Day 32: Home of Speed Skater Bonnie Blair; One Month Trip Anniversary

Gil will post or send his cliff notes tomorrow morning. Until then, you have my notes from our conversation this evening. The group left Springfield, IL for an 87 mile ride to Champaign, IL. Things were basically OK until the first SAG stop at 45 miles into the ride. Then the wind became a very strong headwind and they CRAWLED at 8 mph for the rest of the day. Gil arrived at the hotel around 5, after a stop at a bike shop to have aero-bars attached to his handlebars. If I remember correctly, aero-bars extend in front of the handlebars and the rider becomes more aerodynamic....you riders know what I mean, right??? The rest of you can ask your friendly neighborhood rider.

Gil and Tony went to spend the night and tomorrow's rest day with Dale and Linda in Bloomington, IL. They are enjoying the good company, being in a HOME again, and access to a computer and a washer/dryer. They had a good dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Adeel - email Gil please...he asked us for your email address and we can't find it anywhere to send to him. THANKS. [Dad - if there's somewhere other than your outlook or brown address book to look, please let us know! -Jean]

[Jean's comments (1 am): Wow, Dad's been gone for a month? Gil's cliff-notes arrived before Mom had finished the first paragraph of this post; due to having a houseguest, my tv/tivo are in the computer room. She found fourth-season Friends very entertaining! (Who wouldn't?) Since neither of us can lift heavy objects anymore, it seems the tv will stay with the computer - surely improving her productivity - and I'll stay on the floor since the room has no couch. But we didn't feel very productive when Dad called my cell phone at almost 11 pm (for him) to have me check my email! (He stayed up late!)

He also sent us the following link (
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gsLxotvK6Jk ) to youtube - it's a three-minute slideshow/music video that one of the riders (Tom) created and uploaded. I don't think I saw Dad, but I did see lots of things Dad's taken pictures with! Good to know that "riding" that big gray bunny (photo album 3?) wasn't just him! Dad did say that tomorrow would be a "much needed" rest day.]

Gil's Cliff Notes (11:45 pm)
Cumulative effects of the last week caught up with me today. A sunny but bad somewhat windy day. 87 mile ride. Wind directly in our face. Not to bad until after first SAG at 45 miles. Then wind increased. Our pace dropped from the 13 to 14 range to 8 to 10 miles an hour. Not good with 43 miles left to go. ETA suddenly slipped from 2:30 pm to sometime after 4 PM. Especially hard ride after this last week which saw the tour cover over 600 miles, with hills, rain and yesterday's ride of 107 miles. My butt is pretty sore. My legs are pretty sore, but proud I was able to complete today's ride. I felt as tired as I've felt the entire tour at the end of ride. Very thankful to have a rest day tomorrow. After the ride went to bike store to have aero-bars installed. This should help particularly with riding into the wind. These bars enable you to rest your elbows on the handlebar and position your hands in front of the bar. It gives you another position to ride in and most riders find it a restful position as well as one that is much more aerodynamic.

After ride Tony and I drove over to Bloomington to Dale and Linda's house. Ate at a nice Italian restaurant and played some of ride video on Dale's high definition TV. Great time! Thursday's ride will be only 57 miles and hopefully the wind will blow in the direction it is supposed to - west to east.