Freeport, Illinois is a small town with a population of 25,000 that is located in northwestern Illinois, close to the Wisconsin border. According to Wikipedia, it is known for hosting the second Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858, and is also known as “Pretzel USA” due to a popular local German Bakery famous for its pretzels in the 1850’s. The local high school even has a pretzel as its mascot to honor its heritage.
Freeport is also known to cyclists for its endless rolling hills of gravel. Each year there is an organized “10,000 Ride” that boasts 10,000 feet of elevation over the course of 100 miles. The route is available on line to download, for anyone who wants to ride the route anytime throughout the year. Excited about such an epic ride being so close to home, a group of local riders had organized a ride in May. Marc and I were invited, however, we had to bow out. We had to work the day before, and Freeport is a 3 hour drive from Valparaiso. This meant we’d have to get up at 3:00 am to start the ride at 7:00. It was also predicted that temperatures at 7:00 am would be in the 40’s. We both decided that this was definitely a bucket-list endeavor, and we planned to ride it together in June when the weather was warmer, and we had time off.
Well, summer came quickly, and on June 14th, we headed to Freeport at 5:00 pm to do the ride. We had decided to spend the night in a hotel. We thought it would be best to start the ride fresh, without a 3 hour car drive prior to the ride. We also booked the hotel for the following night, so we wouldn’t have to drive home after being on the bike all day. The weather was predicted to be 80 degrees and sunny, with low winds. It sounded like perfect weather.
We woke up the following morning with the intention of getting Starbucks coffee, as there was a Starbucks just blocks from the hotel. We thought we’d enjoy our coffee, then drive our car with our bikes to a park, where we could leave our car and start the route. The first glitch came when I got up and drove to the Starbucks, and there was a sign on the door that said it was temporarily closed. Sigh. Bad luck! I then drove to a gas station and got some really weak looking coffee. I took it back to the hotel and added almond milk. It tasted terrible, and it wasn’t Starbucks. But it would work. We then loaded our bikes and gear, and headed to the park. When we got ready to set out, Marc decided to leave one of his water bottles at the car since he didn’t have room for it. This turned out to be not his best idea ever.
So here we were, ready to begin an epic life adventure! I loaded the course on my Garmin, then pressed start. The Garmin should have showed us the route, along with turn-by-turn directions. However, the Garmin would only pull up the map with the words “Ready to Navigate” at the top of the screen. I pressed start, but then got an error message saying that there was no navigation available. Marc then attempted to pull up the route on Strava. We spent the first half hour of the day making wrong turns and starting and stopping the Garmin. I finally figured out that while the Garmin would not give me directions, it would show the color coded map. As long as I was in the blue, I was on course. The problem was I couldn’t see the colors without reading glasses! It was pretty comical. Every time we came to an intersection with three ways to turn, I’d have to get out my reading glasses. Thank goodness I had them in my pocket! The map was a little off in spots, and we ended up taking a handful of wrong turns.
However, most of the course was rolling roads without intersections, so we were able to ride for miles and miles without looking at the Garmin. Because of all the technical difficulties, we didn’t really get started until about 9:30 am. This was a very late start for a 100 mile ride, and I worried that we would run out of daylight. We hadn’t thought to bring lights!
The first 20 miles were deceiving. The hills were fast rollers, and it was exhilarating! The countryside was also so much more beautiful than I expected. At times it felt like we were on top of the world, surrounded by rolling fields of green, with cows and farms in the distance.
Our first water stop came at about 21 miles into the route, at a little town called Stockton. We stopped at a Casey’s General Store to get water, and then we split a banana and Cliff bar. My intuition told me that Marc shouldn’t be carrying only two water bottles, so I bought him a third bottle that he could put in his back pocket. I then noticed a building with a train mural, and I parked my bike under the mural to take a picture. We were then on our way.
After that first water stop, the hills started to get steeper and longer, and the sun started to get hotter…and hotter…and hotter. By about mile 40 I kept looking at my Garmin and calculating how much longer we had to go. The climbs in the heat made my head feel like it was going to explode! I found myself praying for cloud cover, and checking my water supply.
As the hills got steeper and steeper, the descents got scarier and scarier! Some of the roads were hard packed dirt, but some were so hard packed they were almost like asphalt, and they had a smattering of white rock gravel covering them. They were sketchy and scary, because the farther and farther you got into the descent, the faster the bike went! The hills were also winding, so if I saw a turn coming ahead, I would tap, tap, and tap my brakes while keeping my weight back on the seat. I kept hearing our friend Jeff telling me to “Shut up Lou! Don’t look down, just look ahead!” He had ridden with me at Gravel Worlds in 2016 and he had coached me through every scary fast descent, and I could still hear his voice. So I just kept my weight back and looked far ahead of me to where I was going, while letting the front of the bike float. I was extremely thankful that I had gravel experience. I wondered how a novice would have handled those downhills! At one point, Marc was traveling 35 miles an hour and saw a curve coming. He tried tapping his brakes, but his tire spun out and he barely missed going off the road. He did go down, but not all the way, as he caught himself. We were both being very cautious, as this was a fun ride…not a race!
Somewhere around mile 35 or 40, we came across a farmhouse with two dogs in the yard. As we approached, the dogs took off after Marc. They were pit bulls! Marc squirted them with his water, and they ran off. I held back at a distance, trying to get up the nerve to race past the house. Dogs can run at about 22 mph, and I was calculating whether or not I would be able to outride them. Marc was yelling at me to come on, as the dogs lay in wait in the front yard, just daring me to come near. I clipped my right foot in the pedal and took off as fast as I could. I soon had pit bulls chasing me, one at each ankle, as I screamed at the top of my lungs. I imagined that if their hillbilly owners heard and saw me, they probably got a good laugh. I made it past the farm, my heart racing. I knew that if they had caught me I would have no doubt been mauled. I have pepper spray, and I scolded myself for not carrying it!
At mile 51 we came to our second, and last water stop. It was a dirty little gas station in the hamlet of Hanover. Our bottles were empty, and it was the heat of the day. The ride was turning out to be so remote, that I wondered if we could make it back to the car without running out of water, or make it back before sunset. It was getting hotter and hotter, and it seemed like the gravel was getting chunkier, and the hills were getting bigger. We split another banana and each had a small bag of chips. Doritos! I can’t remember the last time I had Doritos.
After we left the last water stop, I noticed the gravel got chunkier, and we were headed into a head wind. And those hills! They had gotten so much bigger, and Marc noticed that it took us 45 minutes to go 5 miles! At one point, a farmer in a tractor pulled out in front of me. As I rode behind the tractor, all I could see was the tractor and the wall of a hill in front of me that looked like it went straight up. I couldn’t see the sky! I was amazed at myself that I followed that farmer straight up the hill, and I made it to the top. I wish I had a picture of that. Marc did take a picture of the hill in the distance, but it doesn’t do it justice. It’s funny how hills don’t photograph!
By the time we were at mile 80, Marc only had 1/2 bottle of water left, and there were no more water stops. We had no idea what was ahead, and since we had taken 45 minutes at one point to go 5 miles, Marc decided we had no choice but to cut the course. If we went back the way we came the last few miles, we would cut about 9 miles off. We were not only low on water, but we also had no food. We foolishly set out with a banana and a few Cliff bars, and we had been riding all day! So I said OK! I was fine with ending our epic journey with 91 miles instead of 100!. However, this meant we would have to go past the dogs again. I was sick about it, an I wasn’t sure if I had the nerve to do it. As we approached the white farmhouse, we saw both dogs lying in wait in the front yard. They saw us from a distance, and set out to chase us. We weren’t even in their territory yet! I turned around and said that the shortcut was a no-go, and Marc yelled that we had no choice. He went for it, spraying the dogs with what little water he had left. He made it past the farmhouse as I watched from a distance. I just couldn’t make myself go. When I saw that the dogs had retreated to the back of the property and they weren’t visible, I took off. I thought I was in the clear when I heard them coming. I once again screamed so loud that I could probably be heard for miles, as the dogs wouldn’t give up chase. They finally turned back to their yard, and I was extremely relieved. After the dog chase, the sun had gone down a bit, and it had gotten a little breezy. It was so beautiful, I was wishing we had taken lights and extra water so we could finish the 100 miles instead of just 91.
Soon after the dog chase, we could see the town in the distance at the bottom of the rolling hills. I was both happy and sad that the ride was over. As we headed to the car, I had a thought. Life is just like this bike ride. When you’re sick, or you’re having a terrible day at work, or you’re having problems with a relationship or with money, it only means you’re in the middle of a climb. Once you get to the top of the hill, the view is amazing. So don’t ever give up! The ride is absolutely worth it! I snapped a picture of our shadows as we loaded the bikes on the car to drive back to the hotel. This is a ride I’d definitely want to do again…with extra water and some pepper spray!
