Day 70-Anchorage, AK!

I'm not sure how to begin summing up the past 70 days. I still can't believe the summer actually came to an end. It doesn't feel like I have been on a bike for two and a half months, but when I think back to days like Slapout, Oklahoma population 7, I remember just how many miles we have come.

Since my last real post on Day 55 a lot has happened. We were held up an extra day in Dease Lake, but the following morning we were back on the bike riding to Jade City. It was a beautiful ride and everyone was excited to be riding again after several days off. After Jade City, with the threat of being held up again for another day, the team packed up and drove to the road barrier in hopes of being one of the lucky 100 cars that would make it through that morning at 8 a.m. Luckily, we made it through and we were able to see firsthand just how bad the smoke was. It would have been dangerous to try to ride, even if the park rangers would have allowed it. We then began our 80 mile ride once we were through the fire.

In the days leading up to our reunion with the Sierra route in Whitehorse, YT, the Rockies team held on as long as possible to our time together. During the day, instead of riding in groups of 3-5, the whole team rode together in a pace line of 27 people. At night, we stayed up around the campfire speculating what it would be like to see Sierra again. On our last night as Rockies, we went around the circle thanking each other for the memories and all the good times. I moved my sleeping pad and bag out by the fire and slept outside my tent that night- the sky was beautiful!

The ride into Whitehorse was a hard 115 miles, but at our 1-mile-out regroup, we regained energy in our excitement to finally be reunited with Sierra. In true Rockies spirit, we painted our faces with Badger (this ridiculous sunscreen that looks more like white paint than anything) and camouflage. When Sierra saw us for the first time in 60 days, we were dirty, covered in paint, and acting like wild animals. They thought we were crazy. After so many days away from civilization, we might have actually been a little crazy.

That night, we had one of the most fun nights either route had seen all summer. Sierra had made us dinner and we started catching up on each other's summers as soon as arrived. We played music and had a huge dance party with 52 people. In previous years, there had always been some tension between routes and for some teams, it had taken several days before the two routes shared tables, rest stops, or mingled much at all. This year we wasted no time in molding together as one big team. However, over the last 10 days it would sometimes happen that I would look around to see only 16 Rockies swimming together or riding together in a big group. Without trying to be exclusive, the two routes remained somewhat segregated for the remainder of the trip. Though I wish I could have gotten closer to many riders on the Sierra route, it's hard to form a bond in 10 days that is as strong as the bonds formed in 60.

On our first night of camping as a whole team, we cooked Alaskan salmon over our campfire. John had come across an overturned 18-wheeler that had been carrying Alaskan salmon, but was handing it out in boxes because it would have been impossible to keep fresh. We enjoyed it! That night, it poured. It was the first time we had woken up and cooked breakfast in the rain. Several riders woke up in puddles, but luckily my tent stayed dry. It was the first of many rainy mornings.

The last week of camping was one of the more difficult stretches. The mosquitos were horrible and we had no running water. The only notes in our travel binder were "vastly unpopulated area."

Day 65 was a strange one. We woke up thrilled to be crossing the Alaskan border. It was a day we had been waiting for for a long time and working towards for months. Our jerseys say "Texas to Alaska", so in some way we were accomplishing our goal. Only 5 days left to Anchorage. For the first time all summer, the Rockies girls agreed to participate in a border race. This is one of the boys favorite things to do, and even Sierra girls had participated in previous states. Because the Alaska border is the only border that the whole team crosses together, some rivalry had developed and Rockies and Sierra wanted to compete against routes. We had a boys race and a girls race, Rockies vs. Sierra. However, the day soon took a turn for the worse. Only 3 miles in, we hit a lot of loose gravel and the entire Sierra pace line went down going 25+ mph. It was one of the scariest sights I've ever seen. Thankfully, a paramedic happened to drive by and helped check each girl that fell before she was allowed to get up. Four of the girls went to the hospital, but luckily came away without any broken bones. Unfortunately, Erica had a bad concussion and was told by the doctor to sit out for the remainder of the ride. The Alaska sign just wasn't the same after that. The next 10 miles to the border were somber. The sign even seemed smaller than it looked in pictures from previous years. Because we were missing teammates, we refused to take the team picture without them. Day 65 did not meet any of my expectations for that day, but I guess that is what this ride is about. That's the way life goes.

Two days later, the team drove back to the border (a 3 hr drive each way) to take the picture as a team. That picture meant way too much to all of us to skip it. We didn't start our 70-mile ride that day until 5 p.m. (getting in around 11 p.m.) but everyone agreed it was worth it. Because we were riding so late into the evening I also got to see 3 moose that day! My favorite was a mom and baby crossing the road in front of us.

The last 5 days, everyone seemed ready to be in Anchorage. We all agreed it was sad that the trip was ending and that one day soon we knew we would miss it, but I was surprised by how excited the team was to be finishing. We were also so excited to see family and loved ones that we knew were boarding planes to meet us at the finish line. It was a cold rainy day, but we didn't really care. We were on bike trails for the last 20 miles and we were escorted to the finish line by the fire department.

I think I learned and grew a lot this summer, but I might not realize just how much until I am back in the real world for a while. But I do know for certain that I was meant to be here this summer.

"That which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger."- Dylan

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Day 65

After 65 days and over 4,000 miles, the team will cross the Alaskan border this morning! Right now, we are only 19 miles away from customs. This is our first and only border to cross with the Sierra team and it has turned into a race between Rockies and Sierra riders. This is the first state this year that Rockies girls have participated in a border race. It should be fun, but mostly I am excited to take a team picture at the Alaska sign!

We've been camping a lot lately. It has rained the past two nights but luckily our tent has stayed dry both times. Yesterday morning half the team woke up soaking wet and floating in a puddle. If you stay dry, camping in the rain is actually really nice. It was Sierras first rain all summer!

I haven't had much internet lately and this post will be short, but in 5 days we will be in Anchorage and shortly after I will be able to update with more stories and pictures. My mom, James, and brother Sam will be in Anchorage and so will Daniel for a couple days before flying back to Denver to start Law School! I am a little sad for the summer to end, but excited for the next few days and my time in Alaska.  Will write more soon. As always, thanks for all of your support!

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Day 55

These last several days have been some of the hardest days of the ride for me so far. On day 50, many of us felt like we hit a wall- that 50 days on the bike was enough and we were all really looking forward to Anchorage. I talked to some teammates who couldn't put their finger on it, but for some reason felt like they were in a slump. Getting past the hurdle of day 50 was a threshold. I even remember waking up one morning and, for the first time, I actually wished I was somewhere else but here. This last stretch was also some of our most challenging terrain. The days leading up to Dease Lake were full of hills and beautiful wilderness. This sign in the picture is from one of the hardest hills of the Dease Lake stretch--it was a 10% grade, which is steeper than any highways in the United States, and lasted over a mile. It felt so good to get to the top of this climb that several riders actually rode back down it to climb it again! We then took pictures at the top of the mountain.

View from the top:

It seemed like a hard week for the whole team, but luckily we got some inspiration from 6 of our fellow riders. The Dease Lake Challenge is a Rockies tradition that started several years back. This year, six team members (Jack, Dyar, Andrew, Brett, John and Whitney) took on the challenge of riding 210 miles in one day, combining all three days of our ride to Dease Lake into one day. The other part of the challenge is to do the ride completely unsupported. For safety reasons, one of our support vehicles went along with them, driven by Kelsey and Allie. The riders refused to use their assistance, packing 30+ PowerBars on their bikes and filling up water along the way, which sometimes meant refilling their bottles with stream water.  Around mile 100, two riders were sick from the water but determined to keep riding. After starting around 5:45 am, they finally made it to Dease Lake around 12:30 am. They didn't stop to rest more than four times over the entire day and they consumed around 35 PowerBars per person. After witnessing this incredible feat, Allie and Kelsey came back to the team with a new level of energy. We have less than 5 days left of being just Rockies- soon we will be meeting up with our other half, the Sierra team, in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Reuniting with the Dease Lake riders on our rest day was exciting and the team seems completely re-energized and ready to make the most out of our last two weeks.

Our time in Dease Lake has been very different than any other rest days we have had. We are staying with Mama Z at her restaurant. The riders who came ahead have been here for three days now working in her kitchen and waiting tables. She has provided all of our meals, but with the expectation that we do our part in helping with the work around the restaurant. We've helped cook meals, wash dishes, water the flowers, and talked with several of the tourists who come in to eat at Mama Z's.

Following another Rockies tradition, last night we had a "second chance Prom". We got very creative with our dresses and suits, drove up to a scenic overlook and played dance music from the speakers of the van. Costumes included everything from dresses made of PowerBars and Pure Sport, leggings of spare tubes, an evening gown made from a hammock, several wigs, trash bag dresses, and lots and lots of spandex. We even voted on "Most Likelys", such as "Most likely to survive in the wilderness if left alone"(John Fitch), "Best facial hair"(Brett Bowlin), and "Most likely to flood our email inboxes after the trip is over" (Shilen Patel).

This morning, we woke up to some surprising news that I doubt has ever happened in the history of T4K. I am able to write this blog right now because we were forced to spend one more day in Dease Lake due to a forest fire ahead that is currently spread over 60,000 acres. The fire is between here and the Alaskan Highway junction (Hwy 37 and Hwy 1) and towns further north are facing evacuation orders. It is possible that even Dease Lake will be evacuated if the direction of the wind blows the smoke south. Tomorrow we are planning to ride to Jade City, but we are now one day behind so we will most likely be making the mileage up by driving through the "most dangerous" or smokiest area. Our biggest concern at this point is just that the highway is open at all tomorrow because it has been closed all day today.

I was hoping to upload more pictures but the internet is going incredibly slow. Hopefully I can add photos soon and will try to keep you updated with the road conditions!

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Day 47

We are in Burns Lake, BC tonight and staying with host families. This may be one of the last blogs I will be able to write for a while. After tomorrow night, we will begin a long stretch of camping with only a few more hosts between now and Anchorage! 

So far, Canada has been so much better than we expected. We have had beautiful weather and some really warm days. One of the things we were warned would happen in Canada was running out of food. We did have a stretch where there were no gas stations or grocery stores for about 3 days or so and we started getting really creative with our PowerBars. This one has animal crackers and chocolate PowerGel drizzled on top. Not as tasty as it looks. The most creative so far was chocolate PowerBars melted in a skillet with some grape jelly and almonds and then poured on a piece of bread. I have a feeling it will only continue to get worse...

A few more pictures from Alberta

A picture from the day we entered into British Columbia:

As we were riding, I was dying to see a moose along the road or in the trees. I was looking really carefully all along the road but I didn't have to look too hard because we soon came across one standing in the road right in front of us! We got a little nervous when we actually saw how big it was, but luckily the truck coming from the opposite direction scared him off the highway. After seeing both a moose and a bear I am satisfied.

Today was my day to drive the van. Unfortunately, the day got a really rough start when one of our riders got in an accident with a car and had to be taken to the hospital. The car had taken a left turn without seeing her and she crashed into the side of the car. She will be off her bike for about a week with a dislocated clavical, but we are so thankful she wasn't hurt any worse. She got to keep me company in the van today and her biggest concern was for the lady driving the car who was also very shaken up and upset by the accident. She's a really strong teammate, I'm glad she'll be back on her bike soon!

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. We got a lot of food donations from local grocery stores and restaurants (meaning no more melted PowerBars for a while) and tonight we are being very well taken care of by hosts in Burns Lake. Thank you for the letters in the mail, they always make my day! My thoughts are with everyone back home, I love you all!

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Day 41

I am writing this blog from a laudromat in Jasper, AB. We have been camping for the past three days in Banff and now almost the entire team is camped out doing laundry. The past week has been beautiful. Banff has been my favorite place so far. We spent three days riding through the national park. The first day we rode on gorgeous bike trails--it was the closest I have felt to the mountains on the whole trip. The next day should have been Lake Louise, but because of lots of wind and cold rain we got in really late and had to set up camp before dark. We decided to go to Lake Louise the next morning for ride dedication and after all the rain the day before, we were lucky to have such perfect weather the next morning. The dedication circle was especially emotional that morning--I think it had a lot to do with the breathtaking view surrounding us.

Postcard worthy photo of Lake Louise

Rockies girls!

Yesterday was a perfect example of how even though each day's route is planned months in advance, there are always new surprises. We got a later start that morning because our travel notes indicated a 40-mile day to the ice fields. However, we soon learned that it was actually 80 miles, not 40. We had beautiful scenery and great weather, so no one really seemed to mind. Around mile 40, we also learned that there was a steep mountain pass ahead--the last 15 miles of the day--that was a consistent 8% grade. At this point we were fighting daylight, which is saying a lot considering the sun sets around 10 p.m. here. At around 7:30 we made it to our last rest stop and were given the option of driving the last 15 miles up the pass or biking it. I was so proud that our whole team decided they wanted to climb! Jack and Mahek were driving the van that day and would meet up with us every 2 miles or so playing fun music and cheering us on. We finally made it to the campsite last night around 9:30! We still had enough daylight to set up our tents and cook spaghetti. It felt really good to have finished the climb and as a reward, our campgrounds overlooked the Colombia ice fields. It was a chilly night and morning, but so beautiful. Our ride dedication this morning was at the Ice Fields--I dedicated it to everyone back home because I've noticed our team has been a little more homesick lately without cell reception and internet. Since entering Canada it has been hard for most of us to stay connected to home. 

We have seen a lot of elk and yesterday I saw my first black bear! I was riding with Kelsey and it just walked casually across the road right in front of us. I was pretty nervous, but we decided to cross the road to ride in the opposite shoulder and sing loudly as we rode by so that we didn't sneak up on it. It didn't seem to care that we were there. Among the 27 riders, 4 different bears were spotted yesterday!

The black bear. I didn't get my camera out in time to get him crossing the road.

We are in a cute town (Jasper, AB) tonight and cross into British Columbia tomorrow morning. We will be in BC for a while after that. Our next rest day is on Monday in Prince George, BC!

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Day 32

It has been a while since I last blogged because internet has been hard to come by these past 10 days or so and will continue to be less and less available as we get into Canada. We had our first experience camping and have crossed 2 more states! We are now 3 days away from crossing the Canadian border and being halfway to Anchorage! I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly. 

On our rest day in Boulder, CO we went to a host family's lake house and were able to relax and canoe for the whole day. The view was incredible and it was exactly the rest we needed.  

In Boulder, we also toured the Fat Tire Brewery. One of the managers was very interested in our ride and gave a toast to our team. He also made my day by giving me a free Fat Tire cycling jersey for being the 2010 team's top fundraiser!

Riding into the mountains in northern Colorado...

Crossing the Wyoming border!

Laramie, WY was one of my favorite towns. We had amazing hosts and this was the view from her front porch. I fell in love with the Wyoming sky. The sunsets were incredible.

The Grand Teton mountain range. The scenery on this ride was unreal...

We spent our first two nights of camping in Grand Teton National Park. There are definitely more responsibilities that go along with camping than our nights with host families, but the team had a lot of fun spending time together around the campfire and cooking breakfast and dinner. On the morning of our rest day we went into Jackson. We all really liked the feel of the town. We went back to the park in the afternoon and found this lake to swim in. The water was freezing!

The morning we rode into Yellowstone was our first really cold morning. It was also our 3rd day in a row to camp and we were pretty ready for showers and a roof over our heads at that point. Thankfully we had great hosts the next night in Bozeman, MT. Bozeman was another one of my favorite towns we have passed through. This has been the most incredible way to experience our country.

Leaving Yellowstone we crossed the Continental Divide twice in an hour. It was one of the most rewarding climbing days--and the downhills were really fun!

Old Faithful

As many of you already know, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time the week that I left for Alaska. Now more than ever I realize why I felt the desire to be a part of this ride. My mom is recovering from surgery and excited to meet me in Anchorage! I'm thankful everyday that I am able to do something to contribute to fighting cancer. Thank you for all the cards, cookies, and support! I think about you all constantly.

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Day 18

On day 13, the team made it to the Colorado state line. Although Oklahoma was prettier than I expected, we were ready for a change of scenery. The winds in Oklahoma were frustrating and though the wheat fields were beautiful, it was sometimes discouraging to be able to see miles and miles of flat, never ending plains. We would ride 60 miles without even seeing a tree, much less a gas station where we could stop for restrooms and shade.


The hosts have all been wonderful so far, we have done very little cooking for ourselves. Our first night of camping will not be until Wyoming. That will be an interesting day! 


So far, we have ridden a total of 1,231 miles in 18 days! The team is getting incredibly close, and that has really helped us on our hardest rides. They are all such amazing people. We also continue to get stronger as riders and the team is climbing hills we wouldn't have been able to climb three weeks ago. 

I had a wonderful birthday in Oklahoma! The team surprised me with a mini party at one of the rest stops with brownies and a pinata! That night we also went out to a mexican restaurant (my favorite!) for chips and salsa and margaritas. Woodward, OK was a tiny town, but we managed to find a pretty fun hole in the wall. 

The day we crossed the border was my first day to "SAG" (support and gear) and drive the vans. I, along with 3 other teammates, was in charge of making sure the team had rest stops every 20 miles or so, as well as providing food for lunch and dinner. We were able to get some great donations (deep dish pizzas, pastas, breadsticks, and burgers) and we had a little "on the border" theme night with On the Border salsa, queso, etc. We have competitions each day to see who can come up with the best rest stop themes. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, being in the middle of nowhere is also an excuse for a dance party and ridiculous costumes. Here are a couple pictures of some of the ones we've had so far:

Hula Hoop contest

The van and trailer I drove for the day

The ride into Colorado Springs was by far the best and most beautiful ride we have done so far. It was just the day before, riding into Pueblo, CO, that we saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time. The ride into Colorado Springs was through the foothills and even though we climbed some steep grades, we also had some amazing downhills and it was thrilling to be so close to the Rockies. It was the biggest adrenaline rush we've had all summer and it got us all excited to be in the mountains, even if it is a little harder. 

The team coming up a big hill

The Rockies!

Yesterday we arrived in Denver. About 10 of the team members went to visit a recovery center called Brent's Place. It is a small apartment style housing facility for kids who have been released from the hospital, but because of recent transplants or weak immune systems, are not yet ready to resume their daily routines at home. The center has 21 apartments for the children and their families and everything is designed to be very clean and sterile, but without having the feel of a hospital that you might imagine. We got a tour of the facility and it was a very moving experience. I dedicated my ride today to a little boy named Matthew whose parents had donated a brick in the courtyard in his memory. It was engraved, "little trooper". 

www.brentsplace.org

Being in Denver made me so excited to be living there starting this fall. We drove by the University of Denver campus and this morning when we were leaving for Boulder, we took some of the amazing bike trails to leave the city. They took us right through downtown Denver, went under the main roads and along a little creek. There were so many people out cycling and jogging. I can't wait to explore more in the fall. Everyone was very excited for me to be living there so soon. There is also a huge T4K alumni base in Denver. Several of them came out to support us the past 3 days on our rides. 

Riding in Colorado has been so surreal. Every time I look up to see the mountains, it still surprises me. I keep thinking that in September I will have a mountain view from my living room window! I feel so lucky to be on this ride, the scenery is unbelievable and I know it will continue to amaze me as we get farther north. Just the other day I realized Colorado is the only state I have visited before this trip. Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Canada, and Alaska are all new to me! 

Today we are in Boulder and we have a rest day tomorrow. We are going to go to a host's lake house for the afternoon! After 10 consecutive days of riding, we are all very excited for a day off. 

I apologize for not updating sooner, but we haven't had a lot of internet access lately. I will update again as soon as possible. Thanks for all your support!


P.S. Thank you for all of the mail drop goodies:) Jackson, the Rockies team really appreciates your packages! It cheers us up every time! Riding for you and Millie. 

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