Home again.
Yes, the Assault is a very large organized ride.

Dave made it to the top. He flatted about 3 miles from the finish. Replaced his tube and used his CO2 cartridge. It leaked. A nice rider gave him a tube and lent him a pump. He put air in the tube prior to installing and it was leaking. Support found him and replaced his tube. He was very thankful. He lost at least 20 minutes but was able to roll over the finish line.
I was waiting at the top for him. I been ready to flip his finish until the clock rolled passed 8 hours. I knew he would not want that memorialized. He finished at 8:11 and change.
When I saw him I thought he had wrecked. His legs and shirt were filthy with tire smudges and he had blood all over his shirt. He had nicked his finger changing the tube and with his sweat and the rain mixed in he looked pretty bad. He would have met his under 8 hour goal without the flat. Sixteen years ago he was the 196th finisher out of 1200. He didn't expect to be in the top half this time.
We rode the bus down to Marion. He was sick all the way. The Bonine didn't help him. He is just so prone to car sickness. Good thing we were in a bus with a bathroom. He said the ride down was worse than the ride up.
I slept most of the way. I took way to much Bonine. I didn't realize one dose lasted for 24 hours and I took two at the bottom and two at the top. I don't even generally have a problem with car sickness but Dave's fretting made me over cautious. I slept for hours when we got back to Marion and for hours on Tuesday too. I couldn't wake up even though I wanted to.
Next year I hope to be ready to do the Assault on Marion.