We are almost done!

After leg 2, cell phone coverage was spotty and never good enough to get internet.  So, the posts have been not been happening.

Currently we are in Cedar City starting leg 11.  We should be done in about 4 hours.  The racing has been phenomenal.  Everyone has pulled incredible legs.  For myself, when I thought I just could not pedal another stroke, I would find something within me and keep going.  It is very difficult to be climbng a very steep hill (and there were plenty of them!) and turn a corner after having already suffered for 5 miles and see the hill keep going up.  It is deflating.  But, you continue to push and you have team mates cheering for you and you find it within yourself to keep pushing.  That is probably one of the reasons why we do this: to answer "how far can I push myself?"

Of note: Jeff Bray rode the King of the Mountain leg.  That was going up a canyon up Boulder Mountain.  Jeff had been pullimg about 3 or 4 people up the mountain and by about 4 or 5 miles up he had dropped them all.  This was all in the middle of the night.  The night was dark except for the brilliant stars above.  Jeff climbed that canyon like a champ!  If he doesn't get King of the Mountain, it is only because I stopped him 1/4 mile before the official summit to give him his cold weather riding gear (it was about 40 degrees outside at that point).

We lost Jeff Meads on the next leg.  I won't elaborate here - it will get its own blog post.

We have unofficially teamed up with another team: Okland Construction.  Each of us has ridden with a member of their team and that has worked out extremely well for both teams.  Riding is sooooo much easier when you have someone to work with.  And those guys have been the absolute coolest guys you could possibly hope to ride with.  They even have a fire extinguisher they have filled up with water that they spray on the racers.  Most people love it (ourselves included) but they said not everyone has been appreciative of their services.

I will post more when we get to St. George.  Jeff Meads is currently looking very strong on his last leg.  I can only hope to even finish my last leg!

2nd Leg Down: 10 More To Go!

Jeff Bray pulled an amazing leg!  He hooked up with a friend at the beginning and they stuck together the entire way.  Most of Jeff's leg was downhill and to look at the elevation chart you would think he had a cakewalk for a ride.  But, wheels on the road is a different experience than just looking at on paper.  While Jeff’s total descent was 3392 feet, he had 2441 feet of climbing to do.  And the climbing was tough!  He would have an 8% descent followed by a 10%+ grade climb.  Not always the most fun!

Jeff was in groups of 2, 3, or 4 depending on how much climbing there was.  We could see a group of 5 guys chasing his group down and during a long descent (which was beautiful for us in the RV!) that group caught them and passed them.  Jeff’s group tried to latch on but they were a fast group.

After the big descent came a 4 mile ascent to end the leg that was really quite steep.  Cycling groups were starting to fracture but Jeff and his buddy stuck together the entire way pushing and pulling each other up the ascent.

The handoff was as smooth as could be.  Jeff went around the cones, came across the Millisecond timer strip, Mike pulled off his chip, ran it up to Jeff Meads and put it  on his ankle and Jeff was on his way with a full head of steam.

Jeff came in at 2:26 – a full 14 minutes ahead of his projected time.  So far, we have cut off 1:20 off of our projected time.

So far this race has exceeded my own expectations.  I’m feeling nervous as my leg is up next.  Watching Mike, Jeff, and Jeff go up their hills is an absolute inspiration.  There is a certain level of pain involved in climbing those hills (as any cyclist will tell you) and to see Jeff Bray come to the top of a massive climb and to see the smile on his face - *that* is what this race is all about.  My nervousness is in that I want to be able to perform as well as my team mates.  They are setting a very high bar that I do not know that I can measure up to.  But, I will be racing and trying to pull my own weight.

This is GOOD STUFF!

Shout out to the sponsors

Before we go any further, I want to thank our sponsors.  Because of them, we are able to race as medium core riders and do it with all the proper equipment we need.  Each of our sponsors is in the header above.  Riding in matching jerseys helps give us and our sponsors the visibility that we need.

As we were getting ready to ride this morning, we were wandering around the park talking to other racers.  Someone came up to us and asked where we were from.  When we told them we were from the Salt Lake City area, they said "we knew it!  We have had Lucky Spoon food and we love it - very tasty stuff!"

Leg 1 is IN THE BOOKS!

The race started right on time this morning at 9:00 AM sharp!  We all rode out together for about the first mile and then Mike was off to the races.  Mike had estimated his time to complete this leg at 4:03 (read 4 hours and 3 minutes).  So, the pressure was on and the climbing had started.  Mike is our ringer in the group - if anyone is going to keep us in this race it was him.

Back in town, we loaded up our bikes, did a little bit of last minute shopping (I had to buy some more food - the pizza from last night was completely gone).  We started up the road and caught Mike several miles into his leg.  We had passed many riders before we finally saw him and he was riding alone.  There were a few solo riders ahead of Mike and a couple of riders behind him.

We pulled off a few miles ahead of him and by the time Mike came up to us he was in a group of 3.  And they were moving!  Mike's leg is a total of 54.9 miles with 4100 feet of climbing - that is very significant climbing and usually results in a low average speed.  We were wondering how fast he would wind up finishing his leg.

As Mike progressed we could see that him and the other two riders he was with were starting to close the gap with the solo riders in front of them.  Eventually, they all hooked up together and it was the five of them working through the hills.  Each time we saw Mike, he would give us the thumbs up.  He looked strong the whole way.

We left Mike with about 6 miles left to go so we could get Jeff Bray into Monticello so he could get ready for the handoff.  Mike was traveling so fast, though, that Jeff had barely just enough time to get his gear together and get to the handoff line before Mike came roaring in with flames shooting off his tires.

Mike and Jeff made the transistion and Jeff was on his leg!  During the leap frogging that we had done, we had made friends with the group that Mike was riding with.  They suggested we keep together to help each other out.  Jeff made sure that he was waiting for his new buddy and they were off!

Mike had completed his leg in 2:56 - that is an average of 18.5 MPH - and that is ascending 4100 feet!  By any measure, that is a phenomenal ride.

Check-in, Really Good Pizza, and a man named Dan

The check-in went pretty smooth.  We signed our lives away on the dotted line absolving the race owners of any malady or death that we might have to endure.  There were lots of other racers there and most everyone was pretty friendly.  Nathan and I got a brat from FatCyclist but everyone else declined.  We listened to a podcast from FatCyclist last week that was specifically about this race and it was packed with a lot of good information.  The guy who runs it is named Elden and I got to meet him.  Very friendly guy and I felt like I was meeting a celebrity.  He runs a great blog about cycling.

For myself, I was feeling quite intimidated looking at other cyclists.  Nathan asked me later this evening if I was nervous.  I realized that I am a bit nervous.  I'll be able to cycle the miles - that I'm not worried about.  But, I also want to do well and not drag everyone else down.  So, to that end, I am a bit nervous.

After check-in we went over to Paradox Pizza and ordered a large pizza.  This was supposed to be a pizza that was going to feed me in between legs.  Well, the pizza is really good and there is only 1 slice left.  So, I'll be eating something else in between legs.  (And, just for the record, I only had 2 slices tonight - the rest was consumed by others).

On the way down to Moab, our laptops started getting low on battery life so we fired up the generator.  A few minutes later, however, the generator stopped.  We tried to restart it but it was a no-go.  We spent some time on the phone with the rental place and tried their suggestions but the generator would never run for more than a few minutes at a time.  It was now almost 8:30 at night and all of the mechanic shops were closed for the evening.  Jeff Bray found a mechanic, though, that was willing to work on it.  So, we took the RV over to his house and he started looking at the generator.  We were there for a few hours, but he was able to find the problem (bad fuel pump) and send us on our way.  The mechanic's name is Dan and he is a very good guy to have helped us so late at night.

Everyone is in bed except for me and that is now where I am headed.  We need to be up at 6:00 and to the park by 8:00 tomorrow morning for our launch at 9:00 AM.

The Rockwell Relay

The Rockwell Relay Adventure Begins

We have been training for months now.  Each of the four of us has trained individually and we have ridden together in group rides ever since before Thanksgiving.  This is the race that we have circled on our calendars and have sweated the details (literally) of.  And today is the day we head to Moab!

We have rented an RV for us to take down.  Jeff picked it up this morning and the plan was to meet at my house around 11:00 AM and make it to Moab in the early afternoon.  But, like any good adventure, things don't always go the way they should.  Or at least the way they are planned.

When we got the bike rack out to put on the back of the RV, there was a lock bolt preventing us from using it.  A call to the RV rental place confirmed that they had forgotten to remove the bolt so they gave us permission to remove it any way we could.  We called a lock smith or two but none were available and we were itching to get on the road.  Mike's dad is a man of many talents and tools so we took the RV over to his place.  Sure enough, he produced a grinder and in short order the lock was off, the rack was mounted, and we were on our way again.

We made our way to Noble Sports and Wal*Mart to get a few last minute items.  The last minute turned more into about 30 minutes and by the time we got back on the road, it was about 3:00.

The clouds were lowering and it started sprinkling as we left Springville.  By the time we got just past the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, the sprinkles started coming a little more often and soon it was a full on down pour which lasted all the way to Price.  But since Price, the clouds are starting to thin out and sky has hints of blue poking through.

Somewhere on the road between Price and I70 we came upon another RV with 4 bikes mounted on the back just like ours.  So we know we are on the right path!

Check in is tonight and the race officially starts at 9:00 AM for us tomorrow morning.

I will update as often as I can.  We are all very excited to get on the bikes and start pedaling.