What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

Daniel and I had bison burgers for lunch here in St Louis.

(You can't wash your hands in a buffalo!)

Engerlaaand!

We found heaven on earth with just 40 minutes to go to the game! 

Underneath the arch(es)

We found our way to St Louis ... right on the Mississippi under the famous arch!

Pushing on at sunset

I spoke to race control who informed me that we are one of three teams Fred Boethling and the race officials have given a five (5) hour extension beyond 3PM Wednesday 6/18 to arrive at TS 35 (Mississippi River)  ... excellent!

The river is 2051 miles from the start and a little while ago Chris was at 1776. He needs to go 275 miles in 25.5 hours. 10.8 mph (without sleep ;-)

In an English country hedgerow

The countryside here in Missouri reminds me very much of England. Everything is beautifully green!

Away away!

On the way to dropping off Matt at the airport (running around 100 miles ahead of Chris) we came upon the Missouri River! Oh Shenandoah ...

Pip-pip

Here's Pippa Middleton an friends looking very smart bad happy before the team start noon Saturday!

They're currently fifth of the 8-person relay teams, I believe, and are heading our way fast ... Tractalis says they are about 500 miles in and crossing Arizona!

A (un-)fair cop?

There we were on an errand of mercy to deliver ice and water to Chris where - seemingly out of nowhere - we were pulled over by the highway patrol and given a $170 present ... of course I was going 77 in a 66 zone so it's a fair cop!

Continental Divide!

Duc and Thien and I made it up and over Wolfs Creek Pass in the luxury of the Subaru this morning :-)

While we were there we had a great chat with a couple of hikers - called "Sunset" and "The Professor" can you believe - who are walking the Continental Divide from Mexico to Canada! 

We had to mention that one of Chris' other achievements was to walk the Pacific Crest Trail (from Mexico to Canada over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains).

Awesome to see all these people pushing the limits!

Over the top and on the way down!

At 10857 feet the top of Wolf Creek Pass is the highest point of the RAAM. Chris topped out after a five hour push through the night from Pagosa Springs. Symbolic of breaking the back of the ride and moving to the eastern half of the race.

Crew Change ...

... at Pagosa Springs 04:00 race time  just ahead of the Continental Divide over Wolf Creek Pass.

Coffee and Chilli for the Rockies

We're off over the Continental Divide this evening and it's going to be a little cold.

We've got a gallon of coffee and a gallon of chilli that should keep Chris in top gear  through the night!

Couldn't have done it without Rain and Nicki at Higher Grounds Coffee in Pagosa Springs who heated everything up and added magic to the soup!

Susan's 2nd 3rd of down time

Spent 1/3 sleeping in SpanishHat and driving to Cortez (where Matt picked up his shift). I offered to do a laundry run, as I had time off and Kim&Daniel coming off their shifts would be needing sleep. (I certainly hope that's what they're doing, as I've left them alone at the Siesta motel ( a charming place from when families would go on road trips in station wagons)

Next to the laundromat (a 3 block stroll down lovely Durango's Main St), is the Durango brewery!

I tried some beverages while I waited for the laundry ( I am a firm believer in multitasking). 

Hey!  Why do people wear heavy cottons (esp cargo shorts) on road trips?! Takes forever to wash!  I had to use an extra $0.50 to dry em. Coulda used that money for cigarettes!

Anyhoo. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

(Hmm... Me thinks they're out of order, but you Blog followers are smart cookies, and I'm sure you can figure out what's what. 

Yay!  Laundry's done! (Matt wears boxers! Except today... Heh heh, I'm not crewing with him...)

It's 7:20 CO time. The cowboy shoutout downtown at the saloon should be over by now (keep away from Tourist Traps!)

Oh! Daniel found a great bike shop here that had a front steering rod extender for Chris's bike. It'll be installed on the Cannondale at the time station here. Chris sprained his neck. Hopefully this'll keep him going without having to resort to the brace they made for him. 

Okay. That's it from me! HopeyouhaveagoodightandkeepcheeringChrisonandsendhimallyerloveandhappywishesandallthat!goodniiiiiight!

Perfect timing

Picked up Martin from Durango airport  literally 30 minutes after his plane landed ... a wonder of logistics made possible by Kim's excellent planning!

 

Shermer neck rig

Chris was struggling a bit with his neck coming out of Mexican Hat this morning so Thien, Jason and I spent a couple of hours scouring Cortez, CO to build a Shermer neck rig (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer) as a precaution and to provide an alternative to the neck brace we'd brought with us. The guys at Ace Hardware really helped out a lot in constructing the PVC plumbing frame and getting it installed in the weight training vest we'd bought from Walmart.

Fortunately Chris' neck has sorted itself out we're all hoping we won't need the rig!

Supper Navajo style

Jason and I had supper at Tuba City last night and picked up classic Navajo food ("fry bread" and steak) ... the other choice was the local Chinese restaurant.

Too damn hot!

Took this picture on the run up to Tuba City yesterday. We were tracking Chris every half mile spraying him with water and making sure he kept drinking to stay hydrated and maintain electrolytes ... Wow! It was hot!

Duct tape to the rescue!

Finally got the rear warning lights and the rooftop music going (mostly) reliably thanks to judicious use of duct tape!

Loneliness of the long distance cyclist

Sue preparing to hand-off refreshments just outside the Navajo Indian Reservation.

It's getting craaazy out here!

Tractalis is the best!

We've grown to really rely on http://tractalis.com/raam2014 to not only follow the race but also confirm our own navigation ... there's a growing group of people tracking Chris' progress this way ... very exciting!

Miles and miles of sweet ...

Was taking panoramic shots as we headed into the desert after the Salton Sea. 

Last warning!

We spent a lot of time on I-17 this morning as part of a detour since there's road works at Sedona. This warning sign was posted ahead of literally the last junction before we got off the Interstate. Thanks, Arizona DOT ;-)

Running repairs

Made it to TS9 at Flagstaff and finally had some time to sort out blogging from my iPhone (where I'm taking pictures as I go).

We're stopped here while Chris has a one hour power nap since his first sleep session last night was very restless.

Taking the opportunity to do some running repairs of the main bike (damaged rear derailleur).

Downtime

It's 1AM and Susan, Jason and I are sitting on camp chairs in the middle of a car park in Cottonwood, AZ while Chris takes his first (three hour) sleep break after starting the race about 36 hours and near on 500 miles ago!

 

Photostream

I'm picking and choosing from photographs that we're collecting on this iCloud photostream to find pictures to comment on here.

This was us at the rider registration on Sunday. First chance to meet the other teams.

They had this map on the wall. Somehow made the race seem a lot more real than the GPS data and Google Maps did!

 

 

Already roughing it!

Turkey bacon, no Worcestershire sauce and tepid English Breakfast tea ... breakfast was tough this morning ;-)

 

Arrived at Oceanside

We left Mountain View at 9:30 this morning with the follow car (me and Susan) and the two "auxiliary" vehicles (driven by Daniel and Duc). Duc stopped for coffee at Gilroy and that was the last we saw of him until Oceanside! 440 miles and 8.5 hours later we've arrived at the motel that'll be our base camp until the race starts on Tuesday at noon.

We headed into town for supper and caught the sunset. You can just see the fantastic pier we walked out along after supper to see dozens and dozens of people fishing with very very few fish being caught!

 

Looking forward to tomorrow when some of the others will arrive and we'll get the chance to meet the race organizers and start the process of getting registered and inspected ahead of the start.

 

We've already met other teams so there's a quite buzz building!

 

You can't have too many pairs of goggles!

Here we are the day before heading down to San Diego. We picked up the two rental vans yesterday and have been loading up ever since. The equipment list is as long as your arm but we've no doubt forgotten something. Oh well, necessity will be the mother of invention or, failing that, we'll have to resort to the magic of Visa on the road!