We opened yesterday’s journal with a quote from pop icon Katy Perry about how the “golden coast” is the most remarkable part of the country. After three consecutive days of uninterrupted biking through the state of California, we can now see that the West coast is something special. From the highly-anticipated greenery of the Redwood National and State Parks to the grayish-black and brilliant blue of the beaches, the ever-changing landscape around us has lived up to the hype. We cheered at Smokey Bear signs that read “fire risk: moderate” (as opposed to the “EXTREME” warnings we’ve seen the past week), took on big, rewarding climbs followed by technical, exhilarating descents, and admired the natural sights, smells, and sounds of California. The equal parts exciting and tragic fact that we are merely a handful of days away from the official end of the ride frames all of the above as we count down the miles, minutes, and memories to the awaited arms of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Ride Overview, Day 71
Mileage: 77.7
Elevation: 5,017’
Ride Dedication: Robin and Heather, Claudia’s mother’s friends from high school, who are fighting cancer and in remission from cancer, respectively
Points of Interest: Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Klamath, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Trees of Mystery Gift Shop, Orick Market, Sue-meg State Park, Trinidad, South G Kitchen, Humboldt Lagoons State Park, Big Tree, Wilson Creek Beach
Quote(s) of the Day
“The gum is chewing me at this point.” - Claudia
“WHAT THE HECK, CALIFORNIA???” - Jack, as we descended our second stretch of steep gravelly downhill (with an abundance of holes)
“I wanna see if that tree has any wisdom for me.” - Neal
“I’m gonna hug that tree!” - Kev
Tales of the Trail, Day 71
Remember about four days ago, when we rode into California in about 100 degree temperatures? That may as well have been a different universe compared to the world we woke up in today. Crescent City was lightly misting and around 50 degrees when the team got up and ready for the day, far from any dangerous AQI levels (you can just hear Tommy, our unofficial team weatherman, letting out a sigh of relief). We kicked off the day with a morning activity from Neal, who challenged us all to answer one of the prompts of Emma’s Fulbright Program application: Why do you want to go to Belgium? Answers were told to be given in a strictly monotone robot voice, and ranged from “for the good food” to “because Emma will be there” to “I don’t want to go to Belgium” — here at I4K, we celebrate a diversity of viewpoints.
The team rode out into the chilly weather and onto US-101, where we spent most of our route today aside from two small and scenic detours. As we made our way up our first major climb, the quiet, foggy nature around us felt unreal in the best way possible. Once we reached the top, we swiftly descended through the cold morning air and past the ash-colored sands of Wilson Creek Beach. Our surroundings were nearly deserted except for a few visiting cars and bumbling lumber trucks, and we would go on to find this tranquil beauty a constant when we entered the redwoods.
After a quick stop at the Trees of Mystery Gift Shop (fun fact: their End of the Trail Collection is free to the public and one of the largest privately owned collections in the world – it was also regretfully closed when we came by) and some pictures with a fun assortment of statues we entered the thick of the redwoods.
Kev takes in the absolutely behemoth Paul Bunyan statue.
Few words can describe the ancient might and enchanting draw of the redwoods, but we will try our best. For one, we saw a lot of different trees – hollowed-out trees, trees with thick trunks that branched out into multiple, smaller trees, trees that were so tall it was hard to tell where they ended, fallen trees, trees marked with long, black lines from lightning strikes, and much more. The surrounding flora and fauna was lush in its generous filling-in of any possible negative space – we had the pleasure of spotting creatures like the delightfully yellow banana slug and majestically dignified Roosevelt elks. Groups made plenty of stops, whether to silently and collectively ponder their existences before a wise redwood or clamber onto some big trees and snap some memorable photos.
Anthony, Maaike, and Logan assume the optimal pose for viewing the aptly-named Big Tree.
Claudia, our resident animal whisperer, makes friends with a banana slug.
Kavin and Izzy explore some hollowed-out trees.
Can you spot a certain I4Ponderer amidst these trees?
Neal and Jack whizz through the redwoods.
When we say that the West coast’s landscape is diverse, we mean that in every possible sense – the next section of the ride took us on a scenic but “TREACHEROUS” (as Claudia worriedly described to us in all-capitals in our Slack channel) detour that we would find to be a bit of a common occurrence in the otherwise smoothly paved roads of California. Never have we called out “bumps,” “holes,” and “gravel” with as much vigor and intensity – after a certain while in these conditions, we resorted to a concise “WATCH EVERYWHERE!!!”
Thanks to our faithful bicycle brakes, experience from previous questionable roads, and, of course, the power of I4Teamwork, we all safely made it to our cozy stayover at Bayside Community Presbyterian Church. A massive thank you to Olivia’s parents for donating dinner to us at the delicious South G Kitchen and feeding our hungry, cold, and dusty riders at the end of a thrilling but tiring day.
Neal (and his favorite outfit, as of late) at South G Kitchen.
Ride Overview, Day 72
Mileage: 55.2
Elevation: 2,428’
Ride Dedication:
Points of Interest: Chapman’s Gem and Mineral Shop, Ancient Redwoods RV Park Gift Shop, Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Humboldt Redwoods State Park Visitor Center, Redwoods Market & Deli
Quote of the Day
“I am going to win the heaviest bag competition.”
Ride Overview, Day 73
Mileage: 92.8
Elevation: 7,019’
Ride Dedication: Craig Mizzen, former UIUC professor
Points of Interest: Highway 101, Highway 1, Richardson Grove State Park, Double Cone Rock State Marine Conservation Area, MacKerricher State Park, Legend of Big Foot, Doug’s Dog House, Confusion Hill
Quote(s) of the Day
“I can’t guarantee that the rest stop will have a bathroom, but it WILL have a treehouse.” - Claudia
“This takes strength. Resilience.” - Maaike, while determinedly shuffling (instead of walking, like most other people) from one side of the stayover to another
“Neal, what is that.” - Emma, after Neal walked in wearing a pink and purple tie-dye bucket hat, jorts, and a blue and white poncho complete with a matching bag
Tales of the Trail, Days 72 & 73
Day 72 was a much-needed shorter ride, made unique by Izzy’s morning activity: Backwards Jersey Day! It’s exactly what it sounds like – wear your jersey, but zipped up on the back instead of the front – and yes, it does indeed look very silly.
Lucas, Neal, and Anthony perfectly execute what (not) to do when you encounter a dinosaur.
We followed the pleasantly predictable US-101 for almost the entirety of the route, occasionally taking detours through less crowded (and bumpier) backroads, making stops for attractions like Chapman’s Gem and Mineral Shop.
Olivia, Emma, and Kev proudly wear their backwards-jerseys on Highway 101.
The final stretch took us back into the redwoods as we made our way to Burlington Campground, which is nestled within the gorgeous forests and allowed us to continue enjoying its peacefulness while we unwinded. We visited the conveniently close visitor’s center to stock up on matching state park merchandise, ate a predictable but delicious hot dog and bean dinner, and closed off the night with some dessert at Redwoods Market & Deli.
Olivia and Riddhima scale a fallen redwood (much pondering was done after this picture was taken).
Unpacking at the campsite.
We awoke the next morning under the dark, cooling cover of the surrounding woods. The team huddled around a picnic table and ate our morning bagels, the intimidatingly spiky elevation map of the day practically burned into some of our brains. We’d be doing over 7,000 feet of climbing across a little under 93 miles — set to be our hardest day of the ride yet, numbers-wise.
Olivia’s morning activity provided us with some wholesome mental distraction. She tasked each of us to think of our favorite memory with each teammate and share our respective anecdotes at the end of the day.
We set off onto the now familiar US-101, stopping for detours like the loudly colorful and enticingly jam-packed facade of the Legend of Big Foot store as well as making a second rest stop at the Confusion Hill “gravity house.” We admittedly stalled a little at that last one, as we knew the next bit of riding would force the longest climb of the day under our already fatigued legs. A few locals also warned us of supposedly dangerous traffic conditions on the road we’d be riding on, which didn’t bode well for the tight hairpins our map showed on the descent that would follow.
Emma casually defies gravity (she just does that sometimes).
Neal and Maaike ditch their old, boring helmets for these much more awesome ones.
A milder example of the bumpy road conditions.
Olaf and Jack hang out on a roadside crane.
Nevertheless, we rolled out… only to find that the perilous situation we had been dreading was in reality quite enjoyable! The climb was hot and long, but the road was freshly paved (shoutout to the kind construction workers who wished us well as we slowly inched our way uphill) and cars were sparse. When we eventually reached the top, we all found ourselves remarking something along the lines of: “that wasn’t bad at all!” It felt great to have had our initial worries proven so completely wrong.
The descent was just as much of a pleasant surprise. The first mile or so felt like a rollercoaster before the big drop – deceptively flat and even slightly uphill at some points. Then, it began. We flew through refreshingly cool air and took those twisty turns with practiced control. Anthony, one of our teammates, later noted to our stayover host that he would not have felt as comfortable on a road like that earlier in the ride – now, though, we amaze ourselves at what we’re able to tackle with well-earned ease.
Fresh off of the unexpected fun of that last stretch, we climbed yet another hill at the base of the descent. We patiently worked our way up, and pulled off immediately when we caught our first sight of a strikingly blue ocean beside us. This was different from the elegant, stony-gray beaches we’d encountered on the West coast thus far, and the water’s invigorating shade was a novel and welcome sight after our long journey to get to it.
The ocean view after our two big climbs (credit to Joey for the amazing photo).
Joey makes his way down this sketchy path to the beach (peep some other teammates below who already braved it).
From there, we knocked out the last of our ride with a particularly taxing but incredibly picturesque stretch of rolling hills. The fresh sea air was almost startlingly cold as we crept high up enough to ride through fog and clouds, then whizzed down another series of curvy descents alongside a landscape in motion – endless waves, crashing against the rocks and shores of the beaches beside us.
Joey surveys the foggy landscape.
We reached our endpoint for the day, First Presbyterian Church, in quite a different fashion. Instead of arriving directly at our stayover, we were given a firetruck escort by the generous people of the Fort Braggs Fire Department. This entailed us mega-grouping on the gorgeous trail next to the lively coastline of Fort Bragg so we could meet our escort in a nearby parking lot. The sight of everyone riding together was pretty surreal, as we passed by curious pedestrians mesmerized by our pace line of orange and blue against the backdrop of the highly-awaited West coast.
The final stretch on the path.
We embarked on our escort, touched by and not used to the fuss that was being made over us. When we reached the church, the team was met with nothing but warm welcomes from numerous community members. We are sincerely grateful to our hosts at First Presbyterian Church for opening up their homes to us for showers, providing us with an endless amount of delicious, fresh food – a massive thank you for donating dinner, breakfast, and packed lunches! – and for being so endlessly supportive of our organization. The generosity we experience on this ride is an irreplaceable part of why I4K is still going strong, without which the work we do would have half the impact.
This heartwarming board our hosts made of us :)
Content in every way from the physical (we biked here!) to the emotional (another thank you to our lovely hosts!), we called it a night. While we’re in the midst of a lot of thank you’s, we also wanted to say a thank you to our readers that have been following along with every journal entry. Your unbelievably kind comments and likes genuinely keep us going, and with just three days to go until the bridge, we are excited to keep you updated on every step of our journey there :)
Cyclist’s Corner (Another double edition – make sure to scroll to read both interviews!)
Today’s Rider: Olaf Schwink
How are you feeling today?
I am feeling great. Today was slightly challenging, but very worth it because of how gorgeous the views were of the coast the entire day. The road was rough in certain spots, but also that is really fun so I like it.
Which chore have you been doing for the team during the ride? Can you share your process doing this chore?
My chore is dinner chore and policing. So, for dinner chore, I cook pasta and lentils for the team and depending on any given day I might cook dinner or we might have a dinner donation. Sometimes we’ll have dinner donations but it’s not enough so we’ll have to cook extra. And generally I’ll go by feel on how much pasta and lentils to cook. I think usually we’ll eat about five pounds of pasta, or six on a hungry day, and then like one full package of lentils, that’s about a pound of lentils. And, it’s pretty easy — I start the lentils first and then I cook them for a bit and then I start the pasta since it doesn’t take as long, and I heat up the sauce in the microwave usually, and I add spices to the lentils. That’s pretty much it, and then portioning it out for everyone. Policing — at the end of the morning after everyone is out, I look through and make sure that there is not stuff left behind.
What’s the best food you’ve eaten on the ride so far?
I think that the best food from a stayover that I’ve had was in Lewiston, ID. We had a baked potato bar and there was beef stroganoff for the baked potato bar — ooh, that was good! I would actually say it’s a tie between the baked potato bar in Lewiston and the fried chicken feast in Hagerstown. That was gorgeous, the fried chicken was insane!
Do you have a favorite team memory?
That’s so hard! I would say that I don’t have a favorite team memory, a specific team memory, because I think that from this experience I’m taking away deep friendships with a lot of people and there’s not one moment that stands out for all of this. It’s like, a million moments that I’m really grateful for with each person individually and in groups. And so if you asked me, do I have a favorite memory with Neal, or do I have a favorite memory with Anthony, or what was a great time I had with them, I’m sure I could give you just excellent memories with them each. And the other thing is, this ride is so full of experiences, new experiences, and so — it’s really hard, sometimes I completely forget about something that happened earlier in the ride, and then someone mentions something about it and it all comes flooding back to me and it’s like it happened years ago even though it was all within the last few months.
Is there anything you’ve learned during the ride that you didn’t expect?
I feel like going into this ride I knew that I would develop more social and team-building skills. I was expecting that, so I would say that that has been a major development for me, although not an unexpected one. I think that something that is very important that I am taking away from this is, when you’re around people constantly it can be easy for your social battery to get drained — and I would say I have an exceptionally high social battery, but there are moments when being around people can be frustrating and I think that a huge takeaway for me on this ride is how to keep a positive mental space when you’re feeling like things are hectic and you’re tired and you’ve been around people for a long time.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?
I’m not going straight home, I’ll be in California for just over a week spending time with my family, going to my Grandma’s birthday party — her 80th — and seeing all my family from out of the country, so it’ll be a moment until I’m home. But, when I get home, the first thing I want to do is see my cat. I really, really, really, really miss my cat, and a lot of my teammates can attest that pretty much every day there’s a moment that I say, “I miss my cat,” or “I wanna see my cat,” or “I can’t wait to see my cat!” My cat Meefa is a huge part of my life at home, and I’m really grateful that she’s being taken good care of right now with my friend Max and I can’t wait to see her! She’s little.
Anything else you want to talk about?
I love I4K. Being this close to the end of the ride, it’s easy to feel tired of biking or sometimes even dread the day ahead of you when you wake up, but I never regret getting on my bike. Every single time, I have fun and I have experiences that I know that I’ll hold with me forever. And I wouldn’t spend my summer any other way. I’m very happy to be here, and I can’t wait to help the next team find their groove!
Today’s Rider: Olivia Ross
How are you feeling today?
Good. I had a good day. I biked with my friends, Maaike, Neal, and Riddhima. It was a lot of climbing, but it was a good day nonetheless! We ate lots of sugar, and we pushed through it. We saw Bigfoot. And we saw the coast, that was very cool.
Which chore have you been doing for the team during the ride? Can you share your process doing this chore?
My chore is Ride Leader! I do it with my collaborator, Lucas Dion…I just make sure you’re all alive at the end of the day, that’s my most important job.
What’s the best food you’ve eaten on the ride so far?
Judy had amazing fried chicken. It felt like Thanksgiving dinner, it was so amazing and good. We had such a long day, and it made my day to come see Judy. Also, there was a taco truck that had these steak tacos…Somewhere in Oregon, it was so good. Like, truly indescribable steak tacos. The steak was crispy, it was so good. That was life changing, yeah.
Do you have a favorite team memory?
It’s hard to choose a team memory, because I feel like even though we are together every single day, there’s a lot of times where there’s like, one or two people missing. There’s actually not a lot where we’re all together. But I think Why We Ride was really special, we got to hear everyone’s point of view of why they’re doing this, which I think is really helpful to give context to it, and to understand each other better, and to be a better team. Badlands day was also very special, because I feel like it was the first time you guys got to see something that was like, mind blowing, where you were like, “I biked here.” That was very exciting for me to see your guys’ excitement of experiencing that for the first time…it was fun to see that you guys were so amazed by it, because it was really cool.
Is there anything you’ve learned during the ride that you didn’t expect?
I feel like I’ve learned a lot of things, it’s hard to pick one… I feel like I learned this last ride too, but you can’t really control a lot of things. Just keeping an open mind, and a positive attitude is the best way to go about things most of the time, and I feel like makes the experience the most meaningful. I feel like especially with this ride, I’ve learned a lot about organization, and keeping you guys on track, and just how to be a better teammate. I think last ride I was just a rider, and I didn’t feel a whole lot of responsibility in terms of being a teammate — I still felt like a teammate, but I think this ride I’m like, “okay, this is a team, I need to make sure we’re all working together.” I feel like that has made me a better teammate.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?
Pet my dog. Hug my mom. Go to sleep.
Anything else you want to talk about?
The firetruck was cool. Shoutout! Shoutout Redwoods, for this cool sweatshirt that me and Maaike and Claudia now own. Shoutout Fort Bragg police department for the escort today.
(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)