Days 24 & 25: Ladora, IA to Des Moines, IA
Our team had another 4 AM wake-up yesterday because it was time for another century! This day was a bit of a perfect storm for me and was mentally my most challenging day yet. It was a very cold morning and I very stupidly left all of my hand-washed clothes outside to dry, so they…
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Day 23: Iowa City, IA to Ladora, IA
After a really long day yesterday, we took advantage of having a shorter mileage day to sleep in a little. We also decided to stop at Midtown Family Restaurant for breakfast– shockingly they were able to accommodate 15 cyclists with relative ease, and the food was delicious! Unfortunately it was only a mile from our…
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Day 22: Princeton, IL to Iowa City, IA
Today was probably the most challenging day of the 4K thus far, and that’s saying something! We had some sort of last-minute host changes which put a very long ride between our hosts in Princeton and Iowa City. The route Ulman gave us was 164 miles; we would’ve had no choice but to bike as…
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Day 21: DeKalb, IL to Princeton, IL
Today I was in the host van again for what was supposed to be a long day on the road. It was raining before we even left DeKalb but not storming, and the team was slated to cover 92 miles today but ended up doing around 10 due to our very first daytime thunderstorm of…
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Day 20: Chicago, IL to DeKalb, IL
Shortest 4K day… ever? Today we biked a whopping 18 miles from Mary’s home in Lilly Lake to DeKalb. We actually drove through DeKalb trying to get back to Mary’s from Chicago last night, it’s so close. We had a very slow morning because of our low mileage day and because we weren’t sure when…
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Days 18 & 19: Wilmington, IL to Chicago, IL
I woke up yesterday morning next to the lake to the sounds of birds twittering as the sun was rising. I was worried about sleeping poorly out on the porch but it was so nice (not as nice as the deck spot Santi and Chase claimed, pictured below)! Unfortunately I was in charge of waking…
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Day 17: Champaign, IL to Wilmington, IL
Today was a very unusual day for us but it actually went quite smoothly. It started with Maggie and me roostering to wake everyone up– we found a fun morning jams playlist and obnoxiously ran up and down the hallway banging on everyone’s doors until we saw signs of life. It was the most awake…
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Day 16: Crawfordsville, IN to Champaign, IL
Today was a day that made me realize how lucky I am to be on this trip, biking every day with a great group of people supporting an amazing cause. The past few days have not been easy, but this experience has been so rewarding. We started the day with our usual dedication circle at…
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Day 15: Indianapolis, IN to Crawfordsville, IN
Team distance: 38.39 mi Team elevation: 636 ft Dedication: Uncle Tim and Gene, our host’s father Van group: Eli Host: The Queen & I Homestead Bed and Breakfast Today was an interesting, challenging, and emotional day. It was my first day in water van, which entails setting up water stops for the team and chalking…
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Day 14: Greensburg, IN to Indianapolis, IN
Today was arguably harder than yesterday– it’s one thing to bike 100 miles, it’s another thing to wake up and bike 75 miles the next day! We decided to sleep in a little after two long days with very early wake-ups. The route wasn’t as hilly as the day before and the team was definitely…
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Day 13: Dayton, OH to Greensburg, IN
Greetings from Indiana, a whole 100 miles from where we started this morning! Our team absolutely crushed our first century today, including many first-time century riders. We woke up at 4:30 to get a head start on the day. We were a little worried about running out of daylight and really wanted everyone to have…
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Days 11 & 12: Columbus, OH to Dayton, OH
Team Zion’s second rest day was extremely restful thanks to the hospitality of the Ulman family and their friends! I slept in until 8 (which is late now) and had a nice breakfast at my host. Then Glenn and I headed over to the Ulman’s, where most of the team spent the day lounging around…
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Days 9 & 10: New Philadelphia, PA to Dresden, OH to Columbus, OH
Day 9 Yesterday we arrived in the small town of Dresden, home of the Longaberger basket company. It would have been a great host situation regardless, but I was especially thankful for a nice place to stay, showers, and a few hours at a tavern with the team after the day we had. The scheduled…
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Day 8: East Liverpool, OH to New Philadelphia, OH
This morning was a little interesting as it was our first night sleeping with (almost) everyone in the same room! We stayed in a turf-covered room at Ram Fitness which was actually quite cozy, but being woken up by industrial fluorescent lights being turned on unannounced is not something I’d recommend. It was also our…
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Days 6 & 7: Confluence, PA to Elizabeth, PA to East Liverpool, OH
Day 6 Day 6 was a bit of a struggle for me so I decided to wait to blog so it wasn’t an overly negative post… and then Day 7 ended up being an even bigger mess! But both days ended with everyone safe at great hosts, so in the end neither day was really…
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Days 4 & 5: Bedford, PA to Confluence, PA
After a rough day getting in to Bedford, we were ready to seize a new day on our way to Confluence. It took us way too long to get on the road, but after a great breakfast and sweet goodbye with the folks from Bedford Presbyterian we were on our way. The route wasn’t as…
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Day 3: Shippensburg, PA to Bedford, PA
After how bad I felt on the climbs yesterday I was really dreading the ride today, given this elevation profile: But, it ended up being a pretty awesome day! I had a great ride group and we absolutely crushed the hills. We were the third group to roll out from the host (who sent us…
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Day 2: Sykesville, MD to Shippensburg, PA
Greetings from Pennsylvania! Today we crossed the state border and this all started to feel a little more real. I slept pretty terribly last night (we have a few snorers in our group and I struggled to drown them out) and we were woken up at 5:30 AM. We designate someone as the “rooster” to…
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Day 1: Baltimore, MD to Sykesville, MD
Hello from Sykesville! Team Zion is officially on the road and made it safe and sound to our first host. Today was a relatively short ride but a very long day, starting with a 4:40 wake-up time. We all met at Ulman House at 5:30, loaded up the vans, and then drove to a point…
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4K orientation
Hello from Baltimore!!! I’m writing this post super last-minute from my hotel room with only 6 hours until I need to wake up and 11 hours until we roll out from the Inner Harbor. The past two days were a lot– I already know this will be the most challenging and exhausting experience I’ve ever…
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Lauren Bikes America 