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!
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
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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