Day 33 - Champaign, IL to Crawfordsville, IN - 80 miles

Just the stats: 80 miles, 16.6 MPH average, flat land. Cumulative 2,955 miles. No flats today, eight in total. Sunny, 70 to 93 degrees. Similar scenery to yesterday...farmland, corn, and woodland.

We are in Indiana - our eighth state line crossing, and we are now on eastern daylight savings time, getting closer to home!! We only have 13 more riding days.

Great ride today. I rode with the lead group of riders all day today, cutting that nasty headwind down to size. Riding in a pelaton makes all the difference in the world. Also, riding with the best riders - they don't cut you any slack. If you fall behind, they will drop you in a heartbeat.

We started the morning with 14 riders all in a pace line and by the end of the day it was down to nine. Everyone in the pace line takes turns leading for a mile. I was riding as fast as I could just to keep up so when my turn came, I was at max heart rate and I was panting like a dog.

Most of the day we kept an 18 to 19 mph pace into a 5 to 10 mph headwind. When I bravely took the lead at mile 74, the riders let me pedal for about 30 strokes and then something strange happened. The riders started smelling the barn, they picked up the pace and took off. I was dropped like a hot potato. I think they just didn't like a rookie like me in their exclusive club any longer and had to show me - that's cool. It was fun while it lasted.

The rest day really helped. I got to the hotel at 12:30 and will have more time to rest today and even take a nap. Tomorrow is a short day - 64 miles to Indianapolis. I hope to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Do you think they will let me take a lap around the speedway on my bike? Stay tuned!!

Here is my Garmin data: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3019471