On The Border

So Tracy has reached the border and has called in. She dictated the blog typed in below.

Make sure you read the comments on some of the tracker checkin posts as people have posted her messages to them as well.

You can listen to the racer's callin's on this page. http://mtbcast.com/site2/

You can get some good reports as to the conditions they've been going through. Tracy's hasn't been posted yet I don't think but keep an eye out for it, I think it will be a gem.

From Tracy:

"The race start was exciting, all of us jockeying for a position, in a 30 day race it seemed ridiculous but there we were racing. I of course was talking to people, they were busy racing. We had an absolutely gorgeous race course for the first 3 hours (you'll see pictures) and sure enough 2 hrs into the race my worst fears came true, there in front of me was a bear. He ran up into the woods by about 30 yards and stared at us and as we moved by all we could do was yell cause we were rollin'. Right after that it started raining and at times it was pouring. It was an icy rain, it was a cold rain. I had my shower cap on my helmet and that was working well against the rain but not against the cold. Pretty soon we were finding our way through a magnificent.... cloud, the mountains had disappeared. We were shrouded in absolute cloud cover. The day continued, the rain continued, the mud continued until I was wracked with shivers. About then through shaky hands I read "William Watson Lodge" on the map and I knew I had to get there. I had 4 more hours to go in the pouring, freezing rain in which that lodge was the only dry refuge. Will he please let us in? Will he put us on the floor? Put us in the garden shed? Under a table? Anything, anything to get us out of this cold rain. And then we pulled up to this beautiful facility and when we walked in it was a haven for other racers. Katherine Hogan of William Watson lodge had become a trail angel, I seriously think she saved our lives, many racers were soaked to the bone and were getting hypothermic, but Katherine took us all in giving us hot showers, her own meal and offering warm places to sleep. I went to bed that night hoping for the rain to stop. In the morning the rain had stopped... it had turned into snow, and all of you... every last one of you put me on my bike that morning."

She also said they have been going through several feet of snow, the snow has been up to their hubs on their bikes. They were going through one pass and they said they knew it would take them 7-8 hrs to go 30 miles.

She also said the Moots has been flawless. You can see in the race reports many riders are having mechanical problems especially with brakes. Thank you Moots!!

Here are a few more quotes from Trace:

"I am humbled out here. Around these people [meaning the other racers] I am nothing."

"I am not running my own race, the race is running me."