Bonking

You've "bonked" when your head starts to spin, your body feels weird, and your blood sugar is low. When you haven't been replenishing enough calories or drinking enough water, bonking is inevitable, and the only remedy is some cool shade, rest, and a little bit of food.

At 118 miles, yesterday was our longest day so far. It could have very well been the hottest, but anything over 95 degrees feels the same, and most of our days have been just that. I barely made it to the end and was saved by a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some encouraging teammates, and thoughts of those who are still in Austin.

Our day started at 4:45 am in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where we stayed in the youth group meeting room of St. Mary's Church. The men made us sausage and pancakes for breakfast, which provided a pleasant beginning. After packing the trailers with our personal duffel bags and camping gear, we rolled out at 6:45 am and proceeded to take a slow and steady 12 to 15-mile climb towards Turner Falls Park--elevation unknown to me. Below is also a picture of my riding buddy, Kasaundra. Picture credits go to her!

I pushed myself harder than I wanted to, and by mile 86 I was feeling weird. Kasaundra, MJ, Ivan, and I pulled over into a small park at Oklahoma State University, where we stopped to figure out the location of our next rest stop. I was feeling loopy and everything amused me: the way a melted PowerBar limped in my hands and Ivan's genuine leather bike saddle. When MJ bent over to stretch her legs in the shape of an A-frame, I deigned to copy her and waved from upside-down. We were all delirious from the heat; clearly, I had bonked. Luckily, we were a mile from the nearest rest stop, which was set up by two designated teammates who take the day off and drive the support vehicles to monitor our safety for the entire ride. I had my third PB & J sandwich for that afternoon and re-fueled for the last 36 miles, which were the hardest.

I remembered the people back home who are rooting for us and for our cause, and their support gave me a much-needed chill that cooled me down. And, the memory of Estelle Harbers, who I was riding for that day, helped to carry me up the last 10 miles of hills to our final destination: Oklahoma Christian University, which has been our host for the past two days.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Oklahoma, and Julio and I are going to drive. We both joked about providing "moving rest stops," but I don't think our teammates would appreciate that.

Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

On Day Five we biked across the Oklahoma state border. Some of the faster riders wanted to have a "border race," where bikers compete to be the first rider who enters new territory. There aren't any physical prizes--only pride.

Our route foiled their plans, because we took IH-35 right in to Oklahoma. The shoulder was wide enough, but the traffic was too fast. Let me tell you: I was terrified and scared the whole time. On the bike, wind and traffic are oftentimes deafening, and rolling hills make you go so fast (my max speed was 41 mph one afternoon) that the only thing you can think about is hanging on tightly.

Luckily, we all made it across safely. I wanted to take a picture of the experience, but stopping on the side of the highway next to 75-miles-an-hour traffic in order to take a snapshot of the sign that read "OKLAHOMA" would have been a horrible idea.

We've been sticking to farm roads and country roads, but there are rare occasions that call for taking interstate highways. In this case it was crossing the Oklahoma state border. Maybe we'll have to do it again once we get into Kansas, but I don't know: our routes are oftentimes determined the night (and sometimes morning) before we leave, because we've been using directions from last year's team and some of the roads and destinations have changed.

There are too many destinations in too many days, so we've been relying on an incremental process where we live from day-to-day. I usually plan ahead when I travel, but this traveling experience is different from anything I've ever done. The directions are singular; when the directions are simple, we only need to find the location of the sun in order to confirm, "Yes. This is North!" In a few days, though, we'll be heading due west in order to get to Colorado...

Our first week

• Day "Zero": Austin to Cedar Park, TX. 35 miles.
• Day One: Cedar Park to Lampasas. 72 miles.
• Day Two: Lampasas to Stephenville. 92 miles.
• Day Three: Stephenville to South Lake. 115 miles.
• Day Four: South Lake to Lindsay. 76 miles.
• Day Five: Lindsay to Ardmore, OK. 50 miles.
• Day Six: Ardmore to Edmond, OK. 118 miles.
  
• Day Seven: Resting in Edmond.