Day 22: A Stench and A Storm

Madisonville, KY to Harrisburg, IL — 81.8 mi, 2380 ft

Crossing the country on a bike is… STINKY. Some things are stinky for obvious reasons. Our clothes, for example, smell absolutely foul after a day of riding. And I often find myself holding my breath as I cross the minefield of deer/armadillo carcasses that make up rural American roads. 

This morning, however, nobody could seem to figure out why the camping pads smelled like garbage water and spoiled meat. It was bad enough that some of us found ourselves struggling to sleep in the presence of the scent. Aarushi had resorted to rubbing perfume under her nose to sleep last night. Hers was especially bad. I got a whiff of it when I was packing up the camping gear and almost fell over dead. We’ve got to do something about this, but we can’t, because we have a 87 mile day ahead of us. Sooo, back into the camper top they go to keep getting stinkier until we decide to confront this issue.

Pastor Jon and Life Christian Center left us a plethora of food to pack, and I had an incredible strawberry protein cheerio breakfast. Thank you, Pastor Jon for allowing us to sleep in the church’s gym on such a busy day (Sunday, Father’s Day, Funeral plans, etc.). Spokes is very appreciative of Life Christian Center for the support through the years.

The ride went as usual in the morning. It rained just a little bit for the first 20-mile stretch. Here’s some pictures.

On the contrary, I was borderline submerged for the stretch leading into the lunch stop. We were so soaked by the rain that we had to change out of our jerseys out of fear of getting too cold. We all put on rain jackets– I borrowed one from Carmen because I didn’t think to pack one. We ended up having a very diverse array of colors, giving our team a striking resemblance to the Power Rangers.

We waited for the rain to die back down to a sprinkle and continued onwards, eventually crossing the Ohio river from Kentucky into Illinois. 

We’d done it.

We made it out of Kentucky.

My yelp review of Kentucky is 3 stars. It is a beautiful state, with some incredible people. The kids we taught were extremely talented, and there was certainly no shortage of memorable interactions. However, some of you guys really need to do something about your dogs. Just because your pet timberwolf is named “Sweet Princess” does not mean you should let it roam the streets freely.

Side note: we reviewed the route midday and found that Spokes 2025 added an unnecessary 7 miles to the route seemingly in order to intersect an ice cream shop. We’re not quite as down bad for ice cream as our predecessors, especially considering the weather conditions, so we decided to divert south, cutting that segment of the route and shortening the day to 81 miles.

Upon entering Illinois, the sun started seeping through the clouds, illuminating the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all summer: endless, flat land.

Nate felt particularly inspired by the godrays and cycling-optimal landscape, so he decided to start biking using only one leg to pedal as the other dangled off to the side. I joined and suggested that we finish the final 17 miles of the ride pedaling with just one leg. 

(insert video here)

I tapped out after 6 miles, but he just kept going… and going… and going…

Why?

Who knows.

Perhaps he just wanted to feel victorious.

Somehow, he did it. I recall hearing him groaning in pain for the last 3 miles to the finish.

We arrived at the home of Brad and Sherri, where we would be staying for the night. They took good care of us, feeding us incredible chicken burritos and telling funny stories. The night went as usual: we did our chores and went to sleep.

That’s it for day 22. This blog is shorter as I’m writing it the night before our first century (100-mile bike ride), and I’m trying to actually get 8 hours of sleep– a feat I’ve found pretty challenging this summer. Stay tuned to see how it goes.

– Drew