Day 9: WE ❤️ NEVADA

Hi blog!! It’s Will, coming to you all from a hammock on the Lahontan Reservoir campgrounds!! Quick hammock note - I am claiming the title of The Stanford Spokes Hammock Queen. Before this adventure, I’d never slept in a hammock, but after Tubb set up a hammock for me to sleep outside in Pollock Pines (due to cat allergy concerns), I fell in love with the experience, and I have now slept in a hammock 4 out of 9 nights of the trip. For anyone reading this, go sleep in a hammock, you will not regret it.

The Spokes Hammock Queen and Tubb frolicking in hammocks

Today was our first day fully in Nevada, and for a San Franciscan city boy like me, it was a whole lot of hot and dry, especially compared to the city. I swear it never goes above around 75 degrees in SF, and here, we’re biking in 90-100 degree weather, which is very foreign to me. A testament to this heat is the products from our recent Costco run by Ethan and Hunter - two large jugs of Cetaphil lotion and 48 bottles of Gatorade, which we are running through at an alarming rate. We love to stay hydrated and replenish electrolytes!! With this, naturally, also comes a debate for the best Gatorade flavor - which is obviously blue, right?

The best thing about Nevada, though, is that it is FLAT. FLAT!!!!! After the Sierra Nevadas, I think we all needed some flat land to cure our sore legs. On today’s ride, we were also lucky to catch a tailwind that pushed us for a solid portion - we cruised through the lands of Western Nevada. After climbing the only hill of the day, Hunter (a very wise man - I have deemed him the Spokes father) old us, “Treat this ride like it’s a leisure ride”, which I really took to heart. As we biked through the beautiful Nevadan scenery, I truly felt like I was enjoying the ride, chatting with Eva, Kawther, Ethan, and Hunter, listening to Noah Kahan (we all have Stick Season stuck in our heads), and snacking on wasabi almonds. What a life!

YAY NEVADA!!!

Today’s post ride festivities were also incredible - some of the best yet, in my opinion. First, we took a dip in the Lahontan Reservoir. The water was the perfect temperature after a hot Nevada bike ride; it was truly blissful. I don’t think I’ll forget that moment in the water for a while.

Also - SPAM. SPAM is amazing. Eva and I bought two cans of SPAM back in SF, and I’ve been itching for a night to camp so we could make SPAM with Cup Noodles. I was genuinely thinking about this meal for the entire day, and it hit the spot. The warm noodles and salty, pan-fried spam were just oh-my-god amazing. Camp food is yummy food!! We have also converted Tubb into a SPAM lover, which I take great pride in. Excited and looking forward to more SPAM-filled meals in the future!!! (Ethan, if you see this, please buy SPAM tomorrow at the grocery store XOXO)

Our next stop is Middlegate, Nevada, which apparently has a population of 17 people, so when we get there, we’ll comprise over 25% of their population. Very exciting stuff!

Eva getting an early-morning arm workout by digging a hole for Joan, our host in Carson City

Quick shoutout to Joan for being incredibly hospitable, and for reminding me that Earth Balance vegan butter exists and that I need it to be a constant presence in my life. Good night - see you in Middlegate!

Will

Day 8: Good Riddance Sierras

Hi friends,

This is Kawther. I’m back again. This week has felt like 10 years. So much has happened, so many emotions have been felt, and very little sleep has been slept.

But, first: WE MADE IT THROUGH CALIFORNIA!

We are now officially in Nevada after spending the past three days at Fallen Leaf Lake with Stanford Sierra Camp.

Sierra Camp!

We had so much fun swimming in the lake, participating in programming, and talking to the camp guests and staff. Also, eating hot meals was so welcomed after suffering through cold refried beans, tortillas, and Zbars for the past five days.

It was also really great to finally start teaching! It’s easy to forget our mission when we’re outside on a bike eight hours a day, so teaching was the grounding experience we needed.

Storytelling Workshop with the Guppies

I think we can all say that Sierra Camp was an amazing experience. Thank you to Dave Bunnett and especially the student staff who worked so hard around the clock to make the Sierra Camp experience amazing.

After we left, I drove half of the day. I’ve spent much of the past week driving because a fear of heights and the Sierra Nevada do not go well together. I'm so relieved we're past the Sierras now!

During the drive, I was thinking about how this trip has already restored my faith in humanity so much. It’s just the nature of bikepacking to rely on so many different people—most of whom are strangers. People have been so kind, welcoming us into their homes and going out of their way to support us all week. So many people have gone out of their way to stop us and talk/cheer us on. It’s so hard to learn to trust others in a world where we’re taught to fear strangers, but this trip makes me feel like that mentality has caused me to miss out on some of the most valuable experiences and people in life.

The awesome strangers who helped Ethan fix his bike

Of course, right after I formulated this thought, the entire team got cursed out by some angry Nevadans (we were moving slower than the speed of traffic, but maybe we wouldn’t have to block its flow if this country invested in sustainable infrastructure).

Besides that, the day was pretty uneventful. We saw some cows and horses, and I got the first flat of the trip, which I think is pretty impressive since we went a whole week without a flat. Then we had amazing tacos and sorbet with our host, Joan. We’re extremely grateful for Joan, her beautiful house, and her stories. I can't wait for more to come!

Fixing my flat

Day 6 & 7: Rest @ Sierra Camp!!

¡Hola blog! 

This is Eva :) Apologies for my brief DAY 4 post. (I bet you could tell how exhausting the Sierras were based on the 21 words.) After climbing the Sierras, we made it to Sierra Camp! The breathtaking scenery, scrumptious meals, refreshing lake, and familiar smiles have been AMAZING. Tonight is our last night here and it will definitely be a sad goodbye. 

Us crammed in the van on the way to a warm dinner at Sierra Camp after biking 54.03 miles

We officially hosted our workshops for the first time here! The kids loved shooting chalk rockets, playing with elephant toothpaste, extracting DNA from strawberries, mixing different slime “flavors,” and creating stories. The kids’ enthusiasm was very refreshing after 5 days of biking. Btw these our our workshops:

Poster of all of our exciting workshops this summer!

Each lesson is about 45-60 min and tailored to different age groups. Although we are all technically in charge of one, we helped at each workshop. From the 3-4 year old Guppies to the 11-12 year old Marrmots, we had so much fun hosting five workshops.

After building chalk rockets and testing chemistry hypotheses, we took a goofy picture of us riding our imaginary bikes across the country.

Cool kiddos making slime and learning about the states of matter!

Lil scientists making elephant toothpaste.

Practicing our storytelling skills!

More Sierra Camp Highlights:

  • Resting our sore legs in the ice cold lake.

  • Peddle boating, paddle boarding, and canoeing together (Will and I were the fastest.)

  • Sleeping on sailboats under the stars 

  • Morning yoga

  • Catching up with some of our peers

  • Yerba Mate

  • Journaling and reading in a canoe

  • Reorganizing the van

  • Beach volleyball

Us chilling at Fallen Leaf Lake

We also PEDALLED on water. (Nothing can stop the Spoketeers!!!)

Will and I enjoying the gorgeous scenery on a canoe.

Us before sleeping in for the first time on our trip.

ALSO we were so excited to get a Stanford Report feature! Check it out here: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/06/stanford-students-ride-and-educate-from-s-f-to-d-c

Peace out,

Eva

Day 5: Sierras Summited!

Hello everyone! I’m Hunter, the sixth, oldest, and last Spokes person to emerge. Day 4 and Day 5 have been quite an adventure, climbing the Sierra Nevada. Day 5 was shorter than Day 4 at 54.03 miles but steeper at 7938 feet of elevation gain. The 8-10% grades one after another stressed our muscles, pushed the bikes, and broke our record for number of protein bars consumed. Jonathan consumed 13 protein bars on this fine day, putting his bar total at around 40. I suddenly developed a craving for Gu gels that has not abated even as I’m writing this on a couch at Stanford Sierra Camp but will probably be stymied once I try more Gu. Besides these notable food-related developments, here are a few other highlights/reflections from the last two days in no particular order:

·      There’s nothing like reaching the top of a hill, seeing a bird’s eye view of the Central Valley behind us, and realizing that we just ascended that on the power of our own legs. A literal demonstration of the power of mechanics and cellular respiration.

·      Nature is incredible. See pics below.

·      If I were to add one part to my bike that isn’t powered by me, that might be a leaf blower. Pebbles can arguably give you a good massage on flats in specific situations, but they fight tooth and nail against you on inclines.

·      The Sierras are where I first understood  descents are arguably one of the most challenging aspects of riding. We had to build speed if the descent was followed by even a minor ascent and control our speed on longer descents without wearing out our brakes. The last part of the Mormon Emigrant Trail before Highway 88 has a glorious descent, but our legs paid dearly on the following ascent since we prematurely braked at the bottom.

·      Food. Food. Food. It permeates our bodies, discussions, jokes, and lives. FOOD.

A more general reflection on the first few days of our trip, and one that my teammates have shared already below, is the incredible joy synonymous with biking as a team. We all have unique bikes/bike parts, differences in ascent and descent paces that amplified themselves within the Sierras, and a variety of other distinguishing characteristics that could each make or break a cycling group. Yet thanks to my teammates’ adaptability and our already burgeoning camaraderie the ride has both literally and figuratively been surprisingly smooth, and I take this as a good sign for the rest of our journey together. Moreover, we’ve had the opportunity to stay with so many wonderful hosts—I want to shout out Judy and Ray along with Joel and Eric for their kindness and hospitality over the last several days.

Lastly, here are some pics from Day 4 and (mostly) Day 5, as promised:

Ethan enjoying food.

Will enjoying food.

Kawther and I enjoying food.

The meadows of the Sierran gold country

Ethan admiring the Sierran scenery at the Devil’s Garden overlook

After our climb up to the Silver Lake Overlook at 7900 feet elevation

The winds thankfully weren’t as terrible as they could be.

Attempting surgery on the front derailleur of my bike

The team at Caples Lake

And now goodnight.

Hunter

Day 3: Derailleurs, Downhill, Dixon, Davis, & (railroad!) Depots

Hey folks! My name is Ethan and I’m the fourth spokerino out of our six-person team. Day 3 is done!

The stats:

Route: Vallejo, CA———>Sacramento, CA

Mileage: 75.3. Elevation: 1,828 feet

Slushies Consumed: 1 Universities of California visited: 1
Massive, gorgeous, last-spike inspired bridges: 1.

Quite a fun day today. We woke up early since we had a big mileage jump; though I threatened to wake my teammates with Reveille on Bugle, I instead came to consciousness with a gentle Default Alarm Sound on Iphone. We packed our stuff and chatted with our hosts on our way out, meeting another sound-maker named Oliver—a parrot who lives with our hosts! Kawther made friends with this raucous and curious fellow:

Kawther Said making friends with Oliver the parrot

We chowed down on some cereal, bananas, and bagels (thank you, Will’s family!) and set out on our long journey. Well.. not so long—my bike got in a solid 20 feet before I noticed a strange noise. On inspection, we realized some maintenance was necessary.

Ethan troubleshoots his goofy bike.

Our (smaller) team headed out and I stuck with the van for some help from our host, who in addition to being an amazing musician and kind host is also an even hand at adjusting a bent derailleur hanger!
Once we’d fixed the problem, Will and Kawther drove me and my bike up to the team (they’d crossed Vallejo!) and we started climbing over the hills toward the Central Valley. Our route had a few big hills early on, which were on a lovely bikeway which merged onto a long and empty road. We had fun zooming down the downslopes and we chugged through the uphills with all our might.

One such uphill, featuring the beautiful faces of Hunter and Jonathan.


One thing I really like to do on uphills (or whenever the ride gets really straight) is tell myself poetry. I’ve been into folk poems ever since seventh grade, when I started working at the railroad in my valley, so I really enjoy learning the poems that the cowboys on our train would tell the passengers and I.
As we made it over the first two big hills, we flew down into a lovely valley, through Fairfield, and into Vacaville. We were very proud to establish a clip of 16 mph (even with stops!) for this first section. One of my relatives told me we should visit the Jelly Belly Factory, but we didn’t have time today. Next time :)

Check out this really awesome arch we found though!


We pulled into Vacaville and made our way across the city, debating whether the name came from the Spanish word for ‘cow’ or something else. As it turns out, Vacaville is named after the owner of a Mexican land grant (‘Rancho’) from 1843 which included the town. This ranch was called Rancho Los Putos, which was adapted from a local indigenous place-name. I’ve noticed a few towns along our path with similar stories (Jonathan really liked “Yolo, California”).

Me asking ChatGPT where the Vacaville name came from during a snack break and going down a rabbit hole about place-names. Also featuring the talents of Eva, holding some madly scrumptious peach-things.

We had scrumptious lunch in Vacaville and changed out drivers—Hunter took the van, and the rest of us started towards Davis. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed the open farmland between Vacaville and Davis; the team talked a lot about how if Kansas is this flat and this pretty, we think we’ll like the Midwest. The roads were lined with trees and wheat and corn and many other agricultural things. We saw a big combine and I raced the Amtrak to the crossing (I lost, but I guess if I’d won it might’ve hit me, so maybe I really won by losing).
I suppose that sounds pretty quaint, but we adored the beautiful stretches of long, flat riding between the cities. I hope we get more of that soon. (Spoiler alert: the next couple days will not be flat)

Wow, it’s green stuff. That’s pretty neat, right?

The only problem with these beautiful long flat stretches was that we were now fully into the central valley, and the further we got along, the hotter it got. I was starting to steal Jonathan’s water by the time we finally made it into Davis and rolled right into (the GORGEOUS campus of) UC Davis! We were so happy to have made it. We sat down for a snacks-and-water break, but couldn’t find water fountains, so we had to SNEAK INTO the convention center at UC Davis*.

*actually just politely walk into, it was unlocked and people were fine with it

We took the opportunity to get some stretching in as well, with Kawther showing us her crazy awesome stretching ability, which eventually devolved into trying to get my veins to change color by pressing on my elbow (I still don’t entirely understand how veins work, ask Eva).

How elegant, a bunch of Stanford Spokes getting their stretch on.

Then we took off for the final stretch to Sacramento. We took a bikeway along the side of a big highway (Sac doesn’t flake with bike safety, there was a divider & a fence) and along the way, we got a killer view of the Yolo Wildlife Area. During this part, I took the backmost position in line, which gave me a really nice chance to get some peaceful views and reflect on our journey so far.

We’ve committed most of our time in these past days to preparing lessons, taking care of each other, and getting ready for the challenge ahead (coughTheSierrascough), and I’m excited to see how we do as the grade gets steeper. But for the last few days, we’ve also had the chance to view a cross-section of California at a speed and from an angle that isn’t very easy to see going 80 on I-80. It’s been fascinating to see different homes, bodies of water, pieces of history and architecture, and gaps in my knowledge. In just three days, we’ve biked past so many different types of places that I feel a little shocked I haven’t noticed details like these before. I’m grateful for the chance to see this slice of our nation and (hopefully) gain a little understanding from the process.

As we got to Sacramento, I was reminded of a good friend from Stanford who lives in Sacramento and loves it. Despite her insistence that it’s an amazing place, I wasn’t expecting much; I figured Sacramento would be like any other city, and that we’d get to stop biking and eat dinner. We stopped on our way into Sacramento at a gas station and decided to quench our thirst on the sugariest mango slushie you’ve ever imagined:

This slushie was absurdly good.

Having sated our hunger for slush, we continued on our way into the city, and I wasn’t paying attention to the skyline, so imagine my surprise when I come to a stop at a light and look up and see THIS:

Tower Bridge (not my photo), the most gorgeousest massive scaffolded bridge that popped out of nowhere and is actually golden just like little Ethan always imagined the Golden Gate Bridge was.

As we crossed Tower Bridge, I began to take a look around and started to get really excited about this city. There were beautiful structures everywhere and on the other side of the bridge we found the California Capitol building too! We made our way through blocks and blocks of restored Old-West-style shops and museums:

Then we merged onto a pathway which cut by the California State Railroad museum. Between the incredibly beautiful river, the fantastic path, and (TRAINS!) a set of really beautiful train structures and locomotives, I started getting giddy at the historic and aesthetic joy I could draw from the whole area. I think this picture should sum up the joy I felt:

Of course, we took some fun Old Sac photos as a group as we progressed through the beautiful area:

We made our way to our host’s house for tonight and Hunter had already unpacked a lot of the gear for us (he’s the best!). Our generous hosts gave us some pasta and produce we used to make an amazing dinner. They are so lovely and we’re really glad we can stay here for the night.

Today was amazing. I really liked it. I asked to write this blog post so I could talk about my love for the history of Sacramento but as it turns out, I’m a bit of a rambler and this post is getting pretty long already. So perhaps I’ll add in a little history at some point, but for now I’ll let this post stand as is. Tl;dr: We’re having fun. We’re working hard. We’re going farther up and farther in tomorrow, so this spokerooni needs some sleep. Stay safe out there folks, and get out into your communities. They are full of life, jammed into every corner of every town. Go find the life.

—Much love, and sorry for writing a massive essay,

Ethan

Day 2: trails, trains, and talking to strangers

Howdy y’all! I’m Jonathan, the third of six spokesters. Day two is in the books! We biked 50.26 miles from San Francisco, CA to Vallejo, CA and we’ve made it to our first warm showers host. For those who didn’t read previous years’ blogs or aren't familiar with the (many) logistics of bike touring, warm showers is a community of touring cyclists and their supporters who provide reciprocal hospitality, space to rest, and (shocker) opportunities for warm showers to each other. Tonight, we’re in Vallejo CA with Bruce and Gabrielle and we’re incredibly grateful for their hospitality and advice on how to tackle our jaunt up to Sacramento tomorrow.

Before we set out eastward, I’ll offer three reflections on our first two days of biking.

First, biking is awesome! Growing up, I did lots of hiking and running but spent sparing hours on the saddle. While my quads might karmically kick me for saying this now, I’m loving knocking out the miles, seeing the first towns of our journey, powering up punishing hills, and feeling the whoosh of the downhills that reward us on the other side of the many elevation changes we’ve encountered thus far. Everyone on the team has different backgrounds with and styles of biking, so we’re still figuring out how to mesh best, especially on the more hectic and trafficked roads. As for me, I’m loving the little moments of figuring out small ways to bike safer, better, and more energy-efficiently. I’m getting better at good gear-shifting and communicating with teammates, though there’s still lots of room for improvement in both areas. My mirror-equipped glasses have been super helpful for focusing on what’s in front of and behind me simultaneously (thanks dad!). At least for these first few nights, I’m falling asleep excited to hit the roads the next morning.

Second, even though we’ve covered less than three percent of our total mileage, I’m already incredibly impressed by America’s beauty. As we neared the end of today’s journey and the third of three long bridges we crossed, the town of Pinole treated us to ~8 miles of beautiful, smooth, by-the-sea bike trail. Any discomfort or fatigue from the day was quelled instantly by a glance towards the dropping sun over the beautiful choppy water. On our final climb up to bridge #3, we turned back and watched as a train struck a pose (as well as a train can) as it emerged from a cluster of trees, rounded the bend of the coast, and chugged off into the sun. It was the kind of thing Amtrak would put on their website or in a promotional brochure. Since then, I’ve been thinking about how blessed we are to live in America and to have this incredible opportunity to see so many unique parts of it over the next ten weeks.

Third and most important to me, I’m excited that I’ve already made lots of progress on one of my biggest spokes goals — meeting people across the country (or so far across the Bay Area). Among the awesome people we’ve talked to and stayed with, one moment today stands out to me. We were eating lunch with a wonderful view of the Oakland and San Francisco skylines and decided we needed a picture. Tired of the many photos we’ve taken so far with a missing spokester, we waited for someone to ask for a snap. After a few minutes, we met Celeste and Mark, a couple from Wisconsin visiting their daughter in the East Bay. After a picturesque photo, we all chatted for a while about education, biking, the impending role of our generation, and everything in between. Partially inspired by Victoria from last year's team, I’m keeping a journal of information and life advice from everyone we meet this summer. I’m pumped that it’s already filling up so fast.

With all that said, I’ll leave y’all with a pretty picture of the Vallejo sunset and catch some Zs.

DAY 1: COOKIES, CHAMOIS CREAM, AND CALIFORNIA

Hey blog!! I’m Will, the second of the six spokes!! The team is currently sitting in my living room, recapping and discussing the many takeaways of our first day biking from Stanford to San Francisco. I have listed them down below.

  1. Biking is so much fun. We spent around 6 hours biking today, and it was genuinely just so much fun to ride with the team. It’s made me incredibly stoked for the bike rides to come. The feeling of cruising downhill is something genuinely unmatched, and I got to take my fellow spokesters through my old stomping grounds of the Great Highway and Ocean Beach! However, biking for long periods of time does come at a bodily cost, believe it or not! My legs are completely sore; walking up the stairs of my house was honestly a struggle, and I’m hoping they heal for tomorrow’s long ride to Vallejo, CA! Luckily, we have purchased some chamois cream to help with this soreness in the regions of the buttocks. We will try this cream out tomorrow and keep this blog updated on the effectiveness of this cream in alleviating lower body pain.

  2. While biking, food is the best topic of conversation (We forgot to eat a proper lunch today, and were all starving - who would’ve thought). Never in my life have I been hankering for those wasabi soy sauce almonds so much, and boy did they hit the spot! We also have our sponsors, Stanford Digital Education, to thank for AMAZING COOKIES. When I say amazing, I mean amazing, show-stopping, never been seen/done ever before. SDE, if you see this, please drop the recipe. I do not know what was in these cookies, or if we were just famished, but we were truly inspired by them to keep pushing forward. While climbing a hill, I knew that the top would reward me with a coveted SDE cookie, and thus I pushed myself beyond my usual limits. We had a little snack at a play structure, which took us all back to the good old days.

  3. We have the pleasure of three intersecting dietary restrictions on this trip - Kawther is vegan, I am allergic to nuts, and Hunter has a gluten intolerance, so we’ve carefully shopped for our favorite items and ensured there isn’t cross contamination. We went grocery shopping together for the first time today - our cart largely consisted of various sandwich making supplies (lots of turkey, ham, and break) and a large pack of the much desired WASABI almonds. Yum!

  4. Biking on the interstate is illegal. We did not know this prior to our ride - today, we had multiple opportunities to decide between taking a steeper, harder route or going into the interstate for a bit, and we chose the steeper, harder route - which turned out to be the right decision! We had dinner with the founder and one of the first riders of Spokes America (the broader organization that Stanford Spokes is under), and they let us know this crucial law as we chatted about their experiences with Spokes and they gave us a bunch of advice for our trip. Below is a picture of us at Marnee Thai in San Francisco. Thank you so much Turner and Drew! We had so much fun with you!

5. Sleep is very important when biking this much. We got up at 5:30 AM today to load the van, and we are very tired. Good night - see you tomorrow in Vallejo!

A special thanks to SDE for an amazing send-off party today, Matthew Rascoff, who rode with us for the first few miles of our trip today, and Aaron Kehoe, our photographer from the Stanford Report for following our ride in his car, taking some amazing pictures, and being so fun to be around!

Feel free to submit any questions/comments on the ‘Contact’ page of our website!! See you tomorrow!