(Alternate title: The Adventurey Century!)

When the going gets tough, the tough get biking. Riddhima and I have done our best to not keep too much of a positivity bias with our journalism — we save the pretty things for the Instagram — which means when things are hard, we’re going to admit they’re hard. Today was quite possibly the definition of hard. After a 95-ish mile day yesterday, we conquered an official century today, with a ride that was intended to be 101 miles — but ended up having multiple detours due to continuous flooding in Minnesota and northern Iowa. The beauty of this journey is getting through these harder days, and being able to appreciate our teamwork at the end of the day. As I just heard Izzy say outside in the hall, “I’m in shambles, but like, I’m fine.”

Ride Overview

Mileage: 101.7

Elevation: 2,240’

Points of Interest: Minnesota River, Grogan, MN, W Mankato Trail, Le Sueur River, Blue Earth River, Mills Lake, Saint James Lake, Watline Trail, Elm Creek, Des Moines River, Spirit Lake

Quote(s) of the day

“While we’re just standing here, why don’t I grab as many worms as I can and just put them in my hand. It’ll make a great pic!” - Olaf

“I ride with Kavin for ONE day, and I end up on top of a random mountain.” - Neal

“Some days you master the route, other days the route masters you.” - Maaike

“Medically speaking, this thang can’t thang right now.” - Claudia

“I’ve never been applauded for flushing the toilet before.” - Anthony

Tales of the Trail

Our day began with a delicious breakfast provided by the Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mankato, which fueled us well for our long day ahead. We got our morning activity from Kavin today, who had us pair off and create a handshake to do at every rest stop along our ride. This proved to be a great idea, as a ride of over 100 miles requires many stops. We set off knowing that our day might become a bit complicated due to the flooding we’d seen yesterday, having been warned to expect more. 

For this next portion of the journal, I need you to picture these events with a dramatic Hans Zimmer soundtrack. Things are about to get adventurous. Ready? Helmets on, let’s go!

We started the day with three groups, who gave themselves team names after the first stretch of the ride (about 22.5 miles): Team Easy-Way-Out, Team Reroute, and Team Commit (it’s worth noting that Team Commit quickly renamed to Team Regret. More on that in a minute). Our first obstacle came only seven miles in, as our main road became completely submerged underwater. Team Commit, as our name states, committed to squelching across this stretch. Teams Reroute and Easy-Way-Out wisely routed around the small lake formation. 

On a later detour, all three teams encountered a fallen bridge across our bike trail. Team Commit — unfortunately — committed, and squelched once again through about three miles of incredibly deep mud, which promptly turned Dylan’s white cleats a shade of brown that they will likely stay forever. Team Reroute again wisely rerouted, finding us a safe detour to the rest stop using on-the-spot mapping skills. Team Easy-Way-Out, probably the most wise in this situation, called on SAV and shuttled to the first stop.

Our second stretch of the ride proved to be equally adventurous, as we were forced to reroute yet again due to a flooded downtown area. We received our first official I4K police escort of the ride, as we were kindly accompanied along a very short stretch of the interstate in a mega group consisting of the entire team. We were then treated to a very uneventful portion of the glorious farm fields of Minnesota — the flat expanses of corn were a welcome reminder of home.

Stretch three brought fewer adventures for the team, and perhaps more so for SAV. Because we can’t ever have a peaceful moment in I4K, while the team enjoyed a fairly uneventful segment of riding, the van found itself stuck for the second time this year. 

The rest of the ride saw much less chaos, despite some small sprinkles of rain and extremely powerful headwinds. We’re starting to get to a difficult portion of the ride that many have warned us about — while the climbs in the Midwest are few and far between, the flat plains leave little to look at and entertain ourselves with. Biking on a straight road for miles on end can be a huge mental challenge, which we are still working together to combat. We worked on our therapeutic screaming, listened to everything from Hamilton to Taylor Swift, and played some surprisingly low-scoring games of “My Cow.” As we hit the final dozen or so miles, the focus came more on encouraging one another and not falling off the bike, which can be much more difficult than it sounds. We’ve rarely been so excited and exhausted when we hit a stayover as we were today.

Our singular night in Iowa is being hosted by the First Presbyterian Church here in Spirit Lake, where we have been showered with amazing food and endless kindness. I know we sound like a broken record at the end of these journals every night, but the love we see from people across the country is really amazing. Riding through so many different states and areas, it’s such a beautiful thing to find kindness everywhere, without fail. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the members of the First Presbyterian Church as well as every single person who has hosted us, cooked for us, provided us with showers (you’re not only serving us but the whole community with that one) for everything you have done. We’re off to bed before another long day tomorrow, where we will spend 63 miles of our ride in a completely straight line as we roll from Spirit Lake to Sioux Falls. This will hopefully mean a less eventful day — we have to admit, today felt like enough adventure for quite a while.

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Joey Shepin

How are you feeling today?

I’m feeling very tired. We had a century today. I didn’t bike the entire thing, but it was still really hot and humid and it was pretty rewarding to do. I think I did like 85 miles so I’m pretty happy with that, but I’m super tired and ready to go to sleep!

You’ve fundraised thousands of dollars for our cause. What has been the most impactful fundraising experience you’ve had?

I think one of the most impactful fundraising experiences that I had was from some of my friends that were really close to me. They didn’t have a ton to donate because they’re college students, but it meant a lot to me to tell them about what I was doing and they were so supportive… Their donations meant a lot to me because they’re people that I’ve known for so long and I really appreciated that. They knew that what I was doing was gonna impact a lot of people and I’m really happy that they supported me. 

What keeps you going when it gets difficult to put in all of those miles or even to get on the bike?

For me, it’s small goals. I’ll set a destination – Wall, South Dakota is one of them – and when it gets tough, I think about just getting to that next spot. I feel really happy when I make these increments. Just also thinking about the cause that we’re supporting gives me encouragement, and I think it’s also knowing that it’s a personal challenge for myself. Everyone on this team, it’s a personal challenge in their own unique way… and our team has proven that we’re great at biking, so just thinking about our track record and how much we’ve trained for this… I know that we can do it, so being able to push through sometimes – I think that goes a long way. 

Do you have a favorite accessory to wear with your ride uniform?

At the start of the ride it was my UV sleeves, and maybe I should start wearing them again because I got sunburned today and I can’t imagine how it happened because I put on sunscreen so many times! But, my favorite ride accessory is probably my camera… it’s a little precarious carrying around such a fragile object, but being able to take a photo with like a nice high quality I think is really fun sometimes and I get some cool photos.

What’s your rest stop routine?

It usually involves laying on the floor for a little bit, for like a minute. And then once that period is over, just like the usual – water, sunscreen. And then, sometimes I’m not super talkative at the rest stops, I just like to be in my own space. I know some people love to talk or do stuff but sometimes I’m just like more secluded at the rest stops because I’m just trying to relax and rest. But I think laying on the ground is a really great way to spend your time at the rest stop! Sometimes I’ll take photos if it’s at a pretty spot, people doing goofy things, or just like the landscape, or whatever I think could be cool. 

In the remaining portion of the ride, where are you looking forward to visiting the most?

At this point in the ride, it’s Wall, South Dakota, and we’re almost there! The Corn Palace looks incredible and I’m so excited to go there. And then after that, it would be the national parks. I think Yellowstone is up there. I think we’re all excited for the West, as people have been telling us all along, that’s really where a lot of excitement on the trip and natural beauty [is]. But in the short term, it’s Wall.

Is there anything else you want to talk about?

Dollar Generals are amazing. The prices are crazy low. And, today I drank half a gallon of whole milk in a couple minutes and it was a big mistake! So don’t do that! 

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