Update from the Crew

I was a bit 'freaked' when I heard Joe say on Sunday that it is only 13 weeks until the race. Can't even begin to imagine how he must feel since he is the one that is going to do all the pedaling! Ugh. There are many, many details that we are working on. I did get our "Crew" shirts ordered last week. With our shirts, hopefully we can look like a 'team'. Our shirts should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

Also, it is amazing what we need to do to get the support vehicles ready. Slow-moving vehicle signs (magnetic) for the support vehicles were ordered, as well as, the Caution Bicycle Ahead sign. Eric Furnas is working on the wheel rack for the top of the van. It will have yellow flashing lights. We are hoping to also have a speaker system so the crew will be able to talk to Joe from the van.

We are trying to come up with a date that the entire support crew (Chris, Caleb, Eric, and myself) will be available to practice support into the night with Joe. I think we are shooting for May 16. Not sure who will be available yet, but that is the weekend that Joe needs to get a 200-300 mile ride and will need a support crew. We will probably schedule another night during the week, that way we can do support a couple of hours in the dark to figure out what we are doing. Three of the four of us have done support before but not following behind all night.

I have made reservations at hotels during the race to give us a chance to get a few hours of sleep each night. It's important that the crew stays alert during the race. We will have two crews / two vehicles to rotate our support. Joe doesn't plan on sleeping the first night but will plan to sleep a few hours in Flagstaff, Arizona the second night and then a few hours in Durango, Colorado.

The pie-making has slowed down. I have made over 70 pies thus far. Thanks to all of you who have purchased pies or donated for this event! We will probably make another push for pie sales as Easter will be fast approaching.