Salem, Illinois

So today at 410pm, we as a whole group organized chore group olympics. Everyone is part of a team of 6 people responsible for completing rotating daily chores throughout the trip. Tonight we had the ultimate relay race to capture the essence of a day in the life of bike and build. Station one was a potato sack race across the gym floor in the sleeping bag where that person would take off their helmet which acted as the baton here and pass it to their next teammate who would then put their cycling shoes on, pick their bike up off the ground and cycle across the gym where they would flip their bike upside down. They then passed the helmet off to leg number three who had to flip their storage bin upside down and then repack all their stuff so it fit again with the lid able to close. They sprinted across the gym where leg number four had to change a flat and inflate to 100psi with a handpump. They sprinted to a circular table on the side of the gym to hand off the helmet where leg number five had to make a PB&J and eat it completely with no drink before they ran to the next leg which was a two person wheelbarrow race. They switched positions and shirts at the end of the gym and turned around to come back. Then the hole team had to chug a 100oz camelbak by taking turns. The team to finish first got pride glory and the chance to make the leaders do any day of chore duty they didn't want. Of course I was elected to be the eater of the group, a task at which I naturally excelled. My team was stacked so by the time it was my turn, we already had a sizeable lead. I smeared equal parts peanut butter and jelly on two opposite pieces of bread and distributed them evenly per the judging guidlines. The jelly was difficult to spread so instead of wasting valuable time with a utensil, I just smeared it around with my hand. I clapped the slabs of coated wheat deliciousness together and scarfed down the sandwich at a speed kobyashi would have gazed in wonderment at. When the last leg came of chugging water, I was so thirsty I took down 3/4 of it myself as I laid on my back and my teammates squeezed it into my mouth in a steady flow. We finished first and well ahead of the other teams. Victory was ours and it tasted so sweet... literally, jelly was still on my breath.

I've been taking notice to the stranglely high frequency in encounters with butterflies in the last few days. All along our route, there are constant flutters of these creatures across our path. As soon as we left Ohio I really began to notice it and today I saw just as many as usual. Another obscure observation pertains to Midwest cemeteries. All that we have riden by in the last week have been totally decked out in colorful flowers. Every headstone and plot has multiple flower arraingments of different bright colors. I don't know if they are real or fake, but it gives the vibe to me as the passerby that these cemeteries aren't about mourning death, but rather celebrating life. I have just never seen so many headstones adorned with so many colors. The early am hours of riding were beautiful until it started to rain at about mile 22. Lunch wasn't until mile 38 so we were stuck in it for a little more than an hour. Cycling when wet isn't fun because your shoes turn into mini pools and a cushion of water between your butt and seat is a sign of bad pains to come. Fortunately, our leased driving the support van today arrainged to set up lunch in a McDonalds. I'm not a big fan of the establishment and their goals/ethics, but I appreciated the chance to get dry without purchasing anything. I discovered a valuable method of saving myself from the pain of chafing in wet cycling shorts, or chamois (pronounced shammies) as they're called. Step 1- find a fastfood restaurant to stop in to. Step 2- walk into bathroom and locate an automatic air dryer thingy for peoples hands. Step 3- press button to begin warm air blast as you hold open the front of your chamois and then the back while directing airflow to bottom wet portion. Take extra care to rotate before air gets too hot and you burn sensitive parts. Step 4- smile because it is an effective method of drying off and is surprising pleasant. Step 5- exit bathroom after too many people have come in and out to make you feel ashamed. Step 6- collect $10 donation to bike and build from old lady eating lunch. And there you have it ladies and gents, my secret formula to keeping butts dry and happy. Possibly the best part of this stop was the four boys we just happened to meet there who were also cycling cross country. Just for fun they were biking from San Francisco to DC. They had no support vehicle and had to carry all their stuff on them, but they were staying in hotels 50% of the time and camping the other 50%. Apparently they had written a letter to Livestrong and received partial sponsorship in the form of money and some gear. What are the odds that two groups cycling cross country from opposite oceans would just happen to cross paths at a McDonalds in the middle of Illinois? This just blew my mind. Thankfully I waited out the rain a little bit and in no time it was blue skies ahead for the rest of the day. My religious find of the day was an old school camp meeting style church in someones back yard. It was a tent pitched for evangelical preachings from days of old. Out front there was a circular life preserver that just said Jesus on it. Think for a second about the creativity and cleverness of that and you'll appreciate how much it made me smile when I glanced at it. Good thing it started to get hot and I was sweating buckets because right when I pulled into Salem, there was a dairy bar. I pulled over to stop for ice cream and I saw a family taking up two picnic tables in front of the shop window and dressed very formally. They asked me who I was and what my group was doing because they had seen all of us riding in the rain earlier in the day. When I told them about the trip, they offered to buy me ice cream. I wasn't going to turn that down so I politely accepted. In an effort to always do things the local way, I asked them what they recommended and they all said the flavor of the day, lemon. I don't really like lemon, but I didn't want to be rude so I ordered a medium cone. The man who offered to pay insisted that I get more since I had been cycling so long and kind of deserved it. I obliged slightly and upgraded to a large cone. As I ate the ridiculously delicious ice cream we all chatted for about 25 minutes. Most of the time was spent asking me questions about the trip and amazement over the quantity of miles traveled each day. I found out they were a family of three generations who came back to Salem for a funeral. The the grandfather was born and grew up in Salem but now lived in Vegas with his wife. I'm pretty sure everyone else lived in Cleveland with one daughter going to San Diego State and another going to college in DC and teaching in South Carolina. I really enjoyed the relaxing conversation and escape from the heat. I couldn't have asked to find a nicer family to spend my break time with. We parted ways and as I rode off they passed me and we exchanged waves. I passed them again another mile down the rode as they pulled up to the church for lunch. We again waves and smiled and I found myself thinking how I would never forget their genuine kindness and interest. Their faces will stick with me for quite some time. When I got to our host church, a bunch of us got together and headed to the newly built pool and waterpark about a mile down the road. We were supposed to shower here but we also calle ahead and got free passes set up to enjoy some fun in the sun. This was by far the best pit stop of the trip and since we cycled so hard and had an early day today, we got to spend a solid couple hours at this place. We attacked the green scream waterslide and many did crazy flips off the highdive. We relaxed in the pool and baked on the pavement. We even invaded kiddie area to play with their fun aquatic toys. It was a perfect day already and only got better when we got back. See chore group olympics for more...