Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
Day 17 - Aug. 22 - Redway to Ft. Bragg - 76miDidn't have a great sleep last night as our site was right next to the highway, and there were some pretty loud trucks. Left camp with Sarah and Michael, but was pretty soon just riding with Sarah. The elevation was trending upwards on the way to rest stop one, so we gained a good bit of elevation before the real climb started afterwards. The climb wasn’t too bad, as it was a relatively good grade, and the descent was pretty cool. It was way windier than any other descent I’ve every done, and involved a lot of leaning into the corners so that you didn’t skid out. Just as we were approaching the bottom of the descent, we saw the van heading backwards, which is never a good sign. The route leaders had left the chairs and boxes out for us on the side of the road, and we heard from the people that were already there that it was Kelly who had taken a spill, but that she was fine, which was really good news. We didn’t stick around too long, and got back on the road after a quick snack and chat. What we didn’t know, was that there was another significant climb after the rest stop. After this, however, we were back on the coast, which we hadn’t seen in a few days. It was pretty hilly for the rest segment of the ride. We decided to bypass rest stop three as the van hadn’t caught back up to us, and stopped at one point to pick some beautiful flowers that Sarah was going to use for her bromposal. We met up with Melissa before getting on a really poorly maintained bike path, and stopped to check out Glass Beach which happened to be at the end of the path. We tried to stop at a brewery for dinner, but ended up deciding to get Subway instead because the restaurant was closed until 5pm. On the way to Subway, we stopped at a thrift store to get our brom outfits, which I have to say I am pretty happy with. We got our food, and ate at camp. I hadn’t eaten a real meal yet today, so I was pretty hungry by this point. Took a shower after eating, and then found out that Andrea had also fallen off her bike when I returned to the campsite. Thankfully, she is also ok, and just has some cuts on her knee and elbow. I spent most of the rest of the night planning my bromposal. Because Brian is the only other computer science guy on this trip, and generally a pretty cool person, I decided to ask him by writing out some Java code and texting it to him. He said yes, which means I have an outfit and a date, and am all set for brom in two days. It was a pretty cold night at camp, so we got a campfire going, and sat around it for a while before getting ready for bed. After Michael went to sleep, I helped Sarah set up her bromposal by arranging the flowers to spell out “brom" in her cubby (because of the flowers he got us after he got us lost), and leaving a note by the entrance to his tent. Day 18 - Aug. 23 - Ft. Bragg to Gualala - 58.2miMuch better sleep last night, which was surprising as we were all pretty crammed into the campsite. Left with Michael and Sarah, and stopped for breakfast about 8 miles in. Breakfast burrito with a chocolate croissant to go, which I ended up eating at the first rest stop. Super foggy yet again, and quite cold. Definitely did not expect California to be this cold in August. Mostly coastal hills into Elk for the first rest stop. We hung out for a while, and Sarah and Eddie ended up falling asleep in their chairs. Michael challenged Amanda to eat a cupcake all in one bite, which was attempted but didn't happen. Sarah and I rode out of Elk together, and pretty soon encountered one of the steepest climbs of the coast. It was a switchback going from sea level up to a cliff, which had a corner registering at 17.5% grade on my computer. It took every bit of energy I had to get around that corner without falling over. A little bit down the road, the sun finally started to come out, and we met up with Michael at a thrift store to shop for his brom outfit. Rest stop two was in Point Arena, and we stayed here for a while as well. I bought a chocolate milk and some Oreos, and we discussed who was still available to be asked to brom. Andrea texted Kurt a picture of her doing his famous "seal pose" with a sign that says "Brom?". From the rest stop, it was about 14 miles into Gualala, where we stopped for dinner at a nice Italian place. Amanda and Neil joined us a little bit later - they were held up due to a flat tire. Camp was less than two miles from the restaurant, and it's in a beautiful forest. Some alumni joined us this evening and brought everyone pizza. I had just eaten a full dinner, but I still had two slices. It's amazing how much you can eat on trips like this. Most of the rest of the night was spent organizing and setting up camp, and then hanging out by the bathrooms where people were charging phones and waiting to shower. While I was sitting talking to Nick and Matt, Kaylyn came up with a towel on her arm, saying that she had fell, and was hoping Dr. Nick could take a look at it. When she removed the paper towel, it revealed "brom?" written in marker on her arm. I love how creative all the bromposals have been this year. Day 19 - Aug. 24 - Gualala to Olema - 81.6miIt was nice and sunny out as we left this morning, which was a welcome diversion from the cold and foggy mornings we have been having. This didn’t last too long though, and we rode right into the fog before rest stop one. Bit of climbing out of the rest stop, followed by a windy descent that felt a little sketchy in the thick fog, but was still pretty fun. Brian joined Sarah and I for ~10 miles leading into rest stop two in Bodega Bay, where a bunch of us grabbed lunch at Fishetarian. I’m not really a seafood person, so I opted for the grilled cheese, which turned out to be quite good. The next stretch of the ride into rest stop three wasn’t the most fun. There were some pretty nasty headwinds for most of the way, and my left calf was feeling oddly tight/crampy. Tried to massage it out at the rest stop in Marshall, but it still felt off for the rest of the day. Everyone was pretty exhausted by the 81 mile day when we got to camp, but most of the team managed to rally for brom. We had a meeting to discuss the route into San Francisco, and then everyone changed into their outfits so we could take brom pictures. Such a fun night. Day 20 - Aug. 25 - Olema to San Francisco - 58.6miSo it turns out that the Olema campsite has a really bad racoon problem. A few of us were hanging out in the van after the camp quiet hours started, and when it got cold I ran to my tent to grab my sleeping bag so I could stay warm. With my headlight on, I could see a pair of racoon eyes staring at me from the tree next to my tent. I ended up sleeping in the van, and could hear them on the roof all night. In the morning, everyone was discussing their own racoon encounters, which brought out some pretty hilarious stories. Amanda slept in the other van, and said that racoons were sliding down the windshield. Andrea’s jersey got dragged halfway across the campsite because it had food in the pockets, and Claire’s saddle bag got opened and all of her food got eaten. When I went to my tent in the morning, I found muddy paw prints on the door, but thankfully the racoons didn’t manage to open the zipper. Michael, Sarah, and I left just after Claire, Gabby, Kelly, and Shannon’s group. There was a solid uphill to get back on route, and then a descent that brought us whizzing by our turn onto the bike path. Luckily, I saw the sign out of the corner of my eye, and called after everyone that we missed the turn. Not everyone heard me, but the van drove by us right after, and made sure everyone got back on track. The bike path was nice and shaded, and the pavement was a good amount smoother than some of the other bike paths we have been on this trip. We rode as a big group into breakfast in Fairfax, and then headed through some cute towns on our way to the rest stop. Andrea and Camille joined us for this segment, but we all got a bit split up on the hills of Sausalito. Sarah and I ended up running into Gayle, who was on the phone with the route leaders trying to figure out where the stop was. After gracefully dismounting her bike (i.e. falling over into a bush) Sarah took the phone, and I got out my first aid kit when I realized that Gayle had blood dripping down her knee from a spill. Turns out, we had to carry out bikes down some stairs and under the bridge to get to the other side of the road for the rest stop. We got some pictures on both sides, and then carefully took off across the bridge, trying not to run into any pedestrians. Towards the end of the bridge, Michael’s sister Katie surprised him, and we stopped to chat with her before heading to the end of the bridge for yet more photos. We met up again with Katie at the cafe for some hot chocolate, and I ran down to the gift shop to get some stickers. It was a weird officially being in San Francisco, as I have now done basically the entire west coast. We eventually started riding again, James joined us as we were stopped to check our maps. We rode through the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, and Daly City, taking the exact same route Carissa and I took six months ago. Eventually we split up from James, and grabbed some Thai food in Daly City, as we were all pretty hungry. The food was delicious, but none of us wanted to get back on our bikes for the final 12mi, and jokingly debated calling an Uber. The last few miles weren’t terrible after the initial hill on which I almost got doored, and it was nice to get to the hotel and take a warm shower. It had been warm and sunny on the Sausalito side of the bridge, but as soon as we got to SF, it was freezing cold and foggy. I spent the night getting Italian food and ice cream sandwiches with Soo Jung in San Mateo, but was basically falling asleep at the table I was so tired, so she drove me back to the hotel early and was in bed by 9:30pm. Post-trip - San Francisco to BostonIt’s really weird that the trip is over. I knew saying goodbye to everyone when I left would suck, but I didn’t think it would be this hard. Saturday was mostly spent hanging out with people at the hotel, enjoying waffle machine at breakfast, cleaning out my cubby, and getting ice cream sandwiches for the second day in a row because they were just that good. I also took my bike to the shop to get boxed up and sent back to Boston, but really did not want to hand it over when the time came. In the evening, we got to have a Skype call with Angela Shaw, who will be virtually joining the Pac Coast team for the rest of the trip. She has MS, and only has the use of her right arm left. She will be doing 10x our daily milage in steps on a NuStep machine from home. She is such an incredible lady, and it was so inspiring to hear her story and be able to chat with her. Sunday was harder, as I signed my name on the trailer, and said goodbye to my teammates as they headed out for the day. I really love this team, and I am so sad that I will not be riding all the way to San Diego with them. Thankfully, Soo Jung and Phil helped me distract myself for the rest of the day, as we toured around the Berkley campus and ate so much good food. They dropped me off at the San Jose airport at 8, and I was on the plane home by 10pm. To my teammates: You guys are incredible, and I wish you all the best of luck as you ride to San Diego. I am so glad I got to spend the last 3 weeks with you, and hope we can ride together again in the future.
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katie macdonald
Summer 2016, I biked 4,295 miles, coast to coast across the USA to raise money and awareness for MS. March 2017, I biked self-contained from San Francisco to San Diego with my friend Carissa. August 2017 I connected the dots and biked from Seattle to San Francisco. Summer 2018 I am heading to the UK! Follow my journey here! Miles biked for MS:
6,800.13
Updated August 27, 2018 Archives
January 2019
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