Day 10, Tour 10 Vincennes, IN to Flora, IL

Entering Illinois

I woke early planning to get an early start to minimize the time I would spend fighting the wind and the chance of getting caught by a thunderstorm. I looked out my window and saw that it was pouring outside ;-{. I dressed and went to breakfast - lousy by Best Western Standards - and saw on the TV that a line of storms was moving through the area. It looked promising that, in an hour or two, I'd be OK to ride west into Illinois. That is what happened. Instead of leaving at 7 PM, I left at 9 PM. Of course, once across the river it was 8 PM so I really wasn't that late ;-}! Indiana has weird time zone laws, so I really should have been in the central time zone rather than in the eastern time zone. It was near dawn at 7 AM

Old US 50 - Il 250 -before Lawrenceville

This what US 50 looks like after IL 250 ends west of Bridgeport
before this, and sometimes after this, the shoulder is bumpy

I rode IL33 and then IL250 - old US 50 - to Lawrenceville and saw that the motel was indeed functional and looked nice. I should have though to call them when I found that the Relax Inn in Vincennes wasn't there anymore, but I just don't think of using my cell phone.

My bike where I stopped to snack before reaching Onley

The main reason I was exhausted, and sore, when I reached Flora

IL 250 is old US 50 - it is the way to go when it is available

I stopped in Olney for first liunch - it was just too late for second breakfast - and because of the threat of more storms, headed out for Flora ASAP. I knew there were two places I could stop for shelter before Flora, so I took a chance on getting caught by a storm and pressed on to make it, exhausted, to Flora. The reason I was exhausted was that I was fighting cross-head and head winds pretty much all of the way. The wind was a problem before Olney, but it got much worse afterwards. I stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Flora for second lunch and to give my sore good knee a chance to recover.

My good knee seems to have become shock sensitive. Riding through Albany, KY was very rough on it because they had prepared the main street - more than a mile of it - by grinding down the old paving. By the time I got through that section, my good knee was quite sore. Immediately after that, I stopped at McDs and worked for an hour an my knee was OK after that. Some of the US50 shoulder today was quite rough and that, especially while grinding into the head wind, started my knee hurting. Even after an hour of rest, I needed ibuprophen to ride on. On recent past tours I have had more problems with shock related pain in my bad knee, but it hasn't yet had that problem on this tour.

Riding out of Flora with a less sore but still fragile feeling knee, I saw an inexpensive motel - Red Carpet Inn - and decided I was foolish to press on which would risk further damage to the knee, when I didn't need to. So, despite the fact that the wind had died down and the skies were clear, I'm staying in Flora tonight after only riding 60 miles, with bad winds for the last 30 miles.

I've already repatched the tube that was punctured yesterday, and topped up my tires. I will lube my suspension seatpost - it has been creaking - and my chain - it is just beginning to sounding like it needs lubing - tonight. Tomorrow I hope to ride most of the way to the Mississippi. The next day I'll be heading south in Missouri.

Previous Page Next Page