The finish is in sight

Some more good ground covered by the racers in the past couple of days, and the first reports – from Matthew Lee, Erik Lobeck and Aidan Harding – about the re-route. ‘Hilly and difficult to get a rhythm,’ says Matthew; ‘scary drivers’ says Erik; ‘10 miles of headwind but gas stations for resupplies’ says Aidan. Sufficient ground has been covered, in fact, that Matthew could be finished today, depending on how hard he wants to push for this last bit. In fact, as I write – nearly midday UK time – he appears to have started moving already; at least, his SPOT is ‘on’. He’s got (I think) until 9.37am New Mexico time tomorrow morning to register the fastest ever TD finish, which seems likely (in spite of the punishing next few hours through the Gila south of Beaverhead) though whether it will be classed as a record or not I don’t know, due to the re-route. A fine performance nonetheless, made all the more impressive by the fact he had his bike stolen in Grants, only for Matthew to phone home and have someone locate it via his SPOT (which was on his bike) so he could retrieve it. Who needs Columbo? Our experience last year of Grants being about the only place on the route to have a bad vibe to it – we encountered a guy scamming bank details outside the Wal-Mart last year – seems to be justified. Blaine and Erik have stopped together to enjoy the unique charm of Pie Town and are also on for very fast finishes. Aidan continues to eat up the miles, though says he has given up on hopes of the singlespeed record set last year by Chris Plesko. He won’t be far off, however. Eric Nelson and Forest Baker have also made it into New Mexico, while everyone else is now in Colorado, which suggests the pace of the whole race is greater this year compared to 2009. Patrick Tsai should benefit from the hospitality of Brush Mountain Lodge soon (if he hasn’t already). Cricket Butler seems to have put her mechanical concerns behind her and had rejoined the big group in and around Silverthorne (from where Dave Preston adds the ‘Mountain Sports Outlet’ to the list of admirable bike shops en route). Grant Crosby, with Derek Richert, Jacon Johnsrud, Shawn Sheppard (and possibly Tom Moriarty), is now in Alferd Packer territory and seemed glad he’d no room on his bike to carry anything when passing through ‘the outlet capital of the world’, by which I assume he meant Breckenridge. Maybe that’s why Shawn said he’d ditched his rucsac and his jersey pockets were busting at the seams. Finally, the emotional demands of the race continue to become apparent, as revealed by Kent Peterson’s moving last call-in, and David Goldberg’s description of the event as no longer a race but a memorial ride. As they both said, keep pedalling. Paul Howard Two Wheels on My Wagon