Blog
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Day 22: A Stench and A Storm
Madisonville, KY to Harrisburg, IL — 81.8 mi, 2380 ft Crossing the country on a bike is… STINKY. Some things are stinky for obvious reasons. Our clothes, for example, smell absolutely foul after a day of riding. And I often find myself holding my breath as I cross the minefield of deer/armadillo carcasses that make up rural American roads. This morning, however, nobody could seem to figure out why the camping pads smelled like garbage…
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Day 21: Alternate Reality
6:00 AM I wake up to my alarm ringing in my ear and immediately turn to snooze it. 6:10 AM I wake up again 10 minutes later and once AGAIN, press the snooze button. 6:20 AM It rings again and finally, I guiltily roll out of my own personal king size bed and begin my morning routine. I take a quick shower, brush my teeth, change into my biking gear, take out my dried laundry,…
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Day 20: we the people
Learning Festival in Bowling Green, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft Before starting this trip, I, for some reason, had this feeling that Bowling Green would be a singular experience. Whether it was from last year’s team hinting at some suspicious activity (I really don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t at me) or going on about the amazing Airbnbs (plural) we got to stay in, I was subconsciously preparing for, well, something. That something,…
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Day 19: Mogcoaster 🎢
Rest day in Bowling Green, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft Picture this. The room is gloriously silent. No 6:00 am alarm, no sound of sleeping pads being deflated or sleeping bags being rolled up. Your arms stretch out — you’re greeted by an infinite spread of soft mattress on either side, and maybe even some more. This is a perfect rest day in Bowling Green, KY. None of this would be possible without the…
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Day 18: BUSS*-EEs
Mammoth Cave, KY to Bowling Green, KY — 35.6 mi, 1393 ft Reading the latest blogs, it feels like emotional whiplash the way the team has experienced the lowest of lows and highest of highs together, often within the span of a couple hours. In the last week, I crashed headfirst into a tree, Caroline got bit by a dog, Tatiana sprained her ankle, Nate/Tatiana/Drew battled through a literal war zone of rabid dogs, Nunu/Drew’s…
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Day 17: Fake it till you make it
Liberty, KY to Mammoth Cave, KY — 88.8 mi, 5427 ft Some of you may have heard about my recent sprained ankle. Today was the day I began to pretend like it no longer existed. Yes, reader, you read that correctly. Only two days after I sprained my ankle and a day after visiting an urgent care, I have decided that my ankle is NOT sprained and therefore will not be treating it as such.…
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Day 16: the new normal
London, KY to Liberty, KY – 64.8 mi, 4060 ft Last night was probably the worst sleep we’ve gotten during this trip. In an attempt to create “summer vibes”, Drew, Carmen, Nunu, Aarushi, and I all decided to sleep in hammocks in the backyard, as opposed to sleeping on the floor inside or in tents like normal people. Drew slept in the hammock already set up outside on a stand in the backyard. The remaining…
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Day 15: Dog Days Are Over?
Hazard, KY to London, KY — 78.9 mi, 5620 ft I’m calling a team meeting. As you may already know, we are big on team meetings. So this is what we say when we find a lull in our conversation and we know we have something serious to discuss. This past week was a rollercoaster, from Aarushi’s tree crash to Caroline’s dog bite to sleeping barely 6 hours at an overcrowded camp site, our team…
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Day 14: Where do we go from here?
Learning Festival in Hazard, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft My eyelids peel slowly open. I hear a high-pitched voice coming from the door. I sit up in my bed and check the time– It reads 7:43am Is she out of her mind?? Recently, Tatiana has self assigned herself the task of waking up the whole team. Last night, the team agreed to wake up at 7:45 am. It’s not often you sleep on a…
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Day 13: Let me get a bite of that
Breaks Interstate Park, VA to Hazard, KY – 1.4 mi, -315 ft (85.1 mi, 4,749 ft) First driver x blogger day! 😅 My POV: (6:00 – 9:10 am) That morning we woke up at our bare bones campground (no electricity or water), and most of our devices were either dead or almost dead. Everyone was either tired, irritable, or slightly injured as they begrudgingly put on their bike gear. The first group consisting of Nate,…
