39 Miles

I just returned from a ride across the cornfields to the north of Champaign-Urbana to the bustling metropolis of Rantoul and back. Total distance: 39 miles. Lucky for me it wasn't too hot. It was 51 degrees and it rained on and off for most of the return trip.

Here are some photos of the journey:

This is pretty much what it looks like for most of the trip. I hear there's a crossroads out there where you can meet the devil and learn how to play the blues.

I did find a road with a curve and figured it was photo-worthy.

Rantoul has an airfield. It used to be an US Air force base from 1917-1993. Now it's called "Chanute Air Museum." You can see the planes for miles on your way in to town.

It began to pour on me five minutes before I reached town so once I arrived I found the closest thing to a shelter I could, hunkered down, and waited for the storm to pass. I felt like I was in a post apocalyptic future because the streets were deserted, there were these enormous planes just sitting there, the sky was grey and rainy with thunder in the distance, and there was not another living soul around anywhere.

The rain never completely let up (it showered and sprinkled intermittently for the remainder of the trip) so I got back on my bike and returned, soaking wet, to Champaign.

Good times.

Bike Trip Training: Week Two

Today I biked an easy 29 miles from Champaign to Mahomet and back. My route took me on flat, straight county roads. Nothing but fields and dirt and tractors for miles and miles.

This was nothing like the harrowing 36 mile ride I took on Sunday. The first half of the ride was directly into a 30 mph wind blowing out of the north. This made the ride home extremely easy - I just put my legs up and coasted the entire way - but the first 18 miles was brutal.

I'm trying to prepare myself for all weather related contingencies.

So far the training is going well. I've managed to bike just about every other day for the past week and a half and I'm getting to know all of the country roads around town. I even discovered some relatively pretty parts of the area on my bike trips. One thing I've noticed is that even when I take a wrong turn it's easy to figure out where to go. For instance one can see the McFarland Memorial Bell Tower on campus in Urbana from Tolono which is 10 miles south. Getting lost on the farm roads around town is difficult to do.

For my next ride, I'm hoping to make it to Rantoul and back - which will be a bit over 40 miles. I'll make sure to bring my camera with this time.

The Little Things

Recently Kaia and I made a whirlwind trip to Eau Claire for Easter. We were up and back in two days but we managed to bring our charcoal grill home with us. It's been almost two years since I have been able to grill a brat or a burger so within days of its arrival in Champaign (actually I think it was more like hours) I was grilling:

Right before Easter I made a beer. Somehow I managed to fit the brewing process in between dashing from gigs to recital rehearsals. This weekend we finally bottled the beer. The recipe is a clone of the New Glarus Spotted Cow (which is unavailable outside of Wisconsin) called "Speckled Heifer" that I ordered from Northern Brewer. It ended up tasting pretty good in the test phase: 

I can't wait until it's carbonated and chilled in the refrigerator.

Now that the semester is winding down I'm remembering what it is like to be a real human being. Things like hobbies and even the idea of a couple of hours of leisure time are beginning to sound not so far fetched. Grad school makes me feel inadequate if I'm not spending every single waking moment working on a project, a paper, or studying a score. Sometimes, though, you just have to stop and smell the roses (or drink the beer from the bottling bucket).

Is It May?

It's been a helluva semester. Only a week and a half to go. Since the last time I wrote in this blog, I've had a few things on my plate:

- I conducted L'Histoire du Soldat with the U of I Chamber Orchestra:

-The next week I went to a workshop at the Cleveland Institute of Music:

-The following week I gave a recital in Champaign:

Two days after this I got to conduct the collegiate premiere of a work that had its world premiere at Aspen last summer (no photo).

In addition to my conducting, I spent the first half of my Spring break in Chicago observing student teachers, played in the pit orchestra for the Champaign-Urbana Theater Company's production of The Producers, and somehow managed to keep myself current in all of my classes. In fact I just turned in a term paper this week! I'm also finishing up my first full season with the McHenry County Youth Orchestras in Crystal Lake. Our final concert of the season is coming up on Sunday, May 20th.

So it's been a little... busy.

The cherry on top of the sundae for me this semester is a 180 mile bike ride (from Champaign to Crystal Lake) as part of an effort to raise funds for a domestic violence shelter in the McHenry County area called "Turning Point" and raise awareness of the youth orchestra program as well. I thought of the idea last fall as I drove along the Fox river from Oswego to Crystal Lake (it's a beautiful stretch) and I volunteered to make the trip and connect it to some kind of fundraiser. I started my bike training this week. Not too bad so far.

While this might be a little bit crazy, I also view it as a great way to shed myself of the stress of the semester and do something I've always wanted to do (of course I initially envisioned rides across Wisconsin or Southeastern Minnesota or along the North Shore of Lake Superior, but the flat, hot, windy terrain central Illinois will have to do for now).