From Mike

Pain and perseverance. That was today. I miss Jim and Yolonda, they went home today. They were replaced by Rick, who is Jeff’s boss. He did a great job with us today and fit in just like family, which should really concern him.

What a painful day today was. My legs really ache. I got hate mail early and often from muscles in legs all day long. I did not even know about some of the muscles, but they are there. 119.2 miles today, and over 500 so far this week. The winds have been great so far this week, except for today. That is the perseverance part. The winds came from all directions and moved all around. You just have to keep going. Quitting was not an option.

My nieces, nephews, and Taylor have been invaluable with their help and support. You can do a lot by yourself, but it makes a huge difference having a support group to cheer you on. All of the other riders have bent over backwards to help and support.

This has been a great day. Tomorrow will include rest, so no doubt it will be better. Almost done. I will post on Saturday.

From Chris

Today was a rough one…the dreaded day four. It is not so much the hills or terrain as it is the fact that we have ridden three hundred and ninety miles the last three days. Our legs were tired and mentally we did not want to see any more long climbs or long valleys. We got both today unfortunately.

The day went pretty well for me except that there was nowhere to stop along the way for lunch. We had snacks and energy bars all day but never really got a good full lunch in. That led to me having a mini bonk with about fifty miles to go (we rode a hundred nineteen by the way). I made everybody stop and ate as much as I could for fifteen minutes and made it the rest of the way. The last forty miles or so were in to the wind and all flat. It was a tough way to end our fourth day of riding.

As always, I have to thank our great support crew. We added a few more last night and today we had a mini parade with us. My wife and all her family were great and provided some invaluable support for us.

Now I’m off to sleep in and have a glorious day off before our grand entrance into Salt Lake City and the Huntsman Cancer Institute!

From Coleman

Another fabulous day in paradise! First, Maryann, I have your jacket and camelback. Second, I failed to thank the other day one work horses, brothers Brian and Chris McCombs. A huge thank you for your sacrifice, helping pull us across the Nevada desert for far longer than any human body should be able to ride in a day.

Today our fantastic support (sandwhich makers) Jim & Yolanda finished their leg of the journey and returned home. They were replaced by Rick, Jeff’s boss, whom none of us had met before, but we feel like we already knew him. Mike’s son Taylor showed him the ropes. On his first day out he turned out to be a great support.

I also wanted to thank my son today who stepped in to help me when I bonked (ran out of energy) on one of the climbs. Coleman II jumped in the saddle and made me proud as he sprinted up the hill faster than I could have anyway. It’s great to know that in life there is always someone there who can provide service to you when you can’t do something for yourself. It reminds me of the wonderful staff at Huntsman Cancer Institute whom the patients come to rely on when they’ve done everything they can for themselves, but just can’t do anymore.

I am grateful to be riding for such a great cause. I look forward to the day off tomorrow, and then the big ride into Salt Lake on Saturday. Til tomorrow night.

From Larry

I was a bit afraid to start the day as the temperature outside in Eureka was reported to be 28F. Fortunately, we had to ride out to the starting point in a valley at a lower elevation. By the time we got there and ready to go it was a balmy 51F and I changed out most of my cold weather riding cloths. Not long after we started to ride we were faced with Sacramento pass. This was not the highest pass of the trip, that honor goes to Connor, however, it had the steepest grades with long stretches of 7-9%. The thing I shall remember for ever about Sacramento Pass was everyone pitching in and collecting rocks to spell out “J O S H” at the base of the Sacramento Pass sign. Josh is in our prayers and now he is on top of Sacramento Pass.

The descent off Sacramento was long and fast and took us eventually to the Utah boarder. Then it was on across the valley to the next no-name pass. Most of you will have driven Nevada and know how long it seems to take to get to that mountain off in the distance – well try doing it on a bike and you’ll get a better perspective of just how far those mountains really are. We had thee passes today, each a little smaller than the last, but the miles are beginning to ware and that last small pass seemed almost as big as the first. From the last pass it was pretty much a long, long, long straight run into Delta, but it was not a ‘ride through the park’. A fairly strong wind was blowing head on and much of the time we struggled to keep the speed much above 16 MPH.

But persist we did and Coleman finally lead us into Delta to find the main street lined with cheering throngs – really!! Young and old were out and they were blaring music at the center of town. I was at the back of our little group eating it all up and having a grand time waving and yelling to people as we paraded down main street. Who would have guessed Jeff had such pull in Delta.

It was a good day, everyone pulled together for the good of the whole. We road many miles in tight formation and we all struggled at times. I can easily say that every penny that has been contributed to the Huntsman Cancer Institute as a result of this ride has been earned by a drop of sweat.

The support staff, or maybe I should say clowns, was terrific. They now way out number the riders. Every few miles we would be treated and delighted by some antic they would pull as we went by! We kept looking forward to see just what they would no next. Beside that, they kept food, water, and treats flowing our way. Jeff’s boss was right their part of the mix, yelling, clapping, handing out goodies and making sure we had what ever we needed. What a great guy he is!! Everyone should be so fortunate.

Oh, yes – and Mike is “King of the over-pass”. Everyone has to have some claim to fame.

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