Friday News Roundup

Some bonuses are worth more than others.  Leg 2 started with a bonus that brought riders to the Iron Butt Memorial in the Nevada desert.  The stars have never aligned properly for Kirsten to get to Gerlach so it meant a lot to her to be able to go during a rally.  She said it felt right, but also hard to see the names of so many riders.  Friends like Curt Gran, who finished 5^th to Kirsten’s 6^th on the 2011 IBR and said at breakfast the next morning – “at least I didn’t get beat by a girl!”  I still miss his wit and humor.  Where two or three (or forty) gather – there is memory.  It was a moment of rootedness to start Leg 2.  And then they were off.

The 40-50 temps of her Leg 1 have given way to days at 100+, with a couple nights at 103 too.  Today she was riding by cholla, occatillo, and then, “hey what’s that in front of me?  I mean I’m in the fricking middle of nowhere and there’s no civilization anywhere to the horizon – I can’t believe I have cell service!  Oh – they’re century plants – they are 15-20 feet tall!  Amazing.”  Last summer she rode national parks; this rally has brought her to several national forests.  The most recent took her from 90 degrees, up the mountain through winding roads (i.e. look over your shoulder to make the turns), to 50 degrees with snow on the side of the road and pelting rain.  She had to stop the bike for a minute to let the rain subside in order to see to continue.  Wolfe Bonham was there, their rally flags in each other’s shots.  They made short work of heading back down the mountain and saw each other again at the next bonus.  This time, they were moving on to separate paths.  Kirsten wished him luck and told him to take a picture of the wrong thing.  J

I always seem to talk to Kirsten more in the last 24 hours of a rally than in all the days before.  These are some of the toughest hours for riders when their brains rethink, well, everything.  If I knew I was going to miss the daylight only bonus by 20 minutes yesterday and have this ride today, I would have ridden yesterday differently.  I’m going to need a new rear tire when I get to Denver. This is supposed to be my Ms. PacMan leg, but I’m not sure I’m getting enough of those dots. Why is the first song in my helmet this morning So You’ve Had a Bad Day? Oh Paul McCartney – Long and Winding Road – that’s hysterical I have to call Jennifer.  Man it’s hot, I’m glad I filled up with ice and water instead of waiting for 2 hours to fill it up. Mmm, dinner tonight from che’ tank bag– V8 juice at desert temperatures, so tomato soup with cheese crackers..... And on.

  

Because she was waiting for first light this morning, she ended up with a longer rest break than even on her rest bonus; which is good because now, it’s about a 10-hour rally.  This is the cue for the rally spouse to say, all that has come before is done.  Now it’s time to ride your best and get back before penalty points.  Which begin at 6:00 a.m. Denver time.  Some riders are in already, and you can see the spots slowly starting to converge at the final checkpoint.    There are still a lot of miles to go before they sleep.

Meanwhile, here at Rally HQ, we had a lovely dinner at the Indian place down the street.  And I think there were only 3 or 4 calls to the rally staff, who are now prepping for the final scorers meeting.  The rider’s breakfast buffet starts at 4:00 a.m. and riders will arrive through the night.  The checkpoint window closes (and any stragglers will be a DNF- did not finish-) at 8:00 a.m.  The sky has been a bit stormy today and the sunset in Denver is a lovely blue, grey, pink, and yellow affair.  See you at the sunrise ~