LOTOJA--Or The Thing I Am Lusting After

Saturday, September 11 was one of those epic adventures. No, I didn't do anything interesting or impressive. But my friend Russell did! And I was there to witness it. Seriously, I'm still marveling over it.

The LOTOJA race is a 206-mile bike race from Logan, UT to Jackson, WY. Russell rode 206 miles in 13 hours, suffered 2 bike flats, and 1 exploding tire. This man is THE MAN. It was just so exciting.

Kaylin and I and his friend Adam were his support crew. We basically drove to each feeding station and made sure he had food to get him through to the next stop, changed out his water, and basically acted as his cheerleaders.

This is just outside of Afton, WY and is was SO.FREAKING.COLD.

Although I felt like a bit of a voyeur, I had to take a picture of this super tall guy. Look at him! He just towers over everybody. Turns out this guy is Shawn Bradley, one of the tallest NBA players...or at least that's what I'm told.

One of the feeding stations. We were such amateurs helping Russell--we put his food in grocery bags and fumbled to give him what he needed when. Instead, other people showed up with shower caddies with food neatly laid out. We looked ridiculous next to them. The other sad thing was that a couple of times Russell actually beat us to the feeding stations. We felt terrible. Not only did he arrive at one more milestone in his race only to discover that his friends weren't there, but time was a-ticking, and he needed his food so he could get back on the road.

(If you're wondering why he actually beat us to a feeding station, imagine 2000 bike riders with 2000 (at least) support crews. Traffic was not always quick and efficient. Sometimes cars were diverted to a different route so the riders could have the road all to themselves.)

I imagined that as we reached each feeding station we would have an hour or two to kill while waiting for Russell. Not so. There was barely any time for us to rest because Russell was always hot on our heels. With each destination we would get out of the car, load up our food and water, and walk to the feeding station. Each time, Russell would show up mere minutes later. Even though it was fast-paced and rushed, it was also so cool to see that Russell was just killing it on the ride. He just brought it.

Consider me support crew, maybe Team Mom. I took a picture of Russell at each feeding station. I truly thought that with each passing station Russell would look more and more fatigued as the day went on. I was so wrong. He smiled big for each picture and always looked ready for more. Again, I was just wowed.

When we finally got to drive alongside the riders it was kind of exciting to see. Riders race in packs because they can draft off of each other which makes them go faster.

An unexpected flat. Good thing we were right behind him when it happened! We were able to quickly reach him and pull out the bike pump.

Again, just all smiles. I would have been pissed if I'd been struck with such bad luck. (Oh, wait, I was, and it wasn't even a race, it was a ride. Shows you I have a bad attitude.)

The End! Almost 24 hours later (in the car, no less!) we pulled into our driveway. I don't know how I made it to the end without falling asleep at the wheel because my eyelids were definitely having a hard time staying awake.

Russel is such a rock star. I know this sounds cheesy and a tad overdramatic, but I was just so inspired by this ride. Maybe it was the energy of the race, but I wanted to be out there so bad. I'm going to do it next year I've decided. I won't do the whole 206 miles, but they do do a relay and I think I can put together a team for that. Training starts...now.

Russell's going to be on my support team.