Day 23: Springfield to Champaign, Illinois 100 miles* Flat as a Pancake.

If ever there was an easy century ride (*the ride was supposed to be 95 miles, but a couple of us made a detour for lunch, then I made a second detour to stop at a nearby Chase bank branch), today was the day.  Whereas yesterday was billed as our recovery ride, today was my recovery.  If yesterday's 105 miles was among the toughest I've faced, today's 100 miles was certainly among the easiest.  I wasn't exhausted after today's ride.  And, if necessary, I probably could have ridden another 25 miles.

We've passed by so many variations of barns on this trip.  Most have been wooden barns in various states of disrepair.  This metal barn stood out in the morning sunshine and just called for having its picture taken.

Everything that made yesterday a tough day was the opposite today.  Yesterday we had rolling hills in the morning.  Today, there was hardly a hint of hills.  Yesterday, the winds were blowing at about 10-15 miles per hour from the east, so we faced a mild but persistent headwind the entire ride.  Today, the winds were about 10 miles per hour, but from the south.  Because we were heading northeast, we zigzagged back and forth between due east and due north headings on the grid-like county roads towards Champaign.  That meant either crosswinds or tailwinds.  And, most importantly, yesterday I rode alone.  In sharp contrast to the monotony of riding alone, today was a day of socializing with fellow riders.

Our first SAG stop this morning was at this historic site.  Apparently, there are many of these signs in the area as Lincoln's parents moved around from cabin to cabin in their early family days. 

We rode on the Lincoln Heritage Trail for much of the morning.  After passing a number of these signs, it dawned on me that his image was from a time when he was a young man.  Notice he has no beard.  Lincoln's time in this area was in his rail-splitting days.

I got a late start out of the hotel this morning due to a mechanical issue with my shifting (something that ultimately wasn't repaired until this afternoon's mechanic's session).  As such, I started out the day riding by myself.  About ten miles into the ride and now on back country roads, I saw a rider with a yellow bike jersey approaching from my side mirror.  I assumed it was Norm, one of the Texas riders, as he always wears yellow bike jerseys.  Turns out it was a local rider from Decauter, a big town just northeast of Springfield.  Terry, the local rider, was out for his Saturday morning century ride.  As he came along side of me, we struck up a conversation that lasted about twenty miles.  He was born and bred in the area and told me all about the farming and the culture around these parts.  He used to be in farming himself, but between bad growing seasons and low crop prices, he left the business and went into laundromats; he now owns a chain of them in the area.  The conversations with Terry were refreshing but even more so was the absence of counting down the miles to the end of the ride.  This morning, as I was riding and talking with Terry, I completely lost track of how far I had ridden.  Before I knew it, Terry was turning off to complete his ride in a different direction from my ride, and I was about to hit our first SAG stop.  Boom, just like that, I had ridden 31 miles!

In between cornfields, we passed through more small towns.  This view made a couple of us stop to take a picture.

Much of the day was again spent riding through corn and soy bean fields.  I had wondered over the past week about a particular type of bird that keep flying around many of us and squeaking as it flew by.  Turns out, it's nesting season for the plovers in this area.  The birds build shallow nests along the roadside.  As riders approach, the parents get all fidgety and start their chirping and flying all around us in hopes of moving us away from their broods. 

It was so nice of these guys to let us use their facilities.  It was even nicer to see the welcome mat they laid out for us.

Our second SAG stop was in the tiny town of Cisco.  The fire station there has been a perennial stop for this ride.  I learned today that the volunteer force has to cover a fifty-square mile area that includes:  the interstate highway, the four small towns in the region, a nuclear power plant, and three grain silos.  The training required for each is so different that these folks wind up being among the most highly trained firefighters because of the diversity of their remit.

Another nice lunch at the town pub in Monticello.  It's a picture postcard town square set in the middle of quaint stores and cafes.  Good burgers, but we found out later on that we missed the pie place on the other side of the square!

The rest of the day's ride was also with fellow riders.  Dave, the ex-special forces Colonel from Alabama, and I rode together up until the Cisco SAG stop where he stayed to meet his brother who had driven down from Chicago to visit.  From there, Ted and Norm and I rode together for the remainder of the day, including stopping off in the small town of Monticello for lunch.  Again, with both the late morning ride with Dave and the afternoon ride with the Texans, the journey seemed to go by so much more quickly.  The conversations were engaging, the cornfields were all around us, but the miles just clicked by.

We got into Champaign later than I planned and, owing for the need for a major mechanical adjustment to my bike, I missed going to the park in town where a new statue to the late film critic Roger Ebert was recently unveiled.  I would have liked to have seen that.

Tomorrow, we leave Illinois, cross into Indiana and go back onto Eastern Time Zone.  So we'll lose one more hour of sleep.  But it's only an 80-mile day, so it won't be too tough.