In the off case that you’ve been wondering: “When’s Katherine writing one of these blog posts?”—well, I’m finally breaking my silence with an explanation. Truth be told, I haven’t biked since the morning of Day 2. But before I get into all that, let’s talk about the day that we had today, one week since we left Stanford bright-eyed and unwitting.
photo by Aja
If you told me a month ago that I’d consider an 8:00 am wake-up time late, I’d have been appalled. Truly, though, after many days of setting alarms for 6:30, we had collectively grown to consider 8:00 “sleeping in”. We awoke to a fully risen sun and fueled up with hard boiled eggs, oatmeal, Keurig coffee (what a luxury), and other morsels. We said bye to the neighborhood dogs, our host Greg, and his balcony bees.
Our leisurely 10:00 am departure was immediately beset with another bike malfunction. Parth’s back wheel had somehow become misaligned, and his brakes weren’t working properly. Whereas initially Joel and I were the ones planning to ride in the car, it quickly became clear that Joel and Parth would have to switch places in the pack. Joel changed into his bike gear at record speed—under 3 minutes!—and I drove off with Parth to the nearest bike shop (kudos to South Shore Bikes for helping us out free of charge, left a 5 star review for our new besties).
@Lake Tahoe! photo by Sophia
With a fixed bike in tow, we crossed state lines from CA -> NV and pulled into arguably our most scenic rest stop yet, Cave Rock Lake Tahoe State Park. We snacked on bagels and canned fish and after a bit of convincing from our daredevil Timothy, dipped our toes in the frigid water against a backdrop of towering rock formations and ice-capped mountains before we headed to our final destination for the day, Carson City. (Yes, I’m still in the car at this point.)
We arrived at our Warmshowers for the night, celebrating because we knew we would be sleeping in the same place for two nights in a row for the first time since the start of our trip. Our hosts Joan and Greg prepared for us the most wonderful vegetarian meal with buttered corn, tabouleh, and asparagus which we enjoyed, all together, in their beautiful garden.
I’m wrapping up this blog post on the porch of our cabin. Inside, I can hear my teammates laughing as they play Code Names, and I can’t wait to go in and join them. As for why I’ve been driving instead of biking for the past five days?
Ella, Joan’s dog, begging for scraps at the table
On Day 2, after a previous day spent biking from Palo Alto to San Francisco, I woke up with an unignorable knee pain. I ignored it and I started biking, and hurt my left knee as a result. Turns out my bike hadn’t been fitted properly, resulting in my pain and eventual injury. Ever since then I’ve been designated driver. Between stops I run errands for the team: groceries, REI, Target, repeat. On particularly grueling legs, I shuttle my sweaty teammates from point A to point B.
The trip hasn’t shaped up the way I thought it would, but I’ve come to accept that wholeheartedly. There’s a lot I have to be thankful for, including the good spirits of my teammates, peaceful rides in the car and sublime views whizzing by, and other moments like ab-shaking laughs with Timothy and Aja in the morning to dinner duty with Parth, and nonsensical jokes with Sophia at pit stops to contemplative car conversations with Joel. I’ve built up a great rapport with Ody the van. I’ll be counting the days until I can be back on the bike.
We’re determined to make the most of our very first rest day tomorrow. Alright, I’m headed back inside!
Katherine