Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Fc508

Hey Vireo, I was on the crew for Skua...we stopped to help loosen the lug nuts on the flat on your team van. That tire was as smooth as a cue ball, good thing it didnt blow while going down the backside of Towne Pass.

I love the pic on the AdventureCorp website of you standing and waiting for your crew! Classic.

Congrats on the finish!!

FastEddie--- Please accept my sincerest thanks for helping my crew get back on the road. I was steaming mad when I didn't see them behind me. Then I found out what happened and I was worried sick for their safety. I/we appreciate your help THANK YOU!:thumb:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/3087750885_10dc93757b_o.jpg



^^ Trona Bump about mile 13

By the way, the flat you helped to fix was just after the Trona Bump which is BEFORE Towne Pass. I rode from Trona Bump to almost the base of Towne Pass (about 33 miles unsupported). Then I sat and waited 35 mins for my crew to arrive. I had gotten almost 33 miles ahead of them. Urg the frustration!

More on Towne Pass -- the spare tire didn't have enough air to go faster than 30mph --safely anyway--so I had to descend Towne Pass at no more than 30 mph. They rode that flat spare until Furnace Creek Time Station where they got air for it. Then continued to ride the spare until Baker Time Station where they replaced it with the purchase of a new tire. The crew left me at Ibex Pass Summit to drive ahead to Baker and get a new tire. I was in bad shape and took 3 No-Doz in that 35 mile stretch (no support). Good thing they left when they did because the tire shop was closing when they arrived.

Also if you go to the RC forum you will see my 508 thread posted there (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=587688). I don't usually post in the long distance forum. You may find some interesting stuff posted there.



Is this you?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2612/4005392772_656e983528.jpg

That was me :) . Came back on to BF because the 508 was such an amazing experience, I figured people must be talking about it. I'd love to blame mechanical issues, but actually I was just very very sick. I may have set the record for most time on Towne - at the bottom right around 4, left the top right before 2am... I think I was so happy to be processing liquid and calories again that I didn't mind the wind so much, but I was puzzled by how many people, especially veterans, dropped out.

The way I saw it the wind turned this essentially flat section into a 45 mile climb. When you see speeds on flats of 10 mph or less - it's easy to be quickly discouraged - but I convinced myself early on that I just should stop looking at any data, and zone out. Make it just you, crouched on your bike, getting as low as possible, vs. the wind. Anyone doing this kind of race can do that - you HAVE to do it if you ride for 500 miles. What's 4 or 5 hours in the scheme of a ride many times that length? But unexpected obstacles like this can easily damage a tired rider's tenacity. Use the sheer epicness (finally a worthy situation for this overused word!) of the conditions to add a little excitement, remind yourself of it - just try to avoid thinking of how ridiculously slow your progress is. All I know is I've never been that happy to turn onto the beginning of a 3000 foot climb!

My crew took some video of the DV crossing, and I'm working on polishing up a complete time lapse movie of the race - we had a time lapse cam setup in the crew car. I'll post it when it's done...it's pretty awesome.


Glad to see you back on BF.

It was nice to see a friendly face as the sun was coming up in Death Valley. I figured you were well up the road because you so dang fast. Some how you still put four hours on me in the last 200 miles. Nice! Anyway, when you asked, "is it always this windy?" I meant it when I said no. But it has been windy the last couple of years. I like the way you address the obstacles such as wind. I had a similar philosophy. I also got a charge from passing people and I was still rolling, albeit at 4-5mph:lol: When 2X and 4X teams were DNF'ing I got a huge charge of motivation.

I hope to see you out there again. Congrats on finishing!!!

Vireo - that is Chris, one of the other crew members. One of the great things about this event is the feeling of kinship with the other crew and racers and I want to believe that anyone and everyone else would have stopped and helped. We were glad to help. I do feel bad that we had to leave before the job was done but our racer was quite a long way up the road and had recently admonished us to stay closer to him!

Homey - I plan on making my first solo attempt next year using the same Collard Peccary tag as our two man team last year.

Vireo - that is Chris, one of the other crew members. One of the great things about this event is the feeling of kinship with the other crew and racers and I want to believe that anyone and everyone else would have stopped and helped. We were glad to help. I do feel bad that we had to leave before the job was done but our racer was quite a long way up the road and had recently admonished us to stay closer to him!

Homey - I plan on making my first solo attempt next year using the same Collard Peccary tag as our two man team last year.

You are so right about the kinship of the crews. As racers we feel it too. On my blog I posted pics of David Goggins and me on the Kelbaker climb. He is a good friend of mine and I was glad to see him racing. Plus there was the kinship of having suffered the windstorm throught the night.

I tell my crews every year offer assistance to any racer or crew no one gets left behind in the desert. Must be the Marine in me. ;)

Fasteddie, it'll be good to see you out there racing again next year. It's tough sitting in the car watching someone else having all that fun! ;)

Vireo, I don't know of any crew ever getting abandoned on the 508 but I do know for sure that it has happened on RAAM! :innocent:

Fasteddie, it'll be good to see you out there racing again next year. It's tough sitting in the car watching someone else having all that fun! ;)

Vireo, I don't know of any crew ever getting abandoned on the 508 but I do know for sure that it has happened on RAAM! :innocent:

Oh you mean how my RV and third vehicle left me about 300 miles from the finish?:roflmao2:

We left a 14yr old crew member at a rest stop somewhere in Kansas back in 07. Luckily someone figured it out before we got too far down the road. She handled the whole thing rather well considering. I know of a couple occassions were crew were left off on purpose and one occasion where the crew abandoned their rider!:eek:

We left a 14yr old crew member at a rest stop somewhere in Kansas back in 07. Luckily someone figured it out before we got too far down the road. She handled the whole thing rather well considering. I know of a couple occassions were crew were left off on purpose and one occasion where the crew abandoned their rider!:eek:

Oh...nevermind:o :lol:

Finally posted my Furnace Creek video on my website. (http://www.epictrain.com/Video_gallery.html)

Chris Ragsdale video interviews with David Longdon in Seattle PI here:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/velocity/archives/182413.asp

Chris Ragsdale video interviews with David Longdon in Seattle PI here:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/velocity/archives/182413.asp

Thank you for the link!!

Anyway, while mounting the bike racks and lights on the top of the van so they could have free and clear access to the rear door of the van I discovered that the bikes had to be mounted backwards for them to clear the light bar. Noting this to the crew I mentioned that it would be very important to secure the back - now front of the bike so the wind did not catch it and flip the bike over.

Guess what.

As Homeyba says car windows can be replaced :)

What kind of moron would forget to properly secure the bike? :twitchy: At least it wasn't $$$ out of YOUR pocket! :cry: Did your wife tell you she had to pick glass out of her underwear? :eek: The moron responsible was careful to look away. :innocent: As everybody was standing on the side of the road one person mentioned that she had noticed the bike loose after the ride from the hotel to breakfast. :( For some reason she didn't mention it. :notamused: Sort of appropriate that it was her bike getting thumped. :thumb:

The question is, will you let this moron recruit your wife and borrow your van in the future? :D

What kind of moron would forget to properly secure the bike? :twitchy: At least it wasn't $$$ out of YOUR pocket! :cry: Did your wife tell you she had to pick glass out of her underwear? :eek: The moron responsible was careful to look away. :innocent: As everybody was standing on the side of the road one person mentioned that she had noticed the bike loose after the ride from the hotel to breakfast. :( For some reason she didn't mention it. :notamused: Sort of appropriate that it was her bike getting thumped. :thumb:

The question is, will you let this moron recruit your wife and borrow your van in the future? :D

I miss the "who's van it was" part! Now I know the whole story! :roflmao2::roflmao2: