Although I did my best to hide it behind my laughs and cheery-looking pictures, I was incredibly nervous on the first day of the ride. There was a lot of excitement, but with an adventure as unique as this one, it is much easier to imagine all the things that could go wrong rather than those that could go right. So when I said the painful goodbyes to my family, girlfriend (who was setting off on her own ride with Rockies), and friends, I was relieved to have the opportunity to quiet my mind on the bike. As we rode out of Austin, we took the Walnut Creek Trail, one of the first areas where we started training months earlier and one of my favorite places to ride in Austin. This was the first of many full-circle feelings I experienced throughout the summer.
Our host was a retired couple named Joan and Jerry, and boy, did they set high expectations for future hosts. We arrived at a ranch with cabins filled with art, plates full of food, and the town’s mayor playing in a band. We traded stories, ate lots of food, and brainstormed how our team could work together for the next 69 days. I remember this night fondly, but I also recall some strong feelings of anxiety and overwhelm that had stuck around from the day’s events and the changes we were experiencing.

This was my first day on SAG (Support and Gear) for the summer. Every ride, there were six of us on SAG – one driver and one passenger for each vehicle we had. We had a Volkswagen Jetta, a Ford Transit van, and a Ram 2500 with our trailer hooked up. On Day 2, I was driving the truck/trailer with Abby Lodge as my passenger. It was a relatively uneventful day (as many days driving the truck/trailer were), but I was glad to have a little bit of time to decompress. This day began the talks of my skills driving and backing up the trailer – I had a few skillful backups, and for the rest of the trip I was known for this ability. When we arrived in Houston, the team split up between 3-4 host homes. I stayed with Rama (teammate) at her aunt and uncle’s house along with Avyay, Nikita, and Aneesha. Rama’s family was so welcoming and made the most incredible Middle Eastern / Mediterranean food. We also got to know Rama’s cousin Ola, a recent A&M graduate who helped us feel right at home. Avyay and I got to stay in the back house, the first of many man caves to come.

For our rest day in Houston, the team and I worked hard and played hard. We had fun swimming and eating at Allie’s parent’s home (Allie was one of my teammates). Later, we had a community outreach event where we mingled with family and friends and wrote encouraging letters to cancer patients and oncology healthcare workers. Avyay, Nikita, Rama, Aneesha, and I stayed another night at Rama’s family’s place. We learned about their family’s culture, their experience as immigrants, their views on the war in Gaza as Palestinians, and how their shared humor bonds them. Avyay and I had fun staying in the man cave for another night. Out of all of our hosts along the trip, this family was definitely one of my favorites.

For the beginning of the Houston to Beaumont ride, we were on one of the best bike trails we had the entire trip. It was a well-paved trail that took us right through the heart of downtown Houston. However, once we reached the westside of the city, we had a long stretch of oilfields, dust, 18-wheelers, and heavy industry. After that, though, we hit miles and miles of backroads and farmland (backroads and farmland will be a recurring theme for us). I remember the roads being pretty bad, but they were flat and I enjoyed bonding with my ride group. When we arrived in Beaumont, it began to rain heavily. However, it was a special night – the only day on the entire trip that we stayed in a hotel. It was a nice hotel (I think a Hilton?) that had donated all of us rooms we shared with one other teammate (I was with Andrew). The Beaumont Indian Cultural Heritage Center hosted us for dinner, and I was introduced to lots of delicious Indian foods.

The fifth day of the of the ride was our first border crossing. It was a lot of riding up to the “Bienvenue en Louisiane” sign and stopping to take pictures with our ride groups. I rode with Nikita, Sarah, Aparna, and Avyay. We played games (Wavelength was always our favorite), battled the humidity, and talked about life. I also started listening to Mac Miller’s biography to keep my mind entertained on the flat Louisiana roads. That night, we stayed with some of Josh’s relatives and their neighbors. One of the neighbors was an accomplished triathlete, and it was really interesting hearing him talk about biking and competing.

Chicago was a city that I had looked forward to visiting since before the trip. I had hopes of recreating some of the famous shots from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with my friends, going to a Cubs game, and seeing the Bean. However, the narcolepsy in me had different plans for this rest day. After visiting our presenting sponsor Abbott at their headquarters, I returned to Dani’s Aunt’s house and ended up sleeping for so long that Dani’s young cousin feared I had died (Dani informed her that I am just a particularly sleepy guy). All in all, I probably slept for 18 of the 24 hours or so we spent in Chicago. So while I wish I had some exciting stories of my wild adventures in the Windy City, all I can say for Day 26 was I had a capital-r Rest day.

This was our first day on the Alaska Highway. Mile 0 of the Highway is marked in downtown Dawson Creek, and it traverses through British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska until Delta Junction, which is south of Fairbanks. All in all, the Highway is about 1,380 miles, and we turned off at about mile 1,240 on Day 66 in Tok, AK.

The Summit Lake ride was regarded by the team as one of the more physically challenging rides of the trip, and it was definitely in my top five hardest rides. The beginning section of the ride consisted of a 12-mile climb up a mountain. It was definitely challenging, but the scenery was beautiful, and it was rewarding to reach the peak and have a long descent on the other side. So as we approached the latter half of the 87 mile ride, our legs were tired but spirits were relatively high. This started to change as we were engulfed by smoke from wildfires farther north in BC, and as we realized that Ride With GPS had definitely undercounted the elevation gain for the ride. What felt like an endless stretch of surprise ascents and smoke characterized this last bit of the ride, fueling the burning sensation in our legs and forcing ourselves to exhibit the mental fortitude we had built over the past 53 days of the trip. When we finally reached our campground at Summit Lake, there was no better reward than to jump in and cool off in the ice-cold water.

I spent most of Day 61 catching up with Carmen and exploring Whitehorse. We got to sleep in, a much-appreciated rarity during the summer, and ventured from our campsite to downtown Whitehorse. We got breakfast, did our (perpetually wet and smelly) laundry, stocked up on snacks and other essentials, and went on a walk along the Yukon River. I was very thankful to finally have some downtime, especially since I got to spend it with Carmen. We then returned to camp, took a nap, and prepared ourselves for the last 10 days of the trip.