Day 76: 4,645 Miles, Two Wheels, One Cause | Petaluma, CA to San Francisco, CA + Farewell to Illini 4000

Some things need no introduction. Let's get right into our longest (and latest!) journal yet. 

Ride Overview

Mileage: 39.5

Elevation: 1,723’

Ride Dedication: You :)

Points of Interest: Mill Valley-Sausalito Path, San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point, Golden Gate Bridge (!!!), Fort Point National Historic Site, Crissy Field

Quote of the Day

““WE BIKED HERE!!!””

— The Illini 4000 2024 Team, for the final time

tales of the trail

Waking up in the morning felt oddly new. For one, we were more bleary-eyed than usual because of the festivities that had kept us up the night before. More importantly, we were on the cusp of completing a journey we’d worked all summer to complete. Nevertheless, the team proceeded through the routine motions of packing our backpacks, making oatmeal, and loading the van as though it was any other day. Throughout it all, though, we knew this would be a day of many “lasts.” We would be carrying out so many of the little traditions we’d grown accustomed to — ride dedications, unintentional mega groups, morning circles, rest stops, and more — for the final time. 

Last morning van packing.

In the spirit of looking back at everything we’d experienced so far, we went around in a circle and talked about our favorite stayovers and most memorable portraits during our morning activity. As we told accounts of the generosity, strength, and beauty we’d seen in the people and places of the ride, our words meshed into a kind of joint reminiscence. One thing we’ve taken away from this summer is that we all have our stories—the ones we confide in our teammates, the ones we hear from the individuals we meet on the road, the ones we keep to ourselves—and too many of them are intertwined with the tragic fight against cancer. So, traveling down memory lane together inspired our last ride dedication: you. That is, anyone and everyone with a story.

Last ride dedication.

Last unintentional mega group.

The team rolled out in the groups that we had been assigned on our first day of the ride, a fun little reversal of time that made for a meaningful ode to how far we’ve come. Today’s route was by far the most turn-heavy we’d had in a while. Instead of following the trusty monotony of the now familiar US-101, we hopped on and off busy streets and bike paths through suburban California. As we weaved our way through this infrastructural jargon and eventually made it onto the Mill Valley-Sausalito Path, we saw more and more fellow cyclists at what felt like an exponential rate. We passed everything from solo riders kitted out in the sleekest gear to colorful group rides that swarmed the main roads. 

Emma, Neal, and Maaike ride the beautifully paved Mill Valley-Sausalito Path! Photobombed by an unknown Cali cyclist in the back.

Riding through the town of Sausalito.

The team arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point after one last major climb, the site of many iconic I4K team photos and where we saw the Golden Gate Bridge in its full glory for the first time. Laying our eyes on the bridge was surreal. Its recognizable warm hue was shrouded almost entirely by gray fog, but that did not dampen the impact of seeing the structure reach over the expanse of the Pacific and point to our final destination. Once we crossed this short 1.7 mile stretch, we would officially be in San Francisco. 

Our first view (or lack thereof) of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Taking it all in. Not pictured: the unexpectedly chilly temperatures!

The droves of cars, pedestrians, and cyclists we'd have to navigate to reach our final destination.

Last mega bike stack. A major thank you to Ed for capturing these moments with his photography skills :)

Of course, we couldn’t set off until we’d gathered around in one last team circle. Michael, our teammate who said goodbye to us in South Dakota, surprised us with an incredibly touching card that he instructed us to open on the last day of the ride. As we read aloud his wise and eloquent reflections (fitting for our beloved Team Grandpa), tears already began to fall. We then did our group chant for the last—and loudest—time. 

Celebrating Claudia's return to bike across the bridge!

Reading Michael's card.

Last team chant.

Before the bridge...

Getting ready to make our final trip together.

One thing we were endlessly warned about before the last day was the actual crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge. As much as you would like the final stretch of a journey as big as this one to go smoothly, it is in reality quite stressful to navigate. The team rode in one big pace line (shoutout to 2023 ride leader Jonathan Yuen for driving SAV so we could ride as one last mega-group!) on a narrow two-way path, snaking through a tedious mixture of cyclists of all levels of experience, confidence, and speed. With extreme winds coming at us and a good deal of fog on all sides, keeping the bike straight and seeing anything was a challenge on its own. If you were to ask any of us our favorite callout at that moment, it would have been a thunderous and panicked “SLOWING!!!” 

The experience was unreal in the best way possible. Every one of our senses were occupied, whether by the cold fog or the incessant clanging of nearby vehicle wheels rolling over the bridge’s metallic surface. We felt like we were on another planet, rooted to the Earth only by the exhilarating knowledge that we were nearing the end with every pedal stroke. 

Crossing the bridge.

At long last, we emerged from the chilly mist. We met with Olaf’s uncle, a photographer who generously offered to take a couple of pictures for us with a clearer view of the bridge in the background. Much to the team’s delight, we caught a glimpse of our loved ones waiting for us at Crissy Field from the Fort Point National Historic Site sign. We waved and jumped and whooped at them (to which their endearingly tiny figures in the distance waved and jumped and whooped back), most of us having not seen our friends and family in person since the Midwest. Burning with anticipation and excitement, we went down our last descent and rolled into Crissy Field to a celebration unlike anything we’d experienced before. 

Thank you to Olaf's uncle for taking so many amazing pictures of us!

What our families saw from Crissy Field. We're sure they weren't nervous at all about Jack and Anthony climbing the sign.

The field erupted with cheers and applause, and the team was immediately overwhelmed with the elation of seeing so many familiar and supportive faces. The pride in the air was palpable — we had officially reached the end of our indescribable journey, and, even better, we got to spend it with the people we cherish. As we settled into a happy whirlwind of photos, decorations, food, and loved ones, one fact shone bright in all of our minds: we did it :).

Rolling into Crissy Field!

Celebrations with a beautiful backdrop :).

...after the bridge!

And of course, one last Claudia 0.5.

Last team van packing, ever.

Izzy and Emma show off our hard-earned medals. Thank you to Izzy's parents for custom-making them for us!

Addendum and Farewell

This endeavor would not have been possible without the massive amount of support we’ve received — at the risk of sounding like a B-list Oscar acceptance speech, many thanks are due to what feels like an endless list of awesome people. 

First and foremost, we want to thank 2023 team journalist Jonathan Boudreaux for laying the foundations of the work we did this summer. We cannot appreciate him enough for his support and kindness as we figured out how to do this at times difficult but always rewarding task, from his patient explanations of how to edit the website to the heartwarming Slack messages he sent us during the ride that motivated us to write day after day. Thank you as well to every member of the Illini 4000 Board, past, present, and future, for the work they have done and will do to make this incredible ride possible year after year. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our stayover hosts, Portraits, and beneficiaries. Another (and certainly not the last) thank you to everyone who helped us in any way — the strangers who donated to us in random parking lots, the bike shop employees who kept our trusty bicycles running, the people who attended our fundraising events, and more. The sheer amount of generosity we experience on this endeavor makes a direct impact on our cause, which is undoubtedly the most important aspect of everything we’ve worked to achieve this summer.

And of course, thank you to everyone that followed along with the ride. Every like and comment meant the world to us, and we are so incredibly grateful to everyone who came up to us at Crissy Field just to talk about the journals. We truly can’t emphasize enough how motivating it was to know people were reading along at home, sending so much love our way. Your support added an additional layer of gratitude we feel during a journey already filled with some of the kindest people we have ever met. 

Finally, to our teammates — Olivia, Lucas, Jack, Dylan, Kavin, Logan, Olaf, Michael, Claudia, Tommy, Anthony, Izzy, Joey, Neal, Emma, and Kev — thank you for being the best group of people to bike across the country with that we could ever ask for :)

Tailwinds,

Riddhima and Maaike

Maaike’s Closing Thoughts

An adventure like this leaves you with quite a bit to think about. I did my best to summarize my thoughts and feelings in an article I wrote for the Daily Illini (excuse my shameless plug), but there will never be quite enough words to accurately describe how a summer like this made me feel. I’ve gained an entire new family, a new perspective on our country, and endless knowledge and resources relating to the human battle against cancer. I am eternally grateful for all of this, and for having had the privilege of going on this journey.

Many people who stopped us along our route, or who followed along from home, told our team that we were “living out their dream.” This was always very impactful for me — who am I to be living out someone else’s dream? It’s incredibly rare to find the opportunity to bike across the country, especially at such a young age. I said in my first interview that I regularly feel like the luckiest person in the world to have the support I have. Biking across the country was not my accomplishment. This was the accomplishment of my beautiful family and friends, and every single individual who supported us along the way. This dream only happened with their endless love and help.

But what really drew me to fulfilling this collective dream was our cause. Early on in the ride, my teammate Emma talked about creating a more positive connotation for the word “cancer.” While it seems impossible to put something positive behind the word for such a terrible disease, cancer does bring people together. We saw entire communities rally to support us and the cause we biked for. It’s beautiful to see how people have met one another through their cancer journey, and how people's values and beliefs grow stronger and stronger when they encounter something so difficult. As the battle against cancer continues, we have to remember that not all of it is horrible. It brings us together in ways we didn’t know were possible.

To get all mushy (sorry Deems) — I’ve said it a million times, but I could not imagine doing this chore alone all summer, or with anyone other than the supremely awesome human being that is Riddhima. As you’ve all read, Riddhima is one of the most talented writers I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and I’m so lucky to have had her help and support in taking on this mammoth of a chore. Thank you for laughing at my terrible jokes and reminding me to take breaks. Here’s to many more epic high fives and a friendship that will hopefully last for a very, very long time.

With all that being said, let it be known that I love Dr. Pepper, the Marching Illini, being clean, and string cheese sticks. Thank you for following along on our journey. It means everything in the world.

Riddhima’s Closing Thoughts

It has now been a couple of weeks since the end of the ride (I am trying and failing to pretend the first day of the fall semester has not already passed), and I have spent much of that time typing and re-typing this first sentence in my head or on my computer. Saying goodbye to something as meaningful and substantial as Illini 4000 is hard. There are so many memories I want to recount, people I want to thank, and lessons I want to share.

In short, this ride has changed my life, both in ways that I anticipated and hoped for as well as in ways that were completely unforeseen but ultimately transformative. If there are any prospective (and hesitant) freshmen with a free summer reading this, I say take the plunge as I did — there’s nothing like a cross-country journey for an incredible cause to set the tone for the next three years of your life. 

It goes without saying that the journals would have been nothing without my incredible chore partner, Maaike. Thank you for allowing me to feel like it was okay to take a break, deliriously laughing through our incoherent interviews with me, and generally being an amazing teammate. You deserve a lifetime supply of mini gummy burgers. I could go on to write an entire essay of praise, but I’ll keep it short and sweet with something I know she’ll understand — Maaike, thank you for being Maaike. 

I also want to extend a thank you to my parents and my friends — your unconditional love and support is a privilege that I strive to never take for granted. And last but certainly not the least, thank you to Simone, my loyal, dependable bicycle that pedaled me past every athletic boundary I ever set for myself. I look forward to many more adventures together.

I went into this ride admittedly naive and inexperienced, and came out of it with a much clearer awareness of the American cancer experience. Witnessing the reach of this unsparing disease in such a hands-on manner taught me a lot about the often uncertain nature of existence. In that uncertainty, although frustrating and tragic, I’ve consistently noticed that resilience and goodwill almost always makes a hard-won appearance. The people who are touched by this cause are nothing short of remarkable, and they reflect on everything that makes life — and the relentless, nation-wide fight for it — worth it. 

Bonus picture for our loyal readers that scrolled this far: Joey captures Logan wearing his helmet on the flight home from San Francisco.

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

Days 74 & 75: The final countdown | Fort Bragg, CA to Petaluma, CA

These last few days have been cloaked in an indescribable feeling. We’re excited to cross the bridge, see our loved ones, and say “we did it!” On the other hand, we’re aware that our celebrations will also mark the beginning of the end, and that we’ll soon have to say goodbye to our teammates and our time with I4K. So, we’ve tried to spend our final days just like all the ones before  – in the moment and day by day, in appreciation of the people and places we’ve spent the past two months of our lives riding alongside.  

Ride Overview, Day 74

Mileage: 77

Elevation: 4,881’

Ride Dedication: Marie Kupferschmid

Points of Interest: Cotijo’s Market, Mendocino Headlands State Park, Navarro River Redwoods State Park, 

Quote of the Day 

“Why does this cookie kinda taste like bratwurst?”

— Olaf

Ride Overview, Day 75

Mileage: 51.7

Elevation: 1,155

Ride Dedication: Karle and Steve Flannigan 

Points of Interest: Cinnabar Theatre, Healdsburg Memorial Bridge

Quote(s) of the Day

“This is so I4K.” - Anthony, staring at a bicycle tube in the food box

“This has nothing to do with I4K!” - Lucas, while writing out our I4Prom superlatives in broad daylight

Tales of the Trail, Days 74 & 75

Our morning began with a mouthwatering breakfast spread donated by our unendingly generous hosts at First Presbyterian Church. In addition to the copious selection of everything from fresh fruit to baked goods, we were given sandwich ingredients to make our own packed lunches for later. 

Here at I4K, you may have noticed that we do not believe there is such a thing as being too grateful – so, we’d like to say another massive thank you to the people at First Presbyterian Church for getting up at so early an hour and fueling us with this delicious meal! As we hugged our hosts goodbye and took one last look at the board of pictures they hung up for us in their hallway, we felt an overwhelming amount of support. 

Cut to our morning activity: a helmet stacking competition hosted by Lucas. Team Upperclassmen (Anthony, Claudia, Emma, Kev, Lucas, Izzy, Anthony, and Olaf) won with seconds to spare. From there, we rolled out into much of the same Californian countryside that we’d grown accustomed to, incomplete without its reliably rolling hills and succession of sharp, winding descents through some of the nation’s most abundant farmland. 

Team Upperclassmen admires their handiwork...

...while Team Lowerclassmen tries to stop theirs from toppling over (props to Logan for trying).

Barring some mechanical issues that extended our time on the road by longer than some of us would have liked, our day went on just as any other. The elevation map on Ride with GPS forecasted most of our elevation gain toward the end of the route under the glare of the increasingly hot afternoon sun. Nevertheless, we powered through and made it to our lovely stayover at the Veterans Memorial Center in Cloverdale. 

Emma, Lucas, and Neal in the morning mist.

Recouping at the last rest stop before the big hot climb. Lucas is picture-ready, as always.

Maaike captures a milestone road sign -- less than a hundred miles to San Francisco!

Thank you to the neighboring Cloverdale YMCA Pool for allowing us to shower at their facilities, as well as to Logan’s parents for donating a Taco Bell dinner! This far into the ride, we’ve learned to appreciate the revitalizing effect of having showers and food at the end of a long day. 

The next morning saw the efforts of a secret group chat and some sneaky Walmart purchases come to fruition for Ride Leader Appreciation Day, an I4K tradition that recognizes our amazing leadership – Lucas and Olivia – and their tireless work towards ensuring everything goes smoothly for the team during the ride. For our activity, the team went around in a circle and shared some of our favorite memories with our awesome Ride Leaders. As we reflected on what we admired and valued about the individuals who step up and guide us through every day without fail, we realized the unique challenges of being a rider and a leader on a journey like I4K.  

That wasn’t the end of the day’s festivities, though. For one, the team witnessed our final and totally-not-last-minute promposal from Jack to Kavin. Lucas, Olaf, Olivia, and Riddhima also celebrated Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday by riding in matching socks dotted with the US Forest Service icon’s face. Plus, we brewed in excitement for I4Prom in the evening, where we would unveil our themed outfits, award the superlatives we had submitted for our teammates, and spend one last night together as a team. 

Jack's resourceful I4Promposal to Kavin! The definition of using what you already have.

We rolled out into some bitingly cold weather, but meeting Izzy’s parents and grabbing a sweet treat from the box of donuts they had generously brought us at the first rest stop made for a great distraction from the elements. Following an obligatory Starbucks detour, the onset of some thankfully warmer weather, and a couple more miles of suburban riding cushioned by the handy infrastructure of consistent bike lanes, we eventually arrived in Petaluma’s charming downtown. 

Joey finds his bike's namesake on the side of the road.

The team got especially excited about trying this ice cream sandwich from It's It, a San Francisco-based brand that's almost a hundred years old. With it's oatmeal cookie base, chocolate coating, and ice cream filling, it is I4K approved. 

A major thank you to Izzy for securing us showers at Planet Fitness, as well as to Neal’s mother for graciously donating an In-N-Out dinner to us! Finally getting to try the iconic regional fast food chain was the perfect way to mark one of our last days in California. 

We rushed back to the stayover to get ready for I4Prom, which would be held in the cozy upstairs attic of our lovely stayover at the United Church of Christ. This year’s prom committee (made up of riders who did not attend high school prom) chose the theme we dressed to: states we’ve ridden through. 

Our preparations felt like a hilarious combination of an amateur high school theater crew before opening night and a hastily but lovingly put together farewell party. Surrounded by orange and blue streamers, a fitting Minecraft-themed “Happy Birthday” sign, and shiny balloons that spelled out “Illini 4000” (shoutout to Lucas and Olivia for setting up the beautiful decorations), we all walked down the I4Prom “runway” with our chosen dates, outfits, and songs. The superlative awards commenced shortly after, followed by another I4K tradition – signing each other's jerseys. Then, the dancing began (with glow stick props, may we add!) We’ll let the pictures tell the full story.

Putting their heart and soul into reenacting an iconic celebrity and her adoring fan, Claudia and Emma started us off as the state of New York. Claudia: Best Van Aux, Least Likely to Drink Chocolate Milk. Emma: Most Likely to Want to Go to Belgium, Most Likely to Be President.

You can just feel that laid-back California ease emanating off of him. Jack: Best Tan, Most Likely to Tell You to Use Sealant to Solve All Your Problems

Maaike and Joey of course could not ignore our humble home state of Illinois. Maaike: Best Puller (Athletically and Romantically), Latest Bedtime. Joey: Best Photographer, Team Mom.

Lucas and Olaf represent Wisconsin with this UDDERly incredible outfit (pun fully intended). Lucas: Best Cross Chainer, Most Likely to Ask If You Want to Go to Belgium. Olaf: Most Friendly, Most Likely to Become a Park Ranger.

Kev and Izzy strutted down the runway in a perfectly Montana-esque combo of pink and camo. Kev: Best at Talking to Stayover Hosts, Most Likely to Make It on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Izzy: Most Likely to Put On Some Chappell Roan, Lowkey Might Have a Flat.

Neal and Anthony make a beautiful couple in this denim-on-denim Wyoming-style courtship. Neal: Best Bandanas, Most Likely to Discover and Explore a New Planet. Anthony: Best Abe Lincoln Look Alike, Most Likely to Rizz Up a Domino’s Manager.

Last but certainly not the least, Olivia and Riddhima end the show with some strikingly stylish poses as mob wives from New Jersey (or as they would lovingly call it, "Dirty Jersey.") Olivia: Best Parking Lot Dances, Most Likely to Pass Out in the Van. Riddhima: Best Sun Hoodie Ambassador, Most Likely to Threaten Your Life for Not Uploading to the G Pho.

Another successful I4Prom :).

Signing each others' jerseys.

Our teammates have never looked cooler.

We retired to bed at the latest we’ve ever done on the ride (a shocking 10:30pm), ruminating on the strange feeling of knowing you are doing something for the last time – little things like plugging in our phones, laying out our jerseys and bibs, and inflating our sleeping pads feel momentous before a day like tomorrow, which, on the contrary, would be a major first for many of us. As JB succinctly put it last year: “tomorrow needs no briefing. We know where we’re going.” 

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Tommy Gulumian

How are you feeling today?

I’m feeling quite good! 

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

I am wakey wakey, and packy packy! For the audience at home, I am the chore that wakes people up, and I also pack the van in the mornings. My process for waking up, I set an alarm — I actually last night forgot my alarm, but that was the first time I’ve done that — I try to set an alarm 20-25 minutes before our actual scheduled wake-up time. I’ll usually have clothes set out next to me or whatnot. I wake up and I’m just as quiet as I can possibly be. I usually try to find a separate space to sleep, because I don’t want to bother people with my alarm because I wake up so early. But yeah, I wake up a little bit extra early with my chore partner, Kavin, shoutout! We wake up, we get all our stuff ready however we can, and then we go room to room. Earlier in the summer was definitely more about shoulder taps to wake people up, but people are looking more for music now, so we’re trying to find more California related songs… And then, for packy packy — usually what we do is, I’m the person who hands bags to Kavin, who is in the back of the van. He is an expert in organization with those bags, and with the backpacks, our green bags. Every now and again we rotate who’s inside, but I’d say he’s definitely more of the MVP for actual in-the-van packing. We have a whole system set up to make a wall of green, and then the sleeping bags on top. It’s fun, I honestly like doing that, it’s a bit calming in the morning.

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

I think it was Murdo. There was an establishment that had actually won best burger in South Dakota, and so that was phenomenal. Overall, I’m definitely more appreciative of all of what the churches that we've had throughout this trip have had to offer. And as much as I can say I love the restaurant style food, honestly, it's really nice getting back from a long day and having home cooked food. Like, I definitely appreciate that a lot, so I don't know if I'd rank those one over the other, because it's always nice having what food would be provided to, like, a family. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

I might honestly go with New York, just because everything was so new. We all like, kind of knew each other, but not entirely, and it was nice just having our first memories, and really planning where to go, and we were on our feet for a good amount of the day. There was a lot that we got done… I was looking at my camera roll, because it’s now stocked full of pictures, and seeing all that I took in New York, it’s like, “that was exciting!” 

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

Expect the unexpected. There’s definitely been times where it’s like, you’re getting a really good stride in a day, and then a flat tire just derails wherever you were at. You don’t know what you can expect in a ride. You can try to predict timing and everything — I’m always really big on checking weather, and wind, and where we’re going, and the direction and elevation. Even with all of that, you don’t know what you can’t know. I guess it’s just being aware of the fact that you can’t predict everything. It’s just good to be aware in the moment of what’s going on, have patience and just appreciate the time that we have. Even if it does feel like a slow day, or a colder day, or if there’s so much climbing — we’re only getting each of these days once. I guess I’ve learned to appreciate things that I might’ve had less patience for earlier on. Not exactly that I’m always trying to get to the end point in the destination, but I have a more proper perspective on being appreciative of the day in total, not just the act of biking when we’re on the road. Every bit of it. 

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

I’m gonna be in O’Hare at six in the morning. I don’t think I’m going to be asleep that night, so it’ll probably be just shower and passing out. Saying hi to my parents, and going right to bed like a bat. I’m just gonna be nocturnal for a day. It’ll probably just be that, just getting to my bed. Showering and getting to my actual, real, not sleeping bag — the mattress!

Anything else you want to talk about?

I didn’t really realize how close we were to the end until we actually finished this ride today. I got an email about my flight, and about checking in 24 hours before, and that’s literally in two days. I have to bike in, and get back on a plane. When I got that email, I had a flashback to the New York flight, and I’m like, “what? I thought this was just my life now!” It’s crazy. 

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

Days 71-73: Tall trees, curvy climbs, and wondrous waves | Crescent City, CA to Fort Bragg, CA

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.”

— Neal

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.)

Days 69 & 70: From eastern seaboard to golden coast | Rest Day in Grants Pass, OR & Grants Pass, OR to Crescent City, CA

In her hit song, “California Gurls,” iconic pop star Katy Perry aptly sings, “you can travel the world, but nothing comes close to the golden coast.” We’ve now officially reached the West Coast, have played the aforementioned tune an obnoxious yet necessary amount of times, and can confirm her wise words. Although we can’t say we’ve traveled the world, our journey takes us across the expansive United States. The feeling of having biked from one end of this gigantic country to the other (the long way, might we add) is absolutely unmatched — today was the first time we’ve seen the ocean since New York, and also our last border crossing into the closing state of this ride: California. We’re all feeling a constant mix of emotions, whether it’s in the moment (picture us awestruck before the staggering beauty of redwood trees) or shaped by the past and future of the ride — reminiscing on who we were when we started I4K and who we’ve become by the end of it all. This experience is undoubtedly life-changing in so many multifaceted ways, and we’re gonna make the most of it in these last few days. 

Ride Overview, Days 69 & 70

Mileage: ~52

Elevation: ~1,800’

Ride Dedication: Amanda, Izzy’s relative, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer

Points of Interest: California (!) Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Smith River National Recreation Area, Oregon Mountain

Quote(s) of the Day

“WHAT’S A GIRL GOTTA DO TO GET A PULLOUT???” - Maaike, as a long line of cars piles up behind us

“The sand looks like everything bagel seasoning.” - Kev

Tales of the Trail, Days 69 & 70

We spent our last rest day in fittingly typical fashion — breakfast at McDonald’s, going to the laundromat, napping, calling loved ones, and fixing mechanical issues — with a couple of new things like watching the Olympics and shopping for I4Prom outfits sprinkled into the team routine. 

Watching the Olympics at the original Dutch Bros.

Olivia, Maaike, and Riddhima’s Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 family at the laundromat (please sponsor us).

The team awoke the next day to the now discomfitingly familiar sight of smoke on the horizon and a dangerously high AQI, which meant we shuttled the first 20 or so miles out of the red zone. 

An early morning circle.

This was a comparatively shorter chip in our day though, and we were back on our bikes in no time. The roads out of Oregon and into California were blissfully smooth (save for the questionably placed rumble strips in the shoulder), almost as though they were cushioning our safe passage into the last week of the ride. A steady stream of cars indicated the first of the heavy traffic that we would have to navigate for the rest of the route. 

From the beginning to the end, our surroundings were a natural treat to witness. We stopped at the “Welcome to California” sign amidst lush, varied greenery (shoutout to the cars who noticed our obvious celebration of this milestone and gave us a couple of friendly honks) and continued on into the tall and wooded, near-mythical jungle of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Best of all, we escaped the high temperatures of the day before and basked in the coolness of the clouded skies above us. 

Emma rolls to the I4K-iconic “Welcome to California” sign!

We’ve come quite far :).

Claudia and Izzy find a cool bug amongst the redwoods.

Our ability to take in these sights were somewhat diminished by the constant line of cars that shared the scenic but narrow roads with us. Callouts rang through the air with more volume and frequency than ever before (some of our favorites being “car up,” “car back,” and “slowing”) as we testified to our now well-practiced teamwork and sense of safety. 

We ended the day on the straightforward US 101, a breath of fresh air after the stimulation of prior roads and a preview of the route we’ll be following for the entirety of tomorrow. 

Once we got to our lovely stayover at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, we headed to the beach to dip our wheels in the long-awaited waters of the Pacific Ocean. This was our affirmation of reality — that we’re palpably and incredibly close to this crazy goal that we all committed to a few months ago. 

Joey captures our symbolic moment.

Back at our stayover, we hungrily ate our staple meal of pasta and lentils (it turns out Alfredo sauce instead of the usual tomato is a game changer), vaguely considered the repercussions of dipping our bikes in eroding saltwater, and distracted ourselves with the results of Claudia’s morning activity — take the most creative picture (see below). In first place: Olaf, Lucas, Tommy, Kavin, and Logan. In second place, Olivia, Riddhima, Maaike, Neal, and Kev. In third place: Anthony, Emma, Jack, and Joey.

Cyclist’s Corner (DOUBLE EDITION! Don’t forget to scroll to see both interviews!)

Today’s Rider: Lucas Dion

How are you feeling today?

I’m doing really well. Had a fun group, we made it to the Redwoods, which is really really cool. And we’re at a very nice stayover today. I remember [our host] from 2022, very sweet. Olivia is making funny faces at me. 

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

I’m one of the ride leaders on the ride. It’s my second time around the block, the block being the continental United States. Me and my homie Olivia make sure that everyone else are doing their chores, and that everything on the ride goes smoothly, from making sure the team is happy and safe, and that we’re representing the organization really well! Which is how we represent ourselves at stayovers, with all the people we meet. So yeah, I think this is an organization I’m really passionate about, and that’s why I chose to come back, and run it back a second time. It’s been a lot of fun getting to do this again. 

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

Ooh, I really like the chili we had in Everett. They had like a little chili bar. That was very tasty, I’m a big chili fan, so I think they made some really good stuff, it made for a really tasty meal. A few other people mentioned in their journals the ice cream in La Crosse, Wisconsin. That was also very tasty. I got a root beer float with Neal, and they make the root beer in house. We love root beer. Yeah, those are two that come to mind. A lot of really good foods along the way. You also gotta love the love bags from Randy.

Do you have a favorite team memory?

Every moment is my favorite moment with the team. I liked when we were going rafting, we flipped you three off the raft. That made me laugh, it was funny. They call it a dump truck, when half the raft falls off the side. Very recently, I went on a fun little ride with Logan and Jack, on a descent by Crater Lake…it was really fun, and I didn’t have to wear bibs during it. 

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

Being on a trip like this, you learn a lot about the generosity of others. There’s a lot of really kind people you meet along the way as far as little faith in humanity, which is always nice. You hear a lot of stories. I think I said one of my big takeaways from my first ride, and something I continue to take away from this organization, is to not compare yourself to others. As an individual, you’re capable of a lot of big things, and there’s other people also doing a lot of big things — there’s no point to it. I think the US national park system is really cool. I think I gained a lot of appreciation for that, being in the Redwoods today. You know, getting to go to Mount Rainier, Crater Lake, all these really cool places that are so well preserved, all the park rangers and stuff being so helpful. That’s one thing that I’m really grateful we have here in the US. This is one I’m taking from Bang, who made a really cool video recently, but also practice minimalism. Being here for so long without having any of your things, as many pieces of clothing, all the things you’re used to having in life, just kind of living a more simple way in life. Sometimes it’s not the things in life that make things great, it’s the experiences, it’s the people. 

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

Probably fire up some Fortnite with the boys. But before I do that, gotta drive the van home with Kavin. We’re going to a lot of fun stops, which I’m looking forward to. Hopefully we’ll go to Yosemite, and Denver, and Richfield, Utah. I’m excited for all those things too, it’ll be a fun little bonus journey. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

As we come to these final days, I’m just really grateful for all the people I’ve gotten to spend time with in this organization, and all the cool people we’ve gotten to meet. Yeah, thank you to everyone for all the support. Join I4K!

Today’s Rider: Riddhima Patlollu

How are you feeling today?

I’m feeling really good! I would describe today as stimulating, for sure. It was like a little bit of everything I4K, because we had the shuttling, the wildfires. Then we rolled into California, which is our final state, and then we went to Redwoods — like, we rolled into Redwoods, my most anticipated destination of the ride so far. And there was so much traffic, and we listened to Katy Perry, and now we’re here at this really awesome stayover that has apparently hosted thousands of cyclists, and I just had McDonald’s. So I feel like I have no reason to feel sad right now! We went to the beach to celebrate our finally reaching the literal West coast. But yeah, overall, I am feeling great.

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

So I have had the pleasure of doing the journalist chore! My process is always interwoven with my chore partner, Maaike. But it’s pretty simple, I’m gonna point you to Maaike’s interview for that, because it’s just me being repetitive. But overall, I think we really got it down to a tee! And I’m really glad that I have a chore partner, otherwise I don’t think I could do this with so much detail. I’ve already been going back and reading the old journals and realizing how bad my memory is, because I get to be like “oh! We did that!” And then I get to describe, like playback videos in my head, those things that happened. I’ve really been enjoying the journals chore. Even though sometimes, when you’re in the moment and tired, you don’t want to sit down and write — I find when I actually do it, it’s really helpful to recount the day. And interviewing people has been fun!

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

There was this one really bad day on the East coast, I don’t even remember where it was, I just remember it being super hot, like one of the hottest days we’ve had so far. We rolled into the stayover…they had these little bottles of cool blue Gatorade, and it was genuinely the greatest thing I’ve ever had ever. They also had a really great dinner. They had baked beans and brats and stuff like that, and that was just really good. It was delicious. That was definitely best food…This has been mentioned so many times already, but Pearl Ice Cream Parlor, the butter pecan was just decadent. Also it was the experience of it, because it has a history to it, and it has a very antique vibe. That was cool. I think it’s hard because I’ve just been really shocked and grateful at the sheer volume of great food we’ve had, that it’s hard to choose. Most people who do this kind of stuff, they do not have that luxury, they just get by on very little. So I’m grateful for the fact that this question is difficult to answer. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

I think that no matter what I say for this question, I’ll always look back on it and be like “oh, but there was this day, and there was that day.” So I’m gonna say, my favorite team memory is just the amalgamation of little moments with the team. Like, one thing that comes to mind is just our van trips to showers, or the laundromat and stuff like that. Whether people are full on conversing and making jokes, or the team is just quiet and taking their alone time, I have little moments where I look up and look around, and I’m like, “these are the people I’m biking across the country with,” and it’s so cool! Like when we were cleaning the van, we were all just being really dumb, and people were saying dumb but funny things, I remember just looking around and being like, “I’m biking across the country with you guys, and I kind of love it.” Or when Lucas announced that he would join us for the entire summer, and we sang “See You Again” in the van and everyone sang along. I liked that. I just like the little moments, they make me happy. 

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

I feel like my whole life, I’ve been building up to this lesson, I just didn’t know how to articulate it — and I still probably don’t, this is gonna be a very messy answer. Olaf and I are buddy-reading this book called “To Shake the Sleeping Self,” and it’s about this dude who rode from Oregon to Patagonia, which is obviously a way more massive journey than ours. But it was really cool to read because it’s still kind of a similar setting. And one thing that he comes to realize at the end of the book is that he wanted to have, like, this huge epiphany, or really neat series of life lessons he learned from the trip. But what he ended up getting is just life. And I think that’s what I’ve learned — when you do something as big as this, it’s not like neat, and packaged into a little short film or book or something that is easy to identify. It kind of is just life. And I’ve learned to be comfortable in that indescribableness, I guess? I’ve learned to just feel more. I think I’ve learned to be more comfortable with reality, and not be disappointed when my experiences don’t meet expectations. This trip, I had this sort of picture in my head as to what I would’ve learned from it, and the picture now is a lot more disorganized, but in a really cool way. You have things like the wildfires, and things like the generosity of people, all together and all equally as important. 

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

Probably hug my parents. I miss my parents. Take a big nap, just spend some alone time with myself. Probably read, watch shows. Probably not touch a bike for a while. There’s not a lot of time after the ride ends before college begins again, so getting ready for that too. All the usual things, get accustomed to the comforts of modern life again. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I want to note that, for some reason, “Shrek” is playing on the TV in what you would call the living room right now, and no one is paying attention to it, and I love that. I just love that. 

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

Days 66-68: A surprise road trip | Eugene, OR to Grants Pass, OR

We’re just around a week away from the end of this mammoth of a journey, and it still finds ways to surprise us. If you read Maaike’s interview from the last journal entry, her words on the changing state of our planet now seem almost prophetic with regards to the past few days. Ongoing wildfires in this part of the country raised the AQI to unsafe levels for biking, which meant the team had to shuttle through Oregon for the better part of three consecutive days. A few of us have commented on the feeling of being directly impacted by what is usually just a headline for us to read back home. Reckoning with this feeling hasn’t been straightforward. For one, our lives as passers-through are affected in a comparatively marginal way. To us, a wildfire means we cannot bike for some time. To others, it can mean the devastating loss of their way of life. In light of this, acknowledging the uncertain future of our planet has also been a strangely non-linear experience. The world has an interesting way of continuing on, even as it actively burns — people are still going to work at the cafes, gift shops, and gas stations we frequent, team spirits are still high, and, although we don’t do it on our bikes, we continue to find ourselves en route and in new places each successive day. 

Ride Overview, Days 66 & 67

Mileage: ~18

Elevation: ~500’

Ride Dedication: Mark Mooney, a lifelong neighbor of Olaf’s, who passed away from cancer.

Points of Interest: Lane Community College, Dexter Reservoir, Mohawk Restaurant, KJ’s Cafe, Mountain Market, Chemist Branch Library, Annie Creek Restaurant, Mazama Village Store, Annie Creek, Upper Annie Falls, Annie Creek Canyon 

Quote(s) of the Day

“Biking is my job, everything else is my hobby.” - Neal

“What was life like before I4K?” - Logan

“We all have senioritis — we want it to be done but we also don’t want it to be done.” - Kev

“You’re sitting in a parking lot in Oregon, Izzy. It doesn’t get better than this!” - Olivia

Tales of the Trail, Days 66 & 67

We began the day in typical fashion — a griddy competition held by Neal. Picture this dignified sight: pairs of college students enthusiastically swinging their hands back and forth while shuffling their feet across the echoey hallway of Lane Community College at five in the morning. Anthony, Emma, and Lucas emerged as the finalists, and they valiantly griddied to the best of their abilities in a close last round. Lucas prevailed until the end (literally, as he did not stop even after the music ended) and now holds the revered title of Best Griddier on the team, one that we do not take lightly here at I4K.

A video of the esteemed competition. Note our teammates' respective strategies: Lucas - head down with utmost focus, Anthony - adding his own spin with the hop and skip, Emma - quite literally spinning.

Another staple part of our mornings that we haven’t yet spotlighted in the journals is our team chant. Typically, we build up to the phrase: “I believe that we will bike.” Today, though, and unbeknownst to the rest of the team, Tommy enlisted the help of Olaf, Jack, Neal, Anthony, and Lucas to ask Logan to I4Prom. 

“I believe that we will prom!”

The happy couple (and the overjoyed spectators).

Energized by the dancing and I4Prom festivities of the morning, we rolled out late but in good spirits. Just a few miles into the first stretch, groups began noticing a concerning amount of smoke as they rode. Some of our eyes began to burn and it became harder to breathe. The surrounding mountains that we had initially thought were shrouded by fog were in reality enveloped by fumes from the wildfires, and increasingly so as their peaks grew more invisible by the minute. We quickly realized we were riding into unsafe conditions and that we had to shuttle.  

Although not being able to bike through the gorgeous morning scenery was regrettable, we’re also glad we didn’t risk it. At certain points in our drive, we couldn’t even see out of the windows because of how thick the smoke was. 

Our picturesque first few miles, before the smoke in the distance put it to an end.

Might as well take an epic red bike crew (Maaike, Logan, and Olaf’s bikes, named Bichael, Ritchey, and Jezebel respectively) picture while waiting for SAV to be loaded to shuttle (credit to Logan).

So, we piled into SAV and got up close and personal with our bikes. We arrived at our stayover in Crescent, a town of just under 300. The smoke persisted here as well, but this time we had the comfort of indoor shelter. This naturally meant watching episodes of the latest season of “Love Island,” exploring the nearby Dollar General, and taking naps. Our generous hosts also donated a delicious dinner, for which we are incredibly grateful after a long day of being cramped in the van. 

Can’t have a shuttle day without a precarious ceiling-high stack of bikes.

Many parking lot naps were taken during these shuttling days, an activity in which Neal reigns supreme.

Olivia looking picture-ready at yet another one of our parking lot camps.

We awoke the next day to similar news of a dangerously high AQI and shuttled the entirety of the day to Crater Lake National Park. Just like at Mt. Rainier, it felt strange to drive to major destinations on our route instead of saying the usual, “we biked here!” Nevertheless, seeing the massive, clear waters of Crater Lake was memorable. The smoke followed us here too, heavily resting on and around the body of the lake.  

Olivia, Maaike, Kev, and Izzy subtly spell “lake” in front of, well, Crater Lake.

We were glad to still be able to camp in the outdoors, which allowed us to go for a swim, play frisbee, and walk the trails in the surrounding nature. After a hearty dinner of beans and sausages, we went to bed uncertain of whether we’d be able to get on our bikes the next day. 

Gathering around for dinner.

Ride Overview, Day 68

Mileage: ~44

Elevation: ~1,200’

Points of Interest: Rogue River, The Fishing Hole Fly Shop, Guide Service, Raft Rentals, Deli & Gifts

Quote of the Day

“You can see how many times you can make a gas station purchase before your credit card gets declined!”

— Claudia, suggesting a unique way to entertain ourselves while we wait for SAV

Tales of the Trail, Day 68

We awoke to smoke cloaking our campsite, and the team grimly knew that we would have to shuttle at least some of the day. So, SAV took us the first 50 miles to Shady Cove, where we tried our best not to look suspicious hanging out in a local gas station’s parking lot as we waited for everyone to recoup and start biking.

Logan captures the haze of smoke in the distance.

Claudia and Tommy pass the time in said gas station parking lot with a crossword.

Eventually, we hopped back on our bikes for the last 40 or so miles. Pushing down on those pedals felt a bit foreign for the first mile, but our muscle memory got us back into the groove of things in no time. 

As excited as we were to return to regularity, though, the day had other plans for us. Temperatures hit a high of 100 degrees and enveloped us in a suffocating heat, and some groups faced multiple mechanical issues in the first stretch. It got so hot that even our brake levers and bike frames were hot to the touch. A major shoutout to the Pinnacle 365 that provided us refreshing shade and the uniquely American joy of 99-cent sodas bigger than our faces. Putting together the ultimate combination of cold sugary drinks makes for a great distraction when you’re sweating your butt off. 

The huge sodas in question.

Olaf and Joey fix one of the many mechanical issues of the day in the sweltering heat.

A brief stint on a shaded bike trail gives us some respite. We’d also like to take a moment to point out the fact that Neal did the entirety of the ride in nothing but a pair of Buc-ee’s shorts, a feat that even the most daring of cyclists do not successfully attempt.

After what felt like an eternity of dusty industrial zones (cue Maaike yelling “gravel right!” every 10 seconds) and heavy car traffic, we arrived at stayover drenched in sweat and grime, but also in a simultaneous sense of relief and accomplishment at having completed yet another tough day on the ride. 

Our amazing hosts at Solid Rock Church made us feel extremely welcome with the dinner they donated not one, but two days in a row — fried chicken made a reappearance for the first time since Hagerstown, MD, much to many of our teammates’ delight. Dinner donations are an unexpectedly common part of this ride, but we cannot stress enough how much they do to boost team morale after long days like these ones. 

The team spent the rest of the day unwinding. Olivia and Izzy braided Neal, Joey, and Kev’s hair, some of us gathered in the church parking lot and reminisced as the sun set, and we’ve of course already made plans to visit the original Dutch Bros right here in town on the rest day. 

Maaike in front of a pretty parking lot sunset!

Tomorrow will be our final rest day — a frankly surreal statement to make. After that, we embark on the last week of the ride and roll into our destination state of California. We can’t wait to see what these concluding days bring.

Cyclist’s Corner 

Today’s Rider: Claudia Madsen

How are you feeling today?

I’m pretty good — sweaty, and dusty, but I’m good! I feel like we got through a tough day. 

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

So my official chore is the social media accounts, the Instagram and Facebook. At the end of every day, or sometimes I’ve done them the next morning, I go in the Google Photos — the G Pho, if you will — and I pick ten of my most favorite pictures from the day, that I feel capture our adventures, our misadventures. I write a caption that tells the masses what we did, but doesn’t tell them too much, because everyone should go read the journal! I try to keep it light and funny, and I try to get as many photos of as many teammates as I can, so that everyone’s parents get to see their beautiful smile. I have passed the baton a couple times, the few times I went home, so I haven’t been doing it all summer, but that is my official chore. I kind of have the unofficial chore of van driver, because I have been unable to ride my bike, so that’s a chore in and of itself. You find the rest stops, you field phone calls from panicked teammates, I talked about it a little bit in my last interview what that’s like. But my official chore is the Gram, and I love it. I love seeing the comments from all our fans, on the Gram and on the Facebook. The comments are really sweet and nice, and that’s probably my favorite part of the chore.

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

There was a stayover in Wyoming that made vegan lasagna, and it was so good. I showed up there, and I wasn’t hungry, and I had multiple pieces. It was really good. I went home and I told my mom about it. That was a standout for me. But my favorite everyday I4K classic has to be the Nature Valley oats and honey bars. They are so crumbly, I feel like I’ve mastered how to eat them, I do not get a crumb anywhere. It feels like a talent, I don’t know. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

I find myself having the best times when we’re just laughing about something stupid, or being proud of our little victories. But I think a memory that has stuck with me and will stick with me, because it was something I wasn’t expecting — the first time I went home, when my injury was pretty fresh, when the team got to Chicago, there was the alumni barbecue at Logan’s house. I showed up to it and everyone saw me coming down the sidewalk and ran to me and was so excited to see me, and was so happy to hear that I was gonna rejoin the team in the van…I didn’t realize how close we are, and I didn’t know if I would still be part of the team if I wasn’t able to ride, and that was just a really nice thing.

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

I just feel like I’ve learned a lot about, you know, keeping on keeping on. Before we started this summer, I said a lot about how I knew this was going to be a summer of getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I wasn’t expecting [my injury] to be the kind of discomfort I was putting up with, but it is, and I’ve gotten really comfortable with it in a lot of ways. I just feel like I’ve grown a lot. I had a lot of successful moments, remaining positive and looking for the best part of every day, and looking for ways to uplift my teammates even when I’m feeling down. I mean, I don’t know who would be able to walk away from this without learning something…I’ve learned a lot about not quitting, and also on the flip side of that, knowing when to take a break. I’ve gone home several times, and feeling okay with that and feeling like that wasn’t quitting, feeling like I’m still a part of this, I’m still doing it and deserving of it, that has been a huge lesson for me…[The injury] is still impacting me on the daily, and that’s a huge learning experience. The disappointment of not getting to do something I spent a lot of time preparing for and was really excited about and ready for, I was ready for the challenge of it, it’s just been a very different challenge. There’s a lot to learn from it. 

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

Hopefully shower…I have tickets to go to Comic Con! Should be fun. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I guess I just want to say thank you. Thank you to my team…just thank you to everyone who’s been supporting us this whole time. Thank you to all of our stayovers, and all of the people that give me a thumbs-up when I’m driving SAV, it’s always really nice. Thank you to my family, and everyone’s families for always commenting nice things, and saying nice things, and sending nice things. It’s really huge. Thank you to all the cancer survivors and patients, and caretakers, and everyone who’s shared their story with us, I feel like that’s been very impactful to a lot of us and I hope it can be impactful to other people. I’m really grateful to have made an impact at all on anyone. I think a really meaningful moment for me…I dedicated a day [of the ride] to my friend’s sister, who is actively fighting cancer right now — she just graduated from grad school and has put her career on hold to fight cancer. That day was super impactful to me, because I told her that we dedicated a day to her, and she was so moved by it…Sometimes it feels monotonous, and we get really focused on the biking and less focused on why we’re biking. I’m just really grateful that it does impact people in that way, and it impacts someone who’s actually going through it. So yeah, just a big thank you that I got to do this, that I get to impact people, and that I get to be so supported.

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

Day 65: Biking to TrackTown | Salem, OR to Eugene, OR

While we normally call each other out on being huge bike nerds, today’s trip brought out a completely different type of nerdiness within us. As you may have learned by getting to know the team through the journals, a good portion of us started as runners. Today the team rolled into Eugene, OR, better known as Track Town USA. Home of the University of Oregon and countless symbolic sites of the world of track and field, we had a fairly uneventful — which is a good thing — ride day into the beautiful town. The quicker ride gave us more time to explore everything from running tracks and trails to the UO campus itself. We’re continuing to love the Oregon nature, and as we approach the final ten days of the ride, we’re taking in every bit of scenery we can before we return to our beloved flat cornfields.

Ride Overview

Mileage: 76.9

Elevation: 1,743’

Ride Dedication: Clair, a survivor we spoke with in Portland

Points of Interest: Oregon State Capitol, Santiam River, Shedd Market, Albany, OR, McKenzie River, Willamette River, Lane Community College, Steve Prefontaine Trail & Memorial, Hayward Field, University of Oregon

Quote of the Day

“I wanna increase my status on Google Maps.”

— Joey

Tales of the Trail

Today’s morning activity, again brought to us by Kavin, put a fun twist on the classic game “two truths and a lie,” and instead asked us to each come up with two lies and one truth. We had a great time figuring out each other’s weird but true stories — Emma has switched her minors three times, Anthony originally didn’t apply to Grainger, Maaike only owns one pink item of clothing, and Logan’s favorite metal is in fact titanium! We then chowed down on some breakfast burritos donated to us by the Kroc Center, a recipe that has apparently stood the test of over 25 years — and we’re happy to report, they’re still absolutely delicious.

The early morning ride out of Oregon’s capital city gave us a gorgeous view of the capitol building. Slightly overcast skies gave us a light drizzle, but mostly just some nice cloud cover and cooler temperatures, which we’re very grateful for after the past couple of weeks. We knocked out pretty much all of the day’s climbing in the first 20 miles, which warmed up our legs nicely for an easy ride for the rest of the day. Our first rest stop, which took place at one of our now beloved Dollar General stores, saw a somewhat failed promposal — but don’t worry, plenty of prom excitement was yet to come.

Anthony and Maaike’s reaction to Olivia telling them to “do something” on the bike. OU? Oregon University, perhaps?

You gotta admit, this is a pretty epic find for Tommy.

Much of our riding today was through the (kind of) flat farm fields of Oregon, which many riders commented reminded them of the training rides through the corn crops of Champaign-Urbana. Even though we’re so far from home, the slight winds and cooler weather transported us right back to weekdays in the spring, where we’d roll out from Allen hall for a short trip near campus and come right back. We stopped by a small market for our second rest stop, where Anthony surprised Neal with an adorable promposal — never mind the balloon almost flying away a little later (thank you to Kev for catching it). 

Anthony and Neal’s promposal, featuring the balloon that is still safely secured in the van.

Some water bottle bike art? Fairly impressive, considering how difficult it is to draw a bicycle even with proper art supplies.

Logan doing Logan things.

Eugene has a unique feel to it, from its huge bridges to the University mixed right in with nature. A few members of the team took a small detour to stop at the Steve Prefontaine trail and memorial, which celebrates one of the most legendary runners in history who lived and raced in Eugene. We arrived in good time at Lane Community College, which is kindly hosting us for the night. Maaike wasted no time in setting up the projector and sound system in yet another promposal, this time for Joey (our favorite 6’6” man in Computer Science). We are enjoying kind dinner donations from the local Papa John’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants — on the way to pick up food, Maaike, Emma, Joey, Lucas, and Riddhima stopped by Hayward Field and the Duck Store on campus to nerd out over running things and buy some epic merch. Tomorrow will bring us a fairly tough day into Crescent, where we’ll hopefully avoid issues with air quality — as always, we’ll stay safe and keep you updated on our adventures!

Lucas on the Steve Prefontaine trail!

Maaike and Joey’s promposal!

Emma, Maaike, and Lucas with a celebrity duck at the Duck store.

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Maaike Niekerk

How are you feeling today?

I’m doing very well. We are in Eugene, OR, which is TrackTown, USA, and I’m so excited to be here! There’s a lot of very significant things here in terms of the world of running, so got to drive around and see some of it and that was super super cool. This is kind of somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, so low key for me this is just as exciting as the National Parks – which is a little stupid, however, I think it’s super cool. So, having a good time, the weather has been lovely, and, most importantly, I promposed to Joey and he said yes! Nothing but wins today, it’s been a great day! One of my favorite days of the ride. 

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

My chore partner is Riddhima, who is interviewing me right now, and chowing down on some Dave’s Hot Chicken, might I add… and together, we write the journals! Which means that every day, at the end of the day, after we’re done riding, is when the real work begins. We sit down on Riddhima’s laptop, and we usually divide it so one person does the writing and the other person does the interview and the images – the pictures, I used to call them the pictures, but Riddhima always calls them the images, so now I call them the images! And yeah, I’m very glad that there’s two of us because it is a very time consuming chore. We sacrifice a lot of sleep for it, but it’s so worth it because everybody gets to follow along on our journey. We try to publish every single day, but that is not entirely possible a lot of the time because we’re camping, or because we have no cell service, because we can’t charge the laptop, or also just because we want to call our families or sleep or eat or do laundry. So, you know, a lot of opportunities for multitasking, like doing the interviews in laundromats and stuff like that, but we get it done! It’s a really fun chore, I really really like it. I’m so happy I have Riddhima by my side doing it with me too, because none of these other buffoons could write this journal! We know because they tried! 

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

One thing about me, I love food. Because I wrote this question, I’ve thought about it a lot, and I have three categories for my answer. My favorite meal that I’ve eaten on the ride – The Smoking Mule in Chamberlain, SD. Anthony and I found this burger and we were like, “we gotta eat this burger,” it had like three different types of meat on it and it was just as good as we dreamed. It was so good. Best ice cream – Pearl’s Ice Cream Parlor in La Crosse, WI. So good! And I’ve had a lot of ice cream in my life. That is the best ice cream. And then my best beverage, because I like to get fun little beverages – in Missoula, we went to this like butterfly tea place and they had a coffee milkshake. I’ve never had coffee ice cream in my life, I don’t even really like coffee that much, but they were like, “this is the best thing on the menu,” so I got it and it was phenomenal. My favorite part, they give you the extra ice cream that they didn’t use in a cup. So you get the milkshake and then you get the extra ice cream! And that was splendid, I loved that. So, ten out of ten, we’ve eaten a lot of good food but that’s my top three. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

My favorite team memory, it’s hard to pick. White water rafting was a standout, probably because my entire side of the boat fell into the river. That was really fun – thought I was gonna die for a second but then my head came up above water and Olaf was next to me because he had also fallen in and he was just like, “YEAH, THIS IS AWESOME!” and I was like, “okay, so I’m fine…” it was also very nice to just like float on the river, like they let us get out of the boats and just swim a little bit. It was very relaxing to just tummy float on the river and not be on the bike for a little bit. I really enjoy physical activities other than biking with the team, that’s super fun. But I also really like just having one-on-on time or smaller group time with people on the team, like, Neal, Logan, and I got lunch one day and that was super fun… running errands in the van, just getting to know my teammates a little better. Whenever we go camping, me and Olivia and Riddhima share a tent and we always tuck each other in every night! That’s a top-tier team memory… the teammate tuck-in. 

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

I feel like there’s two things I’ve learned… our planet is dying. I already knew that, but I feel like climate change is something that a lot of people don’t really think about unless they're actually seeing it, and I started thinking about it a lot more last summer when Champaign was super smokey from the wildfires in Canada. But we’re just kinda seeing it everywhere, especially with all the flooding in Minnesota that we had to route around and then our shuttle days in Montana and just in the West in general. We were showering at somebody’s house in Portland… and they were talking about how they schedule their summers around the wildfires now, and that’s just very sad to hear obviously, and makes me kind of darkly wonder how much longer this ride is gonna be possible. The I4K ride used to go a lot further south, and now we can’t really do that, we just had to adapt it and move further north because of the temperatures. So obviously this ride, biking across the US is not gonna be possible forever because of the way the climate is changing. So that’s a really huge thing to be thinking about, and it’s just been a heavier thought on my mind since we started biking. The other thing, on a happier note, is that people are really good! People are beautiful, I think we’re all kind of learning that. And I’m really happy to be doing this ride in an election year, weirdly, because I know that in the fall I”m gonna be very bummed out by the state of the world and hearing a lot of arguing, I’m sure. But for now, it’s really cool because we’re kind of just like traveling across the country and seeing all these people who really aren’t that different and who are all just really really kind. So I don’t know, it’s a very beautiful thing to know that people are so good and people will be nice, people are beautiful. So that’s a big takeaway, I’d say. 

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

Well I think I need a haircut, because I can’t see! So unless I find a way to style it better, I will be getting a haircut very promptly. And past that, I’m in the same boat as Neal – I will be picking up my clarinet and never putting it down because less than a week after I get back to Champaign I have a memorization test for Marching Illini, so I will be memorizing all of my music. Yippee! I’m very very excited for marching band, however it is gonna be a lot of work in a very short period of time. But I’m pumped. This summer is the vacation, the work starts when I get home! 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I’d like to give a shoutout to my Marching Illini sunglasses, which have made it through the ride – I guess I shouldn’t say that so soon, because we still have eleven days. But, I would like to say, I got those sunglasses for free my freshman year of the Marching Illini and they are still here! And everyone on the team is very confused as to how they’ve made it this far and how I’ve never bought a better pair of sunglasses! They’ve served me well. 

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

Day 63 & 64: Fresh food and West coast caffeine | Castle Rock, WA to Portland, OR & Portland, OR to Salem, OR

The team is now in Oregon, the penultimate state in our route across the country. As the days until we reach our final destination in San Francisco fly by, we’ve learned to lean into the mindset of taking the ride one day at a time. Lately, we’ve been marveling at the abundant bicycle infrastructure in the nation’s second-most bicycle-friendly state and the incredible natural beauty that surrounds it. Many of us have expressed the desire to move out West, good-naturedly grumbling under our breaths at the soon-to-be-true prospect of returning to the reliably flat Midwest (in all seriousness, “I-L-L!” for life). In the meantime, we’re doing our best to cherish these last weeks together — an easy endeavor, when we consider the gorgeous scenery and generous people we’ve been encountering.

Ride Overview, Day 63

Mileage: 76.7

Elevation: 4,268’

Ride Dedication: John Perpich, Izzy’s uncle who is fighting prostate cancer

Points of Interest: Oregon (!), Pacific Northwest Best Fish Co Cafe

Quote(s) of the Day

“It was cold enough for Izzy to swim over to me and beg me to pee on them.” - Maaike

“Poop now, ask questions later.” - Emma

“Wait, was that a real person?” - Logan, after his whole group said “hello” to a mannequin in someone’s front yard.

tales of the trail, day 63

The morning air of Day 63 was hazy with anticipation — we were to roll into Oregon that day, one of the most anticipated states of the ride. Not only is it home to the iconic Crater Lake National Park and other nationally-renowned landmarks, but it also means we’re one step closer to the end of the ride.

Our not-so-circular morning circle.

There was no better way to process the sheer distance we’ve traveled than Joey’s morning activity. He created a photo album of the team cycling through different landscapes and had us guess where each picture was taken. Going on a journey such as I4K’s deepens your relationship with the United States in ways more intimate than merely driving a car, and we surprised ourselves at our ability to accurately put names and memories to so many different points around the country. To our readers — see if you can guess the destination of each picture below:

The day’s route put our Midwestern legs to work as we followed a particularly spiky elevation map up windy climbs and curvy descents. A lot of us have reached a point in the ride where our progress as riders has become a tangible source of motivation. We’ve patiently pedaled through endlessly rolling hills and determinedly ascended literal mountains — we know we can reach the top of nearly any climb, just as we have all those other times before. 

No endurance sport is complete without brightly-colored energy drinks.

Rest stop naps hit different. Note the fresh blackberry bushes behind us!

Rolling between an interstate.

Maaike unlocks her ultimate form — Izzy-Lucas-Olivia-Kev-Joey-Maaike-Olaf-Logan-Riddhima Niekerk.

A routine Dutch Bros stop, clam chowder lunch, and blackberry-picking session later, we arrived at our stayover at the beautiful house of Malinda Carlson, our amazing host for the night. We were warmly greeted by the Portland Illini Club, a familiar sight from home in the midst of the West, Malinda’s neighbors, and Jackson the adorable dog, who all went above and beyond to make us feel welcome (cut to Jackson giving anyone with food in their hands the sweetest puppy-dog eyes). 

We had the delight of camping in Malinda’s backyard, where we were treated to a mouth-watering dinner of beef and salmon burgers, Oregon-originated Tillamook ice cream, and much more than we could every imagine. Before we ate, we participated in a local tradition – singing in a circle. We clasped hands with each other as our hosts led us through a short verse of a song, whose lyrics truly captured the essence of the night:

From you I receive,

to you I give,

together we share,

from this we live.

For the third time on this ride, the team was treated to a live band. This time, the melodic, understated strums of folk music rang out into the cool evening air as we chatted to our hosts about everything from environmental conservation to the 2,000-rider-strong Cycle Oregon bike ride. A massive thank you to Malinda for coordinating another Portrait for us to collect, without which our organization would fall flat in its mission. 

We retired to our tents in Malinda’s lovely backyard, our hearts full with the generosity of the people around us and their remarkable life stories.

Ride Overview, Day 64

Mileage: 59.3

Elevation: 1,609’

Ride Dedication: Mark, the brother of our stayover host Malinda, who passed away from brain cancer

Points of Interest: The Kroc Center, Gresham Japanese Garden, Clackamas River Trail

quote of the day

“EVERYONE GET YOUR SNOT ROCKETS READY!”

— Olaf after passing a road sign that said “Congestion”

We woke up to our stayover hosts already bustling around, preparing what can only be described as a cornucopian breakfast — we fueled up on everything from freshly blended smoothies to homemade cinnamon rolls. As we packed SAV with donated baked goods, trail mix, and orange juice, we could not even begin to express our gratitude to Malinda, the Portland Illini Club, and members of the Corbett community for the unending support and generosity they have shown us since we arrived in the state. 

The morning began with a bizarrely vague yet surprisingly fun morning activity by Kavin. We were told to pick an object and, in his words, “do something with it.” The team got creative and built a somehow stable tower of our chosen items, of which Kavin approved. 

The team works on their tower of miscellaneous items with great focus.

From there, we rolled out into the last of our time with Portland. Under the cover of some misty and light rain, we happily followed the city’s bike-friendly infrastructure out into the pretty, peaceful backroads of Oregon, whose greenery grew deeper with the wet weather. Fewer miles to cover and feet to climb meant a more relaxed day, and the team made it to the stayover with relative ease. 

Logan’s group spots a helicopter providing aid to a nearby fire.

Enjoying one of Portland’s many bike trails.

We’ve been looking forward to our stay at The Kroc Center since the beginning of the week, and it did not disappoint. As soon as we arrived within its expansive walls, the team dispersed to the center’s hot tub, warm showers, game rooms, and beyond. Fun fact: Maaike has never watched “Cars,” which meant we of course had to watch it and learn the origins of — another fun fact! — Olivia’s bike, who is named after Sally, one of the characters in the movie. 

Another I4promposal — Kev and Izzy, Charli xcx-style!

A huge thank you to Olive Garden and Jersey Mike’s for donating dinner to us, and a big shout out to Izzy and Neal for securing those donations! Post-eating, the team is now taking some well-deserved rest in preparation for another day of riding, whether that takes the form of some alone time, calling loved ones, watching Deadpool at a local theater, or playing Clue together (watching “Cars 2” was strongly considered, but our impending bedtime ultimately left that for another day). 

I will end this journal entry with some apt words that my wise chore partner once said: “I love biking with my friends!”

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Logan Maurer

How are you feeling today?

I’m doing really well! It was a very nice ride, reasonably short, and although it rained a little bit, I stayed mostly dry. The temperatures were low, so that wasn’t a problem at all.

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

So my chore is mechanic — that essentially just means I fix people’s problems that they have with bikes. On a day to day basis, what that actually works out to is if people run into a problem, or if their bike isn’t acting the way it should, they come to me, they give me a brief rundown. I’ll try to work with them, get the bike up in the stand and try to address their problem. But it also means trying to teach people, trying to teach them how to fix their own flats, and how to do very basic stuff if they’re up for it. Otherwise I can also just give advice, I have a bit more experience with cycling than most of the team. So if people just need help, or need a person with more familiarity, I can help them out… I like it, because I think bikes are cool, and I enjoy working with them anyways. So now, rather than working on my bike, I get to work on everyone’s bike!

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

The smoking mule burger was really good. It was fun because we went with a lot of people, and a lot of people tried different things. I also really liked the burritos that we had in the middle of nowhere in the Wisconsin Sparta-Elroy trail. We just came across this random Mexican place and got extremely large ten dollar burritos. I ate way too much and kind of felt sick afterwards, but it was good, and worth it. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

It was fun, the Chicago stayover, having everyone over at my house. It was also cool because we got to meet some past members, and also a lot of family members of teammates. A couple of us went to the Chicago botanical gardens, and that was really fun just walking around the gardens for a couple of hours.

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

An easy one is I didn’t realize people were so nice! It’s been great to see so many people who are just willing to give you food, or give you a place to sleep, or even just give you a wave or cheer you on when you’re biking on a busy road or something, people willing to give you space. That’s been great. I also didn’t realize how diverse the West was. We’ve seen so many different landscapes, especially in the National Parks. Badlands felt like we were on an alien planet, and then Mount Rainier is just this beautiful mountain surrounded by wildlife, and flowers and trees everywhere.

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

First thing is probably showering and sleeping in my own bed. But I am looking forward to a haircut, it’s getting a little long in the back. When the road gets a little bit boring, I kind of think of designing things. So it’s going to be fun to have access to a computer, and make some stuff in CAD. I’ve been thinking about that whenever the scenery gets a little repetitive.

Anything else you want to talk about?

I really hope Crater Lake works out. I was really looking forward to it, and I’ve heard amazing things, but I also know that fires are really rough in that area. I’ve also heard that it’s high enough elevation-wise that it might not be a problem, but I’m really really hoping that works out.

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

Days 60-62: I4Kristmas in the mountains | Yakima, WA to Mt. Rainier, WA & Mt. Rainier, WA to Castle Rock, WA

Now that we’ve reached civilization, it’s time to catch you up on what you missed on Glee. We’re proud to report we’ve had another successful I4Kamping trip, and can add yet another national park to our list! We hope we haven’t peaked with this one (haha, get it?). Due to terrible air quality and wildfires coming dangerously close to our planned route, we took a second unplanned rest day of the trip and shuttled to Mount Rainier in our trusty SAV. While it was very disappointing to not be able to ride into the park, we’re grateful that we were able to stay there at all, as the AQI originally looked concerning enough for us to have to make alternate plans and skip the park entirely. We enjoyed a rest day where we visited the mountain, went on some small hikes, and enjoyed our time out in nature. Today, we said goodbye to the park and rolled almost 90 miles to Castle Rock, a small town that has greeted us kindly with food and showers to refresh us after a long time away from civilization. We’re excited beyond belief to be two weeks out from the Golden Gate Bridge, and are cherishing every moment we have together in our final leg of the ride.

Ride Overview, Days 60 & 61

Mileage: 0

Elevation: 0

Points of Interest: Mount Rainier National Park, La Wis Wis Campground, Silver Falls Campground, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Packwood, WA, Cliff Droppers, Cruiser’s Pizza, Base Camp Coffee

Quotes of the Day

“Who needs Mount Rainier when you have her glacial run off.” - Emma

“This is no good.” - Lucas, after dipping his toe in a freezing river.

Tales of the Trail, Days 60 & 61

Stepping outside of the Yakima YMCA on Thursday morning was reminiscent of a barbeque — without any meat? A few minutes outside was enough to make our clothes smell like smoke, which solidified in our minds that not riding was a good choice. Similar to our shuttle day into Missoula, we took two van trips to our campground, which took about six hours in total. Once the first group was dropped off at the campsite with half of our bikes and gear, we headed to the nearby small town of Packwood (about 7.5 miles out of the campground) to check out the local restaurants and markets. The second group spent some more quality time in Yakima stocking up at Target and making some much needed coffee runs.

Lucas driving the van up the foggy mountain slopes to the campsite. Thank goodness for SAV’s weirdly bright headlights.

Our second I4promposal — Olivia and Riddhima!

The day passed very peacefully and uneventfully, with the most thrilling thing being the ride to the campsite itself. We’d like to thank Lucas for his expert van driving in some very foggy conditions (foggy due to the high altitude, we’d like to clarify, not smoggy from smoke! The wildfire smoke was basically nonexistent near Mount Rainier). However, the evening brought fun and festivities in the form of I4Kristmas! If you haven’t caught it in the recent journals, I4Kristmas is one of the I4K team holidays in which each team member is assigned another team member to give something under $10, as well as something they found on the side of the road during the ride. 

Using our handy bike stand as the I4Kristmas tree, we exchanged our gifts and celebrated with our traditional camp meal of hot dogs and beans. Gift highlights include an oddly satisfying “Goo Maze” that Olivia purchased for Jack, a very dirty dog stuffed animal that Joey found on the road side for Anthony, and many assorted fun hats that have now been dispersed throughout the team. Merry I4Kristmas to all, and to all a good night!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree… or something like that. This picture definitely wasn’t just included for the hilarious amount of Target bag wrapping paper.

A team pic with our I4Kristmas swag!

Our planned rest day in Rainier had a bit more structure to it. While we weren’t able to enter the park as early as planned due to a lack of a reservation (National Parks have seen an enormous boom in tourism since COVID, which makes them very difficult to visit during certain times of day), we spent our morning hiking around the nearby Silver Falls campground. We headed back to Packwood for lunch, before doing some cliff jumping in a VERY cold river near our campsite. Shout out to Anthony for catching some truly epic drone footage of our jumps (despite not getting it on the first try and needing our teammates to jump again for the video. The things we do for Tony and his Droney).

Hiking? We totally do that too!

Big rock? Stand on it!

We then hit up the mountain itself, visiting its main visitor center and taking a short walk for some scenic views. We took the time to learn about the mountain’s wildlife — which included getting up close and personal with some of it — and to just admire its massive structure, and to think back on how far we’ve come. Milestones like these national parks are another reminder of how incredible our journey has been, and provide a great opportunity for reflection. Mount Rainier was one of the sites mentioned by a few of our teammates in the very first journal as the place they were most looking forward to. Now that we’ve made it, it’s crazy to realize that we have essentially biked across the country. The volume of our journey can hit us at any point, but moments like these are where it feels incredibly real.

Mount Rainier photobombed our awesome team selfie.

We wound down from our eventful day with some campfire brats, which we enjoyed while listening to the album “Brat” by Charli XCX, a team favorite this summer. Brats and Brat were a great way to finish off our last back-to-back I4Kamping days — while we will camp a couple more times this summer, they will only be single night adventures. We also only have one more planned rest day for this ride; we’re crossing our fingers that the wildfires currently raging in Oregon will be far enough out of our way to allow us to bike as planned. We were still able to appreciate the beauty of Mount Rainier, even if we did get here by car — this is how most sane people travel across the country, after all. However, we’re beyond excited to be back on our bikes and making our way further west and south towards our final destination of San Francisco.

Ride Overview, Day 62

Mileage: 89

Elevation: 3,048’

Ride Dedication: Win Graebner, Joey’s great grandfather

Points of Interest: Packwood, WA, Cowlitz River, Morton, WA, Riffe Lake, Mayfield Lake, Filbert Road, Papa Pete’s Pizza

Quotes of the Day

“Challenge day — no water!” - Maaike

“It’s always the people in the hamster cars that want to zoom past us.” - Neal

Tales of the Trail, Day 62

Joey, in charge of today’s morning activity, said that his idea involved us using our phones and wifi. Considering our stayover was a campsite in the middle of the woods and most of our devices were completely dead, we settled on a game of hide and seek instead. Many members of the team took this game as a very serious challenge, and covered themselves in spider webs and who knows what else to escape Joey for ten minutes, with varying degrees of success. All in all, the unnecessarily stressful children’s game was a great way to get our blood pumping early in the morning.

Mount Rainier apparently never wanted us to leave, as the campground attempted to hold us hostage by providing us with a decently sized climb on our way out, along with one flat tire! Nevertheless, we pushed through our rocky start to the day and rode one last time through Packwood. Today was truly a day of small towns and gas stations, as we hit too many to count and remember. Our first rest stop featured a promposal from Lucas to Olaf in preparation for our upcoming I4Prom, in which team members pair up with “prom dates” and wear goofy outfits for a night of festivities. 

Olaf and Lucas after a successful promposal!

A happy Joey with a very large gas station sub. Bon appetit!

The landscape has turned more into the Washington we expected (a.k.a., Washington as it is shown in the “Twilight” movies). We’re happy to report we’re seeing a lot less yellow and a lot more green, although today was still plenty full of farmland. The weather has thankfully cooled on us since reaching a much higher elevation, and we greatly appreciated having less heat as we had to make many, many stops for assorted bike issues. As we reach the last leg of the trip, our bikes are starting to realize that 4,700 miles is a LOT of miles. We’re eternally grateful that they’ve held on this long (and would greatly appreciate if they could hold out just a tad longer!!! Please!!!). New tubes and tires are in high demand, and van driver Lucas truly had his work cut out for him today as he drove from group to group providing roadside assistance. Again, you can’t spell savior without SAV.

Kev takes a roadside nap as they wait for SAV to come help with one of many flats.

Maaike and Olivia making their way through those Washington forests.

Our stayover greeted us very kindly with many pizzas from Papa Pete’s Pizza, which was absolutely delicious and exactly what we needed at the end of such a long day. We’d like to give a special shout out to the janitor of the Castle Rock Christian Church, who left a beautiful sign for us complete with some magnificent artwork. Little things like this are exactly what we need to make us smile :) We’re back on the road tomorrow and hitting our second to last state of the ride, as well as one of the larger cities of the trip — Portland, Oregon! We’ll be crossing the bridge in two weeks time and are so excited to be seeing our loved ones — not to mention our beloved beds — very very soon.

Thank you Kit! You draw a bicycle better than we ever could. :)

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Joey Shepin

How are you feeling today?

I’m doing pretty well, we had a pretty long day. I got three — actually four flats. You were saying earlier that when Francisco [my bike] gets a flat, it’s not just one, it’s a bunch. It’s a lot in one day. 

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

My chore is to maintain the lunch box. Every day,  the team eats lunch — usually every day, out on the side of the road. It’s important that we have enough food for the team, so my job is…every day, once we get back to our stayover, I take out the spoons and I wash them in the sink. Then I dry the spoons, and I put them back in the box, and I clean out whatever trash is in there. And then I also inform the van driver of anything we need to buy for the lunch box. 

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

We’ve had good food. I think my favorite food has been the donuts at Wall Drug. I had eight of them. They were so good. I especially enjoyed the maple donuts.

Do you have a favorite team memory?

The meetup that we had in Chicago, the party at Logan’s house, I thought was a really fun experience. I liked meeting people’s parents, and some alums were there, and some of the board came, and so it was kind of cool to just meet up with everybody. Logan’s family did a fantastic job hosting us, and the music, it was a ton of fun.

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

I feel like I could give a really philosophical answer, but I think for me, really learning the ins and outs of a road. Like the side of a road, you know. When you’re in a car, you don’t really think about all the stuff that’s on the side of the road. We’re always just going down so many different kinds of roads, and I think I wasn’t expecting to become so close with the side of the road environment. A lot of shoulders, looking at the weird things on the side of the road.

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

I think I’m gonna take a nap, and then I would love to have a meal with my mom and my brother. I’m excited for that. My mom’s a great cook, and she always makes me great food, so I’m looking forward to it.

Anything else you want to talk about?

I am super excited to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m so excited, it’s gonna be amazing. That moment when we first see the bridge, it’s gonna be crazy. There’s gonna be tears on that bridge. It’s gonna be fun.

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

Day 59: Easy miles (and a sprinkling of flats) | Kennewick, WA to Yakima, WA

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:

“I don’t eat any foods that start with the letter ‘d’. Never had a donut. Never had a danish.”

— Neal

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.

Joey captures the morning landscape, shrouded by smoke from ongoing forest fires.

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.

Getting those easy morning miles in.

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.

A revitalizing stop at Dutch Bros.

Another license plate find! We’ve been pleasantly surprised at just how many Washington and Oregon license plates we’ve found in such a short period of time. One has to wonder, are the bolts in this part of the country looser?

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)!

Lucas’ grin perfectly encapsulates our gratefulness to MOD Pizza :)

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.)

Day 57 & 58: And it was all yellow | Lewiston, ID to Kennewick, WA

The team has entered Washington, which means we are now officially on the West Coast. We’ve also found that The Evergreen State is ironically quite yellow — the landscape is much drier, blanketed by endless wheat fields that source its golden hue. Our surroundings aren’t the only new thing we’re experiencing. With less than three weeks of this ten-week ride left, the team is going through the beginnings of some bittersweet emotions — each day slips by with what seems like increasing rapidity, and we’re torn between making the most of the rest of our journey together and looking forward to returning to the comforts of daily life. This ride does a great job of encouraging a certain mindset though, which is to take things day by day. We look forward to taking that in our stride (or should we say pedal stroke?) as we head to our next big stop in Mount Rainier National Park. Until then and as always, we bike! 

Ride Overview, Day 57

Mileage: 98

Elevation: 5,422’

Ride Dedication: Maaike’s grandmother, Willemien Niekerk-Timmer

Points of Interest: Alpowa Summit

Quote of the Day

“It’s like a challenge to find the color green in Washington.”

— Joey

Tales of the Trail, Day 57

Day 57 brought one of the most daunting challenges for us so far —  a 98 mile day with over 5,000 feet of climbing, all in temperatures much higher than we would like (upper 90s!). However, we took on the day with energy as always, which was showcased in our morning activity: Kev had us play the classic smack-your-friends-hands-until-they-have-none-left game, “Ninja.” We enjoyed returning to a playground classic, which got our minds, bodies, and reflexes ready for the long and warm day ahead.

The team in the middle of a heated game of Ninja.

We crossed extremely early on into our third to last state of the ride, Washington! We caught the simple but elegant state sign on a bridge and snapped some more iconic I4K sign pics, of course. Soon enough we were back on highway 12, where we’ve spent much of our riding in recent days. The picturesque route has brought us along the water and mostly between the large hills and mountains of the Northwest, although we eventually came to realize there was truly no way to get through them other than going over them. The team conquered a truly epic climb into the first rest stop, reaching a view that looked almost like our flat home fields of Illinois once we reached the top.

Olaf, Logan, Kev, Lucas…

…Riddhima, Anthony, and Emma roll into Washington!

Taking in the first sights and sounds of Washington.

The view from the top of the first climb of the day — scarily similar to the corn fields of Illinois, but in yellow.

The team voted to take a somewhat longer second stretch, as the next 30 miles of the ride were mostly downhill. More determined than ever to beat the heat, we used the descent to our advantage to make up as much ground as possible in the coolness of the morning. However, despite hydrating and fueling ourselves well, the weather did start to catch up to us as we reached early afternoon. We took a quick stop at the bottom of a large climb for some shade and unfortunately got up close and personal with some goatheads — for those who are unfamiliar (as some of us were before we became a little too familiar), picture the mother of all thorns. This led to what might be a record high number of flats for any one stretch of the ride, as many of us got double flat tires as well. Needless to say, the true hero of the day was the always reliable tube box stored in the van.

Peep the goatheads that got our tires. Rest stops are for the weak. All we do is fix flats.

Pictured here is quite literally the only shade Riddhima could find, once again proving that SAV has many useful purposes.

The final miles into Walla Walla were truly a “character building” portion of the ride, as Lucas might call it. The town of Walla Walla truly appeared out of nowhere, as we rode through yellow fields and gravel roads for mile after mile without seeing any buildings whatsoever. After one final huge climb, we chugged along through some more rolling hills, got a beautiful delivery of cold water from the van a few miles out from our stayover, and reached one of the most amazing gifts we’ve received yet: root beer floats and popsicles. We’re eternally grateful for the Blue Mountain Church and their amazing hospitality. We are doing our very best to take care of our tired bodies as we look to some more warm days ahead!

The sprawling wheat fields of The Evergreen State.

Thank you to our stayover host for donating these refreshing ice popsicles!

Ride Overview, Day 58

Mileage: 52.5

Elevation: 1,075’

Ride Dedication: Kev’s Aunt Bianca, a breast cancer survivor

Points of Interest: Lake Wallula, McNary National Wildlife Refuge 

Quote of the Day

“I don’t have my tetris shot, because I don’t even like that game!”

— Izzy

Tales of the Trail, Day 58

It seems our teammates want us to try out nearly every art form possible during our mornings, from drawing to dancing. This time, Kev had us recreate an iconic “RuPaul’s Drag Race” lip sync battle. Devoid of the extravagant outfits and charismatic stage presence that typically accompany this kind of endeavor, we kind of just ended up uncoordinatedly shuffling around to “TikTok” by Kesha in a parking lot. Our laughter was the most consistent thing about the performance.

The team mid-lip sync.

We rolled out into much of the same scenery we had biked through yesterday. We biked for miles through interstates and highways, deserted industrial zones, and, of course, a lot of yellow farmland. After the previous day’s near-century of a ride, we were thankful for the shorter distance. Through the learned efficiency of a steady pace and quick rest stops, we made swift work of our route and arrived in Kennewick before noon — a feat unheard of just a few weeks ago. 

Bike selfie!!! Peep your favorite journalist-cyclist duo.

More license plate finds!

Hungry for food, we spread out all over town for Taco Bell, the restaurant “J’s Asian Flaming Grill,” or, most mouth-watering of all, the PB&Js in the team lunch box. A huge thank you to Melissa, our stayover host, for coordinating showers during these hot times and making sure we are well taken care of! In the rest of our down time, the team has been cleaning dusty bikes, replacing worn-out chains, talking to loved ones, taking well-deserved naps, and more. Tomorrow, we begin our climb up to Mount Rainier.

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Kev Murphy

How are you feeling today?

Today was a long, hot day. But I’m feeling pretty good. 100 miles, wow! It was a long 100 miles, lots of climbing… just the heat, it was like a high of 95 today. So, less hot than yesterday, but more mileage than yesterday, so I stayed hydrated, I ate a lot of food at rest stops, lots of granola bars, and I’m glad I was able to do it. Proud of myself. In the last stretch, we were on this kind of gravely road, which was not fun in 95-degree heat, but we were surrounded by fields of wheat which was really cool and the sky was kind of hazy which was interesting. It was a cool experience. 

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

My original chore was TikTok and press. I have made some TikToks, which you should follow the TikTok… and then I’ve done some interviews with press. But, we also needed a new routemaster, which is an interesting name for a chore –“routemaster” – but basically every night I review the route for the next day, make sure there is not construction on the route, I use Google Maps to kind of just see, and I make sure there’s no roads closed or anything like that. Sometimes the route does master me, though, and Google Maps will not show me that there is a road closed or that road is flooded, so gotta love Google Maps for that! After every day, I’ll give [stayovers] information about if there are any safety concerns on the route and if there is any rerouting, and then I’ll also give information about the stayovers – if they’re donating dinner, how many bathrooms there are. And I also have all the leftover stayovers. The logistics committee stayovers, the ones that they got confirmed, got handed to me, so I do a lot of the coordinating with the places we stay to just make sure that everything runs smoothly like the logistics committee wanted. 

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

This was like early on in the ride… this sweet lady, Judy, greeted us with big, nice hugs as soon as we got in the door and it was like 7pm, it was a long day. She was so excited for us and had fried chicken, had lasagna I believe, had tons of food for us, and that fried chicken was delicious. I really miss that. And then we also had it on the side of the road the next day as our lunch, which was really fun. So, I think that was the most memorable food. Most memorable dessert – I will stand by that La Crosse, WI has the best ice cream ever. It was Pearl Ice Cream, delicious. I will probably make my way back to La Crosse, WI sometime in my lifetime just for the butter pecan ice cream I had that night. It was amazing, smooth, creamy, delectable, delicious, just like the best ice cream I’ve ever had. So, food-wise, Hagerstown, MD. Ice cream, sweet treat-wise, La Crosse, WI. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

The first thing coming to mind is the first camping night in Meadowlark Lake in the Bighorn National Forest. It was a shorter day in terms of distance, like only 45 miles, but it was a lot of climbing, and I remember we found snow at the top of the climb, which was really cool, so I made a snowman. Logan made a snowball, which was really fun. Then, that day, as soon as we got to the campground, we had a pie-eating contest. And that’s a top-tier team memory. I tried my hardest. I lost to the people that had pumpkin pies, which I still will stand by that the apple pie was harder than the pumpkin pie! I came in fourth, but I came in second in the apple pie challenge. So I’m proud of myself for that. The pies may have had a little mold on them, but that was okay, and it was just like a really fun team memory of us just all sitting there and eating a pie, and we were like, “what is going on right now?” and we camped that night and it was so cold… we were all freezing in our sleeping bags, and the next morning we woke up and had to bike down that hill! So, I think it was a really bonding moment to have to camp together for the first time, and the pie-eating contest helped that bonding. 

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

I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the generosity of others. We’ve had so many people just be so kind, and sometimes not even tell us about their kindness. We were out to breakfast one day, and our breakfast just got paid for by a table next to us because they read the back of our shirts and went to our website. It’s just like a crazy experience that so many people are so generous, all the stayovers are so generous with the food donations, letting us stay in their place for free. Our teammates are generous. Shoutout to Logan – bike mechanic – he’s worked on my bike so much and helped me make sure that I can ride and all the different mechanical issues that I’ve had. So I think it’s been a very cool experience to see how kind strangers are… just how generous people are, how sweet they are, and for every bad person, bad car, there’s always a hundred nice people that we meet… It’s been a really crazy summer that I feel like has changed my perspective a bit of the world. 

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

Thinking about getting back home… it’s bittersweet! I am really excited for my bed again. That’d be nice. My sleeping pad is not the best of things, but it does the job. I’m excited to not have oatmeal for breakfast everyday… I’m excited to have coffee every morning too, that’s not just gas station coffee… just making my own coffee. I’m also really excited to see my parents. I’ll see them in San Francisco, and the rest of my family too, who I won’t see in San Francisco but I’ll see after the ride! That’ll be exciting, and just like telling all the stories will be fun. There’s not like one single thing, but definitely sleeping in my bed is the one single thing that is top-tier. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I like biking! Shoutout to the journalists!

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

Day 56: It's getting hot in here | Kamiah, ID to Lewiston, ID

Biking across the country is a lot of fun (believe it or not, we speak from experience)! This doesn’t mean that every day is one of idyllic, wide-eyed discovery and picture-perfect routes, though. Today was the hottest day of the ride so far, which admittedly narrowed the team’s focus to the much less romantic goal of getting to our stayover as fast as sustainably possible and avoiding the worst of the heat. Efficiency was the name of the game, and we learned a lot about overcoming yet another aspect of this uniquely multifaceted adventure that we call I4K.

Ride Overview

Mileage: 66.6

Elevation: 2,181’

Ride Dedication: Tammy Sterling-Dober, lung cancer

Points of Interest: Clearwater River, Waffles n’ More, McDonald’s of Lewiston, ID

Quotes of the Day

“I’ve never had the opportunity to eat burgers all the time, and now I will.” - Joey

“I think you lose all credibility if food starts falling out of your mouth.” - Anthony 

“We have a fifth beneficiary! You ever heard of the Neal Foundation?” - Neal 

Tales of the Trail

As you all know, one thing the riders of I4K are famous for is our amazing artistic ability. Olaf put that to the test this morning with his activity — pair up and draw your partner. Once we were done waving our paintbrushes (dried-out Crayola markers) around our canvases (pages ripped out of a notebook), we stood around in a circle and proudly revealed our masterpieces to an appreciative chorus of “ooh”’s and “aah”’s from our teammates. 

A beautiful, um, interpretation of our very own Joey Shepin!

A not at all terrifying portrait of Ride Leader Lucas!

Maaike’s drawing of Neal. It’s probably good that I’m sticking with the whole journalism thing.

Once we all pocketed our drawings, we rushed to roll out in hopes of beating the worst of the ongoing heat wave later in the day. Lewiston, our destination town for the day, is intimidatingly known to be one of the hottest cities in Idaho, and the team did not want to wait around to confirm that fact. 

Thankfully, our mileage today was on the shorter side and our route on a gradual downhill. We made quick work of the first 40 or so miles, helped by the colder morning air and the cooling effect of Clearwater River, whose serene currents accompanied us all throughout. 

Logan, Neal, Kev, and Maaike chugging along through Idaho.

Olaf and Anthony should take up a career in modeling. Truly too hot to handle (haha, get it? Over 100 degrees outside? We’re making the most of it).

The landscape transitioned to arid, rocky hills, and the heat started to hit by the time we reached the second rest stop. SAV provided the only shade for miles and our Welch’s Fruit Snacks were melting in their packaging (the epitome of tragedy). All we could do was eagerly envision reaching the haven of our air conditioned stayover.

Anthony and Jack riding through the scenic hills of the Northwest.

Emma and Izzy smiling through the insane heat of the day!

The last stretch threw a handful of mechanical issues, traffic-ridden interstate riding, dodgy construction, and bumpy bike trails at us, all while we baked in the 100 degree weather and squinted against the boiling sun. Nevertheless, we persevered and made a much-needed reroute to grab some (preferably cold) food. Some of us stopped at the local Waffles n’ More, while others opted for the convenience of a McDonald’s. Either way, we were satiated and fueled for the final climb to our destination at First United Methodist Church. 

Logan chose to make the absolute best out of popping two tubes at once and fashioned this iconic pink vest. Here at I4K, we pride ourselves on our innovative minds.

A successful McDonalds run.

The kindness of our stayover hosts was incredibly refreshing — literally, as they generously offered us ice water and drove us to take showers and a dip in the pool at the nearby aquatic center. They also gave us the authentic Idaho experience and donated a delicious potato bar dinner! Not only did we enjoy a scrumptious meal straight from the source, but we learned that a lot more can go on a potato than we’d initially thought. 

Izzy, Maaike, and Emma chilled out with an iced coffee run to Dutch Bros!

Lastly, a massive thank you to the church for donating to the cause. It was exceptionally heartwarming to meet with and feel the support of the members of Lewiston today — these are the interactions that impact our cause the most as we journey across the country. We approach tomorrow with the expectation that it will be hotter and harder, but we also tackle it armed with over fifty days’ worth of well-earned experience and knowledge. 

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Izzy Perpich

How are you feeling today?

Today was the hottest day we’ve had on the ride, which was challenging physically and emotionally for all of the riders, and for me in the van today. It can be hard to get motivated when it’s so hot out, but I think we did a really great job, and we were able to cool off this afternoon and have a nice brunch in downtown Lewiston Idaho! So that was good. But yeah, I’m feeling pretty good. Feels like we’re almost nearing the end of the ride here, so that’s a weird feeling, because time just doesn’t feel real here. But all in all, I’m doing alright, considering all things. 

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

For most of the summer I’ve been on dinner chore, so I have been responsible for cooking pasta and lentils for the group, or rationing the donations from stayovers that are generous and donate food… Olaf is my chore partner, and the times that we’ve made dinner, we usually engage in “choir,” or like, singing. We really just like drop the pasta in. Olaf usually takes position one, I follow in position two. I guess you could call me the sous chef… We put the lentils in first because they take longer, and we season them, but I don’t know exactly what seasoning because it’s all Olaf’s. We make sure everything is nice and salted. Then we get going on the pasta, and then we put vegetable oil in so the pasta doesn’t all stick together. Then we heat up the marinara in the microwave — really excited because Olivia and I just bought alfredo, so things are gonna look different here on out! Then we portion everything out for as many people as we have eating dinner, and then we say “bon voyage!” Wait no, “bon appetit!” We say “bon appetit,” not “bon voyage.” But now I’m actually on breakfast chore! Breakfast chore is a lot easier honestly because it takes less time… For the past two days when I’ve done it, I ran upstairs, I boiled water, I went back down and packed my stuff then I went back up again. I got the bowls ready, I took out the raisins and all the other oatmeal condiments. I portioned out the quick oats, and got everybody ready for their first meal of the day! [Olaf and I] also do policing, which is making sure that we don’t leave anything behind. So after we’re done with morning circle, Olaf and I run back inside the stayover, and we look in all the rooms to make sure we left nothing of value behind. And also, that we made sure to leave the stayover just as we found it! 

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

Where do I begin? I’ve had so many delicious things. One of them I thought about recently, I think it was Mexican food in the middle of Wisconsin? It was on the side of the trail, that was really good. We got Brazilian bowls in Missoula from Five on Black. Those are a couple of highlights. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

I have a couple, but one of them, for team bonding, was the “Why I Ride” circle where we just discussed our deeper reasons for participating in the ride, and got to know each other a bit better. I feel like it was a huge transitional period in the ride, where I felt like we really became family in that talk we had. But yeah, recently without really being able to ride, it’s been nice to participate in some stuff off the bike, like swimming in the river when we were at Yellowstone. That was really fun. 

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

I feel like being from Chicago, I’ve not been exposed to the idea that people always have good intentions. It’s kind of this idea that you should avoid talking to strangers, you shouldn’t be too friendly with anyone because you might get taken advantage of. On this ride, there’s been so much generosity from complete random people, who don’t even know us at all but they’re just so willing to help. Even though there’s no real personal reason, maybe, for them to do so. It just shows a lot about humanity, and how we all are able to lend a hand, and how we’re all very connected and united. I think that’s really shifted my perspective on how I will approach people in my future, and how I’ve learned to interact with people. Like yes, I believe it’s important to be cautious, but also being a kind and outgoing person who is giving is something that goes a long way. A little can go a long way… Also, sometimes health insurance can cover a bike fit! 

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

I think I’m gonna go jump in Lake Michigan. And pet my cat.

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

Days 54 & 55: Going with the flow | Missoula, MT to Wilderness Gateway Campground, WY + WGC, WY to Kamiah, ID

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.”

— Emma

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”

— A typo, courtesy of Neal

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.)

Days 51-53: A much-needed butt break | Butte, MT to Missoula, MT

Ride Overview, Day 51

Mileage: 56.3

Elevation: 2,389’

Points of Interest: BA & P Hill Trail, Copperway Regional Trail, Silver Lake, Moose Lodge, Philipsburg Creamery, Adventure Cycling Association

Quote(s) of the Day 

“The first group had a big lead on us… they can keep it.” - Kavin

“We should steal Wilson.” - Joey, about the adorable dog we met outside a convenience store

“Maaike just silently takes care of me, and I silently add her to my will.” - Riddhima

Tales of the Trail, Day 51

Before departing from Butte, we had to settle some real business here on the team, and that of course is finding out who can create and throw the best paper airplane. As we were paired off by chore partners, your team journalists are happy to report that our very standard looking paper airplanes were the way to go — while we weren’t able to out-perform Mechanical Engineer Logan’s top tier plane, we were able to fly farther than some of our teammates who chose to just crumble their paper into a ball and throw it as far as possible (shoutout to our social media team). We’re happy that our performance was at least somewhat better than our abysmal showing in the water-chugging competition.

Olivia defends her unconventional airplane design.

We started off the day on the incredibly scenic BA & P Trail that runs through Butte, before taking a very short stretch on the interstate to our first rest stop. With this day being a much briefer one, we enjoyed a shorter morning stretch on fairly comfortable roads before our first break, which was quickly followed by a stop at a nearby McDonalds to cash in on some more breakfast deals within the app (we are truly this fast food chain’s biggest fans). We rode through the small town of Anaconda and saw some deer following us along the side of the road! The casualness of wildlife just being present in small towns still hasn’t really sunk in, but is getting a little more normalized as we venture further West.

Izzy and Lucas play an intense game of van checkers.

One of many delicious McDonald’s stops we’ve taken on this ride (note the cool touch-sensitive table!)

Wherever we go, our loyal bikes follow.

Our second rest stop brought us the adorable and very friendly dog named Wilson at a small store nearby Wraith Hill and a nice lake. We enjoyed some cold beverages and ice cream with a lakeside view, and appreciated having a slower and easier day into Philipsburg. After some very technical descending, we reached the town itself and were very pleasantly surprised by its lively downtown and homemade ice cream. The small town gave us a lot to explore, and we enjoyed spending some time there before reaching a sudden and welcome change in our stayover arrangements for the night.

Wilson <3 :)

You see, we were initially scheduled to camp at an RV Park in Phillipsburg that night. While this sounds doable, the team had been dreading this stayover for weeks due to its complete lack of bathrooms. Fortunately, Jeff and Laurie came to our rescue. After meeting the team at a restaurant in town, they generously offered for us to stay at their guest house for the night. We gratefully accepted, and made our way up to their abode in the breathtaking Montana countryside. Not only did they give us a place to sleep, but they also donated a delicious dinner and breakfast. 

The team sits down for dinner at Jeff and Laurie’s beautiful home.

As we settled into our unplanned stayover, we could not stop marveling at the sheer beauty of our surroundings and the generosity of our hosts. The guest house was located on sweeping acres of green hills, with snow-capped mountains in the distance and small streams running throughout. Most of all, we were in awe of the opportunity we had been given to experience the country in yet another way. This ride doesn’t let us be bored for long. 

Group photo! Try not to get distracted by the stunning landscape behind us.

Speaking of experiencing things in new ways, our hosts’ generosity did not end there. As the day came to a close, Jeff gave the team a tour of the property on his squad of ATVs. It was hard to control our excitement as we hopped on the thrillingly unfamiliar vehicles. Once we got to actually riding, some of us did not stop grinning even for a second (except to prevent dust kicked up by the ATVs’ wheels from getting into our mouths). 

We laughed and whooped uncontrollably at the utter novelty of what we were doing. Many of us had never ridden vehicles like ATVs before, nor had we done it in a setting as unique as this one. The views were incredible.  We rode against the backdrop of a brilliant and vivid sunrise through tall, grassy fields and muddy puddles, both terrain that the four-wheelers overcame with an ease that our bicycles – as much as we love them – could never replicate. 

A stunning sunset graces us in the middle of our tour (can you spot the cows?)

And we can’t forget to mention the awesome mountains too.

Jeff gave us a thorough and interesting look into the upkeep it takes to maintain land as sizable as his. As we lay our eyes on the very cows he talked about herding or the hand-dug irrigation channels whose history he recounted, we were learning about another side of the country we live in through a uniquely hands-on manner. 

Once our ATV tours were over (some of us had gone for a second round) and we profusely showered a multitude of “thank you”’s on Jeff, we retired to bed nestled in the nature of Montana. 

Ride Overview, Day 52-53

Mileage: 0

Elevation: 0’

Points of Interest: Missoula Bicycle Works, Hellgate Cyclery, Big Dipper Ice Cream, Frugal’s, Butterfly Herbs, Five on Black

Quote of the Day

“I fear I am giggling.”

— Maaike

Tales of the Trail, Day 52-53

Due to an unsafe AQI, the team shuttled the entirety of Day 52. We didn’t mind too much though, as this meant we got an early start on our rest day in Missoula the next day. So, we diligently went about our routine of loading and unloading the van and making our way to the next stop on our route. 

Once we got to our lovely stayover at Atonement Lutheran Church, we were welcomed warmly by our hosts with dinner. It seems the universe was still in our favor, because we were also treated to a spectacular magic show from the one and only Evan Disney. Somewhat of a celebrity within our organization, Evan Disney has been blowing the minds of I4Kers since 2022. Did we mention he brought a snake named Bo? Yeah. ‘Nuff said. 

Evan Disney, Evan Disney-ing (we feel it is right to give him his own verb).

From there, the team parted ways to go out into Missoula’s downtown for some karaoke (cut to Kavin effortlessly rapping the entirety of “euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar) or stay in and watch “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (cut to Olivia, Maaike, Neal, Joey, Logan, and Riddhima likening a quest to take back your kingdom from a fire-breathing dragon to doing I4K). 

Izzy, Maaike, Kev, Logan, and Joey got the cool opportunity to add I4K to a wall of other awesome cross-country bike trips.

The next day started off bittersweet. We are deeply saddened to say goodbye to Dylan, who unfortunately has to leave the ride on account of an unexpected injury. While we did not want his time with the team to end this way, we are also glad he is able to take the time to rest and recover as needed. 

Following our farewell, the team passed the time downtown or running errands (thank you to Emma’s mom for donating snacks from Costco!) before our big event of the day – white water rafting on the Alberton Gorge. A huge shout out to the guides of the Montana Raft Company, Jane and Grace, who kept us safe during the experience. We could not have enjoyed the scenic views or bumpy rapids of the river without their expert oversight. 

Much to no one’s surprise, a couple of us took a good-natured tumble into the river. Thankfully, we were left unscathed and, if anything, refreshed by the coolness of the water and the fun of the river’s currents. Overall, the team had a great time Sunday strollin’ (as one of our guides Jane likes to call the act of gently paddling) through the picturesque waters of Montana. 

The non-tumbler boat…

…and the tumbler boat. As you can tell by the relative dryness of their clothes, this photo was taken pre-tumble.

Hungry from the upper-body exercise our our water adventure, we chowed down on yet another generously donated dinner from our hosts, went out for some ice cream after, and then winded down in preparation for a long 90-mile day tomorrow.  

All in all, we are still processing the amount of generosity we have experienced over these past few days and in the grand scheme of the ride. Words can not express how thankful we are. 

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Anthony DiRico

How are you feeling today?

Today was white water rafting day in Montana, and it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had on this trip so far. I am very refreshed, two days of no biking has done lots for recovery for my body. I’ve gotten sleep, I’ve been eating really well, and mentally I’m doing good!

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

My chore partner is Joey, and we are responsible for water jugs and PB & J. However, I am allergic to peanut butter! So I take the water jugs, and Joey does the PB & J. Water jugs is actually really important, because without water, it’s quite difficult to bike! So every night I’ll take the four water jugs that are in the car and make sure they’re full of water. If there are any leaks, which there have been at times, I will try and tape it up and replace the valves so that they work. I start doing this at night time now, because the morning is very hectic, and it’s just easier to do ahead of time. 

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

Maybe this is because of the recency effect, but I had some of the best barbecue. It was a Texas brisket sandwich that I ate a couple of days ago, it was the most random stop. We weren’t even supposed to stop there, but Jack had to go to the bathroom, so they pulled off into a gas station, and I saw this bakery and barbecue sign. I was like “that’s a weird combination!” But I pulled up, and the vibes were just perfect. There were Montana license plates all over… It was $12 for a brisket sandwich, with the most delicious Texas barbecue sauce. I loved it. No one else got to have it on the team, so that made it feel a little extra special. 

Do you have a favorite team memory?

On Olivia’s birthday, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, and when we were there, we realized that was the first time that as a team we’ve all been at a restaurant eating together. Which is crazy, because we’ve been with each other for fifty days, and not once have we all gone out for a meal. So it was kind of special that we were celebrating our ride leader’s birthday. The food was freaking phenomenal — I’m half Mexican, so I love Mexican food. And yeah, it was just good vibes. 

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

I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to find happiness and fulfillment in my life, and my teammates have done a really good job of showing me that being present in the moment is one of the best ways to do that. When you’re on the bike and you’re really just focused on the challenge at hand, you’re not thinking about all of the worries of your future, or thinking back to different events from the past. You’re really just locked in in the moment, and that has done a lot for me, and just [I’ve just been] happier recently because of that.

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

First thing I’m gonna do when I get home is pack, because I’m going on a little vacation! I’m gonna go lay on a beach somewhere for a couple of days before I start my full time job!

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

Days 49 & 50: Biking the Montanathon | Livingston, MT to Bozeman, MT + Bozeman, MT to Butte, MT

Between today and yesterday, one might say we got the best of both worlds. Yesterday, we chilled out and took it slow, and today, we rocked out the show. Nobody’s perfect, and boy did we work it. Enough with the Hannah Montana puns, and welcome to our updates from the past couple of days! We enjoyed a much shorter than average day riding from Livingston into Bozeman, which left us some time to go out for lunch, do laundry, and spend some time with our stayover hosts. We completed our fourth official century of the ride today (not including the 90+ mile day into Mankato, MN which many team members turned into a century), as we rode through the Rockies into Butte and saw some spectacular views. 

Ride Overview, Day 49

• Mileage: 35.1

• Elevation: 2,068’

• Ride Dedication: Jeffrey Perpich, Izzy’s dad, a prostate cancer survivor

• Points of Interest: Montana Grizzly Encounter, Bozeman Pass, Granny’s Gourmet Donuts, Spectators Bar & Grill

Quote of the Day

“WAH! WAH! WAH! WAH!”

— The entire team, in an empty parking lot at approximately 7:30am.

Tales of the Trail

Ah, the beauty of life when you get to sleep in until 7am. Believe it or not, the majority of the team actually loves our strict bedtime (we would NOT be responsible enough to get our 8 hours), but the early wake ups can naturally be a challenge. We enjoyed taking more time in the morning and rolled out for a nice and easy short stretch. Anthony gave us an exciting morning activity in the form of the game “Wah,” in which everyone stands in a circle and repeatedly yells “WAH” at one another while making different hand movements. For the upteenth time, we can’t imagine how insane we must look to anyone taking their dog for an early morning walk.

An action shot from our game of Wah. Emma and Izzy appear to be Wahing. I’m not sure what it all means either.

The journey to Bozeman was fairly uneventful — we found some more license plates on the side of the road, and continued our way through devouring the snacks kindly donated by the 2014 team. One group stopped at the Montana Grizzly Encounter, who were kindly able to haul out a real grizzly bear for them to view even in the earlier hours of the morning. The entire team didn’t feel the need to engage in this activity after seeing a grizzly bear quite close (and for free) on our camping day in the Tetons, but we can’t deny it made a pretty cool attraction.

Olaf found yet another license plate — he is the leading plate-finder of the team by far, as he’s already made it to the double digits. How he fits them all in his backpack, we have no idea.

Joey captures the Grizzly Encounter (we assure you, he was a safe distance away. We know anxious parents are reading out there).

For proof of the caption above, here is Joey pictured AWAY from the bear. Keeping a respectful distance always.

Team Grandpa Dylan waits for the kids to pull up to the rest stop.

Bozeman delighted us by being an adorable and very friendly town, where we were cheered on by people on street corners and welcomed by some very gracious stayover hosts. We enjoyed lunch at Chipotle donated by the 2016 team, which we devoured in record time. We then took a team trip to a nearby laundromat, where some of us explored the nearby area that included homemade donuts and a sports bar where some of us were able to watch the thrilling final of the European Championship. Our stayover hosts provided us an amazing dinner after we made a quick Walmart run. We spent our free time caring for our bikes, calling friends and family, organizing our many snack boxes, and in some cases, getting caught up on a few days of missed journaling.

Emma, Riddhima, and Neal stopped by a yard sale riding into Bozeman! Nail polish and funky pillows were among the finds.

Chowing down on our donated Chipotle! Thank you again to the 2016 team!

Ride Overview, Day 50

• Mileage: 100

• Elevation: 3,970’

• Ride Dedication: Kev’s Uncle Luke, who passed away due to complications with prostate cancer.

• Points of Interest: Belgrade, MT, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, La Hood Park, Whitehall, MT, Pipestone Pass, Bonanza Freeze

Quote of the day

“They’re un-American.”

— Logan, describing roundabouts.

Tales of the Trail

For today’s morning activity, Izzy saw to it that the team would be well hydrated for our 100 mile ride in 90 degree heat. We had a team-wide water bottle chugging contest, and we’re happy to report that your journalists are in fact the slowest chuggers of the entire team. Riddhima prevailed to leave me as the ultimate loser — well played, young Deems, well played.

Lucas, Olaf, and Neal rolled out today in a group based on their awesome South Park socks.

While we were certainly well hydrated for our first 20 mile stretch this morning, we also had a record number of pee stops for each group. As I’m writing this, Lucas reports that he has definitely peed in the double digits today (whether you wanted to know this or not, now you know)! The first 40 miles flew by on the state highways of Montana, as we had tailwinds and largely downhill stretches to give us an easy start to the longer day. 

Rolling out of Bozeman!

Tommy and Anthony hit an epic pose in front of the mountains. A dramatic background always calls for dramatic photos.

Example 2. Dramatic setting? Dramatic pose.

We always find the time to stop for horseys!

We’re unsure what Kev did to end up here.

The distant mountains gradually grew larger and larger — as we’ve found they often do — and we got a beautiful ride through a mountain pass before we had to begin the somewhat intimidating up. Several thousand feet of climbing in 15 miles proved to be an adventure, and we’re happy to report that we absolutely crushed it. While having a massive climb at mile 75 of a 100 mile ride seemed daunting at first, we’ve been well prepared by the Appalachians and the climbing of the past weeks. We made our way up and over with the promise of nothing but descent on the other side, and rolled into the scenic city of Butte in the early evening.

Maaike and Joey power up this truly epic climb.

Lucas and Neal biking through the Rockies!

Always in awe of how Emma manages to take cute 0.5 pics while on a bike. Most of us can’t do it standing still.

Our stayover has welcomed us with truly one of the largest kitchens we’ve ever seen in a church, which we quickly filled with a donation from the local Little Caesar’s, as well as the I4K staple of pasta and lentils. We stopped by Bonanza Freeze for dessert to celebrate another hard and extremely rewarding day on the bike. Tomorrow night we will be camping in Philipsburg, and will likely not have the connection or device power to publish a journal :( We will return with the daily updates once we reach Missoula, and will begin our final round of rider interviews as we enter the final third of the ride!

Enjoying our frozen treats at Bonanza Freeze!

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Jack Hutchens

How are you feeling today?

Yeah, I’m exhausted. But in pretty high spirits, spending another beautiful day out West. Got past the hard part of the trip, now it’s just enjoying what we’ve earned. 

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

I think donations wise, it’s great seeing just how far the word spreads about this whole thing. Like, you tell one or two people, and then they tell their friends, and it just spreads so fast. That was really great to see. It really does go to show too, cancer affects everyone. Everyone has experienced it. There’s a lot of people willing to give to the cause, which is great to see. One of my distant relatives, a few of them that I met when I was like four or five, even they heard about it and donated, which was just nuts to see. It goes to show that this is something that people care about. This is important work. 

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

I’ll be completely real: I’m still a mountain biker at heart. I’m still a total speed addict, so it’s really just the downhill at the end of the day… It’s just really looking forward to the downhills, just enjoying nature. It’s harder back in the Midwest, but now that we’re out West, I can be tired, I can want to be done, I can be hot. It doesn’t matter. I’m still in a beautiful part of the country. When it’s rough, you just have to keep going forward.

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

Honestly, uniform wise, not much. Shoutout to my neighbor Doug, who donated [my bibs]. These bibs have served me well. Not a single application of Chamois Butt’r this entire trip… My syringe full of sealant is chilling in my back pouch. Sealant fixes everything. 

What’s your rest stop routine?

Kind of depends on how I’m feeling to be honest, and like where we’re at. If we’re at a really cool spot, I’ll probably just chill and enjoy it. Get some water. If it’s just like a gas station, I’ll probably just go in and take a dump… These days, it’s just been so hot out because of the heat wave, it’s pretty much been get water, get ice, try to find some shade. If there’s a river close by, take a little dip in that. 

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

I will say, cliff jumping in Mount Rainier is gonna be fun. Riding through the big redwoods, that’s gonna be so much fun. When you’re going fast on narrow trails, with huge trees next to you, it’s such a cool feeling. I’ll be descending down those trails, and yeah, should be great. It’s been a long trip, but it really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. It’s passed by. I still remember everything, but it’s gone so fast too. The country is so big, but after doing this it kind of feels smaller in a way. You see a lot of things you just would’ve never seen…it’s a very different way to see the country and experience everything it has to offer. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I will say, Dr. Bronner’s is pretty sick actually. You see it, and you read the crazy stuff they put on there, and you’re like, “bro, what?” It’s so good though… I will say too, after this, you know biking’s been fun, I’m gonna keep the fitness going into next year. I’ll probably be trying to train for an Ironman at some point. 

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

Days 44-47: The I4Kamping Bananza | Dubois, WY to Yellowstone, WY

Our memories faulty and our time limited, this journal is going to be on the briefer side. Writing a recap for just four days of the ride is admittedly difficult and reminds us of just how novel this endeavor is. It is rare that every day of your life for over two months is so vividly new, from constantly changing landscapes to the people we meet on the side of the road. Throughout it all, though, we hope that we offer a meaningful look into what we do and experience as Illini 4000. With that, enjoy a look into our I4Kamping experience!

Ride Overview, Days 44-47

Mileage: ~219.4

Elevation: ~12,236’

Points of Interest: Ocean Lake, Pilot Butte Dam, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Welty’s General Store, Horse Creek Gallery, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Wilderness Boundary Restaurant, Shoshone National Forest, the Continental Divide of the Americas, Jackson Lake, Jenny Lake, Emma Matilda Lake, Lizard Creek Campground, Colter Bay Convenience Store, Cowboy Coffee Co, The Hub Bicycle Shop, REI of Jackson, WY, Dairy Queen of Jackson, WY, Cascade Falls, Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring

Quotes of the Day

“One day the adults of the world will understand what it means to be ‘ballin.’” - Riddhima

“Emma’s dreams are like Peloton videos.” - Joey

Tales of the Trail

Dubois, WY (not a camping day, but a day with limited internet access for journaling) stood out as one of the most memorable stayovers of the trip so far. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where we spent the night, is also a Bike/Hike Ministry, meaning it has served many weary bikers and hikers on their travels. Not only was the wooden log architecture of the church beautiful, but its values too. The team was also treated to a delicious home-cooked meal at our hosts’ home. We are beyond grateful to be a part of the extensive community that has experienced the generosity of the church’s mission. The town of Dubois also housed memorable locations such as Horse Creek Gallery, which showcased intricate antler carvings, as well as Welty’s General Store, where Riddhima and I found some much needed ice-cold Dr Peppers and incredible kindness from the store owners. 

An artsy shop of SAV and the team at a rest stop on the way to Dubois, courtesy of Joey and his camera.

Kev at the National Museum of Military Vehicles! Pictured holding a slightly less military vehicle.

Emma leads us into Dubois!

We departed from Dubois to hit the visually stunning Shoshone National Forest, the first federally protected National Forest in the U.S. The massive forest was a gorgeous build-up to our eventual destination for the day: Grand Teton National Park. Knowing we had a rest day ahead, we took our time riding through the beautiful landscape. We took a stop at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet of the Wilderness Boundary Restaurant, snapped some photos at the Continental Divide, and stopped by a multitude of park signs, of course. The Tetons gradually came into view to huge cheers from the entire team, and it was surreal to see them coming closer and closer as we pedaled on through the forest. We met more cross-country cyclists riding into the park than on any other day of the ride, some of which were on solo bikepacking trips across the country in a variety of directions. We wound down night one of our camping trip with beans and hotdogs, a lake shower for some members of the team, and a solid nap on our campsite bear box for Neal.

Entering Shoshone National Forest!

Don’t be fooled — this may look like an iconic scene from “Titanic,” but it’s actually Maaike and Lucas in Shoshone National Forest!

Joey takes in the landscape. Pondering great thoughts, we’re sure.

The Continental Divide! Featuring modeling from Riddhima and Emma.

More sign pics? We got ‘em.

An adorable van selfie from Claudia and Riddhima — and we’re honestly not sure who’s hiding behind that water cooler.

Name a spot, and Neal will nap there. Extra points here for creativity.

And for our nature lovers, here’s a beautiful picture of the night sky from Joey.

We had a full camping rest day at Grand Teton as well, which we made the absolute most of. Our day started off with a bang as a grizzly bear was spotted incredibly close to our campsite by several members of the team. The bear proved to be harmless, and left us completely alone — it likely just wanted to say goodbye to Claudia, who decided to travel home and spend some much needed time resting before rejoining us at the Golden Gate bridge. Jack, Tommy, and Kavin ventured out on an ambitious mountain hike, while the rest of the team explored Jackson Hole and went cliff jumping. We had another camp dinner together, and many of us chose to stay up to see the sunset and Wyoming night skies.

Taking in Jenny Lake on our rest day.

A spectacular view from Kavin.

The team in Jackson Hole!

Kev and a very gorgeous sunset!

Another great nature shot, courtesy of Logan.

Our final night of camping brought us to a bucket list item for many members of the team who hadn’t yet gotten to experience it: Yellowstone! We hit as many highlights as we could on our way to our campsite, which included Cascade Falls, Old Faithful, and Grand Prismatic Spring. We encountered a good deal of climbing, traffic jams, and wildlife, including a massive car holdup due to bison in the road! We arrived in time to take a quick swim in the Madison River, before enjoying a pizza dinner donated by Lucas’s family. Some light rain showers gifted us a beautiful rainbow to enjoy as well! There was also a surprise visit from 2014 I4K alum Ellen Butler, who brought us some lovely anecdotes from her ride, advice for the future, and an amazingly kind snack donation from the 2014 team. We finished our 3-day camping bananza off with smores, which we shared with some neighboring campers.

Entering Yellowstone National Park!

Jack, Emma, Riddhima, and Lucas take in some of that Yellowstone beauty.

The Continental Divide, part 2!

The Grand Prismatic Spring, shot by Kavin.

Olaf is so ready to camp!!!

Izzy and a rainbow. There are few happier things in this world.

Once again, we apologize for the lack of Cyclist’s Corner as we try to get caught up. We will return as soon as possible!

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

Day 48: Westbound and down | Yellowstone, WY to Livingston, MT

We know you missed us. Never fear, your favorite cyclist/journalist duo is back on the internet with endless stories to share!  After dropping off the face of the earth for a few days of camping, we are so happy to be back to writing our journals as daily as possible. The team has spent the past few days at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone national parks (don’t worry, a full recap of our camping trip is on its way!!!), and have returned to a stable internet connection here in Livingston, MT. We had an adventurous day — although that truly is the norm at this point — as we said goodbye to Yelllowstone, encountered some wildlife, and entered a new state! Welcome to Montana, the home of beautiful mountains and somewhat treacherous road shoulders. We’re beyond excited to be back inside for a few nights and to get back to posting journals as usual :) Please excuse the absence of the Cyclist’s Corner as we get caught up (we will do our best to come back for one more round of interviews with everyone on the team)!

Ride Overview

Mileage: 92

Elevation: 2,482’

Ride Dedication: Heinz Kepper, Joey’s great uncle

Points of Interest: Yellowstone River, Yankee Jim River, Custer Gallatin National Forest, Los Pinos Restaurant

Quote of the Day

“Olivia and I have never told you this, but we’re both FBI agents.”

— Joey

Tales of the Trail

Our day started as usual camping days do, with chilly weather and clumsily putting away tents. After chowing down on some bagels, the team was introduced to their morning activity for the day. Inspired by 2014 I4K alum Ellen Butler (who paid us a surprise visit on Friday!), Riddhima gave us all the task of sharing our life story with our group members at some point during the day (kind of daunting, but I suppose you have to do something during a 90+ mile ride). This ended up being a well-picked activity, as the team ended up shuttling a portion of the morning stretch due to logistical difficulties. This left us with plenty of time to say goodbye to Yellowstone and talk with one another about where our lives have taken us up to this point. 

The team huddles on the side of a road at Yellowstone to figure out our shuttling plans.

Kavin captures one of the epic bison that we passed by on the ride.

After our shuttle adventure, we descended out of the national park, seeing some of the most spectacular views of the entire ride so far. We took a quick stop at one of Yellowstone’s many restaurants to grab lunch in celebration of Olivia’s 20th birthday!!! We quickly flew down the slopes of Yellowstone and across the park border into Montana. We’ve loved meeting other cyclists on our camping days — it’s been incredibly inspiring to see people putting in so much work on mountain rides or solo biking trips — and saw one brave soul climbing the slopes we were speeding down. 

Rolling into Montana!

Montana, with its huge mountains and abundant nature spots, has really impressed upon us how far we’ve come, even in just one day. As a team, we still can’t believe we’ve traveled over 3,000 miles together, and are exactly four weeks away from crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. While South Dakota and even some parts of Wyoming still felt like our home of the Midwest, we are now in completely different territory. Our first big day in the West tested us, largely because of the length of our ride and powerful heat. We hydrated well and took plentiful breaks in the shade of our beloved SAV to stay cool. We also encountered a haze that reminded us all too well of last summer in the Midwest. Wildfire smoke from California has made its way across our path at last, and while the air quality was safe for us to ride through, the layer of fog over the mountains served as a weighty reminder of the state our planet is in.

Picture riding through these gorgeous slopes for miles on end.

Olivia at the Yankee Jim River — Happy Birthday! Thank you for being such an awesome ride leader :)

A look into the van crew life.

We rode about two thirds of our ride parallel to the Yellowstone River, and took our final stretch through Paradise Valley. Despite some less than ideal road conditions — fast traffic and narrow road shoulders — we pushed through to reach our destination of Livingston. We were greeted by our dream scenario; showers AND a laundry machine! A big thank you to Neal and Dylan for figuring out how to clean our clothes — three nights in tents has us smelling less than cleanly. Olaf’s Aunt kindly donated dinner at a nearby restaurant, and we are now well-fed and looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow due to a much lower mileage count. We can’t wait to catch you up on our national park adventures as soon as possible!

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

Day 43: Mountain bikes? Who needs ‘em! | Thermopolis, WY to Riverton, WY

With each day we spend in Wyoming, we’re more and more convinced that whoever created the state hit a red button that said “randomize terrain” and left it all as is. We started today in a stunning canyon that was truly one of the most gorgeous stretches of the ride so far, and ended it on the interstate in a desert. We had another bit of a teamwork exercise as we hit a stretch of bonus gravel that was so “bonus” we were forced to shuttle for a small portion of today’s trip. However, as always, we arrived at our stayover safe and sound, had time to hit Walmart and do some laundry, and even learn a dance routine.

Ride Overview

Mileage: 55.3

Elevation: 2,165’

Ride Dedication: Debbie Sherman, Izzy’s mom’s best friend

Points of Interest: Wind River Canyon, Boysen State Park, Wyoming Heritage Trail, Main St. Dance 

Quote of the day

““The things I would do to have a mountain bike right now” ”

— Olivia, skidding out every three seconds on a gravel trail

Tales of the Trail

Today’s morning activity, brought to us by Lucas, was particularly creative — human cup pong! We split into teams of eight, and Claudia and Dylan took turns throwing popcorn into the mouths of members of the team who were seated in a triangle formation. Dylan took home the win, after many moments of extremely intense popcorn-throwing. We recognize the food-themed competitions have become a bit of a theme over the past few days — when you’re over halfway through your summer living together, you have to keep things interesting somehow.

Dylan, throwing a piece of popcorn to hit team…

And Joey, fully committed to catching it. Look at the intensity in that face.

We rolled out with a quick stop at McDonalds for two groups (we’re learning to really appreciate their cheap breakfast deals in the McDonalds app #notasponsor). After some small warm-up hills, we journeyed into the breathtaking Wind River Canyon, a beautiful range of cliffs running along Wyoming’s Wind River. We had a roughly 15 mile stretch of riding through the canyon, where we stopped for many pictures and opportunities to ogle at the huge sights around us. We did take note of the telephone lines and towers that run through the nature, which felt out of place, but served as a reminder of the rest of the world around us. 

Riding through Wind River Canyon!

Group selfie in the Canyon!

Neal taking a picture of Maaike taking a picture of Logan taking a picture of Lucas taking a picture of Olivia taking a picture of… a bike? (Side note, this may be the most nightmarish caption I’ve ever written!)

Tommy gets a panorama shot of Boysen State Park.

The landscape changed almost immediately as we rolled out of our first rest stop and found ourselves surrounded by mostly flat desert-land. The lack of trees in Wyoming is still something we’re processing a bit, as well as the fact that huge mountain formations are usually visible and looming in the distance. We enjoyed a shorter stretch of some rolling hills and found some neat items on the side of the road, including a tie-dyed pick bucket hat for Neal (that will be washed thoroughly before being worn, of course). 

Lucas and Logan break out the portable chess at a rest stop. I believe Lucas was the victor of this particular battle.

The final stretch of the day brought all the excitement. Many members of the team were looking forward to this portion of the ride, as our GPS informed us we would be on a bike trail — the term “bike trail,” however, can be used somewhat loosely in rural Wyoming. We genuinely don’t hate coming across bonus gravel on our rides (some of our teammates actually look forward to it! Shout out to Logan and his gravel-ish tires), but our “bike trail” today came in the form of uncomfortably deep sand and annoyingly large rocks. After struggling through at a very slow pace for three miles, we realized it would likely take up to four more hours to plow through the sandy gravel road for 19 total miles. We chose to shuttle in our beloved SAV (forever our savior) to a safe point on the fairly unpopulated Wyoming interstate to ride the rest of the route to our stayover, and were incredibly efficient in the process. It’s great to see how far we’ve come in shuttling our team efficiently — two trips and no bikes or humans left behind!

Taking a break from the bonus gravel of the Wyoming Heritage Trail.

Logan captures the team struggling through the sand.

Our stayover tonight is one of our favorites of the trip so far: a dance studio! A huge thank you to Main St. Dance for hosting us and providing an amazing dinner. This is a note to any future I4K riders: the odds that you spend the night in a room with a disco ball is low, but never zero!!! After a shorter day, we were able to take our time showering at the local fire station, doing laundry at a nearby laundromat, and stocking up on everything and anything we may need for our upcoming camping days at Walmart. Olivia, Lucas, Neal, Maaike, and Riddhima were so inspired by the stayover that we learned some of the choreography to the iconic “Boss Ladies” number from “Dance Moms” (since I’m unfortunately unable to find the recording of our final progress right now, you’ll just have to watch the clip from the show and imagine us doing it just as perfectly). We have a slightly longer day to Dubois tomorrow, where we’ll enjoy one last night inside — and one last journal :( — before we camp for a few nights straight in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Expect fabulous pictures and more amazing adventures to come.

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Tommy Gulumian

How are you feeling today?

I’m feeling pretty good! There were a lot of cool stops, places to just pull off and take a look at. And even when things hit the fan kind of, when we were in the middle of a desert, that was an exciting point, I would say. It was a little frustrating because the path was hard to bike on, but I thought that was kind of fun.

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

I would say the time we went canning. I did a lot of volunteering at games, me and Kavin had set up a table on the quad – which was not very effective! – but that was a time when we met up and I hadn’t talked to like Emma and Maaike as much before that, so I feel like it was good bonding and just a lot of fun. It was Dad’s Weekend when we went canning, so it was just kinda funny seeing how chaotic that was around the bars. So I’d say that would probably be one of my more memorable ones. 

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

I think of people from home, I think of my family, I think of people in my life that have been impacted by cancer… In my mind I like to think about how in past years over the summer me and my friends would go on a lot of Illinois bike paths. It would be a place where I could just unwind and just talk with my friends, and so I kind of think about that – how I’m in new places, I’m with a group that was new before the school year, and I just think this is a very special, unique event. Like actually, during this ride, I was talking to Kavin… we’d bet, “how much money do you think somebody from our high school has been in this area?” 

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

I don’t have a fanny pack or anything. I just love how the uniform has the three back pockets! Like the amount of times I think about where I’m putting what and I’m just like, “my phone will be safe in the middle one.” I do keep a phone holder on my bike, so that is what my secondary thing is, but I don’t really have anything on me apart from what’s needed. So, I’d say it’s either the three pockets in the back or my holder.

What’s your rest stop routine?

The first thing I do is… I love flavoring my water! And so it’s just like, I always get my water bottles empty and it can make it taste like fruit punch now. I’ll have like Neal or Jack go like, “we gotta do pushups!” So I’m like, “oh, well, we’re doing that now!” Yeah, I’d say it’s just pulling off, getting a little bit of a breather – I don’t know why, but I don’t really have an appetite when I’m biking, so I don’t really look for snacks as much. But yeah, just making my water bottles taste good and also doing pushups.

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

I think if this was an earlier point in the ride, I’d definitely say it’d be somewhere in Oregon because I know we’re gonna see Redwoods and that is a bucket list thing. I will say though, I know that the next coming rest day is Grand Tetons and we have a very small group that’s trying to do a lot of hiking on the day. If you asked me two or three weeks ago, I would’ve been like, “why am I using energy on a rest day?” But now I’m like, “this is a first time thing for I4K!” In my mind I’m thinking, “this is insane, but also, we’re biking across the country – so we’re insane!” 

Anything else you want to talk about?

As we’re going futher into the ride, I hear a lot of people going, “we should watch this movie, we should do this,” and so part of me is just really looking forward to the rest days coming apart from the Tetons – like when we’re in civilization again. I’m looking forward to having a little more team time like that, like that just sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.

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

Day 41 & Day 42: Short and sweet? Try short and steep + What goes up, must come down | Buffalo, WY to Meadowlark Lake, WY + Meadowlark Lake, WY to Thermopolis, WY

As the team journalists, we love making the morning activity about the journals. This time, Riddhima had everyone on the team write one sentence each for the introductory paragraph to Day 41. The results were predictably questionable. Enjoy:

The beautiful and amazingly wonderful team in the van planned four scenic rest stops for us today, as our 43 mile route was short but STEEP. Our team biked biked biked up a mountain as we climbed the stairway to heaven. We did a lot of climbing. The roads were very steep, but the route was short. The route was long, but the roads weren’t steep — climbing is a mindset. We camped at Meadowlark Lake. The team competed in a very intense pie-eating contest. With the Olympics coming up, our team definitely deserves a gold medal of odd challenges and outrageous use of eating utensils… including opening our beans with heavy rocks. After a few intense rounds of Ace, a card game involving deception, the team was ready to cozy up in our tents. Lucas, Lucas. Camping together was fun, but the chills were not. 

We love our teammates, but we’re going to take it back from here. 

As you can tell, we survived our first camping day (much to everyone’s surprise)! Day 41 began with one of the most gradual and lengthy climbs of the ride. We determinedly inched up the extensive mountains of Bighorn National Forest, rewarded at the top by panoramic views of ancient rocky faces decorated with seemingly endless acres of pine and fir trees. After we set up camp, we held a pie-eating competition (keep reading to see the results of this heated battle), played cards, and made campfire hot dogs. Despite a few bouts of icy rain and the colder weather that comes with a high elevation, the team made the most of the opportunity to spend some time in nature. 

Day 42 started exactly the opposite — a complete 20 miles of the most scenic descent imaginable. We zoomed through Bighorn National Forest, descending thousands of feet in the first hour of the day. Our very chilly weather turned normal before we knew it, and we took on the rolling hills of Wyoming for the fairly standard remainder of the day. We returned to civilization in the form of Thermopolis, WY and visited its iconic hot springs after our showers. While we enjoyed our night under the stars, we’re happy to be back inside with some warmer weather up ahead.

Ride Overview, Day 41

Mileage: 43.7

Elevation: 6,665’

Ride Dedication: Melanie Ertz, a family friend of Joey’s.

Points of Interest: Bighorn National Forest

Quote(s) of the day

“We’re biking across the country! And doing a pie-eating contest every day!” - Neal, to a curious person at the campground

“You’re never guaranteed a second scoop of beans.” - Kev

Tales of the Trail

Today’s morning activity aptly prepared us for our first camping day. Logan had us act out what to do if you encounter a black bear (fight back) versus a brown bear (lie down), to which we enthusiastically obliged.

The team demonstrates what to do if you see a brown bear (note Tommy playing as the bear).

We started the ride in a haze of anticipation, whether that took the form of eagerly searching out Strava segments to beat or making your entire group solemnly pledge to bike at a sustainable pace. We’ve done 6,000’ + days of climbing before, but rarely in such a short distance. By now, though, we’ve noticed that with every tough climb comes worthwhile views and liberating descents, so we took on the challenge with the knowledge that we would make it to the end just as we have before. 

Approaching the big climb.

If you’re going to gain that much elevation on a bicycle, you might as well do it with some views. From the moment we felt the first bit of incline under our wheels, the quiet expansiveness of the Bighorn National Forest encompassed us. Every rest stop was a scenic outlook, offering increasingly vast slices of the landscape to us as we pedaled higher and higher. We relished the descents that followed, each one a mark of another tough section of climbing complete and a chance to feast our eyes on the terrain we had worked so hard to experience. 

“The views” mentioned above, a la Joey and his amazing photography skills.

One of our picturesque rest stops.

Logan making sure we hydrate!

Fixing a flat less than a mile from a rest stop :,)

Feels good to finally reach the top :)

Surveying our progress.

Kev poses with the adorable snowman they made from what little snow we found at the top of the climb :)

The novelty of the day wasn’t over when we reached our destination, because this time we arrived at our very first campground. We bordered right on the edge of Meadowlark Lake, soothed by the sounds and shade of a nearby creek running into it. As our teammates mentioned above, we engaged in a passionate team pie-eating competition. Olaf was first, Neal was second, and Jack was third (and Kev emphasized that they would like it to be known that they were fourth)! After, we hung out and layered up to shelter from the cold weather ahead. 

Joey captures the gently bubbling creek leading into Meadowlark Lake.

It was tough to find just one picture that captured the chaos and competitiveness of the pie-eating, but we felt this one did it best.

Posing with our trophies!

The aftermath of the competition…

Goodnight, I4K.

The ride has the interesting effect of enveloping you in a sort of bubble. Some teammates have commented on how they haven’t been keeping up with the news as often or spent as much time on social media. Camping forced us to go truly unplugged, and it was meaningful to experience that together. We climbed an entire mountain solely on the power of our legs (although, the endless support of the van crew cannot be understated) and camped under the impartial cover of the outdoor elements. Overall, Day 41 felt uniquely self-sufficient and incredibly gratifying. 

Ride Overview, Day 42

Mileage: 79.9

Elevation: 2,770’

Points of Interest: The Daily Bread Cafe, Pony Express Convenience Store

Quote of the day

“Well if your immune system isn’t strong enough, it’s your own fault.”

— Dylan

Tales of the Trail

We woke up quite cold this morning, but thankfully completely undisturbed by bears or any other creatures that may have been in the area. Breakfast brought something brand new for the team — hold onto your hats now — bagels! Since we aren’t able to quickly acquire warm water for oatmeal in the morning — and absolutely no one is advocating to eat it cold — bagels have become a part of our I4K camping diet. We used our numb hands and fingers to devour these before packing up our tents, loading the van, and being sure to leave our campsite better than we found it.

Kev captures a beautiful morning sunrise.

The beginning portion of today’s ride felt almost like reparations for yesterday. The first 20 miles of our route was almost completely descending, which required much skill from the team especially on some hairpin turns on the road. Thankfully, riding early in the morning freed most of this stretch from traffic, and gave us more of the ability to stare at the gorgeous view surrounding us. This 20 mile stretch has been described by many as the most jaw-dropping of the trip so far, with the most beautiful views imaginable. Despite being freezing in the winds of the descents, we warmed up quickly as we dropped in elevation, and were able to shed our gloves when we left Bighorn National Forest at the bottom. A small reward for our riding was as our first rest stop in the form of the delicious Daily Bread Cafe (at which our entire bill was paid for by a very kind customer. If you’ve managed to find us online, thank you!!!!). 

SAV’s view of the descent.

The view — our beautiful bikers and the equally beautiful scenery behind them.

Kavin embraces his inner forest spirit.

The rest of the ride was a fairly average I4K day, as we rode just over 2,000 feet of elevation through the rolling hills of Wyoming. Our entire route today was a straight line with two turns — a turn out of the campsite, and a turn into our stayover’s parking lot. The scenery changed drastically from the beginning section of the day, as we were surrounded by hills of deserted plains with the snow capped mountains slowly fading into the distance. Saying goodbye to the mountains hasn’t been too terribly hard, as we know we’ll see them again soon — the Grand Tetons are truly just around the corner!

When we wonder what people do in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, this is apparently one of them.

SAV with her bikers.

Dylan proves that when you’re tired enough, you can truly nap anywhere.

Our stayover in Thermopolis is close to seemingly endless fun activities for the team, as we visited the nearby hot springs to relax, as well as a mini-golf course! Dinner was kindly donated by Dylan’s grandpa in the form of Taco Bell, a campus favorite that we’re all happy to see again. We’re very glad to be back inside for another couple of nights before a multiple day stretch of camping. Until then, we’ll do our best to keep our legs fresh and our bodies as warm as possible :) 

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Riddhima Patllollu

How are you feeling today?

I’m feeling okay. I feel quite accomplished after the climb that we had yesterday. Today…my knee issues kind of flared up again, but I’m getting used to that, so I feel okay! I had a good day in the van with everyone, and it was really really cool to see the drastic transition from huge, forested mountains and the cold, to this arid, desert-like landscape. Overall, I have been really enjoying Wyoming. Not a place that I ever imagined I would go, but I’m glad to be here.

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

Yes. On campus, I am part of this professional fraternity for my major — which is information sciences — and the frat’s called Psi Eta Mu, PHM for short. Basically, it was really cool because it was a culmination of all of my efforts from freshman year to get involved on campus. Basically I reached out to them and I was like “hey, I’m a part of this really cool organization and I know you guys do fundraisers, so I was wondering if we could like, combine our fundraiser together…” We did this really fun thing called “Pie a Member,” where we just pied people in the face! All you have to do is pay for the pie, and we just filled it with whipped cream, and just got pied in the face! And it was really awesome! It was also my first time organizing a proper fundraising event — it was really stressful, but really rewarding, and I learned a lot. It was really cool to see the efforts of both sides of my extracurricular activities show up. And we raised a lot! I think we raised 300 dollars? Honestly, for the amount of time that it took and the supplies, I think that was pretty great.

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

This question is interesting, because I think there’s two types of ways it gets difficult for me. One is just like, the unavoidable “I can’t bike through this,” injury sort of thing, where I don’t still get on the bike because I know my body, and I know that I shouldn’t keep going if I want to survive the entire length of the ride. But then there’s the other kind of like mental aspect where it’s like, “ugh, I don’t want to bike today.” And I think I’ll speak to that part. Of course, I think about the cause, first and foremost. But when you’re like, in the midst of a climb, or you’re looking at a really tough elevation map or mileage, sometimes that kind of floats away and doesn’t become your main focus. I don’t know, I think I just take it day by day, rest stop by rest stop. And also the team just helps immeasurably, because it’s incredibly inspiring — especially to go back to the cause, to see the people with amazing, really direct and touching reasons to do this ride, to see those people get up and still bike every day. The act of collectively biking, collectively pedaling is really inspiring to me, and I would say that is a big part of what keeps me going.

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

Maaike gave me these amazing — I don’t know where she found it — but she gave me this amazing “Lego Movie 2” sticker sheet back in Champaign. I don’t know if this counts as an accessory, because it’s on my bike and my helmet. I have a Lego Batman sticker on my bike, and I have a Emmett sticker on my helmet, and they both make me very very happy. As for accessories that I actively put on, I don’t really have any except sun sleeves I guess? But flowers, I love to put flowers on my bike. Flowers are a big thing because you just find them, and it’s like taking a piece of the scenery with you… I feel like it just makes everyone else happy. Just seeing flowers bob around on my bike. It’s really nice… It’s especially fun to give other people flowers to put on their bike. 

What’s your rest stop routine?

I don’t really have a rest stop routine! I kind of just do stuff… Sometimes, I just reflect. I kind of love being in the West, because our rest stops are a lot more random, middle-of-nowhere situation, but that means I can just go off to a little corner and just reflect. It’s just really chill. Obviously I eat snacks. I’ve been really really grateful for all the snack donations we’ve been getting, because that was very unforeseen, but I appreciate it so so much because we’re super spoiled. Some days I’m just like “oh, let me just have this fresh-baked cookie to fuel me,” instead of a really depressing — but still delicious — bar or something like that. That’s just so cool that someone made that for us, and it still continues to fuel us throughout all these rides. But yeah, same answer as everyone else — water, bathroom, blah blah blah. It differs every day. If there’s a café, I’ll go, if there’s postcards, I’ll buy them. Also, shout out to Claudia and the van crew, because without them we literally would not have rest stops. If we did, our rest stops would just be boring, like what would we even do? 

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

The entire state of Washington. I don’t know if it’s because I used to really like “Twilight” as a kid — I now like “Twilight” ironically, let the record know that — I don’t know…the nature of Washington has always held a really quite beauty to me, and I’m really looking forward to Mount Rainier specifically. I think that that’s my kind of nature. Because I really appreciate the West, this sort of nature where it’s like desert-y and rocky — and I don’t know if that’s what Mount Rainier is like, but I think I prefer green, lush, dark forest kind of situation. I’m really looking forward to that. I might get to see my brother there too.

Anything else you want to talk about?

On the Fourth of July, we played this song called “God Bless the USA” a lot, and I think it was a little bit of a joke, but I thought about it and I thought about this country, and I’ve just been blown away by the amount of natural beauty this place has, and how incredibly grateful I am that I get to experience it this way… Because my god it is beautiful. And I just want to re-emphasize the climbing that we did yesterday, because it’s one thing to drive up a mountain — it’s still beautiful, but it’s one thing to agonizingly slowly pedal your way up a mountain and nearly die at the top of it. But still make it! It’s just the little moments of that, like Kev making their snowman out of the little snow that we found, or breaking off some rocks from the summit and seeing people climb all over. I just think this is a really unique way to experience everything, and I’m really glad and grateful to be here with everyone.

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

Day 40: Life is a highway, and we wanna bike it all day long | Gillette, WY to Buffalo, WY

Every morning, we roll out in silent acceptance of the fact that we don’t know what the day will bring. This involves our daily routes – there’s only so much an elevation graph and a line on a map can tell you. The team spent the majority of today on Interstate 90 (I-90), which you’d think would be dull but was in reality quite enjoyable. As we inched closer and closer to our destination in Buffalo, the snowy peaks of the Bighorn National Forest beckoned to us. It was surreal to watch them grow bigger with each pedal stroke, especially with the knowledge that we would be going up them the next day. Although tomorrow is going to throw a lot of climbing at us, we know it’ll challenge us in ways that’ll ultimately improve our riding – plus, we’ll also be doing our first camping day! Apologies if you don’t hear from us for a while, dear readers. 

Ride Overview

Mileage: 67.5

Elevation: 3,178’

Ride Dedication: Carrie Ivicic, the mother of Lucas’s friend and a breast cancer survivor.

Points of Interest: I-90!

quote(s) of the day

“Britney Spears is who Shakespeare wishes he could’ve been.” - Kavin

“If you catch one, you can keep it in the van!” - Lucas, upon seeing a herd of wild turkeys 

tales of the trail

We started today with Neal’s morning activity: “Throw Shoe, Bite Leaf” Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Everyone lined up in a parking lot, and when Neal tossed up Olaf’s shoe, we all raced to the nearest leaf and bit it before the poor shoe hit the ground. A few airborne shoes and chewed-up leaves later, Joey emerged victorious. It’s always entertaining to imagine what some of our morning activities look like to the average person walking by.

The team in the midst of a round of “Throw Shoe, Bite Leaf” — note the speck in the sky that is Olaf’s cycling cleat and Joey running the opposite direction in a clever strategy to bite the leaves of the closer tree (no wonder he won).

Izzy, Maaike, and Claudia as our van crew for the day!

After adorning our bikes with the colorful fresh flowers that our stayover host kindly gave us, we set off onto I-90. The first few miles of ordinary grassy hills filled us with a little dread for what was to come, but then we saw them – the Bighorn Mountains, surrounded by endless blankets of dry, shrubby hills. In all their vastness, they never left our sight for the entire day. Seeing snow in early July was a new and exciting experience, one that we find gets more and more frequent as we make our way to the unfamiliar West.

Olaf + Bike + Flowers = Happiness.

Lucas embraces his inner country boy.

We patiently scaled slight and gradual hills with general ease (a testament to our increased collective strength at this point of the ride), which were followed by long descents that gave us a moment to drink in the horizon ahead of us. Interstate riding can turn our jersey pockets into somewhat of a junkyard – some groups pulled over a few times to inspect the odd license plate or shattered phone here or there. Anything for some entertainment. 

Emma, Lucas, and Anthony make their way to the mountains.

The team biked at a good pace and arrived at our lovely stayover, St. Luke's Lutheran Church with enough time for us to do some local exploring, bike maintenance, movie watching (tonight’s pick was “My Cousin Vinny”), and more. A huge thank you to our hosts for donating dinner and doing our laundry – a luxury, with our upcoming camping day tomorrow night. 

In the best way possible, nothing about this ride is normal when you really think about it, including the fact that we sleep in a new town almost every night under a new roof. We’re intrigued to see how camping will add a new dimension to our post-ride routine, as well as to spend time with the amazing natural landscapes we’ve been passing by in a more intimate way. Stay tuned for some spotty updates (assume Maaike and I are frolicking around a lake and eating s’mores in the time being). 

Shoutout to Susan from Gillette for telling us about this awesome mural!

Lucas and Olivia being the most fashionable ride leaders there are.

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Neal Linden

How are you feeling today?

Today I’m pretty tired. Sleeping in was nice, but I wasn’t used to it, so I just like woke up at the normal time and couldn’t go back to sleep. But the interstate was very pretty, but kind of bland. Solid six out of ten day. 

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

I went to CSL Plasma a lot. I would sit there and just scroll through Instagram reels while it was sucking my blood, I spent so much time on Instagram reels. We went canning on Dad’s Weekend, and it was really fun just selling snacks to [people]. We got to meet a couple of athletes on campus who were very interesting to talk to. It was really fun selling snacks with you guys.

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

What I kind of think about lately is that, my bike is like, breaking, and we can’t have parts, so I’m biking as much as I can before Dylan needs his parts that I utilized back. I’m gonna bike on them as much as I can. Also, I remember the 110 day in Minnesota, I was like dying, but I wanted to do the full 110 [miles] or whatever we did with all the detours. I was like “this ain’t nothing.” I was like, “it’s just fourth quarter football, that’s all it is…it’s fourth quarter, we’re playing Sterling-Newman, we’re down three.” It was a good game, that was a really good game… But I think back to how hard football was, and I’m like, “this ain’t nothing.” [Biking] low key is kind of harder sometimes, because this goes on for way longer. 

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

Bandanas. Every day. I’ve added so many — I think I have like 14 now — I have so many bandanas and socks. I’ve stopped doing laundry for them until we get to rest days, just because I have so many. They don’t take up much space. But dude, I love bandanas. The Pit Vipers are one of the greatest investments I’ve made in my life. They protect my eyes, while also protecting my ego, wearing my little bike helmet, because I get to have cool Pit Vipers to balance it out. If I lose my Pitties, I’m going home and not finishing the ride. Dead serious. I’m not doing it without them. 

What’s your rest stop routine?

Ideally, what I should do, is get off the bike, do pushups, fill my water bottles, eat, Chamois Butt’r, go. What I do do, is I get off my bike, I usually talk to people for about five minutes, then I lay down on the ground for probably 15 minutes — just exist horizontally for a while, sometimes I fall asleep and sometimes I don’t — usually if I fall asleep, someone wakes me up and they’re like “we gotta go,” so I’m like, “okay.” So then I flip over, then I do my pushups, then I fill my bottles, then take snacks for the road because they’re trying to get me to leave… Every time I ride with Logan, at exactly mile 60, I pull out a Tootsie Pop, and I ask him “hey Logan, how many licks do you think it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll at the center of a Tootsie Pop?” I always wait until mile 60. I did it one time…he just started dying, and I ended up riding with him for three days in a row after that, so I just kept doing it. 

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

First time I said Eugene, Oregon, I remember that because there’s some restaurant that has a hamburger challenge that I wanted to do. Also, very recently, I found out that Ed, who’s biking across the country, his sister owns a sporting goods store in Eugene, Oregon that he told us to go to. So that’s like, everything coming together in Eugene, Oregon. I don’t even know where else we’re going. Thermopolis, I hear has hot springs…and it’s a very well named town. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I’ve had these bibs in my bag the entire trip that I’ve had as a spare, right? And I wore them today, because our other bibs [didn’t dry], so I wore the spare bibs today. They were the most uncomfortable, I forgot how uncomfortable they were! All day, I’m sitting here just like, urgh. Those bibs sucked. Also, I’m really excited to finish the movie “My Cousin Vinny.” I wanna find out if they’re innocent or not. It’s such a good movie… So if my mom reads these journals, hopefully she’ll watch it, because it’s a good movie. I’m gonna start quoting it. Shout out mom.

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

Day 38 & 39: Goodbye South Dakota, Hello Wyoming! + Party In the USA | Hermosa, SD to Newcastle, WY + Newcastle, WY to Gillette, WY

Author’s note: Due to our future camping days and days in remote areas with no cell service/internet connection, journals may not always be published daily. We will do our best to publish whenever possible!!! Additionally, Maaike (who has recently been feeling very under the weather) would like to give a huge shoutout to Riddhima for carrying the journals the past few days so she can recover. Thank you for reading and following along with us as always :)

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Day 38 was long and eventful. The team tackled big and rewarding climbs, got unexpectedly hailed on, rode through the spectacular heart of the Black Hills National Forest, and much more. If you’re an avid reader of the journals, you’ll notice that Maaike and I made the executive decision to take a break from posting yesterday and use our time to just, as our teammate Olivia puts it, “be.” We’re glad we did so, as Day 39 was especially challenging. We forced ourselves through incessant headwinds and a startlingly bare landscape — an unforeseen juxtaposition to the grandiosity of Day 38. After spending a while in South Dakota, we’re grappling with Wyoming’s change of scenery. Still though, and we can’t say this enough, the strangers we encounter in every corner of the country and their receptiveness to our cause continue to make a consistently positive impact on our journey. Onwards and upwards.

Ride Overview, Day 38

Mileage: 75.3

Elevation: 6,399’

Points of Interest: Mount Rushmore, Black Hills National Forest, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park Bike Trail, Hell Canyon Horse Camp, Holy Terror Coffee & Fudge

Quote(s) of the Day

“SAV, PLEASE.” - Claudia, trying to drive SAV up a mountain

“I don’t think I’d want my side profile on a mountain.” - Olivia

“Guys, let it take you.” - Izzy, about the crosswinds

Tales of the Trail

Day 38 can best be described by our teammate Neal’s words: “today is the greatest day we’ve ever had of biking.” Obviously, everyone’s favorite day of the ride is different — this one, however, was certainly memorable in some way for each of us. 

We conquered tedious, winding uphills to Mount Rushmore, a one-of-a-kind national icon that some of us (Maaike and I included) refused to believe was real until we saw it with our own eyes. We swiftly descended steep, curvy downhills like they were our trophies for getting up the climbs before them. All throughout, the imposingly beautiful slopes of the Black Hills National Forest loomed over us. Although it was hard, it was also strangely calming to bike under the watch of nature as otherworldly as that.

Lucas, Jack, Kavin, and Tommy enter Black Hills National Forest.

Making our way up to Mount Rushmore (it’s steeper than it looks).

Mount Rushmore (Kev, Tommy, Lucas, and Emma’s Version).

Mount Rushmore (Logan, Joey, Lucas, and Neal’s Version).

Mount Rushmore (The Best Version).

Kev, Emma, Izzy, and Riddhima with some kind cyclists they met at the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Emma, Riddhima, and Kev cheer at a picturesque bike trail detour.

A messy combination of rain, thunder, lightning, and hail halted our progress for an hour or so, but we were thankfully able to keep riding after waiting the weather out. The last stretch in the ride was exceptionally gorgeous. The team rolled into Wyoming and were immediately enveloped by its mountainous, forested terrain on either side of the road. We saw some firsts of the ride, like small populations of cacti and tangles of tumbleweeds. Gusts of surprisingly intense crosswinds distracted a little bit from the views, though, as a lot of us had to instead focus on not toppling over onto asphalt. 

SAV shelters a group while they wait out the bad weather.

Izzy summits another big climb.

Groups descend in the distance.

In a moment of desperation, Kev, Izzy, and Emma let the crosswinds sweep them away.

It was relatively late when the last groups arrived at our stayover, Christ Episcopal Church. Once we were showered and fed (thank you to our hosts for donating boxes of popsicles!), we retired to bed as soon as we could, eager for rest after a lively day of riding and sightseeing. 

We also want to take a moment to say goodbye to Michael. We wish we could have spent the entire summer with him, but we also must acknowledge the realities of a med school schedule (it turns out that sadly not everything revolves around I4K). He left in the early morning after playing a lively game of Gaga Ball that Olaf taught us, followed by our showers of hugs and well wishes. We loved riding with you Michael, and we hope your relationship with I4K continues on into the future in whatever capacity that life allows for. We’ll miss you.

Michael in front of SAV, one last time.

An intense game of Gaga Ball.

Ride Overview, Day 39

Mileage: 78.9

Elevation: 2,410’

Points of Interest: Joe’s Food Center, Rozet Post office

Quote of the Day

“You are all terrible — terribly kind! Stop!”

— Maaike

Tales of the Trail

Despite today’s ride being nowhere near the elevation of the previous day’s, it was mentally hard in ways we had not anticipated. We’re now in Wyoming, the 10th largest state in the country — but also the least populated. Our route followed the same road for almost the entirety of the ride, and this sparse aspect of Wyoming revealed itself to be soberingly true. Cars were a rare sight, much less people to interact with.

One of the many barren rest stops.

Headwinds were a major factor in ride conditions, in that they were constant and unforgiving. Nevertheless, we have our tactics. Biking across the country can skew your grasp of time, but the festivities of the 4th of July were not lost on us — I believe we listened to and/or badly sang “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood more times than there are states in the country, and we do not regret it. We also came up with some patriotic hashtags, some of our favorites being #cantspellemancipationwithoutemma and #cantspelllucaswithoutusa. We also found an Illinois license plate on the side of the road, the first in the classic collection of I4K license plates and a unique call back to our organization’s home. 

Rolling into our stayover was a tense moment of sore anticipation, hurried on by the chilly rain that caught some of our groups in the last few miles. Hungry and tired, the team was incredibly grateful to be met with the astounding generosity of our hosts at First United Methodist Church. Not only did they give us warm showers, but dinner and breakfast (and Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen)! We also had the pleasure of watching the town’s fireworks show after.

Izzy, Maaike, Kev, and Olivia proudly show off their crocheted worms, courtesy of the church :)

A major shoutout to one of our hosts, Susan, for being such an outspoken fan of the journals (the church gave us flowers to put on our bikes after reading Olaf’s interview from Day 37, which is just one of many kind gestures we could not have anticipated before this ride) and an awesome trivia host! We learned a lot about Wyoming, such as the fact that we will be in the state during its birthday on July 10th.

Of course, anything we do on the ride ultimately grounds itself in our mission of funding cancer research. We’ve encountered stories of the American cancer experience everywhere we’ve gone, none of which would be meaningful without the fundraising we do and the boundlessly giving people that contribute to it. We’re grateful to add the amazing people at First United Methodist Church to that group, and we sincerely thank them for their beyond generous donation of $1,000 to the organization. We could not do anything that we do without moments like these. 

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Olivia Ross

How are you feeling today?

I feel pretty good. Today was a long day, but me and Emma committed to getting that job done for the women…we needed to commit, and by the time I wanted to sag, we were too far gone. We had to see it through! The job needed to be done, and I’m really glad that it got done, because I felt really accomplished. And I hope Emma did too. I’m feeling like a firework. Happy fourth!

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

I feel like my fundraising strategy wasn’t very unique. I just reached out to friends and family, and luckily they were all very supportive and kind, and willing to donate money, and had the funds to, which was great. I just remember being so surprised by people that I hadn't talked to in a couple years that were willing to donate money, like my old cheerleading coach. 

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

I feel like it’s a privilege to have perspective of like, I’ve already done this before. I think last year, I took a lot of my tiredness for granted, just feeling very selfish with my emotions almost, whereas this year, I’m just like, it really is a privilege just to be on the bike, and to be able to do that. Especially with cancer interactions that I’ve had recently, just understanding that I might not always be able to do this helps keep me on — obviously if I’m feeling unhealthy, it’s not worth staying on the bike. Just understanding that this opportunity isn’t always guaranteed for me helps.

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

Jon, my partner, my amazing partner…we made these bracelets in Chicago together of each other’s eye colors. So we made those, and I’ve been wearing that, but then it broke last week, so he shipped me a new one! So I haven’t worn it for the past week, and I’m also hesitant to be wearing it on the bike in case it breaks again. But in spirit, I’m wearing it, and he knows that… Last year, I wore a bracelet that my best friend’s mom and her gave to me, which was nice. I didn’t think to bring it this year, but I should have. Sally [my bike] is equipped with the most amazing smiley face on the front, that Olaf so graciously painted on there… You can find me with sour patch kids. And corn nuts, beef jerky. Those are in my pockets. Three pockets, three snacks. Just food and fun trinkets. That’s what I got.

What’s your rest stop routine?

This has changed too since last year, because last year I was just like, “la dee da, I don’t really care.” And now this year, because I’m in charge of everyone else, I’m like, not la dee da at all. “La dee da, I actually care, and I want you guys to hurry up.” But I’ve gotten more zen recently. If rest needs to happen, rest will happen… I use the rest stop as my time to center myself. The bike is not everything, take a moment to just enjoy, and eat snacks, and just try to take it in. That’s what I tried to do today, was just like, “I’m in the mountains.” Take it in. It’s not that deep. I feel like I don’t need to say the stuff that everyone else has said like water, snacks, we all know that. I talk to Claudia, make sure she is well. Check on Sally, make sure she’s still functioning. 

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

I don’t remember what I said in the beginning, but I am excited for Mount Rainier, and I think I did say that. I am still excited to see Mount Rainier, because we haven’t seen it yet! The anticipation is growing, I am getting excited by the day, more and more. I am also getting more fearful of the climbing, however, I remain optimistic, and it will be beautiful. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I would like to share that it is the Fourth of July, and it’s been a very eventful, very USA Fourth of July. And also, it was a great dinner today. I really appreciated dinner. I really appreciated Susan [our stayover host]. Thank you so much to Susan, for the amazing trivia, the amazing conversation, the amazing person that she is. Love Susan.

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