Day 45: July 30, Pontiac, IL -> Rensselaer, IN

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Start: 7:25 AM

Finish: 4:20 PM  

Saddle Time: 7:15

Ascent: 214 feet

Descent:  224 feet

Miles: 85

Total Miles: 2,716

Highlight: Shortening the ride by 20 miles using Google directions.

Lowlight: All day headwind.

Cyclemeter:  Follow this link to see the data I’m collecting with the cyclemeter app. You can see gps information, speed, elevation, distance, cadence and heart rate. Better viewed on a computer where it’s easier to play around with the graphs.

Start of what i thought was a straight 75 miles.

Today was supposed to be a short 45 mile day but with yesterdays weather and change of plans it’s going to be long. My Adventure Cycling app maps the ride to 105 miles. I’m really not interested in being on the bike that long and to make matters worse the weather forecast calls for fairly strong winds out of the north-northeast, not a direct headwind since I’m mostly heading due east but enough to matter.  So I went to Google. I can take Old Route 66 northeast out of town for about 6 miles then head due east for 75 miles which saves me 24 miles of peddling. With the predicted headwind that’s well over 2 hours so definitely worth a shot.  

I’m still seeing wind farms. Illinois is big into wind.

Google’s route passes close to a town with a Circle K at 40 miles so I can stop to grab some food and refill my water bottles but this is the only town along the way. Riding all 81 without a town is very doable with planning but I’d rather not carry that much extra water and it is nice to grab something hot for lunch rather than Cliff Bars out of my bags.

Something that’s not corn or soybeans.

Last night for dinner I went next door to Walmart and picked up a can of beans, rice, cheesecake and a couple chicken strips for dinner along with a breakfast sandwich, cheese, yogurt and a couple bananas for breakfast so I should be good for 40 miles, no need for second breakfast.

For the past few weeks I’ve seen signs like this. I assume marking the seeds planted in this field.

The morning was pleasantly cool and dry, the nicest weather I’ve had in over a week. Highs are only supposed to get into the low 70’s so great for riding, except for the wind.  With any kind of headwind it’s hard for me to make much more than 10 MPH. My typical flat, windless cruising speed on my touring bike is about 15 MPH but that almost never happened on this tour. If not hills then headwind.

Still seeing wildflowers where crops aren’t planted

The route was fine for about 20 miles then I hit dirt road. I rode a couple miles south and joined route 116 which is one of the main roads through the area, not heavily traveled but has traffic and very little shoulder, a lot like a road in Montana but without the crazy speed limit so felt much safer. After a couple miles 116 made a right hand turn south but a local road continued straight.  I continued straight and with a couple stair steps Google had me at my mid point stop, Circle K. I walked in expecting to grab whatever hot food they had or maybe a refrigerated sandwich I could microwave but I found an attached DQ! I don’t understand why DQ makes me so happy on this tour. I had some chicken strips, lemonade and a blizzard, good fuel for the next 40 miles.

Look at the dark soil in the background.

The morning seemed to take a long time. It really didn’t, certainly longer with the wind but the ride felt like it went on forever. I don’t normally feel this way, maybe it was the wind which I hate or the same flat scenery I’ve seen for days.  I still really like the roads out here.  Super quiet and peaceful but would be better without wind.

Lone tree down the road.

I made it through the afternoon without any road issues and crossed into Indiana towards the end of the day. There was no sign since I was on a back road but I could see a change in the road surface so that was a clue I crossed into another state.

Iroquois River. All rivers around here don’t look all that inviting.

I’m struggling to find interesting things to photograph in continuous fields of corn and soybeans. I have a thing for leading lines which is why I like road pictures or lines in fields but that’s about all I have to work with. If you haven’t figured it out, almost all of my pictures are taken while straddling the bike. It’s not easy to get off and lay this thing down, there is no kickstand, which makes it hard to get creative with the photography.

Wildflowers, makes me wonder what this area looked like centuries ago before corn became king.

I made it to my motel a little after 4:00 which isn’t too bad. I noticed a DQ down the road so I went for a Peanut Buster Parfait.  I wonder if this DQ thing will stick after the tour. 

About all I saw for hills.

Dinner was a Mexican Restaurant next door which turned out to be a large Mexican grocery store with a small restaurant attached. One of the benefits of getting out of the northern plains is diversity. I had an awesome carnitas dinner, not something I would find in rural Montana. I’m so happy to eat something other than steak, burgers or fried chicken.

I saw this hill and though that must be a landfill. It is a landfill.
Someone has a collection of windmills.