Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 11, 2007

by Sarah Eichstedt
“So here are the directions. I don’t know why I’m passing them out because they’re wrong. Don’t worry, you’re all gonna get lost. Every year everyone gets lost.” Those were inspiring words to hear first thing in the morning before embarking on our third consecutive century (100 miles). We were already exhausted from the previous two days, but today we were going to reach the city…St. Louis…and then a day off. We were all going to make it.

It’s weird to say now that spending all day on a bike makes the day go faster, but this has now become my reality and perhaps the reality of twenty something others. Twenty five miles to the first water stop…that’s nothing. Lunch at mile 60? No problem. Maybe what makes the day go so quickly is the group of people that I bike with. We enjoy ourselves and we have fun. It’s the randomness and spontaneity that lead to meeting new people and having incredible adventures. For example…Alice and Arun made it their mission to climb a silo today. And so that’s exactly what they did. And there they met Glenda Gray who is a writer for the local Jerseyville newspaper and who offered her silo up for climbing while also donating snacks and some good old fashioned hospitality to a few starving riders. It’s really the people that we meet along the way that make this trip what it is.

Today was also a special day in that we crossed into another state…with an awesome state sign…AND we crossed the Mississippi. The river was a beautiful place for a photo opportunity and my group pulled up to the bridge just as the stun was starting to set in the sky. Only 13 miles left. We got a second wind. Twelve hours after we had left Jacksonville, IL, and after 90-something miles of biking in the hot summer sun, we made our way through the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. We did it! And we used the stories and memories of the people we met along the way and the people we’re dedicating our rides to to make it through the day. What was the best part? No one got lost. Here’s to a day off…