RGR - A Wounded but Happy 'Soldier'

137 miles 6,900 vertical feet of climbing, 7 hours and 29 minutes ride time and a complete melt down at on the last climb 125 miles into ride. What is a complete meltdown!! For me it is when both legs start to cramp, I am talking, every muscle from my knee to my hip, and two (friends?) grab the back of your jersey and make sure you don’t sit on the side of the road. For anyone who has experienced leg cramps at the end of a hard ride you know how painful and debilitating they can be. Both Chris and Scott, sometimes together and sometimes alone, pushed me for over two miles up the last climb while I whined and moaned like a wounded soldier lying for dead on a battle field. It is moments like this that you find out who your friends really are and how a real team race differs from regular “team” races.

This race and the accompanying days and nights have produced hours of stories to be told for years to come. I have been very lucky in my life to experience many special days on the bike, and the greatest ones are the ones you can share with your riding buddies. The satisfaction of being part of a team far exceeds any personal achievements.

I often say that the people I most enjoy racing with are the ones I can spend three hours in the car with riding to and from the race. In this one weekend we traveled on planes and by car for many hours and the effort and commitment demonstrated by each of the members of the team made this amazing weekend happen. We overcame a 5am departure to get the race (getting up at 5am is not something I have always been successful at, not to mention we were out until late the night before fueling our bodies w/ pasta and bread fo the long haul), missing race waivers, a cold (Scott was on a steady regiment of Nyquil), flat tires (Brad had 4 flats plus the rocks Scott put in his tire while repairing the first flat), and Tom also had a 1 inch slice in his rear tire around mile 105, missing van keys (one key is gone, the other was locked in the van, and it took more team work to get the locked van door open that it did to get 2^nd place!), and a long line at Voodoo Donuts in Portland that may have cracked lesser men, just to mention a few. For the most part I enjoyed very little responsibility on this trip other than showing up and riding my bike, and for that I must thank, Tom, Chris Hobbs, Brad, Scott and Chris. I also want to wish a speedy recovery to Colin for whose miss fortune (Colin broke his hand on a ride a few weeks before the race) allowed me to participate in this killer weekend. I will be working hard and looking forward to the next cycling adventure with the gang from Studio Velo. Todd Crisafulli,