Friday, June 19, 2009

Cortez, Colorado

I can't tell you how many times I've heard from Joe - "I understand why firearms aren't allowed to be carried during the race." It's been brutal. There were 5 individuals that signed up for the 50 and under category for the Race Across the West, 4 that started the race and only 2 left in the race. One of Joe's opponents quit in Flagstaff and that was Forward Motion - (Mike). Joe made it to Flagstaff at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday night, quite a bit later than he had originally anticipated. The climbing was insane!! He had one heck of a climb into Flagstaff. I helped him when he arrived get some serious wounds taken care of. (Yeah, nurse duty). He slept for 4 hours before we got up at 3:30 a.m. Flagstaff time and Chris and I were crewing for him this early morning shift, on the road at 4 am. Chris mentioned that he doesn't think he has ever seen his Dad so close to tears before as he was this morning. It wasn't really the fact that it was 44 degrees starting out, but the fact that he couldn't find a comfortable spot on his bike seat. He's eating and drinking pretty well. We found today that plain jelly sandwiches are tasting good to him. He also has been eating other foods and drinking ensure which is a great quick meal. I would be in bed right now (11:43 pm mountain time) but I need to do a load of laundry so Joe has some clean clothes for his ride Saturday. Caleb and I came ahead early tonight to get some rest and Christopher and Eric are helping him get into the time station. Joe had planned to sleep in Durango but decided around 4:00 this afternoon that he wouldn't make it to Durango until 5 or 6 am so we cancelled our rooms in Durango and were able to get rooms in Cortez, Co.

Last I heard, Dallas Morris is still ahead of Joe by 3 hours or so. Most of you that follow the race web site know exactly where these guys are, but we haven't even been able to get cell phone signals, let alone try to update the computer during the day.

Not sure if I'll be able to update before Taos, but will try.

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