Fun at the Furnace Creek 508 Bike Race!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you will already know that I had quite the adventure this last weekend! I was a crew member supporting a solo cyclist for a 508 mile bike race in southern California!

My boyfriend Greg and I supported Dan Westergaard, who has successfully completed the Furnace Creek 508 ride for the last 4 years -- this was his 5th attempt. He finished in roughly 36 hours and 37 minutes (based on our stopwatch...and there is a 48-hour time limit). He didn't stop to sleep at all. The ride went through Death Valley, the Mojave Desert, and some really remote towns that looked like something out of a movie and did not at all resemble Sacramento in any way.

So as crew members, we followed him in a fully-stocked minivan for the entire 508 miles...Dan only stopped for supplies or to change clothes a few times. Generally we would leap-frog a couple miles ahead of him, get supplies ready, and hand them off as he rode his bike by us. At night race rules required us to follow directly behind him. Greg and I slept for maybe 90 minutes total from Saturday morning - Sunday night.

It was a great experience. Greg is an avid ultra-distance cyclist and wants to enter the Furnace Creek 508 as a rider next year, so I am excited to be his crew!