Pedaling for Kicks

Last Saturday my dad, brother Jeremy, and I rode in the Pedaling for Kicks just north of here. We were all signed up for the 64 mile route but Jeremy was unsure if he was actually going to do the whole 64 miles but the way the routes were set up he had the option to bail about 35 miles in and do the 40 or 50 mile routes.

We got an early start heading out from the start at White Oak Christian Church at 6:20AM which was good because it was forecast to be hot (near 90) and HUMID. Surprisingly the day started off feeling quite comfortable although I had to resist the urge to knock my dad off his bike when he said, "You know it's actually almost too cool... " I'm convinced that as soon as those words came out of his mouth the temperature rose 20 degrees along with a 30% increase in the humidity.

At any rate the route was a terrific one. We started out heading toward the northwest over lightly travelled roads bordering the farmlands of the area. We then turned due north towards Lake Bloomington. The roads near Lake Bloomington were nice and windy and it was a great day to be near the lake. The first rest stop was also at Lake Bloomington. Bananas, trail mix, pretzels, home made cookies made up the solids while Gatorade and H2O were available for liquid refreshment. As expected dad immediately headed for the restroom while Jeremy and I consumed large quantities of calories ("I'm sure I'll burn it off and I need the energy for later"). Upon returning from the restroom dad had a peanut, half a pretzel and a swallow of Gatorade and I'm sure felt guilty about the extra Weight Watchers points involved (just joking, it was two peanuts and a raisin).

Heading east from Lake Bloomington we pointed our bikes toward another local reservoir, Evergreen Lake. This is an area I frequently ride both on my road bike and on my mountain bike as there is some excellent single track near the lake created and maintained by the local Comlara mtn bike association.

At the far end of the lake was another rest stop. We repeated the drill, Jeremy and I sampling (aka scarfing) some of the food while dad headed for the rest room. I knew dad was burning some calories because this time he had some banana w/ his two peanuts and raisin. This rest stop was also as far as Jeremy could go if he wanted to bail early and he decided to just do the 50 mile route (what a pansy!). This may have been one of the smartest decisions Jeremy has ever made in his life. This might seem like I'm exaggerating but if you're familiar with the rest of Jeremy's decisions you would know it doesn't take much. He promised to wait for us before eating his lunch at the finish line (remember this for later).

My dad and I continued on. We were now headed into an area I hadn't ridden in yet from Evergreen Lake to Congerville. Right off the bat we had some fun with roadkill as we passed a dead skunk. The smell was like riding into a wall. Yuck! It was immediately followed by another dead animal of unidentified species.

As we approached the next rest area we started to encounter some hills, some pretty steep hills. Alright I thought, hills are great! And we really need the practice for the Maywoods Earth Century we're doing in September in Sheboygan, WI. After three or four of these hills we got to the next rest area. This rest area was actually in the shop behind someones house. I rode by it before realizing it was the rest area and had to do a quick u-turn in the road to get back to it. The house itself looked huge from the outside and the food was setup in one garage of a huge shop / multi-car garage area that may have had more square footage than my house.

My dad's first stop at the rest area was, can you guess, the restroom. While he was doing his business I sampled the food (I hate to be rude after all the effort they went to to prepare the food). This rest stop had pretty much the same type of food as the other stop with fresh strawberries added as an additional bonus. One thing I also noticed at this rest stop was as soon as we stopped riding the sweat stopped evaporating and a sweat flowed liked water during monsoon season. I'm sure by the time the last riders arrived at that rest area they needed a rowboat to get to the food.

While my dad savored his 1/2 a strawberry and a full glass of Gatorade (the pig :0) one of the attendants was talking about how the hills up ahead were unlike anything we had seen so far in the ride. Steeper and longer, yee ha!

The next 10 miles get a little fuzzy as to what happened when. I remember a lot of climbing, and then doing some climbing, and then climbing some more hills. Along the way there was a deer that had to have been dead for at least a month, a possum that smelled like a skunk had crawled up another skunk's a** and died., and lots of pretty colors that danced in front of my eyes at the top of the longer climbs. During one stop to catch my breath I remarked to my dad that Jeremy was starting to looking like quite the genius for bailing early.

The next and final rest area was in Congerville where dad made a beeline for the bathroom (he really needs to work on staying hydrated during the rides I just don't think he drinks enough fluids). While I socialized in the food area I heard some comments to the effect of we were done with the hills and it was pretty much an easy ride back from here. I'm glad I don't know who that person was which is good because I think by the end of that ride I may have hunted down said person and put a hurt on them because they were WRONG.

Immediately after leaving Congerville we started up another hill. And then another, and then another, and then another... They weren't quite as long or as steep as the others but we were at mile 55+ at this point. My legs were hurting and dad was starting to look like I might have to carry him the rest of the way. But we pushed on, we laughed, we cried, and we climbed more hills. Having averaged around 15 mph early in the ride we were now doing about .75 mph. At one point I looked down and saw an ant blow by me like I was standing still (OK, that may have been heat exhaustion talking I'm not sure).

Finally the church came into view and we rode into the parking lot and started looking for Jeremy so we could all have a great lunch together. We found Jeremy standing by the car EATING A BOWL OF ICE CREAM! He explained that he just couldn't wait any longer and that he just had to eat... blah blah blah. So dad and I went and got our lunches and sat down to eat. The seating to eat was inside and the main dining area smelled SOOOOO BAD from the large group of extremely sweaty riders in the same place that I seriously considered going into the bathroom to eat there as it had to smell better. Unfortunately dad got to the bathroom first (he just had to go he didn't eat in there). Instead we ate in the church's gymnasium which smelled slightly better, I'd put it somewhere in between dairy farm and pig farm. But the food was great and hit the spot after a long ride.

I was very impressed at the effort my dad put in to finish the ride. He admitted afterward that it was the most effort he ever had to put forth to complete something. All this from a man who's old enough to be my father... wait, he is my father! And how Jeremy completed his 2nd 50 mile ride without any practice boggles my mind. It sure makes the ride more fun, though, riding with them.

Next up... The Interplanetary Bike Ride in Peoria, IL in August.

Ride On!