MIT Spokes 2026

Author: MIT Spokes

  • Day 60: maybe paradise is a laundromat in utah

    Day 60: maybe paradise is a laundromat in utah

    Zion, UT – 0mi, 0ft

    It’s 9:35pm. Charles and I are sitting in TABS laundromat in Hurricane, UT, listening to the hissing, humming, and squeaking of Speed Queen Commercial Washers. I recently returned from a 20 minute quest to acquire quarters spanning Pizza Hut, Ernie’s General Store, Taco Bell, Little Caesar’s, and Alfredos. Said quarters were ultimately acquired by knocking on the drive-thru window at Alfredo’s (a Mexican restaurant, obviously). We are running five loads of laundry simultaneously. We will not leave this laundromat until 11:27pm.

    hi charles!
    our new home

    Spokes has been full of experiences, like this one, that I can only describe as surreal. “What is going on? How did I get here? Why am I doing this?” Right now, as I write this blog, I am sitting on the porch of a general store in Nevada, in a town with a permanent population of 16. All I can hear are crickets and the occasional click-clack of Charles’ and Tian’s keyboards as they blog beside me. There are twinkling Christmas lights adorning a house across the street. It is August. It is 11:50 pm. I am once again waiting for the laundry.

    Like I said, surreal. But sorry, I got ahead of myself. Let’s get back to the day at hand.

    On Day 60, I woke up in a grain silo. I dilly-dallied my way through the morning, packed myself a pb+j, and joined the other Spokies in the minivan, squeezed between the sliding door and the folded, untethered middle seat. We drove to Hoodoo’s General Store, where Ishaq purchased $25 worth of snacks in exchange for free all-day parking. Ishaq generously shared his snacks with rest of the team. (We joked early on on in the trip that Spokes was like Groundhog Day and we each had some vice that we would need to overcome in order to escape. Ishaq’s was his poor sharing abilities. I’m happy to report he will be escaping Spokes when we reach SF.)

    At Hoodoo’s, we met up with our new friend from Bryce, Cameron. He was wearing a bright orange shirt and appeared far more prepared for this hike than most of us, with our drawstring bags and tennis shoes. Together, we caught the shuttle into Zion National Park. We unloaded half a mile later and walked through a maze of empty line lanes, which made me feel like I was at Busch Gardens, or the airport. We re-boarded a different shuttle and continued our journey towards Angels Landing. I passed the shuttle ride watching Ishaq and Tian play Star Realms and the rest of the team play naptime whack-a-mole.

    Finally, we arrived at our stop and found the trailhead. The trail began with a bridge crossing a very enticing looking stream. We resisted the urge to abandon our hiking plans and spend the entire day kicking our feet in the sun-dappled water. It was a hard choice. Propelled by the beautiful sights ahead of us, however, we began the climb up to Angels Landing. The first mile and a half of the hike consisted of very steep, narrow switchbacks. We took our time, stopping to rest at the few shaded areas we could find. We discussed how terrible biking either up OR down this trail would be. Ramona is the only one who stands any chance at all of surviving the bike down. The rest of us, Charles observed, would be biking the Devil’s Takeoff. No thank you. After many, many, MANY switchbacks, we made it to the ranger station at the entrance to the last mile of Angel’s Landing. Because this is such a popular hike, entrance to the trail is controlled by a lottery-ed permit system. We were lucky enough to get two permits, so the rangers gave us all the ok to complete the hike. After the ranger station, Angels Landing turns into an steep, adrenaline (and endorphin)-pumping scramble along the rocky ridge line of the canyon. I’d seen pictures of the hike totally swamped with people, so I was happily surprised that we passed few people along the way.

    We spread out across the ridge, each step demanding careful attention. Metal handles and chains attached across the rocks helped guide us as we ascended… up and up and up. It was a beautiful day. Blue skies, hot but breezy, a couple wispy clouds. Looking out across the red canyons, I couldn’t believe I was still on the same planet I’d been in just a couple days ago. I still don’t understand how it is possible to have lush, green areas like Zion in the midst of endless, desolate desert. The park was named Zion after the biblical place-name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem and embodying the idea of a place as “refuge” or “sanctuary”. If I was a Mormon pioneer discovering Zion1 in the late 1800s, I too would have thought I must have stumbled upon some sort of holy land.

    Once on the summit, we all sat together and ate our lunches staring out across Zion Canyon. Best pb+j view ever. We made friends with a concerningly friendly squirrel. He really wanted our sandwiches. Unfortunately for him, I wanted my sandwich more. We sat on the top of Angels Landing for what felt like forever but still somehow not long enough. We’ve seen so many beautiful sights on this trip, I sometimes fear I’m becoming less observant of the beauty around us. Not today.

    At some point, we left the top of Angel’s Landing and made our way back, all the way down to the river we saw on our way up. This time, at last, we took off our shoes and socks and waded in. Most of us found nice big rocks to sit on and chatted or sat in silence while water gushed around our legs. The sun hung lower in the sky than it had in the morning, and the light dancing on the water made it even prettier than before.

    As usual when we are gathered around a body of water, a couple of us started skipping rocks. This particular stream had lots of smooth, flat rocks conducive to elite-level skipping. Unfortunately, despite trying my hand with some objectively perfect rocks, my rock-skipping skills remained unimpressive. Fortunately, they were still better than Ruth’s. It’s a great quality of life that there are almost always people both worse and better than you at things. Nonetheless, my competitive spirit was fired up so I probably could have stayed there for hours, skipping rock after rock incredibly mediocre distances. Practice makes perfect progress, right?

    With a glance at my watch, however, I remembered that we remained in a very real predicament. After our decision yesterday to “save laundry for tomorrow”, the clock was ticking down before the laundromat closed and the entire team reached laundry-pocalypse. Several Spokies had already warned me that they had “no clothes left” after two days without laundry. It was time to leave the stream and head back out of the canyon.

    We reversed our morning commute to return to our host, Robin’s, house. I originally planned to buy post-hike gelato from the general store, but I was so excited for dinner at Robin’s house that I decided to save my appetite. The night before, our first night at Zion, Robin cooked us what is without a doubt the most delicious meal we’ve had this entire trip. She told us she would be cooking “casserole and salad”, which was intriguing but didn’t strike me as anything out of the ordinary. I was imagining some sort of cheesy rice dish and maybe a caesar salad. No. Robin cooked us no less than 6 separate dishes, all packed full of vegetables, flavor, and love. Chickpea, couscous, and feta salad. Eggplant and tomato with mozzarella and polenta. Beet and jicama salad. Black bean, corn, and pepper salad. Wild mushroom casserole. Mac and tuna. I might be forgetting one. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was insane. Anyway, Robin was cooking for us again tonight so we skipped gelato and headed straight back for dinner and to complete the rest of our tasks for the night.

    Now, the laundromat in Zion closed at 10. We got back to Robin’s place around 7, and dinner was ready at 7:30. We knew we’d be cutting it close, but we were so excited to eat that we decided to do laundry after dinner. In the meantime, there were several tents and camping mats that needed cleaning after our stretch of camping in Utah, so Charles and I passed the time before dinner cleaning and setting out to dry our camping equipment. In the meantime, Ruth and Ramona made sandwiches for everyone. (They’re the best!!)

    We finished up the tents with a little extra time to spare, so I cleaned my drivetrain and lubed my chain, both of which were long overdue. Before I knew it, dinner was ready!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes, it deserves all those exclamation marks.) I told Ruth and Charles, who were accompanying the grocery and laundry trip, that we had 15 minutes to eat. Ruth easily accomplished this feat. I went back for seconds at minute 12 and barely cleared my plate. Charles got to minute 15 with an entire bowl of chili left to eat. I gave him a tupperware and told him to pack it for the road.

    Our laundry mission was becoming dire. With an hour and forty minutes until closing, we zipped out of Robin’s driveway and towards Zion Park Laundry. As we pulled into the parking lot, however, we found a very unwelcome site. Laundromat shuttered. Machines piled outside the building. The interior half ripped apart and empty. A sign on the window said “closed for the next month”:| The nearest laundromat still open was more than twenty miles away, in a town called Hurricane (but pronouned her-a-kun, according to our native Southwesterner, Sarah). This would have been an absolute disaster, except Ruth was already planning to drive to Hurricane to go grocery shopping at Walmart. We quickly made the decision to tag along with her.

    Thirty minutes and one beautiful sunset later, we pulled into a (fully functional!), somewhat antique laundromat. I haven’t spent much time in laundromats outside of Spokes2, but I think Ramona’s fascination with and love for them has rubbed off on me. In addition to the laundromat adventures I recounted at the very start of this blog, Charles and I supposedly worked on our blogs in the laundromat. I believe we wrote a combined total of about six sentences.3 Somehow, we completed all the laundry, folded all the dry clothes, and finished our blogs before Ruth finished grocery shopping. She arrived, however, bearing strawberries and chocolate, so we forgave her. Actually, the timing was quite perfect! We reunited, bid goodbye to our dear friend the laundromat, and once again hit the road. We pulled back into Robin’s driveway around midnight. I took a shower, Charles did some adulting to find an apartment, and Ruth finished making everyone sandwiches (real Spokes angel 🫶). Finally, I returned to the grain silo and went to sleep. As far as I know, I still haven’t turned into grain.

    1. Zion National Park was originally called Mukuntuweap, meaning “straight canyon” by the indigenous Paiute tribe ↩︎
    2. This might not be true, actually. I have many fond memories of ripsticking outside the laundromat on base in Sasebo. Maybe I just reignited an old spark? ↩︎
    3. This is actually quite impressive work for the two of us. Please comment your congratulations. ↩︎

  • day 58: running it back 🏜️

    day 58: running it back 🏜️

    Bryce Canyon, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT — 0 mi, 0 ft

    hello from the absolutely STUNNING bryce canyon, utah! sarah is back to tell you about our rest day adventures in this gorgeous park!!! 🧡

    after a well-deserved late wake-up for the previous day’s bikers in the campground (i drove the day before), we all began mingling over breakfast while deciding how the day was going to go. some really cool birds with mohawks also decided to join us. after munching on some berry granola then cinnamon toast crunch, we decided we would hit our hike in the afternoon, and spend the rest of the evening running our usual errands and doing other miscellaneous tasks.

    • cool birds 🦅
    • good morning from camp!

    as of the hike, after a bit of research on joseph’s end for something that would give us the best overall exposure to the park but wasn’t TOO excessive/strenuous, he decided on the navajo loop. after some scrolling through my camera roll and texts with my mom, i realized this was the exact same hike i did with my family when we visited bryce ourselves 10 YEARS AGO!!! 😮 a whole decade…crazy. thanks to my biking legs now, i was definitely a lot less prepared back then, but it was still HARD, due to its consistently steep grades towards the end. sticking to the childhood theme, we ended up talking about computer games, books, and other hobbies we participated in as kids.

    • besties!!!
    • off we go
    • wow.
    • tian keeping up the social media game
    • weee

    it’s so interesting to think about how i was coincidentally brought back to walk the exact same path i had walked 10 years ago. the millions of steps in between then and now tell so many stories: some expected, but many not at all. after all, life has its own unexpected turns and detours, steep climbs, rewarding descents, and monotonous (yet sometimes relaxing) flats in-between. even in the overlap between then and now, even though the path is the same, the traveler is very different—older, grown (at least more than before, and in many ways). her companions are, too, but all are—in their own ways—family. i wish i could go back and walk with her, tell her that things turn out NOT at ALL like she would have expected, but to be excited anyway. i wouldn’t have wanted it to happen any other way—the fight was well worth it, and the rewards sown even more so. maybe one day i will return, with even more stories to tell, even more growth achieved…💫

    • ramona chatting w/ a squirrel
    • hi joseph!
    • STUNNING!

    after a nostalgic, reminiscent ruck through the canyons, we eventually made it back to the trail connecting to the campgrounds and started thinking about lunch. actually, we had all started thinking about lunch about 2 miles ago, but now was the time to act. we walked past the camp restaurant and pizzeria, and after realizing the first was too expensive and the second would be too long of a wait, we eventually decided to make our way in a hunger-induced, feverish (and maybe slightly grumpy) haze back to the campground and scavenge our own food stores. while the others had some quick sandwiches and headed into town to run errands (buy groceries for dinner, do laundry, etc.), joseph and i, with nothing much to do, stuck around the campground to rest. we eventually made a box of annie’s mac and cheese with some of last night’s garlic bread on the side, and ate it in camping chairs on our amazon box of learning festival supplies. maybe a little scuffed, but definitely a top 5 spokes meal (definitely not influenced by my hours of RAGING hunger…) what can i say, i’m a sucker for pasta, bread, carbs in general…🥖

    we did our dishes, the town people finished their tasks and returned, and dinner was started. this was ramona’s first time cooking for the group, so we were all very excited to see what she was going to whip up. she had decided on a lovely dish dubbed “grandma’s soup,” which was a hearty mix of potatoes (her favorite vegetable), carrots, and cabbage in a warm, comforting broth. on the side was rosemary bread and chicken potstickers 🥟 which i DEFINITELY didn’t eat way more than my fair share of, straight out of the pan.

    • good soup 🍲
    • happy tian :))

    thoroughly relaxed, we hit the hay early to prepare to continue our utah adventure into the grandeur of zion national park the next day. 

    yeah, that’s DEFINITELY what happened…

    with love,

    “schmitty” 💗

  • Day 57: a nice day to Bryce

    Day 57: a nice day to Bryce

    Escalante, UT -> Bryce Canyon National Park, UT, 51.5 mi, 4290 ft

    This was in many regards a standard Spokes day. We took our time in the morning, rested well at rest stops, but somehow made it to the end before dark. So, without major events to recount, I will show you all the pictures I took this day.

    Starting off, headed out from Escalante with Ruth ❤ after saying bye to our lovely hosts and their dogs <3. My sealant fixed a puncture, but made a weird blob. We rode like this for a while.

    At some point people caught up to us and we peloton-ed our way up the first climb (out of two) to a viewpoint. The peloton was great for efficiency in the face of headwinds. It was a good time (at least for me, drafting behind :D) This stretch of the day also featured some nice signs. Unfortunately, saw no Elk, and the steep grades for us were downhill.

    Here are the views from the viewpoint, featuring weird rocks and some mountains in the distance. And here is Tian eating a sandwich? and Ishaq admiring the view.

    I tried to take some pictures of the info plates, in case someone is super curious, but the sun made my efforts difficult.

    The next reward (after the viewpoint) for climbing that climb was the downhill! Look at Ishaq speeding away! After zooming down, we met up with Ruth, Tian, Charles and Greta (I think….) and chatted for a bit. I think Charles was trying to bike with Ruth this day, a decision which he had mixed feelings about. The most important bit of the conversation centered around finding a measurement for people’s behinds. When biking we spend a lot of time with people’s butts in our sights, so it is a very relevant question to research. In the picture Ruth and Tian are discussing this question of metrics, comparing different options, like waist to butt ratio or height to butt ratio. (Spoilers, in the end Ruth implemented two of these in the evening, creating a Spokes buttocks ranking, which will not be published due to privacy policy. The chosen method of measurement also ended up receiving some criticism, so the study might need to be redone.) Anyways, back to the story.

    We made it to our next rest stop – a great, green, shaded lawn, where we had some food, and I took some paparazzi style pictures through the leaves. Tian’s one is my personal favourite. Notice me struggling to get the leaves out of her face. We layed on the lawn for a bit and Greta read us some horoscopes, which was quite entertaining. She had also made around 8 sandwiches that morning for herself and other Spokies. This is a strategy (I’m guessing introduced by Charles?), so that people don’t have to make a sandwich every single day.

    Getting to the next rest stop was pretty chill. Here’s Tian by some nice rocks. The middle one is a great image. Observe Ishaq cruising downhill in the least aero pose ever and Ruth (way more aero) struggling to keep up. Finally, there is Ruth entering civilization, where we would find our next and final rest stop for the day – a cafe. I did not take any pictures there, but people got some lattes, Ruth tried, but did not quite succeed at reading a book in German, and I was stressing over what to make for dinner tomorrow (since I am not driving, I am not usually in charge of picking a dinner, so I was having too many thoughts). The cafe had a cool ice machine OUTSIDE the cafe, which was interesting and very convenient for us.

    After the refreshments we were faced with our final climb – getting up to Bryce. We entered the National Park territory, Charles stopped to take a picture of the sign. (I did not stop to take a picture of Charles taking a picture.) There was a winding road leading us up, and while I was too busy climbing to take pictures (there is one singular photo), you have to trust me the views were great!

    Up there it was flat again and we made it onto a bike path that lead us to our campsite. Me, Ruth, Greta and Charles also stopped for some ice cream / milkshakes, but we all collectively forgot to take pictures. It was a great time though.

    After we made it to our campground and were setting up, we learned that there will be a fire ban, starting at midnight, so after showers and dinner (pasta with salad and Italian sausage, thanks, Sarah!), we sat by the fire and collectively did not do much. Contemplating life, being tired, doing an Instagram post, tidying up, watching a baseball game, listening to music. We were lost in thought, small under the night sky, brought together by the fire.

  • Day 55: Entering Dark Sky Zone

    Day 55: Entering Dark Sky Zone

    Today’s blog begins with Ishaq’s anecdote from the middle of the night. He woke up to what he thought was Tian’s (my) new, unlocked snoring pattern. He shone a light outside his tent and saw 3 raccoons on the tree next to him. Never in his life has he been so close to a raccoon. One raccoon stared deep into his soul. He felt seen in a way we, Spokies, have never seen him.

    I also had my nighttime adventures in my tent. For some reason, I kept falling in and out of sleep. Ramona was awakened in the middle of the night (out of character for her) by a nightmare featuring a realistic-looking snake. I don’t think I did much to comfort my tentmate.

    The piercing Utah sun awakened me from my slumber, and Ishaq immediately implored me to charge my phone. Although he didn’t know what today would hold, he believes that some Star Realm battles would be necessary, and there goes my emergency portable battery. I suppose entertaining ourselves can be considered an emergency. I walked over to my bike, intending to charge my bike computer, where I found my handlebar bag opened and the plastic cover ripped. Turns out, the snacks from my bike bag were not the only things ravaged by these stealthy raccoons. A half-eaten bagel in the grass was also the last remnant of our stolen bag of bagels. After Ramona returned from her walk, she told us about the ripped trash bag she had to clean up and the open cooler.

    After a demure morning of breakfast and indecision, we decided to let Sarah and Greta run their errands (laundry and dinner shopping) before we collectively go on a scenic drive. The rest of us camped in the visitor center of Capitol Reef National Park to get some stuff done with their WiFi. I hid in the movie room with a film of Fruita showing every 30 minutes. The rest of the Spokies spread out across the visitor center. There wasn’t really a good place to work. The center should seriously consider renovating to accommodate work-starved bikers. I had many emails to send, so I was typing away at my laptop. Planning for a cross-country trip never stops.

    After 3 hours of running errands, our troopers finally returned. We were momentarily distracted by the Which Spokie are you? quiz. Inspired by Spokes 2024, Charles was trying to create a bigger and better version of the quiz. Only in the late afternoon did we actually set out on the scenic drive. Unfortunately, Capitol Reef welcomed a tough crowd. While I loved the scenery, not everyone was satisfied with rock after rock. Ishaq chose to sleep during the drive. Greta regretted not buying a geology book to learn more about Utah’s rocks. Everyone was wiped out by the end of the drive, but I got some cool solo pictures.

    Greta volunteered to be the head chef for tonight’s dinner. Ramona, Ruth, and I helped prepare dinner while everyone else went off on side quests. Cutting vegetables at the campsite was so serene, in part because some key players were missing. I could be cutting vegetables with the girlies forever.

    When the rest of the crew returned, Charles and Ishaq proclaimed, “We were robbed”. The national park grocery prices were no joke. Greta related to their dismay. She made a fire bean salad for dinner, but ran out of steam when it came to the potato salad. Thankfully, Ruth and Charles came to the rescue(?) and cooked up some delicious(?) concoctions.

    We rushed towards a sunset trail point to do some last-minute hiking, and didn’t even manage to see the sunset. At least the stars were nice. The night was surreal. I thought I was trapped in a dream or memory. I couldn’t remember if I had ever seen so many stars in my life. The stars wrapped around the night sky much like a planetarium. Stars were lining the horizon, too. I suddenly recalled a play I watched in San Francisco where two characters were lying down on the roof of their car while watching the night sky. I didn’t understand the allure two years ago, but lying on the too dirty ground, I finally understood that scene. The wonder of the night sky and the people that you choose to share that moment with are special. To live is to experience, and there is much more to come.

  • Day 54: we might be on mars

    Day 54: we might be on mars

    Green River State Park, UT to Capitol Reef National Park, UT — 94.4 mi, 4,440 ft

    Ishaq is driving today, which means his strategy for waking people up is to yap loudly until we get too annoyed to stay in our tents. He’s been in his blasting Alvin and the Chipmunks out the speaker era, so I pop my AirPods in and start packing up.

    Today is a slow morning. Tian’s missing a glove, so she goes back to the nearby laundromat to hunt for it. She finds her glove in the washer, which is totally not my fault since I totally was not in charge of laundry yesterday (I’m sorry). Meanwhile, Ishaq is complaining about the breakfast dishes not being clean and Sarah and Joseph’s tent not being taken down, then promptly starts dancing around. Ramona, the kindest soul, takes dishes into her own hands, while I take the tent down, which guilts Sarah into also helping take her tent down. Joseph is nowhere to be found.

    Ramona and I finally leave once I assure her that she has contributed enough for the morning, and we embark on our 94 mile day. The beginning is uneventful, and we skip the first rest stop because Ishaq is slow. We continue biking, at some point passing a slightly concerning sign:

    I decide to play a fun game with Ramona to make her stop asking me questions about credit cards: make her guess how far a geological structure is. I point out a massive pile of rocks in the distance and she guesses 6 miles. I mock what I think is a ridiculously small distance, so she modifies it to 3-30 miles, earning my agreement. After a couple miles, we turn right, and the rocks are still very much in the distance. I guess we’ll never know how far they really are 🤷‍♀

    At the completely barren rest stop 2, I declare I’m going to pee in front of the car to shelter myself from potential highway peepers. After some debate (i.e. Charles loudly stating that he doesn’t want my pee to flow anywhere he’d have the slightest chance of seeing and/or stepping on it), I find the least sad bush around to cover me. Ramona later pees in the exact same spot, then proceeds to ask Charles questions about credit cards.

    The day is long, and though all 10 of our climbs are very demure, it’s hot out and therefore easy for us to get dehydrated. We are also almost out of individual electrolytes. Luckily, we were gifted big packets of fruit punch electrolytes early on the trip, and the gallon batches have been carrying me for the past few days. I began to ponder: what percentage electrolyte am I? So, I did the math:

    Charles and Greta + Sarah and Joseph catch up to us, and we do a rare 6 person bike ride (Tian is very far ahead of us, per usual). We debate about who would win a Spokes hunger games. Initially we decide that no one could kill Ramona because she’s Ramona, and ramona couldn’t kill anyone because she’s Ramona, so we introduce the caveat that everyone is definitely bloodthirsty. We still think Ramona would win because she’s basically Katniss (she did archery in middle school!!). Sarah would definitely die first while running to the cornucopia. Tian would win the hearts of the sponsors and silently kill people with her secret supplies. Ishaq would hide with his iPad and a sprite. Charles might make it far but would definitely forget some essential part of a not-so-very thought out attack plan. Greta is fast and would outrun all the crazy animals being released. She would also probably kill a lot of people. Joseph without sponsored tools is screwed, but Joseph with sponsored tools may be lethal. Apparently I would build a mightily fortified treehouse and hide there until falling victim to something or someone that causes me to die tragically in Ramona’s arms. All in all, an entertaining discussion.

    I decide to induct Charles and Greta in the “how far is that geological structure” game. Charles guesses 20 miles, Ramona jokes 2 miles, and Greta unironically guesses 2.5 miles. I smartly avoid giving a number to avoid the unavoidable clowning of a terrible guess, which Charles received when we discover the rocks are a mere 3.5 miles away.

    • nothing. for miles.
    • the rocks that were actually 3.5 miles away
    • pretty sky
    • we made it!!!
    • ooo striped rock
    • RAMO

    At the next rest stop at Bull’s market, we run into a fellow cross-country biker. He’s doing a solo self-supported trip from Denver to someplace near the Pacific, so his struggles are both similar and very different from ours. Our mouths were agape as he talked about camping on the side of the highway and biking starting at 3am. We could never.

    After the next rest stop, Ramona and I separate from the rest of the group again and talk about our family. I discover that her dad has a slightly different last name due to gendered Latvian nouns, and she discovers that my middle name is my dad’s first name. Her uncle and his dad and his dad all have the same name (Arnolds Treimanis, if you were curious). I don’t tell her this, but there are actually 3 Ruth’s in my slightly extended family.

    Since today is such a long day, we’re planning on eating out using money that Spokes 2019 graciously gave us. At the next rest stop, we’re informed that the restaurant closes at 9pm. It’s 6:30 and we have 10 miles left. Ishaq pushes me away from the car, literally, and Ramona and I lock in for the final stretch. I’ve gotta say, seeing the Capitol Reef sign after 90+ miles was such almost euphoric.

    We enter the campgrounds and the first thing I notice is deer! There are so many deer! Deer here and deer there, deer deer everywhere.

    After delighting over the deer, Ramona and I head to the car, where Ishaq and Tian have already put all our tents up—u da best. We’re informed that there are no showers. NO. SHOWERS. I’m stinky and sweaty, so Ramona and I head to the bathrooms and wash ourselves in the sink. A lot more effective than I expected. Once everyone arrives, we squish in the car with 5 other stinky bikers and head to the Mexican restaurant. The roof rack is empty and is flapping insanely in the wind, so we take it down as soon as we get there.

    gettin jiggy wit it

    The restaurant was tons of fun. We have $25 to spent per person, which is enough for me to get a drink, dinner, and dessert. Sarah and I bond over our delicious horchatas. Thank you, Spokes 2019!

    • horchata
    • HORCHATA!!!
    • socks & sandals?!?
    • shame her
    • greta’s dirty nails
    • my fish and shrimp tacos

    We leave at 9:30, meaning the restaurant should’ve kicked us out half an hour ago. We go to the grocery store to buy some ice, leave, realize we forgot firewood, drive back to the grocery store, and buy firewood (we’re not locked in). I’m extremely hyper at this point for no apparent reason, but I can already tell I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.

    When we arrive back at the campground, the car starts beeping. More like shrieking. I’m pretty sure we woke everyone up. It stopped just as suddenly as it started, and we discretely continue driving to our area, hoping no one noticed.

    We start prepping for bed when I discover a missing tent. I ask tian if she pitched all four tents and she says yes. If it’s gone, it’s gone. I sulk away, fairly certain I’ll have to sleep in the car. But alas, what’s that in the distance? A couple feet away, hiding in some tall grass, is a single tent, suspiciously isolated. Charles walks over, circles it, seems satisfied, then carries it back to our area. He seems to think the wind took it away, but I’m pretty sure it was the deer.

    To wrap up the night, we sit around a campfire and contemplate life.

    Ramona: Are we on Earth or Mars?
    Charles: You know, it’s a cosmic coincidence that the sun and moon are same size—they’re different on other planets
    Ishaq: The side of the moon we see is always the same
    Ruth: 🎵the dark side of… the mooooon🎵
    Ramona: Do you think the stars look the same from Mars as they do from Earth?
    Greta and Ruth: No
    Everyone else: Yes
    Charles: The moon is proof we’re on Earth

    Right at our peak philosophical moment, we hear scurrying. We whip our heads and shine a bright light on a guilty looking raccoon with a bag of bagels in its mouth. Our bagels. The raccoon stole our bagels. We might be hallucinating, so maybe it’s time to sleep. The festivities conclude, our fire dwindles, and we bid each other farewell until morn.

    I’m unfortunately wide awake, so Charles and I end the night with our trusted camping card game, gin rummy, which I promptly lose so badly that he spares adding the loss to our ongoing record. I’m still not tired, but I let Charles sleep because I’m kind like that. I sit with my thoughts, which include wondering if we’ll all be stinky tomorrow, as well as debating whether the shuffling sound outside the tent was raccoons foraging through our belongings. I ultimately decide that, yes, we will all smell bad, and yes, those are raccoons. Too lazy to shoo them away, I finally drift to sleep.

  • Day 53: Mother of All Bicycles

    Day 53: Mother of All Bicycles

    Moab, UT -> Green River, UT — 56.8mi, 1900ft

    It’s that time of the week again, its Joseph’s blogging day! But it’s also my driving day, woot woot. This morning, we would finally leave the Schmitt’s, who pretty much enabled us to go full vacation mode while in Moab. It would be back to reality for us. The thing was, the people weren’t ready. In fact, the spokies were very disorganized today and locked out. As people were leaving, Charles remembered that he shipped his cycling shoes to Moab, then spent half an hour finding if they were shipped to the Airbnb we stayed at. Simultaneously, everyone decided last minute to go to a cafe in Moab before the first rest stop, but Ramona never got the message. I too pulled up to the cafe, partially to hang out but also because I was ravenous from a smaller than usual breakfast. I got myself a fire sandwich.

    Sarah’s mom recording the Spokies’ departure
    eating said fire sandwich
    inside Moab Garage Co.

    After Charles eventually realized his cycling shoes weren’t delivered, he too started heading towards the cafe. Hearing this news, I also remembered that Ramona was nearly at the first rest stop and I still needed to get groceries before I left Moab. You see, Moab is a bit of an oasis in the desolation of southwest Utah. Green River, our destination for the day, was a lot smaller and I suspected there wouldn’t be as much variety in groceries. I rushed to the grocery store to buy ingredients for today’s dinner, a gnocchi and rigatoni soup, as Ishaq went off on his own sidequest: buying new Specialized tires. Ishaq’s tires may have been slightly leaky, but it wasn’t enough to warrant getting new tires. This was entirely a luxury purchase (Ishaq paid for it himself of course). Ishaq delivered me his new tires as I was walking out of the grocery store. I then rushed over to the first rest stop, where I was sure people were already waiting. Ramona had long since passed the first rest stop after refilling her water and I figured she was going to get to the second rest stop before me. The big issue here is that our last two rest stops were in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road, meaning that the bikers wouldn’t be able go self supported. This meant that I really had to be able to support the bikers and be there, especially in the heat. This is the start of my driver struggles. I get to the first rest stop, a gas station, where everyone but Ishaq is waiting for me. I get them all sorted, then wait for Ishaq to eventually show up. While he was getting himself sorted for the next stretch, I went to fill up on gas and realized that gas was pretty darn expensive out here, so I only put in like 5 gallons. It’s enough to get me to Green River.

    bike path out of Moab

    After Ishaq left, I rushed to meet Ramona at the second rest stop, passing the bikers along the way. They seemed to be struggling a bit. This road was heavily trafficked, high speed, and there was almost no shoulder. This is probably the worst possible combination of conditions for a biker, and I was a bit worried for them. Charles was stopped on the side of the road, seemingly to take a breather from the stressful biking. I eventually make it to the second rest stop, but then realize that making a sharp left turn on this single lane highway with cars going 80 was going to be impossible. I pass the stop and pull off a bit later. I prepare to make a very scary u-turn. It’s like making a U-turn on an interstate, but you can’t even see the cars coming until half a mile away. I manage not to die and finally meet Ramona, who had been waiting for around 15 minutes. This is where everything goes wrong. Ramona’s back derailleur cable had snapped, leaving her unable to shift gears. This wasn’t something we could fix ourselves, so Ramona’s bike would have to get to a shop. This was very inconvenient. There were no bike shops in Green River and tomorrow was not a rest day, but a long cycling day through a desolate part of Utah, meaning that driving a long distance for a bike repair was not an option. Our only two options were to either have Ramona be a passenger princess until we reached Escalante three days later or to speed back to Moab, where bike shops were abundant. We decided to speed back to Moab. As we were preparing to drive back, some of the bikers arrived and I was able to serve them, but for those who were further behind, I left them a care package of waters and food that I would later pick up. The plan was to drop Ramona off in Moab, drive the 40 miles back to rest stop 3, then drive back to Moab to pick Ramona up, then drive all the way to Green River to set up camp. This was going to be complicated and very annoying for me, the driver. But alas, this is part of the job.

    Ramonaa loading her broken bike onto the car
    care package shaded under a bush

    I drive back to Moab and drop Ramona off, then prepare to make the drive back. This is when I receive a text that the bikers had found a wacky alien themed gas station/convenience store, where they were able to fill up on water. I ask if everyone’s good with me staying in Moab, as this would make the day a lot easier logistically. I do worry about Greta, as she chose to take a stint on a dirt road to avoid the scary highway and she wouldn’t pass by the ufo store. This meant doing 30 or so miles in the Utah heat self supported. She said that she was fine with it, so I decided to stay. I go back into the bike shop and see Ramona intently watching the mechanic do his thing. She really likes this mechanic, he’s very down to earth and knows what he’s talking about. I go to the food truck park that we had stopped at two days ago and grab myself a fire quesadilla. I’m just able to finish my quesadilla when Ramona finally comes out with her fixed bike.

    • waiting for Ramona as I munch on a bean and cheese quesadilla
    • ufo gas station
    • lets split up and search for clues!
    • kachow
    • snazzy tian
    • a comrade’s beverage of choice
    • commie Charles!?!?

    We rush out of Moab, hoping to catch the bikers before they reach the third rest stop, but then realize it’s a pointless effort and change course straight to the campground. We arrive and see half of the cyclists sitting around, waiting for us. We set up camp relatively quickly and laze around for a bit. We actually have electricity and good signal for once, which is a nice change from most of our camping. Some people go for a dip in the Green River and I eventually start to set up dinner. Ruth goes to a laundromat and I cook up a feast. There’s not much else to report for the night, it was pretty calm following a bit of a hectic day. I got good sleep, rare for camping nights. See you next time, where we ascend into Zion’s backcountry!

    • The Green River
    • eppy Tian
    • the people are ravenous
  • Day 52: candyland?? canyonlands!

    Day 52: candyland?? canyonlands!

    “Greta, do you fear being 3 blogs behind?” Tian asked me this the last time I was two, almost three, blogs behind.

    Yes. Yes I am.

    Unfortunately, today officially marks my descent into “three blogs behind” territory. BUT I am determined it will also be my last day on the dark playground of blog procrastination. I have to start somewhere, so I’m starting with today. Day 44 and…uh…Day 36…. will be coming shortly. My deepest apologies to all our devoted readers.

    I woke up early this morning to finish up the last of my interviews for MITEC Hack Director positions. My first alarm went off at 6:30, at which point I was still planning to sleep for another 15-20 minutes. Ishaq, however, HATES hearing alarms. So, instead of letting me enjoy my morning snooze in peace, he engaged in a terror campaign to force me out of bed before my next alarm went off.

    My wakeups are very important to me, and this nearly set my day off on the completely wrong course. To reset the karmic balance, I pulled on my lucky socks and took a long swig of water. Water solves everything.

    Properly hydrated, I hopped on my computer and got to it. It’s my first time being on the other side of an interview process, and I’ve found it very eye-opening. Luckily, everyone I have talked to has been amazing! Starting to coordinate a major event while on the road has been stressful, but I can’t wait to get back to campus and get the planning into full swing.

    I was considering going for a run after my calls, but I got hit by an overwhelming wave of hunger, so I decided to eat breakfast instead. I spent the first six weeks of this trip curating a perfectly linear running graph on my Strava progress tab, but I finally gave up this week. Turns out running 20 miles in a week on top of biking through the desert isn’t the most appealing activity. I’ve run 5. Oops.

    On the upside, I ate a lovely breakfast (my go-to: greek yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola with a lavishly buttered cinnamon raisin bagel on the side) and appreciated a rare moment of solitude on the condo balcony. After enjoying such a peaceful morning, I took it upon myself to destroy everyone else’s peace. “Rise and shine!” I tried my best to offer my sleeping Spokie friends a warm welcome to the waking world, but I fear it was not particularly well received. Alas.

    Eventually, the rest of the team rubbed their groggy eyes and pulled their aching limbs out of bed. Sarah’s mom, Jennifer, has been cooking us incredible food all weekend. This morning, she prepared a lox bagel bar, complete with capers, red onions, and smoked salmon. While eating, we started a jam on Spotify which I curated impeccably until Ishaq joined and decided to completely destroy the vibes. Notable additions to the queue include Funkytown and Bad Day by Alvin and the Chipmunks. I absolutely did not sing along…

    • lox bar!
    • teddy bear ishaq
    • ruth-in-a-box

    Luckily, Ishaq’s terrible music choices succeeded in propelling us all out the door and onto our excursion for the day: a hike in Canyonlands! Before Spokes, I considered myself a pretty bad driver. I probably still am one, but I’ve found I actually really like driving the minivan to and from our rest day excursions. Ruth, Charles, and Ishaq joined me in the van and we spent the hour and a half ride scheming for Charles’ next blog: a “Which Spokie are You?” quiz. We generated lots of question and answer ideas, many that will (and some that will not), be included in the quiz. Keep an eye out. 👀

    We arrived to the trailhead right at noon, which everyone knows is the perfect time to start a hike. Especially in July. Especially in Utah. Before leaving the house, Joseph, our most experienced hike, implored us all to bring LOTS of water. Don’t tell him I said this, but we were all grateful we listened to his advice. It was HOT out there.

    We all like to think we’ve gotten in pretty good shape biking across the country, but our hikes the past two days have given us some serious doubts. How is “just walking” possibly so exhausting?! Besides getting slightly humbled physically, the hike was incredible. The hike was a six mile out-and-back weaving in and out of towering rock structures to get to a viewpoint of “The Needles”. At the viewpoint we could see not only “The Needles”, a set of towering sandstone spires, but also hazy blue mountains and dark red plateaus–all from just one spot. I only wish I knew anything at all about Utah’s geology. Unfortunately, our collective knowledge amounts to “some sort of erosion probably caused this”.

    • star of the show
    • okkkk model
    • awww
    • hydrate or diedrate
    • #pickydrinker

    The other nice thing about hikes is that we get lots of time to talk! (You know we’re normally pretty short on that…) Actually, we’re getting to the point where it seems like we should be running out of things to talk about, but we never quite get there. Today, we spent a good amount of time discussing each other’s Hogwarts houses: (Joseph/Ravenclaw, Tian/Slytherin, Charles/Hufflepuff, Ramona/Ravenclaw, Ishaq/Slytherin, Ruth/Hufflepuff, Sarah/Hufflepuff, Greta/Gryffindor) We accused many team members of being “funny weird” rather than “funny haha”. And we (rather unsuccesfully) played Guess The Tune. I was also (somewhat succesfully) gaslit into believing octopi aren’t born with all eight legs. Tough.

    I knew I’d probably fall asleep when I got back in the car after hiking, so I asked Charles to take over driving for a bit. Sure enough, I curled up in the back and took an epic car nap. I woke up feeling quite refreshed (and Charles was looking… not quite alert) so I switched back to the driver’s seat and gave Charles a chance to rest as well. He later reassured me that “we were never in any real danger…”

    • sleepy time
    • more sleepy time
    • hi cricket!
    • yummy leftovers

    Back at the condo, we dispersed to work on our respective tasks. I blogged, Charles and Tian took a quick trip to the grocery store, Ishaq bonded with Sarah’s dad, Mike, over music. Jennifer cooked us another mouthwatering dinner of mango orzo salad and flank steak with chimmichuri sauce. We were all quiet around the table for at least five minutes, the surest sign of a good meal. Thank you so much Jennifer!!

    Since we hadn’t gotten enough heat during the day, after dinner, we all went across the street to hit the jacuzzi. Little did we know, the pool also had our favorite game–cornhole! For some reason, Charles wanted to play against Ruth and I again after his complete and utter humiliation at Vail. Joseph had already left, so Ruth and I teed up against Charles and Ishaq. Let’s just say… Charles can’t claim Joseph is the weak link. Final score: 21-3.

    Charles and Ishaq nursed their wounded pride over smores and we all finally headed back up to the condo just before 11. I think I heard somewhere “late to bed, late to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”. What a nice quote.

    Clock ticking towards 12, we showered off and started our preparations for the next morning. Slowly, like usual, with plenty of time for giggling.

    “I’m just high on friendship,” I heard Ishaq say from across the room. “Awww that’s so sweet,” I said. “Shut up, dude,” he closed the bathroom door.

    Shutting up (for now),

    Greta

  • Day 51: We Gettin Schmittyyyyyy

    Day 51: We Gettin Schmittyyyyyy

    Moab, UT -> Moab, UT

    One Schmitt, two Schmitt, red Schmitt, blue Schmitt. Today I was struck with the cruel reality that I cant just call Sarah by her awesome nickname Schmitty because we have two more Schmitties with the gang today. Sarah’s lovely parents, Jennifer and Mike (dubbed mother and father Schmitt) got the team an Airbnb for two days and treated us to quite possibly some of the most fun and adventurous rest days of the trip. Sadly twin sister Schmitt could not join us 🥲.

    We had potential plans today for an early morning hike, however, the group collectively decided in the morning that we were not built for that so we all enjoyed some delicious cinnamon rolls made by mother Schmitt then Ramona and I hit the pool for a morning swim. Later, a few of us hit the town to go to a bike shop and book store. We all did our business and Tian introduced me to some game on her phone that she really loves. I, looking at bike tires the first round, was not locked in so Tian easily defeated me. But of course that round was just the training so I proceeded to destroy her the next two games. We hurried back to the Airbnb to set off for our group white water rafting trip on the Colorado river.

    Our rafting guide, Jonah, got to know us all and gave us the run through on raft and kayak safety. I really wanted to flip a kayak, but they ened up being pretty much unflippable. The ride down the river was pretty relaxing. We saw 3 bald eagles, an otter den, and even a stunning otter impression from Ruth flailing in the water. I started out in the raft and really wanted to take a turn at the paddles. So I got into the captain chairs and started rowing. Now some would say I was just bad a rowing, but the raft was initially in quite the difficult position near the river bank in almost still water making it pretty difficult to navigate back to the flow in the middle. Charles stepped in to assist, each of us with one paddle and we eventually found the bubble line and started zooming. Others tried, Ramona getting the most praise from Jonah for her steady pace and good navigation. Personally, I believe she received the oars when the raft was already in steady currents due to the labors of all who came before her, but I could never hate on Ramo so I sat there while she was praised, only making a small off-handed political comment about inheriting a good economy to Charles. During this process of us spokies learning how to row a boat, mother and father Schmitt wisely chose to flee to a kayak, avoiding a series of terrible raft maneuvers with one of us spokies in the captains seat. When it was finally my turn in a kayak, Ruth and I locked in. Utilizing her years of rowing experience and my raw power, we successfully paddled around in circles and were far slower than Charles and Tian in the other kayak 😐. But we did have a good time navigating through a few of the rapids and swimming around in calmer areas. All in all, rafting was a great experience for the team, after packing up all the boats at the end we started heading back to moab and hit our spokes signature move: napping in the van.

    After our return, we set out on yet another adventure: Arches National Park. We went on a short sunset hike to the delicate arch and I gotta say, it don’t look all that delicate to me. Liiiiiiiike a bunch of birds were pulling up and perching on it and nothing happened 🤷🏾‍♂️. The hike up was pretty nice and it wasn’t too hot anymore. Ruth enjoyed seeing germans, because apparently every time you go on a hike there will be germans. She has some strange obsession with them for no reason, even though she barely speaks the language. Everyone enjoyed me tripping and falling on the way up because they’re all fake friends with no care as to if I was okay. Seeing the arch itself was pretty breathtaking. I would’ve loved if the amphitheater around it didn’t have as many people so the entire area would be more serene, but I suppose Jean Paul Sartre put it best: hell is other people (I’m just being dramatic, but i would have loved to be there at like 3 am with no one else around). Charles, Joseph, and I got some solid pictures of the men of the group looking fly as heck, but we were photobombed by Greta who couldn’t resist destroying out vibes (She’s evil, simple as that). Tian of course got her entire photoshoot with all of her signature poses as usual, actively kicking away any spokies who wanted to join her bc she gotta maintain her solo traveler reputation. After some cute full group photos we all headed back down and had a great conversation about REDACTED. Tian and Ruth have quite interesting opinions about the topic, then we took the convo to the van ride back to Moab.

    🙂
    Me exiting tian’s photo shoot
    Tian being a poser
    Getting Schmittyyyyyy
    Men looking fine as heck
    Greta’s evil photobombing
    us posing like we love each other
    What are they staring at???
    Not so delicate arch
    The setting sun

    Our final event of the day was hitting an upscale Italian restaurant. Now I LOVE Italian food, but the menu was my worst nightmare: too many options. Everything looked phenomenal, I didnt know what to order and started scrambling to organize a bunch of shared plates with other spokies so I could try everything. Bc the team is fake as heck no one wanted to go splitsies on 2-3 dishes so i had to make a choice. Once the waitress got to me I asked a wealth of questions about the dishes but was hit with the curveball of more dinner specials on the board behind me which i hadn’t seen. Naturally I asked her to come back to me after this revelation. Everyone else orders. Most notably Joseph gets the Josephina ravioli, very fitting I know. Once the zero hour finally arrived and I was forced to make a decision then and there, I did not take a chance on the ravioli, nor did I spring for the tortelloni. I, a man of class and high standards, ordered their mac and cheese. No toppings, no meat, no nothing. Just cheesed-up mac. As the other ordered started rolling in I started to get scared because they all looked absolutely scrumptious. All of the complex artisanal pastas made my dedication to my mac and cheese waver, I nearly even felt some regret. Then set before me was the finest plate of dairy coated pasta I have every witnessed. The consistency, the aroma, the perfectly browned layer of cheese on top. Taking my first forkful caused a single tear to trickle down my face. C’est tres bon. C’est magnifique. One could say it had a certain je ne sais quoi. But as they do whenever you find something truly sacred, the fiends began to swarm. Greta and Ruth started by simply asking for a taste, to which I agreed – I am a chill guy who likes to share food after all. But then, without warning, they began to descend on my cheese sauce with handfuls of garlic bread, dunking and swiping, leaving streaks of emptiness where rich cheese sauce once was. I continued to eat and revel in the meal, but the crows were flocking. In the end, my plate was decimated, not a spec of noodle or cheese sauce remaining. While I’m sure everyone enjoyed their own meals, everyone who tried mine surely had regrets about their ordering choices afterward.

    My reaction to receiving my mac and cheese
    Spokies at the Spoke on Center

    After dinner we headed back to the Airbnb, another successful day for the spokies, very generously funded by mother and father Schmitt. All parties, tired, speedily headed to bed in preparation for an even longer and more arduous day tomorrow.

  • day 50: meet the schmitts 💃🏼

    day 50: meet the schmitts 💃🏼

    Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT — 114.1 mi, 4,019 ft

    if you read the byline, you probably realized that sarah is about to tell you about the 2ND LONGEST ride of our spokes journey.

    and if this day wasn’t going to be long enough already, it decided to start BEGRUGINGLY early at 4 in the morning, as i was woken up by red, itchy bug bites all over my body. it seems no matter where we are, the bugs decide to attack me the most consistently. i think they realize that, being from the barren desert, i have the most untainted, fresh blood. you’re welcome, my fellow spokies 😌

    anyways, enough with the dramatics. i actually got up and out of bed around 6:30am: we had 114 miles of biking ahead of us, so we had to get started as early as we could (or at least try to). last night we stayed in our warmshowers’ host greg’s “project house”: a house he was currently in the process of renovating. this worked out perfectly for us: we could spread out and sleep wherever, had plenty of room for bikes, and got to be the first to test out the showers! i chowed down 2 bowls of CTC and a banana before heading out right before 8am.

    leg 1 was a tame ride out of grand junction mostly on bike paths far from the busy roads. i usually put on music when i’m alone, but this morning i decided to listen to the world around me instead (as well as save my battery for the long day). i passed a sign at the entrance to the city and quickly snapped a photo for the blog and my old high school pole vault coach: she went to school and vaulted for the college in grand junction! i got the rare chance on a rest day in colorado springs to meet up with her (and her husband) and catch up for the first time since she moved away last july. i truly couldn’t have made it to MIT without her—if you’re reading this, gabby, it was SO nice to see you again! (and thank you jason for helping coordinate the surprise!) 💗 joseph and tian eventually catch up to me, and we make it to the 1st rest stop of the day—a cafe (my favorite)! after my order got messed up (and fixed, even though i was nervous to ask for a redo…) i walked out with my usual iced chai, a strawberry cheesecake cookie, and an extra latte, which ended up being taken by ruth, who was hyper for the rest of the day. i think the energy on such a long day was appreciated, though :))

    • bye bye, grand junction!
    • bridge into town
    • cafe-goers
    • my pre-114-miler treat

    knowing the scarcity of society for the day, i stepped into the restroom real quick before heading out for leg 2, and when i came back out, i see that everyone had already left (except for joseph): uh, rude much? 😐 anyways, the two of us set out to officially leave grand junction—and civilization. we spot another cyclist on the road, and while joseph keeps insisting it’s ramona, i know it’s not (it isn’t her). i decide to call my parents to check in on things: i haven’t mentioned it yet, but i would be seeing my parents in moab!!! long story short, we had a housing gap in moab for quite a while, and they decided to fill it in! they have been meaning to go to moab for a while, and it would also be a good chance to be with me for a bit since i would be gone all summer…sorry :(( they came in the night before, and i hear that they are getting settled and already starting to prep for dinner that night! with rest stop 2 being only a few miles away, i see a suspicious clump on people on the side of the road ahead of me. joseph and i pull over and realize that ramona was having tire issues. the car was also stopped and packed with water, food, and supplies, so we collectively decided to make this an unofficial rest stop 2 and move on to “leg 3.”

    this is when we start making our way into more desert scenery—what i’ve been joking is “my territory.” even ramona commented on the actual excessiveness of shrubs: having made a quick stop in nevada herself, she (and i) know what REAL desert will look like. we start chit-chatting, and some of us come up with 4-lined poems, to pass the time. we hit a bit of gravel (tian’s least favorite thing ☹️), but there’s an unexpected bathroom at the top! then, after a quick, short climb, we speed down to the sign signaling that we had made it to utah!!! i was a bit sad, since from here on out all the states will be old news to me, but was comforted knowing that i actually would be seeing new areas within these “old” states. even so, traveling by bike really gives you a truly unique perspective on places and the communities that occupy them, so i realized i was actually excited to get to see familiar places in a new light! i ate my first of 2 sandwiches (my 1st double sandwich day), we took some pictures, and set off into the sands of utah 🦂

    • we’re here!!!
    • casual with it
    • juice
    • bathroom view
    • the gang
    • more tire troubles :((
    • various spokies with fruit, courtesy of ruth
    • hello camera-woman!

    leg 4 was a longer one—17 miles. by this point though, the whole team was together, so we chit-chatted, played a bit of biker leap frog, and just tried to make it through the chaos of I-70. as various signs warned us that there were no services for the next bajillion (read: 40-50) miles, we realized we were truly in the middle of NOWHERE. this is where i started to feel it: i was consistently just a tad uncomfortable in my saddle, the wind was just a bit too intense, the sun a bit too bright, the road ever so slightly inclined, AND my podcast wasn’t that interesting to me. the fact that we were just going straight for MILES also bothered me: my biggest dread is making a turn and garmin telling me to keep going for some 10+ number (where there’s no decimal that counts down faster). for the first time EVER, though, there were quite a few ENCOURAGING honks from cars on the interstate!!! this was so fun, and an instant mood-booster for the whole group. we power through and eventually exit to find ruth on the side of the road attempting to make a call, grab some food, water, and MUCH cherished AC, and set off once again—half-way through.

    • a selection of our 4-line poems

    leg 5 was definitely the most mentally challenging of the day. the terrain was once again quite barren, but the winds were AWFUL 😔 joseph and i attempted to draft off each other, but that wasn’t even possible due to the fact that it was a mix of head and cross winds. finally though, we hit a left turn, and after some small hills, we see the canyon we are to enter draw closer and closer—the winds, now in our favor, helping us speed along. rest stop 5 is only 5 miles before an opportunity to dip in the colorado river, so we only rest for a few short minutes before heading on, but not before saying hello to ruth’s german swiss european friend she’s on the phone with. i don’t normally partake in getting wet mid-ride, but this was MUCH needed (and i changed into swim bottoms so my chamois wouldn’t get soggy and give me sores when i eventually hopped back on the bike…eventually…) the current of the mighty colorado was, as expected, pretty strong, so we didn’t drift too far from shore. we tried (and failed) to play human bowling. we settle for finding larger rocks to prop ourselves up against and rest, allowing the cool water to wash over us. at this point, i realize that it’s late afternoon and we are still pretty far from moab, so i get out and get changed and pray the others will follow soon (and swiftly). i munch on more of my sandwich(es), and the group sets off for the canyons 🏜️

    • attempted selfie w/ ishaq
    • trees!
    • almost thereee

    honestly, legs 7-9 were in short succession, and towards the end of this long, hot, and quite eventful day…so, a bit of a blur. what i definitely remember though was the views FINALLY starting to improve, changing pretty quickly from barren, monochromatic desserts to towering, colorful canyons. surprisingly (to some people), the desert can actually be quite spectacular and beautiful! besides maybe charles, i’m the only one who has seen views like this, and—unlike anyone—i’ve lived in them. so, it was a treat to get to see my teammates experience the stunning sights for the first time: it made me feel a bit of fresh wonder and awe for the yet increasingly familiar terrain of the southwest 🧡 even though the views we’re wonderful, it was hard to ignore our increasingly declining physical conditions: things we’re starting to hurt more, water was running low, hunger (for a real meal) was growing exponentially, and there was still about 20-30 miles to go. however, the road goes on, and so do we. 

    • yesss red rocks
    • moab SOON
    • hi ishaq and tian!

    as we begin the final, 10.5 mile leg, we get into single-file, hit a bike trail, and its full steam ahead to moab proper. AND, after hours and miles without service, the bars come back!!! this is especially important because it’s been WAY too long since we were able to update my mom on our whereabouts, and (as i predicted), after we were over half an hour late to dinner, she had sent my dad out to backtrack our route by car to make sure we were ok. while we were expected at 7pm, we came rolling in in two waves around 8:45pm…sorry for worrying you, mom! surprisingly, i managed to be apart of wave 1, even with a 2 mile climb in the home stretch—what can i say, i was VERY excited to see my parents, and VERY excited to SIT. DOWN.

    while my fellow spokies helped to start arranging things at our place for the next few days, i was on a mission to track down my parents. i find my dad in the back, and (after a short walk) my mom at the grill making the final preparations for dinner. eventually, both meet at the grill, and i start excitedly debriefing about the day, showing them my cool uniform in-person—generally catching up. we bring back and serve dinner—chicken and vegetable skewers, pita and bagel chips, and hummus! while i was worried the energy would be low after such a long, gruelling day (something i warned my parents about in advance), there is conversation and laughter to be heard all-around. it was very interesting to see two very different groups of people in my life interact, but i’ve since heard all parties had a lovely time, which makes me very happy :)) 

    • thanks mom!!!
    • YUMMY

    after some “heated” (yet, of course, laughter-filled) debates over the bed situation in the non-tian-and-ramona room (that i was dubbed moderator of due to it being the “schmitt’s” place), some DELICIOUS berry crisp for dessert, and a shower at SOME point, i crashed in a solo top bunk to prepare for some rafting and hiking the following day. i wish i could end this with some of my usual thought-provoking rambling, but it’s just 11pm, this blog is late enough as it is, and i have 94 miles to bike tomorrow. i will say, though, that this trip has solidly reinstated the gratitude i have for the wonderful people in my life who have gotten me to this point in it. i have to pinch myself every day when i think about where i am, what i’m doing, and who i’m doing it with—spokes and beyond. to ALL of you—thank you :))

    with that, i’ll catch you next time for our rest day in bryce canyon! 🌵

  • Day 49: seeya, rockies!

    Day 49: seeya, rockies!

    Vega State Park, CO -> Grand Junction, CO, 60.9mi, 1551ft

    I woke up after Ishaq but before everyone else our cosy campsite overlooking the Vega Reservoir. I biked to the bathroom and saw a bunch of geese going for their morning swim in the reservoir. I sat there for a bit. The sun kissed mountains, the geese in the water and me. I couldn’t imagine needing anything else.

    Of course I did not have my phone to take a picture for you guys, however Ishaq came in a clutch with these pictures from the morning.

    The view ❤ (can’t see the geese 😦 )
    Tian struggling with the sleeping pad
    Me eating breakfast!

    After some food, we packed up our stuff and I headed out with Ruth, my trusted companion. We attempted to speak only German for the first part of the day, an idea we had the day before. It was possible to string together sentences, but it definitely limited our conversation.

    - Wie hattest du geschlafen?
    - Gut, gut... aber leider habe ich keine Träume.
    - Ah, ja. Träume?
    - Träume. Dreams.
    - Ah, klar. Ja, ich habe auch keine Träume.

    The conversation was also made difficult because after we got out of the park, it was all downhill for quite a while. That also meant that the first rest stop came super quickly. We filled up on ice at a gas station and spent some time scheming how to make up for a deficit in water bottles (some were lost in battle with gravel yesterday) and electrolytes.

    Soon after we headed out, we missed a turn, going fast downhill, but we saw a deer and then corrected our course. I drafted Ruth until the next major turn, but Ruth was without navigation, so then Ruth drafted me. It was still downhill, but there was a fair bit of headwind and the road was fairly busy. The shoulder was good, but lots of debris. Was good, but tiring.

    me and Ruth going downhill

    Then we turned on i-70, which was even more busy. So I was glad when we turned off it, only to be faced with a gravel hill and after that something that could only be described as not a road and very steep.

    Me and Ruth let others know about this scam, but ultimately decided to climb the hill in hopes that there would be an existing road somewhere on the top of the hill. It took us solid 20 minutes to climb the less than 0.2 mile long stretch. There were times I thought that if my foot slipped, I would probably roll back down with all my bike, hit the prickly bushed and I was not sure I would have it in me to try again. But we persevered and made it up. And, guess what, there was a gravel road up there after all.

    the “road”

    And to make it better, the gravel soon turned to asphalt and we were back in business. The next rest stop was in a sweet little ice cream place in Palisade that was also space themed, called the Milky Way. I got some coconut and some peach ice cream, the latter of which was very good. But the rest stop soon turned a little sour by a discussion about budget and Spokes spending. The team ended up giving Charles and Tian space to discuss and headed further. They were there for over two hours. Poor ice cream shop. But these are conversation to be had in a project like this, so huge thanks to Tian and Charles for taking it on.

    Then we arrived at a rest stop by the Colorado River and what I think was Corn lake, where we took a dip first in the lake and then in the river for the full experience. The current in the Colorado really is powerful, as we have found out on multiple occasions. But it was also more refreshing than the lake. After this we were almost exclusively on bike paths and continued so up until Grand Junction.

    At the very end, we climbed a hill, short but not easy, only to find out from Steph that its the wrong house and we did not need to climb the hill. Once we descended and got to right house, we met Greg, who showed us the house they had been renovating for 3 years, which featured a frige full of fruit and electrolyte drinks, so we successfully rehydrated. Greg and Steph made us some amazing vegan burritos, let me tell you, I was so happy about the veggies, it’s always difficult to get enough of them on the road. And their friends, both of whose names started with K, but I cannot recall them exactly, brought us brownies!!! After nourishing our bodies, we spent the evening talking with Greg about our trip and hearing his incredible stories from travel and work. At some point I did all my evening tasks and went to sleep. I could hear Greg starting to talk about peaches and how they need cold temperature, but not too cold, and how in Palasade the geography makes it possible with Million Dollar Wind and the gas law and … I dozed off. I later heard the conversation continued about peaches and travel. Laying on my sleeping pad, I was thinking. I aspire to have that amount of wonder and awe for the world around us that Greg seems to have. A perfect peach, a solar eclipse, a beautiful road. All the things beautiful things in life I so often take for granted, that are actually quite remarkable. I think most people actually have the wonder, the interest in the world around, I definitely have had it, but somehow it tends to get burried in school, college, the future, plans, the past, whatever else and generally trying to do the right things in life. But it is also something that this trip is helping me find. Appreciation for the things around me right where and when I am.

    It was during this train of thought that I fell asleep.

    The next day, somewhere during our 115 miles, many of which we spent looking at a bleak, dry and flat landscape around us, I did a redo of a famous poem as a way to say goodbye (at least for now) to the Rockies, which we officially exited when we left Grand Junction. Here it goes.

    Whose lands these are I do not know.
    The mountains vast, the river cold.
    I stop mid climb, awe fills my bones;
    If I stayed right here, could i skip the low?

    These peaks and valleys
    They make me dream,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.
    /Robert Frost messed up by me