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Biking 100 miles with a hangover is brutal. Good thing I didn't have one; Andy did. Everyone was pretty low energy today, even the ones who hadn't been drinking. Three centuries in a row, through 300 miles of corn fields, is pretty uninspiring. The weather was beautiful, and the terrain was easy, so it should have been a fabulous day of riding. But it was mostly a day to turn off the brain, and just let the legs work. This is the Land of Lincoln. The first sag stop was at the site of Lincoln's first home in Illinois, after migrating from Indiana. I couldn't make it through the day without lunch, especially at the pace we were setting. The problem was that we were going through a lot of corn fields, but not a lot of towns. Finally, when I was desparate enough to eat at a gas station, my prayers were answered. The gas station had a diner. It's getting common for gas station convenience stores to have a Subway or pizza kitchen, but this one had an honest to goodness diner called Pat's Pantry, staffed by two old ladies. I had a fried egg sandwich and a cup of vegetable beef soup, which is just exactly what I'd been fantasizing about for the last 10 miles. It really made my day. Incidentaly, the gas station seems to have become the new general store. The convenience stores have been there for years, and they're adding dining and other services. This one also had a bank branch office - not an ATM, but an actual bank. Or maybe gas stations are turning into truck stops. Champaign is home to the University of Illinois main campus. Our hotel is on the edge of town, by the freeway, but not too far from campus. Even though I checked in at 4:00, I biked into town, and spent an hour just tooling around the campus. Of course, it's summer, so the only people around were grad students and frat boys. But it was pleasant nonetheless. You see, I grew up in a college town, a short block from Smith College. Between that and the 6 years it took me to get out of UMass, I spent the first 24 years of my life in college towns, so I have a real affinity for them. Also, after following the cue sheet day after day, it was nice to be able to wander around, taking random turns, getting lost and un-lost, without having to worry about getting to the destination, because there was no destination. I wasn't going anywhere; I was just riding my bike. And after 100 miles on a bike, sometimes it's nice to just go for a ride. |
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