Day 17 – Terre Haute, IN to Champaign, IL

June 16^th:

My ride group was Julia, Hannah, Matt, and Jo.  Jo got a flat early on in the day, and when anyone gets a flat on a ride, we send a photo to the GroupMe with the caption “flat chat.”  For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a play on the name of an app called Snap Chat.  Anyway, we send “flat chats” and also “nap chats” to the GroupMe.

On one of the first nights of the trip, we had a group meeting to discuss the reasons for why we were doing this trip.  It was a moment that allowed everyone to open up and be vulnerable, if they chose to do so.  Julia told us that a huge reason for her taking on this journey was in memory of her older brother, Paul, who passed away while hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Paul had passed away on June 15^th three years ago, and many riders on my team chose to dedicate their riding day to Julia and Paul.  Since I was in the van, I didn’t get to ride for her and her brother on the 15th, but instead I dedicated this ride day to him.  I asked her to share memories of her brother, and it made my day to see her face light up when she talked about him.  She told me that he kept a journal on his over 2,000 mile hike, which revealed a lot about his journey.  He had almost completed the thru hike when he passed away.  He found a dog on the trail who became his hiking buddy, and when Paul realized the dog was not strong and healthy enough to hike with him anymore, he arranged for him to be sent to his parents for them to keep and take care of until his return home.  Julia said they still have this dog, named Nutty.  She sent me a photo of Nutty, and he is ADORABLE so obviously the world needs to see this dog:

  

I enjoyed hearing about quirky personality Paul had that attracted others to him.  Simply stated, he was just the kind of person you wanted to be around.  He was the big brother that Julia looked up to.  Although her family didn’t have any hiking experience or knowledge, being that they lived in a city their whole lives, Paul read up on the Appalachian Trail and decided to hike it solo.  His journal revealed that he’d even met a woman on this trip who he had fallen for, and they had made plans to meet again after Paul completed his journey.  While it brings me to tears to place myself in her shoes and imagine a world where someone I love and need in my life is suddenly and inexplicably taken from me, it brings me such joy to see the way Julia smiles when she tells me about Paul.  After watching these videos of Paul that Julia posted on Facebook, I believe he was destined for a career in Improv.  He reminds me of Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live because he’s able to do so many hilarious accents:

Click here to watch the video

This day ended up being another 100 mile day, with this one being the second of the summer.  We had to find ways to entertain ourselves as we biked alongside corn, corn, and more corn.  We started pulling one another down the roads just to see if we could do it.  We played games and sang songs and listened to some music.  On most of these roads, you can see for miles ahead and miles behind, and there are rarely any cars that pass by.

Something that’s been severely lacking on this trip are STATE SIGNS!!!  It’s so frustrating and anticlimactic when you cross into a new state but there’s no sign to take a photo alongside.  We made our own with a pizza box.  You can’t really see it but we wrote Illinois-Indiana.

At lunch, there was some sort of structure (really not sure what it was) that some of my team decided to climb up onto.  Here’s a photo of Kyle at the top:

The day was long but overall we had somewhat of a tailwind and that made the day easier.  We stayed at the University of Illinois – Champaign.  We got our own beds again!

I met up with my Bike & Build teammate, Lo, who took me out to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant and then we grabbed a beer and watched the US Women’s National Team play Nigeria and win 1-0!  It was so great to hang out with her and tell her all about the differences between 4K and B&B.

Day 16 – Bloomington, IN to Terre Haute, IN

June 15^th:

I drove the van today and Kyle was my navigator.  Kyle is hilarious and is the best car DJ ever!  We had a great day chalking the short route of less than 60 miles, playing music, and cheering on our teammates as we drove by them.  My teammate Jo was having a rough day, so she joined us in the van and I think we were able to cheer her up a bit!

This day was also Hannah’s 21^st birthday!  Cake and “Ice-ing” (the Smirnoff kind of “Ice-ing”) was involved.

At the end of the day, Kyle and I decided to go for a run.  I’m not sure why I followed through on this absurd idea. My body could have used a day of rest, but instead I joined him on this run during the hottest part of the day.  We ran to the showers, where everyone else was heading in the vans. Our understanding was that the showers were 3 miles away, so when it turned out they were actually 4.5 miles away, it was quite the surprise.  We had fun, but I think I might have gotten more dehydrated on this run than during any part of the bike trip thus far.  We still had fun, though, and we got to jump in a pool with our teammates afterward.

Oh, and one more thing: the roads in Indiana are terrible.  There are potholes and bumps and cracks everywhere, and they are impossible to avoid on a bicycle.  Days of yelling “hole” and “bump” to your teammates to warn them of these obstacles has caused me to lose my voice at the end of every day.  Even being in the van, you realize how bad the road conditions are as you drive on them.  It was hilarious to see signs that said “rough road” to warn drivers of these conditions.  It seems silly to me, though, to use taxpayer money for signs that say “rough road” instead of just fixing the problem.

If Leslie Knope was a real person and actually worked for the state of Indiana, the roads would be pristine.

Day 15 – Indianapolis, IN to Bloomington, IN

June 14^th:

Since we were riding to Bloomington, IN today, I told my team that they could only communicate with me in Parks & Rec quotes (yes, I know it’s set in Pawnee, IN, but that’s not a real place and Bloomington is referred to multiple times on the show).  This meme is not reflective of my sentiments toward this day, but it still makes me laugh, and Sean & I quoted it the other day so it seems relevant:

Our ride group for this 65-ish mile day was myself, Holly, Zack, Matt, and Jo.  Somehow, we started the day having to backtrack about 20 miles in the direction we came.  I don’t understand why we keep doing that to ourselves, but it is what it is.  The roads in the morning were flat and surrounded by farmland.  I learned on this day that a glacier flattened out much of Indiana, hence why it’s possible to have so many cornfields EVERYWHERE.  We’ve been on roads that have had few cars and it almost feels like we’re riding on a greenway.  By the way, a greenway is a paved path that goes through a forest or grass and is meant for bike riders, runners, and walkers.  I’m not sure why, but none of my teammates are familiar with the term “greenway,” even though that’s what we call these paths in NC.  Is that a southern thing?

Anyway, it was a typical day of riding through cornfields, which has become the norm in Indiana.  Right before lunch and for the remainder of the ride after lunch, we hit some serious hills.  After all these days of riding on flat ground, we thought we’d be done with long hill climbing for a while, but we were wrong.

We rode beside Lake Lemon, and we’ve decided that if we see a lake, we HAVE to jump in, especially if it’s toward the end of a long, hot day.  We used a dock with a diving board and did some backflips off of it.  We didn’t exactly ask for permission to use this, but it didn’t look like anyone was home and we figured that if we got caught, we would get away with it by explaining what we were doing this summer.

We had some more serious climbs after lunch, but we tackled them and made it to the host, which was a dorm at Indiana University! We had beds to sleep on!!  Matt’s family has been super generous to us, and they offered to pay for our meal at a restaurant in town.

Sean had a long day driving the host van, and he was also responsible for getting us breakfast for the morning.  I wanted to share this photo because it cracked me up.  The caption was “bagels for breakfast”:

I went to bed at 10 for a 6:00 wake-up call!  That means I got 8 hours of sleep that night!  YAY!

Day 14 – Greensburg, IN to Indianapolis, IN

June 13^th:

One year ago today, a Team Portland rider named Jamie passed away while she was on the 4K trip.  Instead of writing an in-depth blog about the day, I want to post the letter that one of her fellow teammates, Walt Drennan, kindly shared with the team this day.  He sent it to one of our ride directors and she read it to us at our daily dedication circle before we rolled out of Greensburg, Indiana.

“Dear PDX2015,

As you all have probably been reminded, several times by now I am sure, today is June 13th. Exactly one year since Team Portland 2014 lost Jamie Roberts. But Instead of rambling on about cycling safety and what you should and shouldn’t be doing while out on the road, I’d like to talk to you about the person Jamie was and not just how she was lost. Jamie was a truly amazing person and I’d hate for the manner of her death to be the one thing that people remember her by. Especially by those like you who weren’t able to meet the beautiful person that my team and I all came to love during those two short weeks that we had with her.

Jamie Roberts is much more than a cautionary tale or initials on t-shirts that you see Alums wearing. Beyond that, she was the most thoughtful, selfless, and considerate person that I have ever met. She was actually the reason why I and many of my teammates were able to participate in our 4k ride after she asked her parents to donate to our fundraising goals instead of her own. And during the ride she was no less giving. The one van day that she had was a miserable, rainy one and after everyone made it to the host, she did our laundry for us. The washing, drying, AND folding! On days that she biked, and especially when she was one of the first to arrive at the host, she would make snacks for us and make our host sites a home, even if just for a night. She was never asked to or prompted. She just did.

She wasn’t perfect though. She had her faults just like all of us. She had the uncanny ability of being able to moon you while still pedaling. She wasn’t able to make the distinction between a Long Island accent and a Jamaican one, which made roadside games of “Heads Up!” hilariously frustrating. When you were struggling up a hill, she’d be right there, like a total jerk,  right at your side encouraging you to keep pushing, even after she had already climbed it, 2 or 3 different times herself! She LOVED music and would dance far too much at water stops and sing way too loudly during van rides; off key of course. When you were trying to have a quick nap, she’d take the opportunity to cover you in knock off brand oreos and take pictures of it. We weren’t good enough for REAL oreos apparently.

I could go on with Jamie stories but all of my favorite ones stem from what I think to be her greatest quality: Jamie was always able to see the great potential in everything:  In all the little moments during ride days that she had to take pictures of, all the people she met at our host sites she spoke with and made a point of knowing, and most especially in each and every one of us; her teammates. Her 4k family. She believed in us as a team and wanted to see us all succeed together; as a family. We were worth all of her efforts and encouragement because of this. Jamie was an exceptional athlete and was part of several teams by the time she made it to Portland 2014 so I think being part of a team for Jamie was a very significant bond. All of Jamie’s teams were an extension of her family. Jamie knew that PDX 2014 was a family before we did and wanted nothing more than to see us succeed and make it to Portland together.

For me, Jamie Roberts was and will always be the 4K personified: She gave of herself wholly and without question, she took on every challenge head on, and she inspired others to do the same because she knew that they were capable, even if they didn’t think so themselves.

As you ride today I ask that you think of Jamie at some point and try to live the way she did. Look for the great potential in every moment. Look for great potential in each other. And most importantly, look for the great potential in yourselves. You’ve made it this far. And seen so much already. Enjoy all of the moments to come.  

                Jamie’s sister, Julia (yes her sister’s name is Julia Roberts), would send her a motivational and inspirational quote every morning before Jamie rode out and Julia was kind enough to continue doing so for us throughout our entire ride. I thought this one would be fitting for all of you on this great adventure we all call the 4k.

Do you want to leave soon?

No, I want enough time to be in love with everything…

And I cry because everything is so beautiful and so short.

-Marina Keegan-

And so I leave you with this, PDX2015: Seek out the great potential in all things this summer. Enjoy the beauty of every moment today and all your days after. These moments may be short, but they will stay with you for always. Now go f*ck some more of Indiana’s sh*t up…

Always and Sincerely Stalking Each and Every One of You via the FaceBook and the Instagrams,

Walt “Grand Master Gooch” (It’s a Team Gooch thing) Drennan

PDX 2014”

Today was also a day that we dedicated to Gino, one of our teammates who is a cancer survivor.  Exactly three years ago on this day, he was diagnosed with cancer.  He has battled and won against cancer, and we are so thankful that he is here to ride alongside us and remind us of who we are riding for.  We got him a cake to celebrate!

Things that happened this day included the following: taking a photo in front of a huge blow up Reptar-like thing; getting a ton of hotdogs donated to us in honor of Jamie (there is a backstory here but I won’t go into it); taking cornfield photos; having to trudge through a really long construction zone that we probably should have detoured around but instead had to carry our bikes through while slopping through the mud; getting Kevin to roll around in the muddy water of a ditch when he lost “what are the odds”; finding a swimming hole toward the end of a hot day; getting to walk around a little bit in downtown Indianapolis!

 

Sometimes, I still cannot believe all of the things we experience in just a day.