Before we rolled out this morning the team started the day out with a dance party! Afterwards it looked as though it would rain during the first stretch, but it cleared up. This stretch of the ride has been tiring for the team as almost every day from the last rest day to the next one has been 85+ miles. It isn’t all so bad though as today we had tailwinds most of the day and gained an extra hour as we moved into mountain time. We did not see any mountains on the ride today in our new time zone though, so those must be coming a bit later into the summer.
Ride Overview
Mileage: 96.1 miles
Elevation: +1,578 ft. / -1,171 ft.
Points of Interest: Colorado welcome sign, Kansas welcome sign
Tales of the Trail
Most of the day was spent on the same highway that we have been on for the past few days. The first stretch was a little rough as our legs adjusted to the bike once again after a hard 100+ mile effort the day before. The day went by smoothly though as with tailwinds for the whole day the team was able to cruise at a good pace without exhausting ourselves. It also helped that we had a very wide shoulder for most of the day, so we were able to stay in a tight formation without much worry of cars passing close to us. The day really flew by with not much to note until the final rest stop.
Some teams went slightly off route near the last rest stop. We biked an extra 1.5 miles total to go see Kansas! While the sights of a new state were basically the same, the team was fascinated by the tiny bit of scenery that we got to see of Kansas. After this we got to add another state to the ride: Colorado! Every group stopped and took the opportunity to take plenty of photos. Colorado is exciting for the team as it finally marks, in our minds, the transition from the flat midwest into the west. While maybe not so excited for the climbs upcoming, most of the team cannot wait for the views and adventures to come out west.
Once we got to the stayover the team almost instantly all went to either the hot tub or the steam room. Some opting even to take an ice cold shower afterwards. Hot tubs and such are supposed to be good for recovery so we are hoping our legs feel nice and fresh tomorrow. Today we decided to mix up our usual dinner of pasta in lentils and instead made pasta and black beans. (Yes, there is not much difference, but to us who eat the same dinner most days it really is a nice change of pace) After dinner some people on the team were still a little hungry and wanted a salty or sweet treat. Thankfully there was a 7/11 about a mile away that we were able to bike to. It was quite comical as on the way back we replaced our water bottles in our bottle cages with ice cream, sushies, pringles, and many more. It was a fun little side quest. Thank you to the WRAC of Wray Colorado for hosting the team, and letting us do our laundry.
Cyclist’s Corner
Today’s rider: Sam Gerstein
How are you feeling today? How was today’s ride?
Today's ride was good! It was definitely better than yesterday. I was thinking about this yesterday… I think that I'm kind of at a weird crossroads, you know? It's like, do you start out every day? Or do you take a break for a few days and miss out on riding and then come back full force? But then, also again, a week later, you're out. So that's like kind of the dilemma of having of like, okay, like, do I ride every day? Like, well, do I ride as much as I can? Like, part? Or do I like try and do a little every day? And to be honest, I don't really know the answer. I think that it definitely feels a little defeating because I know I can do it. My legs don't hurt. I definitely had muscular strength back when you last heard me. I think the issue was technique, which I think now it's gotten a lot better. I feel like at this stage of the ride, it's everything but the parts that matter but aren't directly involved in the cycling aspect are really difficult to try and cope with. So yeah, that's my take.
I’ve seen you do some long full days and was like “Sam’s really going now.”
Yeah, you know, it sucks because I'm itching to get back on that bike. I can feel endurance wise and physically in every other way, like in the ways that you think matter the most, I feel like I can operate back on the bike and be okay. It sucks when the limiting factor is not your physicality.
Is there anything that you, personally, think, or hope, you will gain from the ride?
I think being able to be around people 24/7 is something that's been really challenging for me, at least initially. I think that the way that I tend to present myself… you put on a different face of yourself when you're interacting with people. That's just psychologically what people do, right? When you're with the same people 24/7, sleeping in the same room, waking up with them, going to bed with them, that's just not a sustainable personality to have. I want to make sure that I'm able to be someone that's sorted, someone that's easy to be around, having a sustainable output of energy that doesn’t mean I’m arguing with people every day. There needs to be a healthy balance. I mean, outside of I4K, my at home persona versus my with friends persona? It's very different. It's vastly different, to an insane level. Like, I don't know, I'm kind of a weird person to live with. It's been weird trying to keep it all in to an extent of “okay, like, I need to be normal.” Also, there are gonna be times where debates pop up and conflicts where I just need alone time.
How have you surprised yourself since New York City?
When I first was riding, I was terrible. If the roles were reversed and I was in a group with myself back then, I'd be like, “wait, this person should like not be on the trip.” I remember when we rolling into Milton, Pennsylvania, it was descents that were not that crazy. They must have been maybe 6% grades. And I would need to walk down the descent. I was scared out of my mind. I think now I'm doing a lot better. You know, I don't really have an issue with that anymore. I think my ability to be able to rough it up and not live the high means lifestyle that I did before I4K has been kind of surprising. This trip really does show you how little you need to live on and how little you need to function in your everyday life and almost in a weird way, kind of separate from material things too. When I walk outside, I'm just wearing a bib and a t-shirt and shorts every day.
I definitely have really not been on my phone, really not been on social media. This has been kind of healing. I think it's really nice to take a break from that. I think the one big thing that's been my main takeaway from this, which I don't know if I’ll necessarily say it was surprising, is that I feel like when you live in a society, when you come from an urban environment, that tends to be very upper-class, or at least middle-class, and they're kind of sheltered from what the rest of the country looks like, I think it was really surprising to me to see how similar people really are. I think that there's this common trope of people that are like not on the coast, like in the rural Midwest or the South, of being uneducated. And I think that that is, frankly, classist. I think that's a pretty uneducated take. I think that it's been cool to see how generic people have been throughout the trip. I wouldn't say that necessarily surprised me, but I think what surprised me was how much that really meant to me and how much that really warmed me up to these types of communities and potentially being a part of something like that.
Where is your hometown? If there was food from there you could have with you at every town during the ride, what would it be?
I'm from Boca Raton, Florida which is in Palm Beach County.
A little down south of Broward County, it’s a huge Hispanic-Latino population. They have these Cuban pastries. I forget what they're called. I think they're called pasteles, they're pastelitos. or something like that. They're like meat and filled pastries and there’s fruit versions. I think that would be really good.
How is the ride progressing for you?
It's going good. I think I'm still a little nervous about once we get into longer climbing days. I think that the endurance is there, at least. It's more about you really do need to build the mental acuity to go on a slow, steady climb for 12 miles, which I believe we will be going to Salt Lake City on that. I don't know, to me it sounds ridiculous. I think one thing that I'm really learning is kind of being blissfully ignorant about these things. I think that sometimes people get really wrapped up in the metrics of “it's like this percent grade,” or they're like, especially on the bike computer, you know, it tells you like when you have a climb coming up which is also not accurate in some ways. I think it can really mentally put you in a place that's just unhelpful to be honest. Sometimes, yeah, it's nice to know there's gonna be a day with a lot of climbing, but sometimes it's nice to be like, “I don't know and I don't care what I'm talking about.”
What do you think your role for the team has become (regardless of what it started as or what chore you do)?
As you watch me wash dishes? Yeah, I'm itching to say dinner chore. I feel like in the beginning, I was kind of the jester. I feel like now, I think I'm a good socializer with the gen pop, you know what I mean? Even though you wouldn't expect me to be, I think that you guys are properly not. Sorry. I don't know. I'm one of the people that makes an effort to talk to the stayover, get to know a little bit about them. I think that would be my role: socializer.
What has your favorite snack in the van been so far?
I mean there's definitely something sugary. Lately, I've been really liking the guava candy stuff that we have. No one eats it, but it's kind of fire. Those are great! I'm always pro gummy bear. I know those aren't really in the van right now, but I'm always pro gummy bear. Personally, when I find my own snacks, I kind of follow the Anthony diet with a ton of sugar. It kind of worked!