As we venture through this more rural portion of the Midwest, it’s getting more and more difficult to find a stable connection for daily journal posting. Never fear, we’re here to give you the fullest coverage we can! Even if it is a bit delayed! We’re happy to announce that we’ve made it to Idaho, home of the potato and one of the wackiest shaped states in the U.S., our team has decided. Though we’re only in this state for a short time, it’s already providing a clear transition to the final leg of our trip. Where we used to see rolling fields which turned into massive hills, we’re well into the thickly wooded mountains now, with huge walls of cliffs surrounding us on all sides. Despite biking quite a decent distance in the past couple days, the miles have flown by, as we’ve seen a lot of descending as opposed to climbing. This has been especially helpful in getting us done early in the day before the heat hits — the Northwest is currently seeing a massive heatwave, which we’re doing our very best to avoid. On we push!
Ride Overview, Day 54
Mileage: 92.6
Elevation: 3,836’
Ride Dedication: Francis Perpich, Izzy’s grandmother
Points of Interest: Bitterroot River, Lolo Pass, Lolo Pass Visitor Center Crooked Fork, Idaho State Border!, Lochsa River, Three Rivers Resort and Restaurant
quote of the day
“My whole life I’ve been saving up and what for? For me to get huckleberry ice cream on the side of the road.”
Tales of the Trail
Neal prepared us well for this extremely warm day with our morning activity, which was a game called “Buffalo.” If at any point during the day you caught one of your teammates drinking from their dominant hand, you could call “buffalo” and force them to chug the next portion of whatever drink they were holding. This worked wonders for our hydration throughout the day, as well as our ability to balance on our bikes while drinking out of our non-dominant hands. Even 54 days in, we still find ways to switch it up. The wild times truly never end.
The first 20 miles of the ride felt as though they were sponsored by Redbull, as Lucas and Olaf made the decision to purchase a 24-pack of the energy drinks during our rest day in Missoula and dispersed them throughout the team. While we don’t normally hype ourselves up on this much caffeine, the wings truly helped us get up the massive climb that led us to the Idaho state border. We were additionally greeted by the lovely Lolo Pass Visitor Center, which provided us with free internet connection, coffee, hot chocolate, and bathrooms. We explained our ride to other tourists of the area and of course snapped some pictures with the state sign.
Rolling into Idaho!
Olaf poses with his Redbull haul the night before the ride.
The ride was truly smooth sailing after the first portion, which was much needed as the temperature began to peak. With most of the road being a constant descent for the second half of our 90+ miles, we were able to ease up on the pedals a bit and enjoy the scenery. Idaho is proving to be possibly the greenest state we’ve seen so far, and it’s been amazing to travel along the assorted rivers in the area and see the mountains rising up around us.
Emma continues to dominate the “0.5 while on the bike” game.
Anthony embodies all of our reactions to the scenery.
Izzy and Olivia take a classic van nap — we’ve all been there. (Fun fact: in sharp contrast to their current states, they were energetically singing along to “Who Let the Dogs Out” just a few minutes before).
After the visitor center, the day really gave us a break from society as there were no real buildings or towns to cross paths with. The Wilderness Gateway Campground truly was an entrance to the wild as it was fairly distant from any civilization — and of course, completely free from cell reception. We took a relaxing and very refreshing swim in the Lochsa River just after arriving to cool off, and it helped tremendously. Lucas managed to somehow find a restaurant for us to eat at for dinner — huge thanks to Logan’s grandma for donating that meal! Getting some good food in our stomachs was exactly what we needed to recharge after such a long and very warm day.
Ride Overview, Day 55
Mileage: 56.5
Elevation: 1,199’
Ride Dedication: Toby Keith, an American country singer, who passed away from stomach cancer
Points of Interest: Lowell, ID, Ryan’s Wilderness Cafe, Kooskia, ID, Clearwater River, Fog Hill Coffee & Tea House
quote of the day
“The Google Photos folder is drier than the Sarah”
Tales of the Trail
Today officially marks three weeks until we cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and we’re really just refusing to process it. We’ve become quite close within our I4K family, and as much as we love our normal lives, no one’s particularly excited to stop traveling the country and start a new school year/9-5 job in a month. We’re loving every moment and enjoying everything we can, from 5am bagels to waking up with wet-tent-dew feet.
Joey valiantly searches for his phone — which he accidentally rolled up and packed away in a tent.
Emma started our day off right with a morning activity that threw us back to the 2021 TikTok “OOTD” (for our non-Gen Z readers out there, this means “outfit of the day”) trend. Everyone went into detail on where they had purchased different pieces of their biking outfits, from our colorful socks to our completely identical jerseys. Shoutout to Kavin’s octopus socks, Olaf’s horse neck gaiter, and Jack’s winter gloves that totally double as cycling gloves.
One of the more interesting population signs we’ve seen.
Today’s much shorter route resembled yesterday’s in many ways. We once again rolled almost entirely downhill, which was once again a nice break for our legs and a nice speed boost to get us to our stayover before the heat rolled in. Two groups stopped a little short of 30 miles in for some quick eats at Ryan’s Wilderness Cafe, which was located in the lively 23-person town of Lowell, ID. We enjoyed some very delicious hot chocolate (we don’t care that it’s 90+ degrees outside, the heart wants what it wants), huckleberry ice cream, and cinnamon rolls, and caught up with some motorcyclists who were also coming through the area.
We were relieved to see a real town once we hit Kamiah, which is surrounded by quite a range of historical nature points and further Lewis and Clark trails. While this town isn’t huge by any means, we’ve loved our generous stayover hosts and its charming coffee shops — and honestly, the ability to walk to a gas station and get a cold soda means the world to us right now. Arriving at the stayover earlier meant more free time — some of the team stopped by Fog Hill Coffee & Tea House to play board games and enjoy some fun beverages, while some chose to watch movies or just (as Neal puts it) “be horizontal” for a good while.
Kev plays a game of scrabble.
We’d like to give a big thank you to our stayover hosts for donating lunch and dinner today, as well as their hose and vacuum for another van cleaning party tonight (we promise we do clean it, no matter how chaotic it may look in the pictures). We’re all hydrating well and taking it easy tonight in preparation for a slightly longer and more than slightly hotter day tomorrow. Our recent camping days have made us much more grateful for air conditioning and a roof over our heads to get us out of the sun as much as possible — we are still eternally grateful for the amazing people who let us into their homes and churches so we can continue on our trip across the country :)
SAV gets a thorough makeover.
Cyclist’s Corner
Today’s Rider: Emma Darbro
How are you feeling today?
Today was a great day… we got to do girl group, which was so fun. Yesterday and today’s ride were similar because we were in a similar ‘scape and going down the same river, but it’s a view that I’m like, “ugh, I’m gonna have to be dragged away from Idaho, like I want to stay here forever!”
Which chore have you been doing for the team during the ride? Can you share your process doing this chore?
So I technically now have two chores. The first one I was given initially is the Portraits Project chore. By that, I manage the Portraits box, in that we have some media release documents that I have to make sure get signed, and we have our technical equipment that we don’t really use because we just use our phones mostly. When we do group portraits, I’m the one who will mostly describe the process to people who are being interviewed. Everyone on the team can do Portraits, everyone on the team does do Portraits, I’m just the point person – like if people who are interviewing have specific questions about what will be done after the fact in terms of processing and things like that. And, I recently adopted the Instagram chore that I share custody of with Neal… since Claudia did have to return home for a little bit, she trusted us with the Instagram legacy that she has built. And so we’re kind of like you and Maaike, we trade off who picks pictures and who writes, and we started adding song to the post which I really like. We pick a song that embodies the day. So, yeah!
What’s the best food you’ve eaten on the ride so far?
Gillette! Gillette had lasagna and the taco bar, and I remember when I went home in Chicago, my parents were like, “what do you wanna have?” And I’m like, “I want Dairy Queen and I want tacos.” And so we did both of those that weekend and Gillette’s like, “here’s it all at once, babe! We got you.” And it was the Fourth of July and it was a treacherous ride into Gillette, like that was the headwinds day. It was great to get there and to then have no worries. All of our basic needs were met with that meal, and it was so good! The Dilly bars. Honestly yeah, the Dilly bars kind of stole the show.
Do you have a favorite team memory?
It was sandwiched between two really hard moments for me, and when I think about that day I don’t think about those two moments, I only think about the one – when we did the reroute onto the trail after the Crazy Horse Memorial. Because the people that we met there were from my hometown, and I was like, “what a small world!” And they were like, “get on the trail, why aren’t you on the trail?” And we were like, “we don’t know, but this road is horrible! We still have like 15 miles on this road!” And then we’re like, “that trail looks delicious though.” And so we got on it… and then we got to the clearing and it was just like the window of the West and I was like, “this is the best thing I’ve ever seen…” Not only was it worth it, but I would do it again.
Is there anything you’ve learned during the ride that you didn’t expect?
No one really has it figured out in the way that you think they might. A year ago, when a cyclist who looks exactly like us and has their little drop bars and they look super legit – they have their kit on, they have their glasses, and they wear a helmet most importantly – when they would ride past me, I’d be like “oh my gosh, they’re so cool, they must just have the most incredible life! They wake up in the morning and they get on their road bike and it’s just the best.” And now there’s 15 of us who get to play cyclist dress-up and get out on the road and all the time I’m thinking, “hm. What do people think about when they see four of us at a time, but 15 of us along this road – are they like, ‘yeah, they’re super cool, they definitely have their life together’?” When really we don’t! We are a little messy, but that’s the lifestyle I think. And it’s a lifestyle that, at the beginning I was like, “I really don’t know if I can or should do this…” and now I’m just like, it’s part of the lifestyle. It’s like the new normal, and I think we’ve all proven to be very adaptable on this trip. And I think that’s a life skill! Growing your adaptability and your patience, and also having a better understanding of what you’re reflecting onto the world is an importance thing that I’ve learned. And also I love my team so much.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?
Oh my gosh, probably go through the seven stages of grief! That’s first and foremost. Every time I come back from a trip, I just throw my suitcase and am like, “I’ll deal with it tomorrow…” but now, it’s like, we’re literally carrying nothing with us. It will get unpacked that night likely, that’s the first time it’ll happen. Read the journals. That’s the first thing I’m gonna do – read the journals, I’m gonna look through my camera roll, and I’m gonna be like, “this was the best thing ever,” and although I likely won’t get to do it ever again I still get to carry it with me… I get to live in the person that this ride made me every single day. And I’m excited to do that. And I’m excited to give my sister a hug.
Anything else you want to talk about?
I think Washington and Oregon are going to be incredibly dangerous for myself, in that I think every town we go through, I will be having the “jobs in blank city” Google Search – I will be having that moment every single day! That’s what I did in Madison, and I was like, “you’re right! In a year, I could do that.”
(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)