sherry's blog

Hello this is Dominik Scherer, # 13 calling in. I won’t say Racer # 13 anymore. Alan and me have switched to touring mode from that fresh on. So # 13 calling from Abiquiu on Wednesday, 2nd of July, its 2 o’clock in the afternoon. We arrived just 2 hours or something ago. We had some very, very delicious lunch here in Abiquiu Inn. We are going to spend the rest of the day here in Abiquiu. Doing some groceries and getting proper rest before we head out for the last big climb of the whole tour. Resting up, getting stocked up, getting fueled up. So we gonna last the few days. I hope everyone out there is good. Matthew is going to be finished maybe today, maybe tomorrow. I don’t know. Man this guy is fast. That is for sure. All the rest is with us, not far behind us. Leighton and Adrian, you are doing really, really good boys. Hangin’ in there. Maybe Leighton can catch up. Who knows.. Maybe we meet out there in the dester. It would be really cool to ride the last few miles with you Leighton. All the others be good, be safe. Love to all my family and friends at home, back in Europe. You are giving me so much support and it helps me so much. I really appreciate that. Love, Dominik. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-02 15:14:01 EST)

This is Ardie Olson. I’m calling in from Grants, NM. It is 10:39 AM, July 2nd. I had a good ride last night. I had the wind in my favor coming out of Cuba. Then, had a good ride, all of it on paved road, so that helped me make up some time. I’m going to get a meal and some supplies here in Grants and head out for Pie Town. Hopefully make it to Pie Town tonight and stay at the Toaster House. Have breakfast and Pie in the morning if all goes well. The weather has been nice so far. I missed the rain yesterday. I got to the paved road before it started raining so I avoided getting stuck in the mud so that was good. So everything is going well. I’m headed for the border and I’m looking forward to it. Again, this is Ardie. Bye. (recorder time: -07-02 11:42:02 EST)

Hi this is Adrian Stingacui calling in from Horca, CO, July 2nd, 6:42 am. Feel really really happy. Yesterday was a really good day. Got caught in a really good size thunderstorm just after coming over Indiana Pass at around 11,000 feet. I'm so happy to be alive. Really great. Emotions out here are really amplified. Its like - I'm laughing hysterically while crying tears of joy at the same time. I'm just really happy. Thank you God, thank you Jesus, thank you Buddha, thank you Krishna, thank you Allah, thank you everybody. Thank you even to the mosquitoes who help me climb a little faster on the uphills. See how far I can get in today. Try to put in another 100 miles, 130 miles maybe. Try to get to Abiquiu, NM. Still have a long way to go at least the names are starting to sound Mexican. Still in CO. Passed through Del Norte yesterday, Platoro, Poncho Springs the day before. Really looking forward to getting into New Mexico and the Mexican Border. Last night I stayed in Conejos campground about 10 miles short of Horca. Slept on a picnic bench. Got up at 5 o’clock in the morning and started riding out in 37 degree weather. Nothing like putting all of your layers on and still have numb fingers and toes while snot icicles are hanging from you nose. (recorder time: 2008-07-02 07:43:42 EST)

Hey Everyone, its Mary. I’m calling in from Silverthorne, CO. Today, was an absolutely wonderful day. It was good day. I felt great today, physically and mentally, everything. The whole game just kind of came together today. It was good. I ran into Dave Nice out on the trail. The route goes pretty close to his parent’s property where he is working right now and it sounds like he is recovering. It was really good seeing him. He cheered me on for a couple of miles. We some good conversation. Dropped down to the CO River which was absolutely beautiful. Made it feel like I was in the southwest. Which was great, because that means I am in the south so I’m getting closer to Mexico. I really feel like I am going to pull this off now. Things are going great. I got in early tonight so I’m going to take off early in the morning. Have a good night. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 23:01:14 EST)

Hey there Matthew Lee at the Beaverhead Work Center. It is 8:40. I'm going to continue riding and try to get to the rim of the black canyon and dispose of a few more of the 45 miles of the Gila that I have left. So that I can hopefully finish before dark tomorrow, if everything goes well. So that's my story. More rain today. Soft roads, but not very hot. The trade off is there. Ok. Hope everybody else is doing well. that's all. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 21:41:31 ES)

There have been e-mail and phone calls to me over the past 36hrs as to why Matthew then Ardie appear to be off route btwn Cuba and Grants, NM. I wanted to let everyone know there are 2 alternates permitted during the race, according to the rules. If you see the blue dots veer west of the main route at Cuba, or south of it following Grants, (along El Mapais National Monument), it only means that the racers are taking both alternates which run back to back. It may be dangerous for racers to take the regular route if there is wet weather as the flooding is possible through the numerous arroyos crossings on the main route.

The two alternates are:

Alt. 1) The 116-mile section between Cuba and Grants, New Mexico
Alt. 2) The section between Grants and the Pie Town road, through El Malpais National Monument.

The alternates are paved. Alt. 1) is .3 longer; Alt. 2) is 17.9 shorter.

The racers do have the option to take the main route; however, if there is any risk of bad weather, its not recommended.

Sherry O.

Hey again, This is Ardie Olson calling in from the payphone in Cuba, NM. It is 2:33 pm, Tuesday, July lst, 2008. Everything went good this morning. Ride was good. Now I guess I"ll get resupplied. I'll get a meal here in Cuba. I'll head out and bake in the sun for a couple of hours on my way to Grants. Probably won't make it to Grants today because its 119 miles. So I'll probably camp out on the side of road before I get there. Hopefully I'll make there for breakfast tomorrow. Other than that everything is going ok. Working my way to the end. Hope everybody is doing well. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 15:35:25 EST)

Hi this is Adrian Stingacui calling in from Del Norte, CO on Tuesday, July lst, 12:30 pm. Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon suited up in my rain gear trying to stay dry but I never really got wet until I got into camp in the dark. Camped in cow field next to cow patties. Then it started raining right when I started eating and I was starving. Today I rode into town over here and picked up a hitchhiker, a lady friend and gave her a ride for a couple of miles. She was a really beautiful lady bug. Going to head out to Indiana Pass shortly after I grab something to eat. Hopefully it will be safe ride up there for me. Good luck to everyone. Sorry to hear about the guys who dropped out of the race. How they are home and recovered. Take care. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 13:31:04 EST) NOTE: recording was hard to hear. I had to guess at some of this.

Hello, there this is Mike Dion. Its July lst about noon. Still out here on the route. I’m in Pie Town actually. I’m with Hunter Weeks. Hunter is the director on the film. We are still working on the film out here. We have been leapfrogging Matthew pretty much since Del Norte. Filming some incredible landscape, really roughed terrain and colorful locals. Matthew interacting with some of the local people, places and things along the way has been priceless. Speaking of Hunter, if you want to check out something he has worked on that is similar, check out www.10mph.com. We are kickin it here in Pie Town. Having some pie. Having a milkshake. Its getting pretty hot outside. We are going to continue leapfrogging and following Matthew to the finish line, which he told us would probably be tomorrow night some time. We’ll see how that goes. After that we’ll start working our way back North, and checking with some of people. Its been great still being out of the route even though I bailed back in Montana. Still getting to see the beauty and the terrain and everything else. So having a good old time. I’ll check in later with everybody.

Hey, Matthew Lee calling in post-breakfast from The Daily Pie Café in Pie Town. It's about 10:22 on Tuesday. Rueben, I just wanted to tell you that I ate your piece of pie and mine. I figured you would want it that way. It's good to be here although I’m sad that Nita, the Toaster lady, is out of town. I had really hoped to see her. Today I hope to finish with the Gila National Forest. I expect it to be as mentally challenging as anything I’ve faced so far. Usually I hit it fresh so we’ll see out it goes. My guess is that I will be pretty wrecked by the time I reach Silver City. I’d like to say Congrats to my sister Amy with her new 10 lb baby and tell my own baby-momma, Katie, due with our baby boy (and future Tour Divide racer) in just a couple of weeks to hold on a bit longer. I’ll be back in NC as soon as I can. That’s all for now. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 11:23:26 EST)