Ardie Olson

Hey, this is Ardie using Sherry's blog. Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to all my family, friends and apparently even strangers that were cheering me on during the race. It kept me going during long days and rough times. This was truly the toughest event that I've ever done. It was more of a competition against Mother Nature and myself than anything else. Congratulations to Matthew Lee for winning the race. He is an awesome person and amazing endurance mountain biker. Here are some things I remember about the race: 1. Great racer camaraderie 2. Missing Sherry, my wife 3. There always seems to be a headwind 4. Largest bear tracks I’ve ever seen outside of Island Park, ID 5. Postcard scenery and wildlife 6. Butt pain 7. More butt pain until the knee pain started then I forgot about butt pain 8. Warmth of my down sleeping bag after a hard day’s ride 9. Never enough food 10. Sleeping under a bridge outside of Fernie, BC during a storm during the first night 11. Friendly local people that couldn’t understand why I or anyone would do this race 12. Putting my pack in a bear proof garbage can while I slept in the Tetons beside a convenience store 13. Biking up to a DOT crew outside of Grants, NM who knew my name and said they were expecting me 14. Missing pie in Pie Town 15. Finishing and seeing Sherry at the Border My Giant Anthem did great. Had a little a problem with keeping air pressure in my forks for about 1,000 miles (so I had to ride with the forks locked) until I figured out that the valve was loose and got it fixed in Steamboat Springs. Just one flat outside of Lima, MT which the Stans fixed and I never had to repair. Only thing I had to replace was a set of tires in Breckenridge. I used one pack of zip ties to constantly repair my water bottle holders that were slowly disintegrating from the washboards. My Old Man Mountain rack worked well.

Hey, this is Ardie Olson calling in from the Finish Line, Antelope Wells, N.M. I finished up at 11:46 pm Saturday, July the 4th. Everything went pretty good that day. It was a long day. I'll probably call back in maybe tomorrow sometime its really late here. I think its like 2 in the morning. I'll probably call back in tomorrow and give some final comments on the race other than it was a really tough race. I'll be talking with ya'll later. Again, this is Ardie Olson. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-05 03:07:05 EST) Finish Line Image

This is Ardie Olson calling in from Silver City, NM. It is Friday, June 4th (July). It is 11:23 AM. Everything is going good. Got rained on pretty hard last night. Had a thunderstorm hit me before I got into Mimbres. But I didn't quite make it into Mimbres last night, But I got up early this morning, made it in to Mimbres and got me a good breakfast and booked it into Silver City. Going to get me some resupplies here and head for the border. Get a little splash of gas and 2 right side tires and I'll be ready to go. Oops, that is the wrong race. How about I just stop at the Shop N' Go here and get me some caffeine and a couple honey buns for the road, that is about what it is going to take. Looking forward to the finish. Hope everybody else is doing well that is out there. Again, this is Ardie Olson (recorder time: 2008-07-04 12:25:53 EST)

This is Ardie Olson calling in from a payphone in Pie Town, NM. It is July 2nd, Wednesday, 8:27 pm. Looks like everything is closed up around here, both restaurants, no pie tonight. They sure like to close up early around here. Guess I’ll eat what I got and try to stay at the Toaster House. I haven’t went by there yet. Hope I can get in. Other than that everything went pretty good today. Looks like I am going to have a long day tomorrow to try to make it to Silver City. We’ll see what happens from there. This is Ardie, Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-02 21:29:51 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)

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)

Hey this is Ardie Olson. I'm calling from the payphone here in Abiquiu at the Hotel. It is Monday, June 30th, 5:50 p.m. Everything is going pretty good. I think Mother Nature is winning most of this race. Yesterday, after my call in when I was in Platoro it started hailing, marble size hail, but luckily I was inside. It hailed enough to cover the ground, it looked white like snow, then it rained for 30 minutes. The road out of Platoro was a little muddy. Once I got into New Mexico, the roads were mess. The mud was like glue. It stuck to my tires. So I had to push 3-4 miles until I finally got to the ridge line that I was trying to get to and it was 10 o'clock so I camped out. Then got up this morning and things were a little bit better. At least I could ride. Did have a little bit of snow that I had to push through, not very much, where it covered the road in a few places. Other than that the day was going pretty good. Now coming into El Rito, I was trying to out run a thunderstorm before I got into mud again. So I beat that and got to the hard road and got to the store. The storm caught me on the way to Abiquiu. Now I'm at the hotel. I guess I'll get something to eat here. If it lets up or doesn't come all the way through Abiquiu here and mess up the roads, I'll head out again and I'll try to put a few more miles in today before calling it quits. Everything is going ok. Its a tough race. That is for sure. Again, this is Ardie Olson, bye.

Hey this is Ardie Olson. It is Sunday, June 29th 1:33p.m. I’m in Platoro, CO. Had a good ride this morning. Made it over Indiana Pass with no real problem, just a real good climb. Looks like now here in Platoro it is going to start raining and south of here it is going to start raining, its storming. So we’ll see what I’m in for. Hopefully it will clear up. I was hoping to make it into New Mexico tonight. But if its all stormy and the roads turn muddy it might hold me up. I’m not sure. But we’ll find out. Again, this is Ardie Olson. I hope everybody else is doing well. (recorded time: 2008-06-29 14:35:25 EST)

Hey this is Ardie Olson and it is Saturday, June 28 9:36pm. I am in Del Norte, CO. Had good day except for the last 20 miles I got a headwind coming on so it put me into Del Norte kinda late. I'm here, got something to eat, everything is good. Looks like I'll head out early in the morning and try to take on the big Indiana Pass and see how that goes. Hope everybody else is doing well. Again this is Ardie Olson (recorder time: 2008-06-28 22:38:33 EST)

Hey this is Ardie Olson. I am in Poncho Springs, CO. I was in Salida at 3:15, but there was not phone right there available so I just came over to Poncho Springs. It is now 4:09 p.m. Friday, June 27th. Had a good ride today. Everything was going good. I'm at the Italian Restaurant right now. Got two big bowls of soup in front of me now and I'm waiting on my Chicken Parmesan to show up then I'm going to finish that up, get me a few supplies and try to finish off Marshall Pass today. If not, at least maybe camp up at the top. Everything is going good. I'm hanging in there. Hope everybody else is doing good also. Again, this is Ardie Olson. (recorder time: 2008-06-27 17:11:20 EST)