So I spent three hours in the undergrad. THREE. It was a long time writing, that is for sure. I putzed around campus and ran into Dan Walsh again and we had a discussion about whether or not the traffic rules apply to bicyclists, and in taking opposing sides, I agree with the sentiment that bikes are vehicles and have to abide by the rules of the road, especially stop signs. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty reckless on my fixed gear, but when it comes to octagonal red things and 4-way intersections, it's a wise idea to at least slow down. We parted ways at Green Street and I stopped at the one and original Basil Thai for some piping hot peppery Lad Nar with beef, my comfort food in times of sickness. I realized I started a trend when a lot of my teammates stopped in to eat. I ended up sitting with Geoff, Mike, and Allison and ate what they didn't. It was satisfying. I putzed further and made a pilgrimage to Allen Hall where I got nostalgic and left for Anish's before it got messy. I then half-slept and half-helped Praveen, one of the Spanish House residents, finish up his fixed gear construction. I miss my fixed gear and its grand total of one speed and no freewheel. I said time and time again that I would ride it across the country, but it would be more than awful for climbing. I'll save that for another cross-country journey.
At this point in the narrative, I was extremely fatigued and feverish, and finally having realized it, took off a few layers of clothing and took some ibuprofen. Then somewhere in there I managed to eat, sit in a meeting asking everyone to speak up, being called "grandpa" because I asked people to speak up and was speaking loudly myself due to my congested head, and watching the Eddy Merckx story.
I woke up Tuesday feeling the same, sore throat, lightheaded, and with a hint of eagerness to move on that day and sadness that I would not depart from home again on two wheels. This would be the first leg of the journey, in my mind, that takes us West, and not just in the cardinal direction. We took the same route out that we trained on endless times, and it would have been great to take it the endless-and-first time but with the intent of ending up someplace else, far away. Instead, I drove it and chalked it out for the riders behind, sometimes only seconds behind. The chalking didn't go unappreciated and I was praised for my efforts. I also got my iPod working and thus the soundtrack of my day could commence.
Brian Albrecht left us at the first 15-mile stop, so it was a tender moment for all of us. He wrote me a nice note and I'm very grateful for his words. Wherever you are Brian, I hope you're doing well. And if you're reading these very words, then hello from Lovejoy Library at SIU-Edwardsville.
A cyclist hit me, that is to say, I was driving on the left side of the road to pass my teammates after leaving the sag stop when I registered that a cyclist was coming towards me, and slowing down as much as I could, I avoided swerving to the right and hitting a teammate, and the lady managed to get by, but I heard a metallic scrape and a thud against the car. I immediately stopped, got out, and saw that thankfully she was okay. She said she had tried to unclip from her pedals, but unsuccessful, fell onto the van. It managed to bend her left aerobar, and due to the poor ductility of aluminum, I managed to break it in an attempt to bend it back. It was sheepish moment to add to the situation, but she said not to worry. I offered her water and use of our tool kit and gave her some bandages. In the end, her and I were able to part ways with our lives and vehicles in working order, but it was still a frightening experiencing. I should have offered her my aerobars, but it only slipped my mind afterwards that I do, in fact, have aerobars. I should have also yelled at my teammates for not moving over and not making it apparent that there was a cyclist up. What bothers me is that these county lanes are less than the width of my driveway, and yes, you are legally entitled to ride two abreast, but as a courtesy to me, the support vehicle driver, and other potentially clueless drivers, ride in single file on narrow or busy roads!
45 miles out Dan joined me in the car due to his aching back. He had hoisted Sehee on his shoulders taking one of the many photo-ops in front of our sponsors' locations and torqued it somehow. Needless to say, that's a good way to end a day of hunched-over riding. So I had a co-pilot. And managed to get lost, and have to backtrack to help folks. The route was lost in translation or better yet, in the cornfields, but I went on chalking and figuring out the way. We stopped for lunch in Niantic, IL and I downed a liter and a half of Lipton Green tea and attempted to relieve my throat somehow. I also recieved my dearest sister Amy who drove down for the day. She not only visited me, but brought a pair of bike shorts, a copy of On The Road and new cycling gloves. It was really the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, so thank you Amy!
The route out of town followed along train tracks, so Dan and I chased down a freight train and nearly caught up to engine. The cool part about it was the 12-minute track in the middle of the newest Of Montreal album that made awesome pursuit music. It was a moment to remember and photograph, not to mention a few words online. We managed to traverse the busy roads of Springfield after a few choice wrong turns and end up at U of I Springfield to unload the van. Mark was there waiting, having not only gotten lost, but gotten there two or so hours ahead of time. I jumped back in the van to find the riders, give them relief, and chalk the route. I ended up not doing the first two very well, but I did the last one pretty darn well. So everyone got home and whaddya know, their stuff was waiting for them there.
We stayed at the Lincoln dorm at UIS, and their rooms are remarkably better than what I'm used to at UIUC. It has to be the furniture or the carpeting, or the spacious floor lounges, or the 2-room shared bathrooms, or the newness/sterility of the place that impressed me. I would live there if UIS weren't in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say, we had mattresses to sleep on. Jon Schlesinger was my roommate for the night, but we avoided butting heads or hating each other in the end. For dinner I ate a lot. Let's just say I had a hamburger that had fries and cheese piled on top of it. I still didn't feel to great and was reduced to hand gestures and grunts, it hurt that much to talk.
Wednesday I woke up feeling more or less the same. I woke up with my sleeping bag drenched in sweat, so I still may or may not have a fever. I got in the car for the second day in a row, and for the third day without having biked. I wished for it to end, but I was still violently forcing phlegm out of my throat and painfully gulping down copious amounts of water. During our stops, I napped and Dan, who co-piloted again in the morning, drove in the afternoon. In a big confused mess and after touring the beautiful industrial parts of Monroe county, we all got to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville successfully. The campus is a lot like UIS, with shiny, new buildings surrounded by rings of roads and parking lots, but is a lot bigger, more bucolic, and has stuff on campus that would otherwise make you want to stay on campus, like a Sonic Burger. We're camped out on a hill next to a lake which is next to a swimming pool, so everyone took a dip before sunning off and biking out to eat somewhere. I ended up turning around because not only could I not yell at the folks to slow down, but I was in sandals, which don't do much in the way for forward motion on SPDs. I biked back to camp and broke out the mess kit for the first time, a plastic tupperware container that once contained cookies my sister donated, and my hobo tool, complete with detachable fork/corkscrew and spoon/knife/other-sharp-thing-that-can-be-used-to-gouge-things. For once, I was "roughing it," eating leftovers from a cooler sitting next to the van while listening to my iPod. I would say I could hear crickets, but I'm still rather congested in the ear/head region.
Tentatively I plan on biking tommorrow. Tentatively. If you're reading, wish me luck!
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