St. Louis, MO to Flora, IL - 104 miles
We headed out of St. Louis and crossed the Mississippi River into East St. Louis - known to many as the "murder capital" of the US. With this knowledge, I was not so comfortable riding through this part of town, but it was mostly just empty and we were soon into the suburbs in Illinois.
We made a planned breakfast stop at an IHOP about 16 miles outside of the city where we enjoyed a real breakfast. I was having what I like to call "flat tire issues" over the past couple of days where I would get a flat about once every 10 miles and this morning was no exception. We found a bike shop nearby that opened at 10AM and decided to hit it up so that I could get to the bottom of the problem.
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| The Arch! |
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| Melina and Nate Crossing the Mississippi |
The Bike Surgeon is an awesome shop in Illinois and took amazing care of us. I was at the door at 10AM and they brought be right back to the mechanic's station to begin working on my bike. One of the mechanics, Sam, knew exactly what I needed and grabbed a new "bomb proof" tire for my rear wheel. We hung out at the shop for quite some time and chatted with the staff who were totally stoked on our trip and on cycling in general (as you might gather). They were so nice and willing to help us out with anything that we needed. They even gave each of us a shop jersey! Thanks to everyone at the Bike Surgeon!
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| The Shop |
The rest of the day was mostly flat and uneventful. We were able to cruise at a pretty good clip and got into Flora before dark despite getting off to a late start.
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| Melina and Nate approaching Flora, IL |
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