Eric B.: That wheelchair’s on the way!

YAKIMA, Wash. — Eric Bruntjen’s voice when he called in on Saturday morning, about 12 hours after finishing all 2,780 miles of the Tour Divide mountain bike race in just about 21 days and 11 hours, sounded pretty chipper.

And why not? He’d finished the race and he is also confident that enough pledges have come in to buy that specialized all-terrain wheelchair for injured Iraq war veteran Evan Mettie of Selah. He was so confident, in fact, that he said somebody should call Denise Mettie, Evan’s mom, to say she should start checking out those wheelchairs, because one will be on its way.

But let’s hear it from him:

Hi. Eric Bruntjen, Tour Divide rider, calling from Deming, New Mexico. All done with the race. Finished up last night on the 3rd, at 10 o’clock exactly. I think it was 10 o’clock and 18 seconds when I pulled into Antelope Wells.

Big day, about 175 miles, I think one of the other riders was saying, so I feel pretty good about that. Mother Nature gave us one last tweak and put some rain on my head — and a pretty stiff headwind, too. But when the sun went down, the moon came up, the rain stopped, the headwind calmed down, and I just let my legs go one last time.

So, good race, boy, thank you to my wife Melanee and my mother-in-law Fran … and my mom for watching the kids, for letting me go crazy on this … my buddy Frank for being remote support … Stephen Gleasner, wow, man, everything you said was right. Who knew that safety and security smelled like a moldy, wet, muddy bivvy sack, but you were right about everything. We’re going to commission a piece of art from you, I think — one of those plywood landscapes. Those are awesome. I’m going to commission one from you, inspired by the Tour Divide. So I’ll get in touch with you about that.

I think last night there were eight finishers. There were a lot of people there at Antelope Wells, a lot of family, and Kevin from Tucson was there, and all the racers that were coming in that day. So it was a special night at Antelope Wells, for sure. It’s an amazing race.

And there’s only one thing left to do, and that’s to thank all my sponsors. Holy cow. You know, I talked to some other racers who were raising money, but listen, nobody’s family and nobody’s hometown stepped up like mine. So, thanks to everyone for sponsoring me, and I think that we definitely raised enough money to get Evan a new all-terrain wheelchair. So congratulations to you. And someone call Denise, tell her to start looking for a chair, because we made it.

So I think I’ll be back in Yakima in a couple of days. Taking off tomorrow from El Paso. Thanks to Matthew Lee for putting on such a terrific race. It’s really an amazing adventure. So … I’m out. Bye.

For everybody who pledged to support Eric’s ride for Evan Mettie by sending your pledge e-mail to tourdechair@gmail.com, I salute you — now don’t forget that other part: to make out a check in your donation amount to the “Evan Mettie Donation” fund at any U.S. Bank.

Kind of fun to go along for the ride on something like this, huh? Thanks to Eric Bruntjen for bringing us along.

– Scott Sandsberry