Quote Originally Posted by melissam View Post
Ulterior motives? Me?

Actually, here's what I'm thinking. 508 miles solo over 48 hours seems a little crazy (no offense to George). But 508 miles as a 4 person relay team seems doable. Not only that, but there's no finishing time for a 4 woman relay team in the 40+ age group since they've changed to a fixed relay format. So...all you have to do is finish and you get to set a record!

There's some part of me that says this is an absolutely crazy idea. The more I hear about the ride, the better I can determine if this is crazy or if I should get serious about drafting a team and participating in the 2009 race.

Ulterior motives or not, I wish George, you & the rest of the crew good luck on your adventure!

- Melissa
Melissa...508 on a team is totally do-able for most people. In fact, if you look at the DNF rate for solo's vs. teams, there is a huge difference. http://www.the508.com/results.html Last year they had a 100% finish rate for teams and this year, just one team DNF'ed. The solo finish rate has never been higher than 75% and that was 2005 when there were massive tailwinds and the course solo record was set.

Anyway...George mentioned about a month ago that we should do 508 as a team next year. Mixed fixed gear. By default, unless someone else did it, we would set the record since it hasn't been done. I thought about it and as we approached 508, I realized that I just wouldn't want to do this race as a team effort. More power to the people that do, but seeing George take this on twice now, I personally wouldn't be proud wearing the same Furnace Creek 508 jersey that he wears if I didn't earn it by going the whole distance. There are plenty of other shorter distance races out there that I can take on if I want to, but there is something about Furnace Creek 508 that has touched me and I have a great respect for everyone who has taken this challenge on. You won't see my name on the roster until I am ready to compete solo.

Funny...I know him so very well. Yesterday as we were talking about this and I told him that I just wouldn't feel right doing it as a team, I told him that I knew why he mentioned that option in the first place. He was feeling like he hadn't prepared enough for 508 this year and he knew there would be great suffering involved. His goal is to get into the Hall of Fame, which you attain after five finishes and in his state of mind, he thought he'd get off easy next year by doing it on a team...lol. I know him though, and he'd never be satisfied by that. His tune changed within hours of finishing this year.

So...that's my longwinded tale of why I would only do 508 solo. I know people will disagree with me, but I can't help how I feel.