Day 70! Mill Valley, CA to San Francisco, CA
The day we’ve all been waiting for and simultaneously dreading: the very last day of 4K. Despite only having 10 miles to cover we woke up at 5 because we needed to leave the host by 7:30. We also weren’t supposed to get to Baker Beach until 12 which meant we had a lot of…
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Day 69: Santa Rosa, CA to Mill Valley, CA
It feels impossible to believe, but it’s here: our last full day of riding on 4K. It started out as a day of both firsts and lasts: I had Santi rooster this morning as a joke because he usually ignores the rooster, sleeps in, and wakes up anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes before dedication…
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Day 68: Napa, CA to Santa Rosa, CA
Another short day, another slooooow morning! Today the entire team flooded Winston’s Cafe and Bakery in Napa for breakfast. I definitely ordered with my stomach today and ended up with a breakfast sandwich, maple twist, half a lemon citrus roll, and an oat milk latte. I was really glad Rose was willing to split the…
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Day 67: Davis, CA to Napa, CA
It may be hard to believe, but this morning may have been our team’s most chaotic morning yet. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about this before, but each morning we usually have a “rooster” to wake everyone up, usually with some upbeat music and a little nagging. As I was trying to fall asleep…
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Days 65 & 66: Jackson, CA to Davis, CA
At first glance, yesterday’s route didn’t look awful– 2,500 feet of climbing over 85 miles isn’t all that bad! Unfortunately for us, most of that elevation was all in the first 15 miles of the ride. After riding out of Jackson (where we saw some unintentionally funny signs about a used car dealer’s retirement) we…
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Day 64: Groveland, CA to Jackson, CA
Today was my last van day of 4K! Once again, I ended up in the van on a day with some awesome descents but that also meant I missed out on a lot of really tough climbs. This was (or was close to) the hilliest day of the trip– a century with 7,000 feet of…
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Day 63: Lee Vining, CA to Groveland, CA
Today was a very atypical day from start to finish but was ultimately one of my favorite days of the trip. Our route went through Yosemite National Park (very, very cool) but we somehow didn’t realize until this morning that the vans would need to enter the park before 6 AM; otherwise they needed a…
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Hello from San Francisco!
I am quite behind with my daily blog posts but just a quick real-time update: WE MADE IT!!! The past few days have been a whirlwind as our trip came to a close and I spent most of my time cherishing my last moments with my team instead of blogging. I will be posting the…
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Day 62: South Lake Tahoe, CA to Lee Vining, CA
Today we had our first reroute due to natural hazards, as one of the roads we were supposed to ride on was closed from a mudslide. The route was also extremely difficult (120 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing) so we instead planned to ride around Lake Tahoe and shuttle to the host. Even that proved…
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Days 60 & 61: Carson City, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA
We took advantage of a low-mileage day and a great host to sleep in a little yesterday morning and take our time with getting ready. Patti had an excellent breakfast spread and I enjoyed my food and coffee from a cozy chair on the front porch. We also took advantage of the extra time to…
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Day 59: Austin, NV to Carson City, NV
I woke up this morning a little chilly but otherwise well-rested after a night in the van! After a true #4KOK breakfast (a bagel, a banana, and a slice of cake) and a loooong pack-up, we were finally heading out of Austin back on US-50. It was a clear and cold morning but we quickly…
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Day 58: Eureka, NV to Austin, NV
I ended up in the van again today after a terrible night of sleep thanks to a small hole in my sleeping pad. I hate to give up riding time this close to the end of the trip but I knew that I would benefit from another day of relative rest, and Mike really wanted…
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Lauren Bikes America 