Monday, July 15, 2013

Thanks

Ken and Julie rock the SAG wagon.
The Fireweed 200 ain't easy. Rough pavement and hard climbs beat up your body. Brutal headwinds punish your muscles and your morale. Huge, nasty, wheel-grabbing cracks in the asphalt never let you relax. But a good crew can keep you going with calories, electrolytes, painkillers and encouraging humor.

This year's event is history, and I'm sure I'll have another blog post or two as I sort through the memories, but for now I'll just say thanks to the crew that helped Heather and I keep pedaling when the shit hit the fan. (And it was a big fan, that blew hard.)


Ken is the guy who lives with the mixed blessing of being married to Heather. It's a mixed blessing because he's lucky to be married to her, but he also has to occasionally put up with her agreeing to do silly shit like this with me. 

Julie is the kind person and tough athlete who happens to be one of our best friends. She didn't have to be there on Saturday. But she was, and I was very grateful.

Until a person has experienced endurance events from both the saddle of a bike and the seat of a support car, it's hard to fully appreciate the importance of a good crew, and how hard they work. They do selfless work, tolerate racers' mood swings, and put in long hours to help friends reach the finish line. They are indispensable.

Saturday was a damn hard day. These two are a big reason Heather and I got through the longest ride of our lives.

3 comments:

EscortRacer said...

What an awesome job and crew! Thanks again for all the crew pre-notes, tips, and tricks, all of the prep came in handy!

Julie said...

Crewing is actually pretty fun. It's like a mini-project for me, just like trying to get myself to the finish line, trying to figure out how best we could help to get you two there.

These were our "look excited" faces, when we were nearing 10 or so hours.

Phil B said...

I was watching for y'all as I drove down to Chitina on Saturday, but didn't see you out there. Too bad. I had some beers ready for the hand off. I had to drink them instead.