NPR: A Mountain Bike Race Down America's Spine

A Mountain Bike Race Down America's Spine

Filed under: Sports

Geoff Roes, a friend of ours and Jill Homer's boyfriend, just recently bailed out of the Great Divide Race. The idea was to ride from the Canadian border to the Mexican one, on a mountain bike, passing through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico . You're not allowed to have anyone help you along the 2,490-mile route.

It's just you and the bears and the bugs and the brain God gave you. Geoff used his to leave the course about 1,400 miles and 10 days in. For a stretch of several days, he had trailed the leader by only three hours. "I would always have people at stores and cafes telling me that he was in and out in a couple minutes and I should really get going if I was going to catch him," Geoff writes. "30 minutes later I would finally stumble out the door and get back on the road." By the end, Roes says he was too sleep-deprived to continue.

The winner, John Nobile, finished in 15 days, one hour and 26 minutes.

Laura Conaway

11:35 AM ET | 07- 7-2008 | permalink

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