Day 7: making my pants dirty

Yesterday, we hit the 200 miles biked mark, as well as our first state crossing mark! a flat tire and antique gun store visit later, we arrived at carson city (the capitol of nevada) from south lake tahoe. and today, we taught for the first time at a local boys and girls club.

we arrived to the familar terrain of summer camp—hundreds of bustling kids in a stone exterior. i was reminded of the months i spent at sarah heinz house (which is also, funnily enough, affiliated with boys and girls club). i was also reminded of running my own camps almost five years ago at my highschool.

in the morning, we hosted workshops for alternating groups of kids 5-12. i did one on social networks, which was really just a fancy way of saying who makes you feel like you belong? and where? doing what? how does all these things connect, and what does this say about the ways we think about bringing people together? since the kids were younger, we didn’t quite get to the final part, but that was okay. it was lively and lovely, and we had a great time. there were many hugs and laughs, and i gave many piggyback rides, coming back home to brown shoe prints on the upper half of my faded blue denim jeans.

through this trip, something that i’ve been realizing is the tension between pureness, dangerously close to naivety, and experience, often tethered to hardnosed-ness. i think this is because we’ve spent much time with hosts, who are moreso on the older end, and now, kids, who are just beginning to step into themselves and their lives. during these periods, i’ve caught glimpses of how life can weather people, and this strife can leave a residue of hollowness and protection. maybe this is presumptuous, and i’ve fictionalized reality, but i think there is some truth in these observations. whereas with kids, people always say they’re so full of energy. but really, i think it’s that they’re so pure, so open and free, and maybe it’s because they haven’t had experiences to enforce any feedback or learning loop. and i guess i’ve realized that as i keep growing and aging, i want each experience to magnify my spirit, to maintain that same earnestness as the kids we’ve worked with, to approach life with the same grace as the hosts we’ve stayed with. it may be difficult—but i believe it is possible and worthwhile.

Sincerely,

Victoria

Day 6: Losing It

I jest—we have yet to lose our cool a mere six days into this 10-week, 3,600-mile bike tour across the United States. But we have lost many, many other things. An abridged list of recent losses: 1 phone, 1 sleeping mat, ½ a pair of glasses, and 1 wallet (we drove and re-drove the same beautiful stretch of mountain several times this morning, to no avail).

And then there are the smaller losses—replaceable or reversible or otherwise insignificant enough to forget soon after they happen. 2 inner tubes that have already loosed their dying breaths (i.e., flat tires), Alex’s sunglasses, Jordan’s glove, sleep, various foods and tools and personal belongings sucked into the bowels of our van…we’ll be the champions of losing by the end of August.

wallet-searching views

I’ll admit I’m leaning into the loss premise, half-joking, for the sake of the blog—but it’s true that I have been thinking about this lately. For reasons unknown to most of you, so far I’ve driven (i.e., sat in the car) more than I’ve biked this trip. On the one hand, I’ve gained time. Time spent waiting in the car for the bikers to finish their leg, time spent wandering endless grocery store aisles to find the right food or not massaging my not-sore muscles or cataloguing the many, many things we’ve lost—time spent not biking.

But this kind of time is like spare change: easy to lose. I thought I had more of it somewhere, I swear I could find some if I just looked harder, yet somehow the day is still as fragmented into various tasks as it is during the school year, just in different ways. In the car, the downhill from South Lake Tahoe to Carson City is short, and so is the day; I haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to focus on one thing. I suspect biking more will change that—I suppose time will tell.

how I spend my time: cool bikers, cooler food set-up

Now that I’ve lamented the difficulties of reclaiming time in the modern age (to quote Victoria, “it’s not that deep”), I think I’ll turn to what I have been focusing on all day: preparing for our first teaching day tomorrow.

We have two days with the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada; this summer is the first time Stanford Spokes is visiting this site. I already knew that teaching well is hard, but it’s hitting me all over again as I review my lesson plan and visualize how the teaching will go. I’m not sure if my workshop will scale well to students from different ends of the K-12 range. I wish I had more time than I’ve already had—even as I know that one of the best ways to improve my lesson is to teach it, receive feedback from students and anyone observing, incorporate that feedback, and repeat.

I’m excited! I’m also nervous, but I think the nerves are good for me. They remind me that there’s still a ways to go—I’m learning too.

Signing off so I can get a good night’s sleep—
Anna

Day 5: The Granola Lifestyle

For many, the word “camping” often conjures nostalgic memories of beautiful summer nights, s’mores, telling horror stories, and settling around a cozy fire, for me it usually does, the epitome of what one might call a “granola” lifestyle.

Last night was definitely a beautiful summer night, however, there were no smores, and definitely no cozy campfire. This time, the only camping horror story was how sore and achy we felt today waking up in Sly Park Campground. Today was many of our team’s first time waking up in a campground after sleeping in a tent, and I got the feeling that for them, it might be the last after this trip. As Helen put it, “yeah no, I’m definitely not granola enough for this.” 

After discovering the trials and tribulations  of the granola lifestyle, our team rallied around a hearty breakfast of overnight oats and boiled eggs (thank you Chef Anna for cooking) and decided to try and hit the trail early. And unlike the past couple days when we decided to do the same thing, we actually succeeded! Unfortunately, the trail ended as early as it started. Those of us in our sag wagon discovered that the main road on our route today was snowed out, leading us to turn around to let the others who were biking know. 

Then came decision time. The route that we had previously planned was the only bikeable route to our destination for the night, as the alternate course option was a narrow, windy, highway with no shoulder and sheer cliffs. Thus we had to decide whether or not to risk biking on the highway, or ferrying our members from a nearby Safeway (which has become a main base of operations in each of the towns we’ve stayed in) to our host house for the night. We decided on the latter of course, erring on the side of safety (and what was actually possible). We made two trips, driving a total of 5 hours to get everyone to South Lake Tahoe.

There, we met our wonderful hosts, one of whom was a Stanford alum who had an extensive cycling history, including tours in the US, East Asia, and South America. He warned us that once you do a big cycling tour like ours, you’ll never want to stop touring until you have to, and I guess we’ll see – although for myself, I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s right. For that I would have to completely commit to the granola lifestyle, but honestly, I feel like I’m already halfway there.

Signing off,

Jordan

DAY 4: Roughing It

After a night spent camping, we’ve returned to the blog!

We started the day yesterday biking along the American River in Sacramento. It was a gorgeous route with well-paved biking trails and plenty of great views.

Then, we began our ascent into the Sierras. After a grueling 6.5k feet elevation gain over the course of 40 miles, we finally arrived to our campground at Sly Park. We settled into a beautiful lot next to the lake and got settled in for the night. Although the transition to camping was certainly jarring, it was a great feeling to sleep under the stars and rise with the sun.

It’s an exciting time in our trip right now. Not only have we entered our first serious mountain range, but we’re also days away from our first teaching day! The adventure of the open road only continues to grow.

Sincerely,

Alex

DAY 3: EGG-SELENT

Today we rode from Crockett, CA to Sacramento, CA. We had a bit of a late start, so we had a to really push ourselves to bike the ~75 miles to Sacramento before it got dark.

We saw a lot of beautiful farmland and enjoyed the mostly flat terrain.

As a challenge, we biked with eggs in our back pocket, one of which made it to the end intact! This was quite the challenges over dirt, gravel, hills and bridges.

Our host for tonight, Judy, is really kind and had a dinner ready for us when we arrived -- this was greatly appreciated. We are attempting to go to sleep early for our first big day of elevation on our way to Tahoe.

-Leo

Day 2: Fine Dining

When I told family and friends that I was going on this trip, one of the first questions that would come up was often “What are you going to do during all those hours on the road to stay entertained?” In conversations where this question came up, the other party often implied that they hoped I would ruminate and come to some massive revelation about my life purpose and at the end of the trip beautifully articulate some thoughts that motivated an inspiring character arc.

Fortunately, my all my thoughts, insights, and revelations have surrounded a very important topic. So, for this post, I shall share all the wisdom I’ve gleaned from these first two days on the road.

RX Bars (10/10): Seriously, these have been our team’s lifeline. Stanford’s Haas Center was kind enough to bulk order 90 for us before we began the trip. We’ve been inhaling them religiously. All the flavors are absurdly good (although I stand by berry is the best). I would live off these plus canned coffee, unironically. RX bars please sponsor us!

Mayo Sandwich (7/10): For lunch today, I had mayo spread between two cold slices of whole wheat bread. My sweet teammates were appalled and concerned. The truth is, I found this to be very tasty. I strongly recommend mayo with everything — mayo spread on top of a hard boiled egg and french fries dipped in mayo will change your life for the better. The only reason why I knocked the score down a few points is that I got hungry right after. Not the perfect fit for long distance biking, but great for all other occasions.

Energy Gels (2/10): They were literally clear colored and tasted like chemicals. It was scary. I felt no extra strength from this. Do not recommend. Poor choice of post-lunch dessert.

Ramen (8/10): Omg I felt like such a gourmet chef doing this. We cooked ramen on it in our host’s yard for dinner. Enjoying ramen with the sunset on a hill overlooking Crockett, California was wonderful after a long day climbing hills and getting attacked by the wind. Gordon Ramsey should hire us for this.

Winning at life (100/10): That liquid over there is the water after cooking 6 servings of cup ramen (yes, we reused the water and the seasoning each time). That plastic bag is full of baby carrots. Now, dip the carrots in that liquid. Crunch on the carrots. So good. I am so proud of myself for coming up with this combination.

Sincerely,

Helen

day 1: OMG

at midnight, i walked back from packing the spokes car. a few hours later, i found myself calling my parents about a white shelf that i mistook as stanford furniture and figured out how to store it for the summer. i set an alarm at 8 to escape stanford’s rde’s final inspection. and then i started to sob—overcome by all the novelty, intensity, and brevity that being 18 in college brings.

four hours later, i wrangled myself out of bed. lugging a deceptively heavy green duffle bag while carrying my plumply stuffed backpack, i headed to stanford’s digital education building to finish packing. part way through the trek, i couldn’t remember where my phone was (foreshadowing), but my duffle was so heavy that i decided to quell my suspicions (bad choice).

my location said that my phone was by nitery theater. twenty minutes later, it was by lathrop (which is not close)! then a couple minutes after that, it died (my mom told me to charge my phone that morning). you know, there are a lot of kernels of wisdom i could take from this life experience but for now, i choose to see this as my digital detox, my nature-injected becoming.

i then went to the mall to pick up a pair of sunglasses i paid expedited shipping for. i even brought my macbook with a screenshot of the email confirmation in case that was required. as you can see, i was doing important, measured work.

then, we left. the sandy, spanish architecture joined the grassy bay—i could see the wealth continuum reflected in the paint of the tiles, the density of grass, the size of windows. our route was stanford to san francisco, and i was reminded that northern california began as farmland, and those origins still exist, despite the notions of tech and entrepreneurship that pervade the conversation. we were just out in the sun, biking. i circled in my thoughts, meandering. an almost flow state. we passed fog overlooking the distant hills and homes, a double rainbow reflecting outward; we biked 41 miles, and we arrived at night, buzzing from RX bars and gatorade.

as of now, i feel good (we will see in the morning lol)—i feel like i am returning to my younger self, devoid of distractions and deceptions. i’m paying attention to my body, no longer a “floating head” as my mom sometimes describes me. i have bigger feelings, and i share them without fear. i no longer pick at the words i choose and shelve my interiority. this trip is very intimate, very human, and i think i lost that for some stretches in my life. all that to say, i notice myself wanting to prolong each moment, to stare in hopes that time will halt and somehow internalize all the richness that i witness. and what a lovely thing to want.

Sincerely,

Victoria

okay!!!!! goodbye.

P.S. my goal is to not lose my sunglasses (1/70-something complete)