Champaign, IL to Crawfordsville, IN

80.61 miles

So after our rest day in Champaign it was back on the road again with an 80.61 mile ride to Crawfordsville, IN. As usual it seems now, I led everyone out of town with Terry riding wingman at first. After a few miles Terry and I were alone and working together to beat the headwinds of the morning. The winds were not strong but just enough to occasionally make you feel it was hard work. Mainly because there weren’t any big hills I could stay with Terry and we rode together well getting through the first 38 miles to the SAG without any problem and in decent time.

Out of the SAG and about 3 miles down the road we passed The Danville Correctional Center and then almost immediately crossed the State Line into Indiana. The Hoosier State is also known as ‘The CrossRoads of America’ which is sort of apt for all of us on this ride. The roads were pretty good and the weather was pretty good for riding as it wasn’t too hot like a lot of other days we have had recently. Around 55 miles Barry came up and checked everything was going well with us and then headed off travelling as easy as anything. By this time I was finding it harder to keep up with Terry so I drifted back a little and even stopped to take a few photographs.

The sign for Hillsboro is featured almost every year on someone’s blog heading across the USA.

Also there is a bicycle wall art piece in one of the small towns which I had get Irma in on.

Just after this I stopped at a garage to get some drinks and found Terry there doing the same. We set out for the final 20 miles and rode in together just over an hour later after a pretty good days riding. I enjoyed the ride today as Terry isn’t just a great guy to hang out with but he is also a good solid rider who moved us on steadily all day.

Today I got to wear my Great Britain 2012 Olympic team jersey as it was a little cooler and long sleeves were ok. I thought a few times during the ride about the Olympics in London. To attend an Olympic opening ceremony was on Deirdre’s bucket list for ever and so when the games came to London we decided to bite the bullet and go. Deirdre managed get tickets to the opening Ceremony which didnt come cheap but were worth every penny and off we went to London. I know ever country that ever hosts the games believes theirs was the best, so being British it is no surprise that I thought London was one of the best ever. Film director Danny Boyle created a show which to me was everything that was British from early farming to the industrial revolution, The National Health Service to a cameo with James Bond and the Queen. It was truly one of the best days I have ever experienced and to do it together with Deirdre just made the whole thing perfect. One fun fact was that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were sat about two rows in front of us and a guy next to us spent the whole ceremony taking pictures of them rather than watching the ceremony, go figure.

Thanks again for everyone’s donations as we are now approaching $27,000 which is wonderful. With two weeks from tomorrow until we reach Boston it would be great if you could spread the word as wide and as loud as you can to help us raise as much as we can for research into Waldenstrom’s.

Tomorrow we have a relatively short trip of 55 miles to Indianapolis and the home of the Colts, The Brickyard (Indianapolis Speedway) and my own personal favorites for saving me on a bad day on the ride SRAM.