Our First Century + Chigaco

Today was filled with so much. We woke up at 5 am EST and were on out bike at about 7. After biking for 2 and a half hours it was 8:30 CST and already time for out first lunch of the day at about mile 35. The lunch was amazing and was provided by a mother of rider on the Southern Route. After lunch at such and early hour we continued on our way through Indiana and the many dirt roads we encountered. As difficult as some of them were, it was fun riding on them. On our way through Gary, IN and towards second lunch we got a little lost and I got my first flat of the trip. After a new tube and some directions from the iPhone we were back on our way and finally arrived at the second lunch where we were greeted by two leaders from the CUS Route last year who had brought us our much needed lunch. As we continued on our way after lunch so much was happening. We were riding along Lake Michigan, We hit the 100 mile mark, and ended up on a bike path going into Chicago. The path was nice, but really crowded and hard to keep up a good pace. I guess it beats trying to weave through the Chicago traffic. We were also stopped along the path by riders from last years trip who made us cupcakes! As soon as I arrived at the host church, I turned around and headed to a bike shop with a few other people. I ended up buying some new handle bar tape because mine was falling off and was not exciting enough. Dinner was not provided by the church that night, so some people ventured downtown for some deep dish, while I headed up to Wrigleyville to see the park and grab a burger. It was pretty cool seeing the outside of Wrigley, too bad I didn't get to see the inside. Oh well, next time. We got back in around 11 and I was dead tired, probably because I had been up for 19 hours and biked 111 miles.