Friday, July 12, 2024
Denver, CO -> Denver, CO
0 mi, 0 ft elevation
Rest days logistics are always quite hard to figure out. They’re like giant jigsaw puzzles: how do you move around 8 people through a huge metropolitan area, each with their own commitments? While I haven’t actually sat down to work through a math pset in quite some time, my approach to these logic problems feels very similar to solving a math proof.Feels good to know I’m not going entirely rusty.
Today's agenda was packed with tasks. Group commitments included moving houses, having lunch with Spokes alumna Kate (!), exploring Denver’s city center and the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and shopping at REI. Personal tasks included Varsha's visa appointment, Sophia's meeting, and my hangout with a friend. (Spoiler Alert: we got through all of these, you can stop reading the blog now and look at the photos - I’ll still detail the day though).
I started the day by first shuttling Varsha to her visa appointment then grabbing a wonderful breakfast at Dave and Maud’shouse. For the Spokesters used to savory food in the morning, the eggs came as a welcomed reprieve from the sweet cereals and Nutella bagels we usually have.
With the end of breakfast came the time to switch houses from Maud and Dave's to Li Lee's, which we did semi-efficiently thanks to their help. I did forget a bike, which we had to return for later— oopsies. It was a little sad to leave Dave and Maud as they truly were wonderful hosts. On Spokes, I've been reflecting a lot on how I want to invest my time and shape my future. Hearing about their lives was quite eye-opening. Maud’s political activism reinforced my desire to invest more time in politics — maybe even minor in Political Science? — and Dave’s ability to juggle so many different pursuits reassured me that, with smart time management, I could do everything I wanted to do.
We then put everything in Li’s garage, picked up Varsha, and headed to Denver’s West Highland to meet up with Kate (Spokes 2018). We compared our Spokes experiences and asked her about life in Denver then drove down to LoHi which she recommended.
The team made a (not so) quick first stop at REI, where we were mesmerized by the Beyond Yoga tops but less impressed by the bike shorts collection. Afterward, we grabbed ice cream at a local spot.
Hank and JD happily ordered first but were quickly disillusioned as Sophia came back with free toppings, I got a free size upgrade and Amulya got an entire free ice cream. Sometimes, asking for free stuff or mentioning that you’re crossing the country on a bike goes a long way for free goodies :).
We next headed to the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre — arriving there took longer than expected due to my questionable driving abilities (I was in fact on top of Mount Stupid, JD, but don’t worry I’m safely in Lame Crevasse now). The actual amphitheatre was closed for a concert and the Dino Ridge Trail was too far away for us to get to dinner on time BUT we got awesome stickers and took some cool pics of the view. A win is a win I guess.
For the evening, I split off from the team and explored a little more of Denver with a local friend. We visited RiNO: a hippie part of town with cool street art and food trucks, then drove through the city to see key landmarks.
The rest of the team had dinner with Li, who shared stories about her RV trip across the country!
Overall, today was quite eventful for a rest day. I'm so accustomed to the well-oiled machine of our biking days that I sometimes forget how efficient we can be, even with moments of indecision throughout the day.
That’s all for today,
Logging off,
Cleo
pset skills applicable irl ???????