Blog
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Day 32: the flattest thing in kansas is our tires
Overbrook, KS to Emporia, KS — 62.6 mi, 1608 ft The answers to my lying blog last week (did you spot them all?) Drew doesn’t snore Nate had exiled himself from the sleeping bag room from the start because he states he needs his alone time or something They both have healthy relationships and don’t feel the need to stay on call with their girlfriends overnight Never a joyful mood in the mornings Drew did…
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Day 31: Don’t Overlook Overbrook
Kansas City, MO to Overbrook, KS — 75.5 mi, 3771 ft GUESS WHAT, BABY??? NEW STATE UNLOCCKKEDDD 🔥🔥🔥 Personally, I was most excited to feel like Dorothy entering Kansas, especially since I have never been to the state before and have a wonderful place in my heart for the Wizard of Oz. Our morning glory of waking up at the hotel was only slightly dampened by the 4 am wakeup time enforced by the extraordinarily…
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Day 30: a glimpse of the outside world
Learning Festival in Kansas City, MO — 0 mi, 0 ft Today everyone in the world woke up at 8am excited to attend our learning festival in Kansas City. I’m not sure how the rest of the world handled their excitement in the morning, but I managed it by going back to bed for 20 minutes before leaving from the hotel, kindly provided to us by aSTEAM Village (the program hosting our learning festival), with…
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Day 29: Tyranny of the Majority
Rest Day in Kansas City, MO — 0 mi, 0 ft I’m in a pickle: I don’t like coffee. Why is this a problem? Because 5/7 Spokies slurp that foul-scented mud like a pig at the trough. “Guys look it’s the first of 17 cafes on our route we have to stop!” cries one of the addicts. The supermajority rules so I have to stop. Every day. Every time. I just don’t understand. I don’t…
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Day 28: Sunrise to Sunset
Marshall, MO to Kansas City, MO — 86.2 mi, 4953 ft There’s many things I never thought or cared about before this summer that now, literally makes or breaks my days. This includes how hot it is and at what times of the day, and how windy it is and in what direction that wind comes from. We’ve been trying to take this summer day by day so last night we looked at the weather…
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Day 27: somewhere in between
Day 27: somewhere in between Columbia, MO to Marshall, MO — 67 mi, 2,432 ft Politics can be interesting simply because they are messy. Even Spokes politics. People hold conflicting, complicated beliefs that cannot be pruned into a single, clean solution. I find they naturally intersect and overlap and diverge in a tangled mess. And then people grow emotionally attached to the mess, to the point where it hurts to prune. — — — —…
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Day 26: To Journal or To Blog…
Hermann, MO to Columbia, MO — 79.2 mi, 2218 ft After quite a hectic day yesterday escaping the thunderstorm, I woke up late and in the comfort of my own bed, thanks to our Airbnb with an 11-person capacity. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the best sleep due to my persistent elbow issue, which flared up periodically during the night with a force strong enough to wake me up. Although there were moments of normalcy between…
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Day 25: Unreliable Narrator
St. Louis, MO to Hermann, MO — 74.4 mi, 2428 ft Today officially marks one third of our trip and the first day I’m feeling like this is normal, like biking 75 miles today is just the thing we do. As the driver yesterday, I was feeling a bit like a chud for missing the team’s first century, especially as they rode into the majestic St. Louis Arch. I looked longingly at my six little…
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Day 24: 100 Things I Love About Spokes
Murphysboro, IL to St. Louis, MO — 101.1 mi, 2678 ft Today is an extraordinarily special day. Today is the day we rode our first-ever century! In biker terms, a century means completing a ride over 100 miles. In underexperienced biker terms, this means a little bit of added anxiousness, increased speed, and an earlier start time. In honor of this momentous occasion, and inspired by my elementary school’s “100 Days of School” tradition, I…
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Day 23: everything except biking
Harrisburg, IL to Murphysboro, IL – 52.5 mi, 1406 ft Today we woke up at 6am. Today we woke up at 6:30am. Today we woke up at 7am. Ok, yea that one stuck. Over the past few days, ever since our rest day + learning festival double day of not biking, the teams’ morning routine has slowly slid from our previously diligent 6am wakeup and 8am leave (“diligent”) to something like today where we woke…
