2011-06-04 Watseka, IL to Logansport, IN (96 miles)

Today was filled with good news and bad news.  The good news was that we finally were able to ride with some glorious tail winds!!  With such a long ride, it was fun to ride at 20-22 mph with little effort.  Even though we had sections of the route that were south and east, it was mostly an easterly direction with wind from the west.  The bad news was that we started out the day at 75 degrees and it climbed to the mid 90's.

Our Sag driver of the day, Karen Cooper, did a yeoman's duty trying to keep up with the spread of the riders on this long ride.  It meant going back and forth, trying to catch the front runners, and going back to check on the back riders.

By the time we reached our last 30 miles, we were all feeling effects of the heat.  Although the air temp was 95, the blacktop radiated to 102 degrees on our bicycle computers.  We stopped at a small restaurant in Buffalo, IN, where we were greeted by the owners, Sherry and Kent.  They could not have been more gracious.  Kent made two trips home for us, first to get a 20 lb bag of ice from his own freezer at home, to give to Karen (free) for the ice water in the Sag vehicle.  Then he went home and got a hose for us so we could cool down by dousing our heads, and everything else we could to cool down.  I was getting dizzy from the heat, but after a large iced tea and a large V8 over ice, plus a good soaking from the hose, I was ready to go again.  The water was directly from a well, and it felt very icy, and was very refreshing.

By the time we got to the outer edge of Logansport, we had another 5 miles through town to go to the motel, and it seemed to take forever!  I have to say it did not help to see the temperature of 104 degrees flashing at us from the bank marquee!

Because of the number of riders that needed to be picked up, the ride leader, Patty, did not have time to grocery shop.  It was too hot to cook in the trailer anyway.  Solution?  Pizza and salad for all!  Even the vegans had their own pizza.  There was nothing left by the end of dinner...you would think we had licked the boxes!  We also had Kathy Kirby's cakes for desert, too.  (Thanks, Kirby!)

All in all, it was a good day.  There were eight of us who did the entire 96 miles.  There might have been fewer of us had it not been for the rest day tomorrow.  We will stay in Logansport two nights, giving us a day to recover.

 Tomorrow, a "rest day," will include the Sag drivers (including me) cleaning out the Sag vehicle, restocking and organizing supplies, and (barring rain) washing the outside.  Everyone will also be cleaning their bikes. This is a good day to catch up on laundry, too.