Day 20: Bushwhacking and Gravel Riding

Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

Bowling Green, KY to Madisonville, KY

85.4 mi, 4,063 ft elevation

Today, our team decided to test the limits of our bikes. 

After what were essentially two rest days, we were excited to get back on the road. Unfortunately, our freshmen weren’t able to join us since Cleo was driving and JD was still feeling sick.

The first half of the ride was breezy and calm. Ten miles in, I made it my goal to not listen to anything for the ride today and really try to soak in our last day in the bluegrass. Normally, I last until lunchtime before I switch to listening to music. I also tried listening to an audiobook last week, but it was way too depressing to listen to while biking- please give me recs!

This was basically our view for the first 40 or so miles.

Hank’s parents were visiting him from Chicago, so they brought us water, ice, and electrolytes throughout the ride (thank you!!). We lunched at a burger bar 30 miles from our final destination, our spirits high, milkshakes and root beers in hand. Over the past few weeks, I’ve discovered that my favorite pick-me-up during a long ride is a can of cold root beer (best soda hands down). However, our moods quickly turned as we began the last stretch of our ride.

We entered a gorgeous rail trail (shoutout Rail Trail Rebecca) and cruised for a couple miles before our GPS made us turn towards the forest.

Three roads diverged in the woods, and we wanted to take the one more traveled by.

Upon seeing this, Jess and I left our bikes with the team and bushwhacked through the path on the left in the image above, jumping over muddy puddles and uncut grass. Soon, we encountered a stretch of gravel (with no clear end) that we hoped would not be too bad to bike on (spoiler: it was).

The gravel road in question, looking deceptively nice.

Thus began part one of testing the limits of our bikes: can they bushwhack? Some bike carrying and maneuvering later, we succeeded! Although, our bikes got quite muddy afterwards, so maybe we actually failed.

Now, for the gravel. It was quite a bumpy and unpleasant ride, and my logic was to finish as quickly as possible so I tried to keep riding whenever it felt safe to do so. I did pause to take a picture of this beautiful lake that I had to stop myself from jumping into.

Kentucky has a lot of pretty lakes.

Two miles of gravelly roads later, we had a quick team meeting at an underpass and decided to jump the divider and ride the rest of the way along the shoulder of the state highway. Part two of Spokes testing our bikes was a conclusion that they should stay on the road.

This is not advised for our viewers at home, but we were desperate to get off the gravel.

Finally on normal roads again, we hoped for a smooth journey into Madisonville. Alas, our wish was not granted. Several closed roads later, we decided to keep it simple and take two state highways that would get us into town.

One of few closed gates we encountered.

Tired from a long and hot day of riding and rerouting, we entered our home for the night, Life Christian Center. Pastor John made sweet tea for us, which I immediately had three glasses of. In addition to root beer, a new biking obsession I’ve discovered is sweet tea. The trick is to double the sugar, as Pastor John shared with me. Pastor John and his family also made us a scrumptious dinner with many much-needed vegetables. Thank you so much for hosting us!

We reunited with our freshmen, JD and Cleo, for dinner!

I ended the night with a peaceful foam-rolling and stretching session. They (the internet) say that three weeks is enough to create a new habit. It’s been just under three weeks of Spokes and I’ve been thinking a lot about habits. I’ve gotten into the habit of waking up as the sun rises and biking through the morning dew and into the afternoon heat. I’ve gotten into the habit of long team dinners with conversation and laughter. I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping my routines consistent even if we’re in a new place every day. I want to get into the habit of stretching more often, of keeping connected with my friends and family, of savoring some of the slower moments on and off the bike. Maybe these are too ambitious, but I think another aspect of this experience is to set your sights high regardless of where you may land.