Met with some sudden news in the morning, the team was planning on being homeless for the night. Luckily, throughout the day we met some amazing people who helped us, whom we are very grateful for. It was a long, hot day, meeting many amazing people and riding through the landscapes of Utah.
quote of the day
“ChatGPT is telling me to call a homeless shelter”
ride overview
Mileage: 87.6 Miles
Elevation: 3,044 ft.
Points of Interest: Kneaders Bakery, Sunrise Cyclery, Apizza
Ride Dedication: Sandy
tales of the trail
We got an unexpected surprise this morning when the team was informed that our stayover for the night could no longer host us. After receiving confirmation that they were able to accommodate us for the night, a week and a day before our stay, we were canceled on the day of, resulting in us calling multiple places throughout the day at rest stops to find a place to stay. Worst case scenario, we would camp! But even that was hard to find. Despite this bump in the road, we went on with our day, riding past where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held, and on a busy bike trail, ending up at Kneaders Bakery for our first rest stop of the day to get some quick breakfast, along with some coffee. At a later rest stop in the day, Eli’s family kindly treated the team to some Subway! Thank you for providing the team with some lunch and some additional sun sleeves!
We had a gradual climb towards the end of the day with some classic Utah heat! The descent was beautiful with mountainous views, which the team did not expect. At the last rest stop of the day, we ended up at a gas station, with still no place to sleep, and with all campgrounds being reserved, we were running out of options. The first group rolled out anyways to Logan, UT, to Sunrise Cyclery, as Sofia, one of our riders, desperately needed new parts for her bike. In the meantime, the second group chose to have a long stop at the gas station, lying on the grass, when they met Jeff! We told him about our organization, and he proceeded to call Mark, who then called Bart, who arranged for us to camp at the local fairgrounds! It was so kind of Jeff to contact Mark and Bart to help us find a place to rest for the night. But as we were in the process of confirming our camping spot for the night at the fairgrounds, we got an announcement from the first group who headed into Logan, UT, early. They also met (a different) Jeff! Jeff worked at Sunrise Cyclery, where Jeff and Paul connected us with Derick, the pastor at First Presbyterian Church, and he let us stay in the church for the night! The team was thrilled to have indoor space to sleep for the night and so grateful for the people we met today who helped us out. While all of this was happening, the last group was struggling with some flats on the road today; in total, the team as a whole had 6 flat tires! Record-breaking! Eli, Jessica, and Stephanie all had two flat tires today! Thankfully, we are all faster at fixing flats by now.
The day got even better when Micah made some calls to some local restaurants to try and get dinner for the team. We got some free pizza from Apizza! Thank you for donating some food for the team! The day got even better when a guy named Adam commented on one of our previous journals, mentioning seeing us ride into Logan earlier in the day, and gave us some contact information if we needed a place to sleep, food, etc! Apparently he had a friend's daughter ride in the past, and he was willing to help if needed! After securing the night at the First Presbyterian Church, we contacted Adam to see if he would be able to help with food, because despite the free pizza from Apizza, it was not enough to fuel up the entire team after the long day. He managed to bring us some more pizza along with some soda, which allowed our team to have full bellies for the night, so thank you, Adam! It was bewildering to us to get help from someone who commented on a journal!
The tough circumstances today regarding our stayover led us to meet some amazing, generous people. Along this trip, we get to meet many faces and personalities, always learning something new from someone's experience or more about the local area, and today reminded the team of the kindness and generosity of others around us. We would like to thank Eli's parents, Jeff (from the gas station), Mark, Bart, Jeff (from Sunrise Cyclery), Paul, Derick, Apizza, and Adam for all the help you gave our group today. We were shocked and excited at each offer we received today, whether that was food or a place to stay. We appreciated every single bit of help we could get throughout such a crazy day. Hopefully, our future routes include Logan, UT, because our team had a great experience meeting all the kind-hearted people in the area.
cyclist’s corner
Today’s Rider: Sofia Sivilotti
How are you feeling today?
I'm feeling great, it was a bit of a long day, but it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of interesting people that we met today, and a lot of kind, generous souls.
Which chore have you been doing for the team in the past week? Can you share your process doing this chore?
I've been doing wake up and van packing, as well as being treasurer for the team? As treasurer, I collect receipts from everyone that has bought things for the team, as well as donations that we get, and make sure that it's all organized in one place. And then, doing wake up and Van packing, I wake up 15 minutes before everyone else and kind of pack up all my things, all my sleeping stuff, change into my jersey and bibs, and then wake up the team with a different wake up song every day, normally based on something we've talked about the day before, or a song someone likes or wants to listen to, or something I think will get everyone motivated for the rest of the day. And then I head to the van with my chore partner, or partners, I was working with Katie and Yuncong, and then I just switched to working with Stephanie now, and we take everyone's bags and boxes and stuff and put them in the van.
What’s the best food you’ve eaten on the ride so far?
Going way back on day nine, we went to a coffee shop. It was our first century day, and about halfway through, we went to a coffee shop to wait for the rest of the team, and they had an amazing mango smoothie that I still think about, and I think that might be one of the top foods of the ride.
Do you have a favorite accessory to wear with your ride uniform?
I always wear my blue bandana to keep my ears from being sunburnt and sun sleeves as well as fun socks
Any favorite team memories so far?
Honestly, today is definitely a memory that I'm going to hold on to forever. Yesterday on my bike, I found out that my rear jockey wheel was a little bit worn down, and so I needed to get a new one, as well as a new front chain ring. And so I started looking at bike shops along our way, and then earlier today, we found that we actually didn't have a place to sleep tonight. And so the combination of those two meant that we were in a bike shop at the end of the ride. We were in a bike shop at the end of the ride, which had stayed open for us, Sunrise Cyclery. I gave them a call, and they said that they would kind of keep their door open waiting for us. So we pulled up an hour after they closed, and they had the things that I needed, not the chain ring, but a jockey wheel. And then we told them I didn't have a place to stay, and they were kind of looking at their own contacts and camping places, and found a church for us to stay in, which was very kind, and they talked to us for a while, and it was an amazing bike shop with awesome people and a very cute dog named Gucci. And so that was definitely one of my favorite memories.