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The wheel itself (Velocity Spartacus) was barely out of true, and still had plenty of clearance to the caliper brake.  Since I had already ridden a fast 10 miles without even realizing the spoke was broken, I decided to risk it and go forward.

I like to go to Mass every Sunday, but given all the other parameters for this adventure, I hadn’t planned anything, and decided just to take the opportunity if it presented itself.  But with everything else on my mind this morning, these thoughts were far in the background as I rode past a modest country church in the middle of nowhere.  The fact that cars were entering the parking lot at that very moment slowly dawned on me, and I checked my watch: 7:52 am.  Turns out it was a Catholic Church, St. Boniface, and 8 am Mass was about to start!  My clothing wasn’t exactly appropriate, but at least I wasn’t too sweaty yet.  I figured such an early morning Mass would cost me less than an hour, so I swung around and went for a pew in the back.  Well, it took more than an hour, but it was a very fine service, and I was glad I stopped.

After the closing hymn, I headed out again on a route which closely paralleled I-72 westbound.  As the sun got higher, the pain it poured on my arms and legs told me yesterday’s long exposure had given me a dandy sunburn, despite my use of sunscreen.  I was glad to move under the clouds at about 43 miles, when I stopped for a drink at Argenta, Ill.  I found my way into downtown Decatur and had lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken there.  With all the overpasses and underpasses, Decatur provided the most radical terrain since leaving the St. Joseph River, capped by a thrilling descent down to the causeway over Lake Decatur.  I didn’t see any bike shops, but the ride was going so well, I didn’t look very hard.

From there the route was simple.  The next 30 miles was south along US 51 to Pana.  For most of this leg, it looked like I was heading into a major rain storm, the darkest clouds I had seen yet.  I eventually went through some showers, but the bulk of the storm seemed to slide by to the east.  I stopped once for a few minutes when the water on my glasses made it hard to see, but the rest of the time it was not enough to slow me down.  On the contrary, the wind at my back seemed to increase, and I was able to maintain a very good pace.  From Pana, I took highway 16 on a nice diagonal directly toward my overnight destination in Hillsboro Ill.

For the third day in a row, I managed the first 100 miles in just about 9 hours real elapsed time.  Except for Decatur, the riding had been fast and easy on flat smooth roads.  With about 10 miles to go, there was a barely perceptible rise and fall in the road, followed by a slightly steeper rise.  With little else to occupy my thoughts, I started to wonder why the town up ahead was named “Hillsboro”.  I soon found out.

Thanks mainly to the tailwind all day, I had sufficient reserves for the steep ups and downs I encountered on the way into Hillsboro, and the most challenging climb yet leading up to the town square where the Red Rooster Inn was located.  It just enhanced the sense of accomplishment I felt when I rolled up to that large, old, brick building with the big wooden porch.  After over 100 miles with a broken spoke, I figured these wheels would probably get me to St. Louis, and I stopped worrying about it.

Day 3: 120 miles
Total elapsed time: 10:15
Total time stopped:  2:25
Average speed while moving: 15.3 mph 

Day 4 -- Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day)
This day was set up as sort of an easy ‘victory lap’.  I thought that I was only about 65 miles from St. Louis (it turned out to be a bit more) and I would be entering familiar territory sooner than that.  A family gathering was planned for that Memorial Day afternoon, so I timed my start in order to arrive and get cleaned up in time for it.  My brother Pete had planned two additional events.  He arranged for some friends to greet my ceremonial arrival at the foot of the Gateway Arch on the St. Louis riverfront, and prior to that, he and his wife would come across the river and meet me for breakfast at a diner in Edwardsville, IL.

Calculating back from noon at the Arch, at my expected pace, meant I should leave at 6:30 in the morning.  I didn’t want to keep Pete waiting and worrying in Edwardsville, so I left ten minutes earlier to allow for a flat tire or other unforeseen circumstance.  Leaving Hillsboro, I hit my top speed of the trip, a gravity-aided 36 mph.  It was calm, with light drizzle, and I started out wearing my rain suit.  It stopped raining within an hour, and when I took a wrong turn at 13 miles, I stowed the rain gear.

I used up the rest of my time cushion when I hit Livingston, Ill. and stopped at the gas station there.  This felt like a milestone, because I had just crossed I-55, and from there would parallel (for a while) the route I often take when driving to and from St. Louis.  The road southwest from Livingston was old route 66, and I made it to Edwardsville a few minutes before the scheduled meeting time of 9:30.  While looking for the Sunrise Diner, I was surprised to see my cousin’s husband Don walking on the sidewalk.  They had joined Pete and his wife, so the five of us had an excellent breakfast and I told a few of my stories.

Thinking I needed 2 hours to get to the Arch, I left the diner promptly at 10.  I passed through a nice neighborhood of historic homes on the way out of Edwardsville, then onto New Poag Road all the way to the eastern bank of the Mississippi River.  I had clearly left the prairie behind before entering Edwardsville; the terrain was now more rolling.  At the end of New Poag Rd. was the Lewis & Clark State Historic Site, near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. 

From here, I had to travel 3.5 miles south to where the bridges would take me across the mighty river.  The maps indicated that I had a choice of routes, the busy Rt. 3 or the Confluence bike trail.  The trail was a relatively recent addition that I was unfamiliar with, but it looked promising, so I took it.  It started out smooth asphalt, but after a mile and a half, the surface became fine gravel, which got coarser as I went farther south.  It was very frustrating, as the river bridges were in sight by the time I had to turn around for the sake of my skinny tires.  I had to backtrack to Route 3, losing about 12 minutes to that detour.

Illinois 3 was the direct route to the bridge approach, and the traffic was not too bad.  There were actually two bridges, a smaller one over the navigation canal, and then the big one over the main channel of the Mississippi.  These were right next to similar bridges for the Interstate highway loop, an unusual case where the old bridges were not demolished after their replacements were built.

Even more unusual, the main bridge I would take, called the Chain of Rocks bridge, is a mile-long span that is closed to motorized traffic.  It was built in 1929 to carry the famous route 66 over the Mississippi, closed in 1967, and reopened for bicycles and pedestrians only in 1999.  I had ridden across it once before, and I knew it would be a highlight of the trip.  It has a classic steel superstructure, a 2-lane concrete deck, and a 22° right turn in the middle.  The pavement is in remarkably good shape, but it seems narrow even on a bike, so high above the Father of Waters.  Now that it was around 11 am on a beautiful Memorial Day, I had to carefully weave my way through many adults and children on foot, and limit my gawking at the scenery.

On the other side, I joined the Riverfront bike trail for the 12 miles south to the Arch, the focal point of downtown St. Louis at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.  The trail is asphalt paved, first through the northside’s Riverview Park, then weaving amid industrial installations, floodwalls and levees.  Scenic in a different way, I would say, and the cycling was very unlike the rest of the trip.  It was also getting good use from other cyclists on this fine day.  My detour on the east side had put me behind schedule, so I pushed the pace so as not to be too late for my grand arrival.  Rising up to a high point with about five miles left, I got my first good view of the Arch, and started to feel giddy.  The trail ends in a parking lot on Laclede’s Landing, and I had to go a few more blocks on Wharf Street.  I spied the welcoming party on the left, and coasted up onto the sidewalk, at 12:10 pm CDT.

            It’s hard to describe my feelings as several family members and friends, and even a few strangers, let out a cheer.  They carried a big sign with my name and picture on it, along with my origin and distance traveled.  Pete immediately gave me a tall glass of IBC root beer on ice, which tasted fabulous.  I dismounted and walked around, talked to everyone, thanked them for coming, and told them I felt great.  Some had not seen my bike before, so I proudly showed off my wheels.  Many photos were taken.  This was not yet the end of my road, so I only stayed about 10 minutes before continuing south along the river.  I had another 4 miles to go down Broadway to my old house in South St. Louis, where my mother and youngest sister still live.  It was a familiar route on city streets past the famous Anheuser-Busch brewery complex.  I pulled up at Mom’s at 12:40, my journey finally ended.

Day 4: 76 miles
Total elapsed time: 6:30
Total time stopped:  1:25
Average speed while moving: 15.4 mph

And so it was accomplished.  The careful preparations paid off, and there were no disasters.  I got a taste of cross-country riding, both alone and with a companion.  I had an intimate experience with some back roads and small towns of the Midwest.  I challenged myself a little and had fun succeeding.  I had a nice visit with family and friends back home, and now have another story to tell.  And best of all, I got to eat a lot of food without any guilt.  I thought about riding back, but whatever point that would make was not worth so much more time away from my wife.  So she drove down to St. Louis, and after visiting for a couple of days, we stuffed my bike in the back of our car and returned to Kalamazoo.

Overall trip:  470 miles in 3-1/2 days (includes detours)
Average speed while moving:  13.9 mph
Total climbing:  negligible
Total fun:  a ton!

PANCELLA met with a hero's welcome by friends and family in St. Louis, MO