Blog
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Day 27: somewhere in between
Day 27: somewhere in between Columbia, MO to Marshall, MO — 67 mi, 2,432 ft Politics can be interesting simply because they are messy. Even Spokes politics. People hold conflicting, complicated beliefs that cannot be pruned into a single, clean solution. I find they naturally intersect and overlap and diverge in a tangled mess. And then people grow emotionally attached to the mess, to the point where it hurts to prune. — — — —…
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Day 26: To Journal or To Blog…
Hermann, MO to Columbia, MO — 79.2 mi, 2218ft After quite a hectic day yesterday escaping the thunderstorm, I woke up late and in the comfort of my own bed, thanks to our Airbnb with an 11-person capacity. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the best sleep due to my persistent elbow issue, which flared up periodically during the night with a force strong enough to wake me up. Although there were moments of normalcy between the…
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Day 25: Unreliable Narrator
St. Louis, MO to Hermann, MO — 74.4 mi, 2428 ft Today officially marks one third of our trip and the first day I’m feeling like this is normal, like biking 75 miles today is just the thing we do. As the driver yesterday, I was feeling a bit like a chud for missing the team’s first century, especially as they rode into the majestic St. Louis Arch. I looked longingly at my six little…
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Day 24: 100 Things I Love About Spokes
Murphysboro, IL to St. Louis, MO — 101.1 mi, 2678 ft Today is an extraordinarily special day. Today is the day we rode our first-ever century! In biker terms, a century means completing a ride over 100 miles. In underexperienced biker terms, this means a little bit of added anxiousness, increased speed, and an earlier start time. In honor of this momentous occasion, and inspired by my elementary school’s “100 Days of School” tradition, I…
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Day 23: everything except biking
Harrisburg, IL to Murphysboro, IL – 52.5 mi, 1406 ft Today we woke up at 6am. Today we woke up at 6:30am. Today we woke up at 7am. Ok, yea that one stuck. Over the past few days, ever since our rest day + learning festival double day of not biking, the teams’ morning routine has slowly slid from our previously diligent 6am wakeup and 8am leave (“diligent”) to something like today where we woke…
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Day 22: A Stench and A Storm
Madisonville, KY to Harrisburg, IL — 81.8 mi, 2380 ft Crossing the country on a bike is… STINKY. Some things are stinky for obvious reasons. Our clothes, for example, smell absolutely foul after a day of riding. And I often find myself holding my breath as I cross the minefield of deer/armadillo carcasses that make up rural American roads. This morning, however, nobody could seem to figure out why the camping pads smelled like garbage…
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Day 21: Alternate Reality
6:00 AM I wake up to my alarm ringing in my ear and immediately turn to snooze it. 6:10 AM I wake up again 10 minutes later and once AGAIN, press the snooze button. 6:20 AM It rings again and finally, I guiltily roll out of my own personal king size bed and begin my morning routine. I take a quick shower, brush my teeth, change into my biking gear, take out my dried laundry,…
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Day 20: we the people
Learning Festival in Bowling Green, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft Before starting this trip, I, for some reason, had this feeling that Bowling Green would be a singular experience. Whether it was from last year’s team hinting at some suspicious activity (I really don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t at me) or going on about the amazing Airbnbs (plural) we got to stay in, I was subconsciously preparing for, well, something. That something,…
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Day 19: Mogcoaster 🎢
Rest day in Bowling Green, KY — 0 mi, 0 ft Picture this. The room is gloriously silent. No 6:00 am alarm, no sound of sleeping pads being deflated or sleeping bags being rolled up. Your arms stretch out — you’re greeted by an infinite spread of soft mattress on either side, and maybe even some more. This is a perfect rest day in Bowling Green, KY. None of this would be possible without the…
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Day 18: BUSS*-EEs
Mammoth Cave, KY to Bowling Green, KY — 35.6 mi, 1393 ft Reading the latest blogs, it feels like emotional whiplash the way the team has experienced the lowest of lows and highest of highs together, often within the span of a couple hours. In the last week, I crashed headfirst into a tree, Caroline got bit by a dog, Tatiana sprained her ankle, Nate/Tatiana/Drew battled through a literal war zone of rabid dogs, Nunu/Drew’s…
MIT Spokes 2026 
