Date: 6/29/2015
Time: 8.23pm
Weather: Very hotttttt
Location: United Methodist Church FM
Yesterday was a hot day and so was today. We proposed to Ben to do an early wake up but Ben said no after much thought. He said getting more sleep is as important as getting out of the sun early. So...
However.. I did not really sleep well last night. I was really tired yesterday and thought I'd have a good 7-hour sleep. Who knows stomacache and diarrhea started kicking in at like 1am, 2am, and at 3.30am I finally woke up and went to the bathroom. Then I went back to sleep until 5am and finally was up by 5.30am. As soon as I was done packing my stuffs, I started with van packing. Did I not mention how much fun van packing actually is? (Just not the part of waking up early) Everytime I do van packing it's always tetris that runs through my mind. Tetris tetris tetris.....
We were ready to roll by 7.15am. This is one of the most efficient mornings we've had. The rest stops were at 27, 45, and 62. We did stop at a gas station for a bit at mile 74. Because of the diarrhea, I got a subway 6 inch for lunch cause PBJ would be too oily for me.
Well today was the hardest for me in terms of my bodily condition. I wasn't in my best condition for today's ride cause first girls' problem; second, diarrhea; third, cause I took the meds for diarrhea I did not take the med for my knees; fourth, I didn't sleep well last night and was still tired from yesterday; fifth, the wind was so strong. For one sec (well many secs in fact) I thought of sagging, but I didn't ! I biked all 87 miles regardless of the problems.
The road that we biked on today was disgusting. There were so many trucks that give terribly awful smell as they passed. Also, there were so many farms with hundred cows. The shit smell too bad. And Sarah actually threw up because she couldn't stand that smell. Well, I almost threw up too cause I've not been feeling well the entire day. There was also this stretch of road that was full of flies and bugs that we had to cover up our mouth and nose. It was soooo hard to breath. :3
Despite having a crazy day, I'm thankful for Hannah, Haley, Emmy, and Sarah cause they always take care of me. I lost count of the amount of time they ask me if I'm okay.
So mama Hannah taught baby Jane two things today:
What does baby say? Ahh
What does the cow say? Moooo
It's always fun to be able to bike with my favorites! 💖
I had four slices of pizza for dinner just now. 4 slices are actually half of a pizza...well I'm going to bed now.
Tomorrow is gonna be a 99 mile day. Might as well just call it a century... The day after tomorrow is our rest day!!! Well needed breakkkkkk! I'm excited! See you tomorrow, Denver!
Updates on my skin rash or sun poisoning or unidentified red patches:
Unfortunately it got worse. The patches grew bigger and it hurts more. Even the shower hurts. I went to Walgreen and talked to the pharmacist just now, and he was like, "there's nothing much you can do, just stay out of the sun." That's not possible duh. Then my mum whatsapp me and asked me to get Calamine lotion. When I was little I always have rash from sweating and staying under the sun. I put some on, and from an Indian, I changed to Whiite. Lol. It feels a little less pain now, but don't quite know how much better will it be tomorrow. Hopefully it will heal sooooon. :/
Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Day 38: McCook, NE to Wray, CO
Date: 6/28/2015
Time: 7.20pm mountain timezone (Champaign: 8.20pm)
Weather: Extremely hot (34°C) and sunny.
Location: Wrac Center
Best day ever! I've always biked with Sarah H and Corinne and the other day (it was the Sioux City day I remember!) we were just talking about how we like our 3-man group. Yesterday Sarah asked if three of us would like to bike together again. Ofc I said yes. Later that night Hannah R asked if I have a group yet, and I mentioned I will be riding with Corinne and Sarah. Then she was like can Haley and I join you guys, OF COURSEEE!
I knew it was gonna be a great day even before the ride started. And at the beginning of the ride, Hannah was like, " Do you realize that the 5 funniest people are riding together today?" Hahahha lmao. Well we did have a lot of fun and this is definitely the best riding group I've had thus far.
The thing that I like about us was that we have common topics and similar eiding pace. The only exhausting part is the hot sun that we were exposed to since 11am (central timezone). It was a 5-hour direct heat from the sun-there was no cloud at all. There was a part with cloud-we can feel a significant difference in temperature.
Corinne had a flat a mile before the third rest stop. I'm almost 100% sure that the tar gets so hot that her tyre exploded. Well her tyre was wearing off too but that was the first time I heard such loud pop of a tyre. It scared the shit out of me I'm not even kidding. Then we called the van and had Sarah V. bring new tyre for Corinne. I swear Corinne should be our new mechanics cause she changed her tyre in 5 minutes. That's so impressive! I wouldn't be able to change my tube in 5 minutes. :/ Thanks Sarah too for bringing a bottle of cold water for us. The sun was so hot that I drank 6 bottles of water and peed only once.
The ride ended at 3 40pm. The ending part was the worst. We followed what the cue said and went on Cemetery road and got up a super steep hill, just to find out that the church wasn't up there. Zzzz. I was craving for ice cream so badly, so I went in the van and went to the grocery store to get a gallon of ice cream. That #satisfaction though.
The most hilarious thing was that the cows having a WONDERFUL MOMENT. Hahahah we were so lucky to have been able to witness the moment. Hahahah 😂
Today was the day I was officially born. I have Hannah and Haley as my moms and Sarah and Corinne as my grandmas. What a wondeful family hahaha 😂 I'm just a little babyyyy! 👶
I had so much fun today despite being under the hot sun for so long and got terrible sun rash.
With today 94 miles in, we're currently in Colorado. Had a little detour to Kansas and then to Wray, CO. Also today we're officially halfway across the country as we enter the mountain time zone. An hour slower than Champaign's aka Central timezone now. Harder days are coming but countdown 2 more days till rest days!
Time: 7.20pm mountain timezone (Champaign: 8.20pm)
Weather: Extremely hot (34°C) and sunny.
Location: Wrac Center
Best day ever! I've always biked with Sarah H and Corinne and the other day (it was the Sioux City day I remember!) we were just talking about how we like our 3-man group. Yesterday Sarah asked if three of us would like to bike together again. Ofc I said yes. Later that night Hannah R asked if I have a group yet, and I mentioned I will be riding with Corinne and Sarah. Then she was like can Haley and I join you guys, OF COURSEEE!
I knew it was gonna be a great day even before the ride started. And at the beginning of the ride, Hannah was like, " Do you realize that the 5 funniest people are riding together today?" Hahahha lmao. Well we did have a lot of fun and this is definitely the best riding group I've had thus far.
The thing that I like about us was that we have common topics and similar eiding pace. The only exhausting part is the hot sun that we were exposed to since 11am (central timezone). It was a 5-hour direct heat from the sun-there was no cloud at all. There was a part with cloud-we can feel a significant difference in temperature.
Corinne had a flat a mile before the third rest stop. I'm almost 100% sure that the tar gets so hot that her tyre exploded. Well her tyre was wearing off too but that was the first time I heard such loud pop of a tyre. It scared the shit out of me I'm not even kidding. Then we called the van and had Sarah V. bring new tyre for Corinne. I swear Corinne should be our new mechanics cause she changed her tyre in 5 minutes. That's so impressive! I wouldn't be able to change my tube in 5 minutes. :/ Thanks Sarah too for bringing a bottle of cold water for us. The sun was so hot that I drank 6 bottles of water and peed only once.
The ride ended at 3 40pm. The ending part was the worst. We followed what the cue said and went on Cemetery road and got up a super steep hill, just to find out that the church wasn't up there. Zzzz. I was craving for ice cream so badly, so I went in the van and went to the grocery store to get a gallon of ice cream. That #satisfaction though.
The most hilarious thing was that the cows having a WONDERFUL MOMENT. Hahahah we were so lucky to have been able to witness the moment. Hahahah 😂
Today was the day I was officially born. I have Hannah and Haley as my moms and Sarah and Corinne as my grandmas. What a wondeful family hahaha 😂 I'm just a little babyyyy! 👶
I had so much fun today despite being under the hot sun for so long and got terrible sun rash.
With today 94 miles in, we're currently in Colorado. Had a little detour to Kansas and then to Wray, CO. Also today we're officially halfway across the country as we enter the mountain time zone. An hour slower than Champaign's aka Central timezone now. Harder days are coming but countdown 2 more days till rest days!
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Day 37: Holdrege to McCook, NE
Date: 6/27/2015
Time: 10.28pm
Weather: Hot and sunny, a little windy
Location: McCook YMCA
This morning I woke up earlier than usual. 5am was the time I went to the bathroom cause I had to pee so badly. My chore for the next 2 days will be van packing so I have been pretty alert just so that I could wake up on time. Then I wasn't sure if I should continue sleeping or just stay awake for the next 45 minutes. I chose the former one hahaha. So I slept and I had a dream. NIGHTMARE. I was trying to propose to have a ride is Malaysia and talked to this lady about my proposal. I was saying that I've done this in the US and she went like what? Why are you doing this (fundraising and stuffs) for other countries? The next thing I felt was Lizzie poking on my arm to wake me up. Lol
It was past 6am when I got ready. As soon as I rushed to the van, Ben was already doing it and I felt so bad that he had to do it for me. I told him I can take over and started packing the van. I actually like van packing idk why. It feels like Tetris. Like you have to find the right shape and sizes of backpacks and sleeping bags to make it as packed as possible. If only I don't have to do it early in the morning, I'd have volunteered to do van packing every single day.
We were served with wonderful breakfast this morning. There was this omelette with egg, potatoes, and maybe cheese, tastes soooooo good. There are other kind of omelets too, bacon, biscuits with gravy, fruits, and oj. Again, if only I don't have to bike 73 miles,I'd have taken more food. I didn't have too much food though this morning, but I always have the feeling that I was gonna throw up while biking.
Corinne said she was gonna bike with me today but she had to sag in the van cause her hands were going numb. So there were some troubles with regrouping and stuffs and we had the most complicated morning ever. Sorry Hannah B for taking away Lizzie from you. :/ Eventually I had Lizzie and Carie bike with me.
There were quite a bit of climbs today with elevation +2800/-2500 as compares to yesterday's +600/-185 . It wasn't that bad though. I'm so proud of Lizzie cause she has been killing those hills and killing me as well. I have been biking quite a lot witg her, I've seen her struggling with hills, getting injuries, but she's so strong and I'm so proud of her. At one point we were just passing all of the group and was tbe first group to reach the first rest stop. We took a cute pic with the wheat! I was telling Haley that yesterday we had been saying all day that we were gonna take pics, but we still ended up forgetting. Lol. So we had to make up and.... we saw the wheat!
We arrived at the Y at about 2.30pm. Diego saw me and he was like Jane come and weigh yourself. Apparently I've been telling people that I want to donate blood as I make the cutoff of 50kg/110lbs. I've always maintained my weight at about 44kg/97lbs. Right before the ride started, I weighed myself and I was at 47kg/103lbs. Guess what? Now I'm 51kg/113.5 lbs! As long as I keep this weight or more, I'll be able to donate blood when the ride ends!! Welp this is the first time in my life that I've gained so much weight. 10 pounds in a month? CRAYYYY.
Then I showered and took a nap. I liks it when we have time to chill. I woke up to Carrie asking me to go for dinner. No fancy dinner tonight-only pasta and lentils with 2 bread sticks and a slice of pizza. I'm not sure if it was only me, the pizza tastes so bad. It tastes like alcohol wtf. I'm not even sure if it's fresh. Let's pray for me that I don't get food poisoning. After dinner, we went in a large group to Mac's. This restaurant is so cute! They have a phone on each table, and you've to call them to take orders. Sarah was so excited to try it out hahaha!We came back and filmed a scene of our secret project *suspense* After that I went to do laundry with Emmy.
We're off to Colorado tomorrow. The real challenge is just about to start. I'm a little worried because my knees, IT bands are hurting so much even with meds, and my index finger and middle fingers are getting progressively weaker. I couldn't straighten my fingers now. Maybe it's some sort of nerve damage shit but I hope it gets better soon. Everyone's fingers have been in pain, numbs. Not sure how to make this better though.
On a side note, as Haley and Hannah R insisted on having me to dl snapchar, I finally had one. Lol. You'll laugh when you see my username-it's a cute one though. :P
Okay. 94 miles tomorrow. No early wakeuo cause there'll be timezone change tomorrow! Folks in Champaign-my time will be one hour slower than you guys, and poppy in Michigan-2 hours slower. Yes I'm slowly drifting awayyyyyy.
Hope you who are reading this have a great day/night, wherever you are!
Time: 10.28pm
Weather: Hot and sunny, a little windy
Location: McCook YMCA
This morning I woke up earlier than usual. 5am was the time I went to the bathroom cause I had to pee so badly. My chore for the next 2 days will be van packing so I have been pretty alert just so that I could wake up on time. Then I wasn't sure if I should continue sleeping or just stay awake for the next 45 minutes. I chose the former one hahaha. So I slept and I had a dream. NIGHTMARE. I was trying to propose to have a ride is Malaysia and talked to this lady about my proposal. I was saying that I've done this in the US and she went like what? Why are you doing this (fundraising and stuffs) for other countries? The next thing I felt was Lizzie poking on my arm to wake me up. Lol
It was past 6am when I got ready. As soon as I rushed to the van, Ben was already doing it and I felt so bad that he had to do it for me. I told him I can take over and started packing the van. I actually like van packing idk why. It feels like Tetris. Like you have to find the right shape and sizes of backpacks and sleeping bags to make it as packed as possible. If only I don't have to do it early in the morning, I'd have volunteered to do van packing every single day.
We were served with wonderful breakfast this morning. There was this omelette with egg, potatoes, and maybe cheese, tastes soooooo good. There are other kind of omelets too, bacon, biscuits with gravy, fruits, and oj. Again, if only I don't have to bike 73 miles,I'd have taken more food. I didn't have too much food though this morning, but I always have the feeling that I was gonna throw up while biking.
Corinne said she was gonna bike with me today but she had to sag in the van cause her hands were going numb. So there were some troubles with regrouping and stuffs and we had the most complicated morning ever. Sorry Hannah B for taking away Lizzie from you. :/ Eventually I had Lizzie and Carie bike with me.
There were quite a bit of climbs today with elevation +2800/-2500 as compares to yesterday's +600/-185 . It wasn't that bad though. I'm so proud of Lizzie cause she has been killing those hills and killing me as well. I have been biking quite a lot witg her, I've seen her struggling with hills, getting injuries, but she's so strong and I'm so proud of her. At one point we were just passing all of the group and was tbe first group to reach the first rest stop. We took a cute pic with the wheat! I was telling Haley that yesterday we had been saying all day that we were gonna take pics, but we still ended up forgetting. Lol. So we had to make up and.... we saw the wheat!
We arrived at the Y at about 2.30pm. Diego saw me and he was like Jane come and weigh yourself. Apparently I've been telling people that I want to donate blood as I make the cutoff of 50kg/110lbs. I've always maintained my weight at about 44kg/97lbs. Right before the ride started, I weighed myself and I was at 47kg/103lbs. Guess what? Now I'm 51kg/113.5 lbs! As long as I keep this weight or more, I'll be able to donate blood when the ride ends!! Welp this is the first time in my life that I've gained so much weight. 10 pounds in a month? CRAYYYY.
Then I showered and took a nap. I liks it when we have time to chill. I woke up to Carrie asking me to go for dinner. No fancy dinner tonight-only pasta and lentils with 2 bread sticks and a slice of pizza. I'm not sure if it was only me, the pizza tastes so bad. It tastes like alcohol wtf. I'm not even sure if it's fresh. Let's pray for me that I don't get food poisoning. After dinner, we went in a large group to Mac's. This restaurant is so cute! They have a phone on each table, and you've to call them to take orders. Sarah was so excited to try it out hahaha!We came back and filmed a scene of our secret project *suspense* After that I went to do laundry with Emmy.
We're off to Colorado tomorrow. The real challenge is just about to start. I'm a little worried because my knees, IT bands are hurting so much even with meds, and my index finger and middle fingers are getting progressively weaker. I couldn't straighten my fingers now. Maybe it's some sort of nerve damage shit but I hope it gets better soon. Everyone's fingers have been in pain, numbs. Not sure how to make this better though.
On a side note, as Haley and Hannah R insisted on having me to dl snapchar, I finally had one. Lol. You'll laugh when you see my username-it's a cute one though. :P
Okay. 94 miles tomorrow. No early wakeuo cause there'll be timezone change tomorrow! Folks in Champaign-my time will be one hour slower than you guys, and poppy in Michigan-2 hours slower. Yes I'm slowly drifting awayyyyyy.
Hope you who are reading this have a great day/night, wherever you are!
Friday, June 26, 2015
Day 36: Grand Island to Holdrege, NE
Date: 6/26/2015
Time: 10.30pm
Weather: Good, windy towards the end
Location: St. Elizabeth Church, Holdrege
Today was one of the best days! Last night Emmy asked me if I'd like to ride with her, and I definitely said yes. Then later on Hannah and Haley, while giggling, told me that we're riding together. I like to ride with them cause we're of similar pace.
Our group got really lu cky though. We weren't the first group to roll out but in less than 10 miles we rode pass all the groups that were ahead of us. The shoulder was kinda shitty with cracks, bumps and gravels. They all have flats. I think we had 10 flats today. #achievement However, lucky enough, none of us-Jason, Emmy, Hannah, Haley, and I got a flat. So we were so far ahead of everyone else. We reached before the van at the lunch stop, and since we were too far ahead, we didn't even stop for the third rest stop. We arrived at the church at 1.55pm, and we decided to go to DQ which is only 0.3 mile away to get something. Emmy got me a strawberry shake-thanks Emmy! Hannah got a mango smoothie, Emmy and Jason got blizzard, Haley got smoothie too I think? If you order a blizzard, the worker will turn the cup upside down before they serve you, maybe to prove that their blizzard is thick? It's pretty cool anyways.
Then we got back to the church and the van arrived not long after. We helped unload the van, then went to a city pool for shower. Since it was still early and the weather was so hot, I decided to do laundry. I washed my jersey and shorts and itdried up pretty quickly. After doing laundry, I cleaned the PBJ spoons and box, then went to take a short nap before dinner.
The dinner was sooooo good. That amount of cheese-too good. The church didn't prepare enough food, so everyone didn't really have much food. Then when he served pasta the 2nd round, I went to get more food, and in fact I went for the third round. This is the third time the host knows me due to me being the smallest but eat the most (or maybe not the most, just eat a lot).
After that I went to DQ again with Sarah and Corinne. Then played phase 10 (a card game that's pretty similar to uno) with Hannah, Haley, Jack, and Sarah/Carrue.
On the road today, we saw like 4 dead snakes. They look like sticks tbh. When I am riding, I notice every single thing. The frogs that jumo around in the bush; The butterflies that fly around; the dead animals, the cracks on road; the beautiful clouds. Every single incline, decline, rough road, smooth road, wind, everything becomes much more significant on bikes. These are the things that I will not notice if I'm driving a car and going at 70 mph. It's good to be so close to mother nature.
It was only 72.7 miles today. With only 600 feet of elevation, I'd say this is the best ride I could ever ask for. 2 more days till Colorado........
Time: 10.30pm
Weather: Good, windy towards the end
Location: St. Elizabeth Church, Holdrege
Today was one of the best days! Last night Emmy asked me if I'd like to ride with her, and I definitely said yes. Then later on Hannah and Haley, while giggling, told me that we're riding together. I like to ride with them cause we're of similar pace.
Our group got really lu cky though. We weren't the first group to roll out but in less than 10 miles we rode pass all the groups that were ahead of us. The shoulder was kinda shitty with cracks, bumps and gravels. They all have flats. I think we had 10 flats today. #achievement However, lucky enough, none of us-Jason, Emmy, Hannah, Haley, and I got a flat. So we were so far ahead of everyone else. We reached before the van at the lunch stop, and since we were too far ahead, we didn't even stop for the third rest stop. We arrived at the church at 1.55pm, and we decided to go to DQ which is only 0.3 mile away to get something. Emmy got me a strawberry shake-thanks Emmy! Hannah got a mango smoothie, Emmy and Jason got blizzard, Haley got smoothie too I think? If you order a blizzard, the worker will turn the cup upside down before they serve you, maybe to prove that their blizzard is thick? It's pretty cool anyways.
Then we got back to the church and the van arrived not long after. We helped unload the van, then went to a city pool for shower. Since it was still early and the weather was so hot, I decided to do laundry. I washed my jersey and shorts and itdried up pretty quickly. After doing laundry, I cleaned the PBJ spoons and box, then went to take a short nap before dinner.
The dinner was sooooo good. That amount of cheese-too good. The church didn't prepare enough food, so everyone didn't really have much food. Then when he served pasta the 2nd round, I went to get more food, and in fact I went for the third round. This is the third time the host knows me due to me being the smallest but eat the most (or maybe not the most, just eat a lot).
After that I went to DQ again with Sarah and Corinne. Then played phase 10 (a card game that's pretty similar to uno) with Hannah, Haley, Jack, and Sarah/Carrue.
On the road today, we saw like 4 dead snakes. They look like sticks tbh. When I am riding, I notice every single thing. The frogs that jumo around in the bush; The butterflies that fly around; the dead animals, the cracks on road; the beautiful clouds. Every single incline, decline, rough road, smooth road, wind, everything becomes much more significant on bikes. These are the things that I will not notice if I'm driving a car and going at 70 mph. It's good to be so close to mother nature.
It was only 72.7 miles today. With only 600 feet of elevation, I'd say this is the best ride I could ever ask for. 2 more days till Colorado........
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Day 35: Norfolk to Grand Island, NE (2nd Century Ride!)
Date: 6/25/2015
Time: 10.15am
Weather: Perfect
Location: Salvation Army, Grand Island
We did a second century ride today! It was a 110-mile ride, but with a little detour, my group went 113 miles I believe.
1.0 mile in, we lost our way and had so much trouble looking for a path that says u-turn. We finally found it and it was 2.5 miles off.
The rest stops were at 27, 51, 76, and 98 miles. They were all gas stations, the only thing that was different was the name of the gas stations, but one thingfor sure, those are perfect spots for me to get food.
I rode with Khrystyna, Lizzie, Shutiam, and Lisa today. 110 miles seem super long, but the road today was so flat and it wasn't windy at all. So it wasn't that hard after all. The max speed that I could've gone onwas 21mph without feeling out of breath. However the average speed was around 15mph most of the time.
Something serious happened to our group today. But I don't want to talk about it here. People who know, will know. Hopefully everything will get better as our ride progresses.
My group was the last group to roll in, and it was at 4pm ish. Salvation Army is like a place that provides food pantry for poor/homeless people. I'm not sure how safe it is here but we have our own space, and storage for bikes.
There were 5 trains that passed us while we were riding on Highway 30 today. I forgot to wave at the first one, but from the second one onwards, I did wave at the driver. They're so cool! They will honk at you when you wave at them-the longer you wave, the longer they honk. Hahahahha.
There were so many questions on my mind while I was riding today.
1. What can the shape of cloud tell?
2. How can you tell the weather from the skt? Isit gonna be windy or rain or whatsoever?
3. 4th dimension
4. How fast do the cargo trains go?
Maybe there were more, but I can't remember it now.
A picture of the puppy cloud to end this post:
Can you spot a puppy looking to the left?
Current total mileage: 2230 miles
Time: 10.15am
Weather: Perfect
Location: Salvation Army, Grand Island
We did a second century ride today! It was a 110-mile ride, but with a little detour, my group went 113 miles I believe.
1.0 mile in, we lost our way and had so much trouble looking for a path that says u-turn. We finally found it and it was 2.5 miles off.
The rest stops were at 27, 51, 76, and 98 miles. They were all gas stations, the only thing that was different was the name of the gas stations, but one thingfor sure, those are perfect spots for me to get food.
I rode with Khrystyna, Lizzie, Shutiam, and Lisa today. 110 miles seem super long, but the road today was so flat and it wasn't windy at all. So it wasn't that hard after all. The max speed that I could've gone onwas 21mph without feeling out of breath. However the average speed was around 15mph most of the time.
Something serious happened to our group today. But I don't want to talk about it here. People who know, will know. Hopefully everything will get better as our ride progresses.
My group was the last group to roll in, and it was at 4pm ish. Salvation Army is like a place that provides food pantry for poor/homeless people. I'm not sure how safe it is here but we have our own space, and storage for bikes.
There were 5 trains that passed us while we were riding on Highway 30 today. I forgot to wave at the first one, but from the second one onwards, I did wave at the driver. They're so cool! They will honk at you when you wave at them-the longer you wave, the longer they honk. Hahahahha.
There were so many questions on my mind while I was riding today.
1. What can the shape of cloud tell?
2. How can you tell the weather from the skt? Isit gonna be windy or rain or whatsoever?
3. 4th dimension
4. How fast do the cargo trains go?
Maybe there were more, but I can't remember it now.
A picture of the puppy cloud to end this post:
Can you spot a puppy looking to the left?
Current total mileage: 2230 miles
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Day 34: Sioux City, IA to Norfolk, NE
Date: 6/24/2015
Time: 9.50pm
Weather: Hails, Thunderstorm, Rain, Strong wind, Sunny and hot (everything in one day)
Location: Norfolk, NE
Welp, another state line crossed. We went from Iowa to Nebraska today!
Today has been one of the weirdest but most adventurous day. There was no fancy breakfast-only oatmeal and 2 famous amos cookies. When we started our ride this morning, we had pretty good weather. There were not much climb too.
As we reached the gas station at mile 21, I grabbed some snacks and used the bathroom. Then we went on for a couple more miles and finally reached the first rest stop at mile 26 ish. At the rest stop, Ben checked the radar and found out that the storm will hit us soon.
We were the last group. So we didn't make it to Wakefield which is at mile 42. However we managed to find a shelter at a food town (which is like a grocery store) in Emerson. Shortly after we arrived the store, there were hails, followed by thunderstorms and heavy rain. We hangout there for about an hour.
At around 12.00pm, we left and were planning on going to meet the van at mile 63. But we stopped a couple of time cause the wind was too strong to pedal. Also Sarah's knees were hurting so we stopped to get the van. At the same place that Sarah got picked up, we had our lunch stop there too, it was at about mile 61.
After the lunch stop, Emmy, Corinne, Ben, and I were like sprinting. Yes there were hills, but it wasn't that bad to climb, mainly because there were a lot of downhills.
The ride ended at about 6pm. It was the longest ride, in terms of having to wait for bad weather and stuffs, not in terms of mileage. It was exhausting to have to wait for so long and continue to bike. Anyways we made it to the stayover, safe and sound.
Every day is an adventure. There's not a day that will be the same as the other. Every day is unique. Everyday you experience something different. No one knows what's gonna happen on the road. No matter what happens during the day, as long as you get to the stayover, the day basically ends. Tomorrow will be a new day. It's tough, but we all know that we can get through it.
It's our 2nd century ride tomorrow, 110 miles, hopefully everything will go on smoothly.
Here a beautiful picture of the sunset in Norfolk to end this post.
Stay positive and never lose hope. Tomorrow will be a better day. :)
Time: 9.50pm
Weather: Hails, Thunderstorm, Rain, Strong wind, Sunny and hot (everything in one day)
Location: Norfolk, NE
Welp, another state line crossed. We went from Iowa to Nebraska today!
Today has been one of the weirdest but most adventurous day. There was no fancy breakfast-only oatmeal and 2 famous amos cookies. When we started our ride this morning, we had pretty good weather. There were not much climb too.
As we reached the gas station at mile 21, I grabbed some snacks and used the bathroom. Then we went on for a couple more miles and finally reached the first rest stop at mile 26 ish. At the rest stop, Ben checked the radar and found out that the storm will hit us soon.
We were the last group. So we didn't make it to Wakefield which is at mile 42. However we managed to find a shelter at a food town (which is like a grocery store) in Emerson. Shortly after we arrived the store, there were hails, followed by thunderstorms and heavy rain. We hangout there for about an hour.
At around 12.00pm, we left and were planning on going to meet the van at mile 63. But we stopped a couple of time cause the wind was too strong to pedal. Also Sarah's knees were hurting so we stopped to get the van. At the same place that Sarah got picked up, we had our lunch stop there too, it was at about mile 61.
After the lunch stop, Emmy, Corinne, Ben, and I were like sprinting. Yes there were hills, but it wasn't that bad to climb, mainly because there were a lot of downhills.
The ride ended at about 6pm. It was the longest ride, in terms of having to wait for bad weather and stuffs, not in terms of mileage. It was exhausting to have to wait for so long and continue to bike. Anyways we made it to the stayover, safe and sound.
Every day is an adventure. There's not a day that will be the same as the other. Every day is unique. Everyday you experience something different. No one knows what's gonna happen on the road. No matter what happens during the day, as long as you get to the stayover, the day basically ends. Tomorrow will be a new day. It's tough, but we all know that we can get through it.
It's our 2nd century ride tomorrow, 110 miles, hopefully everything will go on smoothly.
Here a beautiful picture of the sunset in Norfolk to end this post.
Stay positive and never lose hope. Tomorrow will be a better day. :)
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Day 33: Storm Lake to Sioux City, IA
Date: 6/23/2015
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Warm and sunny
Location: First Congregational Church, Sioux City
AS OF TODAY, TOTAL MILEAGE: 2036 miles (3276.6 km)
Today was one of the best days. We got to wake up at 6.45am, which was like 45 minutes later than what normal wakeup would be. Then by 7.30am, we were served with perfect pancakes, donuts, and milk. I swear the pancakes were so fluffy. I had only two of them. If only we didn't have to ride, which is impossible, I'd have eaten five of them.
After that we had a picture in the beautiful sanctuary and rolled at 8.45am. The rest stops were at mile 25, and 50. The hardest part of today's ride was that Iowa is so hilly. The beginning was good, Corinne, Sarah, and I got to talk a little. Then it started to get so hilly at around mile 7 or so. And ut has been hilly the entire ride.
There was this point that three of us were laughing at almost everything. This made climbing much harder. :3
"We're at the top of Iowa"-Sarah Halko
"Everything is just so funny right now."-Corinne McKenna
When we were almost getting to the church, we kinda lost our way. But then, we met Lizzie's sister and she was like go down this way, go up the hill, and the church will be just right around the corner. And Sarah went like, " What? We still have to climb a hill?" That was hilarious hahahhahaha
The church was not unlocked yet when we got here. So we went to Lizzie's aunt house, which was just 0.7 mile away from the church. We went there and did a portrait with Lizzie's mum. She's such a strong and optimistic woman, Lizzie is just like her. :') She also mentioned that last year Lizzie mentioned to her about her intention to join Illini 4000. Coincidentally, she met two riders in downtown Sioux City, who asked her for directions. She got so excited and immediately called Lizzie and looked through our website as soon as she got our business card.
We also had some fun with the huge swing at the house. The swing was tied to a tall tree-it's pretty cool to have such swing at home though.
Then we came back to the church. I immediately fell asleep with my helmet and shoes still on lol. I get to sleep in the sanctuary tonight ! Then we waited till about 6.10pm for dinner. We had huge burrito from Chipotle for dinner! As per usual I have much difficulty eating the burrito and everything fell apart. TT
After dinner a small group of us went to Walmart. Me being me, got myself 2 ice creams and a bottle of chocolate milk, and family size oreo, you know just in case Nebraska is too deserted and you have nothing but grass...
Lubed my chain and replaced my water bottle cage just now. Now I'm ready to go to bed. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow, and 2nd century ride the day after. Much sleep needed yo..
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Warm and sunny
Location: First Congregational Church, Sioux City
AS OF TODAY, TOTAL MILEAGE: 2036 miles (3276.6 km)
Today was one of the best days. We got to wake up at 6.45am, which was like 45 minutes later than what normal wakeup would be. Then by 7.30am, we were served with perfect pancakes, donuts, and milk. I swear the pancakes were so fluffy. I had only two of them. If only we didn't have to ride, which is impossible, I'd have eaten five of them.
After that we had a picture in the beautiful sanctuary and rolled at 8.45am. The rest stops were at mile 25, and 50. The hardest part of today's ride was that Iowa is so hilly. The beginning was good, Corinne, Sarah, and I got to talk a little. Then it started to get so hilly at around mile 7 or so. And ut has been hilly the entire ride.
There was this point that three of us were laughing at almost everything. This made climbing much harder. :3
"We're at the top of Iowa"-Sarah Halko
"Everything is just so funny right now."-Corinne McKenna
When we were almost getting to the church, we kinda lost our way. But then, we met Lizzie's sister and she was like go down this way, go up the hill, and the church will be just right around the corner. And Sarah went like, " What? We still have to climb a hill?" That was hilarious hahahhahaha
The church was not unlocked yet when we got here. So we went to Lizzie's aunt house, which was just 0.7 mile away from the church. We went there and did a portrait with Lizzie's mum. She's such a strong and optimistic woman, Lizzie is just like her. :') She also mentioned that last year Lizzie mentioned to her about her intention to join Illini 4000. Coincidentally, she met two riders in downtown Sioux City, who asked her for directions. She got so excited and immediately called Lizzie and looked through our website as soon as she got our business card.
We also had some fun with the huge swing at the house. The swing was tied to a tall tree-it's pretty cool to have such swing at home though.
Then we came back to the church. I immediately fell asleep with my helmet and shoes still on lol. I get to sleep in the sanctuary tonight ! Then we waited till about 6.10pm for dinner. We had huge burrito from Chipotle for dinner! As per usual I have much difficulty eating the burrito and everything fell apart. TT
After dinner a small group of us went to Walmart. Me being me, got myself 2 ice creams and a bottle of chocolate milk, and family size oreo, you know just in case Nebraska is too deserted and you have nothing but grass...
Lubed my chain and replaced my water bottle cage just now. Now I'm ready to go to bed. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow, and 2nd century ride the day after. Much sleep needed yo..
Monday, June 22, 2015
Day 32: Emmetsburg to Storm Lake, IA
Date: 6/22/2015
Time: 10.45pm
Weather: Thunderstorms and rain in the morning, extremely windy the entire ride
Location: Storm Lake United Methodist Church, Storm Lake
Today was one of the best days! We were supposed to be up by 6am, but the wakeup was delayed due to thunderstorms. So we got to sleep in till 7am. As soon as we wete ready to roll, there were thunderstorms again, so the departure time was delayed till 9.30am.
I was riding with Hannah R, Haley, Jack, and Ben today. I had the most advantage cause apparently everyone blocked the wind for me. Haley turned back to check on me almost every minute to make sure that I was still with them. I was safe-I didn't fly way despite having such strong wind. Due to the strong wind, Lizzie hit Diego's wheel, fell and had a cut near her eyebrow. Not gonna disclose more but I'm just glad that she's fine now. :)
We were welcomed by Pastor Matt. This church is one of the best I swear. There were so many couches for us to sleep on. I got to sleep on one! :D In the youth center there was a huge TV too. As soon as we settled in, Pastor Matt brought us to the water park near to the church. The admission for adults was $15, but he managed to get a discount and it was only $5 for each person. He paid for our admission tickets, and got us 10 pizzas and 2 gallons of ice cream.
All in all, today was so much fun! The water park was definitely the best entertainment we've had so far! Last year's team got to go for water skiing though. Anyhow, I'm grateful for everything I have from everyone! :)
Time: 10.45pm
Weather: Thunderstorms and rain in the morning, extremely windy the entire ride
Location: Storm Lake United Methodist Church, Storm Lake
Today was one of the best days! We were supposed to be up by 6am, but the wakeup was delayed due to thunderstorms. So we got to sleep in till 7am. As soon as we wete ready to roll, there were thunderstorms again, so the departure time was delayed till 9.30am.
I was riding with Hannah R, Haley, Jack, and Ben today. I had the most advantage cause apparently everyone blocked the wind for me. Haley turned back to check on me almost every minute to make sure that I was still with them. I was safe-I didn't fly way despite having such strong wind. Due to the strong wind, Lizzie hit Diego's wheel, fell and had a cut near her eyebrow. Not gonna disclose more but I'm just glad that she's fine now. :)
We were welcomed by Pastor Matt. This church is one of the best I swear. There were so many couches for us to sleep on. I got to sleep on one! :D In the youth center there was a huge TV too. As soon as we settled in, Pastor Matt brought us to the water park near to the church. The admission for adults was $15, but he managed to get a discount and it was only $5 for each person. He paid for our admission tickets, and got us 10 pizzas and 2 gallons of ice cream.
All in all, today was so much fun! The water park was definitely the best entertainment we've had so far! Last year's team got to go for water skiing though. Anyhow, I'm grateful for everything I have from everyone! :)
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Day 31: Lake Mills to Emmetsburg, IA
Date: 6/21/2015
Time: 8.45pm
Weather: Sunny and hot
Location: Emmetsburg
This morning was one of the messed up ones. I woke up at 6.05am when normally I wake up at 5.50am for a 6am wakeup. As soon as I woke up, I kept my sleeping bag. But THANKS TO HANNAH, there was a huge dog coming towards me. I was half awake, but by the time the dog got near me, I was totally awake. Then I hid in the sanctuary for awhile before continuing to pack my stuffs.
We were served with incredible breakfast today! It was French toast with butter and syrup, two sausgaes, and a cup of milk. I was so tempted to have more toast but I controlled myself so that it wouldn't be too hard for me to bike. :(
Today I rode with Angelica, Lizzie, Diego, and Hannah B. The group dynamic got weird and I'm not gonna talk more about it here. Everything became better after awhile though. The ride wasn't too bad.
It was only a short 78-mile ride today. The toughest part was probably the final 20 miles cause the weather got too hot and I was out of water. Diego was saying how he got like 5 flats since Chicago because the tyre from the team wasn't good. I'm glad that I had my back tyre replaced before the ride started. It was an expensive but good one. So far I've only gotten one flat. My front tyre is acting a little weird but it's fine for now.
There's a bike shop is Storm Lake, aka the place we're going to tomorrow. I might need to stock up something from the bike shop.
Also while we were waiting for the van to pick up Hannah B, Diego took a very cool pic of me and the cloud.
I finally had the chance to do it on a US highway! YAYYYYY! Thanks Diego for the pic! I love it so much!
There's a lake and a park right across this church. I wanted to fhe lake this afternoon but when Emmy said the lake was super dirty I changed my mind. Haha. The people in the church shuttled us to shower in a community college nearby. Then they served us with incredible dinner. Whatever you see in the photo below, I had two times more food than that. Not inckuded a brownie and a super good banana cake!
Time: 8.45pm
Weather: Sunny and hot
Location: Emmetsburg
This morning was one of the messed up ones. I woke up at 6.05am when normally I wake up at 5.50am for a 6am wakeup. As soon as I woke up, I kept my sleeping bag. But THANKS TO HANNAH, there was a huge dog coming towards me. I was half awake, but by the time the dog got near me, I was totally awake. Then I hid in the sanctuary for awhile before continuing to pack my stuffs.
We were served with incredible breakfast today! It was French toast with butter and syrup, two sausgaes, and a cup of milk. I was so tempted to have more toast but I controlled myself so that it wouldn't be too hard for me to bike. :(
Today I rode with Angelica, Lizzie, Diego, and Hannah B. The group dynamic got weird and I'm not gonna talk more about it here. Everything became better after awhile though. The ride wasn't too bad.
It was only a short 78-mile ride today. The toughest part was probably the final 20 miles cause the weather got too hot and I was out of water. Diego was saying how he got like 5 flats since Chicago because the tyre from the team wasn't good. I'm glad that I had my back tyre replaced before the ride started. It was an expensive but good one. So far I've only gotten one flat. My front tyre is acting a little weird but it's fine for now.
There's a bike shop is Storm Lake, aka the place we're going to tomorrow. I might need to stock up something from the bike shop.
Also while we were waiting for the van to pick up Hannah B, Diego took a very cool pic of me and the cloud.
I finally had the chance to do it on a US highway! YAYYYYY! Thanks Diego for the pic! I love it so much!
There's a lake and a park right across this church. I wanted to fhe lake this afternoon but when Emmy said the lake was super dirty I changed my mind. Haha. The people in the church shuttled us to shower in a community college nearby. Then they served us with incredible dinner. Whatever you see in the photo below, I had two times more food than that. Not inckuded a brownie and a super good banana cake!
After dinner, I went to have a walk with Haley and Hannah to Casey's which is like only 2 blocks away from the church. Then we hangout at the park for a little too.
I wanted to get root beer float so badly!! A&W is only 0.7 miles away but that means 20 minutes of walking. :( I went to Casey's to get an ice cream and a root beer, then I ate them both at the same time haha.
That's it for today! Time for bed, or not. :P
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Day 30: Rochester, MN to Lake Mills, IA
Date: 6/20/2015
Time: 10.30pm
Weather: Very Windy in the morning
Location: Winnebago Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, Iowa
Crossed Minnesota/Iowa border today!
It was a 95-mile day so all of us decided to wake up an hour earlier so we could get to the stayover earlier. However, when we were getting breakfast, Ben mentioned in groupme that there's lightning, so we had to delay our departure time till 8am. Everyone had a nap between 6am-8am.
The first 27 miles was the toughest part of the ride today cause the wind was too strong. I felt like I was almost being blown off the road and my handlebar kept swirling all the way. I got so exhausted trying to fight against the wind. Our first rest stop was at Casey's. I got a bottle of iced tea and a slice of bacon/cheese/egg pizza. I'm always hungry idk why. My teammates were shocked to hear that I spent about $10 per day on just snacks.. Tbh I don't eat just for fun, Im always hungry. If I don't eat when I feel hungry, I'll have very bad gastritis..
The rest of the day wasn't too bad. Windy but the speed we were going was okay. Andrew and Brian pulled most of the time, while I just stay at the back. Angelica and Alex sagged for the first time cause their knees hurt too much from biking against the wind. We were talking about people who have not sagged, it was me, Sarah Halko, and Shutian (not sure if I missed any girls). I really hope I don't have to ride in the van at all. That's my goal-and Sarah's too. I'd rather just go slow than having to ride in the van.
We were the first group to reach the church. This church is located with farms all around and a cemetry at the backyard. This is the first time we live in a place like this. They served super good meal for dinner just now-there were sloppy joe, chicken, potato with cheeese, salads, and a lot of food. They're providing us with breakfast too tomorrow morning! :D After dinner they prepared ice cream for us as desserts. I've craving for ice cream since last night but never had the chance to get one. Finally I got to have 7 scoops of ice cream with chocolate syrup just now! I'm so happy!!
I talked to this pastor on my way to shower, and he asked me where do I come from. Amd when I said Malaysia, he said his son was in Malaysia but currently in Thailand. His son teaches English, math, amd science under one of the mission trips by this church.
Today is day 30. It marks the 30th day since I left Chicago Union Station. 40+ days till the end of this trip. Oh how time flies. Despite the rides being hard and all, it's definitely one of the best experiences I've had in my life. 2015 summer will be the best summer I'll have in my life. After this ride ends, I'll be travelling to more places in the States. I really enjoy this kind of life very much.
Time: 10.30pm
Weather: Very Windy in the morning
Location: Winnebago Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, Iowa
Crossed Minnesota/Iowa border today!
It was a 95-mile day so all of us decided to wake up an hour earlier so we could get to the stayover earlier. However, when we were getting breakfast, Ben mentioned in groupme that there's lightning, so we had to delay our departure time till 8am. Everyone had a nap between 6am-8am.
The first 27 miles was the toughest part of the ride today cause the wind was too strong. I felt like I was almost being blown off the road and my handlebar kept swirling all the way. I got so exhausted trying to fight against the wind. Our first rest stop was at Casey's. I got a bottle of iced tea and a slice of bacon/cheese/egg pizza. I'm always hungry idk why. My teammates were shocked to hear that I spent about $10 per day on just snacks.. Tbh I don't eat just for fun, Im always hungry. If I don't eat when I feel hungry, I'll have very bad gastritis..
The rest of the day wasn't too bad. Windy but the speed we were going was okay. Andrew and Brian pulled most of the time, while I just stay at the back. Angelica and Alex sagged for the first time cause their knees hurt too much from biking against the wind. We were talking about people who have not sagged, it was me, Sarah Halko, and Shutian (not sure if I missed any girls). I really hope I don't have to ride in the van at all. That's my goal-and Sarah's too. I'd rather just go slow than having to ride in the van.
We were the first group to reach the church. This church is located with farms all around and a cemetry at the backyard. This is the first time we live in a place like this. They served super good meal for dinner just now-there were sloppy joe, chicken, potato with cheeese, salads, and a lot of food. They're providing us with breakfast too tomorrow morning! :D After dinner they prepared ice cream for us as desserts. I've craving for ice cream since last night but never had the chance to get one. Finally I got to have 7 scoops of ice cream with chocolate syrup just now! I'm so happy!!
I talked to this pastor on my way to shower, and he asked me where do I come from. Amd when I said Malaysia, he said his son was in Malaysia but currently in Thailand. His son teaches English, math, amd science under one of the mission trips by this church.
Today is day 30. It marks the 30th day since I left Chicago Union Station. 40+ days till the end of this trip. Oh how time flies. Despite the rides being hard and all, it's definitely one of the best experiences I've had in my life. 2015 summer will be the best summer I'll have in my life. After this ride ends, I'll be travelling to more places in the States. I really enjoy this kind of life very much.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Day 29: Rochester, Minnesota (EVENT DAY/REST DAY)
Date: 6/19/2015
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: Doesn't matter
Location: Zumbro Lutheran Church Rochester
This morning we woke up at 7.45am YAYYY. I went to bed pretty early yesterday so I woke up so fresh this morning. We had breakfast at 8.30am and left to Mayo Clinic at 8.45am. Mayo clinic provides education about cancer and patient support services in a unique way.
The visit lasted for about 2 hours only. They mentioned about the projects they work on, including things like e-visit and an app that have the patients' medical records, etc.
After the visit we went to Pannekoeken for brunch. They're famous for their pancakes but I had skillet instead because I think the pancake was not gonna be full enough for me. I had a chocolate chunk muffin that comes witb the skillet. The muffin is warm in the inside, I can totally feel that the muffin melts in my mouth. We also visited somewhere like a guft shop but the shop is pretty unique cause it sells all the cool and funny stuffs like '50 places you should bike before you die', '500 things of what happiness is like', the fuck box-it's a box that can make sound, you can select gtfo, wtf, fy, etccc (in short, everything that has the F word), press on the selection and it will say it for you haha.
We went back to the stayover at like 12.30pm. Most of them went for movies at 1pm, but lazy people like me chose to take a 2-hour nap instead. Well, I've seen Jurrasic World before, and I would like to have more sleep. Woke up and went to Honest bike shop with Emmy and Corinne, but the worker there was rude to us. 10/10 would not recomment going there cause the worker not only rushed us, but he's also not patient and not helpful. Then we went to Erik's which is a bigger bike shop but further away (5 min drive). They have mainly Raleigh stuffs. It was a nice visit tho cause they sell a lot of things.
After that I went to Food Co-op to get a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I saw mango sticky rice too, I was really tempted to get it!! But I didn't... Walked back to the park right across our stayover with Andrew and Emmy, and ate my dinner there, while watching Shakespeare play in the park. It was thw Romeo and Juliet play. After that I went to Crossroads Laundromat with Emmy to do our laundry, realizing that the next rest day will be in 11 days. :3
Lights out was at 10pm but I'm still here writing my post. Lol. Tomorrow we'll be leaving to Iowa. Tbh I'm nervous about what's gonna happen in the next 11 days (or more). There will be altitude sickness, more climbs, longer rides, not to mention-but maybe bad weather too. I just hope that everything will go on smoothly...
Wake up is at 5am tomorrow.. and there will be thunderstorm (hopefully weather forecast is off)....
Time: 10.15pm
Weather: Doesn't matter
Location: Zumbro Lutheran Church Rochester
This morning we woke up at 7.45am YAYYY. I went to bed pretty early yesterday so I woke up so fresh this morning. We had breakfast at 8.30am and left to Mayo Clinic at 8.45am. Mayo clinic provides education about cancer and patient support services in a unique way.
The visit lasted for about 2 hours only. They mentioned about the projects they work on, including things like e-visit and an app that have the patients' medical records, etc.
After the visit we went to Pannekoeken for brunch. They're famous for their pancakes but I had skillet instead because I think the pancake was not gonna be full enough for me. I had a chocolate chunk muffin that comes witb the skillet. The muffin is warm in the inside, I can totally feel that the muffin melts in my mouth. We also visited somewhere like a guft shop but the shop is pretty unique cause it sells all the cool and funny stuffs like '50 places you should bike before you die', '500 things of what happiness is like', the fuck box-it's a box that can make sound, you can select gtfo, wtf, fy, etccc (in short, everything that has the F word), press on the selection and it will say it for you haha.
We went back to the stayover at like 12.30pm. Most of them went for movies at 1pm, but lazy people like me chose to take a 2-hour nap instead. Well, I've seen Jurrasic World before, and I would like to have more sleep. Woke up and went to Honest bike shop with Emmy and Corinne, but the worker there was rude to us. 10/10 would not recomment going there cause the worker not only rushed us, but he's also not patient and not helpful. Then we went to Erik's which is a bigger bike shop but further away (5 min drive). They have mainly Raleigh stuffs. It was a nice visit tho cause they sell a lot of things.
After that I went to Food Co-op to get a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I saw mango sticky rice too, I was really tempted to get it!! But I didn't... Walked back to the park right across our stayover with Andrew and Emmy, and ate my dinner there, while watching Shakespeare play in the park. It was thw Romeo and Juliet play. After that I went to Crossroads Laundromat with Emmy to do our laundry, realizing that the next rest day will be in 11 days. :3
Lights out was at 10pm but I'm still here writing my post. Lol. Tomorrow we'll be leaving to Iowa. Tbh I'm nervous about what's gonna happen in the next 11 days (or more). There will be altitude sickness, more climbs, longer rides, not to mention-but maybe bad weather too. I just hope that everything will go on smoothly...
Wake up is at 5am tomorrow.. and there will be thunderstorm (hopefully weather forecast is off)....
Day 28: La Crosse, WI to Rochester, MN
Date: 6/18/2015
Time: 8am 6/19
Weather: Windy, sunny, warm
Location: Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester, MN
We crossed the Wisconsin/Minnesota state line today!
As per usual, we left the stayover at 7.30am. Someone took a look at the elevation graph and told us that there will be only two major climbs around mile 40. It was windy at the beginning of the ride. But I feel that the thing about wind is that if you take it slow and not trying too hard to go against it, you'll enjoy the breeze better, and you'll not use up too much of your energy too. The first rest stop was at mile 27. We got there pretty early.
Shortly after the rest stop, we stopped by the strawberry farm. There's a stall selling fresh and sweet strawberries, Wisconsin cheese, and ice cream. So tempted to buy the strawberry cheesecake ice cream!!
We got 1 quart of strawberries for only $5-such good deal! Later I bought the Wisconsin cheese too, also for $5.
As soon as we crossed the Wisconsin/Minnesota border, we ran into a bunch of kindergarten kids in Winona standing at the side of the road shouting, "lemonade for 50 cents!" I stopped not because of the lemonade tbh, but because of the kids. They are soooooooo cute!! There is this little girl whom I called the treasurer cause she always collects money from us, while others prepare drinks and stuffs. They sell good donuts, amd lemonade for only 50cents each!
The next thing that came up was the two long climbs. They were not that steep actually, it was just long and windy (for about 1.5-2miles-can't tell cause idk when it actually started lol). My speed was about 7-10mph, if it was steeper, it'd have been 3mph. Ben said in the meeting last night that Colorado will be longer and steeper than what we had yesterday-it might be a 4-5 mile climb with 3mph. :3
We arrived at about 5pm yesterday. It is fun to be able to ride with people of your pace. Funny how Emmy said we have the same pace and when she's sleepy, she'll look over and saw that my eyes are half-closed too. Hahaha. This is what you get when you get too comfy on your bike. Trust me, noon-3pm is the time that you have the strongest urge to take a nap. It's easy to fight the urge to eat cause everyone can eat while biking, the real challenge is to fight against the need to sleep while biking. :/
Thanks to Khrystyna we had fried chickens and pizzas for dinner yesterday! We had a meeting after dinner regarding how is it gonna be on the event day today. After the event, most, if not all of us went to the street festival in downtown Rochester. They have the festival the first and third week of every month(?)-I'M NOT SURE, BUT I KNOW WE ARE LUCKY TO BE ON THIS SPECIAL DAY THAT THEY HAVE STREET FESTIVAL. Haha. There were food, live music, beer, henna, and a lot of other booths set up for the festival. It ended at like 8.45pm so we came back around 9.30pm last night. I passed out right after we came back cause it has been a long day.
Time: 8am 6/19
Weather: Windy, sunny, warm
Location: Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester, MN
We crossed the Wisconsin/Minnesota state line today!
As per usual, we left the stayover at 7.30am. Someone took a look at the elevation graph and told us that there will be only two major climbs around mile 40. It was windy at the beginning of the ride. But I feel that the thing about wind is that if you take it slow and not trying too hard to go against it, you'll enjoy the breeze better, and you'll not use up too much of your energy too. The first rest stop was at mile 27. We got there pretty early.
Shortly after the rest stop, we stopped by the strawberry farm. There's a stall selling fresh and sweet strawberries, Wisconsin cheese, and ice cream. So tempted to buy the strawberry cheesecake ice cream!!
We got 1 quart of strawberries for only $5-such good deal! Later I bought the Wisconsin cheese too, also for $5.
As soon as we crossed the Wisconsin/Minnesota border, we ran into a bunch of kindergarten kids in Winona standing at the side of the road shouting, "lemonade for 50 cents!" I stopped not because of the lemonade tbh, but because of the kids. They are soooooooo cute!! There is this little girl whom I called the treasurer cause she always collects money from us, while others prepare drinks and stuffs. They sell good donuts, amd lemonade for only 50cents each!
The next thing that came up was the two long climbs. They were not that steep actually, it was just long and windy (for about 1.5-2miles-can't tell cause idk when it actually started lol). My speed was about 7-10mph, if it was steeper, it'd have been 3mph. Ben said in the meeting last night that Colorado will be longer and steeper than what we had yesterday-it might be a 4-5 mile climb with 3mph. :3
We arrived at about 5pm yesterday. It is fun to be able to ride with people of your pace. Funny how Emmy said we have the same pace and when she's sleepy, she'll look over and saw that my eyes are half-closed too. Hahaha. This is what you get when you get too comfy on your bike. Trust me, noon-3pm is the time that you have the strongest urge to take a nap. It's easy to fight the urge to eat cause everyone can eat while biking, the real challenge is to fight against the need to sleep while biking. :/
Thanks to Khrystyna we had fried chickens and pizzas for dinner yesterday! We had a meeting after dinner regarding how is it gonna be on the event day today. After the event, most, if not all of us went to the street festival in downtown Rochester. They have the festival the first and third week of every month(?)-I'M NOT SURE, BUT I KNOW WE ARE LUCKY TO BE ON THIS SPECIAL DAY THAT THEY HAVE STREET FESTIVAL. Haha. There were food, live music, beer, henna, and a lot of other booths set up for the festival. It ended at like 8.45pm so we came back around 9.30pm last night. I passed out right after we came back cause it has been a long day.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Day 27: Wisconsin Dells to La Crosse, WI
Date: 6/17/2015
Time: 9.55pm
Weather: Windy but not too bad, I'd say it's a good weather today
Location: First Prebysterian Church, WI
Last night we all heard about the 92-mile ride today. Ben looked into the weather forecast and found out that it was gonna rain at 2pm. So someone suggested that we start our ride earlier today since it's a long ride, and it's gonna be hilly. We were all up by 5am, and left Wisconsin Dells at 6.40am.
The first rest stop was at mile 25. The first part of the ride was kinda hard but it wasn't too bad cause it was still early, chilly, and not many cars on road. At the rest stop everyone mentioned that the second part (up to lunch rest stop) was gonna be the hardest part of today's ride. Everyone was freaking out about it. However when we went on the road for the next 10 miles, there was still no hill at all, it was all flat road. Emmy and I were like where the hills are at?? Haha! We stopped for restroom at the county market (YES WISCONSIN HAS COUNTY MARKET TOO) I went in and got 4 Belgian Coconut Macaroons. I was hungry okay? I always look for food. Those are really good macaroons and they're only 50 cents each!
Time: 9.55pm
Weather: Windy but not too bad, I'd say it's a good weather today
Location: First Prebysterian Church, WI
Last night we all heard about the 92-mile ride today. Ben looked into the weather forecast and found out that it was gonna rain at 2pm. So someone suggested that we start our ride earlier today since it's a long ride, and it's gonna be hilly. We were all up by 5am, and left Wisconsin Dells at 6.40am.
The first rest stop was at mile 25. The first part of the ride was kinda hard but it wasn't too bad cause it was still early, chilly, and not many cars on road. At the rest stop everyone mentioned that the second part (up to lunch rest stop) was gonna be the hardest part of today's ride. Everyone was freaking out about it. However when we went on the road for the next 10 miles, there was still no hill at all, it was all flat road. Emmy and I were like where the hills are at?? Haha! We stopped for restroom at the county market (YES WISCONSIN HAS COUNTY MARKET TOO) I went in and got 4 Belgian Coconut Macaroons. I was hungry okay? I always look for food. Those are really good macaroons and they're only 50 cents each!
Shortly before the lunch stop, we climbed a couple of hills. There was one that was super long and there was one that was super steep. The rest of them were not too bad. There were more downhills than uphills today. The bigger ones were the 10% and 6% declines. The fastest I had was a 35 mph today and slowest was 7mph.
It's interesting to ride today because on our way, I believe we passed the Amish county. We actually saw two Amish girls on the horse and buggy on the road. The horse was so strong tho, it took me quite some time to actually get pass the horses. :3 Also when we rode pass the farms, the farmers used the horses to plow their farms in the most traditional way ever! 3 horses and one man for ploughing! There were also a lot of lazy cows that were just chilling on the field or under a tree, then there were sheep that mek mekkk back at me when I mek at them. It surely does seem like we were communicating haha!
The lunch stop was at Wildcat fountain state park. Pretty nice place to camp cause they reserve spots for people to camp.
Zack joined us for the 3rd part of our ride aka after lunch till 75-mile stop. At one point I was like Zack let's race up thr hill and we did, but that destroyed his knees so badly. At the mile 75 rest stop, I was feeling extremely hungry and all I was thinking about was ice cream. People who were there heard me saying, " I want an ice cream" repetitively haha 😂 I made a deal with Carrie and Emmy, if we see an ice cream shop before mile 85, we don't stop; if we see it after mile 85, we'll stop for ice cream. Then not long after, Joe texted in groupme saying tbat there is an ice cream ahop at mile 92. YAYYYYY!
We went by a closed road at about mile 83, walked through that to avoid flats, then it was a 1.5-mile extremely fun downhill. I hit 30mph with constant brakings. Then we got to an ice cream shop and I got myself two scoops of ice cream-Irish cream and butter pecan flavors, for $2.50 only. That definitely killed my cravings for ice cream!
Arrived the church at like 4.30pm and walked 5 mins to YMCA to have a shower. We had not have showers since Chicago, which was like 2 days ago.. @@ At 6pm the host came by and brought us to his riverside or lakeside house with a pool for barbecue. I had 3 cheeseburgers, 2 hotdogs, 1 carrot cake, 1 brownies, 1 chocolate chip cookies, and some fruits. This is the second time the host asked Ben for who I am cause they saw me eating so much! @@ I'm just always hungry, IDK WHAIIII. Some people went for hot tub, some went for kayaking, some went to the pool, and some (inckuding me) just sit and eat.
After dinner I came back and replaced my brake pads (thanks to Emmy for giving me het brake pads!). In just 20 minutes, I had like 15 bites from the annoying mosquitoes. Ugh.
Oh before I end this post, I want to mention that they have pretty cool names for the roads that we rode pass. There were dead end road, scenic road, opportunity road, and BINA road. Lol bina means build in Malay. It sounds like they want to build a road on that road? HAHHAHA :D
Did 92.6 miles today from Wisconsin Dells to La Crosse. La Crosse sounds like a town with influence from French but I haven't had the chance to look into this yet. Tomorrow we're doing 83 miles, will be crossing Wisconsin/Minnesota border and will have a rest day after tomorrow's ride! It's amazing to see how we go day by day and the last rest day was the one we had in Chicago, which means we've left Chicago for 4 days. It felt like it was only yesterday that we biked to the Bean and had a picnic. #timeflies
That's it for tonight. Ciao!
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Day 26: Marshall to Wisconsin Dells, WI
Date: 6/16/2015
Time: 8.15pm
Weather: Windy, sunny, lil chilly in the morning, warm in the afternoon
Location: St Cecilia Church, Wisconsin Dells
6am. That was the time I woke up. This morning has been a very slow morning. We were all up by 6.10am, and had breakfast at 6.45am ( I think). It wasn't rushed at all. I enjoyed today's cereal so much, it's some chocolate cereal with milk. We took our time to eat, pumped tyres, and get ready. I remember when I looked at the clock at 7.20am, everyone was just sitting outside and chilling.
We were out by 8am, headed to Trekat Waterloo, WI which is about 4 miles awsy ftom Marshall. It's pretty cool to be able to go on a free tour and get to know how our bikes are made. No pictures are allowed in the factory because they have many SECRETSSS. The prototype lab looks interesting. That's the place they plan and try to make bikes with different materials and stuffs. Also they have smaller divisions-mountain bike, road bikes/triathlon, and city bikes, where experts work together with only people who are in the same divisions, i.e. mountain bike people don't work with road bikes. Also the workers got paid $4 per day (IF IM NOT MISTAKEN) for riding their bikes to work. They can use the credits for coffee and fitness classes. Most of them have lunch while working, and use the one hour lunch time for fitness classes or just bike around. The tour guide also mentioned that there's a spot for carbon engineers *hint hint*. Someone adked him how do we get to work with Trek, he said connections and passion. Surprisingly, there's one anthropology major person works with Trek! Lol. It's clear that Trek hires a lot of engineers and designers, bjt I believe if you're really passionate about bikes you don't necessarily need the degrees for engineering and designing tho.
We left Trek at 9.45am and had our first rest stop at mile 29 and the next rest stop at about mile 46. Today's ride wasn't bad at all. There were a few climbs, but the weather wasnt too bad. It was sunny and not too hot, just a little windy. We did 68 miles today and the ride ended at like 3.30pm.
The place we are staying tonight is St Cecilia Church. It has a school attached to it which make it a hybrid of church and school. This is the first time I've been to a place like this! Haha :D There's a store less than 5 min walk away from this place. So I went there and got myself a piece of chocolate cake YAYYY! I was one of the four chefs for dinner tonight. We had to heat up the leftovers from picnic two days ago, and cooked pasta. It's funny how we estinated wrongky the amount of spaghetti needed and I was out of pasta by like the 20th (out of 27) bowl. Khrystyna was out of pasta sauce by like the 14th bowl. Haha it was a disaster :3
Tomorrow is gonna be a 92-mile ride. I think most of us want to get it done earlier so we're actually gonna be up by 5am, one hour earlier than usual. And it's gonna rain tomorrow by 2pm. Sighs can it not rain? My shoes and socks are really smelly already. :3
Good nighttttt.
Time: 8.15pm
Weather: Windy, sunny, lil chilly in the morning, warm in the afternoon
Location: St Cecilia Church, Wisconsin Dells
6am. That was the time I woke up. This morning has been a very slow morning. We were all up by 6.10am, and had breakfast at 6.45am ( I think). It wasn't rushed at all. I enjoyed today's cereal so much, it's some chocolate cereal with milk. We took our time to eat, pumped tyres, and get ready. I remember when I looked at the clock at 7.20am, everyone was just sitting outside and chilling.
We were out by 8am, headed to Trekat Waterloo, WI which is about 4 miles awsy ftom Marshall. It's pretty cool to be able to go on a free tour and get to know how our bikes are made. No pictures are allowed in the factory because they have many SECRETSSS. The prototype lab looks interesting. That's the place they plan and try to make bikes with different materials and stuffs. Also they have smaller divisions-mountain bike, road bikes/triathlon, and city bikes, where experts work together with only people who are in the same divisions, i.e. mountain bike people don't work with road bikes. Also the workers got paid $4 per day (IF IM NOT MISTAKEN) for riding their bikes to work. They can use the credits for coffee and fitness classes. Most of them have lunch while working, and use the one hour lunch time for fitness classes or just bike around. The tour guide also mentioned that there's a spot for carbon engineers *hint hint*. Someone adked him how do we get to work with Trek, he said connections and passion. Surprisingly, there's one anthropology major person works with Trek! Lol. It's clear that Trek hires a lot of engineers and designers, bjt I believe if you're really passionate about bikes you don't necessarily need the degrees for engineering and designing tho.
We left Trek at 9.45am and had our first rest stop at mile 29 and the next rest stop at about mile 46. Today's ride wasn't bad at all. There were a few climbs, but the weather wasnt too bad. It was sunny and not too hot, just a little windy. We did 68 miles today and the ride ended at like 3.30pm.
The place we are staying tonight is St Cecilia Church. It has a school attached to it which make it a hybrid of church and school. This is the first time I've been to a place like this! Haha :D There's a store less than 5 min walk away from this place. So I went there and got myself a piece of chocolate cake YAYYY! I was one of the four chefs for dinner tonight. We had to heat up the leftovers from picnic two days ago, and cooked pasta. It's funny how we estinated wrongky the amount of spaghetti needed and I was out of pasta by like the 20th (out of 27) bowl. Khrystyna was out of pasta sauce by like the 14th bowl. Haha it was a disaster :3
Tomorrow is gonna be a 92-mile ride. I think most of us want to get it done earlier so we're actually gonna be up by 5am, one hour earlier than usual. And it's gonna rain tomorrow by 2pm. Sighs can it not rain? My shoes and socks are really smelly already. :3
Good nighttttt.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Day 25: McHenry, IL to Marshall, WI
Date: 6/15/2015
Time: 8.30pm
Weather: Heavy rain, cloudy, not too windy
Location: Marshall, WI
We crossed another state line today!
Since last night everyone has been talking about today's 91-mile ride. Tbh I wasn't ready for this ride cause the last time we did a long ride was quite soms time ago, and we had a rest day two days ago. I wasn't just tired, but I was also nervous.
This morning we woke up to very heavy rain. Regardless, we still rolled at 7.30am and had yesterday's dry clothes all wet again. I don't mind having to wear wet clothes, just that my jersey, bib, and especially my socks and shoes were soooo smelly 🙊
The rain stopped for a while when we were at the first rest stop at mile 25. I had a banana! :D Emmy's group had some problems and the van had to go back, which later I found out that Emmy fell and hit her head. :/ We crossed the Illinois/Wisconsin state line just 3 miles before the rest stop!
Then we continued to roll after the rest stop and stopped for lunch at mile 44. It's a BP gas station next to this small convenient shop. Apparently the lady boss wasn't happy with us maybe cause we were all wet and dirty? -.- Khrystyna made a Jane's specialty PBJ sandwich for me hehe ✌ It's a 3-layered sandwich with PB on the bottom layer then jelly on the mid layer, and PB at the topmost layer.
The next and last rest stop was at about mile 65. I got two brisk iced lemon tea for 99 cents each! ;D We didn't stop for too long because the rain was about to get heavier again. Sarah went to get ice cream and we were waiting for her. Not likd mad though. When she got back she was like saying she needs some time to get ready to roll, then she said, " Im an asshole." The funniest thing was she said, "ok asshole is ready!" 😂 Love this girl haha :) We went on this closed road full of gravel at like mile 70, 4 out of 5 of us-Sarah, Lizzie, Lisa, and I got flats. only Shutian survived it. :3
And when we were done changing the tubes, we realized we still had 20 more miles to go. Then I mentioned to Sarah if we should take Uber instead hahaha 😂 The final part was a bit of climb, but we were going pretty fast though. We finally reached the stayover at 5pm.
The dinner was served at 5.30pm. We had turkey, green beans, baked potato, desserts, and chocolate milk! #yums After dinner I went to wash my clothes cause they smell so bad. I washed my hair at the sink too cause I know it's not good if u dont shower after getting wet from rain.
It has been a pretty long day. I'm exhausted. :/ Guess I'll sleep soon.. We're headed to Waterloo tomorrow, and we'll be visiting the place where trek bikes were made.
Nites, Loves.
Current total mileage: 1535 miles
Time: 8.30pm
Weather: Heavy rain, cloudy, not too windy
Location: Marshall, WI
We crossed another state line today!
Since last night everyone has been talking about today's 91-mile ride. Tbh I wasn't ready for this ride cause the last time we did a long ride was quite soms time ago, and we had a rest day two days ago. I wasn't just tired, but I was also nervous.
This morning we woke up to very heavy rain. Regardless, we still rolled at 7.30am and had yesterday's dry clothes all wet again. I don't mind having to wear wet clothes, just that my jersey, bib, and especially my socks and shoes were soooo smelly 🙊
The rain stopped for a while when we were at the first rest stop at mile 25. I had a banana! :D Emmy's group had some problems and the van had to go back, which later I found out that Emmy fell and hit her head. :/ We crossed the Illinois/Wisconsin state line just 3 miles before the rest stop!
Then we continued to roll after the rest stop and stopped for lunch at mile 44. It's a BP gas station next to this small convenient shop. Apparently the lady boss wasn't happy with us maybe cause we were all wet and dirty? -.- Khrystyna made a Jane's specialty PBJ sandwich for me hehe ✌ It's a 3-layered sandwich with PB on the bottom layer then jelly on the mid layer, and PB at the topmost layer.
The next and last rest stop was at about mile 65. I got two brisk iced lemon tea for 99 cents each! ;D We didn't stop for too long because the rain was about to get heavier again. Sarah went to get ice cream and we were waiting for her. Not likd mad though. When she got back she was like saying she needs some time to get ready to roll, then she said, " Im an asshole." The funniest thing was she said, "ok asshole is ready!" 😂 Love this girl haha :) We went on this closed road full of gravel at like mile 70, 4 out of 5 of us-Sarah, Lizzie, Lisa, and I got flats. only Shutian survived it. :3
And when we were done changing the tubes, we realized we still had 20 more miles to go. Then I mentioned to Sarah if we should take Uber instead hahaha 😂 The final part was a bit of climb, but we were going pretty fast though. We finally reached the stayover at 5pm.
The dinner was served at 5.30pm. We had turkey, green beans, baked potato, desserts, and chocolate milk! #yums After dinner I went to wash my clothes cause they smell so bad. I washed my hair at the sink too cause I know it's not good if u dont shower after getting wet from rain.
It has been a pretty long day. I'm exhausted. :/ Guess I'll sleep soon.. We're headed to Waterloo tomorrow, and we'll be visiting the place where trek bikes were made.
Nites, Loves.
Current total mileage: 1535 miles
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Day 24: Chicago to McHenry, IL
Date: 6/14/2015
Time: 10.00pm
Weather: Heavy rain in the morning, sunny in the afternoon
Location: Tree of Life McHenry, IL
-late post-
Today was a rainy day. We met at UIC James Stukel dorm at 7am and had the van packed by 7.40am. Then everyone biked to Buckingham fountain. This morning was a mess. I reached the dorm at 6.15am and the security wouldn't open the door for me. I had to call Lizzie to come down to open the door for me. The security clearly saw me though from the front desk. zz I had to rush through to pack all of the stuffs that I already had and the stuffs that I got over the weekend. Thankfully I had KS there with me to help me with packing and bringing down stuffs. #thankful BTW I finally had a new phone charger yay!
As soon as we started biking to Buckingham fountain, KS got a Uber and he went there to wait for me. And that was our final goodbye. :3 At 8am we left the Buckingham fountain and rode about 27 miles with the alumni and friends to the Turnbull Park at Glencoe. There was this beuatiful bike path called the Green Bay Trail that we biked on. Would definitely come and visit again if I have the chance! It was raining pretty heavily the entire way. :/
We had a picnic at the park. I was so happy the sun was up and the rain stopped by then! Almost everyone's parents were there except for international students'. The food was really good though-hotdogs, burgers, pierogi, chips, potato salads, pasta, desserts, and fruits. There were just sooooo much food but I couldn't eat much cause I knew it'd be hard for me to bike.
After meal we had the chance to walk around to talk to the alumni and one of the founders, Jonathan. He said he was studying or something in Singapore so he knows where Malaysia is. He also mentioned that this year's team is probably the most diverse team. Yay!
The remaining miles were not too bad. I just got really tired and hungry, as usual. If I remember correctly, we reached the stayover at like 4.30pm. The whole day was a 70-mile ride. As we all left the picnic, I felt like that was the real start of this ride. Since NYC, I have been biking on places that I'm familiar with, and had been always looking forward to the day we'll be back in Champaign and the rest day in Chicago. Now that we've passed those days, I felt like we're heading to somewhere that we don't quite know and it could be kind of a bigger challenge.
Ohhh forgot to mention! Yesterday's dinner was sooooooo good! It was like a 5-star buffet and I had so much food on my plate! They even served homemade ice cream, and walnut cakes as desserts! Funny how so many people ask why do I eat so much haha :P Also after dinner Joe invited all of us to his gf's house for bonfire. There were smores !! #somuchfood Then we went back at like 9.45pm and I passed out right then.
Time: 10.00pm
Weather: Heavy rain in the morning, sunny in the afternoon
Location: Tree of Life McHenry, IL
-late post-
Today was a rainy day. We met at UIC James Stukel dorm at 7am and had the van packed by 7.40am. Then everyone biked to Buckingham fountain. This morning was a mess. I reached the dorm at 6.15am and the security wouldn't open the door for me. I had to call Lizzie to come down to open the door for me. The security clearly saw me though from the front desk. zz I had to rush through to pack all of the stuffs that I already had and the stuffs that I got over the weekend. Thankfully I had KS there with me to help me with packing and bringing down stuffs. #thankful BTW I finally had a new phone charger yay!
As soon as we started biking to Buckingham fountain, KS got a Uber and he went there to wait for me. And that was our final goodbye. :3 At 8am we left the Buckingham fountain and rode about 27 miles with the alumni and friends to the Turnbull Park at Glencoe. There was this beuatiful bike path called the Green Bay Trail that we biked on. Would definitely come and visit again if I have the chance! It was raining pretty heavily the entire way. :/
We had a picnic at the park. I was so happy the sun was up and the rain stopped by then! Almost everyone's parents were there except for international students'. The food was really good though-hotdogs, burgers, pierogi, chips, potato salads, pasta, desserts, and fruits. There were just sooooo much food but I couldn't eat much cause I knew it'd be hard for me to bike.
After meal we had the chance to walk around to talk to the alumni and one of the founders, Jonathan. He said he was studying or something in Singapore so he knows where Malaysia is. He also mentioned that this year's team is probably the most diverse team. Yay!
The remaining miles were not too bad. I just got really tired and hungry, as usual. If I remember correctly, we reached the stayover at like 4.30pm. The whole day was a 70-mile ride. As we all left the picnic, I felt like that was the real start of this ride. Since NYC, I have been biking on places that I'm familiar with, and had been always looking forward to the day we'll be back in Champaign and the rest day in Chicago. Now that we've passed those days, I felt like we're heading to somewhere that we don't quite know and it could be kind of a bigger challenge.
Ohhh forgot to mention! Yesterday's dinner was sooooooo good! It was like a 5-star buffet and I had so much food on my plate! They even served homemade ice cream, and walnut cakes as desserts! Funny how so many people ask why do I eat so much haha :P Also after dinner Joe invited all of us to his gf's house for bonfire. There were smores !! #somuchfood Then we went back at like 9.45pm and I passed out right then.
Day 22: Bradley to Chicago, IL
Date: 6/12/2015
Time: 6/14/15 9.30pm
Weather: Rainy and chilly
Location: McHenry
Writing from memory. That day was a rainy day and kinda cold. There were thubderstorms too. We were supposed to be at the Bean by 2pm but due to heavy rain and strong wind we were going kinda slow and we reached the Bean at like 2.30pm or 3pm. 66 miles, with the final 10 miles on Lakefront Train along Lake Michigan was kinda awesome actually.
We had a group picture at the Bean and biked to UIC hostel not long after. The UIC dorm was pretty though. :) Then I met up with Ks and had Giordano's pizza that night. It was a 16°C in Chicago on a summer day.
Then we went to the hostel at Polk street and fell asleep at like 10.30pm. It was a good night to just snuggle in the bed when it's 16 degree out.
Time: 6/14/15 9.30pm
Weather: Rainy and chilly
Location: McHenry
Writing from memory. That day was a rainy day and kinda cold. There were thubderstorms too. We were supposed to be at the Bean by 2pm but due to heavy rain and strong wind we were going kinda slow and we reached the Bean at like 2.30pm or 3pm. 66 miles, with the final 10 miles on Lakefront Train along Lake Michigan was kinda awesome actually.
We had a group picture at the Bean and biked to UIC hostel not long after. The UIC dorm was pretty though. :) Then I met up with Ks and had Giordano's pizza that night. It was a 16°C in Chicago on a summer day.
Then we went to the hostel at Polk street and fell asleep at like 10.30pm. It was a good night to just snuggle in the bed when it's 16 degree out.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Day 21: Champaign to Bradley, IL
Date: 6/11/2015
Time: 10.00pm
Weather: Hot, but 99.99% to perfection
Location: Adventure Christian Church, Bradley
Last night before I went to bed, I was so afraid that my sleeping schedule will be off cause every time when I sleep at home, even the loudest alarm will not wake me up. Fortunately, I was able to wake up at 5.30am, 15 minutes before my alarm went off. Then I started checking Uber cause I didn't want KS to walk to Alice Campbell Alumni Center with my heavy backpack.
As soon as he woke up, he showered and cut a piece of cake for me. Then Sam was awake too when his IPhone ambulance alarm went off. We left our apartment at 6.50am. The Uber driver was already waiting outside of our apt in a white car. Before I left, I told Ks that I totally didn't know where the alumni center is at. And if possible give me directions from the car. So he talked to the driver, and the guy went super slow just so that I could follow hahaha. I was going at 20mph from my apt to the alumni center. Good warm up for the ride huh.
I'm so happy to have Ks see what my daily schedule of I4k is like-from packing backpack at night, keeping the sleeping bag that always don't fit into the sack, having breakfast, van packing, putting on sunscreen, having briefing, and eventually rolling out. We left at 7.30am-ish.
All of the group went at a super fast pace. We were at our first rest stop at 9ish am; mild 40 (typical lunch stop) at 11am. However we did not have PBJ at mile 40 today cause we were gonna be at Zion Lutheran Church at mile 61 for lunch. This church hosted the past riders and thinking of mreting this year's team although we're not staying there this year. There is this strong lady who has breast cancer, she made a post-it-note size mini calendar for the countdown to the end of her chemo. She had us put magnet at the back of the mini calendar and keep it in a small and cute sack for now. She also advised us to have mammograms at an early age like now. Let's hope that she'll be good!
Then here we are at Kankakee, 80 miles away from CU. I have never been here before, just that I always hear of this place in greyhound station. Haha. Not too bad, it's a small town. I had the F'real strawberry milkshake yay! They tatse so good !
Okay, it's time to sleep.
Ps: So happy that my I4K friends keep mentioning that they would like to come to Malaysia hehe! xx
Time: 10.00pm
Weather: Hot, but 99.99% to perfection
Location: Adventure Christian Church, Bradley
Last night before I went to bed, I was so afraid that my sleeping schedule will be off cause every time when I sleep at home, even the loudest alarm will not wake me up. Fortunately, I was able to wake up at 5.30am, 15 minutes before my alarm went off. Then I started checking Uber cause I didn't want KS to walk to Alice Campbell Alumni Center with my heavy backpack.
As soon as he woke up, he showered and cut a piece of cake for me. Then Sam was awake too when his IPhone ambulance alarm went off. We left our apartment at 6.50am. The Uber driver was already waiting outside of our apt in a white car. Before I left, I told Ks that I totally didn't know where the alumni center is at. And if possible give me directions from the car. So he talked to the driver, and the guy went super slow just so that I could follow hahaha. I was going at 20mph from my apt to the alumni center. Good warm up for the ride huh.
I'm so happy to have Ks see what my daily schedule of I4k is like-from packing backpack at night, keeping the sleeping bag that always don't fit into the sack, having breakfast, van packing, putting on sunscreen, having briefing, and eventually rolling out. We left at 7.30am-ish.
All of the group went at a super fast pace. We were at our first rest stop at 9ish am; mild 40 (typical lunch stop) at 11am. However we did not have PBJ at mile 40 today cause we were gonna be at Zion Lutheran Church at mile 61 for lunch. This church hosted the past riders and thinking of mreting this year's team although we're not staying there this year. There is this strong lady who has breast cancer, she made a post-it-note size mini calendar for the countdown to the end of her chemo. She had us put magnet at the back of the mini calendar and keep it in a small and cute sack for now. She also advised us to have mammograms at an early age like now. Let's hope that she'll be good!
Then here we are at Kankakee, 80 miles away from CU. I have never been here before, just that I always hear of this place in greyhound station. Haha. Not too bad, it's a small town. I had the F'real strawberry milkshake yay! They tatse so good !
Okay, it's time to sleep.
Ps: So happy that my I4K friends keep mentioning that they would like to come to Malaysia hehe! xx
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Day 20: Rockville to Champaign, IL (Home Sweet Home!)
Date: 6/10/2015
Time: 8.15pm 6/11/2015
Location: Supposedly 105 S 4th but didn't blog last night
Weather: Very sunny and windy, hot
So I didn't blog last night cause I spent all of my time drinking thai iced tea, and catch up with humans of CU. :)
Yesterday morning we were served with ham and omelette, with a choice of milk, juice, or coffee. They were really good!! The downside was that I had to control the amount of food I had so that my stomach fluid wouldn't regurgitate while I biked.
It was a homecoming day that everyone was very excited about. Everyone went on a fast pace and was fast to roll out. We bid the people at Rockville goodbye and left. They were crying when they hugged us before we left :')
I was biking with Andrew and first time with Alex. Andrew and Alex went pretty fast. We went off route a little at the beginning of ride. But that wasn't really a big deal. We were the second to reach the first rest stop that had a whole lot of bugs flying everywhere. As we left after the snacks and refilling our water bottles, Andrew realized that we were going off route from the way we bike towards the sun. When he checked, we realized that we were off by 6 miles. Apparently the first rest stop went off route too. As we came back to the planned route, we've already done extra 13 miles.
The bad thing was that we've been going downhill the entire 6 miles. And we had to climb the hills for 6 miles to get back on track. There were so many dogs chasing us idk why @@
We planned to be at the Alma Mater by 2.30pm. However, with the extra 12 miles we went, I was exhausted. The worse part is, the final 40 miles were hot and super windy. It used up so much of my energy to bike against the wind. Oh we did stop by Tory's house to have lunch. Her dad is a farmer, he doesn't just own farms, but also two horses and three dogs. Thanks to Tory's mom for holding on to the dog while I was getting my food. Haha
As soon as we reached Ashley's house we rolled to Alma Mater and made a great entrance by 3 something pm. Everyone was there to cheer for us, as if our ride has already over. I was so happy to see dada, Sam, and Chee Hoe when I reached the Alma Mater. I even got one big bottle of Thai iced tea as soon as I arrived! Thanks dada!! Then we took a few group pics and individual pics, and we went to Basil Thai for kao mun kai tod and two more glasses of Thai iced tea. Then Sam and Ks went to pick up my backpack and sleeping bag, while I went to RAL to meet Shampa. While I was talking to Shampa, Prof Zimmerman came over and introduced Chun Ho to us. To my surprise, Prof Zimmerman asked for a picture of him and I. He even asked me to roll up my jersey sleeves and shorts just to get my tan in his phone.
Then I went home, showered, and was ready to go out to have dinner at Empire. We had an awesome dinner last night but I didn't eat much cause I was too tired. :3 Thanks to the best guy on earth, I had a very perfectly sewed stuff sack for my sleeping bag, had my laundry done, had my backpack repacked, and had a chocolate cake!! Yay! He even planned for our trip in California!! Thank you so much for taking a bus down all the way from AA, and coming to meet me again tomorrow. I really appreciate everything you've done for me, sayang. :')
Went to bed at 1am last night and was up by 6am this morning.
Time: 8.15pm 6/11/2015
Location: Supposedly 105 S 4th but didn't blog last night
Weather: Very sunny and windy, hot
So I didn't blog last night cause I spent all of my time drinking thai iced tea, and catch up with humans of CU. :)
Yesterday morning we were served with ham and omelette, with a choice of milk, juice, or coffee. They were really good!! The downside was that I had to control the amount of food I had so that my stomach fluid wouldn't regurgitate while I biked.
It was a homecoming day that everyone was very excited about. Everyone went on a fast pace and was fast to roll out. We bid the people at Rockville goodbye and left. They were crying when they hugged us before we left :')
I was biking with Andrew and first time with Alex. Andrew and Alex went pretty fast. We went off route a little at the beginning of ride. But that wasn't really a big deal. We were the second to reach the first rest stop that had a whole lot of bugs flying everywhere. As we left after the snacks and refilling our water bottles, Andrew realized that we were going off route from the way we bike towards the sun. When he checked, we realized that we were off by 6 miles. Apparently the first rest stop went off route too. As we came back to the planned route, we've already done extra 13 miles.
The bad thing was that we've been going downhill the entire 6 miles. And we had to climb the hills for 6 miles to get back on track. There were so many dogs chasing us idk why @@
We planned to be at the Alma Mater by 2.30pm. However, with the extra 12 miles we went, I was exhausted. The worse part is, the final 40 miles were hot and super windy. It used up so much of my energy to bike against the wind. Oh we did stop by Tory's house to have lunch. Her dad is a farmer, he doesn't just own farms, but also two horses and three dogs. Thanks to Tory's mom for holding on to the dog while I was getting my food. Haha
As soon as we reached Ashley's house we rolled to Alma Mater and made a great entrance by 3 something pm. Everyone was there to cheer for us, as if our ride has already over. I was so happy to see dada, Sam, and Chee Hoe when I reached the Alma Mater. I even got one big bottle of Thai iced tea as soon as I arrived! Thanks dada!! Then we took a few group pics and individual pics, and we went to Basil Thai for kao mun kai tod and two more glasses of Thai iced tea. Then Sam and Ks went to pick up my backpack and sleeping bag, while I went to RAL to meet Shampa. While I was talking to Shampa, Prof Zimmerman came over and introduced Chun Ho to us. To my surprise, Prof Zimmerman asked for a picture of him and I. He even asked me to roll up my jersey sleeves and shorts just to get my tan in his phone.
Then I went home, showered, and was ready to go out to have dinner at Empire. We had an awesome dinner last night but I didn't eat much cause I was too tired. :3 Thanks to the best guy on earth, I had a very perfectly sewed stuff sack for my sleeping bag, had my laundry done, had my backpack repacked, and had a chocolate cake!! Yay! He even planned for our trip in California!! Thank you so much for taking a bus down all the way from AA, and coming to meet me again tomorrow. I really appreciate everything you've done for me, sayang. :')
Went to bed at 1am last night and was up by 6am this morning.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Day 19: Indianapolis to Rockville, IN
Date: 6/9/2015
Time: 9.15pm
Weather: Sunny, warm
Location: Rockville United Methodist church
My morning was greeted with a little cute puppy. It was so embarrassing that everyone watched me running everywhere just to get away from the puppy. :3 So we were out by 7.30am as the first group. But somehow today's ride was kinda messy-we missed a couple turns, and were off by A couple miles. When we reached the first rest stop, we were told that the first group left like 45 minutes ago. Then we went faster and reached the lunch stop at 12.30pm.
At the lunch stop, we met this guy Nate. He did a portrait with us. In th interview he mentioned that he's a firefighter, and had been through stuffs like explosions and lost his close friend to a house fire. I couldn't hear very clearly the things he said because the huge trucks that went pass made so much noise and I wasn't standing very close to him. I think what he said was he had a pain at the back of his head one day when he woke up, then the doctor diagnosed him with cancer. Until two days ago, he found out that the tumor is not cancerous, but he still has to go through surgery. Before he left, he called his crews and told them to meet us. We got all excited and I had my camera all ready to record if we see the fire trucks on our way to the stayover. They didn't show up eventually :/
When we reached the stayover, we were greeted by Randy. He had someone to drive us to a public restroom for shower. The guy who drove us there drives a mini bus. He waited for us and drove us back to the church again. Before taking shower, Randy prepared some fruits and snacks to welcome us too. The banana muffins, strawberries, and watermelon were so good!
The dinner was ready by 6pm. I swear that was the best meal I've had. There were bbq pork, beef steak, potatoes, mac and cheese, salads, desserts, and a lot more. I'll include photos! After dinner we had the opportunity to watch Dorothy, an 88-year-old lady performed tap dance. Then half an hour later we had a little "ceremony" in honor of Alberta, a woman who passed away from cancer. We first grabbed a huge ziploc bag and went around to grab a little of every snacks.
For the past 17 days, we've met so many wonderful people who provide us with good food, shuttling us for showers when they dont have showers in their churches, doing laundry for us, making sure that we're well-fed, we're safe, clean and comfortable. The people in Rockville treat us as if we're some VIPs. Also one thing I heard from Nate, the people in Rockville were told that if some vehicle pulled off at the side of the road, the people who drive pass should stop and check out. Such good community... This ride has been tough, but with the help from so many good folks, our ride has been much easier. People who appreciate us more than we deserve, at least that's what I think...
I'll be in Champaign tomorrow! Yay come and stop by at the Alma Mater to see our entrance tomorrow at 2.30pm!
Time: 9.15pm
Weather: Sunny, warm
Location: Rockville United Methodist church
My morning was greeted with a little cute puppy. It was so embarrassing that everyone watched me running everywhere just to get away from the puppy. :3 So we were out by 7.30am as the first group. But somehow today's ride was kinda messy-we missed a couple turns, and were off by A couple miles. When we reached the first rest stop, we were told that the first group left like 45 minutes ago. Then we went faster and reached the lunch stop at 12.30pm.
At the lunch stop, we met this guy Nate. He did a portrait with us. In th interview he mentioned that he's a firefighter, and had been through stuffs like explosions and lost his close friend to a house fire. I couldn't hear very clearly the things he said because the huge trucks that went pass made so much noise and I wasn't standing very close to him. I think what he said was he had a pain at the back of his head one day when he woke up, then the doctor diagnosed him with cancer. Until two days ago, he found out that the tumor is not cancerous, but he still has to go through surgery. Before he left, he called his crews and told them to meet us. We got all excited and I had my camera all ready to record if we see the fire trucks on our way to the stayover. They didn't show up eventually :/
When we reached the stayover, we were greeted by Randy. He had someone to drive us to a public restroom for shower. The guy who drove us there drives a mini bus. He waited for us and drove us back to the church again. Before taking shower, Randy prepared some fruits and snacks to welcome us too. The banana muffins, strawberries, and watermelon were so good!
The dinner was ready by 6pm. I swear that was the best meal I've had. There were bbq pork, beef steak, potatoes, mac and cheese, salads, desserts, and a lot more. I'll include photos! After dinner we had the opportunity to watch Dorothy, an 88-year-old lady performed tap dance. Then half an hour later we had a little "ceremony" in honor of Alberta, a woman who passed away from cancer. We first grabbed a huge ziploc bag and went around to grab a little of every snacks.
For the past 17 days, we've met so many wonderful people who provide us with good food, shuttling us for showers when they dont have showers in their churches, doing laundry for us, making sure that we're well-fed, we're safe, clean and comfortable. The people in Rockville treat us as if we're some VIPs. Also one thing I heard from Nate, the people in Rockville were told that if some vehicle pulled off at the side of the road, the people who drive pass should stop and check out. Such good community... This ride has been tough, but with the help from so many good folks, our ride has been much easier. People who appreciate us more than we deserve, at least that's what I think...
I'll be in Champaign tomorrow! Yay come and stop by at the Alma Mater to see our entrance tomorrow at 2.30pm!
Monday, June 8, 2015
Day 18: Richmond to Indianapolis, IN
Date: 6/8/2015
Time: 8pm
Weather: Rainy, windy
Location: Tabernacle Prebysterian church Indianapolis
The day after century ride-nothing but sores. Today was a 73 mile ride from Richmond, IN to Indianapolis, IN. It wasn't that bad though, it was just the strong wind that was going at 24kmph, against us. It hurts my knees so much pedaling through the wind. The whole ride was done in 8 hours from 7.30am till 3.30pm.
Before the lunch rest stop, we passes Emmy's group and saw Lizzie lying on the ground. I was worried that something serious was happening to her because I went through 104 miles with her yesterday and I know she's fine. When I reached the rest stop, she told me that she was havinv severe pain on her knees. Also at the lunch rest stop, Khrystyna stopped, because her knees were hurting too. She was pulling for quite some time before the rest stop, and maybe that's why she hurt her knees.
Sarah V. went back home to get a cast I heard, while Zack is also on his way back to Chicago too to have his knees check. It's crazy to see how everyone is down one by one, but everyone still keeps pushing his/herself. I take pills every day just so that I could ignore the pain and bike every single mile. If possible I don't want to ride in the van at all. I want to get every single mile in by biking. 3 weeks in and I'm still doing okay. Hopefully everything will be fine till the ride ends in August. 7 more weeks to go!
Today was a little rougher than usual because of the rain and possible thunderstorm. The rain makes everything worse-your socks and shoes get wet, pants amd sweater got very dirty, roads get slippery (we were told not to bike on paint-eg the white line on the side of the road), and the rain keeps getting into my eyes. There was this track which is very parallel to the road, it got so slippery cause of the heavy downpour. Jason, Hannah B, Lisa, and Shutian slipped and fell. That was a pretty busy traffic but fortunately the drivers saw us and stopped until we've totally pulled off. I saw them fell and got panic too. My tyre was trapped in the tracks. But fortunate enough, I managed to clip out in less than one second (I kid you not, it was really that precise) before my tyre got stuck, and I did not fall. It was very scary though, this is the first time I feel myself just sliding through the tracks and got trapped in the tracks.
The best thing you could hope for on these rides is good weather-no wind, not too hot, not too cold, no rain, and no hill. Which is totally not possible. :/
Anyways, today is the day our total mileage hits 1000 miles with the exact total of 1068 for my own record. Totally amazing ride! 3500 more miles to go// 10 more weeks to go. #keepgoing
Time: 8pm
Weather: Rainy, windy
Location: Tabernacle Prebysterian church Indianapolis
The day after century ride-nothing but sores. Today was a 73 mile ride from Richmond, IN to Indianapolis, IN. It wasn't that bad though, it was just the strong wind that was going at 24kmph, against us. It hurts my knees so much pedaling through the wind. The whole ride was done in 8 hours from 7.30am till 3.30pm.
Before the lunch rest stop, we passes Emmy's group and saw Lizzie lying on the ground. I was worried that something serious was happening to her because I went through 104 miles with her yesterday and I know she's fine. When I reached the rest stop, she told me that she was havinv severe pain on her knees. Also at the lunch rest stop, Khrystyna stopped, because her knees were hurting too. She was pulling for quite some time before the rest stop, and maybe that's why she hurt her knees.
Sarah V. went back home to get a cast I heard, while Zack is also on his way back to Chicago too to have his knees check. It's crazy to see how everyone is down one by one, but everyone still keeps pushing his/herself. I take pills every day just so that I could ignore the pain and bike every single mile. If possible I don't want to ride in the van at all. I want to get every single mile in by biking. 3 weeks in and I'm still doing okay. Hopefully everything will be fine till the ride ends in August. 7 more weeks to go!
Today was a little rougher than usual because of the rain and possible thunderstorm. The rain makes everything worse-your socks and shoes get wet, pants amd sweater got very dirty, roads get slippery (we were told not to bike on paint-eg the white line on the side of the road), and the rain keeps getting into my eyes. There was this track which is very parallel to the road, it got so slippery cause of the heavy downpour. Jason, Hannah B, Lisa, and Shutian slipped and fell. That was a pretty busy traffic but fortunately the drivers saw us and stopped until we've totally pulled off. I saw them fell and got panic too. My tyre was trapped in the tracks. But fortunate enough, I managed to clip out in less than one second (I kid you not, it was really that precise) before my tyre got stuck, and I did not fall. It was very scary though, this is the first time I feel myself just sliding through the tracks and got trapped in the tracks.
The best thing you could hope for on these rides is good weather-no wind, not too hot, not too cold, no rain, and no hill. Which is totally not possible. :/
Anyways, today is the day our total mileage hits 1000 miles with the exact total of 1068 for my own record. Totally amazing ride! 3500 more miles to go// 10 more weeks to go. #keepgoing
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Day 17: Columbus, OH to Richmond, IN (The Century Ride)
Date: 6/7/2015
Time: 10pm
Weather: Cloudy, hot
Location: First English Lutheran Church Richmond
Century ride today!
What's century ride or century club? It's the 100-mile ride! Yes we all did 104 miles (167 km) today, from Columbus, OH to Richmond, IN.
My group was the second last group to start the ride today. We left at 7.20am, stopped at mile 25, 50, 65, and 85. I did not have PBJ for lunch cause I felt like every time I ate it, I feel like I was gonna puke. @@ I had a chocolate chip muffin from Tim Hortons and saved a donut and chicke nuggets from Wendy's for rest stops. Hehe :D The ride ended at 6.50pm and we were served delicious lasagna, salad, and desserts.
The sweetest thing that happened today was the lady who followed us at the back. She said something like, " I don't know how far you guys are gonna go, but I'll be at the back". She followed us for a quite some distances before she made a turn. She pulled off and waved at us. Emmy and Sarah talked to her too before she left. Someone who doesn't even know us , chose to escort us on a busy highway just to keep us safe. Just too many amazing things happen in I4K ride, isn't it?
Century ride was relatively easy as compared to the 88-mile hilly ride. That was a disaster @@ Hmm the hardest part of today's ride might be the wind, or the saddle sore. I can't tell which is worse. Well #achievement definitely not easy to bike 100 miles in one day but we made it! 3 more days till Champaign! YAYYYY!
Photos:
Time: 10pm
Weather: Cloudy, hot
Location: First English Lutheran Church Richmond
Century ride today!
What's century ride or century club? It's the 100-mile ride! Yes we all did 104 miles (167 km) today, from Columbus, OH to Richmond, IN.
My group was the second last group to start the ride today. We left at 7.20am, stopped at mile 25, 50, 65, and 85. I did not have PBJ for lunch cause I felt like every time I ate it, I feel like I was gonna puke. @@ I had a chocolate chip muffin from Tim Hortons and saved a donut and chicke nuggets from Wendy's for rest stops. Hehe :D The ride ended at 6.50pm and we were served delicious lasagna, salad, and desserts.
The sweetest thing that happened today was the lady who followed us at the back. She said something like, " I don't know how far you guys are gonna go, but I'll be at the back". She followed us for a quite some distances before she made a turn. She pulled off and waved at us. Emmy and Sarah talked to her too before she left. Someone who doesn't even know us , chose to escort us on a busy highway just to keep us safe. Just too many amazing things happen in I4K ride, isn't it?
Century ride was relatively easy as compared to the 88-mile hilly ride. That was a disaster @@ Hmm the hardest part of today's ride might be the wind, or the saddle sore. I can't tell which is worse. Well #achievement definitely not easy to bike 100 miles in one day but we made it! 3 more days till Champaign! YAYYYY!
Photos:
Current total mileage: 991 miles
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Day 16: Zanesville to Columbus, OH
Date: 6/6/2015
Time: 8.45pm
Weather: Chilly
Location: United Methodist church, downtown Columbus
We started off our day with super good omelets by chef Bill Bird. I had bacon, sausages, green peppers, green onions, and cheese in my omelet, with a cup of chocolate milk, and a blueberry muffin.
One lady did our laundry for us. She brought all of the clothes back to his house, washed, dried, and folded them before bringing them back to us this morning. Normally van packing will be done before breakfast but since we didn't get our laundry back until breakfast started so the sequence were adjusted a little.
Because the breakfast was so good, everyone spent extra time on breakfast this morning, and we rolled out by like 8am. Fortunately we had only 58 miles today, and everyone was able to get to the stayover by 1pm.
I met up with Munish, accompanied by Shimron. She brought me to Joy's village for a very good meal. I ate so muchhhhhh 😨 Then we went to D'licious cafe to get bubble tea. I got Taro milk tea!! Hehe #fav I also signed I"llini 4000 for cancer" on the wall of D'licious cafe too! The last time I came here they didn't have this wall set up yet.
Then we went to chill in the Ohio Union again and saw a lot of them dressed up pretty well, they're probably having some events there. Munish also told me that Taylor Swift went to OSU last year!! Before leaving to the church, I went to Buckeye donut and get a Buckeye donut. Haha.
I came back and took a shower. Now I'm ready to go to bed now. We're heading to Richmond tomorrow, it's gonna be a 104 mile ride. Kinda nervous actually. :3 I didn't take my pill this morning, and after several climbs my knees are starting to hurt for the first time. Hopefully my knees don't mess with me tomorrow though. :/
Nightssss. Loves.
Time: 8.45pm
Weather: Chilly
Location: United Methodist church, downtown Columbus
We started off our day with super good omelets by chef Bill Bird. I had bacon, sausages, green peppers, green onions, and cheese in my omelet, with a cup of chocolate milk, and a blueberry muffin.
One lady did our laundry for us. She brought all of the clothes back to his house, washed, dried, and folded them before bringing them back to us this morning. Normally van packing will be done before breakfast but since we didn't get our laundry back until breakfast started so the sequence were adjusted a little.
Because the breakfast was so good, everyone spent extra time on breakfast this morning, and we rolled out by like 8am. Fortunately we had only 58 miles today, and everyone was able to get to the stayover by 1pm.
I met up with Munish, accompanied by Shimron. She brought me to Joy's village for a very good meal. I ate so muchhhhhh 😨 Then we went to D'licious cafe to get bubble tea. I got Taro milk tea!! Hehe #fav I also signed I"llini 4000 for cancer" on the wall of D'licious cafe too! The last time I came here they didn't have this wall set up yet.
Then we went to chill in the Ohio Union again and saw a lot of them dressed up pretty well, they're probably having some events there. Munish also told me that Taylor Swift went to OSU last year!! Before leaving to the church, I went to Buckeye donut and get a Buckeye donut. Haha.
I came back and took a shower. Now I'm ready to go to bed now. We're heading to Richmond tomorrow, it's gonna be a 104 mile ride. Kinda nervous actually. :3 I didn't take my pill this morning, and after several climbs my knees are starting to hurt for the first time. Hopefully my knees don't mess with me tomorrow though. :/
Nightssss. Loves.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Day 15: Canton to Zanesville, OH
Date: 6/5/2015
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Sizzling hot
Location: Westwood Baptist Church, Zanesville
Today's ride was brutal. We all knew that with a rest day two days ago, and 50+ mile on flat roads yesterday, today's 85-mile ride with 6000 ft elevation was gonna kill us. We had a brief meeting every morning before we rolled, Ben was saying that today's gonna be hard with uphills and downhills, but he did not mention explicitly how hard it was gonna be though. Idk why I thought we were all ready pretty early this morning but we still rolled out at 7.30am though. I have Andrew, Haley, Sarah H, and Lisa riding with me today. We were actually the second group to roll so I thought we will be going at a good speed today. 15 miles in Lisa had a flat and that took quite some time. Most of the groups passed us. I wanted to get as many miles done as possible in the morning (before noon) because I know that I'll be so tired when the sun is high up and after lunch.
We stopped at mile 25 but I was already getting tired from all the climbs. Lunch was at mile 45 and I swear I was already very tired already. I had only one PBJ sandwich and I don't feel like eating anymore. Then we went on for more hills. The weather was so hot that the van had to drive the water to us because everyone is already out of water by mile 60-ish. There was supposed to have a rest stop at mile 65 but there was a gas station at like mile 73 so we just went there for our third rest stop. Towards the final 10 miles there were still a couple climbs. Zzz
We went on hills, gravel, super curvy roads, basically all of the bad road conditions that we could ever get. I lost count of the amount of hills that we climbed already. The uphill speed was averaging between 3-5mph while downhill speed was 30-35mph. Now imagine how steep the hills are okay. Nightmare was, I got chased by two dogs going up one of the hills, that was the fastest I pedaled through the hill. I was also yelling "Save me!!!" Soooo loud hoping that the dogs will go away. They did though eventually hahahhaha
I felt like I was almost crying already going uphill cause they're really sooo tough. I mean people who know me for awhile knows that I'm just a person who never really cry easily. But this time I really felt like I'm out of energy. I was already on my lowest gear, water was running low, and I just couldn't pedal any faster. Ugh.
Anyhow we made it! 85 miles, 6000 ft elevation, 7.30am-5.40pm, such long and rough day!
Thanks to the church for providing us with free Chipotle, cheesecakes, brownies, cookies, and fruits! Thanks for preparing us breakfast too tomorrow! Thanks for shuttling us to the fitness center for showers too! Also much thanks to the fitness/gym center for providing us with free showers! Ahhh so many good people!! We met one 79 year old lady in the bathroom, and I really wanted to do a portrait with her. So I went to look for her at the tracks after my shower. Had a good 30-minute talk with her. She said if only I talked to her before she started her walk on tracks, before she gets sweaty, she'd definitely do portraits with us. Her name is Joan, she's a breast cancer survivor. She always bring one girl to the Genesis Hospital for treatment (not sure what relationship are they though). She talked a lot and was really amazed by what we are doing! She also told me that the boss who owns the fitness center would like to arrange local media to share our story if only we arranged our plan with him earlier. Well we weren't planning on that but welp next year's team might be able to get to meet more people in Zanesville hopefully!
Off to Columbus tomorrow! It's gonna be a shorter and much easier ride tomorrow! Yay!
Time: 9.30pm
Weather: Sizzling hot
Location: Westwood Baptist Church, Zanesville
Today's ride was brutal. We all knew that with a rest day two days ago, and 50+ mile on flat roads yesterday, today's 85-mile ride with 6000 ft elevation was gonna kill us. We had a brief meeting every morning before we rolled, Ben was saying that today's gonna be hard with uphills and downhills, but he did not mention explicitly how hard it was gonna be though. Idk why I thought we were all ready pretty early this morning but we still rolled out at 7.30am though. I have Andrew, Haley, Sarah H, and Lisa riding with me today. We were actually the second group to roll so I thought we will be going at a good speed today. 15 miles in Lisa had a flat and that took quite some time. Most of the groups passed us. I wanted to get as many miles done as possible in the morning (before noon) because I know that I'll be so tired when the sun is high up and after lunch.
We stopped at mile 25 but I was already getting tired from all the climbs. Lunch was at mile 45 and I swear I was already very tired already. I had only one PBJ sandwich and I don't feel like eating anymore. Then we went on for more hills. The weather was so hot that the van had to drive the water to us because everyone is already out of water by mile 60-ish. There was supposed to have a rest stop at mile 65 but there was a gas station at like mile 73 so we just went there for our third rest stop. Towards the final 10 miles there were still a couple climbs. Zzz
We went on hills, gravel, super curvy roads, basically all of the bad road conditions that we could ever get. I lost count of the amount of hills that we climbed already. The uphill speed was averaging between 3-5mph while downhill speed was 30-35mph. Now imagine how steep the hills are okay. Nightmare was, I got chased by two dogs going up one of the hills, that was the fastest I pedaled through the hill. I was also yelling "Save me!!!" Soooo loud hoping that the dogs will go away. They did though eventually hahahhaha
I felt like I was almost crying already going uphill cause they're really sooo tough. I mean people who know me for awhile knows that I'm just a person who never really cry easily. But this time I really felt like I'm out of energy. I was already on my lowest gear, water was running low, and I just couldn't pedal any faster. Ugh.
Anyhow we made it! 85 miles, 6000 ft elevation, 7.30am-5.40pm, such long and rough day!
Thanks to the church for providing us with free Chipotle, cheesecakes, brownies, cookies, and fruits! Thanks for preparing us breakfast too tomorrow! Thanks for shuttling us to the fitness center for showers too! Also much thanks to the fitness/gym center for providing us with free showers! Ahhh so many good people!! We met one 79 year old lady in the bathroom, and I really wanted to do a portrait with her. So I went to look for her at the tracks after my shower. Had a good 30-minute talk with her. She said if only I talked to her before she started her walk on tracks, before she gets sweaty, she'd definitely do portraits with us. Her name is Joan, she's a breast cancer survivor. She always bring one girl to the Genesis Hospital for treatment (not sure what relationship are they though). She talked a lot and was really amazed by what we are doing! She also told me that the boss who owns the fitness center would like to arrange local media to share our story if only we arranged our plan with him earlier. Well we weren't planning on that but welp next year's team might be able to get to meet more people in Zanesville hopefully!
Off to Columbus tomorrow! It's gonna be a shorter and much easier ride tomorrow! Yay!
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