Day 37 / Monday, July 13th / Crawfordsville, IN to Indianapolis, IN / 62 miles

A gorgeous morning, short ride, plenty to see, and a rest day tomorrow, what more could you ask for. Today was fun! We were on good flat roads for most the way and rode through Eagle Creek Park, a beautiful state park. It was like riding through the forest near a big lake with winding up and down roads.

Before we had arrived at the park we made a stop at the Roark Bike Factory where they make custom fit titanium bikes. To the right I am pictured with Mr. Roark and my friend Zero. The bike in the background runs for about 7,000. I might just have to wait for my lottery numbers to come in before I can buy this one.

After the factory tour we pedaled over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and went to the museum. Pretty spectacular place. A lot of racing history here. Zoom in on the history of the first races.

What a thrill ride this must have been !

After the speedway we were off to the Lake Sullivan Sports Complex with our racing spirit ready to test out the Major Taylor Velodrome. We had a blast testing our skills and speed around the banked track. As one person would set a new standard everyone else would step up to the plate to try to beat it. Leigh had the best time for the ladies at 29.1 and beat most the men. Gerard on our support team had a sub 26 while young Bob and Hans were sub 27. My buddy Chris and I were next with sub 28. Trust me, there were a lot of racing egos and pride left on the track today.

After the racing was over we pedaled on over to a great bike path that lead us into the city of Indy. We rode along the river, along a brick paved road then to the river walk area. Indianapolis prides itself on being a city that caters to bikers and pedestrians. The river walk area was spectacular with museums and things to do and see all around.

Had a great meal at the Spaghetti Factory, then headed over to the Slippery Noodle Blues Bar where Gerrard and Tom, our new mechanic, were enjoying the tunes of Phoebe and the Acoustic Mojos. The band sounded great and made us laugh. Had a few drinks and headed to the hotel to call it a day.

Day 36 / Sunday, July 12th / Champagne, IL to Crawfordsville, IN / 82 miles

Today was a great day for riding with sunny skies and cool temperatures in the upper 60s to start and low 80s at finish. The humidity was not bad either. Even though this was an 82 mile day I felt so good a rode a little extra finishing the day at 98 miles. On the left is Carole from PA doing the pulling. I enjoyed chatting with Carole today as we rode together for about 5 miles in a double pass line. Carole comes from a family of 12 brothers and sisters in which she is the oldest. One of her brothers runs a drivers education operation. Since I was also a driver ed teacher at one time we had lots of stories to exchange.

Right before we left Illinois we had a huge bike crash then hid in the fields as the police went by so we wouldn't get any tickets. No major injuries just a lot of fun being "corny" in the corn fields.

Good bye Illinois and Hello Indiana. If you look carefully you will notice there is plenty more cornography to see in Indiana. Pictured are Me (twirling my helmet since I didn't have a basketball) Leigh and Bob from Seattle, Chris from Columbus, and Hans from Switzerland.

At the second sag today we stopped for lunch at the Bus Stop. Today it looked like the Bike Stop with all our bikes parked in front with our spandex shorts parked in the chairs. Since I was tired of looking at the farms and corn fields I captured a few shots of some different scenery below. Tomorrow is a short 62 mile day to Indianapolis with a rest day planed for Tuesday. Looking forward to having a get together at Jay Butlers house. Jay was with us the first section of the ride which was the last section he needed to complete his journey across the country. He is from Indy.

I just got the schedule for football practice from our head coach George "Mac" McCartin. When I saw the airplane I just had to snap this picture. The only problem was, Mac was in the Marines not the Air Force.

Day 35 / Saturday, July 11th / Springfield, IL to Champaigne, IL / 97 miles





The skies were gray as we departed Springfield, the home of Abraham Lincoln, at 7:00 am after a good breakfast at the Bob Evans Restaurant. Today was more country roads and corn fields.




As one person put it in the group " we've seen a lot of cornogrophy" the past few days. We rode at a moderate pace today just enjoying each others company.



Mary from NY, who had a bout with food poisoning several days ago, was feeling much better. I had to sprint ahead to capture this photo on the left. Mary is being the workhorse here pulling everyone on some wet roads from the mist in the air. Our pack of about 8 riders stayed together to the first sag at about 32 miles.









On the left is a picture of a nice home in the country. What caught my eye was the beautiful white picket fence outlining the property. My wife, Donna, loves white picket fences, however; I don't think she wants to move back to Illinois. Her blood has gotten rather thin living in Florida for over 30 years.








Today Zero, one of the riders in our group, was welcomed by a host of family and friends. He is from Chicago which made it easy for them to come. Zero normally is one of the first several riders in, however; he along with many other riders got lost on some unmarked roads. He came in about an hour later than his predicted time. I felt like I was on the Tour de France as I came in amongst the roar of people cheering and clapping. After cleaning my bike and showering I glanced out my window to the awesome sight of Zero rounding the corner into the hotel and being greeted with a special celebration poring a special Korean liquid over his head. What a great moment seeing everyone celebrating a special occasion of a determined, competitive, devoted man dedicated to raising funds towards his project for a Korean memorial in Chicago.

Many riders are riding for charities. If anyone is interested in supporting any of these charities let me know and I will give you more information.

In closing: Who is the Jack commenting on my blog. We have two Jacks on the ride and it was neither of them. I am wondering if it could be my good friend Jack Styles?

Day 34 / Friday, July 10th / Quincy, IL to Springfield, IL / 106 miles

Today we got lucky on our journey to Springfield. The skies threatened to rain all day but never did so we got away with a warm muggy day with little sun. Illinois as you can see is known for their corn fields. On today's ride all I saw was corn fields and the back tire of Chris and Judy as we worked as a team getting us to Springfield at 2:30 pm after departing Quincy around 7:00 am. Long day but we were the first to arrive. We rode at an 18 mph pace. Some hills but the majority of the day was flat with a slight headwind.

On the right we are about to cross a river which I believe was part of the Mississippi River. The truck in front of Judy, one of the support staff, is a film crew. One of the members of our team is promoting his charity, Korean Memorial for Chicago, through the media.

To the left is Judy and Chris who I teamed up with today. Two really strong riders. At the end of the ride we were exhausted and hungry so we went across the street to Steak & Shake for lunch. The waitress/manager heard about our trip and compt our meal.

Tomorrows another long day in the saddle, 97 more miles. Our incentive now is that we are inching closer to the Atlantic Ocean.

Day 33 / Thursday, July 9th / Kirksville, MO to Quincy, IL / 97 miles

Today was another great day. Very foggy when we started and the sun stayed covered for most of the day. Still a lot of rolling hills until we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois then we had a good flat 15 mile section until we hit the hills again. Before we left Missouri we had a nice lunch at Primos Restaurant. We overwhelmed them with business when 18 bikers should up. Chris, Dan and I got there first so we were fortunate to get in and out pretty quick.



They do not allow bikes on the bridge crossing the Mississippi so we got ferried across. I was a little concerned that the truck might of put us over the weight limit but the captain assured us we would stay afloat.

Finally reached another state. Illinois watch out, the bikers are in town! The scenery is a bit different and I feel like I am getting closer to the East

Behind me is the bridge we couldn't cross. The town of Quincy is more like a city. We rode down main street which was beautiful with big shady trees and old mansions on both side.



My roommate Brian and I skipped dinner that night and picked up a picnic lunch and caught a concert in the park which was only 1.5 miles from the hotel. A lot of Sinatra music and some Latin pop. At the end of the night the drummer let me have a little fun on the drums.

Day 32 / Wednesday, July 8th / Chillicothe, MO to Kirksville, MO / 83 miles

Today was another sunny hot day. Started off with a good deluxe breakfast at MacDonald's then went on our way across a section of Missouri called a Thousand Hills. There weren't quite that many, however; I think the real number we climbed was around 230. This was a slow day and despite me wanting to take it easy there was no way out. Check out the picture on the left, that's what we faced for our ride today which started at 7:00 am and finished for me at about 1:45 pm.

That is Gerrard, one of the support leaders and mechanic, leading up the hill. I got a little head start so I could get to the top and take the picture.

If you click on the picture you'll get a better perspective of the steep climb and rolling hills. The trick on these hills is to get as much speed built up on the downhill hoping it will carry you 1/2 to 2/3 up the hill. Then you got to shift down and spin or grind your way to the top. At the top you catch your breath for 2 seconds and do it all over again 229 more times.

My bike and I spent some time in the house to the left. The local sheriff nailed me for rolling through a stop sign. The ticket was for $250. I told him I didn't have any cash on me so he locked me up inside until America by Bike came to release me.

The house I was in was the historic Linn County Jail and the story is a farce.

Why the picture of the sign on the left?

Y it's the greatest number in the world, just ask my son Tim who wore it to play football.

Well since I am in a corny mood, the flowers on the left are for my wife, Donna, son Mike and his wife Fran who are all celebrating their wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary !

To bad you weren't with me here in Kirksville. They were advertising a special deal at the Super 8 hotel that would have been a great anniversary gift.

Day 31 / Tuesday, July 7th / St Joseph, MO to Chillicothe, MO / 89 miles


Today was a beautiful day. Sunny skies nice country roads and a lot of fun rolling hills. Started riding with my usual group of Bob, Chris and Leigh, then Chris and I took off to see if we could catch the front of the pack that had a 3 mile lead on us. Caught most of them but Sean from UK and Jack from FL where no were to be found. After the second sag Chris and I decided to tone it down since tomorrows ride is going to have a lot more steeper climbs. Temperature's were in the 90s and when I finished the ride I had salt sweat all over my pants and arms.

On the right is the Field of Dreams. Looks just like the field and house in the movie. I went searching in the corn fields for Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb but couldn't find a soul.


You don't see to many signs like this in Florida. This is what we saw when we went through Jamestown, an Amish community.


The man on the right was heading down to the local auction. It was kind of neat to see all the horse and carriages parked out in front of the auction.

I will say, however; that the roads going through Jamestown where kind of "crappy", if you know what I mean.

I thought for a moment I was in the great state of Montana where my wife and her parents were born. I didn't know they had buffalo in Missouri.

The hotel we stayed in (Drury Inn) in St Josephs had complimentary drinks, peanuts and chips at night and the soda machine was open round the clock. Good full breakfast as well.

Tonight we eat at the Golden Coral again. Looking forward to fueling up for tomorrows 83 mile ride to Kirksville, MO.