Around Illinois Back Roads (AIBR-06), Random Number Generator

Everyone always asks me how many people are/were on the ride and I almost always answer with I have no idea or with about 60 (or some other approximate number). So, why doesn’t the ride chair know how many people she is responsible for? I think you all deserve an explanation, so here it is.

Originally we had 61 riders signed up, and 6 support staff (or is 60 riders and 7 support staff)? Not sure how to count Leo, since he is doing both. Thanks Leo for the use of your van and help driving sag. Prior to the ride I had 6 cancellations, so I expected 61 people to show up on Saturday. No wait, I had an email from Grover, he is meeting us at Shabbona, and so that makes 61 people. Week of ride, I receive a call from Sue asking if her sister can join us for the weekend, so that makes 62, and of course we never know what Chris B. will do. Friday night, a few riders show up to pick up their packets and thankfully this year, I had the t-shirts well in advance, so they are in the packets. Thank you Lois and Jean for helping out and keeping me company at registration on Friday evening.

Saturday morning, I have to make sure those who picked up their packets on Friday show up, and wait for the rest. Here comes Chris on her bike, so I guess she isn’t joining us this year, just out for a ride. Most riders arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 and off they go. Bruce has to run to the bike shop for a part, as I wait for riders, Steve and Tym, the shuttle guy. By 10 am, almost everyone has arrived (except Steve and Tym), registration is supposed to end at 10, but since Steve isn’t here and we are supposed to ride together I’ll wait a little longer and Bob is busy talking to some recumbent riders who happened by. Oh wait, here come 2 more from out of state, so we are now only waiting for Steve, Tym and 3 others. Leo gets a phone call, that Tym will meet us in Shabbona. I guess I’ll take off; Steve can catch up to me, which he finally does in Sheridan.

Saturday at the campground, I find out the other 3 never showed up, so our count is 62 + 6 support -3 that makes 65 (including the 9 weekenders). No wait it is 10 because Sue’s twin sister is only doing the weekend. No, wait, Roman, Cari and Mark have switched to the weekend from the week, so that makes 13. No wait, Sue’s sister is going to Freeport and then home, is she a weekender or not? Wyatt is bit by a dog, and decides to just do the weekend. Tym has an associate with him. Help, I’ve lost count.

Dale asks me how many for dinner, and I make an educated guess, but of course I have no idea who is at the motel.

Sunday, all is well, except for some rain, weekenders and their support crew, all make it back safely. Thanks Gregg B. for helping out. Dinner on own, so I don’t have to worry about a head count, yeah! Sunday night, Suzanne C. and Sue’s sister (sorry I can’t remember her name, and they were identical twins), head home. Thanks Suzanne for all of your help. So now my count is 65- 14 -2 support staff (Tym’s associate leaves also) = 49. Okay, that number should remain stable for the rest of the week.

Monday, we all arrive in Galena without any major problems. One rider’s shifters break, but Bruce gets him back on the road, and we have a nice sag stop in Schlapville. Great day to ride, but hills beginning and the hill leaving Stockton has just been chipped. Hold on tight as you head down.

Tuesday day off, some ride, while others sight see and others canoe. Thanks Steve G. for arranging the canoeing, and special thanks to Suzanne Kinnas. Suzanne marked a route for us, and with Corella, one of her GOATS friends led us on a wonderfully hilly ride. She also arranged for us to be able to take the chair lift up the mountain at Chestnut Mountain Ski resort with our bikes. What a thrill. After breakfast at Chestnut, we continued our ride, up and down more hills including a 15% grade, after a long climb. Several of us had to walk part of it, including Suzanne and her friend, so it wasn’t to humiliating that I was one of the walkers. Suzanne and John also had us over for lunch as part of the ride. Again thanks to both of you, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

Upon returning at the campground, I am informed that one of our rider’s wife is in the hospital and he was driven to the airport. So, my number is now at 48, and Leo’s wife is also in the hospital, so he is unsure whether he will be able to stay on the ride. We will just have to manage without a sag vehicle if he does have to leave.

Wednesday, some rain in the forecast as we head out for Mt. Carroll. Ron, Jesse, Don and I are going to ride together. We make it to downtown Galena, cross on to Route 20, and Don and Ron disappear. Jesse and I slow down, but no sign off them, so we give up and ride at a more reasonable pace. Ask Don about the hill and what he had to do to get up it. Most of us avoid the rain, except for the fast riders who get soaked and our shivering waiting for the truck to arrive. They frequently were at the next location before the truck/motor home (ask Bob K.) took off from the previous location. Leo’s wife doesn’t want him to come home, so we have sag for the rest of the week. Near the end of the ride, I drop Jesse, and as I’m riding, Bruce pulls up and asks if I’ve seen one of the Minnesota girls. Her friend’s are in Mt. Carroll and she hasn’t shown up and they are concerned she is lost. I get to Mt. Carroll and still no sign of her as Bruce is out looking. No wait, here she comes, she has been here all the time, her friend’s stopped for some food on Main Street, and didn’t realize she didn’t stop. Thank goodness she isn’t lost.

Thursday, serious storms as riders head out, and some wait at the school. Bob and Gordie had to detour the route due to chipping, so cue sheets are wrong. I’m driving sag; Leo likes to pick days to ride that are raining. Road marks are hard to see in the rain, and riders are holing up in barns, people’s homes, etc. No way to keep track of them today, and I change the route some more to keep them off the tar and chip. I drive new route, detour route and cue sheet route just to be sure, and everyone makes it to the first town safely but wet. Skies clear and everyone enjoys the rest of the ride to Amboy.

So my count is still at 48, no Canada Bob rode all the way to Morris and left last night, and Grover rode to Shabbona and also left, so I’m now at 46.

Friday strong winds from the east, of course head winds for the last day, what else is new.

Steve drives sag, so Leo can ride in the morning and then head home from the sag stop in Troy Grove. Jesse, Ron, Don and I start out together, but within 0.01 miles Jesse and I have dropped Ron and Don, so we ride together. Thanks Jesse for being a great wind block. We pick up Steve in Troy Grove, and Leo and Bruce wait for the rest of the riders, Oh, that’s just Ron and Don. Our slow rider, Roger sagged to Troy Grove and started from there. The three of us, arrive at the Cracker Barrel near Ottawa and stop for some lunch. Phone call from Roger, he is at the Farm and Fleet (across the street) with bike problems. I call Bruce to go and help him out. It was only a flat and Bruce gets him on his way. This is going to be a long day, since Roger should have been much farther and Don and Ron just left Troy Grove. We eat, Bruce stops and says Roger left a while ago, and we head on our way. Five miles down the road I spot Roger stopped at a gas station; I guess I’ll be waiting at the end. Steve, Jesse and I arrive in Morris about 3 and say good bye to the few riders still around. Unbelievably, Roger gets in not to much later. Bruce and a few others stick around for awhile as we wait for Don and Ron. Eventually they leave as I wait. Thankfully, I have my Soduko book to do. Around 5:30, Judy comes by, and sees they are still not in. She says she will go out and look for them. Shortly, she returns and says they are at the 5 mile bridge, and takes their gear. I finish packing up my stuff, walk across the street to the garbage, and leave. No, I’ll just go and see where they are, before heading home. They should be almost in town, by now. I find them around Saratoga Rd., I’m not sure if they could ride any slower, but they are having fun. At 6:15, Don calls to say they are home.

A special thanks to Bruce for being our mechanic and the other things you did to help out, to our 2 quarter brains (together ½ brain) for driving the motor home, to Steve and Victor for their help and patience before, during and after the ride, to anyone who helped unload the motor home and to everyone for a great ride.

Many of the riders want us to continue this ride. I am willing to help keep it going, but need someone to take over the chair position, especially doing the stuff that has to get done the two weeks prior to the ride, when I am busy giving and grading finals.

Brenda