Stephen Gleasner

Hello Steve Gleasner calling in from El Paso Airport. I finished this morning at Antelope Wells 3:37. It had rained on the Hwy 81 just before we took off to go there, the road was wet and the toads were sitting in the warm water. Parade of cactus, moonscapes, clouds moving and these toads looking at us instead of cows for once. They call it the lonely highway, I believe. It goes on for the longest flattest stretch certainly that I have ridden for the last month. It was wonderful to decompress going down that highway and it was wonderful to be done this morning. I could not have done this without Illya my wife, Clark and Meg. This gift is huge. What you have done is at least as hard as what I’ve done. I just want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to do this thing. It means a lot of me. I’ll figure out what exactly that is as the future unfolds. The race was all I could have asked for and more. It will be filtering through my brain for as long as I live. I feel honored to follow the tire tracks that I’ve followed. I feel honored to have rubbed elbows with the racers that I rubbed elbows with. I’ll write more about it in the future as I sort it out. I’m flying home to see my family. Looking forward to being back in ME and especially seeing Illya, Clark and Meg. Down the Road., this is Steve Gleasner. Chow.

(recorder time: 2008-07-13 09:50:01 EST)

Hello this is Steve Gleasner. Running Sweep. Its Saturday about 12:20. I’m Silver City. It is a fine day. Looks like a good to push through. I’ve got some DQ food in me. Mocha Moolata. Satisfying ice cream experience. For those of you keeping track if I’m satisfied or not with my ice cream, this was a good experience. Wasn’t spilled or ruined in any way, shape or form. I’m going to stock up on some groceries. I’m going to try that JATO Rocket Booster Kit again from Acme and see if it gets me to the Border. I feel like I have a little bit of energy today. Going to try to leave it all trailside. We are down the road Next call will probably be Antelope Wells whenever I can get there. Down the road. Bye, bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-12 13:25:25 EST)

Hello this is Steve Gleasner calling in from Pie Town, its about 1:30 on Thursday. I hear that there is some weather coming up. Record flooding Silver City and so forth. I’m trying to ignore that information because it is not very helpful. We are about to head out. Mary is with me. We are having lunch at the Pie O’Neer Café. This is an unusual treat. We were kind of expecting that we weren’t going to get Pie, but we are getting Pie. Down the road right after this. Trying to make as much time by the time weather comes. My goal is to be on a plane on Saturday, at 6PM flying out of El Paso. So I’m trying to crank it up to get that done. Its going to be tight even with good weather. Not sure what is going to happen, but I’ll keep you apprised as to my situation. Down the Road. (recorder time: 2008-07-10 14:27:06 EST)

Hello this is Stephen Gleasner broadcasting from the WalMart at Grants. Windy day in the desert coming from Abiquiu, I think. Its about 7 o’clock. Mary is changing to Slime Tubes and we are restocking supplies at the WalMart then we are going to head out towards Pie Town tonight and get some of that knocked out as soon as the wind dies down. Wanted to clarify some things about the ice cream debacle and the little kid that I gave such a hard time to. It may have sounded like that it wasn’t really a fair thing of me, this grown idiot in bike clothes, looks like a gyrocopter pilot from a Mad Max movie, comes in and starts demanding refund and exchange of his ice cream. It was one of those vanilla things on a stick that dipped in chocolate. The thing that I got he said “the shell is on it sir”. The shell was in there by the turtle had crawled out. There was no stick, it was completely encompassed with the ice cream. There was really no way to open it. I hope people didn’t think that I was being unreasonable with a small child who is forced to run a register by his parents in Horca, or whatever the name of that town was. So now that that is resolved, that was bugging me out in the desert. Down the road towards Pie Town and we’ve heard possibly no Pie and we are not going to set our expectations for it, we are just going to see what happens in Pie Town. Waiting for the wind die and heading out of town. (recorder time: 2008-07-09 20:14:03 EST)

Hello this is Steve Gleasner calling in from Horca, just south of Platoro. Its about 3 o’clock. I was just about to have an ice cream when I realized that they whole thing had been melted in a funny shape and I took it back to the retail clerk, who was I think was 8, I kid you not, playing with his video game. He said "No sir, that’s shell". I told him he can keep it. But anyway I’m without ice cream. Apparently everything in Horca is melted and they are claiming that is the way it is supposed to be. So Steve Gleanser is down the road with no ice cream and leaving a confused little boy at the register. Here we go bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-06 16:15:08 EST)

Hello this is Steve Gleasner calling from Del Norte running sweep on Tour Divide. Its about 4 o’clock and I’ve got the big climb ahead of me. I want to see what I can get in the bag of it today. 14,000 feet of vertical and 20 something miles. I’m not sure what is going to happen with that and my day. I’m going to give it a whirl. I wanted to send great thanks to the group of reprobates who put together my I-Pod selection for this trip, it has been everything from Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, some really off-beat, deep thoughtful stuff, that sent me into a tailspin laughter to tears. Here is a big V-Twin taking off from the stop light. There you go, that’s Del Norte. Off I go, down the road. (recorder time: 2008-07-05 17:15:32 EST)

Hello Steve Gleasner calling from Absolute Bikes. I did not depart at 10 o’clock. I’m still here. It is after 10. That little interruption by the mechanic was saying that my rear wheel is splitting in half so I’m replacing that. That’s the gist of it.. (recorder time: 2008-07-04 11:13:40 EST)

Morning, Steve Gleasner calling from Absolute Bikes in Salida, CO. My bike is on the stand and Absolute is giving it to her. They are putting new rubber on the back and fleshing up the new brakes. I should be out about 10 or so. I can’t say enough about the people here. They get right on it. They make a priority out of these crazy people that come in all sketched out. Noah Dimit (sp) is also here. He is having work done on his bike. So we have dueling bike stands going on here. Yesterday was great going over the Pass from Breckenridge. I had a wonderful time on the climb. I felt like Superman and on the downhill side it was great as well. (I’m on recording. That was the Absolute Bike guy.) Then the rest of the day was all sand and washboard out in the desert with lightening storms chasing me. There it is, down the Road. See ya. (recorder time: 2008-07-04 10:56:31 EST)

Hello this is Stephen Gleasner. I'm in Frisco. Just south of Silverthorne. Spent the night in Silverthorne. It almost 9 o'clock. Having some breakfast then hit the road. Plan is to make Salida and do some drive train work and maybe some new tires. So that's the plan. Things are going pretty well. Had a high speed run into Silverthorne last night so I could make it to the Target before it closed. So I could get some cards for my camera. Just taking a lot of pictures and running out of space. Got that and a hotel and someting to eat. Feeling refreshed and ready to go. Done the road. (recorder time: 2008-07-03 09:49:09 EST)

Good morning, this is Racer 4, Steve Gleasner calling in from Steamboat. Got in late last night after a run from South of Rawlins, about 20 miles. Camped out of town then made the run into Steamboat. I’m out the KOA doing laundry as a public service to the rest of the world. It has been a while. Lost track. I feel like I’m at a confessional. “How long has it been since you did your laundry, my son?” Well anyway, I’m going to be here for a little while. I’ve got to go to bike shop, get some groceries, get my laundry dry then hit the road again, then On The Road Again. There it is. Racer 4, Steve Gleasner, signing out, good day. (recorder time: 2008-07-01 09:56:07 EST)