From the edge of Illinois to halfway across Indiana! We will be in Ohio in two more rides. From the pictures I took it's clear that there wasn't a lot of new scenery on our last ride. The farms were more picturesque, however. The land undulated a bit more and some of the roads were more windy (w-eye-nd, not win-d) I'd geared myself up for a long hot slog. 96 miles in the 4th day of heat-wave riding. I think the support team finally figured out the logistics o...

What can I say? It was hot again! We got up at the ridiculous hour of 4:30 am, breakfast and snack at 5:30. Wee were very clearly told that hovering would not help make breakfast earlier. So....when I went to the lobby for hot water to brew my strange coffee contraption at 4:32 am... I see Connie, fully on bike clothes, suitcase packed wheeling our to the van. insanity! Anyway, on the road at 5:45 or something. Pretty tough headwind on the southbound stretches....

Whelp- another hot one. 78 miles, 100-plus heat. These few days I've been markedly less social as I ride. I pretty much pay attention to my body, and think about where water will be. Streator is a pretty run-down and depressed city. We got in early to beat the heat... and there wasn't much to fill our time with. I went to the weber house and garden http://www.weberhouseandgarden.com/ The owner was an interesting guy- and it was really impressive that he ma...

Lunchtime was the key for me on these two hot days. Today, we had reasonably cool temps until 9:30am (started at 6:45)- and the road was really flat and smooth. With the tail wind, karina Mary and I were doing 18-20mph for a good long time. We crossed the Mississippi river for the last time, and Illinois welcomed us with 5 miles of brutal grooved pavement....which will probably be lovely when they finish the road construction project...but was AWFUL to ride on...

I'm just going to start this today. It was a long hot hilly ride with a small headwind. 11 hours, 97 miles, 99 degrees, and something like 3000 feet of climb (up and down and up and down) Only 8 of the 26 made the whole ride (i was one, so was karina) one other woman made it 87 miles, and another 72. The rest stopped at 60 or less. I'll add more tomorrow, a rest day. I'm tired and sleepy- relaxed and feeling good!