Day 46: Another New State, Another Broken Spoke

Today we left St. Louis in pursuit for another state. Our 110 mile ride would lead us to Effingham, Illinois. It took a while to get out of the city until we were close to the border of Missouri and Illinois. We crossed into Illinois over a large bridge built over the Mississippi River. This bridge was a “biking only” bridge which we thought was pretty cool, this section of the Mississippi was pretty wide and you could see St. Louis in the background. Immediately crossing into Illinois we encountered a ton of corn fields and soy bean farms. I am still amazed at how much corn our country produces. Thinking about it now though most foods have corn in it, also soy bean is an excellent and healthy source of protein so its no wonder there is so much of it.
The ride today was extremely flat, unfortunately I was only able to ride 80 miles of it. I broke a spoke on my back wheel again and so I had to rack the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day though and lunch was sponsored by one of the moms of our crew member, Jesse. She ordered us sandwiches from the Panera Bred Co., a very tasty sandwich. About mile 90 the day was getting really hot, I was just sweating standing outside. The guys rolling into the crew stops were looking exhausted so we tried to encourage them to keep the finish in sight, it was so close!

Everyone made it to Effingham and after showering we unpacked at Grant Coordinator Arc of Teutopolis where we would have our friendship visit and be staying for the night. This small town didn’t have a bike shop so it was looking like I wasn’t going to be able to get my wheel fixed and would have to rack tomorrow as well. I had the pleasure of meeting the president and his wife of the Arc who are both cyclists themselves. They were a very nice couple, they tried calling all their friends looking for someone to help me but were not able to find anyone. I appreciated their help and really enjoyed getting acquainted with them.

Dinner was pizza and a friendship visit at the Arc and I with a guy who told me all about his family and their farm. I never realized how much work goes into keeping a crop profitable and managed. That evening we had a team meeting and had an easy going night at the Arc. A few of us caught some ice cream late at night with a little DQ Blizzard! It looks like tomorrow Ill be off the bike again which really kills me, its so much fun being on the road with everyone. We will be going to Terre Haute, Indiana making it a very short visit in Illinois. Our stop in Illinois is in the southern part of the state; I was really wishing we could detour up to Chicago, I’ve heard it’s a very lively city.