Author: MIT Spokes

Day 7: The Lone Star Adapts

Lexington, VA to Roanoke, VA – 59.58 mi, 4,160 ft

I woke up to the smell of pancakes courtesy of Dirk and Chrissy van Assendelft. The breakfast I had at their place in Lexington was some of the best I ever had.

Berries! Yum 😋

After breakfast, the team scattered to pack. As I collected my clean laundry, I felt anxious because I hadn’t biked the steep hill, which had grades up to 17%, from yesterday. Not completing something gives me immense dread. My pride also makes it hard for me to stomach that I am the slowest biker on our team.

We packed our lunches on the lawn of Dirk and Chrissy’s home as the morning sun brutally shone on us—lunches I wished that we packed the evening before. After 2.5 years of traveling the world solo, I am used to organizing my schedule however I want. However, I am learning that traveling with a group of 8, each with their quirks and needs, proves to be a very different task.

We started our ride to Roanoke down a grassy and gravel path where some of us feared for our lives. Fueled by my desire to become faster, I kept pedaling, one street after another, until I left the city. Before I realized it, I passed the zeroth(?) and first rest stop. Some of the team members stopped in downtown Lexington to snack on gelato and sit in love chairs. Usually, I would feel FOMO. However, I didn’t want gelato, and there was nothing I could do about missing a rest stop. Besides, my anxiety about completing the route was ebbing away with every mile I moved towards Roanoke. I am content with choosing to ride on.

Spoksies on a creaky bridge

I ended up playing leapfrog with Ruth for the rest of the day. I would ride in front, and then she would pass me for another stretch. I took the advice of a previous spokester (Duha) and acquired open-ear headphones. With Chappell Roan playing in my ears, my legs were willing to keep spinning the wheels. Although I was exhausted and walked a couple of hills, this was my happiest biking day.

Second rest stop! After completely missing the first 😦

When I finally arrived at the destination, I couldn’t find Lisa and Rob’s home. I meandered back and forth on the street, hoping that our driver Ishaq would pop out of nowhere to fetch me. Instead, I spotted a lady in her yard who beckoned me. That’s how I met Lisa.

Lisa ushered me into her home with utmost kindness. I met Ruth, who arrived before me. Ruth was shocked to the core when I said I wanted to shower first. Apparently, our shower order was based on the arrival order (I never arrived early enough to find out). But it calmed my anxious heart to know that I will be showering second today.

Lisa offered us a bowl of cherries. I love cherries, but I never buy them because they can cost quite a penny. Lisa and Rob were generous and offered us flautas and me impossible burgers. I even got to meet Carol (Rob’s mother) who is a big fan of Spokes. We met Rob, the creator of the Virgina Rockstar route, a trail some of us vow to do one day (not me).

Since this was the second day we arrived around 4 pm, Lisa and Rob had time to take us sightseeing. This was the first time Spokes had time to sightsee. I was so excited. Sightseeing was one part of my solo traveling I missed on Spokes. Lisa loaded me onto an artsy van Rob bought for $200 and drove us to see the largest man-made star, which happens to be in Roanoke.

Reassured by the city lights of Roanoke that twinkled in the distance, I realized I was still figuring things out. I don’t know where exactly Spokes ends and Tian begins. I’m not sure how much of the solo traveler in me can exist on this trip. But surely, once in a while, I can choose myself.

The night wrapped up sweetly with Lisa’s chamomile mint tea.

June 11, 2025
Day 6: stab your friends…

Afton, VA to Lexington, VA – 47.02 mi, 4,354 ft

Today was just one of those days. I woke up at 1:55 am to pee, and never quite fell back asleep. Tian, our resident snorer, unknowingly kept me awake all night. I popped in my airpods and drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few hours.

At the breakfast table, we (ironically) started off the day comparing sleep scores — Ishaq was well rested with an 87/100, and Greta was close behind with a 71/100. I was the star of the show with a whopping 42/100. I was basically non-verbal throughout breakfast and car-packing due to how sleep deprived I was (apologies, fellow Spokies).

Now, I’m not sure if you read Day 5’s blog (go Joseph), but if you did, you may know that we changed our route last minute, opting for a shorter, albeit steeper climb. Due to my state of being, Greta, our driver for the day, offered to drive me to the top. I respectfully declined – I needed to tire myself out enough that I would sleep peacefully tonight.

Sad to leave Pam’s magical cottage in Afton, VA, we headed off to the steepest climb to date. With an average grade of 10% (and a maximum of 17%), this climb reached a steepness of over 2 times the maximum allowable slope of a wheelchair ramp (my dad is an architect).

Text correspondence with Father Ruth

I opted to not have my own bike computer to save the team $350, so I rotate through drivers’ computers. Today, Greta’s computer was simply not loading the route for me – I resolved to follow Ramona closely behind so I wouldn’t get lost, since we ride at a ~similar~ pace.

Me, Charles, and Joseph before I zoom ahead with Ramona

I’m not going to subject you to the same pain that I felt climbing that large hill today, so I’ll spare you the details. Just know that Ramona and I didn’t take breaks, that I felt I was going to go backwards at multiple points, and that when we finally passed the worst of it and pulled over to snack, I didn’t know if I could get up again.

As for the rest of the journey, it went pretty smoothly. All the Spokies met under a tree to eat lunch. By this time, my mood was significantly better👍. Exercising does release endorphins, after all ✨.

Me and Ramona smiling through the pain post a 17% grade

Spokies at lunch

Ramona, Ishaq, and I set out before the others. Then came the best 13 miles of the day – flat land. On this land, like a fledgling jumping out of its nest for the first time, I learned to fly— i.e. ride with no hands. I even did the wave!

We had one last climb before the house, but after a quick snackie, we pulled through.

Me, Ramona, and Ishaq smiling before the last climb

46.8 miles later and 4456 ft ascended, we made it to Dirk and Chrissy’s house in Lexington, VA at 3:30 pm— early for a change. Roxy the dog was awaiting us!

Greta petting Roxy

Ramona chasing Roxy

Roxy with a ball

Joseph passed out next to Roxy

Greta hugging Roxy

Greta and Ishaq ran out to get groceries, while the rest of us took much needed showers. Once everyone was stink-free, we had dinner! A very very very yummy dinner, with stuffed mushrooms and caprese salads and protein pasta. During dinner we discovered Ramona’s love of orienteering – Europe’s favorite pastime. We also realized what a small world it is. Last week, Dirk and Chrissy hosted a Harvard pole vaulter that Sarah sort of knows. And they have a daughter at Stanford in the same department and year as my sister, who she doesn’t know at all! Pretty small world if you ask me.

Since we got to our Warmshowers so early, we could actually do fun things! We used the large foot massager in the living room. Most people hated it but Tian was ready to sneak it into the van. People made banana bread. I got sat on by Roxy. We pet the bipolar cat, Eli. Finally, we played Stab Your Friends, a card game (by Dirk and Chrissy’s nephew!) that turned all of us against each other. Charles, I’m coming for you.

Sarah making banana bread

Roxy sitting on me

June 10, 2025
Day 5: Can we take five?

Rest day in Afton, VA

The first four days of this trip have been nothing but hectic. Day 1 had me running a bottle rocket workshop seven times followed by a terrifying time being the driver in DC (how is it worse than Manhattan??). Day 2 had me cycling on gravel roads through a severe thunderstorm all the while Charles was lost to the world. Day 3’s ascent into Shenandoah National Park felt like an insurmountable obstacle with my tired body (I was one of the cheaters :p). Day 4 (my driving day) involved some scary driving through windy roads in the midst of one of the worst downpours I’ve seen in my life. But finally, we made it to a rest day…
Pam’s off-the-grid house was an absolutely magical place to spend our first rest day. Greta said enough about the awesome person that is Pam Mendosa, but her place was just so awesome that I couldn’t write this blog without mentioning it.

Pam’s magical off-the-grid home

One of Pam’s cats, Garlic, roaming around outside

A neighboring cabin where three of us slept for two nights

So, what exactly does a “rest day” entail? Normally on this trip, we crash at someone’s place or a campsite, eat, sleep, then pack our things up the following morning for another day of biking. On a rest day, we instead stay put in one place, both to take a break and also to get pending tasks done. For today there were many items on the agenda.

For one, all of our camping equipment was soaked from the overnight downpour at Big Meadows and needed to be dried. The team did a great job using Pam’s entire property as a place to dry our stuff.

Our tents and sleeping pads being dried outside the cabin

Ramona and I spent some time in the morning perfecting our bike cleaning technique and left everyone’s bikes looking squeaky clean.

Ramona hosing down a dirty bike

There were three more tasks that required venturing from Pam’s isolated intentional community to Charlottesville, the location of the University of Virginia and also where Ishaq grew up! Four of us (Me, Ramona, Sarah, and Charles) drove to this lovely town and I dropped Sarah and Charles off at a laundromat (Pam didn’t have a dryer).

Me photobombing the laundromat shot

Ramona being thirsty

Sarah bringing our laundry back

Ramona and I went to a bike shop called Blue Wheel Bicycles to fix my broken spokes (just like me fr). After we dropped off my bike, we went to Whole Foods to return some unused fenders (the team decided they were actually fine getting wet from their tires). I called Sarah and seeing that laundry was going to take a while, went to Great Outdoor Provision co. to get myself some packing cubes (my disorganized duffel bag was driving me crazy). We may have also had some fun looking at all of the gear.

Waiting at a light in Charlottesville

Having some fun at the gear shop

My repaired spokes after over a month of a weird noise yayyy

Once laundry work finished up we all decided to hit up Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters for a work sesh on our laptops (Pam’s house unfortunately had no wifi or cell service). Ishaq spent the night at his own house and joined up with us at the cafe. After a few hours of semi-productive time and a very good fruit smoothie, we headed on back to Pam’s place and enjoyed another relaxing evening arguing over our route for the following day…

Side tangent, the route for the following day was looking to be short, but very difficult, with an over 3000ft climb and some of the steepest grades that we would see for the entire trip. We argued over a couple of potential routes for hours… I’ve been the main route planner for this trip and spending my valuable evening hours making these routes every day is going to drive me crazyyy

June 9, 2025
Day 4: thunderstruck⚡️
Big Meadows Campground, VA to Afton, VA – 42.74 mi, 3,045 ft

“There’s no way I’m biking down Skyline Drive this morning,” I told Ruth as the pitter patter of rain woke us up from our short, wet night of sleep. Yesterday, we completed the long ascent up Skyline Drive and I had spent hours of it imagining us all flying down the mountain at the end. Unfortunately, the combination of blind curves, thick fog, and heavy rain was a perfect recipe for broken bikes and broken Spokies–not a desired outcome on day 4 (or day anything) of our trip.

Luckily for us, as we were stuffing our soaking wet camping gear back in its bags, my dad and his friend Greg were driving up to meet us at Big Meadows. Now, with two cars and two bike racks at our disposal, we decided the best plan was to shuttle both ourselves and our bikes down the mountain into the nearest town. Even though I knew I wouldn’t have felt safe on the mountain in these conditions, I still spent the whole drive down mourning the loss of such a beautiful descent. I was not consoled when I was informed we didn’t have enough space to bring down all the bikes in two trips–so my dad was going to make the trip down by bike after all. without me…

mystical fog at big meadows

hiding out from the rain:)

Once we were all assembled at the bottom of the mountain, we ate some brunch, pumped up our tires, and got on the road. Although Greg and my dad were purportedly here to ride “with Spokes”, I guess the beautiful Virginia hills got to them because they took off as soon as we started. I let them get away the first couple miles, until I decided I couldn’t let two middle-aged dudes get the better of Greta Lawler so I showed them what I was made of (aka drafted off my Dad for the rest of the ride) 👍 Besides their super speedy bike skills, I was super happy to have Greg and my Dad with us for a day! Greg taught us to think about our energy reserves as a matchbox; each one of us has only a limited number of matches to burn each day. Its important to know how many you have and to decide carefully how to use them. I really liked that one! My dad updated his advice to future Spokes from “be safe and have fun” to “be prepared for rain.”

(Did I mention we got hit by another bout of torrential rain around 4pm? Classic Virginia.) Other highlights include “the world’s best pizza” (according to Ishaq), the acquisition of a new (overpriced) sticker, and lots of cows!!

dad aka captain lawler

yep

joseph and the BEST PIZZA EVER (elf style…)

Despite our crazy, water-logged day, we arrived at our host’s house by about 5, which is much earlier than we’ve arrived at our destination the previous two days of Spokes. I’m so glad we did because our host, Pam, is just incredible! First of all, she hosted her son’s entire wedding the day before we arrived and still offered to host us for two nights. Second of all… well, there’s really too much to tell, so I’ll do my best with a (completely inexhaustive) list.

List of reasons Pam Mendosa is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met:
- lives entirely off the grid
- built her own house from the ground up
- is an expert wildlife rehabilitator, working both with cats and racoons in her backyard and gibbons and chimpanzees in Africa
- volunteered as a a street medic at the charlottesville riots in 2017
- worked as a racecar pitcrew and chatted with tom cruise and paul newman without even knowing who they were
- pours her heart and time into pursuing her passions
- created the release protocol for rehabilitated bush babies
- makes a delicious mac n’ cheese
- is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever met
Pam lives in an “intentional community” called Shannon Farm, which is a neighborhood tucked back in the forest in which everyone has shared ownership of the land, participates in community events, contributes to upkeep of the farm, and is invested in knowing and supporting their neighbors. Everyone I met seems to really love it in Shannon. It reminds me a lot of French House, where I currently live in MIT, and I honestly think I would love living in an intentional community one day. Even just 4 days in, Spokes has given me so much to think about and I’ve met so many cool, generous, inspirational people. Somehow, the world feels both bigger and smaller than ever. (Not to mention I’m getting to hang out everyday with 7 of my newest favorite people ever. 🫶 ) So so so excited for the rest of our adventure!

Peace out,

Greta
June 8, 2025
Day 3: BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, SHENENDOAH RIVERRRR

Linden, VA to Big Meadows Campground, VA – 55.75 mi, 6,555ft

Howdy y’all, Ishaq here. Today we had quite the late start but we’re treated to a quality pre-ride meal by our wonderful hosts, Jen, Tim, and their adorable baby Wayne (his cuteness fed our spirits with the motivation to conquer the day’s challenge). It was raining in the morning so we gladly accepted a short ride down the steep gravel road to start our journey on the highway to Shenandoah National Park.

Everything started out alright with a tiny hill around 10 miles in and we all got some wicked speed on the way down. However, it was quite hot today so I drank all my water by the time I got to our first rest stop and gladly purchased an Irish cream coffee and a lemonade from a lovely cafe. I also got what was probably the worst baguette I’ve ever had but a biker gotta eat 🤷🏾‍♂️. Ruth was driving today, and while she was waiting for us she explored a cute little inn. Everything inside looked old and expensive–so certainly outside of our spokes budget.

All in all it was a successful and restful break! Ramona took an awesome candid group photo and we continued our bike.

All was good until i saw this come up on my bike computer:

Arguably worse than our climb yesterday, we had a 10 mile, 3000 foot, grade 5 climb into Shenandoah ahead of us. And being completely real I was not physically or mentally prepared for that challenge. Everyone went ahead of me and two of us, who had been having some cardiovascular issues the previous day, made the smart decision to ride up in the car part of the way. I, however, stopped at another cafe, got another lemonade and sat on a porch of an abandoned building contemplating this climb. Contemplation quickly became doom scrolling, along with my daily LinkedIn games (gotta do my Queens). I realized it had been a bit and I probably should get going so I put on a podcast reviewing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and got to riding. The first half of the climb took an hour. Physically, I was broken, mentally even more so. I did not help that the podcast was bad and they kept hating on the Star Wars prequels (which I am quite a fan of). I met up with Tian and Ruth for some lunch as everyone else had went ahead.

On this break at the half way point I went non verbal. Drank two full bottles of water, scarfed down the rest of my disgusting baguette, and laid down on a park bench. As I laid there staring at the tree above me and sky above that tree, I thought to myself, “dang I could really just hop in the car right now and get a ride to the top.” But then I thought of former Navy SEAL, endurance athlete, and motivational speaker, David Goggins. What would he say to me right now? WHOS GONNA CARRY THE BOATS!

I locked in, got up, biked out into another 5 miles of pure uphill. My willpower renewed, and reinforced now by the power of Jazz, Bollywood music, and the Sinners soundtrack. I pushed up that mountain and may have truly experienced endorphins for the first time. I took some stops at the view point and found joy in the climb. Just me, my bike and I, determined to make it to the top.

Hitting the peak was absolutely euphoric. I gladly zoomed at 30mph down the the other side until finally seeing other Spoksters at a lookout.

After that, I cant say the rest of the ride was chill, but it was certainly more manageable. We made it to Big Meadows campground as the sun was setting and I hurriedly got a bag of kettle corn and a sprite from the general store minutes before closing. I was now at peace… PSYCH! Where was Ruth? Where was Tian? Nobody knew, everybody worried. But it ultimately all panned out as Ruth found Tian and drove her on over. We unloaded the car and set up camp in the dark. We started cooking, but I conked out immediately, leaving the rest to the other Spokies.

June 7, 2025
day 2: taking off the training wheels (and lessons learned along the way) 🚴🏼‍♀️
Washington, D.C. to Linden, VA – 82.06 mi, 5,361 ft

hello!!! this is sarah with our 1st biking day blog!!! 🚲

after spending our first night all together at our lovely airbnb in falls church, virginia, we got up at a timely 5am (or around there, it’s been a few days, behind on blogs…i think i even got up at 4:50), i excitedly put on my full spokes “uniform” for the first time, packed up my personal belongings and threw them in the van (dubbed “amy” because that was the second part of the license plate :)), and hopped on my bike to go to breakfast at greta’s house with ruth (we were ready on decent time…can’t say the same about everyone else…)

this breakfast was EXACTLY what i needed to start our 1st biking day. that french toast casserole was seriously one of the best things i’ve ever had. the rest of the team eventually caught up and finished eating, we did final preparations out front and our team chant (which is a work in progress), and set OFF (feat. captain lawler, aka greta’s dad!)
our lovely 2024 chrysler pacifica amy <33
view from the airbnb 🏡
sunrise!
BREAKFAST 🔥🔥
the 1st ~30 miles were absolutely WONDERFUL. the team was cruising down the flats, enjoying the virginia scenery. as a las vegas native, i never get sick of greenery. there were also sightings of cute deer, cool birds, and…a singular snake. yikes.

eventually we made it to our first rest stop at my 2nd cousin claire’s house! my mom reached out a few days before we set off to see if any of her side of the family on the east coast was along our route, and claire and her husband miles ended up being literally right off of the trial we were taking. nice! i haven’t seen them since…maybe ever, but definitely since i was too little to remember anything. my great aunt bubby also decided to stop by, and we all enjoyed the company of my family, their LARGE and FLUFFY and so friendly and cute cats moose and noodle, and the bagels and fruit they set out for us. the water and electrolyte refills were also MUCH appreciated. if the fam is reading this, thank you so much!!!!! will be back soon to visit again 😇
some views!
virginia is gorg ☀️
SNAKE
various spokies with moose, first up charles
joseph
me!
noodle 🍜
some of my fam 💗
bomb bagels…
…and fruit! 🍉
everybody together now
after some more flats, the team pulled off for a lunch break at bluemont community center. the ominous clouds that were once in the distance were now on us and slightly pouring. after waiting out the worst of it for about half an hour, we got back on the road to conquer some hills that i swear came STRAIGHT from hell. after a few walks alone in the woods contemplating why i joined spokes, around 3 close calls with death via asthma attack, i made it to the the final rest stop at some random pull-off about 10 miles from our first host.

after almost falling asleep in the passenger seat of the van, i realized that finishing this ride was probably not in the picture: while very frustrating and slightly embarrassing, i had to remember that spokes was a marathon—not a sprint—and that my body probably just wasn’t super well adjusted on the very 1st day, as well as not able to handle super steep climbs super well in any case due to my health condition. i had to give myself some grace and recognize that i still biked around 63 MILES in ONE day, which is a HUGE accomplishment! something i have been working on the past few years is not comparing myself to others in an unhealthy way, keeping in mind my own capabilities and unique strengths and weaknesses, and being proud of what i do accomplish rather than always just looking for the next achievement. i think i took another step on that specific journey today, and this was only day 1!
leaving the cousin’s place 🌳
wowww
hey ruth!
lunch break ft. my fav lucky socks
rain
eugh 🌧️
chicken? turkey? idk
getting driven up and getting to the host early with tian actually ended up being a HUGE blessing in disguise because right after we got there, a HUGE thunderstorm started nearby, and half the team was still. biking. greta had made it up (even after a missed turn), with ruth and ishaq following close behind, but joseph, charles, and ramona were still out. joseph ended up making it up (albeit getting soaked in the process), but those of us who had made it had to quickly empty the car to make extra room for the rescues of ramona and the lost and hurt charles (who had crashed 😦 thankfully he was ok!) if i hadn’t come up earlier, a TON of extra unpacking would have had to been done in order to get 1 more seat for the very likely rescue of yours truly (since i was behind everyone else).

thankfully, we all made it to our first host (although some of us soaking wet) in one piece! we were staying with an mit alum and her husband: she was a course 7 (biology), similar to me! we had tacos for dinner with their baby wayne and dog…it was some computer science reference that i can not remember to save my life :,) maybe one of my fellow spokies can help me in the comments…

we split up between the couch, sleeping bags on the floor, and a mattress split between me, greta, and ruth. i almost got kicked off and fell on top of joseph like, 2-3 times? but sleep was MUCH appreciated. a very eventful day 1! see you next time from…(now checking the route spreadsheet for when i am blogging next)… tazewell, va for our 2nd learning festival!

future sarah here since i am so behind on blogging (apologies to my fellow spokes) (i guess its been future me the whole time but shhh), but it took me getting through midnight marathon, day 1 of real spokes, and all my training rides in between to learn that our bikes (and prob most bikes in general) have 2 SETS OF GEARS. and i had been on the harder one THE ENTIRE. TIME. while i obviously still struggle on hills a little (cause duh), i since have had a LOT easier time. sometimes i wonder how i got into MIT. on that wonderful note, see you next time!
tacos! 🌮
charles snoozing
June 6, 2025
OFFICIALLY DAY 1 (crazy ik, we’re in natural numbers now)

Wow, the past days have been crazy! I was so busy making it through them that this blog has been delayed… for 4 days. Sorry about that! But let’s get into it!

I am honoured to declare that as of this day, the Spokes 2025 trip has OFFICIALLY STARTED!

Ishaq and our car in the morning!

Yesterday all eight of us Spokies convened in Washington DC. And after a long night of preparation and not enough sleep, we woke up at around 5:30am convincing ourselves to conquer our first day. On the agenda was a learning festival in the Department of Corrections Correctional Treatment Facility (I’ll just say DOC) and Youth Services Center (YSC). For the morning part, we split up – me (Ramona) and Greta went to DOC to later join the rest of the group at YSC. At DOC we met up with Judge Faruqui, Ms Reason, Fiona and Brie and headed in.

My learning festival supplies!

We were greeted by Judge Faruqui and Fiona and Brie, before meeting Ms. Reason, who came to let us in the facility. To enter you go through something similar to airport security, except no electronics for us and some additional metal doors. Luckily all of our learning festival supplies made it through! Greta was teaching a workshop on phases on matter and I did one on cryptography. (We should each write about our lessons in detail in these blogs at some point! Would you like to hear more about that?)

After securing our way in, Ms. Reason took us through a series of locked doors. At that point, I started to realize that I was in a real jail and question what was I even doing here. I mean I knew what I was doing, but the lack of sleep and actually being in there felt surreal. It was clearly a high security place, with one goal – to keep people from leaving.

But turns out there is more to it. We got to visit a unit that stands out. The YME unit, YME standing for Young Men Emerging, is all about learning, improving and working on yourself while incarcerated. We got to hear about their routine, packed from waking up to going to sleep and how the program has impacted them. I can say they were determined, insightful, brave and humble. A tight knit community with the common goal of improving themselves. I was incredibly grateful to be able to hear from the young men in the YME unit.

Afterwards we set out to do our learning festivals. I set up a table for my intro to cryptography through the Ceasar cypher activity. It was super cool to see the students engage with what I had prepared. There weren’t many students, so we could do a lot of questions and answers, and, in addition to encrypting and decrypting practice, we also did sending encrypted messages to each other!

Afterwards we headed to YSC, went through security, took a lunch break (with pizza!) and ran all five of our activities on rotation for 3 more class periods. It was a rollercoaster, some students were super engaged, others were tired and the teaching was not without its difficulties, but we made it through!

This would probably be the place to give a huge thank you to Judge Faruqui and everyone at DOC Correctional Facility and Youth Services Center that helped make this happen!

Around 3:30pm we were ready to head out. Next up on the agenda were a bunch of errands. But, first, we took a snack/drink break at Union Market. Nicely AC-ed area of cafes, food and a water fountain.

Us at Union Market

Then 7 of us in our 7-seater took in some DC vibes and sights as Joseph skillfully weaved through narrow lanes of terrible DC traffic. We went to the car rental company to get some formalities done and to avoid crazy expensive parking, pulled up in an alleyway. I got left to guard the car. Now, you would think nothing much happens in an alleyway in 45 minutes or so, but 3 people came to park or unpark their cars and 2 people wanted to pass through. So I, who had never driven an automatic car, was left to maneuver around our Crysler Pacifica, equipped with a bike rack for added difficulty. I survived. The car survived. The alley also survived. I felt ready to take on the world.

Me in a car in the alley

Then, a brief venture to get propane and gas later, we finally got back and it was already late. Tian cooked a lovely dinner of pasta for dinner in our Airbnb (thanks Lawlers!) that just hit the spot. And I spent a long evening of trying to make my brain work, packing and setting up our bikes. At this point I was starting to wonder when the next day of reasonable number of hours slept will be. But we made it through! So, excited, tired and a little scared, we went to sleep to set out on our bikes the next day..

Dinner ❤

Editor’s note: I cannot believe I actually finally wrote this! Hope you enjoy 😀

June 5, 2025
Day 0: RAHHHH!! SPOKES!! DC!!

Hi everyone!! Charles here. It’s been a hectic few days but Spokes is finally under way. Ramona is writing the blog post for today (Day 1), so I’ll fill in the details for how we all reconvened in DC.

Most of the team arrived in DC yesterday with the exception of Greta and Ishaq, who live in the area. Ruth and I drove the minivan rental down from Boston.

Day -1

Ruth and I picked up our car for the summer at noon. It’s a 2024 white Chrysler Pacifica we’ve named Amy. After picking up various Spokes orders and materials from stores, dorms, and storage rooms; assembling the roof storage and bike rack (went surprisingly smoothly, MechE grads 🔛🔝); and putting everything into boxes we finished loading the car. Ruth took the minivan home for the night (she lives in Boston).

Ruth and I posing in front of the packed van.

Day 0

Ruth came to pick me up at the dorm at a bright and early 6 AM. After some dilly-dallying (aka I still needed to pack a few things), we headed down to Philly, hoping to catch a Spokes 2017 alum for a lunch. Our lunch plans appeared doomed given the drive time, until we realized we had avoid tolls checked on Google Maps 😅. We were both rather sleep-deprived from a long night of packing, lesson planning, and 3D printer debugging, but I won the game of no-sleep chicken and Ruth took the first driving shift. At our gas stop, I offered to drive for a bit, but Ruth insisted she was doing fine¹.

We had lunch with Caity, who treated us to Philly cheesesteaks. I can now personally vouch for a correlation between Philly cheesesteak tastiness and proximity to Philly. Caity gave us great advice and encouragement and told us some fun stories, shoutout Caity!!

Philly cheesesteaks with Caity

One ice cream treat later, I drove us the remainder of the way to DC. Spirits were high as we pulled into the AirBnB driveway singing along to songs off Doo-Wops & Hooligans.

I opted for Dippin Dots 😋

Everyone else flew in during the afternoon and we ran some errands before a kickoff team dinner at the Lawler’s. Watermelon, chicken and vegan enchiladas, salad, chips and guac, and popsicles to top it all off — we ate like kings and queens.

After dinner, we recapped responses from a Spokes superlatives form Greta had sent out. Highlights included some people possibly taking the “most likely to get into an encounter with the police” question *too literally*, a mandatory multi-select “most likely to get together” question, and Joseph taking down the only clean sweep of the night for “biggest yapper.”

Enchilada chefs and enchilada devourers

D1 yapper

We had to get up early today for our Learning Festival, so everyone split off for a few more errands and then we wound down for the night. I dreamt of friends, bikes, and friends on bikes.

2025 Spokes

Guess who suggested this pose

¹ She later admitted to dozing off multiple times at the wheel only to be awoken by lane assist playing guardian angel 😬.

June 3, 2025
Day -18: First Learning Festival 🥳

Hellooo Spokes friends and fam! Today is May 18th and Spokes 2025 officially begins in…

1749128400
days
hours minutes seconds
until
SPOKES 2025

I say “officially”, because while we haven’t yet hit the road, all the Spokies have already been hard at work. We’ve spent the fall, winter, and spring putting in all the behind the scenes hours needed to bring Spokes to life. Countless emails, a couple giant spreadsheets, and one popping WhatsApp community later… the finish (start?) line is in sight!

This past Wednesday, Charles, Joseph, Ishaq, and I got the chance to take two of our workshops for a test run at Carbone Hall, a juvenile detention facility and high school in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Charles, Joseph, Ishaq, and I walking into Carbone Hall

Ishaq setting up for the Phases of Matter workshop

Charles and Joseph ran our Bottle Rocket learning festival, which teaches the basic engineering principles needed to make a large object defy gravity. At the end of the workshop, the students launch a rocket of their own by harnessing the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar.

While liftoff wasn’t successful this time around, science and engineering are all about learning from our failures, right?

Speaking of which… instead of studying for my thermo final, I taught our thermo-inspired learning festival with Ishaq! Our Phases of Matter workshop walks students through the properties and molecular structure of solids and liquids, the (super cool) process of phase transition, and what happens when a material doesn’t follow the rules. In more exciting terms, we competed in an ice cube melting race, created molecules out of marshmallows, and, of course, made oobleck!

Luckily, Ishaq and I took our learning festival for a test run the night before because our food dye ratios were… well.. a bit generous. Luckily my blue hands didn’t scare away any of our students (or their teachers 😅). Lots to learn still!

one drop of blue food dye is enough…

On the topic of teachers, we’re so grateful for Carbone Hall principal Thomas Guarente, who made this learning festival possible. We’re also thankful for all our students for being awesome and engaged, Ms. Gabbie and Paul for giving us great feedback on the first iteration of our workshops, and all the staff who made us feel so welcome at Carbone Hall!

With our first learning festival under our belts and finals almost done, Spokes is really starting to feel real. I’m so excited to share our workshops with more students and to get some pavement under our tires. Stay tuned for a team intro post coming soon and a whole summer of adventures ahead!

Peace out! ✌️

Greta:)

May 18, 2025
Hello!

MIT Spokes 2025’s website is currently under construction. You can view last year’s website at https://mitspokes.wixsite.com/2024 in the meantime. Check back soon to see our new look!

March 11, 2025