Day 22: Quincy to Springfield, Illinois 105 miles. 1750 feet of climbing.

Happy 4th of July to all!

Happy Birthday America!  This morning we passed through the small towns of Liberty, Chambersburg, Meredosia, Chapin and Jacksonville.  Each town was decorated with flags along their streets.  Many houses had bunting on their railings.  And some barns, like the one above, were decked out in their finest red, white and blue.

Today was supposed to be our recovery day after two really tough hill climbing days.  Instead, I'm sitting here, bone tired and ready to pass out.  If not for writing this blog and waiting to switch my laundry to the dryer, I'd probably already be asleep by now.  And I'm not the only one feeling that way.  Even the fast riders are feeling it tonight.

Case in point.  We normally have our route rap at 5:30, followed by our collective heading over to some nearby restaurant for dinner.  However, as we're staying once again at a Drury Inn & Suites and they offer a splendid evening snack buffet and free drinks, everyone has decided to pass up going out for dinner.  We are all settling for chicken fingers, salad, hot dogs and soup.  None of us is even thinking about going out for the fireworks.  We'll all be asleep before nine tonight.

It was that kind of a day.  It wasn't too hot.  It wasn't too hilly.  But the combination of 105 miles (after two arduous hill days) plus about a ten mile per hour headwind just took the starch out of most of us.  It sure did for me.

This morning was beautiful and, for the first time, we rode through wooded areas in which we had a full canopy of trees protecting us from the sun.  It made for a wonderful ride through the coolness of the woods.  That's the first time since I joined the ride in Salt Lake City that I've felt that effect.

Little known fact:  Illinois is the leading grower of wide wale corduroy.  Okay, it's not April 1st.  But, come on.  Doesn't that look just like a pair of Levi's 501's?

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur.  Once we rode about ten miles we were out of Quincy.  From then on, it was either farmlands or more really tiny towns (all with populations less than 400 people).  No more animals.  No more pasture lands.  Initially, it was all wheat and soy farmlands.  By the middle of the morning, it was all corn.  And, unlike the corn fields in Missouri or Kansas where the corn was merely waist-high, these fields were planted earlier as the corn was now over our heads.  We were riding through walls of corn on either side of us for most of the day's ride.

Because of the winds, I used my aerobars much more today.  That was both good news and bad news.  We headed directly into the Easterly winds all day.  So I was on my aerobars much of the morning.  By about mile 60, my right shoulder started letting me know that being in the cradle position needed to use the aerobars wasn't a good thing.  The rest of the afternoon became an on again/off again transition.  Off the aerobars and I was slowing down.  On the aerobars, I was able to pick up a couple of extra miles per hour.  But at the cost of my shoulder starting to hurt.  It's sore now, but between the Advil and the ice pack, it's feeling better than at 4:00 this afternoon.

We finished the day riding through the Illinois State Capital, Springfield.  Not one of the most attractive towns we've come across.  Are any state capitals (other than Boston or Atlanta) all that attractive?

As we rode through the center of Springfield, we passed the State Capitol building.  Downtown was deserted.  Actually, the road up to the Capitol building was blocked off for a fair taking place later this evening.  We, of course, ignored the blockade and proceeded to ride through the empty streets until we got to our hotel.  No one seemed to mind.

Tomorrow, we have another long 90+ mile day into Champaign, home of the University of Illinois.  Hopefully, we'll have better wind conditions.  Night all!