Rick Ashton

Hey this is Rick calling in from Colter Bay Village.  I've decided that this is a good spot to pull out.  It's taken me a lot longer than anticipated to complete the race and the next several days of the route gets me further away from the convenience of a stopping point.  I'm going to ride my bike into Jackson and rent a car and drive to Salt Lake and have the bike shop there box it up and ship it home and I'll catch a plane back to Tallahassee.

I'm OK and the bike is still running great.  I just need to get back home and get back to work.  Good luck to all the racers still grinding it out.  I'm truly amazed with Matt and the other leaders and how fast and long you can ride this course.  Good luck to Deanna, you go girl!  Good luck to Bruce and Michael who are a day behind me.  I'll be tracking all of you when I get home.  This is the old man of the race signing off.  

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Hey, this is Rick calling in from Big Springs, leaving Big Springs.  Uh, I got on the railroad surface, and since I was disqualified for missing Big Sheep Divide, the other side of Lima, I've decided to take alternate routes when I deem necessary for my knees and body.  So, that soft volcanic ash on the 30 mile stretch of the railroad, I've decided to take a parallel route down to Ashton Flag Highway.... ....Cut off?

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This is Rick calling from Big Springs.  Left Lima this morning and that road between Lima and the state line was the worst road or section of road that I've been on for the race.  It went on forever, and it was bumpy as hell, but I could tell where the earlier racers had hit it during the rainy days.  Yeah, I don't see how they made it through.  It was really bad, but I'm doing OK, and I'll try to call tomorrow.

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Hey this is Rick calling in from Lima.  Wow, a day without rain!  Great day to ride.  It started out kind of cool this morning, it was 28° leaving Wise River.  It didn't get up above 30 until about 9:00 and then it warmed up pretty good since then.  A lot different then the day before up there on Fleecer Ridge where it was a snow squall for a while.  But today, it was good except I left before breakfast and thinking I would get some food along the way.  But, there was nothing from Wise River to Wiemer and when I got to Grant there was nothing there.  I was just, I needed some food bad, so, I decided to cut over and come into Lima from a different direction from the planned route.  So, I'm disqualifying myself since I went off route and got to Lima a slightly different way.  So, but I'm going to keep plugging on and following the route from here on and calling in.  But that was the reason why had not taken the planned route into Lima.  But I'm still doing good and it was a long day for me, about 130 miles or so.  My knee is acting up a little bit, so, I'm icing it again but I should start off tomorrow morning and I plan to get breakfast before I leave tomorrow morning.  Talk to you later.

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This is Rick leaving Wise River.  I don't know what day it is but yesterday, another day of rain and hail.  It was OK coming up to Fleecer Ridge and then it started raining and hailing and I got up on the ridge and got into a snow squal.  Coming down it was very rainy and hailing, coldest day of the race yet.  Got down off of the mountain and the rain was relentless and the wind was very bad.  So, I was cold and wet, so, I decided to stay in Wise River.  So, I'll give you a report later on.  Thanks.

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This is Rick calling in from Butte again.  Woke up this morning and it was pouring rain.  I was going to leave early and I was trying to make a decision on whether or not to take an off day in Butte and let the weather clear out but later it looked like it started breaking up, so, I decided to go ahead and push off.  I'm leaving later than I thought I would.  So, the roads are going to be wet but at least I think the weather will be clear for a while until maybe it starts raining again later today.  But I might not be calling in now for a while, I'm getting into some desolate areas where the phone service is not available.  But I'll call in next time when I can.

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Hey this is Rick calling in from Butte.  When is the rain going to stop???  .......Helena in the rain.......  .......and left kinda late.  But that first climb in the rain on the soft roads was kinda hard.  This was one of my hardest days.  Just pushed my bike through that hard section and it took a lot out of me.......  .......

Cut Off.

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Hey, this is Rick calling in from the Tour Divide.  I'm calling from Helena.  Left a little bit late this morning from Lincoln and actually my knee feels a lot better!  I think the help I got from over the phone from Dr. John Dunn, Tallahassee, he gave me some tips on to relieve the pain and also I put a fresh kinesio tape on my knee and that seemed to work real well.  I was able to stand up and pedal today, so, my ass was not near as sore after today's ride.  It rained on today's final two passes today.  It rained all the way into Helena.  Jeff caught up with me on the second pass and we kind of rode in together.  So, it was another wet day.  But my spirits are good because I'm able to pedal normally now.  So, it was a good day for me.  Hopefully well have some clearer weather tomorrow.  But I want to thank everybody that has sent in replies to the blog that certainly helps my spirits that people are watching and giving me support.  I'll call in again later.

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Hey, this is Rick calling in from the Tour Divide.  Notes from the back of the pack.  The four of us that were staying at the, actually five of us, that were staying at Seeley Lake left this morning.  Deanna and Brad were going to try to make it to Helena today.  Martin and Jeff and myself left later and we are here at Lincoln right now.  I did alright but my knee is still hurting it doesn't allow me to stand up and pedal any, so, on these climbs I'm constantly sitting on the seat, which, causes a problem with my butt.  But we'll see how much longer it'll take to get this knee squared away.  I don't know if I can last much longer with just pedaling up these passes with one good leg.  I havn't been able to stand up and pedal since the border when I first hurt my knee.  But we'll go ahead and plug along and see how it does.

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Hey this is Rick Ashton, calling in from the TD.  Notes from the back of the pack.  Left Whitefish yesterday and the knee was still bothering me quite a bit.  I made it up close to, I guess, Condon and there was a storm just about to break, so, I went ahead and camped right along side the forrest service road where I was.  Jeff had caught up to me right before the rain and he decided to push on in to go off route to Condon to get something to eat.  This morning I went off route and found Gregg in Condon and we kinda rode together today and went over Richmond Peak and we're in Seeley Lake now.  Martin is here also and Brad and Deanna are also all here in Seeley Lake.  So, we're going to push off tomorrow early.  My knee is feeling a little bit better today, so, that's encouraging for me!

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