Racing is on full bore!

My apologies for not keeping up with my blog during this past week of raicing the Trans Am. The only excuse Ihave is a constant high level of fatigue and spotty wi-fi or none at all. You might notice a few mistakes in my blog postings because I'm using Siri and times I must slur my words so my apologies on that as well.

Right now I'm laying on the bed in my motel room in Hamilton, Montana. I feel disappointed in my performance today because I only covered 76 miles. I had much higher goals for myself. 

Last night I had the privilege of climbing Lolo pass which is a pretty long climb of  80 miles that's gradual and kicks up at the end to a 6%+ grade of five miles. Unfortunately, the last hour or two was spent riding in the rain, in total darkness except for my bike light, with a slipped contact lens, and I was climbing at a very low speed. I ended up with14 hours on bike and covered 176 miles BTW, my morning had started w/ a 9 mile climb up and out of the valley floor. as it turned out, I spent the night at the top of Lolo Pass, 5200'...camping out on a concrete sidewalk next to the boys bathroom. All of my clothes were wet to some degree which made for an interesting night :-)

As of this afternoon, I've riden 1033 miles since the start of the race on June 7. If I had to guess of the altitude gain I'd put it somewhere around 50,000 feet of climbing. It might be less, and might be more. I found out from talking to Nathan Jones, the race organizer, that the first day of riding from Astoria, Oregon, to Coburg, Oregon, had over 10,000 feet of climbing. It's all good fun!

Unfortunately, some issues have recently surfaced that are causing me concern...dehydration;) I'm working on it but body parts that aren't suppose to swell up...are.