John Nobile called from Abiquiu at 8:50 p.m. Wednesday and said he arrived in town at 7 p.m. He rode with a few Tour Divide racers during the afternoon, including Adrian Stingaciu and others he didn't name. He said the day was mostly uneventful, with loose climbing and thunderstorms that missed him. He was planning on heading out early in the morning.
Carl Hutchings called at 8:44 a.m. Thursday from Platoro. He said he rode up Marshall Pass with Mike Curiak yesterday and enjoyed talking about Alaska, "even if it is difficult for me to talk in this thin air." The road up to Marshall Pass was really muddy and he said he had to push a lot, and he ended up sleeping at the top of the pass where it was "cold and miserable." Carl was sorry to hear David Blaine dropped out of the race.
Rainier called from Platoro at 11:15 a.m. Thursday. He had a hard ride over Indiana Pass, but said he wasn't sure whether that was due to a "crazy pass" or because he was becoming more fatigued. He said he felt a little tired and wasn't sure where he would stay tonight.
Fred Wilkinson called just before noon Thursday in Poncho Springs, just outside Salida. He was heading on to Marshall Pass.
John Nobile called from Cuba at about 1:20 p.m. Thursday. He said he got a really early start, rolling out of Abiquiu at about 4:30 p.m. He had a 30-mile climb out of town, was rained on for a while, but once he rolled out of the mountains it "turned to summer." He was planning to take on the afternoon heat andhead for Grants. John's really pushing right now; I can't help but wonder if he's gunning for the record. He has just over two days to catch it and about 535 more miles to ride. Those kind of numbers make a new record appear nearly impossible, so maybe he's just shooting for a fast time. He's definitely well out in front of the next wave of GDR racers, Carl and Rainier - nearly 200 miles at this point.
Ryan McHale called from Steamboat Springs at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday and said he was pulling the plug. He mentioned the deadline, which passed at noon Wednesday. "It's been fun; it's been hard, but I have friends and pizza and beer here in Steamboat, which is more fun than another 100-mile day," hesaid. Ryan did say he was planning to continue riding down to Albuquerque, probably at a touring pace. Still a long way to go. Congrats, Ryan.
Noah Dimmit called from Hartsel at about 5 p.m. Thursday. He was planning to push on to Salida this evening. "Same old, same old," he said. I guess that depends on your perspective.
Cullen Barker called at 3:30 p.m. in Steamboat Springs and said he was heading back out on the trail. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't pull out," he said. He's planning on pushing for the 24-day cutoff at the border, "and hope I can do it," he said. Good luck, Cullen!
John Nobile calledfrom Grants a few minutes after 10 p.m. Thursday. "It was a crazy, crazy trip," he said. "Storms all over the place." He had a couple of flats and said he spent most of the day dodging storms, but ended up riding about 200 miles and said he averaged about 16 mph over the course of the ride. He said he was only planning to stay for a few hours - time enough to fix another flat, grab some food and a few quick winks before moving on. "I gotta fix things, eat, sleep and get out of here, so, bye." John now has about 420 more miles to ride to the border, and it seems like he's aiming to ride it as fast as he can.
Jenn called from Del Norte at 10:15 p.m. She had a rough day out of Poncho Springs. She rode about halfway up Marshall Pass, but caught a "big wall of complete exhaustion." She felt she couldn't pedal through it so she had to stop and sleep for a while. She said she had a better day Thursday, but got caught in a thunderstorm and spent an hour underneath sign boards, waiting it out. Simon passed her near the top of a climb and she was happy to see another racer. "I haven't seen anyone for five days, so that was really good." She was going to sleep for a bit and head on to Indiana Pass in the morning.
John Nobile called from Pie Town at 9 a.m. Friday. He said the pie place was closed. His call cut off after that, and he did not call back - probably because he was in such a hurry to get out of town. John now has 330 miles to ride to Antelope Wells. At the rate he's moving, he may be looking at a sub-16-day finish. All I can say is wow.
Carl called at 11:37 a.m. Friday from Abiquiu and said he was heading on to Grants. "Yesterday was awful for me because I lost a lot of time with a hail storm." He said the weather essentially turned the road to nothing and he had to fight a lot of mud. "Me and my bike have a competition right now where we're trying to be more skanky than one another, and I think my bike is winning that competition," he said. Carl is funny! I remember that from his call-ins when he was racing his bike to Nome. Even when the weather was 30 below and they were pushing their bikes for dozens of miles through knee-deep snow, Carl was always making laugh-out-loud jokes. Someday he'll probably have some epic-ultraendurance-mountain-biking standup routine.
Noah Dimmit called from Salida at 9:45 a.m. Friday. He said he had a rough day Thursday. His computer quit working in Hartsel, so he was at Absolute Bikes getting that fixed. He said he felt better today. Happy Independence Day to all the racers.
Jenn called from Platoro at 1:51 p.m. Friday amid a noisy celebration that she and Simon were enjoying. She said they ate some barbecue and were planning to head down the road. "It's not too bad a day. It's not too hot," she said.
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