Author: MIT Spokes

Sacramento, CA to Benicia, CA — 74.9 mi, 1764 ft

well, this one is LONGGG overdue…whoops 😀 (please forgive me, mom, grandma, etc.) anyways, without any further delay, i will recount our 2nd to last biking day before reaching our long-anticipated destination of san francisco. buckle up, because while i ALWAYS say this is going to be a long one, this statement could never be more true than right now…(2662 words, to be exact, and for JDs stats on the spokes 2025 bloggers total word counts) (if you’re wondering, yes, i had the most)

…which, in true spokes fashion, started the night before, past midnight and the previous day. ramona (the previous day’s blogger) was fast asleep during these festivities, so i will give the much needed context instead. it all started when joseph, while making the day’s route, pointed out that there was a six flags amusement park within 10 miles of our destination in benicia. 

this small comment will drastically alter the course of the following day.

ishaq, the next day’s planned driver, is now DEAD-SET on going to six flags, even willing to wake up at an ungodly hour and bike instead. ruth decides she will follow whatever the group does, but goes to bed right then and there on the couch in case we decide to wake up early. tian wants to go, and is scheming to switch driving days with ishaq and take the van straight there. joseph, charles, greta and i are all indecisive for the next 2-3 hours, while ramona is in the blissful ignorance of slumber. eventually, we come up with the PERFECT plan so that everyone gets what they want:

• because we are, for once, in proximity of civilization™, this is one of the most perfect days to do a self-supported ride (or, a ride without the van)
• ishaq and tian will switch driving days, and tian + the van will head straight for six flags around 10am to get there by opening for the six flags group, but leave late enough for the late-risers group
• all riders are free to leave and go where they please: we end up splitting up into “six flags” (ishaq and ruth), and “regular” (joseph, charles, ramona, greta, and i)
• six flags group leaves around 5-6am to get there around opening
• regular group sleeps in and takes a chill day exploring the various stops through california leaving the capital on the way to the bay!
• everyone does what they want!!!

this leaves me waking up around 9am. joseph also gets up around this time, ramona is already awake (and is debriefed on last night’s plan), while charles and greta have to be woken up (by me) so they don’t sleep in TOO late and miss dropping off their stuff in the van (you’re welcome). most people have some of the oatmeal made by our lovely hosts, while i start scheming for a early ride cafe stop (because what else can you expect from me if not a cafe stop?) i end up finding a spot in downtown sacramento, so after leaving our stuff in the van joseph, ramona and i set out around 10am, with charles and greta behind us. while they originally intended to join us at our cafe, they ended up just heading straight for the one at our first rest stop. this was probably a wise decision, as with the morning rush, it took around a combined 30-45 minutes for joseph and i to get through the line to order (thanks ramona for guarding our stuff!), and all our food to come out. social media was RAVING about their egg sandwiches, so of course i had to get one. my bacon, egg and cheese ended up being pretty worth the hype (maybe not the wait, though…) after finishing up our food, chai lattes, and tea, we set out for davis.

while the first leg would have actually been around 17.5 miles, it was a little shorter than that since we were heading out of downtown. we went on a bike path headed right along the highway, sometimes moving even faster than morning commuter traffic, which i thought was pretty funny. the closer and closer we got to davis, the more i realized it was not nearly as rural as i thought—after all, it was only an hour out of sacramento by bike. we passed by some fruit stands, got accidentally drafted by another random biker, and made our way into the college town of davis! after checking on the status of charles and greta via life360, we realized they we’re actually still in town, so we met up to officially form the full non-six flags group.

with the amount of activities and procrastination that went on in davis, this rest stop deserves its own paragraph. the original rest stop was another cafe, which we all ultimately skipped for other places. after the freshies group helped some locals repair their bikes, we all met up at a newspaper shop around the corner. we learned that davis had the first bike lanes in AMERICA, met the shop owner’s absolutely MASSIVE great dane in the back, and joseph and i got popsicles before heading out. we made our way over to a korean dessert shop, and ended up splitting some bingsu—a popular dessert made from shaved ice, milk, and various toppings. ours was topped with strawberries, mango, circus animal cookies, and what i believe was a chocolate covered oreo. while we munched, charles and co. worked on the crossword inside the copy of the new york times he got at the newspaper shop. eventually, we spread out: charles and greta napped outside on a table, ramona and i looked at books together, and i honestly don’t know what joseph was doing. at some point i split off to call my sister, and before we knew it it was almost 3pm and we were about 60 miles from where we needed to be before dark. spoiler alert: we did NOT make it before dark…

alas, we FINALLY start heading out of davis. our next stop was only 12.5 miles away, and after we all accidentally split up in 3 different directions trying to make our way out of town, we met up again and biked as a pack on the mostly empty farm roads. a few stopped to eat almonds off the trees on the side of the road (myself NOT included), the turns we hit every 1.5-2 miles as we zig-zagged along the main highway kept me entertained, while the wind slightly annoyed me. soon enough, we hit the dixon fruit market! i got a watermelon juice for myself, as well as a loaf of bread and block of cheese to split with the rest of the group. while i was unsure if we would finish the whole thing (as the van was not there to carry the leftovers), i left with only a small cube of cheese in my bike bag. in hindsight, i think not having to worry about the driver being stuck in one place for too long is what caused our future problems. anyways, we made a slight detour to a gas station for restrooms, ice, and scratchers, and hit the road after another decently lengthy stop.

leg 3 was about another 15 miles, and while the rest stop was supposed to be at a park, we once again decided to get creative and instead make it at the great west coast fast food chain known as in and out. i honestly don’t remember much from this leg, but at in and out i got animal style fries for the first time (truly life-changing), while this was quite a few others first time at in and out at all. it’s not the best food ever, but it is pretty good, and in this economy, where else are you getting a burger, fries and drink for less than $10? as we sit outside enjoying our meals with the sun just dipping below the horizon, this was the first time it settled in that we were kinda cooked (aka biking in the dark). after calling the six flags crew, to keep an already incredibly long blog a little shorter, we realized the van simply was not going to be able to come shuttle people if needed (which we really only do in dangerous conditions physically or environmentally), so we had no choice but to finish the ride. i dump the rest of my lemonade in my water bottle (a huge hydration strat i discovered at the end of spokes), and the crew locks in for our last 35 miles.

our 2nd to last leg wound up probably being 15-20 miles, but no matter the case, we locked in and got PEDALING out of vacaville. we were slowly losing more light, but the grind doesn’t stop. we passed by the original rest stop 3, and after some time we made it to our new rest stop—a tj maxx. as we had never biked in complete darkness before, we didn’t realize how cold it got with both the wind and the absence of sunlight. greta got a long-sleeve cotton button-up that she planned to reuse for normal day wear, joseph got a pair of pajama pants with garfield-shaped pumpkins on them, while the rest of us took the opportunity to rest a little. otherwise, we kept the stop pretty short, and soon headed out to get to FINALLY our place for the night.

stepping out of the warmth of that building made me question if i should have actually purchased additional layers or not, but i reassured myself that once we got pedalling i would warm up again. and boy, did we have to PEDAL, because (of course) all the climbs—albeit pretty short—we’re saved for the very end. just my luck. however, there was just around 15 miles to go, so there was no choice but to lock in (count how many times i’ve said that in this blog), and FINISH. we got in the most maximally lit and visible formation, and hit the hills heading into benicia. the first portion was probably the scariest and most painful—-basically pitch black except for our lights and the interstate running adjacent to us on the service road (with the cars BLINDING me instead of helping me see), headwinds CENTRAL, and some route confusion that almost led us down a steep hill to nowhere. but after conquering this most mentally challenging section with the power of the kpop demon hunters soundtrack, we hit benicia and civilization…meaning flat, lit, and car-free BIKE TRAILS!!! we finished the last of our climbs, zoomed down into town, and finally made it to our place at the lovely hour of 10:30pm. we all sigh in relief, saying that would NEVER happen again (of course, with spokes ending the next day, it most definitely wouldn’t, but the sentiment remained). we take quick showers and meals, apologize to our hosts for our ungodly hour of arrival, set out our sleeping bags, and pass out along with the six flags group (who had gone to bed at a much more ideal time). 

the next day, we would bike across the golden gate bridge into san francisco, officially completing our over 4,000 mile across the united states. yet, at the time, it didn’t feel like we were actually, finally done. after being in a constant, structured regimen of biking, learning festival, and rest days for almost 3 months, it was hard—no, impossible—to process that in a few days, i would be going home, and then back to school in boston—back to normal life.

fast forward a few weeks later: it’s a sunny sunday afternoon in cambridge, i’m sitting in flour on mass ave, iced chai latte just about finished, about to start working on my 8.02 learning sequences. my bike—covered in stickers i collected over the summer—sits chained up outside. i feel like i’ve adjusted comfortably back to the school routine, the busyness and chaos—between 4 classes, my UROP, pole vault, my new sorority (pi phi, wings up!), my job at the list arts center, and preparations to recruit spokes 2026 (keep your eyes open!)—keeping my mind occupied (which i like, actually). 

however, every so often, i am reminded of my life-changing journey (it’s something i will never forget, but sadly, life goes on). chrysler pacificas driving down the street. the cyclists outside trader joe’s last weekend, eating pickles straight out of the jar. certain songs that come up on shuffle on spotify. the hundreds of thousands of pictures in my photo album when i happen to scroll back too far on accident, or when i am reminiscing on purpose. the seemingly simple question from peers of “what did you do this summer?” 

i cherish these memories, and remember them fondly, but it breaks my heart to come to terms with the fact that i can’t ever truly go back to and relive those 3 months of my life. i could sit with that pain forever…or i could choose to look forward to what’s next. there are interesting classes and projects to be done, exciting track meets to train for, and so many new friends to be made, and fresh adventures to go on in the meantime (bike touring is certainly in my future—pacific crest summer 2026?) i am forever grateful for the many people i met along the way: from ever generous and wise hosts and grateful, hard-working learning festival partners and their bright students, to kind strangers at rest stops and on the road, and of COURSE my fellow spokies, i truly believe i saw the best of humanity this summer. the chaos and mayhem in the world right now sometimes made the future seem pretty dim, but in every small interaction—from child to senior, townsperson to city dweller, farmer to entrepreneur, stranger to friend—i gained just a little more hope. i saw the grand sights and views, as well as the charming, unique corners, nooks and crannies of this diverse country that make me proud to call it home—both in place and people. 

i am also very thankful for the many people who got me to this point in my life journey, to be able to go on the journey of spokes. to my family, teachers, mentors, coaches, and friends—who never doubted my ability to go far and do hard things (like get into MIT…which is still so crazy to me)—i thank you from the bottom of my heart. some days, i still can’t believe the life i get to live, and it was all thanks to you and your hard work and support.

finally, i would like to thank my fellow spokies—my new best friends. tian, ishaq, ruth, charles, greta, joseph, and ramona, thank you for being such a big part in a summer i will never forget. thank you for getting me through the longest days, the toughest climbs, and the most exhausting learning festivals. for the yaps on the bike about anything and everything, serious or not, for the great meals and the time we spent making (or just enjoying) them, and ALL the laughs in between. for the rest stop shenanigans, rest day adventures, and MANY cafe runs that i dragged you all on because i insisted on having as many on each day’s route as possible. for your endless encouragement, thoughtful advice, and sincere love. i can’t wait to keep being friends with all of you—even if we are no longer all together physically, the thousands of miles that brought us together will never, truly, tear us apart.

with my final philosophical spiel, i will end my final spokes blog. it was the ride of a lifetime (haha, get it?), and i am SO excited to pass the baton to spokes 2026, so that 8 more can take part in this special journey. 

a lovely rest of your day and one final thank you to YOU, my lovely readers!

signing off,

schmitty 💗

Ely, NV to Eureka, NV — 69.8 mi, 3252 ft

giving you my WARMEST of welcomes (truly, it’s pretty toasty out here…) from the silver¹, battle born², and (tragically) most mountainous state in the union, the one i happen to call home—nevada! your friendly neighborhood nevadan sarah is here to give you the details on our stretch from ely (pronounced e-lee) to eureka! 💡

like many a day with spokes 2025, this one actually started very, VERY early. as in just past midnight from the previous day. this came courtesy of a late-night, spontaneous decision headed by ruth to film a spokes version of the trailer of the classic 1985 film “the breakfast club.” roles were assigned, clips were filmed, and everyone eventually set off to bed: as of writing this (slightly delayed) blog, the full production is in the final stages of editing by ruth, so stay tuned!!! 🙌🏻 so, the spokies ACTUALLY started our real day pretty late, not waking up until well after 8am in the otherwise desolate halls of white pine high school. i hit a quick shower (mostly due to the freezing temperature and EXTREME water pressure…i thought my skin was going to get blasted clean off), ate some granola, packed up, and set off around 10:30am…yikes 😬

after turning onto highway 50 to head out-of-town, i felt the familiar dread of looking down at my bike computer and realizing that the next turn was not for another 60-something miles 😐 i think i am ever so slightly addicted to the variety of data in order to keep me stimulated on the ride, but we all have our own coping mechanisms…right? it’s ok, though: i had left that morning with greta and ruth, and we eventually caught up with tian to have an almost all-spokes-girlies leg 1 (minus ramona, who understandably sped off a little earlier in the day after waking up at 7am. we all aspire to be like ramona). we passed a sign that said ruth (and took a picture with it, of course), talked about the potential state of our lives in the next 25-50 years, and before i knew it, we saw charles in the distance with the van. joseph eventually catches up to the rest of us after leaving last because he is slow to get ready in the mornings but refuses to get up earlier to compensate, instead resorting to putting in high intensity first legs (had to call you out on it…sorry not sorry). i had the absolute PERFECT combo of snacks—salty cheez-its and half a cheese stick, a few sweet strawberries, and some refreshing lemonade to wash it all down 😮‍💨 and set off in a wonderful mood to start our 1st summit of the day!

for my non-nevadans (which are probably all of you besides my family and friends—hello!), the title of this blog is a reference to nevada’s state anthem, “home means nevada,” with the first set of lyrics from the chorus going “home means nevada, homes means the hills”! and boy…they were not wrong writing that. pretty much all of our days in nevada have been up-down, up-down, and today was no different. after a decently comfortable climb to the top of robinson pass (elevation 7,607 feet), we reaped the lovely reward that is the downhill to cruise into rest stop 2, which was the side of the road (like usual these days). while i hadn’t wanted to get my hopes too high, by this point i was confident in saying that the winds today were MUCH better than my 1st day back home. the wind is probably my biggest mood-killer: the turbulent ride into nevada a few days prior made slow climbs even more painfully drawn out, turned speedy, fun descents into tedious balancing acts courtesy of some intense cross-wind and gust action, and constrained flat sections into a constant, agonizingly slow push against an invisible wall. if my vocabulary doesn’t give a good enough indication, i was NOT a happy camper. 

moving on from the pessimistic though, i left rest stop 2 maintaining my good spirits for the next climb and the rest of the ride. i passed by some lovely lavender fields and flocks of sheep 🪻🐑 stopped by a historic marker talking about the silver rush of the late 1800s (and the ghost towns that followed), and pulled into rest stop 3 (sadly, the desolate nature of northern nevada has led to some plain naming and placing in rest stops for our rides). i was happy to see ramona for the 1st time that day, but i was even more curious about what she had strapped creatively to her bike bag—an abandoned nevada license plate she had found on the side of the road. i definitely did not start scheming of ways to get it off her hands…i guess i already have my own, though (even if its attached to the back of my car back in vegas). i ate some of the yummy sandwich ruth had made me (thanks ruth!) before setting off for legs 4 and 5. these weren’t too eventful, besides two more summits climbed, named little antelope (elevation 7,438 feet) and pancake (elevation 6,517 feet) summits, respectively.

naturally, the highest summit to be climbed that day was in the very last leg. our route planning site says it was almost 1400 feet over about 8.5 miles, but i think our garmin bike computers said something more like 1100 feet over 5 miles. no matter the exact numbers, it was a slow and steady one. the REAL strategy i have realized that works best for climbs is actually NOT trying to drown out your miserable thoughts and aching legs with loud, hype music (while that does work pretty good)—it’s actually distracting yourself by yapping with someone else! since the shoulder was too small for pairing up with one of my fellow spokies, i called one of my friends from back home (who actually goes to college in northern nevada! go pack) to catch up on life. after she kept me distracted for a solid 30-40 minutes (even amongst the occasional gust of wind that made me unintelligible—bless your soul, farrah 💗), greta and ruth caught up to me with about a mile to go. with loud downhills and the end in sight, i let my friend go, and the trio yapped our way to the top. at pinto summit (elevation 7,376 feet), we met up with joseph, took some pictures, and got ready to make the final, speedy push into eureka! 

while our route for the day ended in eureka proper, our actual destination for the night was diamond valley baptist church—about 18 miles north, or COMPLETELY out of the way and off our overall route. ishaq was speedy enough to do the extra mileage before dark, but the rest of us decided to at least partially shuttle in stages via the car. ramona had went up with the grocery crew of charles and tian earlier, so joseph, greta, ruth and i chilled out in front of a convenience store while we waited for the car to return. joseph and i got snacks, and in the meantime greta and ruth decided that they wanted to bike the 18 miles…you go, girls! 🔥 after trading lights to appear as bright and visible as possible on the road, they set off, and eventually tian showed up for me and joseph. we gladly racked our bikes and hopped into the tian biker uber :))

after arriving at the church, joseph realized and informed tian that the car had about 20 miles of gas left, the nearest gas station was 15 miles away, and closed in about 10 minutes. oh, and greta and ruth (who went on an escapade involving rodeos and quesadillas…quite the shenanigans) should probably be picked up since it is now DARK, and the road is a bit sketch. thankfully, all parties arrive at the church safe and sound (if not slightly traumatized). for dinner, charles serves…questionable fried rice (which some of us flamed a little too hard, sorry charlie), and BOMB ramen and potstickers. we all shower in the girls bathroom (since that is the only shower in the building), and lay down to sleep on the PADDED! PEWS!!! i slept not only SUPER comfortably, but peacefully knowing that i would be taking a break and behind the wheel the next day!

“but sarah, where’s the philosophical spiel? you’re in your home state, after all!” and you’d be right! while i am technically back “home,” the north is a bit different from the south. they share similar climates and scenery—hot, dry, and mostly barren—but the northern mountains i was complaining about earlier do provide ideal conditions for the occasional flora and fauna, which i much enjoyed while flying down the other side of these climbs. surprisingly, though, it was in the more unassuming, recognizable valleys in between where i felt the most awe. i grew up surrounded by sights like these, yet seeing them in this totally new context (and slightly different location) made me feel a fresh appreciation for their simplicity. after weeks of stunning scenery including lush forests, vast fields, towering peaks, and vibrant canyons, home, in its simple familiarity, has become a comforting mental palette cleanser. i found a sense of peace and beauty in the seemingly plain and boring, in how the landscape didn’t demand too much of your attention with complex intricacy or mind-blowing sights. the scenery was content to be just what it was, and i was content to exist in it—simply. just me and my bike, in the valley of my thoughts and nostalgia…

how’s that for a mental tangent? well, if you thought that was bad, get ready for my next blog…which will also be my last official spokes 2025 blog…totally not feeling a LOT of feelings about that….hahaha…💔💔

with that, i’ll see you on our LAST RIDE before we head into san francisco!!! 💗

1. our official nickname, in reference to the impact of silver mining on our history and economy! ↩︎
2. nevada achieved statehood during the civil war–“battle born, battle bred” ⚔️ ↩︎