Day 45: Girls?

Course: Milwaukee, WI to Glenview, IL

Distance: 75 miles

Conditions: Minimal wind

Terrain: Mostly flat

After an awesome time in Milwaukee, we had to depart for Illinois - one day closer to the Windy City. We had to rack the bikes to get through the dangerous roads in the city and we drove for about 25 minutes. When we got to our starting point, pretty much everyone had gone back to sleep in the vans and didn’t want to start riding. I rode with Jason and Stephen. About 35 miles in, Stephen’s spoke broke and he had to rack for the day. Jason and I finished the ride off in good timing though. We arrived at a local YMCA and had lunch upon entering the building – that’s always nice.

We had a few hours of free time after eating and showering, so a handful of us went to a bike shop and then to Steak and Shake. I had only been to Steak and Shake once before, and now I officially don’t regret that. In the evening we went to the back yard of the YMCA to have a friendship visit/dance. We had a cookout with and dance party with a group of kids with developmental disabilities and it was a blast. We played cornhole, football, dodgeball, and danced our faces off for the creepy looking DJ. He was an older Caucasian male with a pretty thick moustache. He kept playing songs to “get us going” on the dance floor and would constantly be saying things into the microphone like “Yeah!” and “Clap your hands!” when the song didn’t call for hand claps at all. We still had a lot of fun. There was a balloon artist there who made a lot of guys giant balloon facemasks and swords to swordfight with. If a guy lost, he’d fall to the ground and all of his balloons would pop. The younger boys got a good kick out of that.

After the visit we had a team meeting and were then released for the night. One of our sponsors, Barb, had a daughter that is going to be a freshman in college. She insisted that we all come over for a bonfire to meet her daughter and her “cute friends.” Needless to say no one was opposed. We sat around the bonfire and made s’mores while most of the guys swarmed Barb’s daughter like bees to honey. I guess girls are one thing JOH doesn’t give you enough of?

Tomorrow we head to Chicago!

Day 44: Gretzky...Wayne Gretzky.

Course: Another day off in Milwaukee!
Conditions: Packed day.

Everyone woke up at 7am. Great start to the day. I never thought 7am would be a prime wake up time. I remember struggling so much just to roll out of bed for my 9am psychology class. We woke up and went to a local school, both for kids with disabilities and without. There we put on a Kids on the Block puppet show. Now we've got the puppet show down so well that we can do a lot of it without the script. We even try to ad-lib sometimes. When we do the show that Kyle Marpe stars in, he has a sheet that has answers to pretty much every question a kid could ask. When we do the show that I star in, there's no such thing. I have to wing every question and it's always interesting to see how creative I can get. I hung out with a kid named LJ who was mesmerized when I beat him in the hand slap game. We had a fun time doing crossword puzzles together.

Afterwards we went to Independence First. They're pretty much who "provided" all of the clients for our friendship visits in Milwaukee. While we ate breakfast there, Jack, Derek, Kyle Marpe, and I came up with a million dollar idea. Well, it was mostly Jack's idea, but let's just say he would need our help to hatch the plan anyways since he has changed his major at least 7 times - no joke. We decided to create a bar that worked exactly like the stock exchange. Drink prices would be based on supply and demand. If one drink was in high demand, the price would go up, and other prices of drinks that weren't in high demand would go down. Every once in a while, maybe once per week, the market would "crash" and all drinks would be insanely cheap and/or free for a limited time. We were so psyched that we googled how we could make this happen. Unfortunately, all we found was that it had already been thought of.

Later on we started the sports extravaganza for the day. We began with wheelchair ice hockey. We couldn't figure out how to divide up the teams, so we just went over 21-ers vs. the minors. The minors were big time underdogs. The over 21-ers had more guys and a couple of hockey players. They even had one guy on their team who legitimately played wheelchair ice hockey. It was hilarious to see everyone sliding around on the ice and whiffing when they tried to hit the puck. No one could control their chair and move the puck at the same time. The chairs were still built pretty tough though, so plenty of guys were ramming each other into the boards and whatnot.

Let's just say if you want to win wheelchair ice hockey, pass the puck to me. I scored four goals and had three assists. The final score was 7-2. During the game, I started talking to Savannah, a girl with Down Syndrome. She loved to play but a lot of the guys were taking the game pretty seriously, so she wasn't getting the puck much. I decided to spread the word around to set up Savannah with a goal, and everyone was more than happy to do so. We lined her up in front of the goal and passed her the puck. She hit it and it just barely dribbled into the net but we all went nuts cheering for her. She instantly raised her stick in the air and loved it. It was pretty awesome to see.

Afterwards we went to a local high school to go play wheelchair basketball and beeper baseball. We played basketball for a while and got our butts absolutely HANDED to us by a guy that had recently won the national championship with the University of Alabama. Andi from the mall showed up to play and it was fun to see her again. After some basketball we went outside to player beeper baseball. It's baseball for blind people. We were provided masks that rendered our eyesight absolutely useless. The baseball is the size of a softball and has a beeper in it, and there are two pylons placed on first and third base. The ball is constantly beeping, so the batter can more or less tell when to swing. When the ball is hit, someone who can see flips a switch that triggers either first or third base to start beeping, depending on which base the ball went closest to. If the outfield can pick up the ball before the runner gets to base, the runner is out. If the runner gets to base before the outfield picks up the ball, his or her team scores a point. Eventually we grew tired of the game and decided to play different variations of the game...huge variations. We tried having everyone put on masks and then throwing the ball as far as we could to see who could run to the ball and find it first to pick it up. That turned into everyone gathering in a tight blob and throwing the ball straight up in the air and seeing how long we would stay in the circle before running away. Then, that turned into ditching the ball and just wrestling with the blinders on. Watching without a mask was hilarious.

Everyone was absolutely worn out at the end of the day, but Milwaukee has been absolutely memorable. We loved every second of it.

Savannah and I after the game ^^

Day 43: Bowling Buds and Yacht Clubs

Course: Day off!

Kathy brought us coffee and pastries in the morning and it was pretty nice to wake up to. We hung around and played basketball until lunch time when Kathy and the "Moms of Hope" who have been sponsoring that lunch for a while now came. We had lunch with them and a few people with Spina Bifida. I got to eat lunch using adaptive eating utensils and it was really interesting to try something new. The spoon had a handle that wrapped around my fingers.

After lunch we went bowling with the Spina Bifida of Milwaukee organization. I bowled with Travis and Tony, who both did better than me despite being in wheelchairs. They're bowling machines. We all had a blast bowling with the clients and over-exaggerating celebrations when something good happened. When Travis and I weren't bowling he liked to vent to me about his bad luck with girls. I'd try to give him some inspiration and change the subject to something about his successes with girls, but it didn't always work. The guy had his eyes set on one girl that just didn't want him back. Whoever that girl is - you're missing out on one amazing dude.

After bowling we went to a yacht club to eat with the Davidson family. They're actually the same Davidsons as the Harley-Davidson motor cycle company. Usually we get to go for a boat road out on the water, but when we got there it started pouring down rain so we didn't get to. We still enjoyed each others' company and had the same great laughs at dinner as always.

Day 42: A Deadly Pose

Course: Rockford, IL to Milwaukee, WI
Distance: 95 miles
Terrain: Mostly flat
Conditions: Some wind

It wasn't a difficult ride today. I rode with Derek and Michael Walton, so the TCU gang was reunited once more - the first time since day 1. We talked a lot about our specific chapter and what we can do to fix some of the things that aren't exactly up to par with it. The talking got us through a lot of the ride, and since it wasn't hilly and the wind was settled, we kept a very steady pace. We got to the state border sign for Wisconsin and as always, tried to think of something creative to do. I got a little too clever and suggested launching Michael up in the air and then having Derek and I pose as he was in mid air. We rolled with it, and did exactly that. Michael stepped into our hands and we threw him up as high as we could. We expected him to only go about as high as our heads, but he went above and beyond our expectations - literally. He really got up there. On the way up, he knocked my sunglasses to one side and in the picture that was taken I look like I got punched in the face since I flinched at the same time. Michael came down, and since he was wearing his biking shoes slipped and hit pretty hard. He clutched his back and Derek and I were immediately grimacing. "Great idea, Blake....not," is all I could think. However, Michael rolled around and just kept repeating, "Did we get the picture???" He got up in a minute or two and we were ready to get back on the road.

We got to our lodging and had a welcome session with our sponsor for the next two days, Kathy. Kathy is extremely organized and generous. Organized is also an understatement. She had a ton of chocolate milk for us - about 8 gallons. We polished off 6 and then went to the mall to have a "Girls Night" with some younger girls that were in wheelchairs for various reasons. We split up with about 6 cyclists per girl and we had free reign in the mall. My group was paired up with Andi. She had a minor case of Cerebral Palsy but was super functional in a social way. We loved going into different stores and just messing around. We got Derek to go into Forever 21 and put on a pretty ridiculous outfit and then walk around the store like he was shopping for girls clothes. It was hilarious. We eventually went to a store that Andi really liked and we bought her a shirt there. We all ate dinner at the food court and had a great afternoon.

That night a handful of us went to see The Conjuring at the mall's theatre. I don't know why I was in the mood to crap my pants in a movie theatre, but I was. It was terrifying, but I managed to survive with my hat over my eyes for only half of the movie. I know, I know - I'm manly.

Day 41: My Stomach is Full?

Course: Dubuque, IA to Rockford, IL

Distance: 110 miles

Terrain: Rolling hills

Conditions: Headwind

Max Speed: 43 mph

It was the last century day and we were ready to just get it over with. It was humid again in the morning so we knew we'd be in for it later. We got to circle up and immediately noticed the insane rack points. 60 miles by 10:30. Well maybe if it's all downhill and we have a 30 mph tailwind we'll make that one. Since neither of those have been the case on the Journey of Headwind 2013, we were just hoping the crew would be lenient on the racking. I rode with Austin and Travis, and Austin and I challenged Travis to attempt the century pull challenge. Since it was the last century, and Travis is one of the best cyclists here, he accepted. It was easy riding for me since I was third in line and could basically just sit back and draft all morning. The headwind felt minimal to me and the hills were rolling pretty easily. Props to Travis for even trying.

We got to lunch around mile 70 and were told that they were going to start racking in about an hour. Since it was pretty hot by then and most people were still burnt out from the tough day before, people pretty much just began stalling to take as much time off of the clock as possible. Once everyone knows they're getting racked anyways, it's pretty hard to keep things going. Eventually people shuffled out of lunch but everyone was racked within 10 more miles. We had to be at our programming by 1 anyways. We were driven to an indoor sports facility that hosts people with disabilities every once in a while for fun and games. We all met the clients and got to do things like relay games and even a "Pie a Push America Rider" game. That was my favorite, since I didn't have to get a pie shoved in my face. I'm not much for whipped cream anyways. We also got to mummify volunteers from the cyclists with toilet paper and then judge who had wrapped the best mummy. Afterwards we hung around for some volleyball.

We had a lot of fun hanging out with the clients and laughing at each other. We headed to lodging which was set up by Doug, one of the cyclists on the team. He's in the United Auto Workers union and they had offered up their meeting hall for us to stay. When we got there, they treated us to Chinese food - a lot of it. I've said that we have feasted as a team before, but this is the first time we've done so but haven't really been able to polish off everything that was offered. Everyone was so full that naps ensued shortly thereafter. When people woke up we watched a movie together until bedtime. Today was a nice turnaround from the day before.

Day 40: Something is Wrong

Course: Davenport, IA to “Dubuque,” IA

Distance: “85” miles

Terrain: Steep rolling hills

Conditions: Heat and headwind

Max Speed: 46 mph

Today I rode with Michael Walton and David Iles. Right before we left the parking lot to begin the ride, Michael Walton turned to me and said, “Something is just wrong about today. It feels…off…”
We had no idea just how much this foreshadowed our day. First off, it got hot – quickly. We already knew that the heat index was in the triple digits for the day. Not to mention we had an extremely tight rack point.

In order to reach the first rack point we had to average 20 mph. We attempted that for a while until we realized it was virtually impossible with all of the rolling hills. No one made it. However, no one got racked either. They just let us keep riding. Apparently a police officer stopped one of our crew members and told him that the highway we had been planning on riding on was too dangerous, so we were rerouted to go a different way. We kept riding and riding and it got hotter and hotter.

Eventually we hit 70 miles and were excited to only have 15 left. We knew that we were going to ride to lodging and then head out to the Field of Dreams Movie Site. About 5 miles later we were told that there is another reroute and that we would now be riding straight to the field of dreams. Shortly afterwards we were stopped for lunch since apparently it wasn’t to be at lodging anymore due to everyone being so late on the rack points. The sun decided to get a little hotter and then the crew broke it to us that we were rerouted again and that we now had 20 miles left to go and were going to be riding to lodging again. At this point, bad attitudes were flaring and people were getting short. Crew hated sitting in the sun all day and cyclists hated riding in it. Towards the end of the ride the hills only got steeper too. They were easily a 8-9% grade and some were up to a quarter mile long. Delirium doesn’t suffice for what we were feeling during that part.

We kept pushing and eventually made it to lodging having traveled 100 miles. It was a very unwanted century day. Great since we have one tomorrow, too. We showered up and headed out to the Field of Dreams. Over half of our team hadn’t even seen the movie so we had no idea why it was a big deal. We played a small baseball game and then took a few pictures and were on our way.

We got back to lodging and had a dance with the camp that we’re staying at. We got to perform our dance and they loved it as always. It’s always a great time at places like these.  

1) The pickup game

3) TCU Crew bought new hats

Day 39: A Real Bed

Course: Iowa City, IA to Davenport, IA

Distance: 60 miles

Terrain: Mostly flat

Conditions: Varying wind

In the morning, my dad came to see me off. He brought the video camera and was getting a lot of footage of the morning routine. One person asked me if he was a film director or something. Either way, it was cool to have a family member there before the ride.

I rode with Collin and Jack. As always, Jack was full of stories to tell to make the ride go quickly. Collin had chugged a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup before breakfast in order to complete a challenge, so it took him a while to feel up to par. We took our time riding though and it really wasn’t anything difficult. We made good timing to our lodging, which again was a hotel. We’ve been lucking out with those lately. However, this time there was a twist. There were only two people to a room and we each got our own beds. Score! I got settled into my room and sprawled out on the bed to pass out for 2 hours before lunch.

For lunch, a Pi Alpha sponsored a pizza buffet at Happy Joe’s. Second buffet-style meal. Needless to say no one hesitated to make the Happy Joe’s staff see how fast they can cook pizzas. Afterwards we went back to the room and slept some more before our next event. When we woke up and gathered in the lobby, we began to notice more and more pretty cute girls walk into the hotel. Matt joked “Hah. Watch they’re having a Hooters convention here or something.” Well we came to find out that Matt was exactly right. Suddenly, everyone became like little boys on Christmas morning. When our PM finally dragged us to the vans we headed out to a water park for some fun with a local organization for people with disabilities. The whole night was a lot of fun and we made some great friends.