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!
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