Blog

  • Day 66: POV I’m a Bike

    Day 66: POV I’m a Bike

    Ely, NV to Eureka, NV — 79.2 mi, 4543 ft The state I am in is a bit hard to describe. I am having the best time of my life and seeing sights I never thought I would get to see, but at the same time, my chains haven’t been lubricated in days. My tires get pumped sometimes, but not every day. My front and back wheel axles both keep coming loose randomly, my left…

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  • Day 65: The Legend of the Rider in White

    Day 65: The Legend of the Rider in White

    Learning Festival in Ely, NV — 0 mi, 0 ft (or 36.44 mi, 2254 ft) Today, we woke up strewn across the floor of the library of a high school in Ely, Nevada approximately 5 miles away from a 0% contained wildfire. Certainly not what I foresaw for my life if you asked me a couple of years ago.  We need to be at the learning festival location by 9am for our learning festivals. We…

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  • Day 64: Is something burning?

    Day 64: Is something burning?

    Baker, NV to Ely, NV — 61.7 mi, 4469 ft I woke up super sick, unprepared to bike. It was the first day where I would have to SAG on a non-mandatory basis. Or was it? The potential savior of my pride was a wildfire that was blowing smoke into the valleys through which we needed to bike. Nunu transported me to Ely as the rest of the team monitored the air quality. As it…

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  • Day 63: Romanticizing the Mundane

    Day 63: Romanticizing the Mundane

    Milford, UT to Baker, NV — 84.9 mi, 4,539 ft Video script: Today was the day we would cross into our second to last state of the whole summer, Nevada! We were biking from Milford, Utah to Baker, Nevada over 84.9 miles and 4,539 ft of elevation. I was not particularly looking forward to today’s ride since it predicted a lot of climbing and possible strong headwinds but when was I ever? To be honest,…

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  • Day 62: Jesus for 300

    Day 62: Jesus for 300

    Cedar City, UT to Milford, UT — 59.2 mi, 1525 ft This morning was just like any other day, except there were two of me. My twin sister was going to bike with us! The plan was that she’d ride the 60 mile day with us, stay with us at the church for a little McCay^2 sleepover, and then she’d leave the next morning. Hopefully, she’d get a snapshot of the Spokes day to day…

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  • Day 61: A Tale of Two Cities

    Day 61: A Tale of Two Cities

    Zion National Park, UT to Cedar City, UT — 45.6 mi, 3737 ft It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  If you recognize that line from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (the namesake of this blog), you might have some foresight into how this day will play out. In this analogy, my day was akin to life in London and everyone else’s day was more like Paris: safety…

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  • Day 60: An Ode To How Spokes Ended Up In Vegas

    Day 60: An Ode To How Spokes Ended Up In Vegas

    Rest Day in Zion National Park (or Las Vegas) — 0 mi, 0 ft Today real early I awokeTo the sound of Tatiana who spokeIt’s time to get upBut I was fed upTo wake up at 6 everyday is some sick joke At least today we’re going on an epic hikeA million degrees in Utah, it’s just not right to bikeSo we head to the Visitor CenterWith Caroline’s family as our mentorsWho know everything about…

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  • Day 59: The One Where “7 MIT Students” Almost Becomes “6 MIT Students”

    Day 59: The One Where “7 MIT Students” Almost Becomes “6 MIT Students”

    Bryce Canyon National Park, UT to Zion National Park, UT — 100.3 mi, 4402 ft Preface Like many popular stories, the ending of this one, as evidenced by the title, is arguably the most interesting. I urge you, my dearest gentle readers, to avoid skipping to the end so as to experience a full and faithful retelling of the day and to be immersed in the bizarre events as sincerely as we were. Especially on…

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  • Day 58: we had a bryce day :)

    Day 58: we had a bryce day :)

    Rest Day in Bryce Canyon National Park — 0 mi, 0 ft Technically, this blog starts at midnight when some of us were watching the first 5 minutes of Cars 2 after having finished watching Cars. Everyone was super tired after a ~50 mile day but the absurdity of Cars 2 required a quick preview. The Cars vs Cars 2 debate is also a highly contentious topic on the team, only after the infamous “Best…

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  • Day 57: What are Utah king about?

    Day 57: What are Utah king about?

    Escalante, UT to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT — 47.9 mi, 3961 ft The name Escalante sounds a lot like escalator, fitting for the name of the town closest to the Grand Staircase National Monument. Pastor Richards, our host, treated us to a wonderful protein-dense breakfast this morning. The breakfast casserole with eggs and sausage was very tasty and very filling. Today is my driver day. I usually hate driver days- I came here to…

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