Ok so yesterday I did a post. I said I was in Fort Collins. We talked about it on the bus and that's where I thought I was. What I had done was combine two places...let's hope no one cared enough to google it.
I was really in Fort Scott, KS. Six miles out of Missouri
We were heading to Collins, MO
We crossed into MO about 8ish last night. Our pull lasted until about 1am. I think that's when we got back on the bus. I went right down into the bunk of death with my ipod, phone charger and some benedryl. I slept well for two hours and we were in Jefferson City. I ate a donut and got back into the bunk of death. John said he had to wake me up and it was tough.
We started out around 6ish this morning at the capital. There were terrible storms. Lots of thunder and lightening. I think someone is looking out for me and my team. The rain subsided very quickly. we had an amazing 75.1 mile ride. It was the rolling hills of Missouri. I'm not sure who was stronger on this ride Michele or steve. They both did great. I think it's the best riding I've seeen out of Michele. When Andrew and I are in the follow van, we make a list of all the animals we see. So we included both Michele and Steve on our list. Everyone was so happy and glad. I think we are all just fired up to reach the Alton bridge. At this point we are 1987.8 miles in and 1026-6 miles to go. I know that I really need to sleep but I'm too excited to see whoe's going to be at the bridge. I nned to sleep but I think the drive from the river to greenville, Il will be a long trip although it's a short ride for us on 46-3 miles.
Well considering that I've had one shower since last wednesday...I'm gonna try to clean up!!
Hope all is well
take care
judy
Monday, June 16, 2008
Update from Kansas
I was unable to post this so I sent it out as an email, but now that I can post I thought I would add it...this is from Kansas
Ok I’m trying to collect my thoughts so this entry doesn’t sound so scatter-brained!!!
It’s amazing what sleep deprivation does to your mind. It plays tricks!! I was with Steve, one of the racers inside a Shell station. These two older couples asked us if we were going to North Carolina . We looked at each other and neither of us knew!! Yesterday Friday was an amazing day. We were in four states: AZ, UT, CO and NM. I hope you remember 4th grade states. We went through Monument Valley at sunrise….OMG it was absolutely the most amazing place. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera. We are quickly approaching MO!!! Today..it’s 11:24 pm on sat. We have spent the last two days in the Rocky Mountains . We went up as high as 10,200 feet in elevation. It was late at night and I was punchy! I look at Andrew and say wow look at the sandtraps from that golf course. I thought he was going to wet himself. Yeah Judy we are going to play golf at this elevation….shit it was snow!! Ya know I’m no mountain girl…hell this is the first time I’ve seen mountains!! That was the standing joke of the night. We did have a scary cat incident. I say to Andrew hey wat’s that dead in the road…as I say it the thing lifts it’s head and runs away. It was a cat in the middle of the road. We find out afterwards that clyde hit the cat at breakneck speed. We can’t tell Michele the female rider….she’s an animal lover and RAAM would have been over for her. She thinks it was a possum. We saw lots of deer at night. It was really cool to come around a mountain bend and see them standing off in the field.
Today we were out at 4:30 to do an ulgy mountain climbing stage. We had to change riders every mile cause it was so cold. They had to take the descent slow because they were freezing. Steve is a great descender…I would be scared shitless, but he takes it all good. So this morning the temperature was 32 yes 32 and we saw snow on the ground. Very cold!! We hit Oklahoma and it was 95. Michele and Steve hammered through OK. We had a nice tail wind and they kept speeds in the 20-25 range. We were flying. We were almost to KS and Michele was out on the road. There were these small baby calfs walking across the highway. You have to see the photos not even five feet from the white line…That made OK exciting. Not much to write about. Its flat and full of wheat, soybeans. Andrew educated me about some concrete and corrugated pipe thing…you gotta love that I can’t remember the name. There’s lots I can’t remember right now. I want to share it all but most of it won’t make sense.
It’s 11:37 and we are in Plains, KS. I don’t know where it is. Let’s see we got on the bus at 8:30. We ate and I tried to watch a movie in my bunk. That didn’t work for me. So I attempted to sleep. I listened to some music and maybe dozed. I got up and the bus was stopped but pitch black. People were sleeping in the couches. So I thought I would do this.
So now we are planning on going out around 12:00-12:30 and staying out for 6 hours. We are going to do two time stations. It’s going to be a long night. I think I’ve only had about 4 hours of sleep…since yesterday. I did finally get to shower. Literally jumped in a cold shower got wet. Turned the water off and shampooed my hair and washed my body. Rinsed off and that’s shower. But it felt great. I can’t keep track of brushing my teeth. Sounds crazy but living out of a backpack on a bus with 14 people is hard. It’s draining to keep track of your stuff!! Yesterday I thought I lost my camera case….couldn’t find it anywhere! Finally it was in the basement. That’s what we refer to the bottom part of the bus! It’s so hard to remind organized. We come into the bus and run to charge our stuff. I have to have my ipod in order to go to sleep. My backpack has become a snack holder. In the quest to find something different to eat, I always buy something at the gas station. Sometimes I have a change of clothes in my bag for the pull.
Eating is weird. At 10am this morning, I got on the bus and had a sandwich and chips. We go out on our next pull and Brenda is asking me what kind of sandwich I want. I tell her I ate lunch…No she said you ate breakfast…shit I don’ know. We were going to have Mexican food at the OK/ KS we arrived and the place. It was closed for a wedding. Disappointment for me, but yet glad. 14 people, two toilets and beans…OH MY!!
So they had ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. Brenda also made pasta con broccoli.
So I’m hoping that I gave you an update and it was more organized. I will attempt to upload some photos.
We are quickly approaching MO and better yet St. Louis . We found out part of 94 is under water and we will be rerouted. The St. Louis time station is a gas station just west of the clark bridge. We think we will be there on Monday around 11am. I would love to see anyone that wants to come out. IF you want to know as we get closer…call my cell phone 314-814-5839. If I don’t answer…I’m working or I don’t have cell service. Until then take care!!! Email or call
We are thinking we are going to be at the alton bridge around 1pm tomorrow
call if you wanna knwo
Judy
Ok I’m trying to collect my thoughts so this entry doesn’t sound so scatter-brained!!!
It’s amazing what sleep deprivation does to your mind. It plays tricks!! I was with Steve, one of the racers inside a Shell station. These two older couples asked us if we were going to North Carolina . We looked at each other and neither of us knew!! Yesterday Friday was an amazing day. We were in four states: AZ, UT, CO and NM. I hope you remember 4th grade states. We went through Monument Valley at sunrise….OMG it was absolutely the most amazing place. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera. We are quickly approaching MO!!! Today..it’s 11:24 pm on sat. We have spent the last two days in the Rocky Mountains . We went up as high as 10,200 feet in elevation. It was late at night and I was punchy! I look at Andrew and say wow look at the sandtraps from that golf course. I thought he was going to wet himself. Yeah Judy we are going to play golf at this elevation….shit it was snow!! Ya know I’m no mountain girl…hell this is the first time I’ve seen mountains!! That was the standing joke of the night. We did have a scary cat incident. I say to Andrew hey wat’s that dead in the road…as I say it the thing lifts it’s head and runs away. It was a cat in the middle of the road. We find out afterwards that clyde hit the cat at breakneck speed. We can’t tell Michele the female rider….she’s an animal lover and RAAM would have been over for her. She thinks it was a possum. We saw lots of deer at night. It was really cool to come around a mountain bend and see them standing off in the field.
Today we were out at 4:30 to do an ulgy mountain climbing stage. We had to change riders every mile cause it was so cold. They had to take the descent slow because they were freezing. Steve is a great descender…I would be scared shitless, but he takes it all good. So this morning the temperature was 32 yes 32 and we saw snow on the ground. Very cold!! We hit Oklahoma and it was 95. Michele and Steve hammered through OK. We had a nice tail wind and they kept speeds in the 20-25 range. We were flying. We were almost to KS and Michele was out on the road. There were these small baby calfs walking across the highway. You have to see the photos not even five feet from the white line…That made OK exciting. Not much to write about. Its flat and full of wheat, soybeans. Andrew educated me about some concrete and corrugated pipe thing…you gotta love that I can’t remember the name. There’s lots I can’t remember right now. I want to share it all but most of it won’t make sense.
It’s 11:37 and we are in Plains, KS. I don’t know where it is. Let’s see we got on the bus at 8:30. We ate and I tried to watch a movie in my bunk. That didn’t work for me. So I attempted to sleep. I listened to some music and maybe dozed. I got up and the bus was stopped but pitch black. People were sleeping in the couches. So I thought I would do this.
So now we are planning on going out around 12:00-12:30 and staying out for 6 hours. We are going to do two time stations. It’s going to be a long night. I think I’ve only had about 4 hours of sleep…since yesterday. I did finally get to shower. Literally jumped in a cold shower got wet. Turned the water off and shampooed my hair and washed my body. Rinsed off and that’s shower. But it felt great. I can’t keep track of brushing my teeth. Sounds crazy but living out of a backpack on a bus with 14 people is hard. It’s draining to keep track of your stuff!! Yesterday I thought I lost my camera case….couldn’t find it anywhere! Finally it was in the basement. That’s what we refer to the bottom part of the bus! It’s so hard to remind organized. We come into the bus and run to charge our stuff. I have to have my ipod in order to go to sleep. My backpack has become a snack holder. In the quest to find something different to eat, I always buy something at the gas station. Sometimes I have a change of clothes in my bag for the pull.
Eating is weird. At 10am this morning, I got on the bus and had a sandwich and chips. We go out on our next pull and Brenda is asking me what kind of sandwich I want. I tell her I ate lunch…No she said you ate breakfast…shit I don’ know. We were going to have Mexican food at the OK/ KS we arrived and the place. It was closed for a wedding. Disappointment for me, but yet glad. 14 people, two toilets and beans…OH MY!!
So they had ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. Brenda also made pasta con broccoli.
So I’m hoping that I gave you an update and it was more organized. I will attempt to upload some photos.
We are quickly approaching MO and better yet St. Louis . We found out part of 94 is under water and we will be rerouted. The St. Louis time station is a gas station just west of the clark bridge. We think we will be there on Monday around 11am. I would love to see anyone that wants to come out. IF you want to know as we get closer…call my cell phone 314-814-5839. If I don’t answer…I’m working or I don’t have cell service. Until then take care!!! Email or call
We are thinking we are going to be at the alton bridge around 1pm tomorrow
call if you wanna knwo
Judy
Sunday, June 15, 2008
1700 Miles Into the Race
Hello from Fort Collins, KS. We are approximately 1700 miles into the race. Let's see how to update. I had to end up sending out an email cause my computer wouldn't let me in. So i'm on another computer so I can't post my pictures. So let's see if I can put together a recap!!
Yesterday we crossed the panhandle of Ok. The scenery wasn't even that bad. I'm trying to recall the times. Sleep deprivation is just killing me. All the times and places run together. Looking at the pictures helps me to remember. I can't even recall the entire day tomorrow I will let you know what I do remember. I think we drove from hmmmmmmmmmmm i don't even know. I know I pulled a long night last night. We went out from like 1-7 this morning. That was through Kansas. So not bad cause it's boring Kansas. We did see a big skunk in the middle of the road. We thought Michele was gonna get sprayed. We saw some deer and lots of rabbits. oh and kitties. So then we ended in Pratt, KS. The McDonalds was the Time station. They gave us free food. The night was crazy. I didn't get much sleep before then so I was tired and by 5am I was nuts. Just ask poor Andrew who was stuck in the car with me. We were laughing at everything and I was so punchy I was crying. So after that and breakfast. I went to bed with two benedryls. My goal was to sleep longer than two hours. I made it about 3 or so hours. I didn't have to sleep in the death coffin bunk. I got the bigger middle bunk. So i felt rested. We went out for a run through Kansas. I think we were out for 4 hours. My riders made really good time averaging 17 mph. So to understand it we ride from Time station to Time station. The hours depends on the mileage and weather conditions. So sometimes we go out for 4 hours and today we did 64 miles in that time. And other times we go longer last night on our big pull we did 109 miles. So it just depends on where the time station is located and how the riders and crew are feeling. Then we had some down time. I laid in a bunk and tried to nap for a while. We thought this was going to be a short break, but the riders out are struggling. The winds are really picking up and there should be some storms. they are averaging 14mph. We communicate with cb radios between the three vehicles. then we have a loud speaker mounted outside the vans. that's where I get into trouble. We talk to the riders giving updates and warning them oabout trucks and stuff. Steve is a jokeer and has saluted me several times over my smart ass comments.
It's so hard to explain the details. it's so complicated, but yet has all fallen into place. We missed one turn, but we were only off course about a half a mile, but taht was a bad pull for us. We have not really had any problems thus far....and we hope it continues that way.
Yes I have taken 100s of pictures. It's funny thought cause when not in a van i'm on the bus sleeping aso i miss a lot of the scenery. I've found that I feel better if I sleep when we are moving. I feel the constant pull of gravity on my body...we are in constant movement. i'm hoping upon return home that I'm able to sleep more than two hours at a time. Is truggled a bit with the motion of the prevost at first but sleeping when moving is better for me.
Through the mountains I struggled with dehydration. See during the day when I'm in the follow vehicle we can leave our rider uncovered in order to go to the bathroom. Now the rules change at night. The rider must always be covered. So nite time I don't usually get to go to the bathroom. I don't want to drink when i'm in the van and I don't want to drink when I'm on the bus cause I want to sleep. It's tough to figure this all out. I was having some headaches, but now that we are out of the mountains...I'm feeling better!!!
Tomorrow we are predicted to get to St. Louis. The St. louis Time station in by the Clark bridge in alton. there is a gas station prior to the bridge. We will be in there. If you want to come cheer us on and see us...come on by. Predictions say between noon and two...if you want to know as we get closer...call the cell 314 814 5839 AT alton will will have 2000 miles in and are 2/3 of the way finished.
take care
judy
Yesterday we crossed the panhandle of Ok. The scenery wasn't even that bad. I'm trying to recall the times. Sleep deprivation is just killing me. All the times and places run together. Looking at the pictures helps me to remember. I can't even recall the entire day tomorrow I will let you know what I do remember. I think we drove from hmmmmmmmmmmm i don't even know. I know I pulled a long night last night. We went out from like 1-7 this morning. That was through Kansas. So not bad cause it's boring Kansas. We did see a big skunk in the middle of the road. We thought Michele was gonna get sprayed. We saw some deer and lots of rabbits. oh and kitties. So then we ended in Pratt, KS. The McDonalds was the Time station. They gave us free food. The night was crazy. I didn't get much sleep before then so I was tired and by 5am I was nuts. Just ask poor Andrew who was stuck in the car with me. We were laughing at everything and I was so punchy I was crying. So after that and breakfast. I went to bed with two benedryls. My goal was to sleep longer than two hours. I made it about 3 or so hours. I didn't have to sleep in the death coffin bunk. I got the bigger middle bunk. So i felt rested. We went out for a run through Kansas. I think we were out for 4 hours. My riders made really good time averaging 17 mph. So to understand it we ride from Time station to Time station. The hours depends on the mileage and weather conditions. So sometimes we go out for 4 hours and today we did 64 miles in that time. And other times we go longer last night on our big pull we did 109 miles. So it just depends on where the time station is located and how the riders and crew are feeling. Then we had some down time. I laid in a bunk and tried to nap for a while. We thought this was going to be a short break, but the riders out are struggling. The winds are really picking up and there should be some storms. they are averaging 14mph. We communicate with cb radios between the three vehicles. then we have a loud speaker mounted outside the vans. that's where I get into trouble. We talk to the riders giving updates and warning them oabout trucks and stuff. Steve is a jokeer and has saluted me several times over my smart ass comments.
It's so hard to explain the details. it's so complicated, but yet has all fallen into place. We missed one turn, but we were only off course about a half a mile, but taht was a bad pull for us. We have not really had any problems thus far....and we hope it continues that way.
Yes I have taken 100s of pictures. It's funny thought cause when not in a van i'm on the bus sleeping aso i miss a lot of the scenery. I've found that I feel better if I sleep when we are moving. I feel the constant pull of gravity on my body...we are in constant movement. i'm hoping upon return home that I'm able to sleep more than two hours at a time. Is truggled a bit with the motion of the prevost at first but sleeping when moving is better for me.
Through the mountains I struggled with dehydration. See during the day when I'm in the follow vehicle we can leave our rider uncovered in order to go to the bathroom. Now the rules change at night. The rider must always be covered. So nite time I don't usually get to go to the bathroom. I don't want to drink when i'm in the van and I don't want to drink when I'm on the bus cause I want to sleep. It's tough to figure this all out. I was having some headaches, but now that we are out of the mountains...I'm feeling better!!!
Tomorrow we are predicted to get to St. Louis. The St. louis Time station in by the Clark bridge in alton. there is a gas station prior to the bridge. We will be in there. If you want to come cheer us on and see us...come on by. Predictions say between noon and two...if you want to know as we get closer...call the cell 314 814 5839 AT alton will will have 2000 miles in and are 2/3 of the way finished.
take care
judy
Friday, June 13, 2008
Hello At Last
Ok so yes it's been a coupleof tough days!!
If parts of this don't make sense it's he sleep deprivation and lack of my core group
Basically I spend about 6-7 hrs in a car navigating the route for the car that follows the riders along the route. Then I get on the Prevost and eat and sleep. I've been havin some motion sickness dramamine is my frend. It's best if i sleep while the bus moves.
OK so hurrying I deleted all i typed!!
We are in New Mexico now 984.2 miles into the race...I can tell you for me it feels like a lot more.
I was gonna recap the past ew days but I can't remember. I can't remember where all my stuff is on the bus.
I can remember today!!!!!!!!!!!! We started about 4:30am in AZ We crosed over into Utah. At dawn we were in Monument Valley!! Seriusly the most beautiful!! Red huge rock formations everywhere. I was in the car with Andrew!! We were both tired he trid to convince me he saw a cow off in the distance...it awsx a dam bush!! It felt like the beauty would nev end!! It's huge vast and expansive.
From there we went to Colorado..We climbed a ton of mountains. I think the highest elevation i've seen is about 7800ft.
I know I had a good nap of about three huors!! I'm sure you can tell by my spelling i;'m trying to do this really fast!! Then we did CO. I laid down in a bunk for about an hour i have tolisten to my ipod in bed otherwise i Can't sleep. I sleep in two different bnks depending on the time of day. I got a long nap in the big bunk..
I woke up and now we are in New Mexico getting ready to go out for 48 miles we are in Chama New Mexico...it shoud take us three and a half to four hours. I did get a little kitty fix i went to a hotl to mail some postcrds and they had two kitttys.....Kuna hope the cats are good....sorrry haven't checked in!!
We are startin at 7789ft elevations we will go up to 10275 ft elevation. I've never been that high. They say it snowed the other day there...Im hoping to et photos!! Although this is a nite time ride. We mite set out about 930pm
So we did part of AZ, UT, CO and NM today!!
I'm having a ton of fun and working hard!
Let's see it's friday I haven't had a shower since we left on wednesday and feeling like aneed one...you ask for photos of me...yeah no i have lovely tired eyes and even better sexy hair!!
I hope this is a good update...I know it's confusing...it's my state of mind.
I will try to check my eamils...if you don't get a response....please don't take it personal...really if you want text or call..mostly i won't answer but leave me a message.
My off time needs to focs on sleep!!
Love to everyone...Missing st. louis
We are hoping to come through thinking monday 11 at the clarkbridge
I would love to see people out there.
We are going to be rerouted through part of MO
94 is underwater.
Take care....I gotta prep to go out for a long cold nite!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love
judy
If parts of this don't make sense it's he sleep deprivation and lack of my core group
Basically I spend about 6-7 hrs in a car navigating the route for the car that follows the riders along the route. Then I get on the Prevost and eat and sleep. I've been havin some motion sickness dramamine is my frend. It's best if i sleep while the bus moves.
OK so hurrying I deleted all i typed!!
We are in New Mexico now 984.2 miles into the race...I can tell you for me it feels like a lot more.
I was gonna recap the past ew days but I can't remember. I can't remember where all my stuff is on the bus.
I can remember today!!!!!!!!!!!! We started about 4:30am in AZ We crosed over into Utah. At dawn we were in Monument Valley!! Seriusly the most beautiful!! Red huge rock formations everywhere. I was in the car with Andrew!! We were both tired he trid to convince me he saw a cow off in the distance...it awsx a dam bush!! It felt like the beauty would nev end!! It's huge vast and expansive.
From there we went to Colorado..We climbed a ton of mountains. I think the highest elevation i've seen is about 7800ft.
I know I had a good nap of about three huors!! I'm sure you can tell by my spelling i;'m trying to do this really fast!! Then we did CO. I laid down in a bunk for about an hour i have tolisten to my ipod in bed otherwise i Can't sleep. I sleep in two different bnks depending on the time of day. I got a long nap in the big bunk..
I woke up and now we are in New Mexico getting ready to go out for 48 miles we are in Chama New Mexico...it shoud take us three and a half to four hours. I did get a little kitty fix i went to a hotl to mail some postcrds and they had two kitttys.....Kuna hope the cats are good....sorrry haven't checked in!!
We are startin at 7789ft elevations we will go up to 10275 ft elevation. I've never been that high. They say it snowed the other day there...Im hoping to et photos!! Although this is a nite time ride. We mite set out about 930pm
So we did part of AZ, UT, CO and NM today!!
I'm having a ton of fun and working hard!
Let's see it's friday I haven't had a shower since we left on wednesday and feeling like aneed one...you ask for photos of me...yeah no i have lovely tired eyes and even better sexy hair!!
I hope this is a good update...I know it's confusing...it's my state of mind.
I will try to check my eamils...if you don't get a response....please don't take it personal...really if you want text or call..mostly i won't answer but leave me a message.
My off time needs to focs on sleep!!
Love to everyone...Missing st. louis
We are hoping to come through thinking monday 11 at the clarkbridge
I would love to see people out there.
We are going to be rerouted through part of MO
94 is underwater.
Take care....I gotta prep to go out for a long cold nite!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love
judy
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Race Day 1
OK here's where blogging will probably get a little more tricky!!
Ohh I made sure to get a photo of me by the bus..I'm in my team shirt!! I hope you are happy to see a photo of me...probably won't see many more. Now starts not too many showers and really bad hair!!
We went to the start line to watch our team set off.
The sun was out and it was a beautiful day!!
Great day for a bicycle race. All the teams were outfitted to ride.
There is this team from Wisconsin...they made or bought aero helmets that look like cheese heads complete with the holes.
Oh I had to come back to mention that Tyler Hamilton sat two rows behind me at the start!!
So after the ceremonial start the riders parade past and go to the actual start.
Janet and I ran well ok you know better Ididn't run!! We walked down a ways
We saw this photographer who climbed up this wooden covering over the road to get his shots!!
We cheered and yelled to all the teams going by!!
After that we proceeded to the Prevost!!
We began the ride...I sat in the front and started downloading pictures and checking email.
We went through this mountain section. Sean, our driver, said it was a really tough route.
Then began my downfall.
It all started with a headache, so I took some advil. Then began the quesy, so I ate some crackers. That was followed by a, "Hey do you have a trashbag?" Then a dash to the back bedroom to lay down. Ohh and i found a trashcan!! This was not a wise choice. I laid on the bed and rode the bumps....OHH OHH not good.
We finally arrived at our timestation checkpoint. I announced that I had to go to bed.
Someone went and found me some dramamine (sp) Took that and got over my fear of the bunks. I slept for a while and woke up feeling a bit better!!
The next section of the ride I still had to stay on the Prevost!! OH crap
I sat up front next to the driver adn for dinner I ate some plain noodles.
About 10 pm CA time it was finally my chance to get out on the open road!!
I got to navigate the follow van. Clyde was the driver.
We had an 88 mile route that was to take us about 4.5 hours!!
Now that's all good and we were excited to hit the road.
We start out and it's great!!
The first exchange was really bad and it was my fault!!
It's really hard to tell the difference in the teams at nite and I wasn't fully paying attention I was messing around on the CB radio with thebus driver.
After a mild piece of my ass being chewed off, I survived and became totally focused.
When you follow you can do nothing but concentrate
We were doing exchanges every 8 miles.
We were in the middle of the desert...ya know the desert you see on tv with nothing aroun for miles...that's where we were!
We arrived at the TS (time station) at 2":35
I had a PBJ and went to bed!!
I slept in the bottom bunk for about two hours
The way i keep going to sleep is to listen to my ipod so I'm never even sure if I am really sleeping
We are at TS 5 in Congress, AZ.
We completed one state now 12 to go I believe.
I got up to do this while we were not moving and now I think I'm going to lay down again!!
Imagine that I'm tired!!
Ok I was done but something happened so funny i about peed my pants and that would not be a good thing especially since I've been in the same pair of shorts for three days now!!
So Clyde is about 65 and he's on my team, so we had all gone to bed and I was first up!!
I'm sitting here just a typing away and I'm facing the bunk room. I hear this thud!! I'm thinkin o shit someone fell out!! The door opens up and there's Clyde in his tighty whities and a t-shirt only they are not tighty whities they are blues! It's a hot look...and he says well i didn't wanna see you sitting there....well what the hell are you doing sleepin in yur drawers and coming out where everone is half naked!! So he goes in the bathroom and Brenda walks out from sleeping and sits across the table from me. Sean is laying on the couch. Cldye walks out in his bringin sex back outfit and says, "There's water on the floor." And walks to the bunk room. Janet, sean and I bust out laughing..I think the delierum (sp)mite be setting in early!!
So I hope all is well and everyone is doing great!!
It's not letting me publish my photos....I will try a differnt way
Ohh I made sure to get a photo of me by the bus..I'm in my team shirt!! I hope you are happy to see a photo of me...probably won't see many more. Now starts not too many showers and really bad hair!!
We went to the start line to watch our team set off.
The sun was out and it was a beautiful day!!
Great day for a bicycle race. All the teams were outfitted to ride.
There is this team from Wisconsin...they made or bought aero helmets that look like cheese heads complete with the holes.
Oh I had to come back to mention that Tyler Hamilton sat two rows behind me at the start!!
So after the ceremonial start the riders parade past and go to the actual start.
Janet and I ran well ok you know better Ididn't run!! We walked down a ways
We saw this photographer who climbed up this wooden covering over the road to get his shots!!
We cheered and yelled to all the teams going by!!
After that we proceeded to the Prevost!!
We began the ride...I sat in the front and started downloading pictures and checking email.
We went through this mountain section. Sean, our driver, said it was a really tough route.
Then began my downfall.
It all started with a headache, so I took some advil. Then began the quesy, so I ate some crackers. That was followed by a, "Hey do you have a trashbag?" Then a dash to the back bedroom to lay down. Ohh and i found a trashcan!! This was not a wise choice. I laid on the bed and rode the bumps....OHH OHH not good.
We finally arrived at our timestation checkpoint. I announced that I had to go to bed.
Someone went and found me some dramamine (sp) Took that and got over my fear of the bunks. I slept for a while and woke up feeling a bit better!!
The next section of the ride I still had to stay on the Prevost!! OH crap
I sat up front next to the driver adn for dinner I ate some plain noodles.
About 10 pm CA time it was finally my chance to get out on the open road!!
I got to navigate the follow van. Clyde was the driver.
We had an 88 mile route that was to take us about 4.5 hours!!
Now that's all good and we were excited to hit the road.
We start out and it's great!!
The first exchange was really bad and it was my fault!!
It's really hard to tell the difference in the teams at nite and I wasn't fully paying attention I was messing around on the CB radio with thebus driver.
After a mild piece of my ass being chewed off, I survived and became totally focused.
When you follow you can do nothing but concentrate
We were doing exchanges every 8 miles.
We were in the middle of the desert...ya know the desert you see on tv with nothing aroun for miles...that's where we were!
We arrived at the TS (time station) at 2":35
I had a PBJ and went to bed!!
I slept in the bottom bunk for about two hours
The way i keep going to sleep is to listen to my ipod so I'm never even sure if I am really sleeping
We are at TS 5 in Congress, AZ.
We completed one state now 12 to go I believe.
I got up to do this while we were not moving and now I think I'm going to lay down again!!
Imagine that I'm tired!!
Ok I was done but something happened so funny i about peed my pants and that would not be a good thing especially since I've been in the same pair of shorts for three days now!!
So Clyde is about 65 and he's on my team, so we had all gone to bed and I was first up!!
I'm sitting here just a typing away and I'm facing the bunk room. I hear this thud!! I'm thinkin o shit someone fell out!! The door opens up and there's Clyde in his tighty whities and a t-shirt only they are not tighty whities they are blues! It's a hot look...and he says well i didn't wanna see you sitting there....well what the hell are you doing sleepin in yur drawers and coming out where everone is half naked!! So he goes in the bathroom and Brenda walks out from sleeping and sits across the table from me. Sean is laying on the couch. Cldye walks out in his bringin sex back outfit and says, "There's water on the floor." And walks to the bunk room. Janet, sean and I bust out laughing..I think the delierum (sp)mite be setting in early!!
So I hope all is well and everyone is doing great!!
It's not letting me publish my photos....I will try a differnt way
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Race Details and My Responsibilities
So it's early morning on Race Day!! I've been up since 5am...I know shocker, but I don't think my system has adjusted to the time here. I took my last ceremonial LOOOONG and HOT shower!! I was organizing all my gear because ok so most impt to me is how am I going to keep the computer on the Prevost at all times. I have to stay in touch!! And I know some friends are following along closely. Today is different than most days in the race. We cannot have a follow van on the route for the first 15 miles then after that you can only have leap frog support until like mile 80 something. Parts of today I don't understand because I know I don't have to be involved, so I haven't really paid attenton.
So the race starts at 2pm CA time. We will all go to the start line to watch. Then we all go to the vans or Prevost as been assigned. I go to the bus for the first 100 or so miles. It's at that time the real support of the riders begins.
So here are the nitty gritty details of our plan to cross the country. The team is made up of four riders, Michele, Steve, Virgil and Lee. We've broken the crew down so that we always crew for the same riders. I will crew for Michel and Steve. My fellow crewmates for them are John, Andrew and Clyde.
We have two vans that will always be out on the course. So always on the course are two riders, one on the road and one in a van. There are two vans. The follow vehicle which obviously follows closely to the rider. It contains a driver and a navigator. Then there is the leap frog van. It contains a driver , navigator and a rider. The leap frog van goes up the road a ways then when the rider on the road arrives at that point we do a rider exchange. We leap frog back and forth until we meet the bus at a Time Station. At the time station, we do a full exchange. The other half of the crew and riders that has been on the bus comes out to ride and the other half goes on the bus to eat,rest shower...me I will be uploading photos, blogging and emailing.
I hope that gives a better picture of how we operate.
So basically my job is to protect the riders as we cross the country!!
It's really cool to be a part of someone's dream. This ride has been a dream for these riders and I feel special that I get to be a part of something so great.
Please be in touch
Take care
judy
So the race starts at 2pm CA time. We will all go to the start line to watch. Then we all go to the vans or Prevost as been assigned. I go to the bus for the first 100 or so miles. It's at that time the real support of the riders begins.
So here are the nitty gritty details of our plan to cross the country. The team is made up of four riders, Michele, Steve, Virgil and Lee. We've broken the crew down so that we always crew for the same riders. I will crew for Michel and Steve. My fellow crewmates for them are John, Andrew and Clyde.
We have two vans that will always be out on the course. So always on the course are two riders, one on the road and one in a van. There are two vans. The follow vehicle which obviously follows closely to the rider. It contains a driver and a navigator. Then there is the leap frog van. It contains a driver , navigator and a rider. The leap frog van goes up the road a ways then when the rider on the road arrives at that point we do a rider exchange. We leap frog back and forth until we meet the bus at a Time Station. At the time station, we do a full exchange. The other half of the crew and riders that has been on the bus comes out to ride and the other half goes on the bus to eat,rest shower...me I will be uploading photos, blogging and emailing.
I hope that gives a better picture of how we operate.
So basically my job is to protect the riders as we cross the country!!
It's really cool to be a part of someone's dream. This ride has been a dream for these riders and I feel special that I get to be a part of something so great.
Please be in touch
Take care
judy
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Prep Day in Oceanside
Here's a link to check out the photos from today
So today was the day in Oceanside to do all our last minute preparations!! Our day started with an offical inspection of our two vans and our prevost bus. Thank god we passed. So now we are official to start the race. Then we had to do team photos and I went to the RAAM store. I got a cute khaki RAAM hat. I'm sure I will be wearing it a ton. I spent the next hour looking for a kinkos...if we can't find a kinko's I'm not sure how we are going to find the east coast. We had to change a bunch of our books and forms. We have a book in each vehicle that describes how to get from time station to time station. Then we spent some time looking for a Sam's Club instead we found a Costco. We had to get a bunch of supplies. Of course my priority was the 36 pack of Mountain Dew. We arrived back at the hotel to actually have a bit of down and alone time. I think I'm going to need that because starting tomorrow there will be no alone time and down time will be spent sleeping. So after that I made my way to the Prevost named Godzilla. We are famous for our bus. No one else has a bus like ours and the officials keep showing up and coming in. Brenda, who is our cook and bus mom, is filling them with all these sweet treats she has brought along. But anyways so I'm sitting in the front of the bus talking to Nicole and Fred. I decide to do a practice on getting into the bunks and just laying there. I manage to roll into the middle bunk without hitting my head or anything. I'm laying there just checking it out!! I pull down the tv and check that out. I actually roll out the bunk ad go to the front. I announce that now i'm ok with the bunk situation. Clyde says yeah they are ok..ya know the size of a coffin..ok so now i'm not sure about the bunks again. It's just gonna have to be ok. I went and had some sushi with Lee, Andrew and Nicole. Then I came up to the room...done for the day!! Spending a few hours alone on the compter. After tonight there will be no alone time for 8 days!!! Let's hope I can tolerate that one!!
The race starts tomorrow!! We take off at 2pm CA time. The start of the race is different from how we will navagate across the country. Really I'm lucky tomorrow I willl spend the majority of the day riding on the Prevost. We can not have support vehicles on parts of the course tomorrow so instead of crew groups of 4 there will be groups of two out. So I ride the bus most of the day I will probably start my driving shift later in the evening. We will drive from 4-6 hours then Iwill have 4-6 hours of down time to sleep and relax. Then I will drive again. That's how it will go across the country.
Well I should get some sleep.
Take care and PLEASE be in touch
Judy
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