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A Day in The Life

The alarm clock goes off somewhere between 4:30 and 5:15, depending on how late we were up the night before and how much mileage we've got that day (ideally, we're getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night, which is barely enough J). We get dressed in our bike gear, and pack up our sleeping bags and pads and tent. After schlepping our gear to the gear truck (which is always at least a quarter mile away from where our tent was), we head off for breakfast. As I think Kevin has mentioned before, there is a "mobile city" travelling with us-mobile kitchen, mobile showers, camp services (messages, e-mail, etc.), bike tech and medical. The mobile kitchen serves up hot breakfast-eggs, potatoes, sausage/ham, and oatmeal, as well as pastries, cold cereal and drinks/condiments. (I can't tell you how sick I am of the eggs…I'm now on an oatmeal diet myself….) Then it's off to the bikes, where we check the bikes for tire pressure and any other problems, get water (we carry 3 bottles of it apiece; you're supposed to drink one 24-ounce bottle every 10 miles; more in hot weather), put on sunscreen (one of at least 2 "latherings" a day), and get the route map for the day. The riders generally know how much mileage is on for the next day, but we don't get details until the morning of the ride. There have been complaints from the riders about this; everyone would like to have more details about the ride (and the next day's weather), so one can plan accordingly for sun/snow/rain/wind (since we have had all of these in the last two weeks). Hopefully, they will give us more information soon, especially after the mess up at MacDonald Pass between Avon and Townsend on Day 12; I think people could have been better prepared for the temperatures and weather up at 6500 feet.

We start riding most days between 6:30 and 7:15. (The route officially opens at 6:30 am.) If you take breaks, picture taking, lunch and various delays on the road into account, we average about 10 miles an hour. If you have a century ride (aka 100 miles), that's a 10-hour day. If for some reason we have mechanical issues, that generally adds an hour or two to the day. Some days it can be a 13-hour day. Since the route is closed (and we get sagged) at 7:00 pm, we try to get as early of a start as possible to ensure we are done before route closing.

So what do we do on the road? Ride, of course, but also stop for pictures, to chat with locals and other riders, take "unofficial pit stop" breaks (men have it much easier than women in that category; but I'm getting creative…), and enjoy the ride. There are some really fast riders out there (triathletes, folks who barely missed the US Olympic cycling team, and general "scooter trash" as we call them), and they average 20 mph. But I do wonder if they actually experience the road flying by at that rate. And frankly, some of the camps we have at nights are not places that I want to be spending my afternoons in; the gravel pit in Powell, Idaho comes to mind

We roll into camp somewhere between 4:30 and 7:00 (again, depending on the day), and break down the bikes (clean out water bottles, take the bags off the bikes, go to bike tech if necessary). We then put together "home" (the tent), clean up (showers and clean clothes; yay! It is virtually impossible to get the layer of waterproof sunscreen and road dust off…) and eat dinner. Dinner is pretty good-hot, healthy, and tastes pretty good, considering that they are cooking for 1000+ people in some very remote locations. Then, if we're coherent still, we spend some time writing postcards, chatting with folks, working on the website off-line, and taking care of basic organizational things. Bedtime can be anytime between 7:45 and 9…then the alarm clock goes off some 8 hours later and we start all over again...