If you told me that we would have done the full course and finished in strong standing, I would have called you a liar.
I’ll write up a full report in the next few weeks, but I’ll give you a sneak peek of what I see as the defining moment of the race. It was the night before the final trek. We were exhausted, and trying to decide what to do. If we rested in the transition beyond 9 am, we would be short-coursed to the bike. The trouble is, we didn’t think we could do the trek and finish in time. Bob and I went over the numbers, and there just wasn’t enough time. The leaders had taken 20-24 hours to finish what had been advertised as the most difficult of a series of brutal treks. To succeed, we would have to match the fastest team’s times through the trek.
We decided to do the trek anyway…it seemed like a doomed effort, but we wanted to try. Just before we dropped off to bed, Bob looked at me and said, “You know what? I’ve changed my mind…we can do this. We’re going to do this. We’ll tow the uphills and run the downhills, and we’ll get it done on time.”
I’ll always remember the next day; I’ve never seen the team so strong. We ran the downhills, we hiked the flats, and we took almost no stops. We were absolutely relentless, and we finished the trek with lots of time to complete the course.
We have lots of people to thank. Our sponsors, Ryan’s Express Freight and Alpine Aire, Pat and Katy, our crew, our friends and families who showed us so much support, Paul and Karen of team Sole, and Crazy Andy. It’s been a spectacular journey, and we couldn’t have finished it without you.
-Jeremy
