Monday, August 12th, 2024
South Lake Tahoe, CA -> Placerville, CA
90.23 mi, 6224 ft up, ~11,000 ft down
I’ve been excited for this ride for a few days now. After two more passes, the rest of Spokes would be mostly downhill. I savored every last bite of my continental breakfast, knowing I would need the energy for the brutal climbs on the first half of the ride. After I was done eating I sat in the cafeteria, too lazy to go back to the hotel room to finish packing my stuff. As long as at least one other team member is still eating breakfast, or chilling at a water stop, or sitting on a bench outside a gas station, I can never seem to get myself to leave, no matter how many more miles I may have ahead of me. The technical Spokes 2024 term for this is "bumming around".
Ever since crashing into a curb in slow motion while messing with my bike computer a few days ago, my front tire hasn’t been seated quite right, so I spent the next 15 minutes deflating it and putting it back on, which helped a bit. After leaving, I soon encountered one of the most difficult climbs of Spokes. Over 1000 feet at an average 8% grade immediately made me regret spending my previous “rest” day biking the loop around Lake Tahoe. The road quickly became very narrow, and at one point passed through the middle of a campground. Thankfully I only encountered one car cautiously coming down at 10mph, unable to go any faster due to the width and grade of the road.
After rolling into the next water stop, I resumed my very favorite activity: bumming around. I sat under a tree staring vacantly at the mountains as I waited for the others to show up. As I looked out at the landscape, I contemplated how long it might be until the next time I could peacefully sit under a tree on a mountain, and concluded that it would probably be a while, so I figured I may as well stay as long as possible. Soon everyone arrived (besides Sophia who was ahead of the group) and we chatted for a while next to the van before getting ready for the next big climb. Since I was one of the last to leave, I probably spent about 45 minutes at this water stop.
At the top of Carson pass, I got yet another opportunity to take a break! Out of the corner of my eye I spotted JD and Sophia's bikes near a little visitors center building. I walked up to find them enjoying some free watermelon kindly provided by Larry, a volunteer at the visitors center. I spent around 30 minutes here before continuing down the mountain.
The next stretch of the ride was one of the most beautiful on Spokes. We passed several alpine lakes and scenic overlooks. With Mr. Blue Sky blaring in my ears as I zoomed down the mountain, life was good.
A great tragedy of Spokes is the fact that we did not discover french bread until just a few days before the end of the trip. So much better than bagels and about the same price. Would highly recommend to anyone biking across the country and looking to have a delicious and calorie dense sandwich for lunch. We ate next to another epic alpine lake, which I used as an excuse to stay as long as possible.
The next stretch of the ride had interesting scenery, but in a different way. We entered the path of the Caldor Wildfire, which occurred in the summer of 2021. Seeing the endless miles of burnt trees was humbling. I imagined how previous Spokes teams must have had a completely different experience biking through this area, and was struck by how quickly and drastically a wildfire can change the landscape. The fire bans at every campsite since Utah are there for a reason.
After reaching the second water stop, I was ready to curl up into a ball and take a nap on the ground. But after a quick (extremely positive) pep talk from Rebecca (no I'm not a lazy wimp), I was ready to hit the road again.
We all got a bit lost trying to find the church where we were staying but we eventually made it. For dinner we went out to a Thai place to celebrate Amulya's birthday. As we ate, we continued working through the 36 questions. Talking and laughing with the team, I thought (not for the first time) about how these formerly random people had started to feel like a family, and how I was about to not see many of them again for a very long time after spending every day with them for the last 10 weeks. While I do look forward to going back to school, I've been feeling very sentimental about the end of the trip lately. I think that's why I've been spending every possible moment bumming around with the team rather than getting back on my bike. Or maybe I am just a lazy wimp, but given that I've made it this far I'm pretty sure that's not it (editor's note: yes he is).
Love the editors note (editor’s note: I am the editor)