Our teammates frequently joke that climbing, descending, or riding on a completely flat surface, is more of a mindset than anything else. Today this almost felt true, as our entire route was technically ascending, but felt flatter than ever compared to the recent climbing days we’ve had. Even though we chose to take a more reasonable pace today, we still rode through our 84 miles fairly quickly, even with a decent amount of heat and many stops for coffee, snacks, and of course, flat tires. We arrived in the busy town of Yakima — home of iCarly’s grandpa! — and are resting before our ride to Mount Rainier tomorrow — which might turn into a shuttle trip? Stay tuned for more!

Ride Overview

Mileage: 84.2

Elevation: 2,322’

Ride Dedication: Meri Wamhoff, Neal’s friend’s mom, breast cancer survivor

Points of Interest: Wake Up Coffee Company, MOD Pizza

Quote of the Day:

Tales of the Trail

This morning began with us deep in our thoughts, as Riddhima led a very introspective morning activity. After splitting into small groups, the team watched the iconic YouTube video, “Dog of Wisdom,” and silently reflected for one minute after viewing. The activity was a great opportunity for us to truly appreciate one of the greatest pieces of art to grace the internet. I’d like to think some of us really found our truest selves in the First Lutheran Church courtyard this morning as we reflected on the wise words of the 2015 animated dog and his mysterious friend. 10/10 activity, would recommend for any readers to try at home.

We rolled out in some decently cool morning weather to some truly stunning views of the city of Kennewick, Washington. The wildfires of the West are certainly tainting the air quality (don’t worry, more on this later), and are also creating some hazy views and interesting colors in the skies. While the sights of this morning had a certain beauty to them, we were once again reminded of what our planet is going through. Luckily, the smoke didn’t have any huge impact on the rest of our ride for the day.

We took our morning miles fairly easy, still healing up from a very hard century the other day. Some groups stopped early for coffee and snacks. As we are back in civilization for another day before camping for a couple of nights, we’re enjoying the ability to have rest stops at locations with air conditioning, bathrooms, and food. We took many stops at gas stations and fast food joints today, fueling our bodies and hydrating ourselves for the days to come. Part of our slower pace during the ride came from scanning the sides of the road for interesting finds — one of our team holidays, I4Kristmas, is tomorrow! I4Kristmas requires each teammate to find one gift under $10 for a teammate as well as one gift from somewhere on the side of the road. Those who haven’t found their gifts yet spent much of the day searching for anything interesting to pick up, as well as our traditional license plate finds.

Today’s landscape took us through many more vineyards of Washington, as well as farmland similar to the Midwest, although with a much more diverse array of crops. We saw many adorable farm animals, from horses to goats to cows to sheep to more cows. It was interesting to have such a mix of civilization and more rural areas — we hit our new team favorite coffee spot, Dutch Bros, and then proceeded to roll through farmland for miles on end before hitting another town. Having a day free of big climbs was an opportunity to jam out to some tunes, take plentiful stops, and enjoy each other’s company a little more — without the leg pain in between.

The Yakima YMCA has been graciously hosting us for this afternoon and evening. Some of our teammates have taken the opportunity to hit the gym or play basketball (we may never understand how they can bike 84 miles and still have any form of energy). The local MOD Pizza was extremely kind to donate a personal pizza for each team member to enjoy for dinner tonight. This donation was truly above and beyond, and we can’t thank the MOD staff enough for making our individual orders and contributing so kindly to our cause. We are currently relaxing in the YMCA and preparing for a shuttle day tomorrow due to exceptionally low AQI on our route tomorrow and wildfires dangerously close to our planned bike path. While we’re not excited to be spending a second day in the van due to wildfire smoke this ride (ash is actively falling from the sky as we write this), safety absolutely always comes first, and we’re excited to be reaching Mount Rainier tomorrow and to hopefully experience some wonderful time in nature while we’re there (weather permitting, we hope)!

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Neal Linden

How are you feeling today?

I’m ready for bed today. I can’t wait to lay down. I like doing horizontal. That’s how I feel.

Which chore have you been doing for the team during the ride? Can you share your process doing this chore?

I’m mainly the treasurer. We have a great system now that I myself have implemented and I call it “the ziploc bag.” We have a ziploc bag with all the cards and the money and the receipts in it, and it’s great because our drivers, they just get receipts when they buy stuff and they put it in the bag. And then I go to the bag and I file the receipts into this little spreadsheet I made and it’s fantastic. It’s the most organized I’ve ever been in my life. That’s really not much work, it’s really chill. I just kinda take care of receipts, track our finances… I recently have taken over the Instagram with my chore partner, Emma, who’s right behind me. It’s fun because we very creatively ask the team for their photos from the day to put in the G Pho. So the process for that is, I take a bunch of pictures and I look in the G Pho and I say, “there’s no good pictures today!” So then I ask again for the photos. Then I take the photos, and then I usually ask the person next to me, I’m like, “what did we do today?” Because I usually forgot. And then, I’m like, “hm, I’m gonna see if Emma has any catchy lines to put in the caption.” And she always does! So then we write the caption and we just kinda post. So it’s not a ton of work, it’s pretty chill. And I get to get my sleep. 

What’s the best food you’ve eaten on the ride so far?

The best beverage I had on the ride was at the coffee shop right across the bridge as we entered Minnesota. That was amazing coffee for a very reasonable price. The best – ooh, I don’t know best ice cream. I can’t do that one. Actually wait… the Phillipsburg ice cream was really good. That was the best ice cream. I got huckleberry and peaches and cream, and that was really good and it was a great combo. Best food – there was a burger in South Dakota. It was a rest stop and it was this little diner that had burgers and ice cream and stuff, and there was this big sign that said “all cows proudly raised by Mark” and there was a picture of Mark next to a cow. And that was the best burger I’ve had of this trip, it was fantastic. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

In Wheeling, WV, the church with Reverend Jake Steele… we went to the Dollar General across the street and me, Lucas, and Olaf went to the creek outside like under that bridge and skipped rocks, and it was really funny because Lucas like fell over the second he stepped in. But then it was great and then we skipped rocks and when we found out there was leeches and sewage, which wasn’t super cool, but the rock skipping was very fun and I also had Sunny D. And I think that was the first time I saw Lucas with a Red Bull as well, so that was really a turning point for the trip. 

Is there anything you’ve learned during the ride that you didn’t expect?

I learned the difference between a bull, steer, heifer, and cow… I’ve learned I think I can grow a mustache? I think so, I think it’s coming in pretty well. We’ll see. I’m not entirely sure yet. I very much like bucket hats, that’s new. I’ve learned that I belong in a bucket hat with Pit Vipers. I’ve learned that that’s my natural state of being. I think that’s how I was meant to live my life. I’ve learned that I love to just be horizontal. That’s all I want. I just wanna lay down and just look up and be like, “yeah, this is life.” That’s my favorite hobby now. Ooh! And I learned what a derailleur is… I learned a lot of bike stuff, but I kinda expected that actually because we’re biking.

What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?

I’m gonna practice for my mem test for Marching Illini for pre-season camp that starts on August 18th. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I’m gonna use this one to shout out my mom, because I love my momma. 

(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)