Going to sleep around 11 pm now feels like a tough ask for us because of how well we have adapted to our routine. After the celebrations last night, that’s what it was and our morning was a little less enthusiastic than usual, although no less happy. We had some more time to spend in the dinosaur land and then back out into the desert-like landscapes of Utah. There may have been a lake or two popping up too.
Ride Overview
Mileage: 62.1 miles
Elevation: +1,729 ft. / -1,597 ft.
Points of Interest: Leftover Goodies from 4th of July Celebrations, Lake Boreham, Starvation Reservoir
Tales of the Trail
Early into our day, we made it into the Uintah and Ouray Reservation Lands which were actually the site of our first rest stop. Coming out of Vernal, we had a little bit of a climb, but then a lot of this first collection of miles was downhill. We thought we were going to a Sinclair gas station, but that turned out not to exist. Instead, there was a grocery store where we were able to stock up on goodies and baked leftovers from Independence Day yesterday and in reality it was much better than a gas station would have been.
The roads during the day were a little more trafficked than we would hope for meaning that cars were coming by a lot of the time. This is not just an inconvenience, having cars frequently pass can also be mentally taxing. We had to be alert and call out to our teammates everything that was happening around the group. Finally, when we made it onto a country road, we had so much fun riding beside each other and talking after hours of monotony along the main road. Anthony, Nishk, Cole, Lauren, and Ehsan ran 5-wide and even attempted a train of pushing each other on the back to make riding easier for the person at the front (this works much better in theory than it does in practice). Maaike, driver for the day, and the van crew were waiting just up the road and caught sight of this fun and the enjoyment of the other group on the road.
This was the point in the day where the trail and the stops became more interesting. First, we went past a lake that looked oh so enticing to the first group on the road and little did they know that the second group would stop. Here are Tada, Max, and Vedang cooling off:
This was also a very hot day, in the mid-90s, which is why everyone, at every rest stop, and any other chance they could get was trying to cool down. Luckily for us, our stayover was at a campground on Starvation Reservoir where we could swim! After staking the tents, the entire team went down to the water to jump in (it was a little cold - my calibrated estimate is 64-65°F) and spend time together. Something about this activity really felt like we were exploring and living the life of the pictures we had seen from past teams going into this Summer. We laughed, and screamed, and yelled, and had a great time.
Dinner came next followed by some much more calm relaxation around sunset. Some took naps, others called loved ones, Lauren found a group of the cutest raccoons, and we enjoyed the peace of the outdoors. Bedtime came soon enough and now we are all slipping into our sleeping bags and getting ready to dream of the adventures we have to come. This was a less eventful day of riding, but a very fulfilling experience to add to our journey. See you tomorrow!
Cyclist’s Corner
Rider: Max Zhu
How are you feeling today?
I'm feeling pretty good. Nice to have a rest day again. And there were a couple of us that went to an amusement park, real cool, not too shabby.
Is there anything that you personally think or hope that you'll gain from the ride?
I was talking to a friend back home about this. We've been friends for a really, really long time, since like pretty much elementary school, like third, fourth grade, ish, but she was saying that like she's currently traveling around Europe right now. We're both having a pretty similar experience of a long extended trip outside of the routine, where you really don't have, like, say deadlines or like too much to like really worry about day to day. Both of us are typically very like type A, meaning we like things planned out, and so it's nice to like kind of lean into like a more type B go with the flow kind of mindset, and just like almost like learn to like relax and chill out a little bit. I think it's a nice change of pace. So I'm hoping some of those skills and like traits stick around even after this ride. I think I will be able to kind of just sit back, know everything's gonna be fine, just take things one thing at a time, you know, really roll with the punches. So we'll see.
And how have you surprised yourself since New York City?
I've surprised myself by biking as much as I have. I'm in the van driving rotation, but I've been really, really lucky in the sense that I've only had to drive one day since New York. I've only missed, like, I've missed like less than 100 miles in total, including, like, you know, being force sagged by by rain, wind, and you know, stuff you can't control. So pretty, pretty surprised, and proud of myself for biking the amount of miles I have. It was a goal of mine to try to get as much mileage in as possible without having it be like an unhealthy, like obsession. That makes sense, just, you know, a general want to be able to get through as much mileage as possible. So very happy where that's with, where that's at right now.
Where's your hometown? And if there was food from there that you could have with you at all times during the ride, what would it be?
Okay, I'm from Woodcliffe Lake, New Jersey. Technically, we don't have a house there anymore, but I grew up there my entire life, and my parents moved while we're in college. Actually just recently closed on a house, like maybe like two or three days ago, for a new house. They were just renting for like the past year or so. So that's pretty exciting news, but if I were to take one kind of food with me, it would be definitely my mom's cooking. There's a dish which is a braised pork belly, and that over some rice is very fire. So, definitely missing, missing my mom's cooking, some home cooking, and honestly, my dad's barbecue was really, really good too. It was more of a big event, kind of thing that we would do back in my hometown, and we did a big one with all my buddies before we moved out as like a send off and some of those like rib cuts would be really good.
How's the ride progressing for you?
It's been going really well. I've been really, really happy, super grateful that I'm here. There's definitely been times where you know your mental is tested. I think, like on Instagram, on even my own personal Instagram, that kind of documents this trip. It's a lot of, you know, literally hand-picked best highlight photos every single day. While that's a big part of it, I think it is interesting to where it's like, you know, a couple minutes waking up in the morning and you're just like, oh, I don't want to bike today, or like, you know, maybe to get into a stay over, and it is like, you know, the same 13 people every single day, and I think it's good. What I've learned, at least I think, is it's good to kind of, I don't know, it can feel selfish sometimes, but to just take your own time, kind of space yourself out for a second, let you let yourself do your own thing. That's been helping me a lot, but overall the rides are progressing really, really well, and I'm very, very happy and grateful to be here.
What do you think your role for the team has become, regardless of what it started as or what chore you do?Oh, interesting. I don't know, that's hard to say. I don't know if I fulfill a specific role, and maybe that is a role in itself, you know, kind of just like I'd like to try to be there for whoever needs me. Have conversations that are needed as well as just have fun conversations where you bounce off of each other, and like, responsibilities wise, you know, picking up whatever I can, while also making sure I don't burn out or crash out or anything like that. I don't know if there's a particular role that I would say I fall into.
What's your favorite snack in the van?
We got these cookies mailed to us. I'm blanking on the name, but we received them, I believe, in Nebraska. I can picture the city in my head, but I'm blanking on where we got them, but they were like the cowboy cookies. Maybe it was in Boulder from alumni. They were very good. The cowboy cookies, it's like an oatmeal cookie and a chocolate chip cookie had a baby, and it's like you get the sugar and the carbs and everything, and it's just like they're so good. I think the team pounded those pretty quick, but yeah, those were probably my favorite snacks so far right now.