This is a vlog-style transcript of Kara and Nate Buchanan’s multi-day attempt to bike across the U.S. on a three-seater bicycle (the "Trandom"). The video covers Days 3–7, describing route (Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD planned 3,000 miles), daily mileage goals (aiming ~100 miles/day), state crossings (CA→AZ), on-road challenges (traffic, narrow shoulders, climbs, flat tire), van-life logistics (campsites, laundry, water), family participation (kids riding segments), and moments of humor and struggle. The tone is upbeat but candid about physical difficulty and logistics.
Chapters
We are riding this three seater bike across America. No apparent signs of blood from up here. Our 3,000 mile route starts in Oceanside, California and ends at the Atlantic Ocean in Annapolis, Maryland. It's currently day three and we've ridden 167 of the 3,000 miles. We only have a little over a month to complete the journey, so our goal is to average 100 miles a day on the Trandom for 30 days straight. So far we learned how to ride the bike.
Honestly, I think they started out smoother than we did.
Found some metal dinosaurs in the desert. Parked the van by the world's largest tennis ball. Rode through a sandstorm. Oh, I feel so bad that the guys have to ride through this. And learned that riding this bike across the US Is actually going to be pretty hard. In this episode, we make it to our second state.
Sleep at a cemetery, have a run in with the law, almost get hit by more cars. Have our first breakdown and hit our lowest, lowest point yet.
What's yours?
I think I'm 18 and a half. We're all taking measurements of our thigh on the morning of day three. See how big they grow by the end you might 18 and a quarter.
A quarter smaller than me.
I've always had big thighs and calves.
Last night we camped on the side of the road in the middle of the desert. And today should be a very exciting day if everything goes to plan because today we are going to be crossing our first state line from California to Arizona. All right, desert bathroom tour. We do have one in the van, but this is what some of the public toilets look like in the desert. Found this guy crawling underneath my foot.
Oh, yeah. I was thinking I could get the Trandom tattoo on my bud since my butt will never be the same. Three, two, one. Go. Mommy. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Oh. Oh, they're off. What happened?
All right. Day three.
This is the first time it feels like we have a little bit of a routine. The first day was us getting the hang of it. The second day was the girls getting the hang of it. This time we just sent the girls out on their own. They're supposed to be doing about 50 miles and then we're just going to wait at the halfway point, have some lunch, then we'll get on the bike.
My butt and my. My legs feel shockingly okay after our 40 mile day yesterday. It's a beautiful morning. We're riding through these epic sand dunes. Who knew there were sand dunes like this in California?
Well, we made it a grand total of 10 minutes down the road. Before we had to stop and play in the sand dunes.
Let's go.
Seventeen miles in. Feeling strong. Now it's snack time. I have no idea how long this southwest snack mix has been in my backpack, but very happy to have it today.
So this could be interesting. We're coming up on a border checkpoint that we didn't know existed.
Well, just passed a border patrol sign. Not sure what that means, but none of us have our IDs.
Our wives are on a three seater bike a couple miles back, but I don't think they have any idea or anything. Is that.
Oh, Kate. Have a good day. Have a good one. Easy peasy.
We just crushed out another 10 miles. Taking a little water break. I was just admiring the stickers. My water bottle. All from Ragbrai. If you'd have told me at Ragbry the first time I had ever rode a bike longer than a couple of miles that in two years we would be on this trip across the country on Trand. I don't know if I would have believed it. Actually, I probably would have because I'm married to Nate Buchanan.
This stuff just seems to happen.
Man, life is good just hanging out in the van, eating a taco, waiting on the girls. I cannot believe we get to do this for the next 27 days.
They're flying now.
We made it to lunch.
You crushed it. Just when I thought I was about to sit down and get to enjoy myself for a little while.
I know, right? Oh, you even have the bug Nana. Look at you. I see you didn't throw away the trash.
I forgot, but.
Yum.
Kind of just looks like mush with chips on top.
But my favorite, and for some reason.
You have two knives.
Thank you.
It's kind of fun switching roles.
Oh, it's so fun.
I feel a lot of pressure cooking caramels. It's not that she's picky. She just. It's like the more the merrier, the more flavors you could possibly put on something whether they go together or not. And the stronger those flavors are, the better. I love food.
Go, girls. I love Evie and Frankie. They have been begging to have their turn on the tandem and they're finally getting to do it. The girls did the first 45 miles today. Now Rick and Evie and Frankie are biking the next 10 miles to the next town of Ripley. And then the guys are going to finish out the day. Those kids are the best.
This is our first time getting to ride together in the car since the start of the trip.
So fun. It is a bit lonely in Here, man.
It's kind of nice to have some time myself, honestly.
I agree.
I thought you were going to get mad at me. These girls. Nice work.
I think.
Their power to weight ratio is just so good. They don't weigh anything and I feel like just have little pistons back there.
See ya.
All right. We have got five hours till the sun sets and 60 miles to get to a casino that has free overnight parking. If we can knock that out. We've done 115 miles a day and we are getting dangerously close to a 100 mile per day average.
Man, did I need one of these.
We're about to have our first border crossing of the whole bike trip.
Halfway. Just sitting on solid road.
California. California. California. Arizona.
Wow. That was sad. By myself. Welcome to Arizona. Thank you. Not really a good place to pull over for those Arizona signs. Oh. I really wanted to do a handstand in between California and Arizona.
She totally hit me.
Sent me flying down the ditch.
Didn't even stop or anything to make.
Sure I was alright. So Rick is actually the only one in the group who has done a cross country bike ride. And he's just now telling us that he got hit by a car last time he did this. I was just starting to get comfortable with tens near death experiences per day and now I'm back on edge.
Oh, man. We just drove to another road on the Colorado river hoping to get a picture with the sign and I don't think they have one. We are on the border though.
All right. This is a big moment. This river right here is the border between California and Arizona. So this is the first of we think 12 state line crossings in California. California, California, California, Colorado, Arizona. I think I threw a Colorado in there. I almost said Arkansas. My brain's not getting enough oxygen.
One, two, three. Arizona.
We made it to the casino. There was no sign. But the river is the border and we just had to get out and celebrate.
Wow. It's cooler in Arizona.
It really is. Well, that was still fun. We did lose the girls though. I guess we'll just wait for them to show back up. I'm gonna get another snack.
Boo. Where's the other little one? I don't know. You don't know? No, she's not in here. For real?
Yeah.
Okay, I'm ready. Did you know she was here? Yeah. That was way too believable. Frankie. It's actually a little alarming.
All right. We are racing the dark clouds behind us. 10 miles to town. They're blowing towards us. But that's also a Good thing because it's pushing the bike in the right direction.
Wow.
And we have made it to Blue Water Resort & Casino. RV dry camping parking, make a U turn, then your destination will be on the right. No, I'm here.
Well, this is exciting. Behind the casino there is a beach. A beach. Oh, this is perfect. Because we stink. You stink as much as I.
Do. I don't know. Probably.
Not. But I still stay.
This is my shower for the. For the year. For the.
Year.
Just outran our first.
Dog.
A shower in the Colorado river is just what I needed. That was amazing. Welcome.
Back. We made it. The first day we finished before the.
Sunset. Nice.
Work. Thanks. I will say this is the first day we finished and I've been.
Like. It felt like we were.
Close. My legs are feeling.
It. Oh.
No. What a.
Day. What a.
Day. What a sight of the way across the country. No, five miles short, but we'll round.
Up. I don't want to already be a.
Third. I'm not ready on the bike. We were literally already like, what's.
Next?
This is where we've ended up tonight, nestled between the casino and the Colorado river where we swam earlier. And it's just stunning. Our campsites just keep getting better. I love it. The best part about van life is you just kind of put them all in a circle and open your doors to each other and it doesn't really matter where you are.
For dinner tonight, I am cooking a pasta recipe that I completely made up. Stay tuned. Mushrooms and garlic, cashew cream, plant milk. So much nooch pasta water is the key. Mamma mia, look at the pasta. You ready for the best pasta of your.
Life? So ready. Never been more ready. It's just like a Nate trust food segment.
Yep.
Just eat it.
Best pasta you've ever.
Had. Best pasta I've ever had. Really chew on cardboard and would.
Have tasted delicious but.
Stopped.
Ready for day.
Four? Yep.
I'm a little nervous about today. See you at.
Lunch. Alright, the girls are off back to the Pizza Hut to resume the ride from exactly where we stopped yesterday. I am glad I'm not the one that has to ride first thing in the morning. Especially after winning $5 at the Blackjack table last night.
I'm considering this my first shower of the.
Trip. I love this. This.
Day four. Having done absolutely zero training for this adventure. Besides some lunges here and there, my body is holding up surprisingly well. Like I thought my butt was going to hurt way worse by this point. My knees are definitely more sore than I would like them to Be especially after the drama that was the Tuscany trail. That was probably one of my biggest fears going into this, is that that would happen again. But I feel like I've learned from my mistakes. I'm readjusting my seat. I'm sitting in a different position every once in a while, trying to avoid that. Yeah, I feel like we're driving. I wish there was more drama to make this a little more interesting. I'm just kidding. No, I don't. I didn't say that. I didn't mean.
It. I'm not sure how the girls are feeling, but honestly, this looks like a pretty horrible road to ride on. There is practically no shoulder, and we have passed a ton of tractor.
Trailers. Just a friendly reminder, anyone who happens to be driving around 72 east through Arizona, slow down. Go around the trimaran. Wait, not a trimaran. Go around the trandom. Be nice. This road has been awful.
All right, we've made it halfway. 26 miles to the town of Boos Boshy Bosie. We're not sure. There's not much going on here. Gonna have a little water and snack and get back on the ramp. Kind of off.
Trap. That was crazy. First off, a policeman was just driving straight at me in my lane and practically ran me off the road. And then we just got passed by the biggest thing that I have ever seen driving on the road. I don't know what it is, but it was surrounded by enough policemen that I feel like it had to be something super top secret. That should be an interesting obstacle for the.
Girls. What the heck? What? That lockers. That thing had, like, 10 escort police officers taking up the entire row. We had to pull.
Over. All right, Chef Nate is back in the kitchen. I'm going to see if I can throw together some tofu wraps before Cara gets here. For some reason, I felt like we were going to have a lot more time on this trip. Like, I thought I'd have, like, four hours in the morning to knock out some work and chill out, and then I'd just get on the bike. But by the time you make a plan, move the vans, you have, like, 30 minutes of free time to do.
Something. Signs for Vicksburg. It's a beautiful sight.
Good one.
Oh, there are the vans.
Oh, my.
Gosh. Oh, my.
Gosh. Oh, my.
Knees.
How was.
It? It was a roller.
Coaster. This is the first time they haven't come back going, that was the best.
Ever. We crushed it. I mean, we still crushed it. Like, we crushed it. We're feeling like super women but the cars, like, half of them were great. They get over zero shoulder the whole time. Yeah, we got flicked off. Like, my head almost got taken off by mold. Multiple rear view mirrors, and it's just scary because there's, like, nothing we can.
Do. Wow. The day is off to an exciting start. I definitely haven't seen the girls this spicy the whole trip. I put some cat food on top just for.
You. This is actually my favorite cat food. Thank.
You. It's actually.
Both. Way.
Cool. Gosh, I will never get over how fun this roller Versal is.
10 out of 10, baby. Let's.
Go. Chef Knight's back in the.
House. I'm so happy. You're the.
Best. This is by far the least I've wanted to get on the bike. I'm clean from swimming in the river. It's hot. I'm full. Your review of the road did make me excited to ride today. There's no wind, which kind of is under the same category as I'm hot. But this is what we do. We show up day in and day out. Trying to pump myself up.
Here. You got.
This. And I've also gone into safety man mode early. I didn't realize these are, like, suspenders. I kind of love.
That. Yeah.
I love you, Safety.
Man. I kind of miss.
You. I.
Know.
And then we get in bed, and I'm like.
Yep. Does anyone have sunscreen.
On? Okay, we're gonna go after this.
Car. Safety man is also sun safe. See.
Ya. Have a good one. See you there.
This feeling is just so lovely, just knowing that, like, I did my part, and now I just have to get myself to the meeting point.
Get us fed tonight. Those are my two duties the rest of the day. We are following the boys right now. Oh, the door is open. This town isn't.
A vibe necessarily, and it's very hot. So we're just gonna go ahead and do our hour drive to the next town and meet them.
There. We made a left turn pretty shortly after leaving the vans, and it put us on a different road. It's only got a few feet of shoulder, but it's amazing what a difference a few feet will make. It looks like somebody just painted these clouds on the screen.
Oh. This town we're about to go through is called Hope. There's hope ahead. Don't lose.
Hope. There's hope. Hope that we may finish this bike ride without getting hit by a.
Car.
The road has turned to gravel, and we are now turning on a road called cemetery road right off of ghost town road.
Not sure. How I feel about this. All right, we've come to a little spot on the side of the road where they can't miss us. And while we're waiting for the dads, my little helper and I. What are we doing? Cara's banana oats, Chocolate cinnamon peanut butter yumalicious cookies.
I mean, she's not wrong. We start off by smushing the most rotten bananas we could possibly. Look at that. Look at that. It's disgusting. Yeah. So bad, but so good, right? These have become my favorite cookies of all time. They're healthy and they're so easy. So easy. And they're delicious.
I wish you could smell the van right now. What's it smell like? Delicious.
I made pasta last night, and it smelled like hard core garlic in here when I woke up. And now it's gonna smell like cookies. I love yummy.
Smells.
Yeah. Flies. Look how many flies have accumulated on Rick's helmet and bag while we've been sitting.
Here. There's like, literally 7 million.
Flies.
All right, back on the road.
Hill never.
Ends.
Wow. Sunset early tonight.
I'm not gonna lie, Today's been a little bit of a grind. It's amazing what a difference a little headwind and a 1 or 2% uphill grade will do to your progress. We've just passed 50 miles, and by the end, this will be our second. Second shortest day so far, but somehow it feels like the longest. Am I just bringing the positivity back here or what? No, I feel the.
Same.
Look at that sexy safety.
Man.
Oh.
Look.
At. Look at.
That.
Guess what? I made them. Evie made.
These.
Thank you, ladies. We were grinding, and my butt is.
Grinding. How are you scale? One.
And.
My whole body. Wait, is 10 good or.
Bad? 10 is, like, optimal. Like, that's when you started. You were a.
10. I would say my body's like 7 or 8. My butt's like a.
2.
Oh. We stopped and got off the bike for a second, and I was like, my butt feels a little more moist. I was like, I really hope that's sweat and not blood. And dusty was like. I literally just had the same thought. Just like checking a baby's.
Diaper.
No apparent signs of blood from up.
Here.
This is so fun. I love biking across.
America.
To buy King across America.
I think we were all a little.
Hungry.
Come.
On. Where would we go.
On? Is there.
Anything? There is this feeling we are making this entire thing up as we go. We're literally doing math overseas at a bar in the middle of the pool game. Figuring out how far we need to go tomorrow. I love this.
Crew.
Good morning. We parked next to a cemetery last night, which feels pretty appropriate for the season.
Yeah, I mean, we just need to do the right thing for a reader to offer the most value. Kara's filming me over.
Here.
This is what biking across America and running businesses looks like. 7:00am Business calls in bed before the chaos of the day.
Begins.
The little girls are riding the first. Well, the little girls minus Beck are riding the first seven miles on the bike today. So we're gonna meet them at the gas station, and then the big girls are gonna get on the.
Bike.
Feel like I'm back on the Colorado trail.
I still think I much prefer the morning shift over the boys afternoon shift. But it has been so nice this morning getting to finish my coffee and not put on my disgusting chamois and sunscreen and all the things, like, first thing in the morning. So thank you, Evie and Frankie and Beck. That's basically like all.
Downhill. We are planning today's route in front of a gas station on top of an ice.
Machine. We were thinking, like, we've got a nice hot.
Spring. Always bring the facts into it because you.
You. You just make up these, like, fanciful. You know what? So we'll do the climb, and then it's just like all downhill for you guys. Except for that it's twice as much climbing for us, and you'll be.
At a hot spring at the end.
This is how you could tell Rick's butt is in a lot of pain. He's never the one to try to not have to ride the.
Bike. I need to go see a doctor for my backside right.
Now. What did you tell me your butt looked like last.
Night? It looked like one of those baboons with the red.
Butts.
This morning he goes, do you think they sell hemorrhoid cream at the gas.
Station? I just feel like it would be. It would reduce the.
Inflammation. I think everyone's butt hurts, but just listening to Rick talk about how bad his hurts somehow makes mine feel.
Better. They would think I'm in heat. The baboons would try to mate with.
Me. Gladiators ready? Ready to climb. I'm.
Ready. Good luck, girls. High five. Can't you do.
It?
We're starting off with a lovely downhill, but pretty soon we're going to be pedaling uphill for a very long time. Just mentally preparing to be in a lot of pain today. But thankfully we have a shoulder.
What a it.
That? Oh, no. I was actually really hoping that Wasn't them. I feel like we sat at the gas station for, like, 30 minutes, and they've only made it five miles down the.
Road. We're starting what's going to be about 10 miles of uphill. And it's a little daunting because we're just pretty much riding straight towards the mountain that we're about to have to go over. Thankfully, as far as I can see, this is a three lane highway, so I don't think the cars are going to be an.
Issue.
You got this.
This does look like a pretty monstrous climb. This is gonna be a long.
Day.
7% grade. Crushing it, of course. It looks flat as a pancake on the GoPro. Where are we.
Starting? Wow. This is a serious climb. You know it's bad when it's winding back up and forth on itself. I think today may be a bigger effort than we had all.
Hoped. What's your.
Name? My name's.
Peter. Are you from here?
Yeah. I live at the bottom of the.
Hill. How often do you bike this.
Mountain? I've probably done it over a thousand.
Times. Oh, my.
Gosh. Oh, I'd be.
Delighted. I've never seen three pretty ladies on one bicycle before. That hill felt absolutely massive. And if you look at the elevation profile for what we were planning on doing today, there's three really sharp peaks, and that one was the smallest of the.
Three. What, 500 more feet? Yeah, 500ft of.
Climbing. Okay, Chef Nate is back in the kitchen. It's a very complicated one today. I put the pan on the oven, and we ordered way too much food last night because we were all starving from being on the bike all day. So now I have to take the frozen pizza out of the fridge. And then finally, I'm going to to gently place the frozen pizza into the pan. But that's not.
All. We.
Did it.
Ladies. We are so good at riding across America. 2,000ft. Like it was.
Nothing. This is the secret ingredient to make Kara love anything. You just put enough of these on something until she starts sweating, and then she thinks. Thinks it's.
Amazing.
Coasting down a bike lane. Life is good. I love it up here. Look at this little.
Town. So now that we've guaranteed that Carol will sweat while she eats her pizza, we'll put the lid on that, and hopefully it'll be warm by the time she gets.
Here. We had such a day. The girls crushed it, and now.
You carefully remove it and put it on the plate.
Oh.
My.
Gosh. Wait, but is your nose sweating?
No. Oh, you've toasted it to.
Perfection. Thank.
You. N time. This takes.
Skill. I.
Know. You're the.
Best. I need a.
Turbo.
All right, we've got about four hours until the sun sets. There are two massive climbs in front of us. We're gonna meet the girls at the bottom of the first one and then decide whether or not we have it in us to do the second one. It's probably gonna depend a lot less on our legs and a lot more of the daylight that we have.
Left. And now the girls are heading to.
I already forgot the name of where we're going. Pentkoff. Wherever the boys are riding. And we have quite the to do list. When we get there, do laundry and go to the grocery store. My favorite thing. More snacks. More snacks, more snacks.
On day one, we jumped in the Pacific Ocean. On day three, we swam in the Colorado River. And on day five, we decided we don't quite have an option to feel refreshed. And we're running low on water, so I can't actually take a shower. Although we do have one. And we have a fancy new shower head that I'm really keen to use. So in the meantime, we're taking what I call a wipey bath. I've literally just gotten it wet and added a few drops of essential oil. What is that, Sarah? A space like rocket. Taking off.
Trying to find quarters to go do laundry. And all I have are Mexican coins. I guess Mexico is the last big ban trip we.
Did. Top of the.
Climb. We did it. One down, 6,000ft, 127 to.
Go.
Shockingly, Nate and I have only been to, like, I don't know, five laundromats ever, so we usually end up, like, booking an Airbnb that has laundry or end up at someone's house. But laundromats are great. I paid $3 and 50 cents to do a whole load, and then the dryer was only 50 cents per every 10 minutes, and everything was dry in 20 minutes. So.
450.
No.
Wait, I paid for 50 cents, so I paid a dollar. So, yeah, 450. I should have have not taken that long to do math, but, yeah, laundry is done. Now it's time to stock up on some.
Snack. Bestie pointed out that this is the first city we've driven through since starting in Oceanside. I'm not gonna lie. I don't miss the cars in the.
City. Safeway food makes me way too happy. It smells like a cinnamon cookie in here. Bagels.
Nate and I could not be more opposite when it comes to Foods. I'm gonna eat an everything bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. Now I'm gonna get Nate whatever the sweetest possible donut is. There she is. Gonna get more of these. Just take the whole box. Nate requested veggie.
Sticks. It's famous cereal if anyone lives in Prescott. And I saw three idiots riding a trailer bicycle down the side of the.
Highway.
All righty then.
All stocked.
Up.
That's the mountain that we have to get to the top of before it gets dark. One thing we've noticed is that animals are incredibly interested in this bike. Like, 100 cars could pass them, and they won't even pull their head off. And then we ride past, and they all just sit there and stare. Cows, deer, everything we've.
Passed.
We're all good. Thank you. Oh, that was so nice. So Sarah and I passed the guys and then pulled over as soon as we.
Could.
Well, the whole thing.
Is. That's our.
Ride.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. We're just going to.
Those.
Cool. Okay.
Awesome. Yeah, thanks for stopping. It kind of got dark on the.
Quick. Appreciate.
It. We're only 5.2 miles from where we were gonna go anyway, so it's just not worth.
It. Day five in the books.
Now, there is one caveat with the Alaska match, and that is that you need.
To. Good afternoon, Shameless plug. I was just listening to the daily Drop podcast. Surprise. We have a podcast now. It's amazing. It's day six, and it's pretty much gone. As per usual, the girls climbed up an insane mountain. Then we got to go all the way back down the other side. Met the boys in Camp Verde. They just happened to be parked at the Taco Bell going.
Forward. We don't have any set up.
Yet. I love your.
Cooking. Whatever.
The. This really hits the spot. So that was a fun train. Now boys are on the bikes, girls are in the van, and we are all driving all the way to a place called Happy Jacks. Like, that's literally what it's.
Called. 500 plus miles in. We've just gotten our first flat of the trip. Thankfully, it was in the shade. If I'm being completely honest, I needed a break riding up this hill. And best of all, Rick and Desti are on top of it and know exactly how to fix it. We'll be back on the road in no.
Time. Got our campsite all set up, and now we just wait for the.
Dads. Hopefully this new tube that we installed holds up, because the girls are already at camp. 40 miles that way. Also, my allergies have been killing me today. I've just been crying and my nose has been running on the back of the.
Bike.
All right.
Drama. We are all settled into this lovely camp area and now we're packing up and driving closer to the guys because I don't think they're gonna make it here until, I don't know, 7 o', clock, 8 o', clock, 9 o'. Clock.
I hope they're okay. They had a huge day. We're coming for you, boys. Keep paddling. Just keep paddling. Just keep pedaling. Just keep paddling.
Keep swimming. Just keep swimming. We're heading back 24 miles, 35 minute drive to where we think they can make it. So this is gonna put us quite behind, but it's fine. We have some wiggle room. Hopefully stuff like this doesn't happen too often. Oh.
Gosh.
Hey, how's it going? How about you guys going to dc?
Honestly, anything to uplift the spirits right.
Now.
All right. We just made it to camp. The guys are only about a mile away from here. It is just getting dark outside and I think all is well. Gonna have some nice hot dinner ready for him when he gets back. They're here. Yay.
Is this on.
May.
Like.
Hardest day so.
Far? Your food is already sketch. Are you.
Serious?
Yeah. On a scale of one to day 15 of the Colorado Trail, how are.
You? I'm not sure. That's a confusing rating system for me right.
Now.
That would be hilarious.
I stole these little mini vegemites from our hotel in Sydney. Day seven, one weekend. She knocked two.
Drinks. She knocked my drink over. She knocked another drink over and then went to get the paper towels to save us and ripped them off for war. And now the paper where Todd Spencer is.
Broken.
What? All in about five seconds. She just destroyed everything that matters this morning. Coffees are.
Gone. Good morning, cows.
Well, that's random. It is the morning of day seven. So we are almost a week into this bike ride and I feel like if I would have picked the camera up yesterday before we started riding, this would be a completely different.
Conversation. To be honest, I think it's. It's a little harder than everyone.
Expected. Part of me feels like I don't remember what life was like before we were biking across America. Like, what was life? And the other part of me can't believe it's day seven.
Bye. I love you.
Bye. Crash out the miles so I don't have to do as.
Much.
Girls are starting off the big climb. But it is a brand new paved road which Is pretty satisfying. We have 2600ft of climbing today.
Over the course of 44 miles. Let's do.
This. All right. We are on our way to meet the girls for.
Lunch. Our 40 gallon water tank in the back of the van is almost empty, so hopefully I'm gonna find somewhere to fill up before we meet them. I'm really not sure what happened yesterday. The guys got on the bike in the afternoon, and we set off thinking that we were gonna knock off 61 miles before it got dark. Long story short, and I wish that I could blame more of this on the flat tire. We knocked out 30 of the 60 miles, so we only made it half as far as we had hoped to, which was pretty demoralizing. It feels like we're a little behind pace, and I know that that's just gonna get worse and worse as we hit the rocky mountains over these next few.
Days. You know, those were really hard miles. In some ways, it was harder than any day for me, at least that I did on the Colorado.
Trail. We're crushing it. We're crushing it like ladies, specifically. We're thriving. It is seriously so much better than I thought it would have.
Been. I got pretty good saddle rash going, but that'll get.
Better. Hi. Trandom's first construction zone.
Must come.
Now. Okay. I've yet to figure out how to not make this happen when I pull the hose out because. Yeah, gravity. Oh, it wasn't so bad. It usually spills everywhere. Just always leave this towel back here just in.
Case.
Well, just call us bike mechanics.
Oh, my gosh. A little bit of chain problems. Don't worry the woman. Wait, what are we called? The lady Climb Crushers can handle.
Anything. It was $8 and 20 cents to fill up the tank. It always feels a little ridiculous to pay for water like that. Just feels like something that should be free, but in the grand scheme of things, not so bad for a week's worth of water.
We knew going into this from looking at the elevation profile that the next week, from here on out, is going to be the hardest section of the entire trip. So that really, the next 700 miles, there's just a ton of of elevation. So we have to finish out Arizona, Go through Utah, and then climb some massive mountains in Colorado. And then once we get to mile 1200 in comparison to what we've done, it will basically be all downhill and get way easier.
I feel like I just rode the bike.
Let's go. Easy balls today.
Baby. Go out, boys. Girls are heading to flagstaff, where we Are gonna run some errands and then maybe, just maybe, we'll get a shower.
Today. Nice.
Work.
Hey.
The first hour of today is exactly what we needed to pull us out of our funk. It's been mostly downhill. Smooth road, Gary, few cars, wide shoulder, beautiful views of the lake. We are.
Cruising. But this crew is fresh out of sh. Literally all of us. So that's first on the list. Bicycle.
Those are so cute.
Wheelie.
We made it to.
Flagstaff. Never been so happy to be riding on almost flat ground beside.
Cars.
I just don't know where the afternoons go. They might even beat us to the campsite tonight. I always feel like I'm gonna have all this time and then the day is just gone. And of course, we ran out of time to take a shower after all that. How did this.
Happen? What a day. Let's.
Go. I can't believe yesterday and today we're all within 24 hour.
Period. It's not dark. Technically, the sun went down behind the mountain, but, you know, we beat the girls to camp. What a difference between yesterday and today.
Week one.
Every day, whenever we get on the bike, we think we're gonna get done around 5:30, have a nice slow evening, eat dinner, hang out. But I don't know that there's been a day where we're not finishing in the dark. And then it's like, oh, eat real quick, go to.
Sleep. You know, we just. We're a group that likes hanging out, doing and doing fun things together. And I think when we hatched this plan, we just envisioned, you know, frolicking through the countryside on a trail, triple bike. And in reality, it's actually pretty hard, I'd.
Say. My only thing is, I wish we had a little more free time with all of us.
Together. It's gonna test us a little bit. Probably more than we were expecting, but that makes it that much more fun in the.
End. I'm so happy with the way it's gone the last seven days, and I know it's only gonna get better. You're loving it too, Evie. Yes. Except that I'm so proud of us. Yeah, we're all thriving.
Obviously. How good is.
This?
Have you decided on your drink or.
No?
Beer.
Water. I'll definitely take.
Beer. That is a wrap on week.
One.
The old people driving rv. Get over. Slow down. Don't flick me off. I'm like, thank you. Like, smiling. And all of a sudden they're like, nah. Like, we didn't do anything. We're as close to the end as we can possibly get. There was a law I just.
Learned. Three.
Feet. Three feet. You're breaking the law, old.
Guy. Is this broken or just not.
Charged? Oh, it just wasn't.
On.
That's even worse. Dang cars keep running us off the road.
Always those white fans yelling at.
Us.
I just saw this joke on a sign. When is a door not a door? When it's a.
Jar.
All right, we just switched drivers. Dusty's on the front.
Greg is the only one strong enough to drive the guys.
