Stage 4-Effingham to Champaign

Ride Stats:

Distance: 100.72 mi (162.09 km)
Ride Time: 7:27:53
Avg: 13.49 mph (21.71km/h)

Stage Highlights:
--The Kid is Back!
--Blow Out!
--We're Famous!

As bad as I felt yesterday, that's how good I felt today in completing the 100 miles from Effingham to Champaign.  Although the hills still got to me today, I had more energy and strength to attack and successfully complete them.  And a 10 MPH tailwind from the south didn't hurt either! :)

I had more fun with my rear tire today.  I was riding with Amelia and Gloria as we were approaching the second rest stop.  We turned the corner and all of a sudden we heard BANG!  My back tire had blown out.  It sounded like a gunshot and scared the H-E-double hockey sticks out of us!  I was able to control the bike and bring it to a stop without falling.  The force of the blowout popped the tire almost completely off the rim!  I'm thinking the tire is shredded and I'll need to get a new one.  However, when I checked it and had Gloria eyeball it as confirmation, the tire was intact!  The tube however didn't fare as well.  There was a four inch split in the side of the tube which to me indicated a pinched tube which caused the blow out.  So I popped a new tube in, used my CO2 inflator and I was back in business.  I hope all of my bad bike karma has been used up, OK? :)

Bicycle Illinois was featured in local papers in Decatur and Mattoon.  Here are the links:

http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_fb95f6ce-605d-5368-b997-25884fe5364a.html

http://jg-tc.com/news/collection_d7bfd03c-8ee1-11df-97d7-001cc4c03286.html

Tomorrow's stage see us leave the sleepy college town of Champaign and head towards the bustling metropolis of Kankakee.   It's mandatory century day as the distance between Champaign and Kankakee is 100 miles.  So we're all going to do one.  Whether we want to or not! :)

Slowing!
Gary

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." --H. G. Wells