MIT Spokes 2026

Tag: cycling-day

  • Day 6: stab your friends…

    Day 6: stab your friends…

    Afton, VA to Lexington, VA – 47.02 mi, 4,354 ft

    Today was just one of those days. I woke up at 1:55 am to pee, and never quite fell back asleep. Tian, our resident snorer, unknowingly kept me awake all night. I popped in my airpods and drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. 

    At the breakfast table, we (ironically) started off the day comparing sleep scores — Ishaq was well rested with an 87/100, and Greta was close behind with a 71/100. I was the star of the show with a whopping 42/100. I was basically non-verbal throughout breakfast and car-packing due to how sleep deprived I was (apologies, fellow Spokies).

    Now, I’m not sure if you read Day 5’s blog (go Joseph), but if you did, you may know that we changed our route last minute, opting for a shorter, albeit steeper climb. Due to my state of being, Greta, our driver for the day, offered to drive me to the top. I respectfully declined – I needed to tire myself out enough that I would sleep peacefully tonight.

    Sad to leave Pam’s magical cottage in Afton, VA, we headed off to the steepest climb to date. With an average grade of 10% (and a maximum of 17%), this climb reached a steepness of over 2 times the maximum allowable slope of a wheelchair ramp (my dad is an architect).

    Text correspondence with Father Ruth

    I opted to not have my own bike computer to save the team $350, so I rotate through drivers’ computers. Today, Greta’s computer was simply not loading the route for me – I resolved to follow Ramona closely behind so I wouldn’t get lost, since we ride at a ~similar~ pace.

    Me, Charles, and Joseph before I zoom ahead with Ramona

    I’m not going to subject you to the same pain that I felt climbing that large hill today, so I’ll spare you the details. Just know that Ramona and I didn’t take breaks, that I felt I was going to go backwards at multiple points, and that when we finally passed the worst of it and pulled over to snack, I didn’t know if I could get up again.

    As for the rest of the journey, it went pretty smoothly. All the Spokies met under a tree to eat lunch. By this time, my mood was significantly better👍. Exercising does release endorphins, after all ✨.

    Me and Ramona smiling through the pain post a 17% grade
    Spokies at lunch

    Ramona, Ishaq, and I set out before the others. Then came the best 13 miles of the day – flat land. On this land, like a fledgling jumping out of its nest for the first time, I learned to fly— i.e. ride with no hands. I even did the wave! 

    We had one last climb before the house, but after a quick snackie, we pulled through.

    Me, Ramona, and Ishaq smiling before the last climb

    46.8 miles later and 4456 ft ascended, we made it to Dirk and Chrissy’s house in Lexington, VA at 3:30 pm— early for a change. Roxy the dog was awaiting us!

    Greta petting Roxy
    Ramona chasing Roxy
    Roxy with a ball
    Joseph passed out next to Roxy
    Greta hugging Roxy

    Greta and Ishaq ran out to get groceries, while the rest of us took much needed showers. Once everyone was stink-free, we had dinner! A very very very yummy dinner, with stuffed mushrooms and caprese salads and protein pasta. During dinner we discovered Ramona’s love of orienteering – Europe’s favorite pastime. We also realized what a small world it is. Last week, Dirk and Chrissy hosted a Harvard pole vaulter that Sarah sort of knows. And they have a daughter at Stanford in the same department and year as my sister, who she doesn’t know at all! Pretty small world if you ask me.

    Since we got to our Warmshowers so early, we could actually do fun things! We used the large foot massager in the living room. Most people hated it but Tian was ready to sneak it into the van. People made banana bread. I got sat on by Roxy. We pet the bipolar cat, Eli. Finally, we played Stab Your Friends, a card game (by Dirk and Chrissy’s nephew!) that turned all of us against each other. Charles, I’m coming for you.

    Sarah making banana bread
    Roxy sitting on me

  • Day 4: thunderstruck⚡️

    Day 4: thunderstruck⚡️

    Big Meadows Campground, VA to Afton, VA – 42.74 mi, 3,045 ft

    “There’s no way I’m biking down Skyline Drive this morning,” I told Ruth as the pitter patter of rain woke us up from our short, wet night of sleep. Yesterday, we completed the long ascent up Skyline Drive and I had spent hours of it imagining us all flying down the mountain at the end. Unfortunately, the combination of blind curves, thick fog, and heavy rain was a perfect recipe for broken bikes and broken Spokies–not a desired outcome on day 4 (or day anything) of our trip.

    Luckily for us, as we were stuffing our soaking wet camping gear back in its bags, my dad and his friend Greg were driving up to meet us at Big Meadows. Now, with two cars and two bike racks at our disposal, we decided the best plan was to shuttle both ourselves and our bikes down the mountain into the nearest town. Even though I knew I wouldn’t have felt safe on the mountain in these conditions, I still spent the whole drive down mourning the loss of such a beautiful descent. I was not consoled when I was informed we didn’t have enough space to bring down all the bikes in two trips–so my dad was going to make the trip down by bike after all. without me…

    mystical fog at big meadows
    hiding out from the rain:)

    Once we were all assembled at the bottom of the mountain, we ate some brunch, pumped up our tires, and got on the road. Although Greg and my dad were purportedly here to ride “with Spokes”, I guess the beautiful Virginia hills got to them because they took off as soon as we started. I let them get away the first couple miles, until I decided I couldn’t let two middle-aged dudes get the better of Greta Lawler so I showed them what I was made of (aka drafted off my Dad for the rest of the ride) 👍 Besides their super speedy bike skills, I was super happy to have Greg and my Dad with us for a day! Greg taught us to think about our energy reserves as a matchbox; each one of us has only a limited number of matches to burn each day. Its important to know how many you have and to decide carefully how to use them. I really liked that one! My dad updated his advice to future Spokes from “be safe and have fun” to “be prepared for rain.”

    (Did I mention we got hit by another bout of torrential rain around 4pm? Classic Virginia.) Other highlights include “the world’s best pizza” (according to Ishaq), the acquisition of a new (overpriced) sticker, and lots of cows!!

    dad aka captain lawler
    yep
    joseph and the BEST PIZZA EVER (elf style…)

    Despite our crazy, water-logged day, we arrived at our host’s house by about 5, which is much earlier than we’ve arrived at our destination the previous two days of Spokes. I’m so glad we did because our host, Pam, is just incredible! First of all, she hosted her son’s entire wedding the day before we arrived and still offered to host us for two nights. Second of all… well, there’s really too much to tell, so I’ll do my best with a (completely inexhaustive) list.

    List of reasons Pam Mendosa is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met:

    • lives entirely off the grid
    • built her own house from the ground up
    • is an expert wildlife rehabilitator, working both with cats and racoons in her backyard and gibbons and chimpanzees in Africa
    • volunteered as a a street medic at the charlottesville riots in 2017
    • worked as a racecar pitcrew and chatted with tom cruise and paul newman without even knowing who they were
    • pours her heart and time into pursuing her passions
    • created the release protocol for rehabilitated bush babies
    • makes a delicious mac n’ cheese
    • is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever met

    Pam lives in an “intentional community” called Shannon Farm, which is a neighborhood tucked back in the forest in which everyone has shared ownership of the land, participates in community events, contributes to upkeep of the farm, and is invested in knowing and supporting their neighbors. Everyone I met seems to really love it in Shannon. It reminds me a lot of French House, where I currently live in MIT, and I honestly think I would love living in an intentional community one day. Even just 4 days in, Spokes has given me so much to think about and I’ve met so many cool, generous, inspirational people. Somehow, the world feels both bigger and smaller than ever. (Not to mention I’m getting to hang out everyday with 7 of my newest favorite people ever. 🫶 ) So so so excited for the rest of our adventure!

    Peace out,

    Greta

  • Day 3: BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, SHENENDOAH RIVERRRR

    Day 3: BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, SHENENDOAH RIVERRRR

    Linden, VA to Big Meadows Campground, VA – 55.75 mi, 6,555ft

    Howdy y’all, Ishaq here. Today we had quite the late start but we’re treated to a quality pre-ride meal by our wonderful hosts, Jen, Tim, and their adorable baby Wayne (his cuteness fed our spirits with the motivation to conquer the day’s challenge). It was raining in the morning so we gladly accepted a short ride down the steep gravel road to start our journey on the highway to Shenandoah National Park.

    Everything started out alright with a tiny hill around 10 miles in and we all got some wicked speed on the way down. However, it was quite hot today so I drank all my water by the time I got to our first rest stop and gladly purchased an Irish cream coffee and a lemonade from a lovely cafe. I also got what was probably the worst baguette I’ve ever had but a biker gotta eat 🤷🏾‍♂️. Ruth was driving today, and while she was waiting for us she explored a cute little inn. Everything inside looked old and expensive–so certainly outside of our spokes budget.

    All in all it was a successful and restful break! Ramona took an awesome candid group photo and we continued our bike.

    All was good until i saw this come up on my bike computer:

    Arguably worse than our climb yesterday, we had a 10 mile, 3000 foot, grade 5 climb into Shenandoah ahead of us. And being completely real I was not physically or mentally prepared for that challenge. Everyone went ahead of me and two of us, who had been having some cardiovascular issues the previous day, made the smart decision to ride up in the car part of the way. I, however, stopped at another cafe, got another lemonade and sat on a porch of an abandoned building contemplating this climb. Contemplation quickly became doom scrolling, along with my daily LinkedIn games (gotta do my Queens). I realized it had been a bit and I probably should get going so I put on a podcast reviewing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and got to riding. The first half of the climb took an hour. Physically, I was broken, mentally even more so. I did not help that the podcast was bad and they kept hating on the Star Wars prequels (which I am quite a fan of). I met up with Tian and Ruth for some lunch as everyone else had went ahead.

    On this break at the half way point I went non verbal. Drank two full bottles of water, scarfed down the rest of my disgusting baguette, and laid down on a park bench. As I laid there staring at the tree above me and sky above that tree, I thought to myself, “dang I could really just hop in the car right now and get a ride to the top.” But then I thought of former Navy SEAL, endurance athlete, and motivational speaker, David Goggins. What would he say to me right now? WHOS GONNA CARRY THE BOATS!

    I locked in, got up, biked out into another 5 miles of pure uphill. My willpower renewed, and reinforced now by the power of Jazz, Bollywood music, and the Sinners soundtrack. I pushed up that mountain and may have truly experienced endorphins for the first time. I took some stops at the view point and found joy in the climb. Just me, my bike and I, determined to make it to the top.

    Hitting the peak was absolutely euphoric. I gladly zoomed at 30mph down the the other side until finally seeing other Spoksters at a lookout.

    After that, I cant say the rest of the ride was chill, but it was certainly more manageable. We made it to Big Meadows campground as the sun was setting and I hurriedly got a bag of kettle corn and a sprite from the general store minutes before closing. I was now at peace… PSYCH! Where was Ruth? Where was Tian? Nobody knew, everybody worried. But it ultimately all panned out as Ruth found Tian and drove her on over. We unloaded the car and set up camp in the dark. We started cooking, but I conked out immediately, leaving the rest to the other Spokies.

  • day 2: taking off the training wheels (and lessons learned along the way) 🚴🏼‍♀️

    day 2: taking off the training wheels (and lessons learned along the way) 🚴🏼‍♀️

    Washington, D.C. to Linden, VA – 82.06 mi, 5,361 ft

    hello!!! this is sarah with our 1st biking day blog!!! 🚲

    after spending our first night all together at our lovely airbnb in falls church, virginia, we got up at a timely 5am (or around there, it’s been a few days, behind on blogs…i think i even got up at 4:50), i excitedly put on my full spokes “uniform” for the first time, packed up my personal belongings and threw them in the van (dubbed “amy” because that was the second part of the license plate :)), and hopped on my bike to go to breakfast at greta’s house with ruth (we were ready on decent time…can’t say the same about everyone else…)

    this breakfast was EXACTLY what i needed to start our 1st biking day. that french toast casserole was seriously one of the best things i’ve ever had. the rest of the team eventually caught up and finished eating, we did final preparations out front and our team chant (which is a work in progress), and set OFF (feat. captain lawler, aka greta’s dad!)

    • our lovely 2024 chrysler pacifica amy <33
    • view from the airbnb 🏡
    • sunrise!
    • BREAKFAST 🔥🔥

    the 1st ~30 miles were absolutely WONDERFUL. the team was cruising down the flats, enjoying the virginia scenery. as a las vegas native, i never get sick of greenery. there were also sightings of cute deer, cool birds, and…a singular snake. yikes. 

    eventually we made it to our first rest stop at my 2nd cousin claire’s house! my mom reached out a few days before we set off to see if any of her side of the family on the east coast was along our route, and claire and her husband miles ended up being literally right off of the trial we were taking. nice! i haven’t seen them since…maybe ever, but definitely since i was too little to remember anything. my great aunt bubby also decided to stop by, and we all enjoyed the company of my family, their LARGE and FLUFFY and so friendly and cute cats moose and noodle, and the bagels and fruit they set out for us. the water and electrolyte refills were also MUCH appreciated. if the fam is reading this, thank you so much!!!!! will be back soon to visit again 😇

    • some views!
    • virginia is gorg ☀️
    • SNAKE
    • various spokies with moose, first up charles
    • joseph
    • me!
    • noodle 🍜
    • some of my fam 💗
    • bomb bagels…
    • …and fruit! 🍉
    • everybody together now

    after some more flats, the team pulled off for a lunch break at bluemont community center. the ominous clouds that were once in the distance were now on us and slightly pouring. after waiting out the worst of it for about half an hour, we got back on the road to conquer some hills that i swear came STRAIGHT from hell. after a few walks alone in the woods contemplating why i joined spokes, around 3 close calls with death via asthma attack, i made it to the the final rest stop at some random pull-off about 10 miles from our first host. 

    after almost falling asleep in the passenger seat of the van, i realized that finishing this ride was probably not in the picture: while very frustrating and slightly embarrassing, i had to remember that spokes was a marathon—not a sprint—and that my body probably just wasn’t super well adjusted on the very 1st day, as well as not able to handle super steep climbs super well in any case due to my health condition. i had to give myself some grace and recognize that i still biked around 63 MILES in ONE day, which is a HUGE accomplishment! something i have been working on the past few years is not comparing myself to others in an unhealthy way, keeping in mind my own capabilities and unique strengths and weaknesses, and being proud of what i do accomplish rather than always just looking for the next achievement. i think i took another step on that specific journey today, and this was only day 1!

    • leaving the cousin’s place 🌳
    • wowww
    • hey ruth!
    • lunch break ft. my fav lucky socks
    • rain :/
    • eugh 🌧️
    • chicken? turkey? idk

    getting driven up and getting to the host early with tian actually ended up being a HUGE blessing in disguise because right after we got there, a HUGE thunderstorm started nearby, and half the team was still. biking. greta had made it up (even after a missed turn), with ruth and ishaq following close behind, but joseph, charles, and ramona were still out. joseph ended up making it up (albeit getting soaked in the process), but those of us who had made it had to quickly empty the car to make extra room for the rescues of ramona and the lost and hurt charles (who had crashed 😦 thankfully he was ok!) if i hadn’t come up earlier, a TON of extra unpacking would have had to been done in order to get 1 more seat for the very likely rescue of yours truly (since i was behind everyone else). 

    thankfully, we all made it to our first host (although some of us soaking wet) in one piece! we were staying with an mit alum and her husband: she was a course 7 (biology), similar to me! we had tacos for dinner with their baby wayne and dog…it was some computer science reference that i can not remember to save my life :,) maybe one of my fellow spokies can help me in the comments…

    we split up between the couch, sleeping bags on the floor, and a mattress split between me, greta, and ruth. i almost got kicked off and fell on top of joseph like, 2-3 times? but sleep was MUCH appreciated. a very eventful day 1! see you next time from…(now checking the route spreadsheet for when i am blogging next)… tazewell, va for our 2nd learning festival!

    future sarah here since i am so behind on blogging (apologies to my fellow spokes) (i guess its been future me the whole time but shhh), but it took me getting through midnight marathon, day 1 of real spokes, and all my training rides in between to learn that our bikes (and prob most bikes in general) have 2 SETS OF GEARS. and i had been on the harder one THE ENTIRE. TIME. while i obviously still struggle on hills a little (cause duh), i since have had a LOT easier time. sometimes i wonder how i got into MIT. on that wonderful note, see you next time!

    • tacos! 🌮
    • charles snoozing