Has it really been a week since I last blogged? Time flies.
Inspired by a previous MIT Spokes blog post, I thought it’d be fun to provide a list of definitions for “Spokes Speak” that we use. This is by no means an exhaustive list–being around each other for basically 1600 hours continuously leads to all sorts of inside jokes and special language. Here are some examples, in no particular order:
Cham: Chamois shorts, or the padded shorts that cyclists wear.
Cham Butt: A shortening of Cham Butt’r, a product that we apply every morning to prevent chafing. Can also be used as a verb, ex. “Parth is currently in the bathroom Cham Butting, where else could they be?”
Ody: Our trusty support vehicle.
Leg: One section of our daily ride between rest stops, usually one leg is about 20 miles and 1.5 to 2 hours of riding. A normal day is four legs. We realized this term wasn’t universal when we asked MIT how long their legs are. They looked down, and then back at us in confusion and answered, “Uhh… maybe like 3 feet long?”
Dogs: Another word for toes. Ex. “Your dogs got awfully close to me last night, but at least they were covered by your sleeping bag.” This term is not unique to us, but instead is a term that our resident memer Katherine introduced us to.
Jersey snacks: Snacks we carry on ourselves while we bike. Usually a granola bar, but sometimes as weird as grapes or a muffin.
Bonk: A cycling term used to describe the unpleasant feeling when one’s muscle’s become depleted of glycogen. Also known in running as “hitting the wall,” this is a feeling someone once described to me as “you feel like you could just lay down in the grass and never get up, and that would be okay.” Your mind gets foggy and you really don’t want to bike anymore. This is when you consume a jersey snack.
De-bonking: Eating a snack while bonked in order to no longer be bonked.
Bonk-proofing: To eat a solid amount of food during a rest stop to avoid bonking during the next leg.
Body bag: Katherine’s bag. If you saw it, you’d understand why we call it this. Katherine could probably fit in her own bag. It also can scientifically be classified as a liquid because it can take on almost any shape.
Frequent use box: A small plastic box that contains things like sunscreen, cham butt, bandaids, ibuprofen, and other essentials. Also occasionally known as the easy access box.
Frequent use kitchen box: Another small plastic box that contains things like utensils, ziploc bags, and occasionally hot sauce. The frequent use boxes are one of our better car organization innovations.
Sponks/sporks/spoges/bikes: Used to refer to the Spokes. Usually used by Timothy when he texts us in the morning with a morning to-do list.
Daves and Busters: An arbitrary classification of personality on our team. Aja just chimed in, “It’s not arbitrary Joel!” That sounds like something a Buster would say.
__ students, __ states, one summer full of __: Any joking iteration on our usual byline, “7 students, 10 states, one summer full of learning festivals.” When we took a train in Missouri, we joked, “7 students, 10 states, one summer full of trains.” When we saw all of the casinos in Nevada, we sarcastically joked that we could have a better budget if we just took up gambling. This led to: “7 students, 1 state, one summer full of gambling.”
Skill issue: When something happens that could be avoided if the person had more skill in a given area. At this point, we use this term sarcastically. Ex. “Timothy got stung by a bee yesterday, sounds like a skill issue to me.” (We didn’t come up with this term).
Carring: To ride in the car while others are cycling. Ex. “I’m caring for this leg.”
Riding: Can either mean to ride in the car or to ride your bike for a leg. This term leads to a lot of confusion.
Cross threading: What started as a scary thing that ruined our first bike rack has now become a joking phrase that means to mess up anything with any kind of interface in it. Can’t open the resealable cheese bag? Cross threading. Didn’t put the cover on the box correctly? Cross threading. Dislocated your shoulder? Cross threading.
Knock it out: To buckle down and get something done. Ex. “The next leg is two hours long, let’s knock it out!”
Normally I now dive into a thorough summary of the day(s). However, I am currently the most exhausted I’ve been in a long time.
I once heard in a course about happiness that a good way to end your day is by listing five things you’re grateful for. So in the spirit of that, here’s five things I’m thankful for over the last two days.
I’m thankful we routed yesterday’s route completely around the Carroll County Airport Restaurant. This small restaurant sits 40 feet from a runway for private planes, and the majority of patrons flew in to visit the restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the various flying machines land and take off, and hanging out with the pilots, who told us what we were doing was pretty crazy.
I’m thankful for the beauty of the states we’re passing through. Ohio has reached the top of our list of favorite states. The riding was unbeatable, and the weather was amazing.
I’m thankful, as always, for the kindness of our hosts. Last night, we hung out with our hosts in West Virginia, and played an energetic game of Super Fight with them and their six children. Tonight, our hosts let us use their car as we worked through Ody issues. They played codenames with us. Also, they’re fellow Beau Miles fans!
I’m thankful for Dimitri and Mitch at All Automotive in Pittsburgh. When a fairly straightforward belt repair became much more involved, they stayed till 10pm to fix it so we could get back on the road on Sunday.
I’m thankful for my team. Katherine, Timothy and Aja literally ran to Target while Parth and I were picking up Ody from the shop. I’m thankful they know my favorite ice cream flavor is Tiramisu, and that they looked for Tillamook ice cream.
A great Ohio road
Watching an autogyro somehow take off
A great West Virginia road
Maybe I need a haircut (hairstyling by Sophia)
Yesterday’s sunset
The tent and the morning fog (The tent got used yesterday, for the first time since Nevada!)
Onward,
Joel