A day off in Champaign

What to do, what to do?

On my previous days off from this bike tour, I have also taken a day off from posting to this blog. For this, I wish to apologize. I had no idea how addictive my humble daily dispatches had become to my thousands of readers. I was shocked when my personal secretary frantically contacted me the other day to say that she had been inundated with requests for me to post something, anything, about my activities and observations on my day off. As a Board Certified, highly trained entertainer, I'm not one to let my audience go wanting. So today, I am writing to you, my faithful readers, from my spacious suite overlooking a strip mall and a highway in Champaign, Illinois. 

I arose at 5:30 AM, as I have every day since this circus; I'm sorry, this bike tour began. I headed down to breakfast at 6:00 AM sharp and enjoyed a surprisingly good cup of hotel coffee. I was just sitting down with my eggs and hashbrowns when Fred, a man who yesterday introduced himself to me as the newest tour staff member, asked if he could sit with me. 

It turns out that Fred lives in Pennsylvania and did this tour last year as a rider. Our tour director called him recently and asked him if he would be willing to join the tour as a staff member. Obviously, Fred was a well-behaved rider last year and didn't present our tour director with any nasty problems like, say, the need for a qualified bike mechanic on-site or a ride to a bike shop.  

Fred lost his wife to cancer a few years back. Subsequently, somewhere down the line, he met and married his present wife, who also lost her spouse to an illness. Between the two of them, they now have a large family of children and grandchildren. Fred said he worked in information technology for many years and decided to retire after the pandemic hit. He seems like an outgoing, friendly guy. I told him upfront about the unfortunate set of circumstances I encountered with my bike and the complete lack of help I received from the tour staff. I also said that I had no malicious intent in sharing my story with him and that my only goal now was simply to make it safely to Boston. He listened, nodded, and said, "OK."

After Fred left to set up the bike wash station outside the hotel, I was joined by Jill and Peter, both from the UK. Both are professors at universities in Britain. Over coffee, we chatted about Peter's wife, who is currently on a solo bike trip, self-supported in the Pyrenees Mountains. She sounds like a hearty soul indeed. We also chatted about Jill's husband, who does intense endurance gravel bike races. The last one he did was in Iceland, and she said they had to forge over snow and through rivers and streams. To me, that makes this tour look easy.

At one point, I asked Jill if she had any plans to retire.

She said, "Oh yes, but it will be a few years because my pension doesn't start for a while."

I asked her if she was looking forward to retirement or if she would she miss work? She said she was most definitely looking forward to retirement.

After breakfast, I was going up the elevator with Peter, and I mentioned how interesting Jill was to talk to. He said, 

"Well, you know she is exceptional in her field. I mean stellar, really stellar. She was awarded the CBE."

I looked up what the CBE is. It stands for Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and it is the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award (excluding a knighthood/damehood). The CBE is awarded to individuals for having "a prominent role at a national level or a leading role at a regional level." Dr. Jill received it in 2017 for services to public health research, according to the University of Glasgow's website, where she is head of the School of Health and Wellbeing.

The people you meet on these bike tours.

Yesterday after the ride, I also met Paul from Wayland, Mass. He is joining us to ride from here to Boston. He has previously done the western section of the ride. Paul is a big Boston Bruins fan but has no interest in the Celtics or Red Sox. So sad. The Bruins' and Celtic's implosion in the playoffs notwithstanding.

My next task was to wash and lube my bike, which I did in short order. I then ventured out to the nearby Target store and bought some provisions, most importantly, vodka and cashews. I'm always hungry on these trips and always thirsty for a cocktail. I had lunch at an Italian place up the road and was back in my room twiddling my thumbs by 12:00 noon. 

Trying to kill some time before happy hour starts at 5:00 PM (actually, on rest days, it starts in my room at around 4:30 at the latest),  I watched about 30 minutes of Mel Brook's History of the World Part II on Hulu. Much of it is stupidly funny and over the top in the same vein as Blazing Saddles and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Get ready for some stuff that makes the flatulence scene in Blazing Saddles look tame. Welcome to 2023.

I have no desire to venture out and walk around Champaign. I'm sure it is lovely, and I am sure I will see pictures and hear stories about my fellow riders' explorations in the coming days. 

Last night I went across the street to Buffalo Wild Wings for something to eat with three other riders, Gene, Gene the pedaling machine, and Mark and Stephanie from the UK. I only mention this because I found our dinner conversation both hilarious and heartening. Heartening because it became apparent that all three of my dinner companions share my opinion of this tour company as amateurish. And that is being kind. Stephanie, who worked as a support person for Race Across America, knows what proper support on a bike tour requires, and she just rolls her eyes at these people. She also shares my belief that the route through Arizona and New Mexico was dangerously ill-conceived. All had stories of ineptitude and tone-deafness on the part of staff members. 

I took some solace in hearing all that. 

I can still remember my Italian friend Vincenzo telling me, 

"Davea youa geta too hota." 

God bless Vincenzo. He must have the patience of Job. 

Tomorrow we are back at it, but I haven't even looked at where we are going yet.