Felix Wong

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 12:11 from the town of Chama, NM. Its about 50 miles off route. I'm calling on the 4th of July. I am in much better spirits. When I got to Chama, I encountered a cyclist and I ask her if she knew any cyclists in town with a cyclometer I could buy off him or her. She led me into a little office that is under construction. A construction worker just upgraded to a GPS on his bike and he had a Cat Eye Cyclometer at home in his garage just 2 blocks away. So he went to fetch that for me and I just mounted it and it seems to work fine. It looks like I'm going to be good to go in terms of navigation. I just have to climb back up a huge pass which I had to descend to get into Chama. That's going to take at least 2 hours to ascend, until I'm back on route, but at least I'm going to on route and I should be heading down through New Mexico shortly. Right now, I'm enjoying a cup of ice cream. I got rocky road which I thought was appropriate. It certainly has been a rocky road, especially the past couple of days for me. Anyhow, talk to you later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-04 13:14:40 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling on the 4th of July. Its Friday, 10:20. I’m couple of miles from the New Mexico Border. Every holiday it seems like I have some sort of vehicular problem and this is no exception. I had my second crisis. Last night my cyclometer died. I think it has something to do with the sensor, I’m not sure if it is the sensor itself or the sensor battery. It doesn’t really matter because the sensor battery is a very rare 12 volt double A battery. One that I’m not going to be able to find anywhere. Right now I’m heading off to Chama. I’m going to look for a cyclometer. What I have been doing for the last 12 hours or so, I was going from campsite to campsite asking people in RVs if they have a cyclometer on their bicycles. Had no luck there. Then one of the locals me that he sees cyclists biking up Highway 17 a lot. So I actually did wait at the corner of Highway 17 and Forest Service Road 117, which is the road that I’m suppose to go on next to New Mexico. I waited for about 3 hours, no cyclists. So I’m heading down to Chama. (can’t make out next 2 sentences) To see if there is any cyclist with a cycometer. Cyclometer is (can’t make out rest of sentence). Even with a functional one, I get 1-4 miles lost each day. The next supply point for me is El Rito which is about 100 miles away. If I get lost in the forest, it’s a bad, life and death situation. I need to take care of this problem and hopefully I’ll find something in Chama. If you don’t hear from me in the next day and half or so, and it seems like I’m back on course and it means found a cyclometer. If you hear back for me in the next day or so, we’ll see, I will let you know what is going on. But that is the situation right now and I’ll talk to you later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-04 11:25:18 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 12:58 from Platoro. I just wanted to thank everybody for their messages. I just listened to them. They are very helpful. About 20 minutes ago when I called in I was feeling very demoralized. Now I'm feeling inspired again. I'm going to press on. Listening to the messages really helped especially since it is still raining and there is thunder and lightening in the distance but I'm going to see what I can do today and I'm going to continue on. Talk to you later. (recorder time: 2008-07-03 14:00:46 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 12:39 on Thursday, July 3rd from Platoro, CO. I've had some great days in the race and I've had some bad days. You can definitely classify yesterday as one of the latter. First there was Indiana Pass. My legs weren't there. It was a very long climb, very steep, but worse once I got near the top of the climb a storm rolled on through. It was pouring with freezing rain. Within an hour even though I put on all my clothing, I became very hypothermic. My teeth were chattering. My hands were completely numb. I couldn't operate the shifters or brakes and it was still four hours to Platoro. By 6pm, I was doing so poorly, shivering so badly, that I decided that all I could do was pull over, set up my tent right away and crawl into my sleeping bag. So yesterday was a really short day and even though I went to bed early it was restless night for me. All of my clothing was wet. Because I have a down sleeping bag, I had to strip off all of my clothes, sleep in the sleeping bag naked and it was cold in the sleeping bag. the sleeping bag was slightly wet. Any time some of the freezing cold air would get into the sleeping bag, I would freeze. Consequently, I also had a late start this morning. I was just not willing to endure another cold morning in wet clothing. So I started late. I got to Platoro. It started raining about 20-30 minutes ago. Fortunately, its not raining hard now. I hope it passes through. I looks pretty gray up there. I'm pretty demoralized I have say but I’m almost to NM.. There is just one more week hopefully to go. I hear Matt Lee finished last night. Congratulations to him. I hope to be done within the week myself, but I realize that there is a lot that can happen in the 744 miles I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Take care. (recorder time: 2008-07-03 13:43:46 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong, calling at 12:45 on Wednesday, July 2nd, from Del Norte, CO. Yesterday, I had a great day. My legs were feeling good. I rode about 113 miles. I even enjoyed going up Marshall Pass and Cochetopa Pass. Nice gradual climbs with great scenery. In the evening, I ended camping half-way up the Pass after Cochetopa Pass. Today hasn’t been going quite so well. My legs are quite tired. Especially after coming down into Del Norte. I was expecting it to be all downhill. In fact there are some pretty significant although short climbs. The road to Del Norte was not good at all. Way too much sand. Virtually unridable. I did not enjoy that at all. I’m glad to be into Del Norte because I was completely out of food and water. I was hungry and tired. I just restocked at a grocery store. Now I am looking forward to going up Indiana Pass. Actually, not looking forward to it. I’m actually quite apprehensive about it. Its 4000 feet of climbing and 25 miles long. But I guess I’ll see how it goes. I’ll talk to you later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-02 13:47:59 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 10:09 at Monday, June 30th from Salida, CO. I’m actually staying in a hotel tonight unlike last night when I camped at a campground near the beautiful Dillon Lake, I just jumped in the shower with all of my clothes on trying to get them clean and I guess I’ll sleeping in the nude tonight. Today was a good day unlike yesterday where it seemed like I was going up hill for most of the 107 miles I rode. Today seemed to be mostly downhill. There were just two major climbs both were beautiful climbs. One was Boreas pass and the other was up the watershed divide. Both were beautiful climbs. Boreas Pass was very gradual with great scenery, great views and even though it topped off at 11,500 feet it was a very pleasant climb. The last climb was much steeper but had great views of the 14ers. At least when coming down to the Salida. In between seemed to be mostly downhill. My progress was only impeded by an extremely fierce headwind in the afternoon. But otherwise it was great day. I think other than the two passes, the highlight of today was passing by South Park. Previously, I thought South Park was a fictional town in CO so I was very happy to see it is a real region. One of my favorite tv shows is South Park. In fact, I resolved that after this race is over and I am back home in CO, I would do a South Park marathon. By which I don’t mean running 26.2 miles but instead I will be laying on my couch with my feet propped up on a some pillows and watching this seasons episodes and maybe last seasons also. Right now that is sounding really good to me. I’ll talk to you later. (recorder time: 2008-06-30 23:11:54 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling on Sunday, June 29th at 6:54pm. I’m in Silverthorne, CO. Yesterday, I stopped in Steamboat at the Orange Peel bike shop. The guys, Zack and Esom (sp) did an awesome job repairing my bike. They put on new tires, new brake pads, new cables, and even cleaned the bike. The bike rides like new. It is amazing how much smoother it is riding. How much smoother it shifts. How much easier it is to push the shift levers. When I press the brake levers, the bike actually slows pretty well now. So that’s been a joy.. The bike even seems faster. Ever since Steamboat, I’ve been feeling pretty good. The days before that I wasn’t feeling so strong, but my legs are coming back. Yesterday, was a pretty short day for me especially since I got a little lost after Steamboat, that is kind of a long story. I only road 62 miles yesterday. I called it a day early. I woke up early today and started riding about 6AM and here I am in Silverthorne. I actually got here about 20 minutes ago. Encountered a local named Dave who rode with me for a little bit. Great guy. He met Leighton yesterday. We chatted for a little bit. Before that it seemed like most of the day, I was going up hill. It was good that my legs were feeling good. I also encountered John, the leader of the Great Divide race which started a week after the Tour Divide. He seemed to be doing well. He ran into me when I was about to ford a 2’ deep river. I was actually in the river testing the water and there he came up. It was good to see him. Otherwise, it has been a great day. Spectacular scenery. CO is an awesome state. I’m glad I live here. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. I’m going to press on more tonight. I’ll talk to you later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-29 19:58:54 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong just calling with a continuation of my last message. I just wanted to thank everyone for the messages that they have been leaving on the website. I really appreciate all the support. And I wanted to give special hello to Kevin Hall and his family. A couple days ago the second half of the race started for me and I reflected on the first half, and the first few days of the first half and riding with you Kevin. Every time I go up one of these Passes I almost expect you to hop out of nowhere and pass me on the climb. Anyhow, be assured that you and your family have been in my thoughts. Thanks to your daughter leaving her message. I camped out in the Route National Forest last night and I did resort to the bear proof camping strategy. Luckily I was well hydrated for that and I wasn’t bothered by any animals. Hope you are doing well in Kentucky and you take care. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-28 16:44:53 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong, calling at 3:38 on Saturday, June 28th from Steamboat Springs in CO. The last two days have been pretty good. My legs have not been there but at least I’ve been riding through some spectacular scenery. Both Southern WY and then into CO which I got into yesterday. It has been nice to be back in my home state. Yesterday, I started really late. I was out of Rawlins by about 9:15. And again, my legs haven’t been strong at all. But I pushed on until about midnight. Got in about 97-98 miles. So I’m pretty happy about that. At 9PM in the Route National Forest, I heard someone yell out “I’ve been waiting for you”. It turned out that it to be a woman named Kirsten at a lodge in the Route National Forest who had been following the race on-line, had met some of the other racers already. It was great to see here. I was able to get some water from her. I camped out in the forest. This morning I woke up late again. I got started about 8:25. The Pass up the Watershed Divide had snow and mud on there. Very slow going, but I would probably had to walk anyhow just because it was really steep and my legs had not been strong at all. The road to Steamboat was absolutely gorgeous. I just wish I was feeling stronger. I’m now at the Orange Peel bike shop. They have been doing a lot of work on my bike while I have been resting and I really appreciate everything they have been doing for me. They are replacing the brake pads, both of the tires, putting on new rid tape, trying to make the shifting as smooth as possible. I have been having shifting the rear. A lot of effort has been needed to shift that. My right thumb is getting very sore. So I hope to be out of Steamboat in the next half-hour, hour. Its going to be a short mileage day today. I’m pressing on. (recorder time: 2008-06-28 16:42:31 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 9:38 at Thursday, June 26th from Rawlins, the armpit of WY. Yesterday, was a _____ day. Even though I started late at 8:15am, I was moving quickly and did not stop very much. I ended up riding about riding 126 miles down to ______ (South Pass or Atlantic?) City. I had a nice (?) day. Encountered two motorcyclists who were doing the Great Divide Trail north. They even encountered by Matthew Lee. ____ (can’t hear next 2 sentences). Small world out there. I ended up staying at a place owned by a Bob and Barbara. ____ woke up at ___ am to cook for me which was really nice of them. Today, on the other hand has been a difficult day for me. I started at 4:50 am just to make it to Rawlins before dark. Not a morning person that strategy kind of back fired to ___ as I was falling asleep on the bicycle. My legs just were not there at all today. I was extremely tired. I was absolutely positive that I was suffering from hyponitrenia (sp). A lot of the food I had had no salt whatsoever except for one can of Spaghetti and Meatballs. I was saving that in case I did not get to Rawlins tonight then I would have some food for tomorrow but a I was desperate for some salt. A can of Chef Boyardee apparently has 1900 mil of sodium and after eating that with of ... I didn't had to use a spoon so I had to use a16 mil. cone wrench spoon. .. (message cuts off) (recorder time:2008-06-26 22:42:45 EST)