Thursday, July 11, 2024
Colorado Springs, CO -> Denver, CO
60.72 mi, 2605 ft elevation
I woke up excited to start my day with some delicious key lime yogurt, which our hosts had once again bought for us after reading the blog! However, my dreams were crushed when I went upstairs and opened the fridge only to discover that the team had already eaten all of them! I guess the early bird gets the worm.
My day quickly improved once we got on the road. After a few miles of suburbs near Colorado Springs, the landscape transformed into beautiful rolling hills with the eastern edge of the Rockies in the background.
Today was the first day I really felt like I was in the state of Colorado rather than West Kansas. My love for Colorado was further reinforced after passing several of these signs:
Colorado seems to be one of the more bike-friendly states we’ve been in, with many other cyclists on the road (I counted 14 before the lunch stop) and cars generally being more considerate. That being said, at around mile 30 Varsha and I were peacefully biking along a quiet road when suddenly a car pulled up next to us with someone shouting “go faster go faster!”. It took me about half a second to realize that it was my dad, who had just arrived in Colorado to visit me and some family friends!
After a 500 foot climb to our lunch spot in Daniels Park, I met up with my parents who provided the team with some delicious pastries. Over lunch we made the unfortunate discovery that the adorable prairie dogs that JD saw earlier on the ride often carry the bubonic plague, after which we made a mental note to stay away from the prairie dogs.
You may have noticed that the date on this blog is 7/11, which means that 7-Eleven had free slurpees! We discussed various routes for getting into Denver from the park and decided on one that passed by a 7-Eleven. Maybe I picked a bad flavor (Mtn Dew), although it was immediately apparent to me why the slurpees are free. It was still fun hanging out at the 7-11 with the team and seeing the crowds of people line up for the most objectively mid treat of all time.
We had initially made an appointment to get bike safety checks that afternoon, but once we got to our host’s house we found out that David knows a lot about working on bikes, and he offered to do the safety checks for us! In the meantime, I set out on an adventure to find spare brake pads. I had different shops give me conflicting information about which kind I needed for each type of bike, but I eventually ended up with some that should work. Perhaps we will find out in the rockies.
For dinner Maud and David invited some other MIT alumni, ranging from recent graduates to class of 1977. We had lots of great conversations about everything from their thoughts on the current state of the aerospace engineering industry to their wild hacking escapades during their time at MIT. Although hacking (sneaking into places you’re not supposed to be, setting up inventive yet harmless pranks around campus) is still a huge thing at MIT, I came away with the conclusion that the school was a wild west back then compared to how it is now.
But even more so I ended the evening excited for what the future has in store. Everyone I talked to had such interesting stories and career paths. It was clear how you never really know where you will end up until life takes you there, just like how you never know what you will see on each day of Spokes until you get on the bike.
Talking to alumni was one of my favorite parts of the trip - hearing about their time at MIT was so cool! You guys are doing so well!! -Duha
i love hearing wild hacking stories from alum <3
Let the record show that Hank had one of the key lime chobanis the night before - MIT Spokes