Support Crews
I've done the past two 24 hour races without a support crew. Aside from the friendly spectator here and there, I rarely even have someone cheering for me. Now, I realize my performances haven't exactly been worth a marching band, but it would still be nice to have someone there.
While at the National 24 hour challenge, I heard a woman just lashing into her mother with comments like, "Mom, I wrote everything I need along with the time I'll need them, its that simple." Now on the surface, that might not seem so bad, but you should have heard the way she said it. The sister walked up a couple of minutes later and the rider again explained what she needed and when in a condescending tone.
The sad part is that it was barely 12 hours into the race and the woman was probably not in the running for any awards. From someone who would have loved to have my family there, it seemed unappreciative and mean.
I thought a lot more about this as I read that someone in the Race Across AMerica (RAAM) had to DNF when his crew left him by the side of the road. What could that rider have possibly said to get a crew, who had planned to put there own lives on hold for nearly two weeks to help him acheive his goal, to quit so dramatically 500 miles into the race.
Makes you wonder.
