Tues, July 30
We had a lot of good days. But... we also had a lot of bad days. I want the blog to reflect this without sugarcoating it, so I'll be describing everyone's worst day in this post! Let's dive in.
Worst Days, Chronologically
Edgardo: Day 22, Cecilia, KY - Mammoth Cave, KY
45 Mile day all before lunch, lots of up and down, didn't eat or drink enough, arrived looking like a ghost, ate and fell asleep in a tent for a few hours.
Me: Day 32, St. Louis, MO - Hermann, MO
Started biking around 1pm after AMAZING morning at the City Museum. 80 mile day. After some technical bike issues, arrived at "lunch" at 6pm with 35 miles to go. Started biking again and immediately encountered a flood of small frogs streaming from left to right across the path. Became a verified frog murderer and will never be the same. After dark, the bugs came out. Smattered with bug guts, bombarded with jumping frogs, feeling the crunch of froggy bodies undertire, we called Maile to come pick us up. Arrived at 11:30 to the host's only to find that there was a mechanical issue with the car. There are no more words for how horrible I felt.
Bill: Day 33, Hermann, MO - Columbia, MO
Bill's least favorite thing is not being able to bike. Today, Bill couldn't bike because he had to deal with a rental car issue. This is part of a looong rental car saga that Bill always had to deal with, as his name is on the contract. Sad Bill.
Leah: Day 51, Aspen Glen Campground, CO - Steamboat Springs, CO
Woke up to find that Leah's bike shorts had wandered off. Her others were dirty, and you do *not* want to start a 90 mile day with a dirty chamois. After some fruitless searching and still no bike shorts, she decided to drive back to Fort Collins to search some more at our host's and the laundromat. 2 hours' drive later, no shorts there. Bought a pair in defeat, and then another 3 hours' drive to our lunch spot. So a stressed Leah drove for far too long past the scenery she should've been biking past, on an ultimately pointless mission, then got to stew about it during an even longer drive. She needed a good Caralyn hug at the end of it all.
Update: said shorts reappeared even more mysteriously a week later. Happy (and confused) Leah.
Maile: Day 59, Delta, UT - Baker, NV
Today was a combination of long, hot, dry, and windy. It was our first day in the real desert of Nevada. Maile biked the whole day, about 98 miles, and arrived with what we suspect was legit heat exhaustion. She even agreed to try Gatorade (immediately saying "oh, that's gross") which shows how bad she was doing. Thankfully it was breezy that evening and we all recovered from the day with lots of hydration and food. Still, 'twas Maile's worst day.
Devin: Day 60, Baker, NV - Ely, NV
In the first 20 miles of today, Devin's spoke broke. He hitchhiked with Evan to the lunch spot, then drove in the afternoon. So the day started with very little biking, and continued on with a 3 hour drive to Elko to find a five-gallon bottle for Devin's workshop, and a bike shop that could successfully fix his bike. In Elko the bottle wasn't to be found, and it took much effort to get the bike fixed (although in the end an awesome shop did it for $1.25). And after a long day driving, Devin and Leah almost ran out of gas in the wilds of Nevada, and had to drive back to Elko to fill up. They arrived back at around 10pm, dead tired and at the end of their ropes.
Evan: Day 70, Rest day in South Lake Tahoe
Evan started to feel sick the day before today, during the short 30-mile ride from Carson City to Lake Tahoe. It got worse today, and after deciding to come to Denny's with everyone for breakfast, he shut down, lying on the floor of our host church for 10 hours before reviving a bit for a homemade dinner, and then crashing for the night. He got better over the next couple of days, but whatever this stomach bug or flu-like thing was, it really took it out of him.
Erin: Day 71, South Lake Tahoe, CA - Topaz Lake, NV
Today was a lot of up and down. 2,800 feet up in the first 8 miles, and then a couple more big hills before the end of the day. By the middle of the day, Erin, who had already had some soreness in her ankles, was really feeling it. We got to a very steep, short uphill around midday, and at the top she decided to stop biking and sit out the rest of the day. The car picked her up and drove to the RV park we were staying in, only to find it absolutely crawling with mosquitoes. So after a painful, hot morning, she was greeted with an itchy, hot afternoon. Not a happy camper.
~~~~~
And now, a summary of today, a good day:
To understand this morning, we have to go back to last night. These four (Devin, Bill, Leah, and Erin) left the campsite to go shopping and do laundry, and came back wearing matching Corona Extra bro-tanks.
They explained that Erin and Bill spotted the shirts at Walmart and immediately bought two. Devin was waiting in the car, and when he saw them, he ran back in to get one. They then headed to the laundromat to get Leah, who to their utter surprise wanted her own! Back to Walmart a third time, and then to the campsite.
The rest of us were laughing at this point, but also all jealous, so Erin and I returned to Walmart this morning and bought groceries and tank tops for Maile, Evan, Edgardo, and me - now we all have matching shirts! What started as a great 5$ joke resulted in the (unofficial?) Spokes uniform for the rest of the trip.
Somewhat unrelatedly, Erin realized while shopping that she could fit both her hands in her shorts and did a little dance in aisle 10. Getting fit!
It was a truly eventful day. After leaving Walmart, we took the wrong road out of Fallon (Alt 50 instead of normal 50), and realized 30 miles later, after passing the fast group... which meant the fast group also took the wrong road. So it was a morning of driving up to meet the other group, leaving me and a bike in Stagecoach, NV at a gun shop, driving back to get the fast group and bring them to the correct road, and then finally driving to our destination, Carson City.
But that's not all - during the last part of the ride, a bit of glass shot up from the road and embedded in Maile's leg! There was *a lot* of blood, but she was right as rain after she cleaned up.
To wrap up this adventure of a day, we had a lovely dinner with our hosts, Joan and Greg. They cooked BBQ chicken and corn on the cob for us (mad respect to anyone who volunteers to feed 8 hungry college student cyclists), and they truly made us feel at home with them.
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