I’ve been back for over two weeks now. It still feels a bit surreal, although I am grudgingly stepping back into my former self. School has begun and my thoughts turn to final projects, Master’s reports, and life after I graduate in December. I long for the summer when my worries were few, the scenery was breathtaking, and free time was spent frolicking about the countryside with friends, both on and off the bike. Luckily, I still see the T4kers quite frequently…we’ve had a lot of celebrating to do, especially Tess, Lorig, and Brett, they’ve done so much to help the transition. My friends and colleagues in Austin have also been wonderful and have made it easy to remember why I love this place. And my short stint in Chicago with my family was just what the doctor ordered.

I’ve been taking time to organize photos, before the chronology gets foggy. I’ve been sifting through my pictures as well as Tess’s, Brett’s, Merriweather’s, and Bredt’s, since they’re all living on my laptop. I’ve pulled ones that I’m especially fond of to print. Aside from a few I’ve already posted, here is the last installment of my T4k pics. A couple are mine, the rest belong to the aforementioned parties.

Actually, this photo was taken by a newspaper in a town outside of Oklahoma City. Tess wrote a note in her journal about how she thought she might be featured in an article and a woman at the newspaper sent her an email with this photo attached. This was a rest stop, and we had been through a lot by this point in the day. There were about seven or eight of us that found ourselves lost on the way out of town, I think we went about 10 miles out of the way. We still had mobile phone coverage and so Lorig and Andy used a computer to chart a route for us back in the right direction as we asked locals at the McDonald’s where we were. It just so happens when we reached this rest stop, in the rain, Limbo Rock came on the speakers of the van and we had an impromptu limbo party. The newspaper caught Tess rocking the limbo.

Carly, me, and Lorig braving the winds of Wyoming.

Team Friday at the lunch stop in Big Sky, Montana. Montana was easily the most beautiful state I rode through. Everyone has their favorite, but it was truly impossible to take a poor picture.

Lorig and I.

Tess was back on the bike by the time we rode through Banff. You can barely see Meg behind her. I got a flat on a sweet descent and the girls waited.

Tess and I, tiny against the mountains.

Our rest stops were strategically placed near places of interest, like this stone skipping spot. Everyone had a go, here are Carly, me, Adriano, Lorig, Andy, and Brett.

You can barely see Lorig and I on the bridge. We were all trying to watch men spearing fish in the roaring waters below.

Me, Tess, and Carly.

From the canoe in the middle of Meziadin Lake.

This is one of my favorites, Lorig and Tess, our first morning in Alaska.

It was a wild ride. Andy wrote “Don’t be sorry it’s over, be glad it happened.” I have learned so much this summer about myself and others. I remember the weeks before leaving Austin and how worried I was to be spending perhaping the most challenging summer of my life with total strangers, those strangers became friends, and then those friends became family. I expected much from this summer, but I could never have prepared myself for the kindness of strangers, their willingness to give to us, and to share their personal experiences with cancer. I’m sure the future holds many more bike tours for me. For now, I’m content to return to my life with a fresh outlook and a brand new bike posse.

It took some time to comb through my pictures to find ones representative of chunks of the trip. Many of these are mine, but I threw some of Tess’ and Capt. Merriweather’s in as well…

This photo was taken in Montana, the most beautiful state as far as I’m concerned. Every corner we turned or hill we crested presented postcard-like scenes. I’m riding on the far left with the pink tires.

This is a picture from the start of one of Rocky’s notorious “nights before the day off.” We’re in the van at Glacier National Park. From the left is me, Brett, Lorig, and half of Tess.

In Calgary we decided to purchase roof racks for the van so that we could be self-contained through the Yukon wilderness. Bredt is making some delicate adjustments here. Calgary apparently uses a Jeffersonian grid for their street arrangement…which means there are at least 4 of every numbered street at different points in the city. I was van leader on the way into Calgary (with John and Tess), the numbering system, the fact that only highways run through Calgary, and Stampede (a huge cowboy festival that caused the normal population of Calgary to swell) gave us some trouble. We learned around 3pm that we had lost all of our riders. Skip, the documentarian, grabbed his camera and jumped in the van with Tess and I as we tried to round up the riders.

We volunteered at the Stampede marathon the morning we left Calgary. Our mission was to ensure the runners had a clear path through the fairgrounds.

I found a penny.

Tess, Brett, Merriweather, and I rode together on the way to Jasper…blue skies, pine lined streets, and mountains ahead.

This is the same day. Andy strongly suggested that Brett and I take a detour from our route to see Lake Louise. We were zamboni and Tess was with us, I convinced her to make the climb with us. Her knee was still healing from the crash in Yellowstone, but she agreed to join us…until an old man walking along the side of the road said, “You’ve got a long way to go.” She turned around and headed toward Jasper, assuring Brett and I that we would catch up to her on the highway. The climb turned out to be pretty steep and long, but it was worth it.

This is the view to my left. The glacier and clouds blend together. We skipped some stones and then headed back down to catch Tess.

We had only been riding a few miles when a white Golf passed us and someone yelled “British Columbia!” I realized the voice was Tess’ and then saw her bike on the roof rack of the car. Turns out she missed a turn, as did Brett and I. Carolyn, the friendly Canadian ranger, had seen the rest of our group at a checkpoint, but saw Tess on another road on her way home from work…in British Columbia days before we were to enter it. They caught us on their way to the checkpoint and put us on the right track.

At the end of the day, we camped at a beautiful site. Brett is the little orange spot at the bottom right. I think he’s gathering skipping stones.

We had topographic maps for our routes in the US to advise us about the climbs for the day…however, Canada was a surprise. Turns out it was better we didn’t know about this climb cause I think my mind would have had the best of me. We had climbed a bit to get to this spot, where mountain goats frolicked about a waterfall.

The road below is where the previous picture was taken…

At the end of the day we found ourselves at the Columbia Icefields campground. Carly, Lorig, Brett, and I braved a mountain stream to walk on the glacier.

You can see the path we took to get to the glacier behind Carly. Turns out that although Chacos are versatile, they may not be the best shoes for ice hiking…

I love Meziadin Lake. It’s my favorite stop for sure. It’s a glacier lake, but it was so warm out, everyone jumped off their bikes and into the water. The rangers said they had never seen so many people swimming in it. To the left is an island. The far shore was home to the best skipping stones I’ve seen.

We had access to the park’s canoe…I’m not really a paddler, I like to be paddled around. Luckily, there are plenty of paddlers on the team. In this picture, Meg had just towed Skip, Paul, Mike, and myself from the island to the shore with the canoe’s rope.

This is the view to the right of the lake. After a few trips in the canoe, I decided to chance bringing my camera along.

Team Friday (sans John who was still rounding up riders)

In Prince George we spent an enchanting day with Richard and Magee. After we cleaned up the teas, juices, and muffins from breakfast, they invited us to draw a square on their table. There were already quite a few squares drawn, I’m particularly fond of this one. I’m pretty sure their daughter, Jessie, wrote it. She was gone on a bike tour while we were there.

We rode next to mountains and lakes nearly the entire time. I still can’t believe how beautiful it’s all been. Tess and Lorig, my two tried and true riding partners are ahead of me here.

The 109 mile day into Yukon would have been impossible for me without Lorig, Tess, Mike, and Brett. We were about 15 miles from our destination here. It was the hardest day for most of us, but also the favorite for most too. Looking at this picture, you’d never guess we had just ridden through hail, or that Tess was stuck in her granny gear, or that we were stopped in the middle of a climb. We were almost there and it was the night before a day off.

I was wary of joining the two teams at the start, but now I can’t imagine why. Here we took a little break to heckle Martina, Suchin, and Mike, who were swimming in the frigid waters below.

I’ve been skipping stones throughout North America. I love it. Brett and Skip are my main partners in crime. We’re supposed to have a skip-off in Anchorage, but no time has been set yet. I’ve been collecting the perfect skipping stones along my journey. Here we’re in Chistochina, an Athabascan community.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I need to wake up some snoozers and start the day. I leave for Austin 1am tonight and will spend the next 12 hours traveling…luckily with friends. Can’t wait to see everyone.

we made it. i’m sitting cozy in a hotel room in anchorage, internetting it up, still in disbelief. still letting it sink in and trying to soak up as much of the summer as i can…i return to austin on the 13th and then reality shows its ugly head.

i have a slew of pictures to put up, complete with informational asides, as i’ve neglected posting due to the fact that we’ve just emerged from the middle of nowhere…but that will have to wait until tomorrow. for now, i’d like to that everyone that made this trip a reality for me. i’m in total awe of the support system i have urging me to attempt what others might label impossible. i needed people to believe in me and they did. dear family and friends, thank you. i send my love across these thousands of miles.

and to my team, i couldn’t have asked for more strength, courage, or compassion. i wouldn’t be here without you, i wouldn’t want to be. we did this together, it is a summer we will never forget.

i’m in anchorage…and i rode my bike here

Hey all,

Not a lot of time to write as I have an enchilada dinner planned for this evening – TGIF, but I wanted to drop a line to let you all know I’m doing fine and feeling great. Who knew? Today is our “day off” in Whitehorse, but Tess, John, and I have been busy grocery shopping for our remaining 10 days on the road…I’m not quite sure where the summer’s gone.

There have been a couple of days this summer that I’ve been surprised I made it through, yesterday was one of them. This week has been full of headwind and hills and we’ve all been feeling fatigued. Nature’s force is not something to take lightly. Between the mountains and the wind, it’s easy to recognize how tiny you are in the grande scheme of things. Yesterday was 109 miles, I felt like sagging at mile 40, but Tess, Lorig, Brett, and Mike kept me going. The remainder of the ride we all took turns encouraging each other to keep going…through the wind, the rain, the hail, the cold, and the hills…it just wouldn’t stop. When we all arrived in Whitehorse, we celebrated, rejoiced is more like it. I love this team and I’m sad to see this all come to an end.

The Sierra team has now joined us, so we are 40 strong for the remainder of the trip. I don’t really have the time to post pictures, but I promise to in the future.

i’m writing from glorious prince george, bc. i love this place. richard and maggee, our hosts, have been so welcoming. their house is full of creativity and life, as was our stay here. beautiful weather allowed us to spend our day off laughing, chatting, drawing, and cryptic crossword puzzling on their front porch eating freshly made muffins and drinking tea.

i’m still feeling great and thoroughly enjoying myself. i now have a handlebar bag to keep rain gear and other items with me while i ride…so far it hasn’t slowed me down on the descents. i can’t believe i biked here.

jen, sorry we got cut off on the phone this evening, i couldn’t get to your number to call you back…cell phone went dead. good luck with your move to ny, austin will miss you dearly. sorry for the personal message, but i can’t handle the snail-like speed of web mail right now.

miss you all,
love,
lib