eevrything. Mike said he saw us on highway 31 with the exact same jersey and wonder what we were doing. Sarah started explaining to him about us, and handed him our I4k card. He mentioned that he just lost his dad to cancer last January (if I remember correctly). I then talked to Mike about the Portraits Project and asked if he likes to share his story with us. He agreed but he thought it was gonna be a super serious one, so he said he'd like to talk to us tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we'll be out by 6am tomorrow and he said he will email us. Then I thought it'd be a waste if we didn't get a portrait from him. So I explained to him how the portrait works-just a short interview. Andrew called Ashley immediately and we had Sean there in 10 minutes. That was how we got another portrait in a laundry room! 14 portraits collected in 6 days! Kudos to team 2015! Isn't it amazing that he saw us on the highway earlier and saw us again in the city at night, and what the odds are that a squirrel broke into his wardrobe that he met us in the laundry room. This has been a really amazing journey.
Rochester has been a beautiful city with lots of stuffs to do. Mike recommended us a location, like a hospice center that his dad had treatment at. I figured that it'd be good if team 2016 get to visit that place since Mike mentioned that they would love to have us there.
Okay time to go to bed. Gotta be up by 4.30am tomorrow and get pumped up for Niagara Falls tomorrow! It's gonna be a long 86 mile ride tomorrow! Good night!
Much love.
#seeyousoonNiagaraFalls
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: Hot and sunny
Location: Church of Love and Faith Rochester (lol I think I just made up the name haha)
Today is a short ride day but a long day. We did only 26 miles from Palmyra to Rochester. We could've got everything done by yesterday and have a full event day today though hmm. We had yogurt and pumpkin granola, I think, for breakfast this morning. This is like 80% better than oatmeal. Love those crunchy granola. <3
I rode with Diego and Angelica today, just the three of us. We were the first group to roll out, and we were going so fast. Our max speed was 24 mph, averaging at 15.5 mph. Ashley's group rode past us along the way cause Diego was trying to teach me to shift fown on a traffic light but failed. That was the time they rode past us. We then tried to go super fast to catch up with them. Lol. But along the way we stopped by CVS cause Diego wanted to get shades, and I grabbed Arizona too. We were actually just chilling and chatting on our way there until we saw Ashley's group at the trail. There was a reroute for the trail. Diego asked Angelica and I to follow him to take the reroute path , while Ashley's group took some other paths. Eventually we reached this stayover first yay! This is the first time I'm in the first group to arrive at stayover! #achievement
I really like to ride in a group with people who can push me to go beyond my limit. I like to go fast but I'm not that strong yet. I need (crazy or ADHD) people like Diego and Angelica to push me so I can get stronger and better. Thanks guys! #sincerelythanksOKAY <3
We rolled out at 7.20am and arrived at 9.30am. 25 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes, that is a pretty good pace. As soon as other groups started to roll in, we had burrito for brunch (kudos to the Chipotle restaurant that donated burritos to us!) #thankful We chilled until 11am then we were divide into 2 groups. One group headed to American Cancer Society hope lodge, and another headed to Gilda's. We spent few hours there conducting portraits and all of us gathered at Damon Runyon Research Center in the University of Rochester campus.
I was in the hope lodge group, the people we talked to were all very optimistic and supportive. They love what we are doing. There was this couple that we conducted portrait with-the husband is having colon cancer. The couple has been married for 54 years, if I'm not mistaken, but they are still so sweet. When signing the consent form, the husband asked the wife to sign for him cause the form says "18 and below, you need a guardian to sign". Another thing the wife said was, " We are always friends, it's not easy to spend so much time with someone for so many years, yet you still have a lot to talk about everyday. The husband's reply to that was, "Yeah we are friends, just that I always talk, and she never listen. In other meaning, she's smart."
I love conducting portraits. If only I'm better at talking to people, I'd totally killin this role haha. The best thing about portraits is that you get to hear stories-funny, sad, inspiring, and meaningful ones. It brings all of us back to our emotional sides and reminds us of why we're doing this ride. We're not professional cyclists, getting sores, hurts, nunbs, everyday, yet we are killing it miles by miles, days by days. It's impressive to see how we've bike for 6 days, from Manhattan to Rochester, rolling into Niagara Falls tomorrow. Many have said that even by driving that would take me 3 days.
We had dinner at 6pm just now and we're pretty much free to explore the town after dinner. I followed the girls to do laundry at a shop 1 or 2 miles away from this church. Somehow there was this guy, Mike and his wife were there too doing laundry-the squirrel broke into his wardrobe and messed up eevrything. Mike said he saw us on highway 31 with the exact same jersey and wonder what we were doing. Sarah started explaining to him about us, and handed him our I4k card. He mentioned that he just lost his dad to cancer last January (if I remember correctly). I then talked to Mike about the Portraits Project and asked if he likes to share his story with us. He agreed but he thought it was gonna be a super serious one, so he said he'd like to talk to us tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we'll be out by 6am tomorrow and he said he will email us. Then I thought it'd be a waste if we didn't get a portrait from him. So I explained to him how the portrait works-just a short interview. Andrew called Ashley immediately and we had Sean there in 10 minutes. That was how we got another portrait in a laundry room! 14 portraits collected in 6 days! Kudos to team 2015! Isn't it amazing that he saw us on the highway earlier and saw us again in the city at night, and what the odds are that a squirrel broke into his wardrobe that he met us in the laundry room. This has been a really amazing journey.
Rochester has been a beautiful city with lots of stuffs to do. Mike recommended us a location, like a hospice center that his dad had treatment at. I figured that it'd be good if team 2016 get to visit that place since Mike mentioned that they would love to have us there.
Okay time to go to bed. Gotta be up by 4.30am tomorrow and get pumped up for Niagara Falls tomorrow! It's gonna be a long 86 mile ride tomorrow! Good night!
Much love.
#seeyousoonNiagaraFalls
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Day 7: Syracuse to Palmyra, NY
Date: 5/28/2015
Time: 8pm
Weather: Chilly in the morning, super windy day, sunny towards the end of the ride
Location:Cross Creek Church Palmyra
Here I am blogging so early tonight. All of the groups were in by 3.00pm! :D
Short intro-it's gonna be the same everyday. Lizzie woke me up at 5.30am. I had her wake me up because I took an allergy pill for the bee sting to remove swell, and my phone was left charging very far away from me. Yesterday's stayover is so beautiful. It seriously looks like a hotel. Van packing was done by 6.30am, and everyone was done having breakfast by 6.45am. Today's breakfast is one of the fanciest breakfast I've had thus far. The chocolate muffin was soooooo good! #heaven
Time: 8pm
Weather: Chilly in the morning, super windy day, sunny towards the end of the ride
Location:Cross Creek Church Palmyra
Here I am blogging so early tonight. All of the groups were in by 3.00pm! :D
Short intro-it's gonna be the same everyday. Lizzie woke me up at 5.30am. I had her wake me up because I took an allergy pill for the bee sting to remove swell, and my phone was left charging very far away from me. Yesterday's stayover is so beautiful. It seriously looks like a hotel. Van packing was done by 6.30am, and everyone was done having breakfast by 6.45am. Today's breakfast is one of the fanciest breakfast I've had thus far. The chocolate muffin was soooooo good! #heaven
Today I have Sarah H., Lizzie, Emmy, and Carrie in my group.
It was so much fun riding with them! The first part of the journey wasn't that great because it was chilly and the wind was soooo strong. The moment I slowed down I felt like the wind was gonna blew me off. That took up so much of my energy. I remember there was one part of the hill that I was totally out of breath and I had to ask the team to slow down their pace for me. However the whole stretch of road after the lunch stop at mile 44 was flat and straight. We rolled out by 7.30am, and reached Cross Creek Church by 2.30pm, with average speed of 13mph.
The past few days were probably the first time I saw so many dead animals-squirrels, cats, deer, birds, and today a dead turtle. Earlier today we saw a turtle crossing the highway, this is probably the rarest thing I have seen haha.
I'm really glad to see how everyone is working so well as a team, waiting for teammates, stopping when necessary, and caring for each other. This bond has grown so much since the first day. We did have a whole semester of training together, but we didn't have much time to talk to each other. We'll just meet at the ARC for training, then everyone left right after training. I'm also super impressed by everyone's spirit, especially Lizzie cause she always has the mindset that "I can do it". I've never heard her saying, "I don't want to do this." She always gives her best shot and pushed through every hill. I feel like I've seen her grow so much since the first day she rode with me.
We went only 65 miles today. Pretty short as compared to day 2 and day 3's rides. Tomorrow we are rolling into Rochester, it's gonna be just 25 miles. Super short ride cause we're gonna have events in Rochester from afternoon till evening. The day after we're going to Niagara Falls! It's gonna be a 86-mile ride from Rochester to Niagara Falls, but I'm so excited about it! I always have a thing for Niagara Falls. :)
The swell on my finger is getting much better-I could at least bend my finger now. But the allergy pill was making me so drowsy that I've been yawning on my entire ride. The numbs and trembling is getting a little worse. Pain on quads and shoulder is bad too. Everyone has some problems, somehow. Haha feel like the whole team is made up of old people now.
Time to pack my stuffs and get ready to go to bed early. Gotta be up early tomorrow.
Loves.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Day 6: Little Falls to Syracuse, NY
Date: 5/27/2015
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Cloudy, few drops of rain, sunny towards the end.
Location: St. Paul Cathedral Syracuse
We were up by 5.55am and got stuffs for van packing by 6.20am. After breakfasr, every group rolled up one by one. I had Ben, Andrew, and Emmy in my group today! We rolled out at around 7.20am.
It's nice to ride with this group of people because they are going so fast That it really pushed me a lot. The first 40 miles were mainly flat and nice roads and we were going at 20mph. The final 20 miles were not that fun-there were so many hills along the way. I was almost dying whi
le riding up those hills. We reached the first rest stop at 20 mile before 9am, lunch stop at mile 40 at 10.30am. That was the first time I was in the first group to arrive at the rest stop. ;D When we hit the 60 mile pit stop, the van was not even there yet. #achievement Thw final 20 miles, I was slowing so much cause I had to catch my breath while going uphill.
#storytime
While we were at mile 75, I was going too fast that I hit a bump and my handle bar bag was opened. My watch fell on the road and bounced into a drain. I thought I was so screwed if the drain is deep and full of dirty water. But when Emmy went to find it, she said the drain wasn't too deep. I ran there and saw my watch in there. This guy from a house right beside this road saw me and asked if I need help to get the watch out. I said yes and he brought me a hanger. That didnt work so they got something like a broom stick and put a nail to it. That served like a hook to get my watch out. Eventually we did manage to get it back, and Ben went to talk to them about we're doing. Guess what? The guy agreed to have a portrait! waited fo the van for like 15 minutes, andddd we got a portrait!! YAYYYY! Then we were ready to roll again for another 3 miles.
For the bee sting I got from 2 days ago, my finer is swelling so badly. We went by a pharmacy and the pharmacist asked me to take this diphenhydramine HCl pill before sleep tonight and use the anti-itch cream for the moment. Hope the swell goes away by tomorrow! It was so awkward that I couldn't straighten nor bend my finger now. The weirdest thing is I couldn't even hold on tight to my brakes while I was riding.
It was a great day, great ride instead. I like the fast-paced ride. And we got a portraits through this 'special' way. What an encounter :) Also the stayover (St Paul cathedral) is super fancy. It looks like a hotel :) Thanks to Emmy too, we got so much food donation-we get to have a lot of food for the rest of the day.
Day 6- Little Falls to Syracuse, 83 miles, 7.30am till 5.30pm. Done. 7 more days till rest day; 2 more days to Niagara Falls!
Off to bed soon! I bet the medicine is really taking effects now.
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Cloudy, few drops of rain, sunny towards the end.
Location: St. Paul Cathedral Syracuse
We were up by 5.55am and got stuffs for van packing by 6.20am. After breakfasr, every group rolled up one by one. I had Ben, Andrew, and Emmy in my group today! We rolled out at around 7.20am.
It's nice to ride with this group of people because they are going so fast That it really pushed me a lot. The first 40 miles were mainly flat and nice roads and we were going at 20mph. The final 20 miles were not that fun-there were so many hills along the way. I was almost dying whi
le riding up those hills. We reached the first rest stop at 20 mile before 9am, lunch stop at mile 40 at 10.30am. That was the first time I was in the first group to arrive at the rest stop. ;D When we hit the 60 mile pit stop, the van was not even there yet. #achievement Thw final 20 miles, I was slowing so much cause I had to catch my breath while going uphill.
#storytime
While we were at mile 75, I was going too fast that I hit a bump and my handle bar bag was opened. My watch fell on the road and bounced into a drain. I thought I was so screwed if the drain is deep and full of dirty water. But when Emmy went to find it, she said the drain wasn't too deep. I ran there and saw my watch in there. This guy from a house right beside this road saw me and asked if I need help to get the watch out. I said yes and he brought me a hanger. That didnt work so they got something like a broom stick and put a nail to it. That served like a hook to get my watch out. Eventually we did manage to get it back, and Ben went to talk to them about we're doing. Guess what? The guy agreed to have a portrait! waited fo the van for like 15 minutes, andddd we got a portrait!! YAYYYY! Then we were ready to roll again for another 3 miles.
For the bee sting I got from 2 days ago, my finer is swelling so badly. We went by a pharmacy and the pharmacist asked me to take this diphenhydramine HCl pill before sleep tonight and use the anti-itch cream for the moment. Hope the swell goes away by tomorrow! It was so awkward that I couldn't straighten nor bend my finger now. The weirdest thing is I couldn't even hold on tight to my brakes while I was riding.
It was a great day, great ride instead. I like the fast-paced ride. And we got a portraits through this 'special' way. What an encounter :) Also the stayover (St Paul cathedral) is super fancy. It looks like a hotel :) Thanks to Emmy too, we got so much food donation-we get to have a lot of food for the rest of the day.
Day 6- Little Falls to Syracuse, 83 miles, 7.30am till 5.30pm. Done. 7 more days till rest day; 2 more days to Niagara Falls!
Off to bed soon! I bet the medicine is really taking effects now.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Day 5: Albany to Little Falls, NY
Date: 5/26/2015
Time: 9pm
Weather: Sunny, cloudy, few drops of rain
Location: Little Falls YMCA
Wake up call was at 5.40am but I had been awake since 5pm. Finally got off my bed at 5.20am to brush teeth and packed stuffs. We got everything for van packing by 6.15am and had breakfast after. The people in YMCA offered us a yoga class that started at 6.55am.
As soon as the yoga class ended, the groups started to roll out. I had Angelica, Khrystyna, Lisa, and Hannah B. riding with me today. We rolled out at about 7.30am. The first rest stop was at mile 18. That place was a beautiful lake with a little garden. There were a lot of ducklings too! They are all sooooooo cute hehe and I believe that I took more than 10 pictures of them hahahah :D The second rest stop was at mile 45. Besides PBJ we had popsicles too!!! It was soooooo good to be able to eat these cold food when the weather was so hot. :D
We didn't have a third rest stop because the route was shorter today. However, we did stop at Shop-A-Lot (not sure if I remember this wrong, but it's beside Family Dollar). Finally had the chance to pee haha :P Then we went on a few hills and finally arrived out stayover by 6pm.
The hardest part of today's ride was going through the bike trail. It was easy to bike on that because there was no traffic at all. But I didn't like it because of the loose gravel and my bike kept swirling. I felt like I was gonna fall and I was so tensed. I held on so hard to my handlebar that my fingers actually hurt. Then it started to rain in the middle of our ride, and I was thinking that I was gonna be so dead if it rained. This is my real nightmare. :3 Another hard part was going up 4 miles on some hills. It wasn't too bad because it's not just one big hill that we need to climb. It's more of like uphill, downhill a little, and more uphills. It's just long but not that steep.
Had a shower as soon as I arrived and I was late for dinner cause I really enjoyed the shower here. :3 Had short team meeting after the dinner and we are done by like 8pm. I'm gonna sleep early tonight because I wasn't getting enough sleep last night. It's time to sleeeeeep!
June 3rd is our next rest day. 8 more days. EIGHT moreeeee. My saddle sore is getting very serious now And it hurts a lot when I bike. My shoulder, arms, and knees are hurting a lot too. Even my toes are hurting and feeling numb at times. Everyone is going through the same thing, hurt but we're all still going strong. Love this spirit! I'm taking Naproxen every day just to make sure that the pain doesn't get too bad that I couldn't bike. Side note, my tan line is getting more and more obvious! I did put on sunscreen at every rest stop though, but I guess my skin is absorbing a lot of UVA and UVB. Lol.
Pen off. Day 3, 83 miles, 10 hours, doneeeeeeee! :D
Time: 9pm
Weather: Sunny, cloudy, few drops of rain
Location: Little Falls YMCA
Wake up call was at 5.40am but I had been awake since 5pm. Finally got off my bed at 5.20am to brush teeth and packed stuffs. We got everything for van packing by 6.15am and had breakfast after. The people in YMCA offered us a yoga class that started at 6.55am.
As soon as the yoga class ended, the groups started to roll out. I had Angelica, Khrystyna, Lisa, and Hannah B. riding with me today. We rolled out at about 7.30am. The first rest stop was at mile 18. That place was a beautiful lake with a little garden. There were a lot of ducklings too! They are all sooooooo cute hehe and I believe that I took more than 10 pictures of them hahahah :D The second rest stop was at mile 45. Besides PBJ we had popsicles too!!! It was soooooo good to be able to eat these cold food when the weather was so hot. :D
We didn't have a third rest stop because the route was shorter today. However, we did stop at Shop-A-Lot (not sure if I remember this wrong, but it's beside Family Dollar). Finally had the chance to pee haha :P Then we went on a few hills and finally arrived out stayover by 6pm.
The hardest part of today's ride was going through the bike trail. It was easy to bike on that because there was no traffic at all. But I didn't like it because of the loose gravel and my bike kept swirling. I felt like I was gonna fall and I was so tensed. I held on so hard to my handlebar that my fingers actually hurt. Then it started to rain in the middle of our ride, and I was thinking that I was gonna be so dead if it rained. This is my real nightmare. :3 Another hard part was going up 4 miles on some hills. It wasn't too bad because it's not just one big hill that we need to climb. It's more of like uphill, downhill a little, and more uphills. It's just long but not that steep.
Had a shower as soon as I arrived and I was late for dinner cause I really enjoyed the shower here. :3 Had short team meeting after the dinner and we are done by like 8pm. I'm gonna sleep early tonight because I wasn't getting enough sleep last night. It's time to sleeeeeep!
June 3rd is our next rest day. 8 more days. EIGHT moreeeee. My saddle sore is getting very serious now And it hurts a lot when I bike. My shoulder, arms, and knees are hurting a lot too. Even my toes are hurting and feeling numb at times. Everyone is going through the same thing, hurt but we're all still going strong. Love this spirit! I'm taking Naproxen every day just to make sure that the pain doesn't get too bad that I couldn't bike. Side note, my tan line is getting more and more obvious! I did put on sunscreen at every rest stop though, but I guess my skin is absorbing a lot of UVA and UVB. Lol.
Pen off. Day 3, 83 miles, 10 hours, doneeeeeeee! :D
Monday, May 25, 2015
Day 4: From "Bacon" to Albany, NY
Date: 5/25/2015
Time: 11.00 pm
Weather: Burning, so freaking sunny
Location: YMCA Albany, NY.
Today was the 2nd day of riding. Heard from someone last night that we were gonna do like 90-ish miles today. I was kinda nervous because I could barely pull through the 70+ miles we had on the first day. I was hoping that there'll be fewer hills, less elevation for today's ride.
Left Beacon (I like to call it Bacon hehe) church at 7.30am and had the first rest stop at about mile 22. Had some snacks at this gas station stop, and rolled out again at about 10 stg am. Second rest stop was at mile 48, as usual, had PBJ sandwiches and rolled out again. The part to get to the third rest stop at mile 70+ was the toughesr part because we had to go on more hills and we were all outta water. It was way hotter than yesterday. That was 4pm. Then we managed to pull through the final 20+ miles and rolled in to the Y by 7.10pm.
It was a tough ride with hills and stuffs. But one good part of riding bike across the country is that I get to see many beautiful places. Love those tiny streams, and huge bridge. It felt so good to be able to bike on the bridge. Felt dangerous yet peaceful at the same time.
Oh as soon as we rolled into the YMCA, they serve us with great great food. There were pasta, brownies, cookies, meat patty, sausages, bread, potato salad, chicken, etc. Also they have a swimming pool, laundry room, television, saunas, showers, and a huge ice hockey rink for us to keep our bike and sleep. To me, it felt like a reward. After you bike for so long, those are exactly what Ou needed. Good food, good shower. I am extremely grateful to have such nice host. Also the people here are extremely nice and they like to tallk to us.
I got a little cut today from my wheels. Heh no biggues, Im more worries about my knees. Oh I got stung by a bee today while riding. It stopped on my finger for less than 5 seconds I swear, but my fingers are alreadt swollen now. :/ Regardless of what happened, it was a great ride! I always thought that we'll not be able to pull through those hills especially when we're towards the end of ride, getting exhausted and all, SOMEHOW, just somehow we did manage to pull through. I don't know how it happened, but it's amazing. To those who fell terribly- Bryan and Corinne, take care and recover soon!
We're all fighters! We're strong!
My quote,
"Never stop pedaling"
Hahahah that was what I said to Lizzie but somehow it became like a quote. Gotta love these amazing friends!
Gotta be up by 5am tmrw, so off to bed now ! Ciao!
Again, pictures are on insta and fb. :) fewer pics today cause we were rushing through. 11 hours of bike ride, 90 miles, that was crazy tbh.
Time: 11.00 pm
Weather: Burning, so freaking sunny
Location: YMCA Albany, NY.
Today was the 2nd day of riding. Heard from someone last night that we were gonna do like 90-ish miles today. I was kinda nervous because I could barely pull through the 70+ miles we had on the first day. I was hoping that there'll be fewer hills, less elevation for today's ride.
Left Beacon (I like to call it Bacon hehe) church at 7.30am and had the first rest stop at about mile 22. Had some snacks at this gas station stop, and rolled out again at about 10 stg am. Second rest stop was at mile 48, as usual, had PBJ sandwiches and rolled out again. The part to get to the third rest stop at mile 70+ was the toughesr part because we had to go on more hills and we were all outta water. It was way hotter than yesterday. That was 4pm. Then we managed to pull through the final 20+ miles and rolled in to the Y by 7.10pm.
It was a tough ride with hills and stuffs. But one good part of riding bike across the country is that I get to see many beautiful places. Love those tiny streams, and huge bridge. It felt so good to be able to bike on the bridge. Felt dangerous yet peaceful at the same time.
Oh as soon as we rolled into the YMCA, they serve us with great great food. There were pasta, brownies, cookies, meat patty, sausages, bread, potato salad, chicken, etc. Also they have a swimming pool, laundry room, television, saunas, showers, and a huge ice hockey rink for us to keep our bike and sleep. To me, it felt like a reward. After you bike for so long, those are exactly what Ou needed. Good food, good shower. I am extremely grateful to have such nice host. Also the people here are extremely nice and they like to tallk to us.
I got a little cut today from my wheels. Heh no biggues, Im more worries about my knees. Oh I got stung by a bee today while riding. It stopped on my finger for less than 5 seconds I swear, but my fingers are alreadt swollen now. :/ Regardless of what happened, it was a great ride! I always thought that we'll not be able to pull through those hills especially when we're towards the end of ride, getting exhausted and all, SOMEHOW, just somehow we did manage to pull through. I don't know how it happened, but it's amazing. To those who fell terribly- Bryan and Corinne, take care and recover soon!
We're all fighters! We're strong!
My quote,
"Never stop pedaling"
Hahahah that was what I said to Lizzie but somehow it became like a quote. Gotta love these amazing friends!
Gotta be up by 5am tmrw, so off to bed now ! Ciao!
Again, pictures are on insta and fb. :) fewer pics today cause we were rushing through. 11 hours of bike ride, 90 miles, that was crazy tbh.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Day 3: First ride ! Manhattan to Beacon
Date: 5/24/2015
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: So damn hot, sunny
Location: Stayover at Beacon, NY (air-conditioned church)
We were all up by 5am (I wanted to be more relax so I was up by 4.20am). Had the van packed and breakfast (there was cereal, dried strawberries, and milk, YAY!), and were all out to the subway station by 6am. We took a subway to Damon Runyon to collect our bikes, headed to Battery Park and were ready to roll by 8am.
Personally, I think it was a hard ride today because we climbed like 9 hills (Or more) and we were going at 2mph at the steepest one. I actually fell cause I was going wayyyy too slow and I lost my balance. We ended up pushing our bikes uphill though.
The first rest stop was at mile 22; the second one was at mile 45. As usual we had PBJ (peanut butter and jelly) sandwiches for lunch. I had a super bad stomachache today and really wanted to poop. Lol. Everyone kept telling me to poop in the woods, but I didn't want to do that. Geli lor @@ I sprinted all the way to the stayover, going at about 14-19 mph so I could poop lol.
It wasn't too bad overall. The day felt so long. We reached our stayover at 7.30pm. It was a 11-hour ride. There were stops, flats, and stuffs, plus those crazy hills. Oh did I not mention how fast were we while going downhill? It was a good 30mph! Love love those speed!
Once we arrived at the stayover, we changed, unpack stuffs, and had dinner. The church was so kind that they donated 3 huge roasted chicken, cakes, breads, and salad to us. It was supposed to be just spaghetti and lentils :3 I even washed my hair in the sink so my hair smells super good now haha :D #seconddaywithnoshower
The thing I like about this ride is that no matter how exhausted we are, we always managed to pull through it. Waking up at 4.30am and biked for 11 hours? That's definitely not something everyone can do and is willing to do. Uphills downhills remind me of how life is always like that. Going through good and bad always make us a tougher person in a way. This is what you've to go through in life. If there's no uphill, no difficulties, there will be no downhills, and you'll not appreciate it when good times come. One last thing I like about this ride is that we're able to bike through beautiful places that you don't always see or go. I'm trying to make a video of it and will definitely try to combine and make a nice version ofthese amazing memories when the ride ends!
Everyone is already asleep and I should be sleeping too. I'm totally exhausted. Again, sorry that I can't post pictures in this blog cause I really need to sleep.
Follow me on instagram: @janelepooh this is where I upload photos from time to time throughout the day. Or just visit my facebook Jane Phang (sorry no link attached).
Good 73 miles for today! 90+ miles tomorrow! Hopefully there'll be fewer hills/mountains :3
Good nights lovelies!
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: So damn hot, sunny
Location: Stayover at Beacon, NY (air-conditioned church)
We were all up by 5am (I wanted to be more relax so I was up by 4.20am). Had the van packed and breakfast (there was cereal, dried strawberries, and milk, YAY!), and were all out to the subway station by 6am. We took a subway to Damon Runyon to collect our bikes, headed to Battery Park and were ready to roll by 8am.
Personally, I think it was a hard ride today because we climbed like 9 hills (Or more) and we were going at 2mph at the steepest one. I actually fell cause I was going wayyyy too slow and I lost my balance. We ended up pushing our bikes uphill though.
The first rest stop was at mile 22; the second one was at mile 45. As usual we had PBJ (peanut butter and jelly) sandwiches for lunch. I had a super bad stomachache today and really wanted to poop. Lol. Everyone kept telling me to poop in the woods, but I didn't want to do that. Geli lor @@ I sprinted all the way to the stayover, going at about 14-19 mph so I could poop lol.
It wasn't too bad overall. The day felt so long. We reached our stayover at 7.30pm. It was a 11-hour ride. There were stops, flats, and stuffs, plus those crazy hills. Oh did I not mention how fast were we while going downhill? It was a good 30mph! Love love those speed!
Once we arrived at the stayover, we changed, unpack stuffs, and had dinner. The church was so kind that they donated 3 huge roasted chicken, cakes, breads, and salad to us. It was supposed to be just spaghetti and lentils :3 I even washed my hair in the sink so my hair smells super good now haha :D #seconddaywithnoshower
The thing I like about this ride is that no matter how exhausted we are, we always managed to pull through it. Waking up at 4.30am and biked for 11 hours? That's definitely not something everyone can do and is willing to do. Uphills downhills remind me of how life is always like that. Going through good and bad always make us a tougher person in a way. This is what you've to go through in life. If there's no uphill, no difficulties, there will be no downhills, and you'll not appreciate it when good times come. One last thing I like about this ride is that we're able to bike through beautiful places that you don't always see or go. I'm trying to make a video of it and will definitely try to combine and make a nice version ofthese amazing memories when the ride ends!
Everyone is already asleep and I should be sleeping too. I'm totally exhausted. Again, sorry that I can't post pictures in this blog cause I really need to sleep.
Follow me on instagram: @janelepooh this is where I upload photos from time to time throughout the day. Or just visit my facebook Jane Phang (sorry no link attached).
Good 73 miles for today! 90+ miles tomorrow! Hopefully there'll be fewer hills/mountains :3
Good nights lovelies!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Day 2: Living the New York Dream
Date: 5/23/2015
Time: 10.10 pm
Weather: Chilly, sunny
Location: Stayover at Brooklyn (church)
There were some complications with last night's stayover-Ben found out that it was connected to a homeless shelter and it was unsafe for us to pull a night there. So we had the chance to stay in a hotel in Manhattan instead. I believe the hotel was Belleclaire. There were 5 rooms in total, and we had to fit everyone and all our stuffs and bikes in the rooms too. We reached Penn Station at about 12am, took subway to the hotel, and finally got everything settled by 2am. I took a short bath last night before sleep.
I woke up at 7.50 am this morning just so that I could take another nice shower again. I spent about 20 minutes just taking that shower. You never know when you'll get to shower again. :/ Then everyone in my room was awake by 8.30 am and we were all gathered by 9.30am. We were running kinda late this morning. There was an event at Damon Runyon Research Center at 10am but we were late. They served us with super good breakfast-bagels with cream cheese, cakes, fruits, orange juice, and coffee. We got to meet 2 scientists who are currently postdocs at Rockefeller University. Heard that this university has pretty cool research programs!
The event ended at about 12pm and we were free to explore NYC on our own. I was in a group with Angelica, Lizzie, Khrystyna, Alex, Corinne, and Hannah B. We went to 9/11 memorial, see Statue of Liberty from afar, Rockefellar Plaza, Times Square, Central Park, and walked on Brooklyn bridge. We walked a lot today, well I guess that's a prep for tomorrow's 70'mile ride.
We met outside of the church by 8.30pm. Got our stuffs, unpacked, had group meeting, and now we're finally ready to go to bed. We've to be up by 5am tomorrow and get off by 6am. We'll be going to Famon Runyon Research Center to collect our bikes because we stored our bikes there today.
One story I want to share with you guys before I end this post:
I was in a subway this evening. There was this old man named Richard, despite his age, he stood up and gave his seat to one woman. I was sitting beside him and I felt bad cause I don't think young person like me should get the seat. So I stood up and told him to have my seat. Then he was like you're fine, I know you needed the seat. When I sat down, he looked at our quarter zip and asked so you guys are fighting Illini? Then I started talking to him about who we are and what the team is doing. "There are 28 of us, we're from the UofI, we bike from NYC to San Fran to raise fund and raise awareness for cancer. We chatted a little and before he got off the subway, he gave me $20 as donation. Isn't it amazing how people like him are so supportive and willing to put in $20 with just 5 minutes of chat? I'm so thankful for these amazing people I met and will be meeting. This is definitely gonna be a life-changing experience!
Tomorrow will be our first ride day! Time to get everything started! It's also time to say goodbye to my favorite city :( Bye New York! Off to bed now! Lights off!
Loves.
Time: 10.10 pm
Weather: Chilly, sunny
Location: Stayover at Brooklyn (church)
There were some complications with last night's stayover-Ben found out that it was connected to a homeless shelter and it was unsafe for us to pull a night there. So we had the chance to stay in a hotel in Manhattan instead. I believe the hotel was Belleclaire. There were 5 rooms in total, and we had to fit everyone and all our stuffs and bikes in the rooms too. We reached Penn Station at about 12am, took subway to the hotel, and finally got everything settled by 2am. I took a short bath last night before sleep.
I woke up at 7.50 am this morning just so that I could take another nice shower again. I spent about 20 minutes just taking that shower. You never know when you'll get to shower again. :/ Then everyone in my room was awake by 8.30 am and we were all gathered by 9.30am. We were running kinda late this morning. There was an event at Damon Runyon Research Center at 10am but we were late. They served us with super good breakfast-bagels with cream cheese, cakes, fruits, orange juice, and coffee. We got to meet 2 scientists who are currently postdocs at Rockefeller University. Heard that this university has pretty cool research programs!
The event ended at about 12pm and we were free to explore NYC on our own. I was in a group with Angelica, Lizzie, Khrystyna, Alex, Corinne, and Hannah B. We went to 9/11 memorial, see Statue of Liberty from afar, Rockefellar Plaza, Times Square, Central Park, and walked on Brooklyn bridge. We walked a lot today, well I guess that's a prep for tomorrow's 70'mile ride.
We met outside of the church by 8.30pm. Got our stuffs, unpacked, had group meeting, and now we're finally ready to go to bed. We've to be up by 5am tomorrow and get off by 6am. We'll be going to Famon Runyon Research Center to collect our bikes because we stored our bikes there today.
One story I want to share with you guys before I end this post:
I was in a subway this evening. There was this old man named Richard, despite his age, he stood up and gave his seat to one woman. I was sitting beside him and I felt bad cause I don't think young person like me should get the seat. So I stood up and told him to have my seat. Then he was like you're fine, I know you needed the seat. When I sat down, he looked at our quarter zip and asked so you guys are fighting Illini? Then I started talking to him about who we are and what the team is doing. "There are 28 of us, we're from the UofI, we bike from NYC to San Fran to raise fund and raise awareness for cancer. We chatted a little and before he got off the subway, he gave me $20 as donation. Isn't it amazing how people like him are so supportive and willing to put in $20 with just 5 minutes of chat? I'm so thankful for these amazing people I met and will be meeting. This is definitely gonna be a life-changing experience!
Tomorrow will be our first ride day! Time to get everything started! It's also time to say goodbye to my favorite city :( Bye New York! Off to bed now! Lights off!
Loves.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Day 1: Can we get off the train already?
Date: 5/22/2015
Time: 7.00 pm
Weather: Nice and sunny out, but it's cold in the train
Location: Still in the train
The train is moving so slow. The time is moving even slower... It has been 25 hours since we boarded the train yesterday. There was no stop, so it means our butts have been sitting on the same spot for this long.
It turned out that we're taking the longest possible route, going to south and go all the way back up to NYC. I don't know where we are now. I don't know what to do in here. I've been sleeping the entire journey haha. I slept at 6pm yesterday, woke up at like 10pm, then slept again at 1am; sleeping on and off throughout the night and finally woke up at 10.30am. Brushed my teeth and had my last lau sa pau for breakfast. Then I slept again till 5pm.
Some boring photos to make this post less boring:
There's no wifi here, and my battery drains so fast. There's nothing I can do to kill time, well except for sleeping. It's finally time to pay off all of my sleep debt, I guess.
The plan for later tonight is to get off the train station, grab a metro card, and travel for about an hour to our stayover location. We'll have a rest day tomorrow. There's an event with Damon Runyon research center in the morning, and we're free to explore NYC later in the afternoon.
Went to NYC last summer, and fell in love with it immediately. I'm glad that I'm back here again after one year! Hopefully I'll have the chance to go to NYC for one last time next summer before I leave the States. *cry a river* NYC is definitely my favorite city thus far. Maybe I'll change my mind after visiting San Francisco. Or maybe I'll love both cities. But isn't it awesome that this ride will be starting off from my favorite city and ending in my possible favorite city?
That's all for now! Will update more when more exciting things happen later tonight. If you read it tomorrow and nothing changes, it means that I fell asleep again! Hahaha
Time: 7.00 pm
Weather: Nice and sunny out, but it's cold in the train
Location: Still in the train
The train is moving so slow. The time is moving even slower... It has been 25 hours since we boarded the train yesterday. There was no stop, so it means our butts have been sitting on the same spot for this long.
It turned out that we're taking the longest possible route, going to south and go all the way back up to NYC. I don't know where we are now. I don't know what to do in here. I've been sleeping the entire journey haha. I slept at 6pm yesterday, woke up at like 10pm, then slept again at 1am; sleeping on and off throughout the night and finally woke up at 10.30am. Brushed my teeth and had my last lau sa pau for breakfast. Then I slept again till 5pm.
Some boring photos to make this post less boring:
And we just went pass DC!
Hi monument
Hi Dome!
There's no wifi here, and my battery drains so fast. There's nothing I can do to kill time, well except for sleeping. It's finally time to pay off all of my sleep debt, I guess.
The plan for later tonight is to get off the train station, grab a metro card, and travel for about an hour to our stayover location. We'll have a rest day tomorrow. There's an event with Damon Runyon research center in the morning, and we're free to explore NYC later in the afternoon.
Went to NYC last summer, and fell in love with it immediately. I'm glad that I'm back here again after one year! Hopefully I'll have the chance to go to NYC for one last time next summer before I leave the States. *cry a river* NYC is definitely my favorite city thus far. Maybe I'll change my mind after visiting San Francisco. Or maybe I'll love both cities. But isn't it awesome that this ride will be starting off from my favorite city and ending in my possible favorite city?
That's all for now! Will update more when more exciting things happen later tonight. If you read it tomorrow and nothing changes, it means that I fell asleep again! Hahaha
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Day 0: From IL to NYC
Date: 5/21/2015
Time: 5.45 pm
Weather: Sunny & warm
Location: In Amtrak train 50
Today is the day.
I did not sleep at all last night, because I was afraid that I was gonna miss my 5.45 am bus from Champaign to Chicago. Well, I fell asleep for like 10 minutes and I almost missed my bus. Lol. Thanks Chee Hoe for sending me off at the terminal despite me being in a rush (as usual); Thanks Encik Sam for staying up till 4 am and talked crap for the whole night; and thanks Kit Siang for everything. 💜
I reached Chicago Union Station at 9.30 am. Waited for the directors and the team to arrive at 11 am. When everyone was slowly cruising in, we had our pedals removed, briefing, and finally ready to box our bike at 12 pm.
We were released for lunch at 1 pm and Kit Siang knowing that I have been wanting to eat dim sum since few days ago, decided that we should spend the 3-hour-lunch break for dim sum at Chinatown. So, we went to Ming Hin for lunch. Lucky enough, there was no line at all when it was usually at least an hour wait. We ordered a lottttt of dim sum! :D #foodmakesmehappy I have been eating so much lately that I'm only 1 kg away from being able to donate blood. I used to be 7 kg away from the bar. Damn. #growfatter
We got back to the Union Station at about 3.30 pm and I took a short nap on the floor. We started lining up and boarded the train at 5.30 pm. As the train started to move at 5.45 pm, we're officially going on this crazy adventure. It's gonna be a 27-hour train ride to NYC. And I shall be sleeping now. Haha :)
There are so many people I want to thank, for the strong support I have been getting, for the love and care from everyone around me, for everything everyone does for me. Like I said, I don't hope for more, I just wish all of you to be happy, and of course if you're not, I'll be able to brighten up your day. :)
Time: 5.45 pm
Weather: Sunny & warm
Location: In Amtrak train 50
Today is the day.
I did not sleep at all last night, because I was afraid that I was gonna miss my 5.45 am bus from Champaign to Chicago. Well, I fell asleep for like 10 minutes and I almost missed my bus. Lol. Thanks Chee Hoe for sending me off at the terminal despite me being in a rush (as usual); Thanks Encik Sam for staying up till 4 am and talked crap for the whole night; and thanks Kit Siang for everything. 💜
I reached Chicago Union Station at 9.30 am. Waited for the directors and the team to arrive at 11 am. When everyone was slowly cruising in, we had our pedals removed, briefing, and finally ready to box our bike at 12 pm.
We were released for lunch at 1 pm and Kit Siang knowing that I have been wanting to eat dim sum since few days ago, decided that we should spend the 3-hour-lunch break for dim sum at Chinatown. So, we went to Ming Hin for lunch. Lucky enough, there was no line at all when it was usually at least an hour wait. We ordered a lottttt of dim sum! :D #foodmakesmehappy I have been eating so much lately that I'm only 1 kg away from being able to donate blood. I used to be 7 kg away from the bar. Damn. #growfatter
There are so many people I want to thank, for the strong support I have been getting, for the love and care from everyone around me, for everything everyone does for me. Like I said, I don't hope for more, I just wish all of you to be happy, and of course if you're not, I'll be able to brighten up your day. :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Countdown 1 Day: The Journey Begins
Looking back the very first post I had on this blog, it reads "Countdown 207 Days". After 200 days, this day has finally come! From fall to winter, to spring, and finally to summer; from fallen leaves to 6 inches of snow, to the melted snow, to the blossom of flowers; from the indoor training in October till the last outdoor training in May; from running on track to getting on bike; from 0 mile to 20 miles, 30 miles, 45 miles, 60 miles, and 90 miles. It has been a very long training process, and now we're finally starting our journey of +/-4500 miles!
Am I excited? Yes! Am I worried? Yes, about my knees. Am I ready? Yes, as long as my knees don't give me more troubles. HAHA yes that shows how worried I am about my knees. I did the last ride in Champaign 2 days ago with Lisa, for about 40 miles. That was when my knees starting to hurt. I went to Jerry again yesterday, to get my last fit before I go on the real ride, hopefully everything will be okay. :3
So I have finally packed my stuffs last night, here's a picture of it:
I just have to bring Milo with me. For those of you who have known me for quite some time, you know how many times my mom ship Milo all the way from Malaysia to Champaign. Y'all know how I can't survive without Milo. HAHAHA :D
2.5 months. I'm gonna miss everyone and everything here. I know I have been talking about training, meetings, and how much I struggled to keep up with everything. I can finally put everything aside now, and JUST BIKE ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. There has been some changes in my life recently, and there might be more changes when the bike ride ends. I have been thinking about these things lately and making plans for new semester. I went to the lab for one last time on Monday afternoon to say goodbye to people, especially to Julio and Shampa, the two closest persons in lab. Shampa texted me that evening and said that she can't believe that I'm finally, really leaving already; also the extremely tight hug from Julio. Damn those feelings. :/ One year later, when I'll be really leaving the States--not just 2 months, and will never be back here anymore, I know that will be an even harder goodbye.
It is hard to believe that how fast time flew by. Despite being crazily busy for the entire semester with only 3-4 hours of sleep almost every night, I am glad that I have achieved and learned a lot. There are few aspects of my life that were not very well-organized, I hope that I can improve on those things next semester. I still live by this everyday, "Assume you'll never wake up tomorrow, will you be satisfied with what you've achieved thus far?" I would say no, for now, there are still some plans that I want them to work out before I graduate. And most importantly, I want to graduate, I want to wear the fancy blue robe and hat before I die. Haha.
Summer plan:
1. Bike, bike, and bike.
2. Travel for 1-2 weeks after the bike ride ends.
3. Be welcome day leader for orientation.
Fall plan:
1. Have more rest.
2. More involved in research.
3. Plan and carry out activities through I4K and MASA.
4. Continue biking
5. Learn one new thing/improve on one old thing
6. Work, earn money, and eat better food.
7. Travel
8. Study hard
9. Continue biking/workout
10. Publish one book
Hah I know I've gone too far! KKKKKK back to reality, I will be leaving to Chicago in less than 10 hours! Please pray for me that everything will go on smoothly for the entire ride! :D
I'll do my best to keep YOU updated through this blog! It will be disorganized-I'll most probably be tired, but I still want to say things, so I say things that are disorganized. Like now. :3
CU peopleeee, I hope to meet you guys on June 10th! I'll be back for a day, and I hope to meet all of you who have supported me for doing this ride! You guys give me strength! It's June 10th! I'll have more accurate time and place to meet for you when the day is near! Hehe see ya loves!
Am I excited? Yes! Am I worried? Yes, about my knees. Am I ready? Yes, as long as my knees don't give me more troubles. HAHA yes that shows how worried I am about my knees. I did the last ride in Champaign 2 days ago with Lisa, for about 40 miles. That was when my knees starting to hurt. I went to Jerry again yesterday, to get my last fit before I go on the real ride, hopefully everything will be okay. :3
So I have finally packed my stuffs last night, here's a picture of it:
I just have to bring Milo with me. For those of you who have known me for quite some time, you know how many times my mom ship Milo all the way from Malaysia to Champaign. Y'all know how I can't survive without Milo. HAHAHA :D
2.5 months. I'm gonna miss everyone and everything here. I know I have been talking about training, meetings, and how much I struggled to keep up with everything. I can finally put everything aside now, and JUST BIKE ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. There has been some changes in my life recently, and there might be more changes when the bike ride ends. I have been thinking about these things lately and making plans for new semester. I went to the lab for one last time on Monday afternoon to say goodbye to people, especially to Julio and Shampa, the two closest persons in lab. Shampa texted me that evening and said that she can't believe that I'm finally, really leaving already; also the extremely tight hug from Julio. Damn those feelings. :/ One year later, when I'll be really leaving the States--not just 2 months, and will never be back here anymore, I know that will be an even harder goodbye.
It is hard to believe that how fast time flew by. Despite being crazily busy for the entire semester with only 3-4 hours of sleep almost every night, I am glad that I have achieved and learned a lot. There are few aspects of my life that were not very well-organized, I hope that I can improve on those things next semester. I still live by this everyday, "Assume you'll never wake up tomorrow, will you be satisfied with what you've achieved thus far?" I would say no, for now, there are still some plans that I want them to work out before I graduate. And most importantly, I want to graduate, I want to wear the fancy blue robe and hat before I die. Haha.
Summer plan:
1. Bike, bike, and bike.
2. Travel for 1-2 weeks after the bike ride ends.
3. Be welcome day leader for orientation.
Fall plan:
1. Have more rest.
2. More involved in research.
3. Plan and carry out activities through I4K and MASA.
4. Continue biking
5. Learn one new thing/improve on one old thing
6. Work, earn money, and eat better food.
7. Travel
8. Study hard
9. Continue biking/workout
10. Publish one book
Hah I know I've gone too far! KKKKKK back to reality, I will be leaving to Chicago in less than 10 hours! Please pray for me that everything will go on smoothly for the entire ride! :D
I'll do my best to keep YOU updated through this blog! It will be disorganized-I'll most probably be tired, but I still want to say things, so I say things that are disorganized. Like now. :3
CU peopleeee, I hope to meet you guys on June 10th! I'll be back for a day, and I hope to meet all of you who have supported me for doing this ride! You guys give me strength! It's June 10th! I'll have more accurate time and place to meet for you when the day is near! Hehe see ya loves!
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Countdown 9 Days: 120-mile ride - We crossed the first state!
We had a "test ride" on the weekend of May 2nd and 3rd. We did 93 miles on May 2nd, crossed the line to Indiana, and had a stayover at Fairmount, IL. The journey started at 7am, and ended at 4.30pm. I was surprised that we biked kinda fast actually. We stopped at Kickapoo State Park for snacks, at a gas station after we crossed Indiana border for lunch (Peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches), at the middle of nowhere for snacks again, and finally at Fairmount. I totally passed out when we reached the church at Fairmount. I had like 5 layers of sunscreen, a thick layer of dust, topped with one thin layer of sweat. But... there was no shower TT So I slept in my sleeping bag with all of those hehe. :3 Someone woke me up at 5.45 pm for dinner, it was spaghetti and lentils with spaghetti sauce. Then we had Grace and her friend do portraits with us until 8.30pm. And before we went to bed, we had a short meeting with Ashley and Ben, which we went through what we did good and bad that day, and what we were gonna do on the next day. We went to bed at about 10 pm. *lights off*
*lights on* May 3rd
I woke up at 5.30 am, with my whole body aching, especially my butt and my knees. Woke up, rolled sleeping bag, brushed teeth (good habit!), and started packing. Everyone had to pack his/her stuffs and keep the backpack in the van before having breakfast. We had oatmeal with honey for breakfast... I swear that was the worst oatmeal I have ever had. I know a lot people who don't eat oatmeal, but I have always eaten oatmeal with milo since young, and I still have oatmeal and milo for breakfast every day. But... oatmeal and honey? I want to cry... We started to bike home after breakfast at about 7am, and reached CU at about 10 am. I biked only 20 miles that day, while others biked for 30 miles, cause my knees hurt so badly. I hope I will be able to pull through the ride though. My knees hurt so badly that I was biking at 5 mph. :/
When I reached home, I immediately asked Chee Hoe and Sam to go to Basil Thai with me cause I was really hungry. Had a good plate of Kao Mun Kai Tod and a good cup of Thai Iced Tea (TIT--oops it's not what you think it is). Despite being tired and all, I still had to study for my exams and do microreview. #FML I had 2 exams and microreview due the Monday after, lab report and god-know-how-many-exams on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Anyways, I was surprised myself that I was able to bike that much in a day. This was just something that I never thought I was able to achieve. Hehe more to comeeeee !
*lights on* May 3rd
I woke up at 5.30 am, with my whole body aching, especially my butt and my knees. Woke up, rolled sleeping bag, brushed teeth (good habit!), and started packing. Everyone had to pack his/her stuffs and keep the backpack in the van before having breakfast. We had oatmeal with honey for breakfast... I swear that was the worst oatmeal I have ever had. I know a lot people who don't eat oatmeal, but I have always eaten oatmeal with milo since young, and I still have oatmeal and milo for breakfast every day. But... oatmeal and honey? I want to cry... We started to bike home after breakfast at about 7am, and reached CU at about 10 am. I biked only 20 miles that day, while others biked for 30 miles, cause my knees hurt so badly. I hope I will be able to pull through the ride though. My knees hurt so badly that I was biking at 5 mph. :/
When I reached home, I immediately asked Chee Hoe and Sam to go to Basil Thai with me cause I was really hungry. Had a good plate of Kao Mun Kai Tod and a good cup of Thai Iced Tea (TIT--oops it's not what you think it is). Despite being tired and all, I still had to study for my exams and do microreview. #FML I had 2 exams and microreview due the Monday after, lab report and god-know-how-many-exams on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Anyways, I was surprised myself that I was able to bike that much in a day. This was just something that I never thought I was able to achieve. Hehe more to comeeeee !
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