Race News, Updates and Press Releases

Race Day 8 & 9 - The Finish

Monday, June 20 & 21, 2006

My apologies for the delay in finishing the journal.  We finished at 1am on Wednesday morning and it has been so hectic that the journal was put aside for a couple of days.  I am now recovering in Maine and have a few hours to complete the journal.

On Tuesday, June 20,Team 2 climbed out of Grafton, West Virginia and moved out through the West Virginia country side, covering 200 miles rapidly.  Team One drove for 4 hours to try and catch them, finally reaching them outside of Hannover.

Susanne, our fabulous navigator in the follow on car



Ron, our peerless leader



A review of the wonderful country we rode through in Monument Valley, AZ



Monument Valley, ridden by Team 2 at night, Team 1 got to see it in the morning

Contrast Monument Valley with the hills of West Virginia, the topography of West Virginia is laid out above and rivals the Rockies for difficulty.  Jim Penseyres and Gary Byrne did a lot of the climbing on this route with Pete Penseyers climbing the first hill out of Grafton.

West Virginia hill country



Just a little different than Monument Valley



The top of the hills in West Virginia



Church and graveyard in village in West Virginia



Covered Bridge

The race route took us through Gettysburg National Monument.  We were devastated we could not stop and visit.  I will go back to visit since I read Killer Angels.  It is a must place to visit.

Gettysburg, and I am guessing the hill is Little Round Top



Gary S. racing outside of Gettysburg

One of the solo riders from Italy.  He finished 2nd overall in the solo race.  He has been on the bike for 9 days at this point.

Rider exchange in Maryland



Ron, racing in Amish country

Thank you to the great volunteers of Station 54.  The hot dogs were great.  First solid food in a while

The finish and police escort into Atlantic City



Getting ready to ride with the police into AC



Police escort into the city

The award stand after 7days and 8 hours of racing across America.  Gary Byrne did not make the photo as he was sleeping.  Our average time was 17.4 mph.  It was an incredible experience and we are all glad we did it./p>

Party the next night



The other side of the table

Since we had all shaved our legs for the race, we had a contest with the wives to see if they could identify their husbands.  There may be more photos of the others as soon as I can get them off the other cameras.  Unfortunately, JoAnne missed her guess and Pete was not selected.  Mary Earl did pick Gary, which is good, after 40 years of marriage.  Keep watching the web site for a while, I will try and add more after I get home and have some time to supplement with more photos from Don and others.

Now for the trip home...