The Epileptic Cyclist

Leaving Gilman there still was some discomfort in my knee but no real pain unless I pushed really hard. I took it easy, but had a 100+ mile day ahead of me, so I did have to keep a decent pace. The amount of gravel roads I would encounter in Illinois was unexpected, but about half of my day consisted of them, making me happy for the wider tires I fitted. Most of my day was country roads, but once I made it to Joliet, I had a nice Riverside bike path all the way into the Chicago suburbs! I rode that until I hit countryside, and started heading into the city. I rode though Cicero and up Ogden avenue all the way to Damen, which took me through Wicker Park and all the way to Wrigleyville! I had done it, I had finally made it to my destination, Wrigley Field! With tears in my eyes I asked a stranger to take my photo in front and went to the Cubby Bear bar to call my family. I sat there for over an hour talking with the bartenders about my trip and they ended up not ch

Today was very frustrating, with my knee hurting me quite a bit. I was slow going and probably on doing about 10 miles an hour, and still had pain. I planned to make it to Bourbannais but that idea was quickly out the window when I had to stop every 10 miles to ice and elevate my knee. I tried a few things with my bike for to fix my knee, one of which was what my cleat on my shoe, and I think that was the ticket, though it couldn't repair what damage head already been done. I finally made it to Gilman, Illinois and decided to set up for the night, while I was doing so, a cop rolled up and told me that I would be unable to camp, or I'd be arrested. My grandparents ended up getting me a hotel room and I iced my knee all night to try and avoid any more pain. I woke up in the morning with very little discomfort, ate breakfast, and left Gilman before 8 am.

Leaving Litchfield, I made it to Harvel, Illinois with no problems, but that was quickly cut short. I had a large piece of glass cut my tire and expose the wire bead, making it impossible to put a new tube in without puncturing. I was in the middle of nowhere and stranded until Mary Brown offered to give me a ride to the closest bike shop, almost 30 miles away in Chatham! I made it to the bike shop and got a new rear tire, and checked my map, and I was about the same distance away from Champaign as I had been in Harvel! Leaving the shop around noon I had 100 miles to go, so I started pushing. I was in the middle of corn fields all day so I was very thankful for the mild weather and the fact that I had brought food with me. I stopped and had a brief lunch around 3, but was quickly on the road again. Making it to Monticello, I started to have pretty severe knee pain and was unsure if I would make it to Champaign before dark, and sure enough I was unable to. I was cycling on corn fill

I was delayed leaving St. Louis because I wanted to buy a new tube for my tire, knowing I wouldn't see any bike shops for a while, and none of the shops were open before noon. Once I grabbed a tube, I started riding out and made it into Illinois by way of the Mississippi River, though was unable to find a welcome to Illinois sign unfortunately. Within 5 miles of getting into Illinois I find myself on a bike path that ended up extending for 30 miles! I rode that until I hit historic route 66 in Hamel, and stopped for a burger and some blackberry cobbler. Once I made it off the path, my surrounding were dominated by corn and wheat fields, something I have to look forward to for the next few days. The weather seemed to be holding off so I planned to make it to Springfield, but I ended up having a seizure outside of Litchfield and had to bed down for the night. Waking up this morning, the plan is to make it to Champaign, so I got some breakfast and started pedali

Today was supposed to be an easy day, today was not an easy day. I left Farmington headed towards St Louis around 10 am and punctured my rear tube less than 10 miles out of town. I sat down on the side of the road to pull out the offending piece metal and patched the tube, only to find that the tube had been punctured in multiple places. After finding more than 5 separate holes, I just changed out the tube, having wasted almost an hour on the side of the road.  I wasn't riding 67 today, instead opting for smaller country roads, which was wonderful until I got lost. I took a wrong turn, followed by another wrong turn that took me down a terrifying technical descent down the side of a mountain, only to hit a dead end and have to climb back up. I made it up and got back onto my route, having wasted almost another full hour. I didn't realize my route today would take me on gravel, so I was very thankful for the wider tires that I had fitted to my bike! I finally made i

Leaving Poplar Bluff I had a pretty significant headwind and lots of hills to face, so it was a slow day. Riding through the Mark Twain National Forest was gorgeous though, so it made up for how difficult it was! Within the first couple of hours, I made it to Greenville and stopped for a snack and to refill my bottle, but while leaving ran into an Australian touring cyclist named Benjamin who was hitting all 48 contiguous states! We chatted for a while but were going opposite ways so said goodbye and rode off. I didn't realize how far away the next stop was and ran out of water about 8 miles before, so when I arrived I was parched and gulping down water. I made it to Frederickown around 5:30 and stopped at a McDonald's to make a few calls and charge my phone, but was soon off again towards Farmington. On the way to town I found an iPhone 7 on the shoulder of the highway and it was in perfect working order, but the contacts in the phone wouldn't answer. I kep