2015-06-19 - IL - Day 23 - Denver to Iroquois

I rode with Mike to rest stop 1. We rode fast and averaged 17.8 mph for the 27.8 miles. We did miss one turn and so rode an extra 2.7 miles. Lucas, Mike, and I then blasted to rest stop 2, increasing my overall average speed to 19.2 mph. I fought to hang on but they dropped me on the leg to rest stop 3. Instead I rode at a recovery pace to get there. There was a giant puddle en route, through which I heard later Nils was the only one in our group to go. He walked more than a mile holding up his bike, with the water at the deepest coming up to his belly button. A man came past him on his boat, ferrying people across the water to their homes, probably bewildered by what Nils was doing. I rode with Nils to the end and got there so early.

Reed's mother and friend prepared an amazing dinner for all of us. The treats were all so good. There was no sign when we entered Illnois but we were by then in the central time zone. It felt really weird to be one hour closer to my friends on the west coast. We stayed for free under a roof. I tried to sleep on a table but relocated to the floor of the kitchen due to the loud buzzing of flies. My average speed for the day was 18.6 mph.