Day One and Two..
Day One is over.
Currently riding on the bus for our section tour of duty on the road. Last night we finished our first tour just after 4 am race time or 1am local time in Blythe California. We were about an hour ahead of schedule and passing a lot of the other teams along the way. I believe we were 4th out of the 10 8man teams on the road. It was a fairly successful day navagiting the complex starting rules.. we pulled off the first section flawlessly and carried on into the night.
The only major glitch was coming down the steep climb known as the Glass Elevator.. the rider on the road was going so fast that the Sprinter van (the van carrying the riders that will replace the one on the road) was not able to catch up. As the lead vehicle Jill and I were barely ahead, and had a hard time navigating the roads since we were in a rush to keep ahead of the rider. We made the right turns but we werent sure at first since there was no riders from other teams anywhere a head. Our Sprinter van took a wrong turn under these rushed circumstances and the rider was left on the road for longer than we'd like. The rider was good, stayed strong and kept up his pace.
As darkness fell, the follow vehicle was required to stay behind the rider on the road, and both occupeants were basically stranded in the vehicle. That means me and Lindsay were in the car from about 7:30 on to 1:25am, with no breaks for bathroom or stretching. The other vehicles did the dance around us, ferrying riders up the road, and finding safe zones to make rider exchanges.
There was some road when we tried to pass a slower rider, who is supposed to yield to our faster rider. The rider from 207 did not yield, tried to prevent the pass.. and once we were able to muster past the slower rider they decided to draft behind me in the follow vehicle and then made a dangerous and illegal pass on our right hand side. We called race control to let them know of course and the next time we passed they seem to behave like adults. One should remember that its a stressful and complex race, and despite being angry last night at them, we should realise that there are two sides to every story.
Once we made the exchange with Team A, we were off to the hotel. Team chief mike and I checked over the bikes, made a few adjustments and replaced a tire. We finally got to bed at 3:30 am, after waking up around 7am. We were completely zonked. 3-4 hours later we were up and running again at 6:30 showering, eating and packing. We've been on the bus for a few hours trying to catch more sleep, the seats are comfortable but the route was trecherous at times. Peering out the window down 1000 foot drops, no room for passing.
The switch is coming up, at time station 8 in Flagstaff Az. We've just had our Team B meeting to discuss strategy. Today I'll be in the scout, looking at the road ahead and finding exchange points.
We are in 4th place right now, not far behi nd team 3. There are other teams with penalities and we are still clean and looking to stay that way. Spirits are high, riders feel strong and we think we can sneak into the top 3 by the end of the day and maintain it to the end.
It's Day 3 now, in Utah or Colorado, not sure... more to come.. time for the bus (not the mini-van)
Currently riding on the bus for our section tour of duty on the road. Last night we finished our first tour just after 4 am race time or 1am local time in Blythe California. We were about an hour ahead of schedule and passing a lot of the other teams along the way. I believe we were 4th out of the 10 8man teams on the road. It was a fairly successful day navagiting the complex starting rules.. we pulled off the first section flawlessly and carried on into the night.
The only major glitch was coming down the steep climb known as the Glass Elevator.. the rider on the road was going so fast that the Sprinter van (the van carrying the riders that will replace the one on the road) was not able to catch up. As the lead vehicle Jill and I were barely ahead, and had a hard time navigating the roads since we were in a rush to keep ahead of the rider. We made the right turns but we werent sure at first since there was no riders from other teams anywhere a head. Our Sprinter van took a wrong turn under these rushed circumstances and the rider was left on the road for longer than we'd like. The rider was good, stayed strong and kept up his pace.
As darkness fell, the follow vehicle was required to stay behind the rider on the road, and both occupeants were basically stranded in the vehicle. That means me and Lindsay were in the car from about 7:30 on to 1:25am, with no breaks for bathroom or stretching. The other vehicles did the dance around us, ferrying riders up the road, and finding safe zones to make rider exchanges.
There was some road when we tried to pass a slower rider, who is supposed to yield to our faster rider. The rider from 207 did not yield, tried to prevent the pass.. and once we were able to muster past the slower rider they decided to draft behind me in the follow vehicle and then made a dangerous and illegal pass on our right hand side. We called race control to let them know of course and the next time we passed they seem to behave like adults. One should remember that its a stressful and complex race, and despite being angry last night at them, we should realise that there are two sides to every story.
Once we made the exchange with Team A, we were off to the hotel. Team chief mike and I checked over the bikes, made a few adjustments and replaced a tire. We finally got to bed at 3:30 am, after waking up around 7am. We were completely zonked. 3-4 hours later we were up and running again at 6:30 showering, eating and packing. We've been on the bus for a few hours trying to catch more sleep, the seats are comfortable but the route was trecherous at times. Peering out the window down 1000 foot drops, no room for passing.
The switch is coming up, at time station 8 in Flagstaff Az. We've just had our Team B meeting to discuss strategy. Today I'll be in the scout, looking at the road ahead and finding exchange points.
We are in 4th place right now, not far behi nd team 3. There are other teams with penalities and we are still clean and looking to stay that way. Spirits are high, riders feel strong and we think we can sneak into the top 3 by the end of the day and maintain it to the end.
It's Day 3 now, in Utah or Colorado, not sure... more to come.. time for the bus (not the mini-van)