Brandy

In about 10 minutes we are heading to the start line of the Furnace Creek 508. We will not be posting to the blog. However, follow the link provided above and you will be as up to date as is possible.

dgasmd

OOOOHHH, you got it



I made a few posters of that picture to cover the walls of my house!!

I browsed the FC 508 site and have a few observations:

-These guys/gals are extremely determined. I can't seem to find anything fun about cycling past hour 6!
-Only one black guy and one latino guy in the entire picture roster including the support crews. Disappointing not to see a bit more ethnic variety. Then again, that goes up there with cycling in general.
-The time commitment to train for events like these is mind boggling to people like me that work 60-70 hr/week and have small children. When I get to ride consistently 200+ mile/week for a couple of weeks I feel like I got a gift from heaven, so I can't imagine how would one fit in the training for a 509 mile race or a RAM.
-Lots of good and dedicated friends and family behind them. Always good.

Best of luck to everyone involved. It may be a solo race, but it is never a solo event.

Brandy

We're home! George's goal this year was 40 hours and he finished in 37:34:41!






Big thanks to Ticia and Jason for being an awesome crew!!! Off to bed

Flatballer

Congratulations. Looking at the results I noticed there's not a lot of under 30 (age) racers.

How did the two guys get DQ'd? Drafting or something?

And the winner (male solo) averaged over 18.5 mph for 27.5 hours!! Superhuman.

banerjek

Well done!

mattm

nice job vireo & team!!! congrats on the finish, that's a truly crazy ride.

and no sleep i take it? you crazy.

Vireo

Thank you mattm.

There is no sleeping in this race. The course is significantly harder than doing 500+ anywhere else. It is desert arid (redundant I know) air through the Mojave and Death Valley desert. The climbs go on forever and ever. Just one example, the Kel-Baker climb is 21 miles.






It is isn't steep it just goes on and on and you can see most of it. Plenty of long straight roads that drain on your mental state.

Vireo

Thank you.

Luckily my stomach illness was at EC and NOT at the 508.

Vireo

It needs to be said.

YOU CAN'T DO 508 WITHOUT A CREW! Even with a crew you will suffer and even DNF. But with a REALLY GOOD crew you will feel protected, care for and you always know you have people who care about your success. My crew was AWESOME! Chuckles, Ticia and Brandy THANK YOU!!

ericm979

Good ride! I was watching the updates on the web site. I am looking forward to the full race report.

Vireo

--Sometimes it can be fun to cycle past 6 hours. But most of us do Ultras because it is extremely difficult and we seek the personal challenge.

-- It appears that the sport of Ultra cycling only appeals to the whiter race. I am of Colombian descent. I see very few Latinos or blacks.

-- So you work 7 days a week 10 hours a day? or 6x 12 hour days? You definitely need to ride more for your mental health. We have four kids and we struggle to get the training in and guess what it's never enough.

-- The crew IS where it's at. Many of the crews are made of friends and on occasion strangers just volunteering to any crew that needs a member. But the MAJORITY of the crews are made up of FAMILY and LOVED ONES. Yes that is good.

rankin116

Congrats, that is amazing.

Did the crew get to sleep in the van? Do they follow behind you the entire time?

Brandy

We got to take some cat naps here and there. I drove from Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. (when we put lights on the bike and started direct follow support) until Sunday morning at 5:22 a.m. when we checked into the Shoshone time station.

My driving shift started from the Pinamint Valley section to.....





Time station in Shosone on the other side of Death Valley.










I feel asleep within minutes of ending that driving shift and slept until 7:00ish...so maybe an hour and a half?!? I closed my eyes a couple of times later that morning, but it's definitely not restful sleep because you wake up as soon as the van stops and jump into WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP??!?!?! mode. In that case, it was feeding and watering another racer who had no crew in sight and needed some help.

Saturday we are only allowed to do leap-frog support until 6:00 p.m. From 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. we are REQUIRED to do direct follow support and the racer MUST BE in our lights at all times. If we have to stop, they have to as well.

Coming out of Shoshone, the section until Baker (think Baker Road Race in reverse) has very heavy traffic with a lot of over-sized trucks hauling desert toys, going 70+mph. While we're not required to do direct support during the daytime, but are allowed to on Sunday...this section NEEDS to be directly supported. It is easily the sketchiest part of the course, simply because of the traffic and the fact that you're hitting it when people are heading home from the weekend. The rest of the day on Sunday we did mostly direct support with a little bit of leapfrogging here and there.

umd

Congrats!

banerjek

A truly lucky guy would not have had stomach illness for either ride. I remember hearing about that on day one and thinking I what a crummy break that was -- I wouldn't wish stomach flu on my worst enemy.

Reminds me of the old saying, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." Apparently a 24+ hr sufferfest in the desert scares off even the crazy dogs...

Chucklehead

That was fun! I will never do it again.

blue_nose

Congrats George and crew!

37 hrs is a great time.

KiddSisko

Hip, hip, horray!

dgasmd

I think you can say that for cycling in general past going around the block a few times, but I hear you.

Riding in South Florida, you see very very few latinos on road bikes. I have seen I think a total of 3 black men in bikes so far in the last 3-4 years. It is certainly not a sport that either seems to appeal or is at the financial reach of minority groups. Why? It may be entirely cultural as financial reasons alone would not explain it. Same goes for a lot of other sports though. Shame in either case.

4 kids and all that riding? Don't tell me you work too

My schedule is very irregular. I will also admit that I do enjoy doing other things besides cycling, so maybe it is the reason I am not cycling 6+ hours/day. Sundays are my long ride day and I do try to do something north of 100 miles if I can, but sometimes it does not happen. Especially when you add nasty heat.

In any case, I don't want to steal your thread. Congratulations again.

dmb2786

wow i suck. nice ride. where do you get the 3D elevation route maps like you have?

Flatballer

We all do. Don't feel bad. We're only human... unlike some who will remain nameless. Damn mutants making us all feel slow.

dmb2786

... for now at least! MUHAHAHA

JF1

That's incredible. 12 hours on a bike pretty much killed me.

Congrats Vireo!

Flatballer

Can we get some ridiculous stats? Stuff like calories consumed/burned. Fluid intake. Etc. I want really big numbers to gawk at.

Jeff Wills

Here's a good 'un. Alex Kohan is only 18, and he finished in 40 hours 49 minutes. Not a beard or aerobelly in sight: