Thursday - Heading into the Mountains...

Thursday, 6/14/07

We just came through TS14 at Cortez, CO. I feel totally different today… like my endurance training is paying off. After riding through a very cold night in another sub-race with Team 402, we are finding that we are losing the most time with our transitions. The transitions themselves are great for optimizing our rest and providing enough sleep time… but we are not fast enough in transferring riders / bikes / bags while getting a new rider on the road. Days are not as bad, because the new rider can take off without a follow-vehicle. But at night, the rider always has to stay within the headlights of the follow car. We are curenly spending 5-10 minutes at each transition… we need to get this under 1 minute! So Danny and I just finished some strategy discussions, and he made up a great “event diagram” with priorities for each transition that will minimize our time and get a rider back on the road. Then the transition and hotel vehicle can spend an extra few minutes making their transfers. I LOVE this stuff! But it’s complicated because we are tired. We’ll see if we can translate this into a better standing the 2nd half of the race. I do know that we should be in a great position for sleep recovery which should translate into improved times.

Ok… for those of you who are more interested in the stories, it’s hard to keep track of the days! At one o the transitions last night, I opened a car door, forgetting the Colette was sleeping there… she almost fell out on the ground! It’s amazing how fast she can wake up in a state of falling. We spent early daybreak as the sun was rising through beautiful Monument Valley in Utah. I felt like I could have ridden forever! After this, Lorenzo and I took a long, 10% grade descent together into the valley at about 50 mph.

Note to self (and any other future TDL member): Never listen to Dave Stoker when he says we should all get the special breakfast burrito with homemade green chile and pork sauce from Mexican Hat, UT. Yes, the burrito was great. But my stomach and intestines thought differently!! I have no idea how Danny was able to power down a 2nd extra burrito, though.

Riding through the high desert and into the base of the Colorado Mountains today was pretty hot as well. After our transition in Cortez, we are headed to South Fork (Danny, Lee, Amalia, and me) for our 12-hr rest. We just drove up the 8-mile infamous Wolf Creek Pass at 10,857’ that the rest of team will be climbing in just a few hours… at night! They’ll meet us about 3:00 AM halfway down the descent for our next transition.
I can’t stay awake any more… talk to you again soon!