On the road (Day 2)
, 4 min, 694 words
Tags: biking transamerica-2021
This is Zeph, checking in from Henry, IL, specifically its lovely (air conditioned) public library. I've been biking for two days now, and I'm feeling exhausted but optimistic.
By the numbers (in descending order of numberiness):
Miles covered: 65, 57 (sheesh)
Hrs on bike: 7.5, 6.5-7 (this includes copious time spent drinking water,
squinting at my maps, nibbling on food, running into stores to refill on water,
etc.)
What the heck am I doing moments: at least five per day
Sore butts: 1 / 1 (100%)
Libraries visited: 2
Libraries visited that I love: 2
Approximate surface area sunburned: ~8% (all superficial, don't worry, I just
forgot to re-apply)
Cottonseeds eaten: at least four yesterday, none yet today but my campsite is
inundated with them.
Items lost: 2. Chamois cream (in camp bathroom this morning, only realized 15
miles later), and my favorite hat in the world, which I think I transferred to
a different saddle bag to dig something out, only for it to blow away later.
:'(
Best purchase of the last two days: flip flops from a gas station in Odell,
in which I can shower, lounge around camp, and explore town without marinating
my feet in their own juices.
Mystery of the day yesterday; why do some roads in IL have signs along the lines of "weight limit 10 tons February – April"? Turns out there are frost and thaw restrictions on roads with older paving technology and/or on unstable ground. While Illinois doesn't apply these across the state, many counties seem to have their own local rules, for instance this sign requiring quick mental arithmetic on the part of drivers.
And finally, a fun tale of local networking in Odell, IL. My map set listed a city park in Odell as open for camping, so I called the number listed a few hours before my arrival, but it seemed to be a work number, at a business that's closed on Sundays. So I rolled up a few hours later, dropped off my bike, and meandered over to a friendly-looking human hanging out with a dog in a garage.
- We discussed how I was looking for Jim but numbers I had weren't reaching him.
- Tom reached out to his wife to see if she knew where he was, but she didn't have any info.
- Tom drove across town to see if he could find Jim (I gave him my phone number, just in case).
- No luck, Jim was out of town for the day.
- But his son was around! So a younger-people network was activated to get in touch with him, and he was kind enough to swing by and unlock the restrooms and even the showers!
In short, a very happy ending: a cold shower after seven hours of biking in the heat. Sheer bliss.
I'm hoping to smooth out my pace a bit – goal for tomorrow is less than a 1.5 ratio between my starting and ending speeds. WOW is biking a lot of work. I mean, I knew that, but wow.
Anyway, I'm off to work on dinner or something equally reasonable. I leave you with an extremely backlit dawn selfie and my first successful over-the-handlebars shot:
Lots of love,
Zeph