Day 24: 100 Things I Love About Spokes

Murphysboro, IL to St. Louis, MO — 101.1 mi, 2678 ft

Today is an extraordinarily special day. Today is the day we rode our first-ever century!

In biker terms, a century means completing a ride over 100 miles. In underexperienced biker terms, this means a little bit of added anxiousness, increased speed, and an earlier start time. 

In honor of this momentous occasion, and inspired by my elementary school’s “100 Days of School” tradition, I want to share a blog post of 100 Things I Love About Spokes, categorized into items from our century day, general moments, and, of course, the Spokes family.

Moments From Our Century Day

1. Having amazing, perfectly cooked eggs and pancakes from Jessica to fuel our century
2. Petting Jessica’s super cute doggie named Echo in the morning
3. Finally leaving the house by SEVEN AM for our century, a record start time for the team
4. Seeing a heron majestically dive over a lake
5. Drafting in a line with the team and calling each other over the phone to *try* and unsuccessfully play imposter

6. Appreciating Nate and Drew for switching off which one of them would break the wind for the team and which one would look over their shoulder to make sure everyone was still there
7. Hitting crazy, insane speeds because we had a tailwind for the first time in forever
8. Eating amazing candy salad courtesy of Aarushi’s idea that saved the day
9. Meeting members of St Luke’s Lutheran Church at our first rest stop and taking pictures to include in their monthly newsletter
10. Eating the yummiest Dairy Queen cookie dough blizzard of all time at our second rest stop
11. Hanging out in a local coffee shop at our second rest stop and meeting a kind man and his super athletic volleyball-playing daughter

12. Experiencing the support of our awesome MIT Edgerton Center contact, Marvelin Higginbottom
13. Experiencing the anti-support of the also probably awesome but unfortunately misaligned MIT auditors who have to review our transactions

14. Saving the state of my butt and thighs with a beautifully timed application of chamois butter behind a building at our third rest stop
15. Riding the paved and quite scenic Metro Bike Link Trail into St. Louis
16. Discussing siblings and hobbies with Caroline, including the awesome question of “what do you think you could talk about forever?”
17. Resting my eyes under a wonderfully placed tree at the last rest stop of the day
18. Eating the yummy peaches and Cheezits that Aarushi got for us to fuel the last segment of our ride
19. Seeing the Gateway Arch in the distance as we rode into St. Louis

20. Getting kind words of encouragement and curious questions shouted at us by the people of St. Louis
21. *Safely* but scarily crossing the main bridge into St. Louis with Caroline right next to the cars
22. Meeting Drew’s dad at the Gateway Arch and telling him about our day
23. Monumentally taking awesome pictures at the Gateway Arch to commemorate our achievement

24. Buying ANOTHER postcard (Aarushi already bought me three) because I really liked the designs at the gift shop
25. Riding around the Gateway Arch on our bikes to see the river views
26. Finishing the ride with Drew and hearing his happiness from spending time with his dad
27. Passing through the LGBTQ district of St. Louis and seeing the festivities for Pride Month
28. Eating yummy lasagna and cookies courtesy of our host, Alexander, and his wife
29. Having a bed to share instead of stinky sleeping bags
30. FINISHING 100 MILES IN ONE DAY!!!!!

General Spokes Moments

31. Meeting a horse trainer on the side of the road in Kentucky, who told us about her life, horses, and personal reflections on devoting her life to one specific thing
32. Being exposed to my new all-time favorite breakfast of blueberry French toast bake from Sherri
33. Sending postcards from every state to my family
34. Helping determined students finish my workshop and watching them light up with excitement when their circuit works
35. Submerging myself in any body of water (waterpark… lake… river…)
36. Playing verbal Connections every day with my boyfriend, Noah, where he patiently reads every word on the screen, and we painstakingly do the Connections without me seeing the words
37. Wearing my amazing new bib from Pactimo that my wonderful MIT friend, Emma Hopkins, express shipped to me, which has saved my butt and inspired Drew to order the same bib
38. Starting grateful circles at dinner, where everyone shares one thing they are grateful for
39. Using laundry loops, which make our laundry extremely efficient, and are a fun part of my nightly routine
40. Growing in my comfort levels with blood (I am deathly scared of blood) and getting to be helpful when Aarushi and Caroline had cuts
41. Exploring new Gatorade flavors and solidifying that blue is probably the best, even though in my heart I know it’s actually purple, but the team doesn’t agree with me
42. Meeting hosts who have been keeping up with our blogs and know a few details from our trip
43. Guessing the plants we pass as we bike through the Midwest and getting mogged by Drew every time for guessing incorrectly
44. Putting stickers on my bike from every state we pass
45. Meeting cute doggies that help us get over our trauma from Kentucky and our nemesis Max
46. Watching my teammates grow in their confidence as teachers and connect with the students
47. Listening to a Spotify jam with the team and getting to sing along to the same songs
48. Unlocking new snacks that the entire team likes and wants to share (we have recently moved away from mangos and have hit fig bars and gummy worms in full force)
49. Alternating riddles with my dad to pass the time
50. Watching a student at the correctional facility receive a badge signifying that he was a leader of his classroom
51. Getting Aarushi to braid my hair every morning
52. Hearing the awesome and sometimes crazy love stories of our hosts (my favorite question ever)
53. Watching one of our students promote her FIRST Tech Challenge team at a learning festival, especially since I also participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition
54. Opening my 75 letters for every day of Spokes from my amazing friends and family
55. Hearing the employees of Fazoli’s, a restaurant that fed us, share their experiences in the prison system and their heartfelt gratitude that we taught at a correctional facility
56. Showering. No further explanations.
57. Sharing deep team debriefs of our families and how we were raised to get to know each other
58. Getting to start my Garmin at the beginning of every ride and feeling my body get stronger at the uphills
59. Hearing students excitedly tell me about their plans as engineers and scientists, and even their dreams of attending MIT
60. Watching the joy of parents and families (including my mom) when they share their love in the comment sections of our blog
61. Getting a little too familiar with Urgent Cares across the country, but at least we know that we can always receive assistance!
62. Playing the country game (say a country that starts with the last letter of the country said before it) with Nate and Drew to pass time while in Kentucky territory
63. Listening to episodes of the “Explained” documentary by Vox on Netflix to learn cool facts and pass the time
64. Relying on Drew and Carmen to fix my slowly degrading bicycle, which now has several broken parts, but I still love her
65. Watching teammates do acts of kindness and support each other in tough moments, like Aarushi biking with me when I am seriously exhausted and going slow 
66. Not pedaling sometimes (oftentimes) on downhills, prompting Nate to ask me if I knew I could in fact pedal (I know, but I like to soak in the views)
67. Noticing parts of nature and the scenery change as I bike, including new plants, animals, and terrain
68. Drinking lots of yummy lattes across the country. Coffee is definitely universal!
69. Asking people in diverse communities deep questions to understand the myriad of perspectives on the world that we get to encounter as we bike
70. Unlocking more Drew lore, including his insane piano skills, which bring me so much joy every time he plays
71. Hearing the inspiring biking stories of our Warmshowers hosts, who have often biked far more than us and are way cooler
72. Gaining true appreciation for a roof over my head and a bed to sleep on
73. Stuffing my face all day every day, with whatever snacks I want because I burn more calories than I ever have in my life
74. Experiencing thick Midwestern accents and feeling my own southern slang creep through sometimes
75. Discussing the World Cup in depth with Caroline, my mom, and my grandfather, even though I have not been keeping up with the games at all
76. Getting to wake the team up in the morning and put some use to my morning-person abilities
77. Pretending that I live in different towns with Aarushi and imagining what our lives would be like
78. Seeing farm equipment that is multiple times larger than I ever imagined being driven by me on the road
79. Getting to walk through the sanctuaries of the many churches we stay at and experiencing the love and community shared within the walls
80. Joining the extreme ice-loving group of our team, where we will fill our bottles to the brim with ice before adding water or Gatorade
81. Successfully moving the team away from fast biking and towards side questing
82. Hearing friendly honks of encouragement from cars on the road
83. Having a terrible streak of having to SAG too many people out every time I drive on my assigned driving days, but at least we have SAGed everyone successfully!
84. Learning about Caroline’s artistic abilities and getting to see her draw in her food journal
85. Seeing “Welcome” signs as we cross state borders
86. Calling my family members more often since I am on the bike all day, and getting to hear their stories
87. Receiving random texts of encouragement from my family and friends, especially when the biking is tough
88. Never burning because the sun sleeves we wear are awesome
89. Posting on Strava and getting to see my location actually move west across the map
90. Receiving the generosity of hundreds of people across America, with restaurants providing free meals, strangers donating cash, and people opening their homes

Spokes Family

91. Carmen for always being a rock on our team that is down for anything fun and is seriously here for the love of the game 
92. Aarushi for sticking by my side when the rides get tough and always agreeing to stop and meet new people
93. Caroline for engaging in my love for deep conversation and discussing life with me
94. Nunu for bringing insane amounts of spark and awesome ideas to the team, making sure we always have fun
95. Drew for being a yapper D1 and always being ready to chat about anything and everything
96. Nate for having one of the quickest wits I have ever seen, and always looking out for all of the members of the team
97. Greta and Charles for hopping on a lengthy call with me to discuss my Kentucky fears and try to assuage the dog situation
98. Sarah and Tian for being our biggest blog supporters and making sure we feel like our blogs are appreciated
99. All of the Spokes alumni for helping us navigate the dog situation and truly stepping up as our biggest resource
100. The entire Spokes community of friends and family for helping us navigate this extraordinary adventure and being our biggest fan club along the way

With centuries full of my love,

Tatiana ❤