Eric B. on antelope and eating dirt
June 25, 2009 by Scott Sandsberry
YAKIMA, Wash. — Oops.
Eric Bruntjen called in early Wednesday morning and somehow his call got missed. Not sure how it happened. At any rate, he’s in Steamboat Springs, Colo., having reached that spot last night — 1,556 miles through the Tour Divide mountain bike race. And although I expect to hear from him this morning with another update while he’s having his bicycle thoroughly worked over, I thought you might enjoy his musings. I certainly did.
Hey, it’s Eric Bruntjen calling from Rawlins, Wyoming. I just want to leave one more message in the morning before I take off.
The bike’s holding up pretty well. I’ve got some stuff going to Steamboat and I’m going to have the NASCAR treatment done there so I might be hanging out in Steamboat a little bit tomorrow morning assuming I make it there tonight.
Wyoming’s been great. I love the antelope. They’re terrific; I can’t believe how they even run so fast through that sage, even through some trees. Some of them will run next to you — not too close, maybe 100 yards away — and then they’ll kind of look at you and just hit the gas and fly across the road in front of you, like you’re the train and they’re the drunk teenagers in Dad’s borrowed car. One, maybe two steps on that road and they’re just gone. They’re amazing creatures.
About ready to have some breakfast and then get going. Got a big pass today. I’m definitely learning a lot about the Continental Divide; getting to know the dirt and the animals. That dirt just gets in you, it becomes you, you’re eating it all day long and you’re just absorbing this amazing geological and sociological feature of our country.
It’s been a good ride. So I will hopefully check in from Steamboat. Probably going to camp tonight outside of Steamboat and then cruise in in the morning, hit the post office, get my bike tuned up. New brake pads are a definite necessity and I’ve got to reload the GPS with coordinates, so … thanks. Bye.
Antelope as drunk teenagers in Dad’s borrowed car. Becoming one with dirt. Clearly, Eric is channeling his inner Stephen Gleasner. I love it.
Follow Eric’s progress on his leaderboard page on the Tour Divide site. To make a per-mile pledge toward that all-terrain wheelchair for injured Iraq war veteran Evan Mettie — which is why Eric’s doing this and why we’re supporting it — send an e-mail to tourdechair@gmail.com saying how much you’d like to pledge.
– Scott Sandsberry
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