Day 56: Look on the Bryce side

Sunday, July 28th, 2024

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT -> Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

0 miles, 0 ft elevation

Once again, I woke up at 6:00 A.M. on a rest day. Two things contributed to this early wake-up: the pain in my arms and the cold. Bryce Canyon gets surprisingly chilly on summer nights.

For context, I fractured my right elbow two days ago and got multiple road rashes during the fall. The doctor said it would take about four weeks for the bone to heal, which means no biking for me for the rest of Spokes. Since I’m not the most experienced driver, I didn't feel comfortable driving with one hand for the rest of the trip which left me with (basically) two options. Thus, for the past two days, I’ve been torn between staying as a passenger princess in the car, doing duties every day with the driver—an arrangement that’s not exactly fun but would allow me to stay with the team—or heading back home to France to spend time with my family before I head off to MIT for the fall semester. Bright side is neither of these options are bad, it's just hard to let go of the biking.

To clear my head, I walked to the nearby inn to grab the mandatory morning coffee. I also bought a pretty terrible novel as a distraction for the road, in case I decided to stay.

After a late breakfast with the rest of the team, a shower, and a bandage rewrapping session, we set out on various hikes in Bryce. Rebecca and I (the infirm duo) went on an incredibly technical 0.4-mile round-trip hike with 58 feet of elevation gain, while the rest of the team weaved through the hoodoos.

We then met up for lunch, sticking to our usual bagels, which left many of us unsatisfied, so we went out for some much-needed ice cream. Ice cream is quickly becoming the unofficial Spokes food, thanks to Varsha and her unconditional love for it. The afternoon turned out to be pretty relaxed, with most of us working on housing arrangements, admin tasks, or future plans. Hank’s uncle—our true lifesaver—brought back dinner, which we enjoyed around the camp. All in all, it was a genuinely restful rest day!

Vegan Pizza brought by Hank's uncle

Even after dinner, my mind was still a mess, but I was leaning more towards staying with the team until Zion, then heading to Vegas and flying home from there.

See y’all in my next blog,

Cleo