BRAN: Day 1, Round 2

[Bobby sent this e-mail to his wife and myself. I will make a few comments, but leave it to the man himself.]

I tried calling you guys tonight but I have ZERO cell phone service out here [Boy, did I see that one coming].

Today went well. We hit the road at 5:45am central time. We got into town here at Hyannis at about 3:00 central time. Everyone is healthy and the ride went well.

Phil was in the mood to go a bit faster so he raced ahead a few times but waited for us at the SAG stops. Phil was the only one to get a flat... a bike store truck stopped to help him...good thing too, because we never would have caught him before the end of the ride if he had not.

Kim Palmer was amazing. He just kept chugging along and he wasn't really going slow. I'm impressed with how well he did his longest ride ever. Mark and I hung back with Kim today but ended up having to push to keep up with Kim. We were both pooped when we got done.

Support was awesome. We had stops every 10 miles or so. Several towns and churches had "free will offering" meals. I'm sitting here typing this with a fat belly after eating a huge dinner here at the high school. The towns really do a lot to support this ride. Most of the towns we have gone through have a population less than the number of riders on BRAN. It's pretty amazing how much they do to make us feel welcome and comfortable. [The number one reason why I feel BRAN is successful, is because of the towns and the respect that the BRAN riders give to the towns people.]

Last night went well. I slept very well for the 6 hours that it was quiet. At about 5am Mountain time (that's 4 am central) people are getting up and packing gear and taking down tents. No chance of sleeping once people start moving. Just for reference, the high school will be open at 3am mountain time to serve breakfast to the riders that are getting up early to beat the heat.

We had a high of 95 today and predicted for 92 tomorrow. We had the wind in our face for about 2/3 of the ride today. The hills were also very tough for about 20 miles of the ride. Some of the bigger hills I've ridden and definitely the biggest quantity in one ride. [I wonder how many times Bobby had to dismount and walk his bike? Hmm, I'll keep you posted when I speak with him next.]

Highlights
-Getting up and packing a tent in the dark.
-Starting the ride
-First SAG stop at 10 miles - interesting characters - Kim fits right in.
-Lunch at a church in the middle of nowhere... and I mean nowhere
-Finding creative places to take a pee...poor lady riders
-Food, Food, Food
-Finishing the ride together with Kim, Mark, and Phil

Lowlights
-Wind
-I miss my family and know they would have loved this
-Not being able to talk to Keli on the phone because of no cell service

I'll check in again when I can.

[For those of you who have not seen the sun rise
in a while, I wanted to share a video with you.
It took me a while to find a good video.]
Time lapse of sunrise on top
of Haleakala (10,000ft) Maui Hawaii