Season 4 Episode 18. A Christopher Reeve Moment.

Season 4 Episode 18. A Christopher Reeve Moment. 

9/6 Kenosha, WI to Evanston, IL. 53 miles. 627’ climb. 

We started the day with the perfect weather gift - a strong tailwind, of 14 mph, with gusts of 21 mph, blowing us south down the shore of Lake Michigan. 

 There was no “welcome to Illinois” sign on the small, secondary road we rode. (Those welcome signs tend to be on Interstates) But this was the first town we came to in Illinois, and the mural was very meaningful as I wrote about Monarch butterflies in year one.

We rode south on Sheridan and passed a long stretch of spectacular mansions and estates of the north shore towns of Lake Forest, Highland Park and Glencoe. It’s one of those things that you just cannot take photos of every beautiful sight or the riding day could easily be an hour longer. 

We were excited to visit Northwestern University in Evanston as I’d never seen the campus. 

They really know how to make a guy feel welcome!

It’s a beautiful campus on the shore of Lake Michigan, combining traditional, collegiate Gothic architecture with modern glass and steel buildings for the arts.

And terrific views of the Chicago skyline 12 miles to the south.

Though the real treat of Evanston was visiting an old family friend from Montreal, Henry, and his wife Jordana.

They hosted us in their beautiful home, and it was great to hear about their community and the life they’ve built here. It was the first place we’d been this trip that reminded me of home with the convenient access of walk to the water as well as walk to town and restaurants. But I suspect that home-like feeling was also engendered by Henry and me knowing each other’s siblings and parents, and I even remember his grandparents. There’s something about knowing a person’s family and origin story, and them knowing yours.

And I made a new friend, Lady. Greyhounds may be the perfect breed for me - they ignore me.

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9/7 Evanston, IL to Porter, IN. 69 miles. 528’ climb.

Along the lakeshore, on a beautiful Saturday morning, it was populated with runners and cyclists with very clearly marked lanes in each direction. In spots it was packed and definitely a few crazed cyclists who were so fast they were dangerous.

To paraphrase a famous Costanza line: the lake was angry that day my friends...

As the wind was blowing strongly (gusts up to 24 mph in our favor again!), in one spot the lake washed right up over the running and cycling lanes resulting in a cyclist in front of Heather wiping out. It could easily have been Heather had she been a moment faster.

Several people warned us about riding “through” Chicago, including one Minnesotan cautioning us to avoid the city because of all the shootings. We loved the lake shore ride and the energy of all the activity. 

After about 35 miles we were excited to discover we’d crossed into Indiana. Once again, no big state welcome sign.

Throughout our adventure, just about every small town has a water tower. It would be an interesting coffee table book to have pictures of them all. This is Hammond, IN.

We were pleasantly surprised by the bike trails in Indiana.

One odd surprise was to feel a small plane being really low down and land just beyond us. We discovered the bike trail was right at the end of a runway of a small airstrip. No fence around the air field.

Heather miles ahead of me awaiting me.

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9/8 Porter, IN to South Bend, IN. 66 miles. 1,621’ climb.

Indiana Dunes State Park as well as Indiana Dunes National Park underwhelmed us. We think we must have missed something. One thing very odd about the National Park is its discontinuous nature. There are industrial buildings, residential buildings and a harbor between patches of protected parkland. To me it’s more an example of the political nature of a place being declared a National Park more for conservation reasons than the incomparable beauty of an area. 

It was cool to see the Chicago skyline over 40 miles away across Lake Michigan.

We came across an unpaved trail that was full of mud puddles that led to two very different experiences. I rode through it, enjoying it as a fun obstacle course. Heather was miserable, walking long stretches of it. I asked her if she’d prefer the shoulder of an interstate to this? She replied she’d prefer an interstate with NO shoulder, and just get me the heck off of this.

We made it back onto wonderful backroads.

We’ve discovered clever church marketing signs. Another church sign we passed read “sinners wanted, apply within”.

Riding into South Bend, we explored the incredibly beautiful campus of Notre Dame. (challenging photo to get with traffic impatient with me in middle of street).

Views from riding around St. Joseph’s Lake and St. Mary’s Lake, both on campus.

Amidst all the stunning Gothic architecture, it was a funny contrast to see these modern robot delivery pods for Grubhub streaming out from the student union.

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9/9 South Bend, IN to Angola, IN. 73 miles. 1,597’ climb.

A war memorial that I found moving.

Ten miles into our ride, we saw our first ghost bike of this trip. (I’ve written in past years about the haunting sight of these white, spray painted, roadside memorials to those who died in cycling accidents.) Rest in peace Tim Grant. Police report he was wearing a helmet and had a flashing red light when hit by an intoxicated driver.

Of course we are aware of the recent tragic deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau while they were cycling. Scary to contemplate. When I pass a ghost bike, I need to stop and recompose to ride onwards. 

When I pass a ghost bike, I can’t help but contemplate life and death. We also ride by a handful of cemeteries each day. And at a slow enough speed to read names. 

In Elkhart, IN, I had a mission to visit the only comic book museum in the world and a shrine to superheroes.

This museum grew out of the personal collection of 80,000 comic books of Allen Stewart. They get visitors from around the world. We were beyond thrilled to discover their Christopher Reeve related items. And the board member John who was there was thrilled with our riding for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, and gave us a very personalized tour. 

Christoper Reeve based Superman model. The two acrylic crystals were actually used by Reeve in the fortress of solitude scene.

This is one of the actual wooden models that was used in the 1978 Superman movie to show the side shots of Superman flying. This was a very meaningful moment to literally hold and support a Christopher Reeve effigy of sorts, a wonderful symbol for our ride.

I could easily have enjoyed another hour at the Hall of Heroes, especially with John’s personal attention and education. However, a downside of bike touring our style is when we have many miles remaining that day we needed to get going. 

Midday, outside a Marathon gas station after a bathroom break, on the corner of State Road 20, we're approached by a woman Emily and her 10 year-old son Elijah with curiosity about our trip. This is common. However, when she discovered our full 4,000 mile plan, she asked if she could pray for us. We replied of course. She said: “Let me go get my husband Dave from the truck, he loves this stuff.”  A minute later, 5 of us are in a circle, immediately in front of and blocking the gas station door. Dave’s hand was on my shoulder the whole time and for about a minute he gave thanks for bringing us into their lives, for what we were doling and petitioned for our safety. After the ghost bike, the Reeve model in my hands, and this moment, it was quite a spiritual ride. 

Speaking of State Road 20, we noticed it had a particularly wide shoulder for a state road. We then noticed it was rutted in the middle and figured out that was from horse shoes clopping repeatedly.

They have extra wide shoulders for the buggies in this Amish region.

Of course there’s a bit of an obstacle course sometimes after the horse.

Copyright Mark Segal 2024.