MIT Spokes 2026

Tag: cycling-day

  • Day 10: another nate blog where half the team gets SAG’d out

    Day 10: another nate blog where half the team gets SAG’d out

    Blacksburg, VA to Tazewell, VA – 83.38 mi, 4744 ft

    One day I’d like to have an uneventful blog day but today is not that day.

    We woke up today at 6am for what would be our second longest ride so far: 83 miles to make up for our short 40 mile ride yesterday. I spent a lot of the morning rummaging through my stuff looking for my wallet. Because of his track record with misplacing stuff, Drew’s stuff also fell victim to some rummaging. This is not very important, especially in comparison to the events of this blog, but this was very eventful for me because I never lose stuff. Anyways, turns out it fell out of my backpack in the car yesterday while I was driving. 

    After getting ready, we ate some oatmeal and eggs graciously made by our amazing host Ann who is a super cool cyclist who did a tour across Illinois at 14. In total, we spent 1 hour and 45 minutes getting out the door, which might be a record for the team (😢). 

    Mornings are hard for Caroline.

    As we left, our main concern was Nunu’s bike. The chain had fallen off twice in the last 20 miles of yesterday’s ride. Drew and I diagnosed the bike with “misaligned derailleur” and did our best to fix it the night before but I still need to watch a YouTube video on how derailleurs work so I had very little trust in our handy work. 

    Caroline (who can’t drive) was taking her unofficial driver day today (smart) with Tatiana’s driver day, so it was just Drew, Carmen, Nunu, Aarushi, and myself on the road. We biked out of Blacksburg through the Virginia Tech campus (which is super pretty, lots of white stone + gothic vibes similar to Yale/Princeton/West Point). Yesterday, while Nunu was fixing her chain on the side of the road, someone pulled up to her and asked her if she was okay. When she said she was fine, they drove off and yelled “Go Hokies1, beat MIT”. I’ve been thinking about that line all day because I can’t think of any sport or activity in which MIT and Virginia Tech compete against each other. 

    We took the first couple of miles pretty slow since the rest of the squad was tired from yesterday’s ride (which I was driving for). Fun fact: yesterday was the first day I wasn’t the first one to finish the ride since I was driving, sad stuff. While everyone else was trying to take it easy, I was physically itching to go faster and had to let Drew move ahead of me to set the pace so I could fight the urge to speed up.

    We continued our ride for 20 miles passing through some lovely greenery, along rivers and rapids (+ a swing for jumping into the river that we had to drag Nunu away from), and up some not so fun climbs. 

    The lovely views at the start of today’s ride.

    At some point during these 20 miles, Aarushi and Carmen had fallen behind Nunu, Drew, and I. While taking in the lovely river views, Carmen reappeared without Aarushi. We continued waiting but she never appeared, and with no cell service to see where she was at we decided to continue onwards assuming she was taking a break. 

    It wasn’t until we had nearly reached the rest stop that we ran into Tatiana going in the other direction. She let us know that Aarushi had hit a pothole, biked off the road, and ran into a tree, and that she was going to go SAG2 Aarushi out.

    As Tatiana sped away, we continued to the rest stop where Caroline reassured us that Aarushi was okay, but was banged up and (understandably) not going to continue the ride. After refueling and waiting for ~25 minutes for Tatiana and Aarushi to return, Nunu, Carmen, Drew, and I decided to continue biking since we had a long bike ahead of us.

    It was a good thing that we didn’t wait because meanwhile in Tatiana/Aarushi-land, Tatiana found Aarushi on the side of the road scraped up with a dent in her helmet and the handlebars of her bike bent. They decided to take the bike back to Blacksburg (the starting town) since there was a Trek Bicycle Shop (the company we bought our bikes from) in that town and no bike shop in Tazewell (the destination town). 

    At this shop, they were able to make use of the 1 year warranty on our helmets to get a fresh helmet and also get the handlebars repaired. Unfortunately, they were also told that the derailleur barrel adjuster on Aarushi’s bike was broken and that the Trek shop wouldn’t have the parts to repair it for a week. The Trek shop mentioned briefly they could try another shop in town called Hokie Spokes, but Tatiana and Aarushi weren’t immediately planning to go there. 

    The state of the Spokes universe at this point of the day is as follows: Nate, Drew, Carmen, and Nunu are biking 20 miles to the second rest stop where lunch is planned; Aarushi and Tatiana have partially repaired Aarushi’s bike and are now going to a coffee shop; Caroline is waiting at rest stop 1 with the cooler, water, and food since the minivan can only fit two people/bikes at a time. 

    Around mile 30 (halfway between rest stop 1 and 2), the biking group came across a Dairy Queen and found it necessary to get some ice cream. This was also convenient since it would give the drivers more time to figure out how to get food/water/lunch to the second rest stop. 

    It was around this time that we bikers decided to check the weather and noticed that some thunderstorms had crept up on us and would be hitting us in ~30 minutes. We decided to push to the next town along the route (approx. 4 miles away) and try to wait out the rain there. 

    Enjoying ice cream while clouds loom ominously in the background. 

    We made it to the next town and found a church with a small roof above its front door to take cover under. We took cover just in time because within a minute of us getting under the roof it began thundering and pouring rain. 

    We had taken cover around noon and saw on the forecast that it would be raining until 2pm, so we decided to hunker down. 

    Taking cover from the rain on the front steps of a church in the town of Narrows, VA. 

    During this time, Aarushi and Tatiana were still grabbing their coffee in Blacksburg. As they walked up to the coffee shop, they looked at the shop next door and lo and behold it was the Hokie Spokes bike shop. They ended up bringing Aarushi’s bike in and got it fully repaired. In the process, they also received two generous donations after two passersby overheard the Spokes story: $41 from Bruce and $20 from Wendy.

    After finishing up in Blacksburg, the two of them started heading towards the first rest stop to pick up Caroline who had been waiting this entire time in the rain. 

    Meanwhile, at 1:45pm, the four bikers woke up. The four of us had all fallen asleep on the cold, hard concrete outside of this church while waiting out the rain. Luckily, we woke up to clear blue skies. After a bit of stretching, we continued towards the second rest stop 8 miles away where lunch would be happening. 

    Waking up from a nap on the concrete dazed and confused.

    By some miracle, all 7 members of the team converged on the second rest stop at mile 44 at 2:30pm. This was largely made possible after Caroline, Aarushi, and Tatiana worked some magic reorganizing the minivan and bike rack so that it could hold 3 people and 3 bikes. At the rest stop, we all enjoyed our usual sandwich-based lunch. 

    At 3:30pm, we were back on the road, but not before the second member of the team fell victim to a SAG. This one was much less concerning, Carmen just really needed to use the restroom and the nearest spot was a gas station 13 miles away along the route. Tatiana ended up driving Carmen + her bike to the gas station while Nunu, Drew, and I biked over and met her there.

    From there (mile 57), the four of us reunited to bike the remaining 6 miles to the last rest stop at mile 63. 

    We biked along a road literally called “Scenic Highway”. It lived up to its name.

    Throughout the day, Nunu had been dealing with some knee pain and, after some climbs leading up the last rest stop, it got to the point that she was feeling sharp pain with every pedal stroke. 

    Tatiana had dealt with some knee pain leading up to the summer that ended up taking focused strength training and physical therapy in order to resolve. Additionally, she had been told by the PT who did our bike fittings (Brendan at Cycle Life PT) that sharp, repetitive pain should be grounds to immediately stop biking. As a result, Tatiana strongly recommended to Nunu that she should call the ride there. 

    After doing some stretching, however, Nunu felt like her knee wasn’t hurting anymore. We decided that she could keep riding but that if at any moment she felt the knee pain return, she would be SAG’d out. Nunu ended up biking two more miles to mile 65 before being SAG’d out due to the sharp knee pain returning. 

    I have a lot of respect for her decision to SAG out. While it may seem like an obvious decision from afar, a SAG out is a dreaded ending to a ride for anyone on the team. Getting SAG’d out feels like the accomplishment of “biking across the country” being chipped away, making all the hard work less worthwhile. Obviously, this isn’t actually the case but in the heat of the ride it’s hard not to feel this way. It’s worth pointing out that the decision to let Nunu keep riding was only reached after a long discussion that included a few tears. 

    By the end of the day there were only three bikers on the road. Carmen, Drew, and I biked the last 20 miles relatively uneventfully, albeit slowly. Meanwhile, Tatiana shuttled Caroline, Aarushi, and Nunu to the end point.

    When we arrived at Tazewell, we were warmly greeted by Teresa who works at the Tazewell United Methodist Church – the church that was graciously hosting us in their house-turned-office, and would also be where we would run our learning festival the next day. We were welcomed with warm pizza, fresh fruit, juice, sodas, and a fridge stocked full of food for breakfast and dinner the following day. I don’t think I can effectively convey how kind Teresa was to us, nor how admirable her work with members of the community facing hardships is.

    We wrapped up dinner and unpacked our sleeping bags and sleeping pads to get ready for bed. After a long, chaotic day, the best part of the day might’ve been getting 9 hours of sleep before tomorrow’s learning festival. 

    – Nate

    1 Hokies are the mascot of Virginia Tech. Unless they’re talking about a Hokie Pokie, I don’t know what a Hokie is. 

    2 Def SAG (verb): a.k.a SAG out. To get picked up by the (Support And Gear) car during a ride, usually to be driven to the end point. 

  • Day 9: Hopeful Wanderers

    Day 9: Hopeful Wanderers

    Roanoke, VA to Blacksburg, VA – 40.5 mi, 3,294 ft (~48.5 mi, ~4,794 ft counting our hiking adventure)

    Today marks the first day that anyone on the team has cooked! 

    The winner of this title is Nate Mustafa, who valiantly prepared an entire carton of fresh chicken eggs (courtesy of Dirk and Krissie) in Steve and Debbie’s kitchen to accompany our delicious breakfast. Simultaneously, our team engaged in a serious discussion. Should we use the extra time on our 40-mile day to hike the McAfee Knob?

    At first, the team was leaning towards no, but as soon as Steve informed us that it was the most-photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail, we quickly buckled down and decided it was necessary.

    Today also marks the first day a host has ridden the bikes with us. Steve has been a cyclist for a large portion of his life, and said that he would ride the 20 miles with us to the beginning of the McAfee Knob trail. Steve is the goat, and his awesomeness is immediately clear by his cycling jersey, which says that “a cycling grandpa never gets old.”

    I like to envision what life is like as I bike through the towns we pass. On our way to the trail, Aarushi and I imagined living in Roanoke and fanatically supporting our home team, the Hokies. We asked Steve to tell us about his grandchildren and his biggest life advice (to stay fit as you age!) so that we could better paint the picture of a Virginian.

    Once at the McAfee Knob trail, we quickly said goodbye to Steve and switched our mode of transportation, now transforming into a goofily dressed hiking squadron. After 4 miles, some deep yapping with Caroline, and a comical game of addressing people on the trail with silly phrases beginning with the letters A-Z (ie. Drew’s hit of “Some sticks fell on my head up there!” for the letter S), we finally reached the top and got to enjoy the gorgeous views and cool hanging overlook.

    Immediately, our team started chatting with the other hikers, meeting a Russian-speaking woman who approached me because of the last name on my jersey, a group of high-school graduates on their senior trip, and a big group of backpackers making their way along the Appalachian Trail.

    After our interlude, we hiked the 4 miles back to the car, and the team was overcome by an extreme wave of hunger. We tore into our sandwiches on the gravel parking lot next to the trail, noting the comical nature of our group laying out our picnic blanket on the floor surrounded by cars and our 7 identical bicycles.

    As I biked the remaining 20 miles to our final destination of Blacksburg, I felt really reflective regarding the people we had met. This trip gives our team the great privilege of being surrounded by immensely high concentrations of wanderers. People from across the world who have spent years of their lives biking across countries, hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, motorcycling across states, and generally taking on immense traverses and adventures with the main stated goal of crossing a distance. 

    We hear many of their individual stories, from our host Steve beginning a life long cycling journey with his college friend which grew into a cross country trip for both him and his son, to the two motorcyclist best friends that Aarushi and I met in a coffee shop who try and take regular bike trips, to “Coach” a middle-aged man who described the immense twists and turns that life threw at him, encouraging him to finally accomplish his dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail where he met his new hiking buddy, “Detail”.

    Though I originally thought I knew my reasons for taking on this adventure, I feel that my motivation and desires are adapting and solidifying as we get deeper into the trip. I have found myself urged to bike slower, to stop when I see things I have never seen before, like a groundhog running through a field or a prayer box on the side of a Virginian road. I want to truly spend these three months as a wanderer, experiencing the minutiae of the country we bike through and engaging with the people and nature that shape its land.

    My experiences have sparked two questions in my head in the last few days. First, what exactly is the difference between a hopeless and a hopeful wanderer? And second, why are all of these thousands of people doing it? 

    In addressing these questions, antithetical to the song Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons, which has been playing as I write this blog, I think that I would like to lean towards claiming that all wanderers are hopeful. Everyone I have met so far is on their journey to learn, to see, to experience, to do, and to accomplish. Though some of the wanderers are suffering immense hardships, I believe that people take on their journeys because of the faith that there is something worth hoping for. That the journey will provide solace or inspiration, or simply a reminder that there is beauty and kindness in the world.

    Unfortunately, the beauty and kindness of the world aren’t always enough to push through the hardest parts of our trip, especially for me, the final 750 ft climb in 3 miles to get to our host Ann’s house. What did, instead, get me through was envisioning everyone else currently biking across the country as little dots on the US map all battling their own climbs, and a healthy combination of gummy worms every 0.5 mile and a repeated “just keep swimming” courtesy of Dory from Finding Nemo.

    Eventually, I made it to Ann’s home with a proud heart, a couple of sore muscles, and only a bug or two in my chamois (rewind to me almost stripping on the side of the road when I had felt something moving earlier in the day). Nunu’s bike was only a little worse for wear, since the chain had fallen off twice and Nate had to go rescue her to help her fix it. The team was excited to gather around the table with Ann at dinner, learn about her own trip across Illinois at 14 years old, and engage in our new favorite treat, mini fruit jelly cups 🙂 Some of us enjoyed the treat more than others…

    The rest of our evening followed the pattern that is becoming our routine: chores, showers, route planning, and finally bedtime, with hearts prepared to wander the next morning again!

    With endless love,

    Tatiana ❤

  • Day 8: A Love Letter to My Team

    Day 8: A Love Letter to My Team

    Lexington, VA to Roanoke, VA — 67.5 mi, 3,419 ft

    Today was one of those days that felt like, maybe the novelty of biking across the country isn’t so novel anymore and it kind of set in that this routine we’ve been doing for the past week, we will keep doing for the next seventy days. Not in a bad way of course. Just that, now that it’s been a little over a week, the team has more or less found our routine. Because of a pretty uneventful but still amazing day, I’m kind of treating today’s blog as a diary of my thoughts and feelings that I’ve had over the past week.

    When you apply to Spokes, the first question that you will be asked is, “Why do you want to do Spokes?” The answers that both myself and the rest of my team gave were along the lines of “super cool, adventure of a lifetime, important to spread STEM education, and all the other awesome reasons to do spokes.” But to be honest, my most real answer is that I wanted to build great friendships with a group of people that I’d never met before, because for me, I find that the most fulfilling part.

    Chasing the sunset and I wanted to take a jumping picture of everyone but I guess Nate is against fun

    Obviously though, this was my daydream and when it comes down to making real connections with real humans, it’s nerve racking. I’m thinking, what if we’re actually all super incompatible and everyone hates me and finds me annoying and blah blah.

    My other greatest fear of Spokes was that I would simply not be physically capable enough to do it. For some context, I’ve never considered myself to be or been considered by others to be an athletic person. When I would tell my friends and family that I was biking across the country, they were just convinced that I was lying or joking (and I would too, don’t feel bad if you thought this at first). Or, they would just get extremely worried for me and ask if I’m sure this is something I can do. On top of that, Spokes 2025 would not stop fearmongering us about how physically hard it will be, especially the first couple of days. I think from all of this, I built up a lot of anticipation and anxiety for our first biking day (that was also 90 miles, so almost double anything I’d done before). I was honestly convinced that I would need to be SAG-ed out.

    Somehow, though, like 300 miles and many large hills later, I’m still intact. I credit a lot of this to my team because everyone’s been incredibly supportive of each other, but I also credit a lot of this to myself.

    Rest stop number 1 and rest stop number 2 where Drew took this photo of us that I think could be on the cover of a magazine

    I started today biking the first 15 miles with Aarushi. Aarushi and I have been roommates for the past four years at MIT, so I would say she is one of the few people who knows me best in the world. We decided to do a little debrief on how we’ve been feeling thus far about the trip (you can read more about how Aarushi’s been feeling in her most recent blog but this blog is about me). I told her I was “feeling good” (because I’m actually really terrible at debriefs) and she told me that she’s noticed a kind of “Nunu explosion.” From her eyes, she says it seems like I’m thriving. After some more reflection, I realized I am truly having the time of my life and I’m so thankful and appreciative of every single day I get to spend building deeper friendships with the wonderful people on my team, seeing places I’ve never seen before, leading learning festivals to excited kids, and getting to know the kind people who host us every night.

    But back to my team, I actually love them all so much. And maybe some will say it’s because we are in the honeymoon phase so of course we love each other right now, but I really feel like Spokes 2025 couldn’t have assembled a better Spokes 2026. I feel like every single person cares deeply for each other. We all operate very selflessly for the betterment of the group. For example, as I’m writing this blog, Nate and Drew are outside getting bitten up by mosquitoes, trying to fix my bike chain that keeps falling off. I also think that we communicate well and can be fun and silly when it’s time but also serious and productive when it’s necessary.

    Rest stop number 3 where Nate launched me off the seesaw and we all swung on this swing

    However, 7 strangers suddenly forced to spend 24 hours a day for 75 days together will inevitably stir up some conflicts. Everyone has different personalities, priorities, opinions and we somehow have to align in a context that none of us are used to. While I wouldn’t call this specific instance a conflict, tonight was the first night we had to do some deep talking with each other in what ended up being a 3 hour long team meeting. I won’t go too much into the details, mostly because it’s kind of boring. But what it boiled down to was that we needed to communicate our priorities to each other during bike days and how those priorities affect our pace and our group schedule. At the end of the day, we have one shared goal which is to have a lot of fun and enjoy each other’s company this summer. As long as we remember this, it will be an awesome summer.

    Playing Durak and Nate lost again (4th time in a row) and then we played ERS and I won, of course. Also yummy dinner from Steve and Debbie and then our kind of serious team meeting to end the day.

    I love you all,

    Nunu

  • Day 7: Dear Nate

    Day 7: Dear Nate

    Waynesboro, VA to Lexington, VA — 41.9 mi, 2,131 ft

    I woke up at 6am this morning to the sound of Nate’s alarm- I don’t bother setting one anymore because I sleep in the same room as Nate every night… at varying degrees of distance. Two nights ago, we shared a bed after a wolf spider big enough to swallow a child decided to stake a claim to my bed. Last night, however, I gathered the courage to reclaim my sleeping quarters, freeing me to toss and turn at will.

    I checked my watch and read the date, June 7 (6/7). It reminded me of a conversation I had with the youngest group of kids that came to our learning festival on Saturday. Nate and I had pivoted to a drawing activity for the youngest kids after deciding that some of our prepared discussion on electromagnetism may not be suitable for their grade level. In response to having been given a pencil, the kids immediately start drawing “67” all over their paper. The joke, being as enigmatic as it is infamous, prompts me to ask the kids, three boys, “What does the number ‘67’ actually mean?” I was surprised by the varied responses.

    Boy 1: “My mom told me 67 is a way of remembering how God created people on the 6th day and rested on the 7th”

    Boy 2: “My mom told me 67 means the devil and that I can’t say it.”

    Boy 3: “Actually! It’s just a joke and doesn’t mean anything!”

    This morning, Pam, our host, made us pancakes for breakfast- my personal favorite. We loaded the van, borrowed a truck, loaded the bikes in said truck, then shuttled to the point where the last route ended and today’s route would begin. Nate and I were sentenced to riding in the truckbed, as if our butts haven’t been through enough the past week. However, we got some beautiful views of the blue ridge mountains.

    Pam’s hospitality certainly overshadowed Shannon Farm’s lack of a clear boundary between inside and the Appalachian wilderness that left a few on our team a little shaken. We did our best to convey our gratitude and set off, albeit in different directions.

    While Nate, Carmen, Caroline, and I started on the uphill half of the day’s 41 mile route, Aarushi and Tatiana decided to bike to the local urgent care before continuing onto the route.  Aarushi had been experiencing symptoms of an ear infection that worsened overnight.

    I’ll try to convey the events that occurred in the Tatiana-Aarushi subplot as faithfully to Tatiana’s telling of their story as possible.

    Upon arriving at the urgent care clinic, 15 minutes passed, then 30, then an hour, before a nurse finally showed up to take Aarushi’s vitals. Upon being led into the patient care room, Tatiana finished an episode of Grey’s Anatomy before a nurse practitioner finally showed up to spend a few seconds peering into Aarushi’s ear and prescribing her antibiotics.

    As a native Mississippian, Tatiana’s recount of a trip to urgent care honestly sounded like it went pretty well; Though, I could see how someone less used to rural healthcare would be repulsed such an inefficient use of time.

    Next, they bike to CVS. They get there and find out that the prescription hasn’t yet been sent to the pharmacy. When the prescription finally does find itself in front of the eyes of the Waynesboro CVS Pharmacist, it does so without a signature from the nurse practitioner. As the CVS and local clinic are working together really hard to acquire the single necessary signature, Tatiana borrows a key from a CVS worker to use the building’s bathroom. When she left the bathroom emptyhanded, she probably asked herself, “Where are my sunglasses… and the key to the bathroom?” Both were in the bathroom, which was locked. 

    “Are you able to open the bathroom for us?” is probably what Tatiana asked the employee which seemed to be responsible for all customer service and janitorial duties.

    The employee asserts that only the maintenance guy who comes on Tuesday would be able to recover Tatiana’s sunglasses and the lost bathroom key. 

    Tatiana bought new sunglasses. 

    Meanwhile, Aarushi got her medicine. At the same time, the rest of us had finished the day’s 42 mile, 2000ft elevation route.

    The coincidence of these events is partially due to the supreme amount of patience that rural healthcare demands and partially due to the four of us being absolute machines on our bikes. We kept a 15 mph pace the entire time.

    I took some pretty cool pictures of Nate while we were biking. He took some of me as well, but they aren’t very good so I chose to exclude them. I’m probably better off taking selfies from now on- Nate’s not much of a photographer. 

    Speaking of Nate, I realize that the last blog I wrote contains a humorous jab at Nate which resonated as “not cool” or “unnecessary” to some, including Nate’s parents. Now, as a much more responsible individual who realizes the potential for personal damage which the Spokes megaphone enables me, I would like to make known that I have a very strong appreciation for only other male member of Spokes, Nate Mustafa.

    Dear Nate, I’m hitting new speed PRs every day that I’d never be able to hit without the pocket of low pressure air that follows you around when you bike. Thank you for being the other ambassador to play country music in the Spokes van. I desperately needed to hear something other than 2000s “in the club” music. I’m very fortunate that, when it comes time to hunker down in a soggy 2-person tent, you’re the other sardine in the can.

    As Tatiana and Aarushi set out for the day, the rest of us settled at our host’s (Dirk) home and decided that we would all take the van to go visit them at the midway rest stop. Along the way, we got coffee and even stopped at this truck stop that was kind of like an off-brand Buccees, but with Popeyes, Papa John’s, and Subway. We got Popeyes chicken sandwiches– they tasted like heaven.

    After that, we met Tatiana and Aarushi at the halfway point. I fixed Tatiana’s derailleur, which was missing gears, then we headed back to Dirk’s home. Tatiana and Aarushi arrived not to long after– most of the last half of the route was downhill.


    When they got there, Dirk and his wife shuttled us to the river where we spent the rest of the day on the water until dinner. Nate and I shared a paddleboard. Nunu, Aarushi, and Tatiana took another paddleboard. Carmen and Caroline both got these little inflatable one-man kayak things that looked really fun and had immense bumper car potential. Our time at the river turned into me and Nate taking turns paddling around with everyone else being towed by the paddleboard’s wrist strap. This went on for a few hours as we relaxed and told stories.

    On the way back, Dirk took a few of us offroading in his old jeep and dropped us off on a hill near his house where we saw this pretty sunset.

    Afterwords, we ate dinner- It was definitely the best so far during Spokes. I’ll let the picture speak for itself. 

    Shortly after, we made smores with the company of everything that has 6 legs.

    At this point, Spokes is starting to feel more like a routine of waking up, packing, biking, unpacking… repeat. Tomorrow is my first driving day, and I’m at the point where I much prefer biking to driving. I feel like biking really is the only way to simultaneously cover significant distance while still being slow enough to take everything in, and open enough to feel immersed in your surroundings. It’s interesting. I fly over this region of the US every time I go between home and Boston. I couldn’t have imagined everything that was under me. I’m very grateful to be able to experience Shenandoah this way– and there’s so much more to see.

    – Drew

  • Day 4: Country Roads, Take Me Home…

    Day 4: Country Roads, Take Me Home…

    Luray, VA to Waynesboro, VA — 62.5 mi, 3,900 ft

    Today we awoke in our campsite and EVERYTHING WAS WET!!! We had foolishly left all our belongings strewn about the campsite, including bike shoes we had to wear this morning and fresh laundry that now needed to be re-run. Although there had been no rain in the forecast, all our bike gear and camping tents were now covered with a generous layer of morning dew. After a couple of “it’s over” “it’s chopped” “it’s buns” “it’s cooked”, we packed up wet tents in wet bags and did some knee stretches (pictured below) and put chamois butter on our butts (not pictured) and I spent some time trying to pick which audiobook to listen to only to realize that not only do you need to pay for Audible you need to pay for the audiobook as well (!!) and after three hours we were ready to leave the campsite at 9 AM. 

    Realization number 1 today: America really is so beautiful. The song was literally made about this place (O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!). We biked through rolling meadows and lush green grass everywhere and fluffy cows and houses with pretty porches and tantalizingly inviting pools. We were biking along the Shenandoah River, and when I realized that I was literally biking down the country roads John Denver was singing about, it felt like I could actually sense his deep nostalgia for the countryside and felt a surprising burst of American patriotism that I haven’t felt in a long time as he sang in my ears…

    Almost heaven, West Virginia

    Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

    Life is old there, older than the trees

    Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze

    Country roads, take me home

    To the place I belong

    West Virginia, mountain mama

    Take me home, country roads

    We kept the good vibes going for a long long lunch where we stumbled upon a perfect oasis where we had a glorious picnic, brought out our big floatie but never went into the water, and instead laid down on the grass and took a group nap. 

    Wow that was a beautiful sentence. Well-deserving of its own paragraph. Writing this blog is making me retroactively even more grateful for these moments. Sometimes you don’t realize how awesome you have it in the moment.

    Realization number 2 today: calling people and listening to them talk like a personal podcast is the hack of long-distance biking. I called my dad who is really good at debriefs and he told me the story of how he wrangled the thousand pounds of luggage I left him on his flight to California. I called my mom who is really good at reminding me of the things I haven’t done and she talked to me about how I need to eat a lot of protein and how I should become even more shameless in asking for Spokes donations. I called my best friend Albert who is really good at laughing and he told me about this new TV show Girls that he’s been watching and indulged me in my fantasy of daydreaming about all the things we will do when we both live in the Bay Area together post-grad. I called my other best friend Ria who is really good at talking in general and she didn’t pick up. I called my friend Maanas who is really good at giving advice and he gave me some more wisdom from his post-grad bike trip from UT Austin to Alaska. I called my teammates Nunu and Tatiana so we could talk even more while biking even though we already spend every single waking hour together. Becoming a Caller is actually one of my goals this summer. It’s such a good way to keep up to date with my friends lives as we all move to different corners of the world, and I am so notoriously bad at keeping in touch with friends that I don’t see regularly that it is a serious fear of mine that the strong friendships I’ve built in college will fade with inactivity. If you’re reading this, please feel free to call me anytime this summer!!! 

    Our ride ended in Waynesboro today as our next host, Pam, picked us up in her truck over the mountain to her house. (Don’t worry, we will resume biking from Waynesboro again in order to have a contiguous route across America). 

    When we arrived at Pam’s place, we were greeted by a literal enchanted magical fairy forest. Pam lives on Shannon Farm, a hippie community founded in 1973 and where she has been a member since 1979. My goal in graduate school at Berkeley is actually to become a hippie so this was an amazing pregame for me. As we gathered around the dinner table and feasted on the delicious barbecue pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad and baked beans and corn on the cob she had made for us, we asked her about her life and her community.

    Pam hands-down has lived one of the richest and most colorful lives out of anyone I’ve ever met. She was an activist protesting the Vietnam war in her college days, she’s been a nurse in clinics, peace walks, and wilderness all over the world, she’s raised two amazing children, she’s gone to Africa multiple times to rehabilitate chimpanzees and baboons and monkeys, she was the chairman of a primate sanctuary in North Carolina where she met Jane Goodall, and most admirably, she greets every person and experience she meets with a beautiful and warm and open heart. Pam, you are truly an inspiration to all of us, and I can only hope to internalize and pass forward some of the warmth you have shown us. 

    I forgot to bring my journal on this trip so I’m going to end my blog journaling to you all with some personal thoughts. This is the first time I’ve been a part of a team in my life, like not just a school group project or a friend group or workplace type team but a true, blood-sweat-and-tears sports team. We are all bound by this shared and really difficult mission of somehow biking across America, and I can already tell that by the end of the summer, we will know each other in different ways than the rest of the people in our lives are used to seeing. It’s also insane how competent everyone on the team is; everyone is constantly working to lift the entire team up and doing more than their share of work during tired evenings and rushed mornings. I’ve never experienced being the one that feels like they aren’t pulling their weight, especially because I didn’t come in knowing any special skills relevant for this trip like fixing bikes and mounting overhead storage on the car and efficiently packing gear and all. On top of that, I’m definitely one of the slower bikers, and I found out today that I’m apparently the slowest to get ready in the mornings too 😭😭

    Fighting these feelings of inadequacy is something I’ll definitely have to learn this summer. It’s good in the sense that it means I really am doing something that is out of my comfort zone, because I actually never do things that I’m not good at. It’ll be a learning experience to first just accept my weaknesses as they are presented to me (putting aside my pride, the biggest of my seven deadly sins) and then actively work on them for the betterment of the team.

    I do have a few goals I’ve been thinking about for this summer. One I already mentioned was to become a Caller and learn how to stay in touch with people. Another is to complain less. As the people in my life (especially my dad) can attest to, I enjoy complaining, but I enjoy complaining more as a shared activity, like let’s all complain about how annoying something is. But it’s really not the same when nobody else on the team is that into complaining so then I just seem like a big chud. I’m not going to list too many goals already on Day 4 because a laundry list of goals is ripe for falling through on all of them, so tune in for my next blog, every Thursday.

    Thank you for the many people who have been donating and supporting and keeping up with our journey, I love you all!!

    Aarushi ❤

  • Day 3: Pool & Pool

    Day 3: Pool & Pool

    Linden, VA to Luray, VA – 31.8 mi, 2303 ft

    Today was a beautiful day, marked by sunshine, side quests, and the kindness of strangers. 

    We began the day with yummy oatmeal prepared by our host Jen, licks from her cute dogs, and a car ride courtesy of Jen’s husband Tim down the gravel mountain that Carmen, Drew, and Nate had painfully climbed the night before. This was my first day biking since I drove the day before, so I was feeling a huge mix of nervousness and excitement.

    As we departed, I got into the groove and started really appreciating the nature around me. Virginia is so pretty! Cows! Hills! Uh oh… hills… The hills were killer, but I began to enjoy them and appreciated Drew’s company, especially as we discussed music and his piano skills. 

    When we came to our rest stop, my first reaction was a bit disappointed, as we were sitting at a gas pump with no overhang and no shade. Alas, the universe had other plans. A few minutes into our rest stop, a car pulled up next to us, and a man came out with curious questions surrounding our trip. He asked what we were doing and why, and suddenly asked if he could donate to our cause. When he started pulling out his wallet, I assumed that he wanted to donate $20. Instead, our team received a ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR donation from a kind man named Jimmy Baker on the side of the road in Virginia. Hello??? Crazy plot twist. Not only this, but Jimmy also offered to buy us food later in our route. The day seriously reminded me that we often assume strangers are far less kind and generous than they actually are. People are seriously awesome, and I have such gratitude for the countless friends and strangers who have already helped us along our journey.

    After this, Drew and I kept pedaling on our short ride, with a slight detour to swing on a beautifully placed swing set and enjoy the Virginia views. The rest of the route, we moo’ed at cows, listened to music, and finally noticed our road turn into a side gravel path. As we pulled into the entrance of our campground for the night, we were greeted with a magical sight. After hours of tough uphill climbs, we suddenly saw a glistening blue pool in front of us, tantalizingly calling for us to jump in.

    Immediately rejuvenated, Drew and I raced to our campground, excited to drop off our gear and celebrate with our friends. The group informed us that the pool wasn’t even the extent of our luxuries; we also had clean bathrooms, a jumping pad on the property, AND a place to play volleyball! Living the good life.

    After a lunch break and some camping gear setup with extra tent troubleshooting courtesy of Nunu, we jumped in the pool, excited to finally relax. Our adventure quickly turned into 4v3 basketball, where my 4-person team was winning 5-2 until I had to reapply sunblock, and suddenly the score did not look too great for my team…

    Nate put it perfectly: “It’s all haha until you’re the one that’s buns.”

    After swimming, a few of us basked in the sun, played volleyball, and walked over to the jumping pad, which was, in fact, a huge blown-up tarp that you could jump on. You’re getting the vibes. Literally the best day ever. Sunshine and rainbows.


    And you know what could make it EVEN better? I had called the town a few minutes away from our campground yesterday, and a pizza place offered to donate us a few pizzas for today’s dinner!! Wow. Miracle.

    At this point, Carmen, Aarushi, Drew, and Caroline went to the town to pick up groceries, the pizza, and some medicine, while Nunu, Nate, and I stayed back to blog and finish up some tasks. Before we began, though, we walked around the property and noticed a POOL TABLE! Not to be confused with the earlier swimming pool (you get the blog’s title?). Obviously, we had to sneak in a game where Nate and I lost to Nunu through Nate’s devastating sinking of the black ball a little too early in the game. Our loss encouraged us to finally lock in on our tasks.

    Nunu actually made this shot…

    When dinner arrived, I truly felt bliss in my soul as we devoured the topping-ladden pizzas and washed our food down with Aarushi and Carmen’s EXTRA surprise of Lofthouse cookies. I’m telling you, we’re spoiled. We also battled against Drew’s spilled Lemon-Lime gatorade, which suddenly created a “pee” trail traveling down the bench.

    We knew, though, that the day after was going to be tough, so we decided to use some of the remaining daylight to clean the car, pump air into our bikes, finish setting up our campsite, and do our laundry. 

    Quick side note: we actually have the best team ever. Everyone is so helpful and wants to work hard to make sure everyone has a good time. I have noticed that our team is very kind, and I really feel like everyone is trying their best to work as a group and appreciate each other. We laugh a lot, and it has really been making this trip amazing so far. I also feel like everyone has their distinct roles, which make our team function well. For example, I consider myself the Morning GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) because I am the only certified morning person and get everyone moving at 6 am. See below for my opinion on everyone’s roles:

    • Nunu: Organizational GOAT (our car is pristine, our stuff is perfectly organized)
    • Nate: Car and Gear GOAT (always locks in on the bike rack and top storage)
    • Drew: Grocery GOAT (best food ever is always present)
    • Caroline: Laundry GOAT (walked all the way up the hill 5 times to do our laundry)
    • Aarushi: Housing GOAT (effortlessly found us a new campground and free Airbnbs)
    • Carmen: Route and Bicycle GOAT (knows everything, pumps everyone’s tires)

    Of course, all of these roles overlap between team members, but still, having people who are great at the tasks has made life so much easier.

    After our work session, everyone took showers, finished the next day’s route, and slowly went to their tents to sleep. Aarushi, Nunu, and I shared the 4-person tent; Carmen and Caroline shared a 2-person tent; and Nate and Drew shared a 2-person tent. Awesome.

    My last comment for this day is that my awesome boyfriend Noah organized the cutest surprise ever for me this summer. He got all of my friends and family to write me notes, and collected 75 notes for me to open in the 75 days of the trip. Just before going to bed, I opened my third note, and it was from a friend, Sam Hughes. Thank you to her, to Noah, and to the many people who have written to me, even if I haven’t opened yours yet. I look forward to reading the notes from you guys every day 🙂

    All my love,

    Tatiana ❤

  • Day 2: First SAG (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th)

    Day 2: First SAG (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th)

    Washington D.C. to Linden, VA – 88.6 mi, 4947 ft (5833 ft if you make the wrong turn)

    Def SAG (noun): Support And Gear. The minivan holding all the teams’ gear, food, etc.

    Def SAG (verb): a.k.a SAG out. To get picked up by the car during a ride, usually to be driven to the end point. 

    Before explaining today, I’d like to provide some context on the current state of the team. Two nights ago, the most sleep anyone on the team got was 4 hours. Last night, the team got 2 hours of sleep and then taught at the juvenile detention center for 7 hours. After driving an hour back, cleaning bikes, eating dinner, packing the van, buying groceries, doing laundry, and getting ready for bed, it was 11pm. 

    With this in mind, we decided to prioritize recovering our sleep before today’s ~90 mile ride by waking up at 7am instead of the 5am wakeup we had decided to do after finishing teaching. The plan was to leave the house by 8am to drive to DC, arrive at 8:30am, take pictures, and then start biking by 9am. That did not happen. 

    At 8am, half the team was still upstairs getting ready and all bags weren’t in the van until 8:30am. We ended up leaving at 8:40am and, because we were now driving into downtown D.C. at peak rush hour, we didn’t get to the Lincoln Memorial until 10am. 

    Huge shoutout to Aarushi’s uncle and aunt Nikunj and Deepika for hosting us + helping shuttle us to D.C. and to Tatiana’s mom Olga for returning the cargo van for us after we left!

    After taking a few pictures, Spokes 2026 was off from D.C. for their first ride of the summer!

    Spokes 2026 sets off from D.C.!

    The fanfare of departing from the Lincoln Memorial was short lived unfortunately as we immediately ran into a slew of technical difficulties (e.g. red lights for ages, falling walkie talkies, twisting ramps causing the first fall of the summer, making incorrect turns getting out of the city, etc.). After getting out of D.C., we biked together for no more than 2 miles before splitting up into faster and slower groups (despite planning to all bike together for 20 miles). 

    Biking out of D.C. along the Potomac River.

    Drew, Carmen, and I biked together for a bit before Drew fell behind a little. Carmen and I continued on to the first rest stop at mile 20 where we checked off the first bathroom break a la fresca and then regrouped with Drew. 

    Prior to the first rest stop Tatiana and Nunu both called me to let us know that Drew’s drivers license was found in the laundry machine back at the house, and so Tatiana would be driving back to get it and, as a result, wouldn’t be able to meet us at the rest stop. We decided to mess with Drew a little by asking him to show us his ID to make sure “he had the right one in case we get stopped by the police”. I’ve never seen someone so confidently claim they had their ID while already holding all cards in their wallet. (Note from the future: we are currently keeping a count of things Drew has left behind, we’re currently at 4 things in 3 days). 

    I’m sure it’s in there somewhere Drew.

    We then continued biking towards the second rest stop where Tatiana would meet us for lunch. We decided to have Drew and Carmen draft so that we could all stick together (Carmen said she was winded from getting to the first rest stop). This turned out to work very well. We were able to hold a solid 15-17mph pace all the way to the lunch stop and get Drew a new speed PR. 

    Discovering the powers of group riding.

    So far, and up to around mile 40, we rode along the Washington & Old Dominion bike trail, which was super nice: separated from the road, very green, and had occasional tree coverage.

    We eventually reached the second rest stop around mile 35 where we waited 5-10 minutes for Tatiana to arrive with Drew’s ID, set up sandwiches for lunch, and started eating. After ~15-20 minutes, the second group (Aarushi, Nunu, Caroline) arrived and joined us for lunch. 

    First Spokes Lunch!

    After everyone finished eating, we let the second group go ahead while Drew, Carmen, Tatiana, and I packed up lunch. We then set off towards the second half of the ride.

    The second half of the ride featured a bike park (that we were required to take a short detour at) as well as some nice views along a gravel road. 

    Eventually we reached the 3rd rest stop around mile 55. Nothing very notable happened yet but at this point we did realize that in 2 days we had eaten two 1kg bags of dried mangos.

    Nunu yearns for the mangos

    The story of a hero starts now. 

    It was currently around 5:30pm with 35 miles to go. Our Warmshowers1 host Jen wanted us at the house before quiet hours at 9pm when she puts her 2 year old baby to bed. As a result, I decided to bike ahead alone (since Drew and Carmen wanted more recovery time) so I could start showering and unpacking (+ because Jen and her husband Jim had very kindly offered to help drive any straggling members to her house to ensure we got there in time – I had 0 intention of letting this happen to me since I wanted to fully finish the ride). 

    So I then left the park we had been using as our third rest stop and turned right out of the parking lot back onto the road we had been biking along. Meanwhile, the rest of the team would spend 20-30 minutes more resting before turning left out of the parking lot to retrace our steps and continue along the road actually part of our route. 

    Unbeknownst to me, my bike computer had quickly rerouted when I made this right turn. Our bike computers have graphs of the upcoming elevation along the route and show stretches of steep elevation gain in colors ranging from green (flat) to yellow to red (steep). When I looked down at my bike computer, I saw shades of red that I had never seen before on that bike computer. 

    I chugged up a 1 mile, 500 ft elevation gain hill, before coming up upon a 4-lane highway with cars going 60mph that my GPS was telling me to cross and continue biking on. The highway had a generous shoulder so I waited for a break in the cars to cross and start biking uphill along the highway with cars and 18-wheelers zooming by. My elevation graph was showing deep red and purple(I didn’t even know that was an option), so I decided that I should warn the rest of the team that things were about to get pretty tough. 

    Luckily, the stretch along the highway only lasted ~5 minutes before I had to cross back over to the other side straight into a 1000ft climb. This would become my new highest climb (beating the 500ft one I had just finished), but after around 30 minutes of chugging up the hill at 5mph I reached the “flatter” section at the top and continued along the rest of the road. 

    After riding along the road for a bit, I got a call from Drew that no one wants to hear: that I was off route. My first reaction was that HE was the one off route, but after pulling off the road and checking the original route I confirmed that I was on a parallel road heading slightly more north. Turns out the whole team was confused when the horrible climbs and highways I had prophesied would arrive, since the route they were on was very reasonable. 

    At this point I considered my options: retracing to get back on route, which would be ~8 miles back and require me doing 43 miles in 2 hours i.e. not feasible; continuing on the current route which, after checking Google Maps street view, I found required biking on a four lane highway with no shoulder for bikes i.e. incredibly unsafe; or the tragic third choice of being the first person to SAG and get moved back onto the route. 

    With little other choice, I called Tatiana to ask her to come pick me up where the road I was on met the highway and have her transport me ~6 miles along the highway to get back on route. 

    Luckily the distance I biked along the road was around the same distance as the other road but with an additional 1000 feet of elevation gain so I still had grounds to stand on that I finished the ride. But at this point Drew and Carmen were ~5 miles ahead and I needed to complete the last 20 miles in the next hour to avoid getting actually SAG’d out. It’s worth noting that one of the reasons Jen and Jim offered to help SAG us was because they didn’t want us going up and down the exact mountain I did :/ 

    Anyways, as soon as I got dropped off the route and my bike was off the car bike rack I booked it along the route (making sure I was headed the right direction this time) at ~170-180 bpm, huffing and puffing with my legs burning the whole way. 

    After 11 miles I passed Carmen and, shortly after, I passed Drew (😜). 

    Around this time, Aarushi, Nunu, and Caroline had all been SAG’d out at 76 miles, by Jen’s husband Jim since they were too far behind to make it to the house in time. Side tangent but to be SAG’d out they were told to look for Jim’s red pickup truck. At some point they saw one parked near the meetup point and approached it, only to see a sign reading “No trespassers. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.” They quickly left the area and were safely picked up by Jim later. 

    After passing Carmen and Drew, I pushed the last 9 miles with my legs burning, painfully climbed the gravel mountain to Jen & Jim’s house, and rolled up to the house as a champion. 

    But did we really win? In the end Carmen and Drew also made it without being SAG’d out since the time it would take to SAG them out would’ve been longer than just letting them finish the ride. Additionally, the route for the next day was a 60 mile 8000 ft elevation ride notorious among the Spokes teams every year. Finally, because we arrived so late Jen and Jim ended up putting their baby down to bed an hour late. 

    After arriving, we quickly ran a shower line, ate the ground beef tacos Jen had kindly cooked for us, unpacked, ran laundry, had a team meeting to plan the next morning, and did some blog writing. It was over dinner that Jen warned us about our ride the next day being a dangerous route due to its sharp, low visibility turns. After this rough day 1 ride no one was eager to do the dangerous + painfully steep ride, so in the end we swapped our route to a 30 mile 2000 ft elevation ride that got us to a different camp ground and got the job done. Jen also told us we had done the longest day 1 Spokes ride she had ever seen 😁.

    I guess I won after all?

    – Nate

    1 Warmshowers is a platform where touring bicyclists can open up their homes to other touring bicyclists to stay with them while out on multi-day bike rides. MIT Spokes has utilized Warmshowers heavily throughout the past 12 years to get housing across the US. Many hosts have hosted multiple generations of Spokes teams – for example, Jen has hosted the MIT Spokes teams four times (and the team is very grateful!). 

  • day 74: choose your own adventure 🗺️

    day 74: choose your own adventure 🗺️

    Sacramento, CA to Benicia, CA — 74.9 mi, 1764 ft

    well, this one is LONGGG overdue…whoops 😀 (please forgive me, mom, grandma, etc.) anyways, without any further delay, i will recount our 2nd to last biking day before reaching our long-anticipated destination of san francisco. buckle up, because while i ALWAYS say this is going to be a long one, this statement could never be more true than right now…(2662 words, to be exact, and for JDs stats on the spokes 2025 bloggers total word counts) (if you’re wondering, yes, i had the most)

    …which, in true spokes fashion, started the night before, past midnight and the previous day. ramona (the previous day’s blogger) was fast asleep during these festivities, so i will give the much needed context instead. it all started when joseph, while making the day’s route, pointed out that there was a six flags amusement park within 10 miles of our destination in benicia. 

    this small comment will drastically alter the course of the following day.

    ishaq, the next day’s planned driver, is now DEAD-SET on going to six flags, even willing to wake up at an ungodly hour and bike instead. ruth decides she will follow whatever the group does, but goes to bed right then and there on the couch in case we decide to wake up early. tian wants to go, and is scheming to switch driving days with ishaq and take the van straight there. joseph, charles, greta and i are all indecisive for the next 2-3 hours, while ramona is in the blissful ignorance of slumber. eventually, we come up with the PERFECT plan so that everyone gets what they want:

    • because we are, for once, in proximity of civilization™, this is one of the most perfect days to do a self-supported ride (or, a ride without the van)
    • ishaq and tian will switch driving days, and tian + the van will head straight for six flags around 10am to get there by opening for the six flags group, but leave late enough for the late-risers group
    • all riders are free to leave and go where they please: we end up splitting up into “six flags” (ishaq and ruth), and “regular” (joseph, charles, ramona, greta, and i)
    • six flags group leaves around 5-6am to get there around opening
    • regular group sleeps in and takes a chill day exploring the various stops through california leaving the capital on the way to the bay!
    • everyone does what they want!!!
    • obligatory “six flags” crew pics from their day
    • strong tian
    • snoozing after we showed up…at 10:30pm…

    this leaves me waking up around 9am. joseph also gets up around this time, ramona is already awake (and is debriefed on last night’s plan), while charles and greta have to be woken up (by me) so they don’t sleep in TOO late and miss dropping off their stuff in the van (you’re welcome). most people have some of the oatmeal made by our lovely hosts, while i start scheming for a early ride cafe stop (because what else can you expect from me if not a cafe stop?) i end up finding a spot in downtown sacramento, so after leaving our stuff in the van joseph, ramona and i set out around 10am, with charles and greta behind us. while they originally intended to join us at our cafe, they ended up just heading straight for the one at our first rest stop. this was probably a wise decision, as with the morning rush, it took around a combined 30-45 minutes for joseph and i to get through the line to order (thanks ramona for guarding our stuff!), and all our food to come out. social media was RAVING about their egg sandwiches, so of course i had to get one. my bacon, egg and cheese ended up being pretty worth the hype (maybe not the wait, though…) after finishing up our food, chai lattes, and tea, we set out for davis.

    • heading to breakfast 2!
    • food!
    • food except zoomed out for everybody
    • a golden bridge…but not THE golden (gate) bridge

    while the first leg would have actually been around 17.5 miles, it was a little shorter than that since we were heading out of downtown. we went on a bike path headed right along the highway, sometimes moving even faster than morning commuter traffic, which i thought was pretty funny. the closer and closer we got to davis, the more i realized it was not nearly as rural as i thought—after all, it was only an hour out of sacramento by bike. we passed by some fruit stands, got accidentally drafted by another random biker, and made our way into the college town of davis! after checking on the status of charles and greta via life360, we realized they we’re actually still in town, so we met up to officially form the full non-six flags group.

    with the amount of activities and procrastination that went on in davis, this rest stop deserves its own paragraph. the original rest stop was another cafe, which we all ultimately skipped for other places. after the freshies group helped some locals repair their bikes, we all met up at a newspaper shop around the corner. we learned that davis had the first bike lanes in AMERICA, met the shop owner’s absolutely MASSIVE great dane in the back, and joseph and i got popsicles before heading out. we made our way over to a korean dessert shop, and ended up splitting some bingsu—a popular dessert made from shaved ice, milk, and various toppings. ours was topped with strawberries, mango, circus animal cookies, and what i believe was a chocolate covered oreo. while we munched, charles and co. worked on the crossword inside the copy of the new york times he got at the newspaper shop. eventually, we spread out: charles and greta napped outside on a table, ramona and i looked at books together, and i honestly don’t know what joseph was doing. at some point i split off to call my sister, and before we knew it it was almost 3pm and we were about 60 miles from where we needed to be before dark. spoiler alert: we did NOT make it before dark…

    • hello davis!
    • DAWG.
    • first bike lanes in america were in davis!
    • popsicle
    • bingsu purchasing
    • bingsu eating
    • yummy
    • nap time…

    alas, we FINALLY start heading out of davis. our next stop was only 12.5 miles away, and after we all accidentally split up in 3 different directions trying to make our way out of town, we met up again and biked as a pack on the mostly empty farm roads. a few stopped to eat almonds off the trees on the side of the road (myself NOT included), the turns we hit every 1.5-2 miles as we zig-zagged along the main highway kept me entertained, while the wind slightly annoyed me. soon enough, we hit the dixon fruit market! i got a watermelon juice for myself, as well as a loaf of bread and block of cheese to split with the rest of the group. while i was unsure if we would finish the whole thing (as the van was not there to carry the leftovers), i left with only a small cube of cheese in my bike bag. in hindsight, i think not having to worry about the driver being stuck in one place for too long is what caused our future problems. anyways, we made a slight detour to a gas station for restrooms, ice, and scratchers, and hit the road after another decently lengthy stop.

    • the “regular” crew
    • mandatory pole vault pit pic
    • almonds…yum…
    • fruit stand!
    • roadside charcuterie
    • yum yum yum

    leg 3 was about another 15 miles, and while the rest stop was supposed to be at a park, we once again decided to get creative and instead make it at the great west coast fast food chain known as in and out. i honestly don’t remember much from this leg, but at in and out i got animal style fries for the first time (truly life-changing), while this was quite a few others first time at in and out at all. it’s not the best food ever, but it is pretty good, and in this economy, where else are you getting a burger, fries and drink for less than $10? as we sit outside enjoying our meals with the sun just dipping below the horizon, this was the first time it settled in that we were kinda cooked (aka biking in the dark). after calling the six flags crew, to keep an already incredibly long blog a little shorter, we realized the van simply was not going to be able to come shuttle people if needed (which we really only do in dangerous conditions physically or environmentally), so we had no choice but to finish the ride. i dump the rest of my lemonade in my water bottle (a huge hydration strat i discovered at the end of spokes), and the crew locks in for our last 35 miles.

    • IN AND OUTTT
    • good lawd

    our 2nd to last leg wound up probably being 15-20 miles, but no matter the case, we locked in and got PEDALING out of vacaville. we were slowly losing more light, but the grind doesn’t stop. we passed by the original rest stop 3, and after some time we made it to our new rest stop—a tj maxx. as we had never biked in complete darkness before, we didn’t realize how cold it got with both the wind and the absence of sunlight. greta got a long-sleeve cotton button-up that she planned to reuse for normal day wear, joseph got a pair of pajama pants with garfield-shaped pumpkins on them, while the rest of us took the opportunity to rest a little. otherwise, we kept the stop pretty short, and soon headed out to get to FINALLY our place for the night.

    • fitted up
    • resting up
    • what’s to come…
    • oh boy.

    stepping out of the warmth of that building made me question if i should have actually purchased additional layers or not, but i reassured myself that once we got pedalling i would warm up again. and boy, did we have to PEDAL, because (of course) all the climbs—albeit pretty short—we’re saved for the very end. just my luck. however, there was just around 15 miles to go, so there was no choice but to lock in (count how many times i’ve said that in this blog), and FINISH. we got in the most maximally lit and visible formation, and hit the hills heading into benicia. the first portion was probably the scariest and most painful—-basically pitch black except for our lights and the interstate running adjacent to us on the service road (with the cars BLINDING me instead of helping me see), headwinds CENTRAL, and some route confusion that almost led us down a steep hill to nowhere. but after conquering this most mentally challenging section with the power of the kpop demon hunters soundtrack, we hit benicia and civilization…meaning flat, lit, and car-free BIKE TRAILS!!! we finished the last of our climbs, zoomed down into town, and finally made it to our place at the lovely hour of 10:30pm. we all sigh in relief, saying that would NEVER happen again (of course, with spokes ending the next day, it most definitely wouldn’t, but the sentiment remained). we take quick showers and meals, apologize to our hosts for our ungodly hour of arrival, set out our sleeping bags, and pass out along with the six flags group (who had gone to bed at a much more ideal time). 

    the next day, we would bike across the golden gate bridge into san francisco, officially completing our over 4,000 mile across the united states. yet, at the time, it didn’t feel like we were actually, finally done. after being in a constant, structured regimen of biking, learning festival, and rest days for almost 3 months, it was hard—no, impossible—to process that in a few days, i would be going home, and then back to school in boston—back to normal life.

    fast forward a few weeks later: it’s a sunny sunday afternoon in cambridge, i’m sitting in flour on mass ave, iced chai latte just about finished, about to start working on my 8.02 learning sequences. my bike—covered in stickers i collected over the summer—sits chained up outside. i feel like i’ve adjusted comfortably back to the school routine, the busyness and chaos—between 4 classes, my UROP, pole vault, my new sorority (pi phi, wings up!), my job at the list arts center, and preparations to recruit spokes 2026 (keep your eyes open!)—keeping my mind occupied (which i like, actually). 

    however, every so often, i am reminded of my life-changing journey (it’s something i will never forget, but sadly, life goes on). chrysler pacificas driving down the street. the cyclists outside trader joe’s last weekend, eating pickles straight out of the jar. certain songs that come up on shuffle on spotify. the hundreds of thousands of pictures in my photo album when i happen to scroll back too far on accident, or when i am reminiscing on purpose. the seemingly simple question from peers of “what did you do this summer?” 

    i cherish these memories, and remember them fondly, but it breaks my heart to come to terms with the fact that i can’t ever truly go back to and relive those 3 months of my life. i could sit with that pain forever…or i could choose to look forward to what’s next. there are interesting classes and projects to be done, exciting track meets to train for, and so many new friends to be made, and fresh adventures to go on in the meantime (bike touring is certainly in my future—pacific crest summer 2026?) i am forever grateful for the many people i met along the way: from ever generous and wise hosts and grateful, hard-working learning festival partners and their bright students, to kind strangers at rest stops and on the road, and of COURSE my fellow spokies, i truly believe i saw the best of humanity this summer. the chaos and mayhem in the world right now sometimes made the future seem pretty dim, but in every small interaction—from child to senior, townsperson to city dweller, farmer to entrepreneur, stranger to friend—i gained just a little more hope. i saw the grand sights and views, as well as the charming, unique corners, nooks and crannies of this diverse country that make me proud to call it home—both in place and people. 

    i am also very thankful for the many people who got me to this point in my life journey, to be able to go on the journey of spokes. to my family, teachers, mentors, coaches, and friends—who never doubted my ability to go far and do hard things (like get into MIT…which is still so crazy to me)—i thank you from the bottom of my heart. some days, i still can’t believe the life i get to live, and it was all thanks to you and your hard work and support.

    finally, i would like to thank my fellow spokies—my new best friends. tian, ishaq, ruth, charles, greta, joseph, and ramona, thank you for being such a big part in a summer i will never forget. thank you for getting me through the longest days, the toughest climbs, and the most exhausting learning festivals. for the yaps on the bike about anything and everything, serious or not, for the great meals and the time we spent making (or just enjoying) them, and ALL the laughs in between. for the rest stop shenanigans, rest day adventures, and MANY cafe runs that i dragged you all on because i insisted on having as many on each day’s route as possible. for your endless encouragement, thoughtful advice, and sincere love. i can’t wait to keep being friends with all of you—even if we are no longer all together physically, the thousands of miles that brought us together will never, truly, tear us apart.

    with my final philosophical spiel, i will end my final spokes blog. it was the ride of a lifetime (haha, get it?), and i am SO excited to pass the baton to spokes 2026, so that 8 more can take part in this special journey. 

    a lovely rest of your day and one final thank you to YOU, my lovely readers!

    signing off,

    schmitty 💗

  • Day 73: Side Questing to the Extreme

    Day 73: Side Questing to the Extreme

    Placerville, CA to Sacramento, CA

    54.2mi, 1508 ft

    The Spokies awoke one by one in what started off as a slow, bum morning in a church in Placerville, unaware of what the day ahead had in store. Previously someone had made plans to do a scavanger hunt one of these days and Ruth had now convinced Greta that today was the day. So, after calls home, breakfast and packing, we lingered a bit longer in the lot by the church, while Greta flushed out the hunt. Once Greta was done with her scoreboard, we split off in teams for the competitive spirit and after some brief scheming set off. 54.2 miles with very little climbing created the perfect atmosphere for a unserious day full of side quests.

    where we stayed
    lot by the church
    Placerville

    I was teamed up with Ruth and Joseph. Our plan was to hit a CVS in Skinners to get hair dye and enact a break-up, then go to rest stop 1 to jump in a lake, maybe find a secluded area for skinny dipping and choreograph a dance. Then find a car wash, hopefully neighbouring a gas station to wash our bikes and get that winning scratch-off. Finally, get some ice cream with sun glasses upside down, introducing yourself as Latvian and grabbing the ice cream by the scoop. For on the way tasks we could do the secret handshake, stranger selfies and other bits. At the end of the day we would run the last 0.5 miles. Writing this all down, it sounds like way too much, but at the time it seemed completely doable. Our cycling days were always long, so what’s a little side quest here and there?

    Well, we ended up arriving to our first rest stop 19.4 miles out a whooping 5 hours later. But, Ruth and Ishaq met a bunch of strangers and took selfies with them. My team (the best team) staged a couple’s fight in a CVS, got some merch from a dollar store and acquired an additional team member – Tian. The other team (the second best team) had gotten some ice cream and probably went on some other side quests I have not been briefed about. Anyway, at the first rest stop – a cafe, where the lovely barista filled all of our bottles with ice water – Greta instated a time limit for the next stretch. That’s really when the day picked up pace. It was time to pedal and be efficient about completing our tasks. 

    We schemed some more, performed a choerographed dance, Joseph chugged half a gallon of oat milk, Charles downed three cans of Sprite and we struggled to land a bottle flip while cycling. Then we set off to find a place to swim. But on our way we first ran into a car wash and a gas station, so that was nice. Eventually we made it to a park, where we found a nice swimming spot, jumped in the lake and went skinning dipping. Then we pedaled off in a hurry to make it to our second (and final) rest stop in time.

    Ruth got her bike signed
    Joseph and oatmilk
    the winning ticket!
    trying to dry off
    Ruth pedalling away
    Tian attempting a bottle flip
    part of the handshake
    me jumping in water
    Ruth jumping in water
    Tian getting her bike powerwashed

    Despite the high pedalling output to keep on schedule, the ride was very enjoyable. The warm weather had stopped bothering me after the swim and snacks from the car kept me fueled. I honestly am not quite sure anymore what tasks we tried to do afterwards, or what the other team was up to. It was a day overflowing with events, a whirlwind that made us forget time, blew us up in the air to land someplace else with a different agenda. Everyone was in high spirits when we finally arrived in Sacramento to our hosts Ray and Judy.

    Ruth trying to eat a smushed ice cream
    cont.
    in the evening sun
    found the place just in time
    our hosts’ beautiful home
    Ruth and Charles enjoying the garden
    teapots!

    After showers we rewinded with pasta dinner, completed with tomato sauce and vegetables grown in the yard. The hunt dominated the dinner table discussion, everyone was excited to share their adventures. Judy and Ray’s home was stunning, which I will be able to confirm the next morning, when it was light outside again. An absolutely soul-filling experience – a day to fly through and an evening to feel grounded again.

    Afterwards, I basically crashed into the bed, but some Spokies stayed up and discussed next day’s plan’s. But more about that in the next blog which Charles will be writing up soon!

  • Day 72: The Dilly Dally Club Strikes Again

    Day 72: The Dilly Dally Club Strikes Again

    South Lake Tahoe, CA -> Placerville, CA — 88.8 miles, 6,731 ft

    Welcome to my last blog! We got an early-ish start to this morning (by Spokes ’25 standards) since Dan and Natasha were also headed out of town for a trip. This proved to be a great decision as we had a longer ride for today — almost 90 miles with 6,700 feet of elevation gain. But today would also be an excitingly speedy day, finally leaving the higher-elevation southwest for good with 11,000 feet of descent on the day as well.

    The Spokies started the day together as we rode on this delightful trail surrounded by tall evergreens. What a terrific greeting for our first California ride! It was so refreshing having my line of sight interrupted by trees and a curving roads once again. After a full summer of biking, fresh of yesterday’s rest day, the legs felt fresh. To use a Joseph-ism, we were ZOOMING.

    Joseph had let us know that after packing up the car (which is always a bit slower after a rest day) he was going to go shopping in South Lake Tahoe and he might miss rest stop 1. We reached rest stop 1 and everyone else had forged on, so after a quick bathroom break, Greta, Sarah, and I continued up the first climb of the day.

    When we got to rest stop 2, Joseph still wasn’t there to meet us. Ruth and Ramona had already moved on. Joseph was only a few minutes away from the rest stop, so the rest of us decided to wait for him and admire the pretty lake and skip stones.

    Joseph made up for his lateness with the best possible excuse one might have for such a grave transgression. He had set his mind on one-upping Ruth’s best-driver-ever submission on day 70 with one of his own. He opened the minivan door to reveal bag upon bag of groceries. There were the all the essentials and classic Spokes hits we’d requested for food, of course. Then, fresh apples, oranges, peaches, and a whole watermelon he was planning to cut up for us at the next rest stop. For our delicacies, we had a whole pack of Oreos and a family size Blue Machine Naked smoothie. AND, there was a “mystery surprise” that would be revealed later. I love mystery surprises.

    Let me tell ya, the Blue Machine smoothie was simply mindblowing. Transcendental. (This is one of my three very-late blogs that I’m filling in retroactively and I still remember how great that smoothie felt going down the hatch). We were like hyenas. People were greedy. Okay, I was greedy. And Ishaq. When Joseph came back to show off the next bag of groceries, half the smoothie was already gone.

    The peaches were so juicy and sweet as well. There were only a few peaches, so those who wanted peaches shared. We left one for Ruth and Ramona to share at rest stop 3. After the feasting frenzy had died down, Tian was still holding that last peach. “Guys… what if I just ate the peach.”

    “No, Tian, we need to save it for Ruth and Ramona,” the virtuous crowd protested.

    “I’ll share it with you Tian!” Greta piped in evilly.

    Despite the virtuous crowd™ restating our position that this was a terrible, mean, no-good, poo-poo thing to do, Tian bit into the peach. Greta and Tian shared the peach. They ate the last peach! The peach meant for Ruth and Ramona! Shame them!!!

    We all agreed we should simply omit these items from the shopping haul at rest stop 3 and Ruth and Ramona would never have to know. (The rest of us except for Tian had been complicit in the great Blue Machine disappearing act, so it was kind of a glass house type of situation). Sorry Ruth and Ramona. And sorry you’re finding out this way. You snooze bike faster you lose 🤷‍♂️

    • There were so many lakes today
    • Another lake
    • Third lake, third shade of blue!
    • We did bike past a lot of burned trees in this stretch

    When I rolled in to rest stop 3, a feast was spread out on the picnic table we’d claimed. Fresh watermelon slices and my packed sandwiches awaited. Ruth and Ramona went for a swim in the lake. Greta and I went for a swim as well but the water was freezing so we dipped our toes and skipped some rocks. At this point I was already ready to crown Joseph best driver ever but we still had three more rest stops to go…

    By now you’ve probably noticed a few themes when it comes to the biking groups. Ruth and Ramona — the dynamic duo. Ishaq and Tian, frequently lone warriors but a ride with them is never a dull one. Greta and I have become the founders of what we have informally been calling the “dilly dally club.” As suggested by the name, the dilly dally club excels at dilly dallying. We are extremely distractable, make frequent stops, are chatty cathys, will wait for anyone (or use that as an excuse to dilly dally), and are always the last to leave the rest stops. The dilly dally club doesn’t have an official motto, but if it did, it would probably be something like “sure I’m ready to leave, just one more thing.” Dilly dally club membership varies day-to-day, but you can bet your bottom dollar either Greta or I are in it on any given day (usually both if neither of us are driving).

    So, Greta and I left rest stop 3 last and took on the last major climb of the day. As we neared the top, we suddenly ran into a long, backed-up line of traffic in our direction. We passed these cars on the shoulder until we reached the top and found out the cause for this traffic. A short stretch of highway was closed off for transporting logs (?) and only one lane was available. A flagger was holding up our side for the time being. Greta and I joined the other Spokies who had been waiting for much longer than we had and dismayed to see our dilly dallying rewarded. The dilly dally club strikes again!

    After a short wait (for the dilly dally club, I think Ishaq waited for like 20 minutes), our side got the go-ahead, and we kicked off the second half of the ride together, a descent that would take us from 8,000 feet down to 2,000. Sarah slowed down abruptly at one point, so those of us behind her (Ruth, Ramona, Greta, and I) who passed her while descending waited for her at a turnout. Unfortunately, a bug had flown into Sarah’s eye and she had pulled over and tried to rinse it out. Her eye was still bothering her, so Sarah hopped in the car to try and get some eye relief until it was safe for her to bike again. Ruth and Ramona, finally relegated to the back of the pack after their blistering start to the day, decided to join the dilly dally club.

    At rest stop 4, Joseph unveiled one of his surprises for the day (but not his last): ice cream! We busted out the spoons and bowls and all helped ourselves. Many of us topped our ice creams with Oreo chunks. Greta mashed her chunks up very fine and stirred it in with her ice cream until it became this spotty sludge. I thought it was gross until she explained she had basically made a cookies and cream milkshake. So of course, I had to go for thirds on the ice cream and give that a go.

    The sole surviving image of the carnage that was rest stop 4. Bad day to be a food item in the Spokes van

    The descent sped us along to rest stop 5, another lake. This one was in Sly Park Recreation Area, and had a small fee for vehicles, so we stopped at the parking lot near the entrance. Here, Joseph pulled out his final ace up his sleeve in his best driver ever campaign. He’d set out cups, orange and apple juices, and dry ice! We drank dry ice cooled juices and marveled at Joseph’s driver performance. Forget best driver day of Spokes ’25, today might have inducted Joseph into the all-time Spokes driving hall of fame.

    • Taking orders
    • Bro busted out the pocketknife too
    • Ishaq holding the dry ice block 🥶

    We clarified the access road to the recreation area was free for bikers, so Greta, Ishaq, Ramona, Ruth, and I dropped down to the lake. Ruth and Ramona achieved the rare double swim day. I joined them in the lake while Greta and Ishaq napped. With the sun getting pretty low in the sky, we all agreed to skip the last rest stop and head to the final destination in Placerville.

    The dilly dally club (with new members Ruth and Ramona for the day), chatted on the final biking leg for the day as the descent grade finally mellowed out. Ramona pitched us on her great idea for a piece of Spokes merch — a T-shirt designed like a band’s concert tour with “that one photo of us in front of the church” (she pulled over and showed us which one she was referencing, although we lamented that Ramona and Tian weren’t even in that photo!) and our learning festival dates on the back advertised like tour stops. We all thought it was a fantastic idea. We also discussed who would be down to get a tattoo at the end of Spokes, a la Spokes ’24, and, if so, what design we would want.

    • Dilly dallier recruited
    • The proposed front of the T-shirt

    The dilly dally club arrived at the church hosting us in Placerville just as the sun was setting. Dinner preparation was in full swing. I knocked out on one of the pews (oops). As always, we ate together and reveled in each other’s company. Dinner with the Spokies — at one point new, foreign, and a given that stretched into the far, distant future — now was all too familiar, joyous, cozy, yet concluding, enumerated by the days in the week we have left, a tradition fated to come to an end. The dilly dally club rehashed our conversation from earlier and we discussed merch, tattoos, and ways we wanted to honor this journey when we ride across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and finish Spokes 2025.

    • Dinner ft. iconic Ramona pose
    • Cursed filter applied to our Garden of the Gods photo

    This is my last blogging day. It’s been an honor recapping and reflecting on every eighth day of Spokes and sharing them here.

    Signing off,

    Charles