Day 75: The REAL Spokes OGs

Friday August 16th 2024

San Francisco, CA -> San Francisco, CA

0 mi, 0 ft elevation

Did you think that Spokes would be over as soon as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge? I sure did, and as a result I was immediately blindsided with the logistical shit storm that followed.

We left yesterday off with storing our half packed bikes at REI with the employees making bets on if we’d finish by the end of the day (I hope the one who bet against us got their money). Today we woke up in my friend’s apartment and went back to the REI bright and early to continue packing. I really can't blame the employee who saw us and said, “y’all are still here?!”

A few of our bikes in REI storage

After dissembling the rest of the bikes, wrapping them in bubble wrap, and sealing them up in boxes, it was time to ship them. We thought this was going to be the end of our logistical problems. Spoiler alert: it was not. After going to the FedEx store we were stunned by how expensive it would be to ship our bikes. The main issue was that the boxes from REI were HUGE and as a result we were paying to ship air. I got stranded at the FedEx store for a couple of hours researching solutions with 4 bikes while the others went to the UPS store to try for a better price. We ended up using Bike Flights to make our shipping labels. Although this also wasn't cheap due to the absurd volume of the boxes, we did save a significant amount of money.

I say all of this not to complain, but to warn next year’s spokes team (although, complaining was a nice side effect). WARNING: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND DRIVING THE RENTAL CAR BACK TO BOSTON WITH ALL THE STUFF. This would have been so much cheaper (not only saving on shipping costs but also a round trip rental is cheaper) and less logistically complex. This is what some past spokes teams have done, and we should have followed their lead. If I didn’t already have plans in SF I would have gladly drove the car back instead of doing what we did. It would have been another mini adventure after Spokes!

After printing our labels and putting the bike boxes in the back of the car, I spent the rest of the afternoon touring around SF eagerly waiting for dinner. Stanford Spokes got the contact of the ORIGINAL Spokes founder! The whole summer we never knew how Spokes got started, but now was the time for us to learn the original Spokes lore!

I walked over to the vegan sushi restaurant to meet not just the original founder, Turner, but also two other team members who got married after Spokes, Nathan and Kaitlyn!

This was the best dinner during all of Spokes. We told funny Spokes stories and laughed about all of the random occurrences that inevitably happen when you bike across the country. Best of all, it felt like we understood each other. There’s a level of context that I feel you can’t achieve unless you did Spokes and truly experienced the chaotic ups and downs on the road.

During dinner, Turner told us the origin story of Spokes. He had always enjoyed the outdoors, and after meeting a cross country cyclist one day, he thought that it would be cool to do a cross country tour as well. After recruiting everyone he knew, applying to nearly every MIT grant, and even running a Kickstarter, the trip started two years later. He was amazed that Spokes continued for this long, and that the learning festival shirt I was wearing had the original logo on it.

Nathan has a passion for videography, so he filmed much of the first Spokes trip. After dinner he shared some of those videos with us. It was amazing to be able to look back in time to an event that was the catalyst for the entire journey I just went through, over 10 years later. I even recognized some of the towns they had biked through.

Nathan told me he made this next video for Pat and Dan, two cyclists who biked with the original Spokes team for a couple of days in Utah and helped them out with housing.

Nathan and Kaitlyn even have the route embroidered in their living room! It was fun for me to compare it to our route. (If you're curious what our route looks like, stick around to the end of the blog)

When we met Rafael and Marina at Lake Tahoe, Rafael told us some advice that I hope we will follow. He said to have reunions. Before Spokes, I never put much stock in reunions. They seemed like a way to live in the past, and for most of my life I've only thought about the future. I now realize the importance of reunions after this dinner. These are the only people in the world who share your context and know what it was like during your time together, and that is something very special. While we all already agreed to go to each other's weddings back in Lamar, CO, I hope that we can all see each other at a reunion in a couple of years.

After this dinner it was time for us to go to our last official Spokes event: "The Spokes Rager." When we were on the road with nothing better to talk about, the rager was always a fun topic to entertain, but Amulya had a friend who agreed to let us invite some people over. It felt almost surreal that the rager was actually about to happen. We made a playlist of our favorite spokes songs and bought a tub of Gatorade powder (we wanted to make it spokes themed somehow).

The rager was great fun between getting to tell Spokes stories and catching up with friends who were in SF. When it hit midnight we were even able to celebrate Varsha's birthday! (hence the cake in the slide show)

During the rager I felt a very strong sense of thankfulness. I was thankful that I had this rare opportunity to bike across the country with some of the best people I’ve ever met. This only made saying goodbye when the party came to an end even harder. I left off giving everyone a hug and repeating the line “it’s been real and it’s been fun. And it’s even been real fun” seven times.

Epilogue: TATTOOS

Ok, I might have lied a little bit about the rager being the last spokes event. It’s more accurate to say that it was the last event we were all together at.

Over the summer someone brought up the idea of getting a tattoo. My initial reaction was an astounding “No!”, but as time went on and the miles accumulated, the idea began to grow on me until I paid my deposit and found myself on the other side of a tattoo gun.

Leading up to the tattoo we debated where it should go and what it should will look like.  We all agreed that a line representing our route would be best, but we were hesitant to add a bike or get it on our foot, thinking it would hurt too much. However, after Hank got it on his foot with a little bike on top I knew this was what and where I wanted it.

Jess and I went the next day along with two of my high school friends in SF. I laughed nervously in the waiting area saying “well, it’s a good thing I don’t feel pain.”

Jess went before me, and her lack of screams and tears was reassuring to me.

Right before getting the tattoo

Getting the tattoo was not as bad as I expected. Hank said that it felt like getting the flu shot for 10 minutes and I had a similar experience. As the needle traced the route, I imagined the places we biked through—starting in Virginia, through Kentucky and the Midwest, turning towards Denver, detouring to Zion, and ending in SF.

“Ok, all done”

I looked down pleased with the fresh ink. The tattoo artist put a saniderm bandage on it, and I walked out the front hardly feeling anything.

Amulya got the same tattoo a day later also accompanied by Jess!

Varsha did not get it because she was going to be swimming in the next week, but she promised to get it at a later date! Cleo even said that she wanted the tattoo. This was a great way to end a crazy summer packed with biking and new experiences.

I can’t believe we made it, and that I’ll be back in class in a few weeks. While celebrating Varsha’s birthday in Dolores Park, I asked her, “Do you feel like a veteran coming back from war, not ready to integrate back into society?...Because I sure do.”

My life became biking this summer, and to suddenly stop feels... weird. While I’m sure I’ll be unpacking this experience for years, I know I’m not the same person who started in DC. My perspective on life has broadened. It’s so easy to get laser-focused on psets and internships at MIT that you forget you’re living in a world full of infinite possibilities and experiences. I'd never think the small moments in towns you've never hear of or on lonely roads could impact you so deeply. I take this as a sign to loosen up on myself and be more confident walking into unknown situations. Who knows? Maybe I’ll find myself on another once-in-a-lifetime adventure, like Spokes.

And with that, I call an end to the 2024 Spokes Blog. It’s hard not to get emotional. All I can think of is how grateful I am for my teammates and the countless acts of kindness from strangers throughout the trip. One thing that resonated with me most was what our host on the second day told me, as I ate chips and Oreos after a long ride: “You’ll never fully repay the kindness of strangers, but you can pay it forward.”

Looks like I have a lot to pay forward, and I’m more than happy to do it.

Signing off,

Spokes 2024