TD Race Updates

Hi it’s Erik Lobeck Calling in from Salida Colorado, successfully over the first of the two passes of the day.  Sunny Colorado is non-existent though; Marshall pass looks like it is pounding rain. So yet another day of riding in rain.  Yesterday was an early to quit day because we were surrounded by lightning down in Como which is in South park Colorado so the group that we are riding with, which we affectionately call the Peloton decided to call a truce so we pulled into a Bed and Breakfast and had an early night of it and probably we all got the most sleep we have had since the race start.  But that was a good move the roads were dry this morning or somewhat dry and we weren’t surrounded by lightning.  We will have to see what happens with the rest of the race.  I’m at the bike shop here having some sealant filled tubes put in my bicycle tires in preparation for New Mexico; land of thorns is what I hear. So I guess that is still a few days away but I am getting ready for it. That’s it, bye.

Hi, Eric Bruntjen calling in from Kremmling, Colorado. Been running in some rain today; came over Lynx Pass and really got hammered by a thunderstorm. That was on top of a tough morning getting out of Steamboat. The guys at Steamboat Bike & Ski really gave me the NASCAR treatment: new drive train, new brake pads, gave me a good tune-up, but it took most of the morning.

Ended up undoing a lot of that good work on the way down Links Pass. I lost my rear brake pads. Mud and the rain just slows everything down. Combined with my late start, I ended up pulling into Kremmling around 8:30 with only about 88 miles for the day. I probably could have kept going, but somewhere on the other side of Lynx Pass, I'd broken a snap on my rear rack and lost my tent and my sleeping bag and my dry clothes. I was in a pretty rough spot at that point, but Reid, the clerk at the hotel here, immediately offered me his car. So I jumped back back in his car and drove back to where I'd come from, up Links Pass ... wasn't really optimistic, but did end up finding my gear bag on the side of the road. And it was completely soaked, so I had to keep the hotel room, but at least I'm dry and my gear is drying and I have my gear, which is really good news.

So it's been tough. The rain and the mud just wrecks everything. It slows me down, makes me cold and saps my energy, but I'm hanging in there, and I'm hoping for a bigger, better day tomorrow.

Good morning, this is T-Race and JayP calling in from Del Norte. Made it in here last night…had a freakin’ awesome, wonderful day of riding, kickin’ some passes fer sure. And then as soon as we pulled into Del Norte, maybe 10 miles away, we got nailed with the rain, so that was not a good ending to a wonderful day but made the best of it…and uh, got a dry room and dried out our stuff, again, so that went well. Uh, we’re going into day 15 here and I am still wearing the same clothes I began the race in, um, socks, knee warmers, arm warmers, and shirt thanks to Smartwool. They are holding up fantastically…I am overwhelmed with how they are performing…they outperformed anything I would have expected, and holding up well. The kit…thanks to Fitzgerald’s Bicycles for that and for helping us with our bike…getting that on the road and to the start and we appreciate all their support. Um, life on the trail’s been pretty good. Its definitely uncomfortable at times but definitely some cool stuff to check out. Um, the back of the tandem…the farting…the farting is probably the worst to deal with (did she really say that?) and Jay has been so kind and sweet to quit eating the dairy, the ice cream…so that’s been helping out a bit and that’s a pretty big sacrifice for him. He’s a good captain, keeping the crew happy. Um, what else? The cows are pretty cool. Lots of cows. They’ve got different hairdos…its pretty funny. Check that out some time. And, um, other than that, I guess we’re just gonna motor over another pass today and head to Platoro and hopefully be into New Mexico by this afternoon. So, moving right along, we’re doing great. Alright, happy to be here, thanks everyone for your support. We’ll hopefully see you soon. Bye.

Hey everyone, Kurt here. I am in Del Norte. It's Friday morning at 5:30, I'm about to hit the road. I came down here from Salida yesterday over those three tall passes, and got hammered on... Cochetopa, I guess? Rained very hard, then hailed very hard, then rained very hard again. The rest of the day was pretty good until I was getting toward Del Norte, and then there was a huge storm off to the South that apparently was up where Matt was in Platoro, and he was getting pretty hammered by that one. Got into town just before dark, stayed with Patty and Gary at their place last night, along with a tourist named Dan who is coming up from the south and heading north. He like the person that Matt ran into on the trail said that the section Brazos Ridge down just across the New Mexico border is incredibly muddy, so we'll see how that is. I'll probably get to that later in the day today. Hopefully it's passable, but if not, I guess there'll be some walking. Until next time, take care.