Furnace Creek 508

[Fredwina]

I'm going to be part of the crew for team Golden Drasenji (Bernie "Homey" Barge and Nicole Honda)

[maillotpois]

I'm going to be part of the crew for team Golden Drasenji (Bernie "Homey" Barge and Nicole Honda)

So... Fredwina we want a full report!!! I saw the finish photos, and Bernie and Nicole looked great. I want to know how it was!!!! How were Nicole's knees and Bernie's hamstring???

[Fredwina]

From another thread here.
Homey from Bike Journal had pulled his hamstring playing softball, and rode his first stage at a 12.0 average. I got an hour's sleep on Saturday. I was sitting in passenger seat and Jae (Nicole's DH), would punch me every I started to fall asleep, so I could pass something to Nicole, who road 170 miles at night. we finally got Homey back at full speed after leaving death valley. I wound driving all but the last 10 miles Sunday night. we finished about 11:30. Finally, I could go to the bathroom without finding the appropriate sized creosote bush! Nicole was smarter than moi and wore a large skirt (Maybe our Great-Great Grandmother were right with their Fashion sense) Got a thirty miler in Felt real good. Now, to disabuse myself of the crazy notion of entering the 508 in a different category than this time....
I would doing "domestic" duties at first(mixing Drinks). as I said, We should have brought more waterbottles and mixed in advance. I was driving the Support vehicle on Bernie's first stage(number 2). he was definitely not a happy camper. We decided to change the rotation and have Nicole ride stages 3 and 4. Jae had learned how to do Nicole's massage, and that got her through just fine. She was dropping folks left and right on the Townes pass climb. We start to catch the solo riders here. Jae also started massaging Bernie, and that paid off . I wound finally getting about an hour's solid sleep when Nicole started the climb out of death valley. We got Bernie back on the bike at Shoshone. Since it's mostly, we thought it be good test. The only bad thing was that he threw up . we got to baker, and I made a grocery run, while Jae and Dennis took care of the control. Nicole did great on the moonscape pavement Road into Kelso. I wound up behind the wheel for most of the final 100 into Twenty nine. we ran the van in follow mode most of the. Bernie and Nicole got lei'ed at TS 7 . Me, I got a lousy can of pineapple juice . It turned dark for the final push into 29. A lot of folks use this road as a shortcut between the Colorado river and Palm Springs, so it was trafficy. At about 10 to go , Bernie pulled over. We fed him, and Jae took the wheel for the Final push into town. We finished just before midnight, with a total time of 38:21. we had thought were were going to do 36, so not bad. Got to bed about 1 and woke at 6. Got to Emily O'Brien finish on Fixed, as well as the last Official finisher. Had breakfast with Team Werewolf (Tim Woudenberg, Jim Kern, and I can't recall the rest of his crew's names) before heading back.
It was fun! I made some mistake, but it was my first time working an ultra as a crew (vs. being an official). We'll have to wait and see what next year brings!

[Bike Goddess]

Fredwina- I crewed for team Mahi Mahi last year with another cyclist - Linda. We were supposed to have another member with us and another car -Roberts girlfriend, but we missed her at Stovepipe Wells and never saw her until the end.

So, I completely understand what you all went through on this race. It is very tough and this year I believe you could only have ONE support vehicle. Kudos to you for driving as much as you did. I got a total of maybe 4 hrs sleep last year on that ride and I was pretty rummy going home on Monday.

Homey sick again? Poor guy- he was a DNF last year because he got terribly sick. Good for Nicole to pull it off!

Thanks for the report! You did good girl!!!!!!!