Author: MIT Spokes

Day 20: it’s getting hot in here

Bowling Green, KY -> Madisonville, KY – 84.8 miles, 4,439 ft

Today, like too many Spokes days, technically started at 12:00am. Many of us share the the night owl quirk of getting more energy as the night wears on, and tonight was no exception. In fact, tonight was particularly exciting because we were sharing the night with two new Kentucky friends. On our first rest day in Bowling Green, Tian left the house at 6:00pm to “go get groceries”. When she didn’t come back until 9, we all suspected her grocery mission must have been a cover for some other mischevious scheme, but then she asked for help unpacking the groceries… and we realized she really had just gone shopping and that we really would be feasting the next night. In fact, there was SO much food we suspected we might need some extra help finishing it all up…

Fear not, Spokes put on our extrovert hats and made some new friends at the Bowling Green learning festival. Along our travels, we interact mostly with hosts and learning festival coordinators (who are usually older than us) and students (who are always younger than us). While I’ve loved getting to know everyone we’ve met so far, I’ve missed getting to interact with new people my own age. Luckily, this void was filled yesterday by two super cool students from WKU, Libby and Khalil. Khalil, a recent WKU graduate, runs an education startup from the WKU Small Business Accelerator, located just down the hall from our learning festival. We met Khalil in the morning during check-in, and he ended up helping us out with the learning festival all day! I met Libby a couple hours later, when we were both photographing the bottle rocket workshop. Libby is a summer intern at the WKU Herald and she had come to the festival in order to publish a story about our event. We started chatting during the learning festival, but we realized by the end of the day that there was still so much we wanted to talk about. Thanks to Tian’s grocery shopping foresight, we were able to invite Libby and Khalil to join us for dinner at our Airbnb, which was a double win for us–more hours to spend with awesome people and more people to help us finish Tian’s gargantuan (and delicious) meal.

Before we knew it, it was nearly 11 o’clock and everyone was still gathered around the table chatting. My family often talks about kindred spirits, a phrase we adopted from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. You know you’ve found a kindred spirit when, despite whatever differences in where you’re from, what you do or who you know, it somehow feels like you’ve always known each other. Libby and Khalil are definitely Spokes kindred spirits.

(Unfortunately, we had so much fun we forgot to take a single picture…epic fail. With no photographic evidence, who knows… maybe this was just another one of Greta’s crazy dreams.)

After Libby and Khalil left and we finished the rest of our tasks for the night, I did eventually drift off into dreamland. When I opened my eyes again around 7am, I was stocked up on (almost enough) beauty sleep, my bucket was still filled from the night before, and I was ready to continue making the most of Day 20.

By this point in the trip, the morning tasks were routine. I readied my snack bag, lubed my chain, and pumped my tires. Filled up my water bottles (one with water and one with electrolytes), curated my Spotify queue, slathered on my sunscreen. Order doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s go time.

my epic snack bag: granola, almonds, banana chips

joseph: lubemaster

Time is of the essence, especially today. It was day one of the heat wave rampaging across the country and temperatures were soaring into the high 90s before noon. We knew we were going to be cooked (literally). Nothing like a little perspective to keep you sane, though. Back home in Virginia, my family’s AC was out, so I knew I should at least be grateful for Mother Nature’s ever reliable fan, the westernly winds.

With our personal and communal tasks in order, all the bikers set out towards our first destination around 8. Sarah was our driver for the day, and Ruth was in the car recovering from her mysterious illness (possibly, but probably not, pneumonia). Ruth spent the day tearing through her book, The Lady With the Dragon Tattoo, and Sarah was hard at work driving and finishing up her blog. Unlike me, Sarah is a pro at publishing her blogs in a timely manner…

ruth hogging all the shade to read her book

enjoying the coveted car ac

sarah… hard at work or hardly working?

leftover sweet potato noodles from tian’s dinner

guess the pizza’s wattage

One of the highlights of today was the joy of discovering leftovers for lunch. Last night, I had packed myself not only a leftover burrito, but also a leftover box of sweet potato noodles with tofu and veggies. When I tell you… they. were. DELICIOUS. SO GOOD. Tian has been on the leftover game from day 1; and Tian is always right… I probably should have converted sooner.

Besides meals, today was full of lots of little happy moments. Ishaq and I swung by the John Prine Memorial Park (shoutout to Grandad, my favorite John Prine fan!)

narrowly avoided death by barrel race

hello in there

nonchalant ishaq

hire me chipotle

lazy bums

say cheese!

We bought Haagen Dazs ice cream bars at Dollar General. Or, more accurately, I bought Haagen Daaz bars and coaxed the rest of the team into eating them with me. For some reason, the team hasn’t yet realized I have impeccable taste, and keeps disapproving of my group purchases. Their loss, I guess. Luckily, today was hot enough that no one could put up a fight and all the Haagen Dazs bars were consumed:)

Everyone has their own ways of dealing with the heat. And when I say “own ways”, I mean some people like to nap lying down and some people like to nap sitting up. I personally, am a lying down napper. The heat did take it out of me more than I expected. Along some of our longer stretches, I could feel my body working overtime to both keep the bike moving and keep me from overheating (like my laptop when I write code without chatgpt…) I much prefer being hot than being cold, though. One time, my mom told me I had to choose whether to complain about summer or winter because I couldn’t get annoyed about both. I chose winter, so… no complaining for me.

hydration maxxing

dead to the world

car queen

By the time we made it to our final rest stop, we’d made it through the worst of the heat with out spirits intact. The mood was goofy, as it often is at the end of the day. Ishaq showed off his manly strength by pushing the minivan in neutral. We were all very impressed… until Sarah and I gave it a go and turns out its actually not that hard. Ishaq did look pretty cool in this picture though. Also at this rest stop, Charles got up to his usual tricks and made Tian feed him a bit of her bibimbap. After pretending (?) to take an enormous bite, he backed off, but the damage was already done. Tian then tried to shove all the contaminated bibimbap into his mouth. Guess he got what he asked for?

tian’s smile says it all

okkk ishaq

Once we got our giggles out, we locked in for one last stretch of road to arrive at our destination for the night! We were hosted by Life Christian Center in Madisonville, KY. Pastor Jon, Isaac, and Steve cooked us a delicious meal, and we all sat and chatted while we ate. There is nothing like arriving someplace to a home-cooked meal, and I am so grateful for the incredible generosity of our hosts. I definitely want to repay the favor someday!

Finally, we ended the night packing our lunches and preparing for the day ahead (our first day in Illinois!) I went to sleep surrounded by all the Spokies, curled up in my sleeping bag on the gymnasium floor. Like usual, I woke up all the way on the other side of the gym. But that’s a story for tomorrow…

Peace out!
Greta

June 24, 2025
Day 19: Festive Learning

Yes, you can stop complaining, I, Ishaq, am indeed back on the blog. Today was out second full day in Bowling Green and the day of our learning festival.

Keeping it real with y’all, I dont really know what happened today, I was just along for the ride until someone said,”you know you’re blogging today right?” But anyways… it was a successful learning festival with dozens of young minds being molded by our quality teaching and engaging lessons. The setup in the morning was very smooth and the kids were wonderful as per usual. In out machine learning lesson, taught by Tian and I, we had our first ever class perform perfectly on our first activity and all the kids had fun making data to train our happiness detector. Also were able to try out some new extensions to our lesson to teach more about different kinds of machine learning problems. All in all, very successful festival.

June 24, 2025
day 18: rolling in (bowling) green 💸
Rest Day in Bowling Green, KY

greetings from the lovely town of bowling green, kentucky! 🌳 i’ve given you a biking blog, i’ve given you a learning festival blog, time to round it out with a rest day 😴 (i just checked and sadly there will be no driving blog from me, but i can give you everything else :))

after the previous night’s fun and games of seeing our AMAZING airbnb for the first time; having a BOMB mac and cheese, watermelon, and salad dinner made by some of the team with ishaq as head chef 🧀🍉 (vegan brownies were eventually brought out for dessert); watching 21 jump street and playing the card game “we’re not really strangers” until the wee early hours of the morning, i got out of my cozy cubby bed bright and early at 10:30am (it probably would have been MUCH later had i not set an alarm…) 💤

thinking i was one of the later ones, i made a quick bagel with cream cheese, poured myself a glass of milk, and headed outside to catch up my parents on the events of the last few days via text and pictures (if you’re reading this, hello! 💗) eventually, joseph and ramona come back from the grocery store, and i am enlisted (willingly) to carry groceries back inside and start helping with breakfast. i am delegated the incredibly important task of DJ-ing for our lovely chefs, and spend a few minutes personally queuing up the best tunes off my various, distinctly named spotify playlists 🎶

soon, we have eggs, bacon, and pancakes as various spokies start wandering into the kitchen. at some point, ishaq disappears and returns with insomnia cookies from down the street (THANK YOUUU), and i decide i must have both a 2nd breakfast and a snickerdoodle (or two)–carb loading, of course! 🥞🍪
eggs and bacon 🍳🥓
various forms of carbs
insomnia cookies!!!
a glimpse at my music taste 🎸
i hung out for a while at our STUNNING airbnb provided to us by our learning festival partners in bowling green, procrastinating the various odd tasks i had to do, before deciding i should probably be at least slightly productive with the 2nd half of the day. i threw on a pair of sweat pants and my favorite MIT track and field hoodie, grabbed my laptop, and made the 10 minute trek in the humid, 85-90 degree kentucky heat to spencer’s coffee—recommended to us by the owners of the airbnb ☕️ if there is one thing i think i have the leg up on compared to my fellow spokies, it’s being slightly heat tolerant: blazing heat to me is like a warm, nostalgic blanket. what can i say—i like feeling like a lizard baking in the sun 🦎☀️

i got my usual iced chai latte and a strawberries and cream muffin, and got to work 🍓 before answering emails and other things, though, i first decided that i wanted to make a ranking list of all the iced chai lattes i’ve had on spokes. after reviewing my debit card history (yikes…) and recalling my previous drinks and experiences to the best of my ability, i compiled my list (with locations, days of purchase, notes, and scores, of course). eventually, greta, ruth, and joseph arrive to also do some work with me! we grind for a bit, i step out for a sec to call and chat with my mom, and greta gets a bloody nose :(( but as the evening draws closer (and because the cafe closes at 6pm), we pack up our stuff and start making our way back to our place.
spencer’s coffee!
my current spokes 2025 chai ranking
some guy outside with a parrot lol 🦜
now with friends!
an email from one of our learning festival partners 🥹
back at spokes headquarters, it’s burrito night! there’s rice and meat, beans, chips and guac, and other various side dishes on the way 🌯 gloria, a friend of greta’s from MIT who happens to live in/near bowling green, has also joined us, and brought scallion pancakes! i think i ate half of the container while working on (and maybe slightly stressing over) my sorority recruitment application. some are consuming the otter pops charles bought a few grocery runs ago and has been dying to freeze and consume (i call them otter pops, but i hear they have other names) 🧊 i break and walk around the house to take a few pics of our place for the blog. after a day of catching up on various things, everyone is chatting, relaxing, and getting ready to eat. life is good! 😌

once food is ready, we make our way out to the chairs in the mini backyard to eat, continue chatting, and enjoy a little bit of the milder summer heat. eventually, gloria makes her way home, we tag team dishes, and the team starts making their way to bed to prepare for our 4th learning festival. this would be our biggest one yet—we would have the usual 4 groups, but each would have around 15-20 kids!!! spoiler alert: we ate it UPPP 🚨‼️
ramona + greta’s room
blog writing and route planning table
tian’s room
joseph and i’s room!
view from my cubby!!!
ishaq + charles’ room
the most amazing shower experience ever.
kitchen! 🥑
snack table
laundry couch
living room
mini backyard
wowww
front porch!
chatting outside
i went to sleep in my lovely cubby bed (an idea that i WILL be stealing one day), dreaming of the lush kentucky greens we would soon be leaving behind for a quick detour in illinois, then a leg in missouri. after our learning festival tomorrow, we have a pretty decent stretch before our next non-biking day, long enough to the point where i’ll be driving the first and last days of said stretch! by the time we set off, i will have had 3 whole days of rest. nice 😎

as i am finishing up this blog, i am parked at one of the rest stops on our way to madisonville, ky—our last stop in kentucky! being 20 days, over 800 miles, almost 2 states, and 4 learning festivals in (or, about ¼ of the way through), i can confidently say spokes is something that has, is, and will change me forever—something that i will smile back on for the rest of my life. even the 15% grade hills of 4-5 days ago are already forgotten in favor of beautiful views, delicious food, smiling kids, and the bestest of friends (the feeling of accomplishment after a long ride or steep climb is pretty great, too, though). getting to explore more of the country i’ve lived in all of my 19 years up close has been incredibly eye-opening. it’s been an honor giving back to my community and sharing the same joy and excitement of STEM i’ve felt many times throughout my own life. the good—no, GREAT—food and deep conversations with hosts, friends old and new, and teammates…i could go on and on, but i’ll end my ranting now ❤️❤️

doing hard things feels both totally AWFUL, and freaking AMAZING.

until next time, which will be a 90-miler to jefferson city, missouri!

with love,

“schmitty” 💗

edit: apologies to ruth for not getting a pic of her room :((
June 24, 2025
Day 17: BUC-EES
Mammoth Cave National Park, KY to Bowling Green, Kentucky — 32.7 mi, 1,342 ft

I woke up and gleefully announced my sleep score of 79 to the other campers. What changed, Ruth? you might be asking. Didn’t you have horrendous sleep for the past two weeks? How did your sleep score triple in a single day? The answer: sleeping in the car. I highly suggest you try it sometime.

In all seriousness, somehow sleeping upright was just what I needed to successfully sleep through the night without waking myself up in a coughing fit. I felt good enough that I was ready to tackle the day’s bike ride, all 33 miles of it. But first, we decided to do a self-guided tour of Mammoth Cave, totally not because we didn’t plan ahead enough to book a guided tour.

The cave was cool (literally) and had surprisingly more historical relevance than I would’ve expected. It contains minerals like saltpetre that are essential for gunpowder formation, and enslaved people were forced to mine it in the 1800s.

We waited in a line for 5 minutes to see some northern & southern cave fish, got to the front of the line, realized there were no fish, then left wondering about the human psychology of queues.

We left the cave, spent an absurdly long time getting ready to leave (Greta ate a whole sandwich), then finally got biking to our one and only rest stop. Although I was having difficulty breathing on the uphills, Greta and Ishaq were kind enough to bike with me for the 15 short miles.

You can’t tell but I’m dying next to Ishaq and Greta

We made it to the vast expanse of the rest stop parking lot, found the bikers ahead of us, located Charles, our driver for the day, then all stared at the looming logo above us: we made it to BUC-EES.

Yooo it’s Charles, remember me? From yesterday? The poor guy whose blog got hijacked? Well I’m back to dish out some sweet revenge and, more importantly, write about my favorite place in the entire world¹ — the epitome of American consumerism — Buc-ees.

BUC-EE’S! BUC-EE’S! For the unenlightened, Buc-ee’s is a gas station chain known for its endless chain of gas station stalls, its huge convenience stores, and squeaky clean bathrooms. It’s Costco meets Disneyland meets gas station at the peak of the mountain that is modern Americana. They own world records for largest convenience store, longest car wash, most gas station stalls, etc. If the scale still isn’t setting in for you, let me add that it’s primarily a Texas chain. ‘Nuff said.

A fraction of the gas station stalls

Shoutout the Smith’s Grove Kentucky Buc-ee’s

I’d been raving about Buc-ee’s to the team for like the past week, so everyone’s expectations were high. I was especially hyped for Ramona’s encounter with Buc-ee’s because she is very easily impressed by the US’ innovations in vice culture. S’mores, ice cream floats, scratch-off tickets, Camel Crushes. And… laundromats (“like they spin… and it’s so cool”)? Maybe she’s just easily impressed in general. I also secretly suspect word about the industrial revolution has not yet reached Latvia.

After locking up our bikes in a big bike pile, we go into the store, which is big enough to lose track of people very quickly. I use the wonderful restrooms, then pick up a triple meat sandwich (sausage + brisket + turkey). I devour the sandwich outside as everyone sits down at the spot with their Buc-ee’s purchases. I ask about everyone’s impressions. “Overstimulating,” “awesome,” and “MURICA” are common refrains.

Ishaq recaps his Buc-ee’s haul (“I went in and just went full consumer mode”) before I go in for a second time to buy a round of treats for myself. I wind up buying fresh glazed nuts, cherry maple jerky, assorted sours, peanut butter and caramel popcorn with cinnamon, and milk chocolate covered raisins 😋.
Bike pile
Me eating my triple meat sandwich
Joseph showing off his own triple meat sandwich
Glazed nuts were so good I only thought to take a picture when there were two left
Rest of Buc-ee’s haul
View from the parking lot
Ramona mid-slurp
One happy camper
As the bikers get ready to leave, I go in for a *third* Buc-ee’s trip to buy some beer for our rest day chillaxing. (spoiler alert: they did not make it to the rest day). Ramona is in fact impressed by Buc-ee’s. So impressed she buys merch on the spot.

Ruth’s back! (wooo the crowd goes wild)

I’m feeling extremely stuffed from my brisket sandwich, but I gather myself and hop on my bike. Ishaq is feeling lazy and joins Charles in the car, but Greta’s vow to stay with me throughout the day doesn’t waver. She plays my 2000s hits playlist, “dancing in my room,” and we jam along for the next 17 miles. Somewhere along the way, Ramona joins us, and now all three of us are jamming. Per usual, flash rain about 3 miles out from our final destination attempts to derail us. We bike through the downpour and come out the other side completely soaked and smiling wildly – mostly Greta, who “loves this type of weather.” We play tag with the rain for a bit, see a ground rainbow, then finally make it to what I can only describe as the best Airbnb to ever exist.

We enter the glorious estate and lay claims to bedrooms and showers. Ramona and I struggle to work the record player, then realize Charles and Ishaq tried the same thing half an hour earlier with no success.

Record player: 1. Me and Ramona: 0

After Charles and Ishaq return from grocery shopping, we start making dinner. Music is blasting (from a speaker😔) and spirits are high. The sun is setting, the sky is beautiful, and the fireflies come out.

General merriment

We eat mac and cheese, turkey bacon, salad, watermelon, and banana/olive oil brownies, and stay up all night watching 21 Jump Street, playing card games, and just talking. It’s ok, we have a rest day tomorrow.

¹ I actually wrote a full essay praising Buc-ee’s my junior spring.
June 24, 2025
Day 16: Kentucky Fried Chicken
Liberty, KY to Mammoth Cave National Park, KY – 88.6 mi, 5,465 ft

Today was our longest ride to date — 88 miles — and I woke up in the morning not looking forward to it. It was going to be my third straight day cycling and my left knee had been bugging me more and more over the course of the last two days. Moreover, after a discussion the previous night about trying to actually leave earlier in the morning, the team firmly resolved to get on the road by 9am. I haven’t seen the doctor about it yet, but I might be allergic to waking up so early.

So, after a speedy pack up process in the morning, we got an early (by our standards) start to the day and I got to biking. The rolling hills of Kentucky went by rather uneventfully until I came up on a small stream that I tried to cross on my bike. After I fell in, what did I look up to see but Joseph recording my stream crossing attempt and laughing to himself. This guy really waited 20 minutes at the stream just to capture everyone’s crossing attempts. (He did actually yell out for me to dismount my bike and cross normally, which I didn’t hear because I had my earbuds in 🙊).

Bro is cackling at my downfall

Once everyone behind me crossed the stream (without trying to pedal through it and falling off), Joseph asked us where Greta was. We were sure she was ahead of Joseph, but he was adamant that she hadn’t passed him. After gaslighting Joseph for a few minutes, we realized that Greta maybe took a wrong turn after the rest of us lost sight of her and we called her. She had in fact gone down the wrong road while calling her mom and biked an extra four miles. So we all owe Joseph an apology for making him question his own sanity.

After the rest stop, Greta and I biked side-by-side and started chatting. We rode together for the rest of the day. This actually was great for staving off the biking boredom that I had been dreading for the day and I’m definitely going to employ the “yap ride” technique on these longer mileage days. We talked about silly topics, like religion and making friends, and deep topics, like if we would get along with twin versions of ourselves and whether we’d marry into the British royal family.

Our second rest stop of the trip was possibly the best rest stop we’ve had yet. Ishaq and Ruth got Lee’s Fried Chicken and lemonade. They made the mistake of allotting chicken by number of pieces, so I claimed the two largest pieces in the entire bucket. A few of the others went to the coffee shop and met a bunch of interesting people. I joined a few others in the book shop and bought a book.

The food tided us over until a late lunch, when I ate my two sandwiches for the day. To keep things interesting, I’ve started making one normal sandwich and one abomination sandwich every biking day. Two days ago, Ruth made me a diabetes sandwich (peanut butter, golden Oreos, Hersheys, sour patch kids, marshmallows, and jam) and it was actually incredible and got me through the hills. Tuna, sour patch kids, and hummus was another surprising yet resounding success (others disagree; they are wrong). For today, I had asked everyone to name a random sandwich topping and assembled the resulting peanut butter, crushed red chili flakes, goldfish, apple slices, and parmesan sandwich. Unfortunately, this disaster looked to be my first sandwich DNF of the trip.

Diabetes sandwich from two days ago; I did not take a picture of my sandwiches today

Greta and I yapped until we reached our final destination, Mammoth Cave NP Campground for the night. We finally got to pitch our tents with daylight left and made a fire! After compensating for our poor fire-starting skills with plenty of lighter fluid, we cooked corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, and burger combinations in the fire while everyone took turns telling scary stories. I finished my thought-to-be-DNF sandwich. It wasn’t so bad actually — I think all the crushed chili flakes got concentrated in one bite I had at the rest stop. The indomitable human spirit triumphs again.
At long last
Dinner 😋🏕️
Boo
Double blog! Ruth had such a fun day riding in the car with Ishaq today that she has decided she wants to hijack my blogging day and write her own events of the day. So, I’ve kept my musings short and I’m tapping Ruth in. In exchange, I’ll be popping in to Ruth’s blog tomorrow to rave about Buc-ee’s.

Ruth here! And now for the better blog…

Uh oh. Why can’t I breathe??

This was my first thought waking up in the church in Liberty, Kentucky, where we spent the night. I’ve been battling a cold for a couple days, but something changed today. It went from being uncomfortable to becoming semi-serious. I thought to myself, I probably shouldn’t bike. But I couldn’t decide, and I really didn’t want to miss a whole 85 miles, so I got ready for the day, staying in my pajamas for as long as possible. When I couldn’t prolong it any longer, I announced to the team that I didn’t think I could bike. Everyone was very supportive, probably because they care for my health more than I do, let’s be real. I took on some driver roles and helped Ishaq load the car and fill waters, then I sat in the van and mentally prepared for the next super serious role I’d have to take for the rest of the day – passenger princess.

Ishaq and I started off by getting gas, because someone forgot to fill it up the day before (cough Greta cough). We then went to Save a Lot to buy ingredients for our hobo campfire dinner at Mammoth Cave Campgrounds. Save A Lot didn’t have some essentials, like marshmallows, aluminum foil, and firewood, so we planned on stopping by a Walmart later on. We made it to the rest stop and watched Sonic 3 on Ishaq’s iPad until bikers showed up to refuel. Now, this boring pattern ought to have continued through the rest of the day, but Ishaq the goat discovered a Lee’s Famous Chicken shop nearby and bought a 16-piece bucket for us all. He also spiked one of the water tanks with lemonade powder and ice. We parked on a main street in Campbellsville, a hidden gem in the middle of Kentucky, and waited for bikers to show while munching on our own chickens, sipping lemonade, and proceeding with Sonic 3. Once the bikers arrived, we all munched together, except Tian who’s vegan.

I also discovered an adorable bookstore across the street and bought my summer book #2 for $3.50. Sarah, Charles, and Greta are all copycats and followed me in.

cute bookstore in Campbellsville

We declared this the best rest stop of the trip (crazy that I’m agreeing with Charles, I know).

Once the bikers had semi-digested, they headed off, leaving me and Ishaq behind yet again. We went to a bike shop to fix one of our broken pumps, and instead ended up trading our pump with the owner’s personal pump from the 90s for free. Then we went to Walmart and had too much fun perusing the aisles. Ishaq got his Sprite, and I got the rest of the important stuff (jk jk). We still couldn’t find firewood but figured Mammoth Cave Campground would have some. As a result of our jovial time at Walmart, we were very late to the next rest stop. But it was at our favorite place, Dollar General, so bikers had already gone inside and bought their snackies and peed and whatnot. Ishaq declared the breaks were getting too long and shooed them away.

We drove to the next place and proceeded to watch more Sonic 3. The bikers rudely interrupted us demanding lunch, which we begrudgingly handed to them. Ishaq’s friends called so I got kicked out of the car, and I sat with the bikers and listened to tales from their harrowing journey.

Once everyone left, we went to the final rest stop, a Dutch-themed place with ice cream and other desserts. I got a pumpkin loaf that reminded me of a bakery from my hometown (shoutout to Fornax), Charles got his signature float, Ramona probably also got the same thing since she’s been on a soda bender recently, Sarah was disappointed by her pumpkin cream cheese chunks, Joseph is boring and just got vanilla ice cream, Greta got toothpaste mint chocolate chip ice cream, Tian ate her vegan chili, and I don’t remember what Ishaq got. Sarah got mistaken for one of the Amish workers, I stole 16 plastic utensils, and Greta made new stranger friends, per usual.

Amish horse drawn carriage spotted!

Once everyone finished, Ishaq and I kept driving until we reached Mammoth Cave. We bought some firewood and set up tents until the bikers finished their travels for the day. Joseph and Charles struggled to start the fire, but once it was ready we threw in some foil-wrapped corn, sweet potato, and hobo onion + carrot + patties (tofu for Tian because she’s vegan). While eating and making s’mores, we told impressively crafted ghost stories, except for the fact that several people didn’t think of endings and just stopped telling the story right at the denouement. What happened to the butler, Ishaq?!?

hobo dinner
June 23, 2025
Day 15: Choose Your Battles

I have gotten into the (bad) habit of using fellow Spokies as alarms. I woke up and saw Ramona still in bed. I fell back asleep and repeated this process 4 times before Greta (bless her) barged into the room, and woke everyone up. Greta soared up the list of top Spokes drivers today because she made everyone oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes I forget how such a simple breakfast food item could be so yummy with the right toppings. Speaking of being the top driver, she accomplished something phenomenal, making everyone pack their lunches the night before. I knew how much time doing errands the night before saves, but I haven’t gotten everyone on the same page. However, I learned that building relationships and trust is important in order to influence others (cue evil laugh). I was astounded by Greta’s magic, and very VERY pleased.

Spoon is Ramona

The first 30 miles passed like a breeze, but soon after I faced a very unfortunate dilemma. I needed to use the bathroom. Not only that, I needed to poop without any toilet paper. At first, I wasn’t panicking because I had been in this position many times before. I simply need to find a gas station or an unsuspecting soul mowing their lawn and borrow their bathroom (I know, I know, entering strangers’ homes is not the smartest idea). As I trudged along, I spotted a gas station to the left of the road, but I hate crossing busy highways. I moved on hoping to find a gas station on the right side of the road. Kentucky is a state of barking dogs who hate bikes. Lady Luck showed her face a few miles later. An old lady was sitting on her porch. However, her barking dogs scared me away and I didn’t get a chance to ask about the bathroom. After a few more miles, panic started to set in. Around the corner, I encountered an older gentleman with 3 barking dogs. Still, my desperation encouraged me to ask him about his restroom, to which he replied, “We don’t have water right now.” I left, disappointed. Soon after, I realized I should have asked for some toilet paper. After a couple of hills, I broke down. I NEED TO USE THE RESTROOM. I couldn’t see any houses for a mile, and then finally, I saw a gated home with a car parked outside. I thought to myself that someone must be at home. I unlatched the gate and rang the doorbell. Multiple times. All the while thinking that I am going to be shot for crossing into private property. The baby toys in the yard gave me hope that this family wouldn’t hurt me. But most animals are known to be protective and defensive of their young. No answer. I got back onto the road in pain. I don’t know how many more pedals I got in before I threw my bike on the side of the road, squatted on the side to relieve myself, and tried my best to avoid the 3 leaved poison ivies. I held my breath hoping that no cars would come down the road. It turns out, dried leaves are great toilet paper. As soon as I finished my business, I skedaddled away so no one would be able to tell that the poop on the side of the road was human and not dog poop.

I enjoyed lunchtime at rest stop 3, but the heat was getting to me and I was having a slow day. Meanwhile, Charles ate one of the crazy sandwich concoctions that Ruth made for him the night before. Greta was interviewing for everyone’s Rose Thorn Bud of Spokes for her blog. Ishaq was nowhere to be seen because he was a solo bird today.

The next stretch to Dollar General was unbearable. My legs weren’t pushing as it usually does and I couldn’t find my cycling rhythm. I could feel my vision getting blurry as I pulled up to a stop sign on a hill. At the stop sign, I saw a car moving towards me as I tried to turn left. I didn’t stop. Surely, the car would stop for me. But the car didn’t. The car got closer and closer. I blinked at the alarming sight and my mind suddenly cleared up. Oh no, what am I doing? The car swerved and screeched past me. Whew. That was a close call. Yesterday, I also had a close call with a van on the wrong lane who was driving straight towards me after a bend. However, this close call shook me more because I was in the wrong. I should have stopped at the stop sign. My lack of mental faculties frightened me.

I reached the Dollar General rest stop 4 with a sense of relief. I asked my fellow Spokies for advice on relieving dizziness. I was pampered with chewable electrolytes and an energy gel by today’s driver Greta. She asked me if I wanted to get driven. A wave of relief washed over me. I almost shed a tear, but I cried on this team too much already so I kept it in. I have done distances as long as today’s route before, so the fact I couldn’t finish the route was very disappointing. I wanted to push for 10 more miles. If the rest of my team could do it, why couldn’t I? But rationally, what is the point of biking for a few more miles on a random day in Kentucky when I know I am not feeling my best? For one reason or another, today is not my day. My mind and my body were at their limits. And so, I retreated into the car, thankful that I didn’t have to bike the rest of the 30 miles.

At rest stop 5, I took a nap while Greta went for a run (she is crazy). When I woke up, the rest of the team arrived after conquering a crazy hill on their way. I was grateful that I didn’t have to battle that hill today. Ruth arrived all sniffy, but feeling powerful. She has been sick for the last few days so I don’t know how she has been managing.

We wrapped up the day at the Liberty Assembly of God Church. Ishaq broke a vase when he arrived at the church. I don’t know how he managed that, but the church was kind and let it slide. Greta made us an amazing meal of chili while Ramona made cornbread and Ishaq made rice. I did some pre-eating cleanup while Ruth and Charles took care of the post-eating cleanup. Sarah gathered laundry and Joseph made the route for tomorrow. We all made sandwiches for tomorrow and had a productive meeting to set our leaving time as 9 am. Spokes 2025 to my surprise has slowly become a well-oiled machine. There are still creaks and clunks here and there, but everyone is pitching in to make things happen. I realize that when I struggle against the current, I gasp for air, but if I float in the rushing waves, I may be brought to shore. I need to choose carefully when to fight or float, or I may drown.

I tucked into my bed next to Ramona. She seemed to be the only team member immune to my snoring. I drifted to sleep not knowing that the sleep demon was out to get me this night (I fell off my bed).

June 22, 2025
Day 14: through the fairy forest

Hazard, KY to London, KY – 70.7 miles, 5293 ft

If Virginia was Big A mountains, then Kentucky is the fairy forest.

The mountain we climbed just a few days ago ->

If you move away from the towns, gas stations and highways, you can take the much calmer single lane roads. The roads go up and down, turn from asphalt to gravel. They will take you into a deep, dark, mystical forest.

the houses we left behind

leading us into the forest

The forest is humid and warm. There is water vapour in the air. It mixes with the sweat on your skin and makes it shine. You can almost always hear some type of water around you – a stream gurgling down the slope or water dripping from the rock wall by the road. Every once in a while there is a waterfall. The river that flows through the forest is brown, almost sand coloured. You hear birds and see yellow butterflies and maybe even a deer or two. Everything is green. The leaves create a tunnel around you. Even the road is turning green. The moss and some crawling plants are slowly taking over the road.

These single lane roads weave together a couple of houses, little settlements almost. There always seems to be a stream or a river running by them. The people living here keep chickens and grow corn in their backyards. They are kind. They ride quadricycles, wear tattoos and keep (mostly caged) territorial dogs. The kids ride quadricycles too and the dogs really don’t like cyclists.

If you go through the fairy forest, expect to get some rain, if not from the skies, then from the trees above you. But it is a calm and weirdly soothing place.

We were going through the fairy forest, when we stopped by a little church, and that is when the plot thickened.

the little church

where the plot was about to thicken

So, the situation. Our plan was this.

The church rest stop on top right (a tree with a table), then a dashed (meaning gravel) road (with hills), named aptly Confluence-Shoal-Sizerock Rd to Sizerock.

very steep ascent

However, once I made it up a very steep ascent to the Spring Rd crossing (see blue X), I was faced with two roads in the right direction.

Luckily, there people hanging out by some pickup trucks and quadricycles there. I asked them, which road could lead us to Sizerock.

And, while they seemed unsure about how to get to Sizerock, they did know that one of the roads was a dead end and the other one, which they had taken themselves, was flooded. Now, this was not good news. I could not figure out exactly what had flooded, but it was probably something in the area in the map marked with purple blobs and question marks. The water that had been all around the road in the morning, was now taking over the road. After some more talking, they advised we take the Hell for Certain Rd to get to Sizerock.

I debated just going for it and maybe walking through the floods, but my wiser self won and I decided to trust their judgement on whether I would pass the floods or not.

Equipped with this knowledge, I returned to our little church and we did a reroute (pictured right).

We were lucky there were easy reroute options. We swapped one gravel road for another (it was indeed named Hell for Certain Rd). And it is a good thing we did.

The car on a fairly good part of the road.

There were no floods on this road, but even without that, it was not easy. Not for the cyclists nor the car. Some took advantage of shuttling in the (fully packed) van, but we were lucky Joseph had the car in good hands. Ups and downs and sharp turns, and puddles and potholes, but we made it to Sizerock, also called Hell for Certain.

And, with the arrival at Hell for Certain, we had made it out of the forest.

We ate lunch, Charles climbed a tractor, we biked some more, did a fun stop at Dollar General.

Charles

Taking over the dollar general

Then we got thunderstormed on and arrived at our home for the night during golden hour.

Rolling towards the destination

I took this picture of the fields after the rain

Ruth took this awesome selfie

There we were greeted by a very friendly cat 🙂

cat

thanks Ruth for the pictures!!!!!

i heart

And that is it! Thanks for reading and I promise we are trying to get back on schedule for the blogs!

June 21, 2025
Day 13: Hazardous Challenges
Learning Festival Day in Hazard, KY

I did not want to get up this morning. We just spent the last two days cycling long distances through some crazy mountainous terrain and heavy downpours. That’s not even mentioning the nasty crash I had on our day leaving Roanoke (Day 8) in which I probably fractured a rib! I was, shall we say, pooped. We had a learning festival today which started at 10, so I had no choice but to painstakingly make my way down the stairs of the Harmony House BnB to the breakfast table, all the while my knees were weak and my arms were heavy 😔. Ishaq’s bike had broken down the day before (he stopped being able to shift gears), so he had to drive two hours one way to get to the nearest bike shops in Lexington, KY. We decided he would drop all of us off at the learning festival site, the Challenger Learning Center, and then he would leave Tian to run the Machine Learning workshop alone while he got his bike fixed.

Our host Sherry cooked us a tasty casserole for breakfast, but Sarah, my bottle rockets workshop partner, thought her nut allergy was acting up even though the food didn’t have nuts. She took some Benadryl to prevent an allergic reaction, but it also made her super drowsy as a result. This all meant that Sarah was also out of the picture for bottle rockets and I would be running it solo. I was a little worried. This was going to be my first learning festival without kids from a correctional facility (we didn’t do an official bottle rockets workshop in Tazewell), and there was a variety of kids of all sorts of ages from kindergarten to 9th grade that we had to attempt to cater to in separate groups. I didn’t think our curriculum was advanced enough for the older kids, so finding out I had to run it solo all of a sudden gave me some anxiety.

I had a job to do, so I tried to set aside my worries and embrace my life philosophy of ignoring any fear and embracing adversity, or as us kids like to say, “F**k it, we ball”. I started off with the youngest group of kids and the kids progressively got older as the day went on. The first two workshops went amazingly. I was able to keep the kids engaged for the entire hour and they had a lot of fun launching the rockets. With the last two groups, however, my curriculum fears were realized. I blasted through the lesson too quickly because it was so simplified and when we all went outside to launch rockets, the kids weren’t as excited, and it seemed like a lot of them had even done bottle rockets before. In comparison, I launched my first bottle rocket a month ago! I had pretty big gaps in time between the end of my lesson and the transition time, so I initiated my last-ditch strategy of hypersocial activity. I talked with the kids about a variety of subjects, like what their aspirations and plans were, college stuff, what life was like for them, if they wanted to stay in Kentucky, etc. And it worked! My workshop may not have been engaging enough for them on its own, but hopefully they took something away from all of my talking.

Most of the other workshops ran pretty smoothly, except for 3D Printing… it’s definitely the most logistically difficult workshop to run, since Charles and Ruth run prints for all of the kids. For those that don’t know, 3D printing is a time-intensive process, and having to give 40+ kids each their own prints is super difficult. I know Charles stayed up late the night before troubleshooting the printer and the two of them spent over an hour after the last workshop ended trying to give kids their printed objects, but not everyone ended up getting their stuff. This process is still definitely a work in progress, and I hope they can find a solution to this that’ll leave everyone happy.
Me helping a kid prepare the bottle rocket
Bottle rocket go boom
Tian teaching the chlidren
Greta being engaged in her own activity
Charles showcasing the POWER of 3D printing
After all the workshops ended, we were given a tour of the Challenger Learning Center, and its actually amazing. They run simulated space missions where a classroom of kids has to work together to ensure the mission is a success, with a level of detail and complexity that mirrors a REAL space mission. I love stuff related to exploring space, so I feel a great sense of appreciation for the amount of work that the staff have put into immersing kids into a SPACE MISSION of all things. WHERE WAS THIS WHEN I WAS YOUNG????
Us being shown the Mission Mars activity
Ruth learning how to operate a robotic arm (her thesis was on this btw)
Ramona being the master communicator
The awesome mission control room
Afterwards, they took us to an exhibit space where they had a 1/10 scale model of a rocket and a bunch of cool demos and games for kids to check out. We spent way too much time having fun in this space.
Us playing around in the exhibit
Ruth playing a game
Me setting a new high score in the game
Sarah crashing a plane in Microsoft flight simulator
Ishaq the astronaut
We eventually got back to the BnB where we were catered some delicious Italian food, all provided by the CLC! We all sat down at this dinner table, and I kid you not, we sat eating and chatting for five hours. The conversations just kept going and going and going and going. Those are the kind of moments I live for.

Tomorrow is my driving day, so I get more rest haha (it was genuinely one of the most stressful days of the trip for me, off-roading for over an hour in the Pacifica after avoiding a flooded road hit different). See you guys in my next blog, where we cross into Illinois and I can finally talk about a cycling day!!!!
June 17, 2025
Day 12: katch me in kentucky
Today started at 3am when I sat straight up in my tent and started screaming for someone to come help me get out. After entertaining my tentmate Ruth and terrifying the rest of my teammates (including Joseph, who, thinking I was being attacked by a bear, started screaming along) I went soundly back to sleep until our wake up time around 8am.

Besides my exciting pre-dawn shenanigans, today was a relatively uneventful day. Cloudy with occasional rain in the morning, we made our way across the Virginia border and into Eastern Kentucky. One of the things I like most about biking as a mode of transportation is that it’s slow enough to take in on all the sights around us. I’ve rarely travelled to areas as rural and secluded as what we saw today, so I spent a lot of time contemplating what life might be like out here. There is so much beauty in the winding creeks and appalachian foothills, but life also seems harder here than it is back home. I’m coming to appreciate all the urban conveniences I usually take for granted.
Waiting out the rain at a rest stop
DAIRY QUEEN
I spent most of the day thinking about the land we were riding on, and just how much bigger our country is than the slice of east coast life I’m used to. Somewhere along the way, though, my mind turned inward and I started thinking about the ways this trip was shaping me. I realized the things that had been hardest for me on the trip hadn’t been what I expected, and neither had the things I’d most enjoyed.

Overall, these first two weeks of Spokes have been some of the best in my life. I had thought the most difficult parts of the trip would be how gross and dirty we were. In reality, the most difficult part of the trip so far has been.. ummm… saddle sores? which was not something i even knew existed? something i wish i still didn’t know existed?? other than that, i’ve been most challenged confronting my fear of unleashed dogs and figuring out how to manage the dynamics of conducting life constantly surrounded by 7 other people (answer: with a lot of laughter!) I’ve absolutely loved meeting our hosts and other locals, each one of which has expanded my perspective on what the future could hold. I’ve also been cherishing all the small moments we spend together as a team, whether at rest stops, cooking dinner, or even when we’re all grumpy and bleary-eyed in the morning. It’s a privilege to see each other through our highest highs and lowest lows, and I feel like I’ve personally bared down to my realest self more quickly than at any other time in my life.

I wanted to get the rest of the team’s perspective, so I asked everyone to go around and share a rose (highlight), thorn (challenge), and bud (something to look forward to) from the trip so far. Here are their answers:

Sarah

Rose: Seeing a lot of greenery that I’m not used to since I’m from the desert. Also seeing wildflowers and butterflies and rivers. Thorn: climbing ginormous hills and not knowing how to shift my bike gears. Bud: visiting national parks in Utah.

Joseph

Rose: the time the team has spent hanging out together so far. Thorn: my seven day streak of horrendous sleep that forced me to take an extra rest day. Bud: when we finally get into a stable enough routine that we can do a bunch of fun stuff during and post ride

Tian

Rose: all the nice people we’ve met along the way who have offered their homes, showed us their communities, and made us delicious food. Thorn: managing both physical and mental fatigue from day to day. Bud: The rest day learning festival combination in bowling green (extra rest!)

Charles

Rose: this sandwich/ getting to hangout with all of ya’ll and the fun moments we have over dinner and breaks. Thorn: butt pain and neck stiffness. Bud: buc-ees!!

Ramona

Rose: having a very different routine and set of responsibilities and things to worry about that is completely unrelated to what I do and worry about during the semester. Thorn: less time than I expected to think about life and whatnot… scared the summer will pass in a blink and I’ll be launched back into chaos. Bud: excited to see more places and experience what “real” heat it

Ruth

Rose: meeting the hosts and eating their foods (learning about their lives, sitting at dinner and talking with them). Thorn: sleep. Bud: better sleep

Ishaq

Rose: getting to the top of the hill in Shenandoah. Thorn: climbs are still hard. Bud: being better at climbs when we get to the Rocky Mountains
June 16, 2025
Day 11: The Crucible

Howdy hi y’all, Ishaq on the blog today and what a day it was. The team (well actually mostly me) was pushed to the brink mentally and physically, and once again reminded of the cruel reality of this world. But at the end of the day maybe of greatest enemy is the one thing we cant escape from… ourselves.

This day began like any other, despite my incredible Garmin sleep score of 90, we had a lazy morning, ate breakfast and packed our car, saying goodbye to our wonderful host Theresa and the quaint little town of Tazewell VA around noon. We expected a little rain, but nothing too bad so we hit the road with our rain coats. I was determined to make the day an easy one, so I employed the elite biking strategy that makes you 10-20% more efficient on the road: drafting Greta for 40 miles. Life in the draft is a nice one, you have the person in front pedaling away while I could just sit there taking in the sights and occasionally putting some wattage. Further, the climbs felt like easy mode. The draft helped less here, but Greta’s pacing simply couldn’t be beat. For the first time miles long climbs didn’t mean contemplating existence and cursing the earth for being bumpy, and not gonna lie I was feeling a little cocky so I decided to see how long I could go without shifting my front derailleur to the small ring (became a low cadence, high resistance warrior on all the climbs).

I finally was forced to shift when climbing the aptly named Big A Mountain (it was a big mountain after all), but sustained my riding bliss right up and through the summit. Now for the descent, but… tragedy strikes! When I go to shift up my chain fell off my cogs. So I go through the process of getting my hands a little dirty to get it back on and keep riding.

While descending we were hit by a massive rainstorm, each drop hella painful as we zoomed at 30 mph down the mountain roads. The next rest stop was right at the mountain base and we took shelter in the Honaker Community Center. Rain was coming down hard and Greta somewhat jokingly suggested that we should just stay there for the night. Lowkey it was a great idea, it was pouring rain, we had another 30 miles to go and the community center has bathrooms and a kitchen. The one down side is that the next day would be turned into a 115 mile ride to get to Hazard, Kentucky in time for our next learning festival. After an hour of deliberating, I was hopped up on endorphins and good vibes with a reckless abandon for the wellbeing and sanity of the team, making me a fierce supporter for a 115 mile ride. The team was split evenly: four for staying four for going.

Sanity was decreasing, then, in proper deus ex machina fashion, a staff member of the community center rolled up outside and told us we couldn’t stay the night inside and wed have to be in an outdoor shelter down the road. After seeing it, the team said heck nah and we geared up to bike the rest of the way to Breaks Interstate Park. Joseph and Charles leave. Ruth isn’t feeling well (ruth’s edit: this is a lie, I went to help with the tents) so she hops in the car with Tian. Ramona and Sarah then depart, however they start going the wrong way! Greta and I were about to take off, but tragedy strikes again! Greta can’t find her phone! I hop on my bike to go look for in the community center with her, then tragedy again again! My front shifter isn’t working!

I call up Ramona for some quick maintenance and we start trying to track Greta phone because it wasn’t in the community center. After some tinkering we determined my front derailleur had become horribly misaligned somehow and I was no longer able to shift to the small ring. And with some nifty find my iPhone tracking we saw Greta’s phone suspiciously traveling our route. After a quick phone call we determined that Joseph had stolen Greta’s phone and sabotaged my bike in an attempt to prevent the both of us front being first to the national park! Absolutely diabolical. Well, this is half true, he did accidentally take Greta’s phone (not even realizing he had it when we were clearly looking for it before he left), but my bike breaking is still a mystery.

Tian is driving, Ruth is in the car, with no room left, I have but one choice: Ride the last 30 miles using my broken bike. A challenge, yes, but one that I had the determination to complete. By this point everyone but Greta and I had left, we started cycling and instead of cheating in her draft for another 30 miles, I took the lead and I start dashing. Just a few miles in, Greta asked me, “Can you keep this pace for 20 more miles?” I simply shrugged and said “Let’s find out.” It was then, on a broken bike, that I hit my fastest 5 mile, 10K, 10 mile, 20K, 30K, and 40K pace (peep the Strava) averaging 20 mph for a long stretch through the rolling hills of western Virginia.

Our final challenge? Three large hills at the end of the ride to enter the park. I, of course, cannot shift down. By this point Greta and I have caught up to and passed every other biker on the team. I forced all of my weight and all of my strength into the pedals as an ungodly slow cadence, swerving side to side just to reduce the grade ever so slightly. It began pouring after the first hill. I was exhausted, legs aching, heart pounding, thinking I’m certainly not qualified to carry these boats, let alone the logs. I pulled out my phone to call it quits and get Tian to come pick me up. No service. As said in the critically acclaimed drama set in the Star Wars universe, Andor, “There is only one way out!” I hopped back on the saddle and continued to sluggishly grind my way up into the park. On nearing the end, right before the park entrance, the rain cleared and we were beholden to a beautiful view of the mountains and the setting sun on the horizon. As the rest of the team caught up we had one last group hype session to get ready for the last stretch of the climb. I gave a short speech. The content? I cant remember. The result, however, was six bikers devoted to finishing strong on what may have been the craziest day of our trip so far.

We rolled into our campsite, Ruth and Tian having already unpacked and pitched tents, I took a shower and retreated to my tent, for my crucible was now over and I yearned for nothing more that the sweet comfort of my dreams. But… A car rolls up to our campsite, its a park ranger and they tell us the worst news: we had set up on the wrong site! But it was fine because no one has booked it and I didn’t have to move my tent and simply went to bed.

Oh and we totally saw a bunch of cows earlier in the day that kept blocking the road, but it didn’t narratively fit so here’s some pictures for funzies.

June 15, 2025