Today was our fourth of five rest days. Last night I did the wash and repacked my bags and this morning I washed my bike and lubed the chain. Chad had his front wheel taken to the shop by Peyton. The wheel was knocked out of alignment several days ago when Chad took a tumble. It was aligned on the road but today in the shop with proper tools Peyton was able to bring it back to where it should be.

Chad and I had pitas for lunch and then shopped for tomorrow’s “Crazy Helmet Day.” You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the results because we can’t give it away too cheaply.

After prepping the helmets (think duck tape) we went into town to get some new bike shorts for me and new gloves for each of us. We took a walk around Champaign, mostly on the large, scenic, and empty University of Illinois campus. My father graduated from Illinois in 1952, but he never said much about it. The armory building is still there. Since he was in ROTC and did poorly in artillery (the only grade I ever saw), I’m sure he was at least assigned a class there.

We had a delicious steak dinner at Hamilton Walker’s restaurant, and now it’s the Cardinals game and bed. Given how the Cardinals are playing sleep may come early. Tomorrow it’s on to Indiana in our silly and not very aerodynamic helmets.