Ardie's Post-race Comments

Hey, this is Ardie using Sherry's blog. Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to all my family, friends and apparently even strangers that were cheering me on during the race. It kept me going during long days and rough times. This was truly the toughest event that I've ever done. It was more of a competition against Mother Nature and myself than anything else. Congratulations to Matthew Lee for winning the race. He is an awesome person and amazing endurance mountain biker. Here are some things I remember about the race: 1. Great racer camaraderie 2. Missing Sherry, my wife 3. There always seems to be a headwind 4. Largest bear tracks I’ve ever seen outside of Island Park, ID 5. Postcard scenery and wildlife 6. Butt pain 7. More butt pain until the knee pain started then I forgot about butt pain 8. Warmth of my down sleeping bag after a hard day’s ride 9. Never enough food 10. Sleeping under a bridge outside of Fernie, BC during a storm during the first night 11. Friendly local people that couldn’t understand why I or anyone would do this race 12. Putting my pack in a bear proof garbage can while I slept in the Tetons beside a convenience store 13. Biking up to a DOT crew outside of Grants, NM who knew my name and said they were expecting me 14. Missing pie in Pie Town 15. Finishing and seeing Sherry at the Border My Giant Anthem did great. Had a little a problem with keeping air pressure in my forks for about 1,000 miles (so I had to ride with the forks locked) until I figured out that the valve was loose and got it fixed in Steamboat Springs. Just one flat outside of Lima, MT which the Stans fixed and I never had to repair. Only thing I had to replace was a set of tires in Breckenridge. I used one pack of zip ties to constantly repair my water bottle holders that were slowly disintegrating from the washboards. My Old Man Mountain rack worked well. If Jenny Craig isn’t working for your diet plan, try Tour Divide. It will definitely do the trick. I lost over 15 lbs. that I didn’t really have to loose. Again, this is Ardie Olson.