September 19, 2020
Metamora to Toluca
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I had a delivery to make in Metamora last Saturday, and figured starting a bike ride from there would give me some new roads to ride. With Toluca as the destination, I started out at 11:30am.
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On the attached track map, direction of travel is clockwise, making my first town stop Cazenovia, and I was there at 12:29pm. I'd planned to "tour" all the towns I passed though, but due to a few missed turns, I didn't do a very thorough job. I did a fair job at Low Point, seeing the post office, an old business building, and the now-closed Low Point High School. A grade-school girl on her bike followed me around town, telling me about how she bicycles every day, and that it's good exercise. When I told her I was on my way to Washburn next, she said she goes there every day [for school].
I stopped on my way through Washburn at 1:30pm for a coffee break at Grant Ireland Memorial Park, where I met a grade-school boy on his bike. He wanted to know why I had walkie-talkies [my GPS units] attached to my bike. He then followed me around until I was out of the park.
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I crossed the BNSF double-track main line at 2:32pm, and was in La Rose at 2:38pm for a quick loop around town. Next town - Toluca. Before getting there I came to a planned gravel road - my favorite for this ride. The best picture I have of that road includes a rather poor selfie.
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There was a Dollar General store just beyond the city sign, so I stopped there for a couple of sodas, and some other snacks to go with my planned supper from either Mona's or Capponi's. Toluca has the strangest set-up for dining in town - two Italian restaurants, owned by the same family, and located just one block apart. Here's an article about the restaurants:
Mona's, Capponi's, Bernardi's: Family business thrives over three generations
I asked the clerk at the Dollar General which would be the better place to get a carryout cheeseburger. She said they're about the same, but her husband prefers Mona's. Good enough.
I drank one of my soda bottles outside the store, then headed downtown, arriving at Mona's at 4:28pm. Twenty minutes later I had my sack lunch in-hand. The cashier was overgenerous with silverware and napkins.
I continued on north through town on Main Street to Pool Park, where the Google Earth map at home had indicated there are picnic tables.
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Dinner was very good, and put me just at the "I'm full." point.
Starting at 5:34pm, I slowly made my way back through town. Seeing a sign just before I made it out of town reminded me that I wanted to see Toluca's jumbo. I'd tried to get a picture of Roanoke's jumbo on my last trip, but it (my picture) was unimpressive. I didn't do much better here.
There were clouds (or maybe smoke from California) on the western horizon, so it turned out this was my best "sunset" picture, even though sunset wasn't until 6:59pm.
At 6:50pm my GPS indicated that I'd crossed back into Woodford County.
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Straight miles with repeating turns south and west put me on IL-116 a mile east of Metamora at 9:12pm. At 9:21pm I was back at my truck, recording 57 miles for the day. Maximum speed was 25.1 mph and average moving speed was 9.0 mph. Low to high elevation change was less than 200 feet, making this an easy day, despite the miles being a little more than I'd figured.
There was a lot of riding in the dark this trip, and my bottle generator worked well keeping my lights on. And it was much quieter this time, since I'd adjusted the generator slightly to get its drive wheel off the edge of the tire's tread and more onto the sidewall. It'd been misadjusted since last year, when I'd put on that tire in Nebraska.
Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 354 miles (570 km)
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