A New Day Begins
Tuesday morning and we're creeping up on the time station at Williams. Thirty miles to go and counting as Lou pedals in the early post-dawn dappling of vibrant sunlight that creates a lively orange rim around the edges of everything tall enough to receive its blessings.
Matt, a new crew person for the race to chew-up and spit-out, arrived late last night after the idiots at the airline he was traveling with misaligned the connection between his two flights that created a 7 minute gap between them which left him stranded at the airport. Apparently, after a long delay, his airline told him that the fact that they didn't hold the connecting plane after endlessly delaying the first one was his problem and not theirs.
But of course. Heck, I could have told him that!
Silly passenger.
I suspect that sitting in a car for 36 hours at a time without proper food or shower access will seem like a picnic after dealing with that kind of stupidity. At least here he'll be among friends.
By this point, Lou has once more earned my humble respect and had the title SUPER HUMAN bestowed upon him by yours truly. I've seen much more of the back of his head than his face since this race started and there's still an energetic spring to the up-and-down piston-snap of his pedaling that is shocking even at 9am EST this fine morning.
In fact, let me extend that admiration to not only my teammate but to everyone who has made if this far. It's a damn impressive physical achievement and is the product of a perspicacity of internal vision that is difficult to describe, especially in my exhausted state.
Looking forward to seeing where the rest of this day takes us now that the deliciousness of the two hours of sleep I got while curled-up amongst the coolers, empty bottles and video equipment in the back seat of the follow-vehicle gives me a burst of much-needed energy.
Twelve miles to the interstate and counting.
Scooter McCrae, reporting.