Jill Homer

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Hi, this is Jill Homer.  I'm calling from Steamboat Springs.  I got here about 4:00 this afternoon on Friday.  Umm, stayed last night at Brush Mountain Lodge, which was really amazing.  I was just grinding up that loose gravel road about 10 pm when the owner waved me down.  Got a Quesadilla, got a warm place to stay out of the rain.  I know I was super stoked about that... kinda an unexpected surprise.  I was expecting to have to camp just a little bit south of there in the rain.  

But anyway, it was raining when I got up... rained the whole day into here.  Just until I got here, the sun came out again.  But it started raining really heavily when I got up the water shed divide and started down in the heavy rain.  The conditions were really bad:  muddy, nasty like getting close to that wheel-suck level even though it was pretty sandy.  It was just really wet.  And didn't quite notice at first, but my brakes were just shot.  I mean, I got new brake pads put on in Rawlins on the front, but I only had one spare and it was this stupid off-brand and they just disintegrated.  I mean, they were gone.  So at one point, I was going down this really nasty, rocky stretch, and I pushed on the levers, pulled them all the way in, and nothing happened.  I panicked and laid the bike down at a pretty fast speed in the r...

Hey, this is Jill Homer again, I thought I'd finish telling my story... Read more »

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Hey, it's Jill Homer.  It's noon on Thursday.  I'm still in Rawlins, spent most of the morning here trying to deal with my bike.  The bike shop was marginally helpful -- they helped me clean out my hub, helped me kinda jerry-rig my front brake because the caliper was having problems.  Turns out we had to break a piece of to get the new brake pads in and I only had one spare set.  So I'm hoping that's enough to get me to Steamboat -- as it turns out it's all kinda stuff I could've done by myself rather than wait for the bike mechanic.  I waited for him to show up until about almost 11, but you know, you live and learn.  And lost half a day, but had three huge meals and a nice, long rest.  So in the end, it is probably a good thing.  But I'm really excited to get back on the road and and I'm REALLY excited to leave Rawlins.  And so I'm expecting to be in Steamboat sometime mid-tomorrow, hopefully.  And, uhh, I'll call then!  Talk to you later, bye.  

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Hi, this is Jill Homer calling from Sawtell Mountain Resort in Idaho.  We had a tough day today.  We left Lima under dark skies and light showers and it turned into heavy showers.  It turned the road into all kinds of muck and wet cement -- just stuff that was not really even rideable and places I had to drag my bike through some of it and it got all gooped up and couldn't get all of the mud off and pretty much lost both my derallieurs.  So, I ended up walking and single speeding a lot of the day.  I tried to chip it off, but, it was slow.  And I got caught in one storm, came right up from behind me, and thunder cracked down -- or lightning -- and the thunder was instantaneous.  It was an amazingly loud noise.  It felt like it couldn't have been more than a few feet away.  So...anyway...that... it was, it's been tough.  I made it to Sawtell and I picked up a copy of The Post Register which is a newspaper where I used to work.  Makes me feel close to home even though I sometimes feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere, pushing my bike through the mud for...not a real good reason.  But, it's been fun and hopefully the weather improves.  It's supposed to be another, at least another, day of this, maybe more... but... keep going.  Talk to you later, bye.

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Hi, this is Jill Homer, I'm calling from Lima, Montana.  Had a nice ride into town today.  I was actually pondering going a little bit beyond town but fought a 30 mph headwind coming off the pass and into town.  Looking out to the south just these nasty dark clouds which should be blowing toward the route, so I decided to stay in town.  I actually ran into Jeremy, who had the same idea it turns out.  We were both looking at that big dark cloud and thinking that we're a little bit smarter than that.  So we're in Lima.  John is also still with me.  He's planning on staying with me for a couple more days, and then he'll probably drop from the race.  But, still not sure about that.  I'm not even sure he's called in yet.  And it turns out his SPOT doesn't seem to be working.  But he's been traveling with me and we've been having lots of fun.  And looking forward to tomorrow.  Talk to you later.  Bye.  

Listen to the latest call from this racer here!

Hi, this is Jill Homer, I'm calling from Elkhorn Hot Springs.  We had a really ideal day seven.  We had a few showers in the morning, climbing that first pass out of Butte after we spent quite a long morning waiting for a bike shop to open and all that.  But, after that, the weather was beautiful today.  Not too hot.  Umm, had a lot of fun on Fleecer Ridge... nice hike-a-bike there.  And then coming up that last pass at sunset was amazing.  I kinda agree with something someone said last year in the Great Divide Race about how it seems silly to rush through all these beautiful places that we're going through.  So, took some time there, took some pictures, soaked in the scenery.  And now we're at Elkford Hot Springs and, uhh, pretty happy to be here.  Looking forward to tomorrow.  Talk to you later.  Bye.