Day 43 Cheynne, WY to Laramie, WY

Today was a unique day.  First, instead of riding groups, we rode in pairs because we knew there would be a lot of climbing (groups tend to get separated a lot on climbs, so it makes more sense to ride with fewer people).  I rode with Emily Lake.  Because she is one of the quieter people on the team, I thought the ride would be completely silent, but pleasantly enough she ended up talking to me about her swimming at Towson University.  I always thought that I never slept well enough in college, but hearing Emily talk about waking up at 3-4AM everyday to be at swim practice 5AM and how basically swimming was her entire life made me appreciate what sleep I did get.

While we started off with some long climbs, everything was relatively gradual so none of it was too much of a problem.  We passed some other pairs and joined some others for brief periods of time, so the morning went by really fast.

So this triumphant picture you see of me was one of the high points of the day... and then things kind of  fell apart for a bit after this... you see for some bizarre reason, although I knew we would be doing a ton of climbing that day, I didn't really eat much all day.  A basic rule of cycling nutrition is that when you have harder rides (e.g. climbing), you need more calories (duh)... But for some reason this idea went over my head and I barely ate anything at any of the water stops in the morning.  So soon after this picture was taken, I became very hungry and fatigued.  As any cyclist will tell you, if you become really hungry, it's pretty much too late to bounce back, because anything you eat will take a long time to be digested and converted into energy.  So I really struggled to climb the second half of the day, and thankfully my climbing partner Emily was really patient and she didn't mind stopping constantly.  We did have a lot of places to take nice pictures and what not, but we definitely stopped more often than I would have liked. 

Fortunately shortly after, I got a big boost when the food van showed up at the top of a hill and handed us grilled chicken sandwiches.  I haven't eaten that quickly in some time...

The last part of the day was a bit of a let down because our route ended up being not even gravel, but just grass.  We knew there was gravel ahead, so Emily, Ari, Chelsea (alum), and I scouted ahead past the gravel.  While there were some spectacular views, the road just turned into some grass and trees.  We figured our road bikes have already had to endure enough gravel, we ended up shuttling the last 15-20 miles into Laramie.  A bit disappointing since the entire ride would have been a big downhill, but safety first (we skipped an interstate).

Chelsea the alum pondering the difficulty of riding road bikes on grass / trees

A slightly different angle of the same pic, in which Margrethe decries the absence of a paved road

Ok so it might not look it, but I promise the view from where this picture was taken was amazing.  I think Emily Lipsitz (van driver that day) described it as *ahhhhh insert Hallelujah noise*

Anyway, we shuttled into the town (as usual the van packed to the roof).  We had a great dinner provided by the First Baptist Church in town.  Showers kind of fell through at the last minute *oops*, so while some people showered at the church members' homes, a number of us (including me) opted to stay stinky for one more day.  After all, we'd be biking soon after anyway, so who cares... right?

Highlight of the night was when the three alums Chelsea, Bradley, and V were about to leave Tori, Kelsey, and I smashed cupcakes into their faces.  Of course being clumsy, I somehow managed to hit Chelsea right in the eye with a chocolate frosted cupcake (she doesn't even like chocolate apparently).  But it was all fun and of course Chelsea had to smear some of it on me.

Day 42 - Fort Collins to Cheyenne

Into Wyoming!

Wow I cannot believe that we made it all the way to Wyoming.  I know I feel that way every time we cross, a state, but this is different.

You might not be able to see it, but there are bullet holes in the sign.

Ok so I've skipped a bit ahead in the day, since it took awhile for us to get into Wyoming.  Actually the first part of the day was very smooth and uneventful (which is a good thing), but at a point we realized that we were approaching a highway with fast moving traffic and basically no shoulder.  After we decided to shuttle 20 miles to lunch, our group just kind of fell asleep for an hour, since it takes quite a long time to shuttle everyone.  

Napchat level 1000 (minus Patricia)

Anyway, after lunch we formed a larger group with one of the alums Chelsea.  Somehow we moved incredibly slowly because we had so many bike problems.  Perhaps the most notable was when I broke Emily Lake's frame pump... sorry Emily... We ended up pumping up the tire via Caitlin's CO2, but of course we did it for too long and it was probably at 130+ PSI... in heat... oops.  Instead of letting some air out which would have been sensible, for some crazy reason we decided it would be smart to just ride it.  Only 50 feet after we started riding, I heard a very loud pop noise from the back.  I assumed it was a blowout, but actually the tire just popped off of the rim and while the tube was blown out, the tire was somehow actually just fine.  We quickly put in a new tube and pumped it up to a reason PSI and were on our way.  It was a bizarre and very very slow finish, but I think we all had a good time, which is what matters.

Thanks to our hosts for the night, Grace United Methodist Church.  We had a great dinner of enchiladas and showers at the church!  Showers at the church are always appreciated, since I'm actually pretty lazy...

Thanks also to Bradley and V for helping us with our bikes tonight.  So many tires were trued, derailleurs tuned, brake pads replaced, etc. Bradley stayed up so late into the night doing all of this for us, I can't express how grateful I am.  Also I forgot to mention it, but the morning that we left Fort Collins, Bradley bent my rear derailleur hanger back and while it skipped for a little bit at the beginning of the ride, somehow it seems to have been fixed and there's no skipping at all now!

Day 41 Boulder to Fort Collins

One of the best days so far on the entire trip.  Aside from having great tailwind all day thanks to the fact that we were headed somewhat east to Fort Collins, we had a great view of the Rockies to the west side (thankfully we didn't have to climb them today... they'll be here in Wyoming).  The route was also great, with a ton of bike lanes between the two cities.  Somehow Fort Collins seemed almost equally as bike friendly as Boulder, so really no problems with cars or anything of that sort.

But what really made the day was the fact that several of the alums rode with us.  I rode with Bradley, Kelsey, Peter, and Jocelyn.  Unfortunately Bradley didn't have time to fix my bike this morning (really bent rear derailleur oops), but I rode Jamie's bike so it was ok.  Actually, today reminded me a lot of the first day when we rode out of Baltimore (seems like years and years ago... and yet also so close).  All day we swapped silly stories about different 4K teams, stopped at a 711 for a free slushy (July 11, 711...).  We even had no bike problems of any kind.  What a great day.

Meeting up with San Fran in the morning for dedication before leaving separately

Day 40 - Rest day in Boulder

I really needed today's rest day because I'm sick.  We started the morning by going to a coffee shop, relaxing, doing some blogging etc.  So often we move so quickly that it's nice to not do much for once. We had brief scare where the food van started making a TON of noise when driving, like as much as a semi makes, but of course when we took it to a shop it just stopped.  We'll just keep driving it and hope that it was a one time fluke.

In the late afternoon / evening, we met up with Team San Francisco again at a brewpub for happy hour which was really nice.  But what was even nicer was going on a very very short hike up a mountain outside the city to admire the sunset.

So I didn't really get to see as much of Boulder as I had hoped (some people went mountain biking, some walked around the university campus, etc.), but all in all it was a good day.

Behold, for some reason we are incredibly all blue looking

Oh, one last note.  Remember how yesterday we shoved all the bikes into the van with the luggage?  Turns out that might not have been the best idea because my rear derailleur got ben, a lot.  Hopefully Bradley the bike mechanic deity will be able to fix it...

Day 39 Denver to Boulder, 35 miles... of hell, but not too bad after that

So today.  Should have been the easiest day of the trip, because it was only 35 miles.  From Denver to Boulder, both bike friendly cities.  In case you haven't figured it out, it did NOT work out that way.

I asked to be in the food van because I still felt sick, so I was assigned with Joanna to acquire lunch.  Everything went well in the morning.  We stopped by a number of restaurants, chipotles, etc. and while we didn't get the greatest lunch, we still got a good amount food, which was definitely going to be enough.

However, once we got to lunch, things started getting chaotic.  First, we realized that 2 / 5 groups were completely off course and while they were headed to Boulder, they were headed there in a completely different direction, and were going to miss the lunch stop.  When we called the two groups, the first group sounded like they were doing okay and would just find a place to buy their own lunch and continue unsupported.  The second team, however, ran into a lot of trouble because Jocelyn, who had hurt her hand a few days ago, felt a lot of pain and needed to be taken to have X-rays taken.  Usually Joanna and I would have taken the food van (which would leave the water van to continue supporting the groups with water and snacks).  Unfortunately, because we still had all of our luggage in the food van, there was just no way we could fit Jocelyn's group, so the water van had to go.

So that's the story of how Joanna and I ended up being the food / water hybrid van for the rest of the day.  I think everything would have been fine, except for:

1. we ran out of water (i.e. the van, not just the riders), because the water van accidentally only left us half a jug of water

2. the road into Boulder that the teams who didn't get lost was a really busy highway with very fast moving cars

3. there was crazy construction in the last stretch into Boulder that was really dangerous

As we left the lunch stop, we knew we could provide water to the first team, but that would be about it.  Once we ran out of water, we ended up heading back towards a different small town and just bought a bunch of water for the other teams.  No time to ask for donations really.  The first team made it through the road ok, even though it wasn't the safest, but the other two asked to be shuttled into town, which is completely understandable.  At some point, we somehow fit in the vans all of the luggage, snacks, water jugs, three bikes, and five people INSIDE the van.  Not sure how that worked, but it did.  We rode into Boulder, dropped the stuff off asap and went back to shuttle the last group, who had tried their best to find a bike path into Boulder but gave up after realizing that the paths, as beautiful as they were, just kind of meandered around the hills.

There were, however, some positives.  Probably the most important thing is that Jocelyn's hand wasn't broken, and although she'll need to take it easy for awhile, it will be okay.  Second, remember the two groups that went the wrong way?  While Jocelyn's group was picked up, the other group that was lost somehow managed to have an amazing day.  They avoided the incredibly busy highway for most of the day and when they arrived at the construction site, instead of going in front of the cars (who honked at the other groups by the way), they asked to wait until the last car had gone through (single lane road) and ride behind the cars.  A small request that made all the difference.

It was also amazing to be in Boulder, the most bike friendly city we've been in so far by a long stretch.  Bike lanes and paths and shops everywhere, so many cyclists.

We also had the 4K Prom with Team San Francisco, which was a lot of fun, nothing too serious or intense.  It was great to talk to them and hear that they often struggle as much as we do, but have a lot of fun anyway.

Finally, we ran into a ton of 4K alums (Sidni, Bradley, Dan, Chelsea x2, Mary, V, and some others I'm probably forgetting sorry!) in Boulder.  It seems like they gravitate here after graduation, etc. and it's really fun to swap stories that are so often similar.  Special shout outs to Sidni West for letting us shower in her apartment and Bradley for offering to fix everything for us (he worked in a bike shop for 9 years and now he works for Shimano).

I think today is one fo the perfect examples of how this trip can be some days.  Really hard, pretty chaotic, but always worth it.  Despite the fact that the food / water van hybrid was stressful, at the end of the day I'm always happy that I was able to do my part for the team.

Day 38 Fort Morgan to Denver, CO

Today was a difficult day for me.  I started getting pretty sick, and so I decided mid ride that I needed to van.  It was my first time doing it, and I have to admit I felt really bad being in the van.  I don't mind being in the van if I'm assigned, since I feel like I'm helping the team with water breaks or lunch, but just to be in the van and have very little to do isn't so great.  I was also really bummed out that I didn't get to ride into Denver, which is a bike friendly city.  As someone who's lived in a city for awhile now, I really appreciate city biking, sometimes even more than out on a rural road.  I tried to stay positive while I fell asleep / kind of woke up and complained a lot.  It was definitely a humbling experience.  I know I made the right call, so in the long run I won't regret it.  Also when you van, you really see just how much effort the water van people make everyday.   Today it was Chris and Katrina in the van, and I admired just how hard they worked to make sure everyone has water.  In theory the water van should be an easy job of just chalking and providing water at scheduled stops, but often in practice it turns into driving all over the right, going back and forth looking for groups, etc. 

Still difficult was that we were supposed to give a scholarship check to a recipient, but due to some mix ups with the vans, we weren't able to give him the great giant check.  It's only symbolic, but I was disappointed still.

Fortunately at the end of the day there was a highlight.  Emily Lake, Katrina, and Katrina's girlfriend, Michelle (who is visiting) went to an H-Mart, which is a Korean grocery store.  We stocked up on a crazy amount of Korean food and snacks.  We didn't really have a great place to eat them, so we went back to Michelle's hotel and just ate in the lobby.  Translation, we took over the lobby area and it smelled so much like Korean food.  We got a pack of pickled garlic that nobody wanted to eat but me.  Katrina and Michelle at least took a small bite of a clove, but Emily refused *judging*.  I, being Korean of course, ate 15-20 gloves of garlic.

Day 37 Yuma to Fort Morgan

Today we finally hit a (relatively) big town!  After weeks of tiny towns in Nebraska and Colorado, it's a strange feeling.  We went to the first bike shop that we've seen in probably a week and a half, but unfortunately they weren't particularly well stocked... let's just say that the owner didn't know that Gatorskin tires were a thing... for those of you who cycle or are alums you'll understand why we were skeptical of the shop.

Thanks to our hosts tonight, the United Methodist Church.  We weren't sure what was going to happen with dinner, but Helen's mom was kind enough to buy all of us dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  Some days it's a bit uncertain as to where we're going to get dinner, so we really appreciate it when a parent or someone else swoops in and provides it for us.

Two things, one negative and one positive.  Unfortunately today Jocelyn fell and hurt her wrist a bit.  Hopefully it's nothing too serious, but she made the right call and got into the van for the rest of the day.  Second thing, positive.  We went to a post office to mail some stuff home (there are people who have WAY too much stuff), and I think it was the nicest post office ever.  Compared to Chicago post offices, where the lines move at the most snail pace possible, everything went so smoothly and quickly.  Fort Morgan Post Office: 1 Chicago Post Offices: 0