116.71 mi / 7:09:31 time / 16.3 mph avg. / 34.0 mph max. / 3690 ft. climbing

Staying at Apple River State Park

My goal for the day was to make to to Le-Aqua-Na State Park, about 100 miles away, with a contingency to stop at a county park about 80 miles out if conditions were less than favorable. It turns out that conditions were so favorable, I ended up overshooting my goal and stopped 10 miles further west.

All summer long, I’ve noticed an abnormal amount of east winds in the Chicago area. I figured that meant all the east winds for the year were being “used up”, and by the time I started my trip, west winds would be the only ones left in the bag. Well, there was at least one more east wind hiding in that bag, and it blew me forward all day long. My flat-land cruising speed was about 21mph, so I wanted to use up as much of that easy speed as possible, and not let it go to waste.

In addition to the wind, I think the temperature helped out quite a bit, as it was quite cool. At 3pm, it was 57 degrees, and it rarely got above 60 all day long. It was hard to believe that it’s still the middle of August. Those temperatures would be about perfect, if I wasn’t wet for much of the day. I rode through two or three hours worth of rain, in two main bursts. I was wearing my jacket almost the entire day, even when it wasn’t raining, because it was really that cold. Beyond that, the day was pretty uneventful, except for a 2-mile detour (which included a mile on a good-quality gravel road) because a bridge was out.

It’s funny how it’s almost the complete opposite of the first day of my Atlanta trip. On that one, I was fighting a headwind all day, and it might have reached 90 degrees. By the end of that one, I was beat, whereas today’s ride was almost relaxing. I was hardly ever pushing at all, and even once I got into the hilly country out here, I never felt very tired. And it sure does feel nice to know that I’ve already banked 35 miles on my first day out.

For the last 15 miles, the clouds got a little less dark, and I could even see the sun shining through them for a little bit. But then it started sprinking again while I was finding a site and setting up camp. The campground is surprisingly full for such a crappy day. The rain managed to stop long enough for me to cook some dinner, but now as I sit here holed up in the tent, it’s started once again.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 18th, 2007 at 12:38 pm and is filed under bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.