Day Nine: Peoria, Illinois to Greenville, Illinois. 147.89 miles.
I switched my mantra for the long day to the one Kate mentioned in her comment: punish yourself.
147.89 miles is definitely punishment.
The day started with a detour (our road was closed). We ran a parallel street and when I thought it was safe to return to the original street I made the switch. But the switch was too early and we found ourselves in a series of more road closures or dead ends. So we had to go back the way we came. Ooops. I knew it was going to be a long day and I was kicking myself for taking the group on a .3 mile wild goose chase. Dang it.
And then just a few miles outside of Peoria we were riding parallel to a moving train. But we were moving faster. I took a few moments to marvel at the fact I was slowly passing a train. The road and the tracks curved away from each other and I forgot about the train. But a few miles later the road curved back to the tracks and then across them. The train appeared a few moments before we arrived and we had to wait. I'd tell you how many cars there were, but my OCD of counting trains has gone away. I do know the train was running all 3 front engines and it had a running helping engine at the end. We also had enough waiting time that we were able to meet up with the support vehicle and enjoy a few popsicles. Even though the popsicle was a perfect treat for the warm morning, I was kicking myself again. If I had just stuck with the detour we would have been a few minutes ahead of the train and thus no 10 minute wait. (At 15 miles an hour, 10 minutes means 2.5 miles on a bicycle.) Dang it.
Erik and I rode into and out of Springfield. Since we didn't have an official route through the city and I was in charge of leading Erik out of the city I took a series of lefts and rights based on my own whims. We weren't treated to anything too special, but on MLK a car did drive by with some monster rims. I also thought a lot about Rostenkowski, Illinois toll booths, and Blagojevich. Who wins the corruption battle: Illinois or Louisiana?
And then after lunch (83 miles into the day) everything sort of blurs into a mess of trying to finish.
We arrived in Pawnee, Illinois to discover a building thunderstorm just a few miles away. If I hadn't taken those morning turns, we'd be right in the thick of it. I stopped kicking myself.
We stopped in another town with looming thunderstorms. After a long examination of the clouds involved, we decided we had a window of opportunity and went for it. We made it without getting hit by a single drop of rain.
Somewhere we stopped and put on our headlamps and turned on our blinking rear lights. I put my safety vest on. We kept riding.
We climbed a hill or two or three or more and ended up at a Casey's General Store (read: gas station convenience store) where a lady gave us directions to the church. Her directions involved taking a non-road that led between two school buildings and a few other questionable ideas, but she assured us this was the fastest way and the least likely way we'd get lost. We followed her directions and they led us straight to the church. I shouldn't have doubted.
I entertained the idea of riding my bicycle in circles in the parking lot so I could reach 150 miles for the day, but I fell asleep before I could be moved to action.
I'll settle on 147.89 though I'm looking forward to today's ride. It's supposed to be under 85 miles, plenty of time to stop and smell the roses.
Track 11: The Roots - The Other Side. Life is only a moment in time and it passed by.
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