Bruntjen forced to drop out of Tour Divide

Last summer, when he completed the rugged Tour Divide mountain bike race in honor of a Selah veteran injured in Iraq, Eric Bruntjen’s heart was clearly in the right place.

This summer, though, his knee wasn’t.

Nearly halfway through the 2010 Tour Divide, Bruntjen was on pace to improve dramatically on his 2009 performance over the 2,780-mile course along the Continental Divide between Banff, Canada, and the New Mexico-Mexico border.

“I was really racing well,” said Bruntjen, a 39-year-old information-technology specialist and Yakima resident. “My head was in it, and my heart was in it.

“But I just really overdid it.”

Bruntjen had ridden the 2009 race to raise enough money to buy a specialized all-terrain wheelchair for injured Army veteran Evan Mettie of Selah. His goal that year was to go the full distance, because the pledges he had collected were based on how many miles he rode.

This summer, Bruntjen was in the race strictly to compete, and he was churning out 150-mile days and running nearly 31 hours ahead of his 21 1/2-day 2009 pace by the time he reached the Teton Range in Wyoming. But he was paying a steep price. The harder he pushed himself, the more the muscles, ligaments and tendons securing his patella — his kneecap — tended to pull it out of place.

The issue, called patella tracking disorder, is often hereditary and related to the knee structure itself. It can sometimes be caused by failing to stretch properly prior to exertion.

Bruntjen knows he wasn’t stretching properly. He was in a hurry. Every day.

“I’ve had it in training before and I’ve always been able to stretch my way out of it. This time it didn’t stretch off,” Bruntjen said. “The crazy thing is I had no pain walking — I could walk just fine. I’d get off my bike and walk for a while and I’d think, ‘OK, I’m cured, I’m fine,’ and I’d get back on my bike and start again and my knees would be in agony right away.”

Bruntjen pulled out of the race on the eighth day near Jackson, Wyo., and although he regrets not being able to complete the race — and, of course, improve on the time from his 2009 Tour Divide debut — he doesn’t have any second thoughts about his decision.

“It was super frustrating for me, but it was actually clear-cut. I didn’t waffle about it,” he said. “I was just mechanically unable to go any further.”

Another Tour Divide racer, a 37-year-old Vermont resident named Dave

Blumenthal, died after he was struck by a pickup truck near Steamboat Springs, Colo. Bruntjen had gotten to know Blumenthal earlier in the race, when the two were both camping at Wise River, Mont.

“He was this 6-foot-7, just towering guy — a nice guy,” said Bruntjen, who had already left the race and returned home when he heard about Blumenthal’s accident.

Despite the rough going in the 2010 race, Bruntjen said his Tour Divide days may not be over.

“If I have enough time to train — and to stretch,” he added, laughing, “I might do it again. There’s nothing like it. You feel like you’re a superhero out there, like a cowboy out in the wild west. It’s so remote out there. No one can help you, no one can save you, and you’re trying to go as fast as you can.

“I’ve never found a sport like it, or like the feeling you get in that race.”

‘Literature from the World’s Toughest Bike Race’

YAKIMA, Wash. — That phrase (Literature from the World’s Toughest Bike Race) is the subtitle for the inaugural edition of “The Cordillera,” a just-now-published 90-page collection of “stories, essays, interviews and poems” written about or inspired by the Tour Divide and Great Divide mountain bike races.

If you don’t know about the Tour Divide, you clearly weren’t following this blog last summer, when Eric Bruntjen of Yakima did the grueling 2,745-mile mountain bike race from the Canadian mountain resort town of Banff to the U.S.-Mexican border at Antelope Wells, N.M. For three weeks, Bruntjen pedaled roughly 130 miles a day over some of the country’s most arduous mountainous terrain, overcoming injuries, exhaustion and terrible weather conditions to finish the race, placing ninth among a record field of 42 riders.

He did it to raise enough money in pledges to pay for a specialized all-terrain wheelchair for injured veteran Evan Mettie of Selah, a goal Bruntjen was able to achieve. He also generated a lot of interest in the Tour Divide mountain bike race with all of those personal reports he gave us all along the way.

If you were one of those people who couldn’t get enough of following Bruntjen’s journey on this site and on the Tour Divide leaderboard website, “The Cordillera” might be worth a look — especially when you see that the compilation’s editor (and one of the authors) is Bruntjen himself.

All proceeds from “The Cordillera” will go to the Adventure Cycling Association, which created the Tour Divide and Great Divide events. And while the book will be available from Amazon.com soon enough, if you purchase it directly from the printer (for $10.50), Adventure Cycling will get a bigger cut of the proceeds.

And in case you’re curious, as I was, according to Wikipedia a cordillera is “an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges,” which sounds like a pretty apt title for a book dedicated to competitive mountain bikers whose course roughly follows the Continental Divide which, of course, pretty much follows along the Rocky Mountains.

I get tired even thinking about it. Maybe I’ll stick to reading about it.

– Scott Sandsberry

Eric B’s Tour Divide redux on Friday

YAKIMA, Wash. — Anybody who followed Eric Bruntjen’s arduous cross-country, Canada-to-Mexican-border mountain bike ride in the Tour Divide race a couple of months back will have an opportunity to hear all about it this Friday.

Bruntjen rode the nearly 2,800-mile race to raise enough money — through per-mile donations — to be able to purchase a specialized all-terrain wheelchair for injured veteran Evan Mettie of Selah, who was profoundly injured by a bomb while on duty in Iraq. He has invited the people who supported that effort to a slide show at 7 p.m. Friday at the Media Works theater, upstairs at Glenwood Square (5100 Tieton Dr., Yakima), with seating for 100.

Along the way to finishing a solid ninth out of 42 starters, Bruntjen encountered bears, cougars, snow-covered mountain passes, torrential rains, freezing temperatures and sweltering desert heat, while overcoming will-killing exhaustion over 21 days of riding.

I know he has lots of pictures to show and a ton of fascinating tales to tell. And I’m still in awe of what he accomplished and admiration for why he did it.

– Scott Sandsberry

9/22 What’s Happening

Steelhead limits go up today at Hanford Reach

With the huge steelhead run coming up the Columbia River, fishing enthusiasts have been peppering the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Region 3 headquarters in Yakima with the big questions: Would the Hanford Reach open earlier than the usual Oct. 1 start date, and would the upper portion of the Reach finally be part of the fishery?

The answer to both questions is yes.

Beginning today, Columbia River anglers will be able to catch and keep up to three hatchery steelhead throughout the Hanford Reach, where steelhead have been returning at more than double the 10-year average. And that includes the upper half of the Reach from the old Hanford townsite power lines to Priest Rapids, a stretch that hasn’t been open for steelhead retention since 1996.

“This is big,” said WDFW regional fish program manager John Easterbrooks. “We’ve been getting lots of calls wondering if we’d be able to open early and maybe open the upper area, and we’ll be able to.

“This is a great opportunity for anglers to catch some terrific fish under ideal early fall weather conditions, while also helping to prevent hatchery steelhead from crowding out wild fish on the spawning grounds.”

The upper stretch is scheduled to be open for a month unless fish managers decide there’s been too pronounced a mortality impact on wild steelhead; for the area below the power lines the fishery will remain open through the winter by permanent regulation.

In both areas, only hatchery fish measuring at least 20 inches that are marked for identification with a clipped adipose fin and a healed scar may be retained.

More than 30,000 summer steelhead had been counted at Priest Rapids Dam through mid-September, compared to the 10-year average of 12,500.

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Here’s a photo op for salmon lovers

The fascinating life cycle of a salmon — which spends its entire life getting strong enough to spawn, finally does so and then dies — will be the focus of a guided walk and presentation this Saturday on the Cle Elum River’s Salmon Viewing Trail near Ronald.

The event, set for 10:30 a.m., will be hosted by biologist and colorful educator Bob Tuck, a former state wildlife commissioner who now serves as director of the Yakima Basin Environmental Education Program.

To reach the ADA-accessible trail, travel northwest on the Salmon la Sac Highway out of Ronald and turn left onto Lake Cle Elum Dam /Lake Cabins Road, about two miles out of town. Travel southwest on Cle Elum Dam/Lake Cabins Road for less than a mile and follow signs to the Salmon Viewing Trail.

There are two parking areas for the trail. The upper parking lot is reached by a dirt road that is easily traveled by passenger vehicles, but visitors who park there must walk down a short stretch of rough, steep road to reach the trailhead. A high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle is required to reach the second parking area and the start of the trail.

For more information, call 509-281-1311, or go to www.midcolumbiarfeg.com.

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Klickitat Canyon site grows by 1,500 acres

A 1,500-acre expansion of the Klickitat Canyon Natural Resources Area was the highlight of last week’s 36th annual conference of the National Natural Areas Association.

With the state Department of Natural Resources hosting the three-day conference in Vancouver, Commission of Public Lands opened the event by signing into effect the expansion of the Klickitat Canyon area, most of which lies within Yakima County.

The expansion adds significantly to the nearly 500 acres currently in conservation at the site, which was originally established for its geologic and scenic qualities — the dramatic canyon with the Klickitat River below. Recent analysis has determined the area also has rare plant species and serves as habitat for the state-endangered sandhill crane, as well as black bear, bobcat, deer and bald eagles.

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Anglers, put this one on your calendar

If you’re a fishing enthusiast and would like to have a say in the process, put Wednesday of next week (Sept. 30) on your calendar. That’s when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting in Yakima to discuss sport-fishing rules proposals, and the state folks will be listening to what you have to say.

The meeting is set for 6 to 8 p.m. at Carpenters Hall, 507 S. 3rd St.

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BIRD ALERT

Migration is in full swing and lots of our winter friends, such as dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows, are showing up at bird feeders around the Valley. From Terrace Heights came a report of a golden-crowned sparrow joining the mix, as well as sightings of a Townsend’s solitaire and a small flock of cedar waxwings feeding in a flowering dogwood tree.

Raptors noted on a trip this week to the top of Timberwolf Mountain included turkey vulture, sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper’s hawk and red-tailed hawk. Other birds of note were hairy woodpecker, Clark’s nutcracker, gray jay, and mountain bluebird. Black swift, a noteworthy find in Yakima County, and Vaux’s swift were spotted in the valley between Timberwolf and Bethel Ridge.

An American three-toed woodpecker was spotted on the Mesatchee Creek Trail at the American River and around 80 Lewis’s woodpeckers were observed at Fort Simcoe, many of them immature birds.

An immature Anna’s hummingbird is hanging around a yard southwest of the Yakima airport and a Rufous Hummingbird was noted in the garden in Terrace Heights. From Wapato and Sunnyside come reports of adult California quail with downy chicks following along, this is pretty late in the season for such young chicks.

Wenas Lake is still the hot spot for shorebirds with killdeer, spotted sandpiper, western sandpiper, least sandpiper, and Baird’s sandpiper all working the mud along the receding shoreline. Also of note here were wood duck, American wigeon, northern shoveler, northern pintail, green-winged teal, eared grebe, double-crested cormorant, belted kingfisher and American pipit.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963

— Kerry L. Turley

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ Tuesday hikers will head to Melakwa Lake. Tuesday hikers meet at 7:30 a.m. (though they’ll move to 8 a.m. next week) at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot and carpool from there after breaking into faster and slower groups.

WEDNESDAY: Just a heads-up here for anyone expecting that weekly Mount Adams Cycling Club loop ride — there won’t be one today this week. Sorry. Next week (Sept. 30) will be the final Naches loop ride of the season.

WEDNESDAY: Yakima Valley Audubon will host a morning bird walk beginning at 8 a.m. at the parking lot on the east end of Valley Mall Boulevard, the south end of the Yakima Greenway.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies will hike to Government Meadows. Call Eleanor Hungate at 972-3427 for meeting time and place.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY: The Cascadians will host a Saturday hike to Colchuck Lake and Aasgard Pass, the gateway into the Enchantment Lakes area of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. On Sunday, the Cascadians will head to Grand Park. For meeting time and place on either hike, call Ted Gamlem at 697-5051.

OCT. 9: This is just a way-ahead heads-up for anyone who followed with interest Eric Bruntjen’s three-week Tour Divide mountain-biking ordeal along the Continental Divide in order to generate enough money to buy a specialized wheelchair for injured Iraq War veteran Evan Mettie.

Bruntjen will host a slide show at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Glenwood Square Media Works Theater (5100 Tieton Drive, Yakima, upstairs), and will be sharing some of his experiences from his nearly 2,800-mile ride. If you think “lions, tigers and bears,” you’ll be at least two-thirds right.

Successful ride means Mettie’s wheelchair likely on the way

YAKIMA, Wash. — In case you hadn’t heard or read about it on the Herald-Republic’s sports site on the Internet (sportsyakima.com), yes, Eric Bruntjen finished his long ride for Evan Mettie.

Bruntjen, a 38-year-old Yakima information technology specialist, had entered the 2,780-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race from the Canadian Rockies to the U.S.-Mexico border in order to generate pledges toward the purchase of an all-terrain wheel-chair for Mettie, a profoundly injured Iraq war veteran from Selah.

He finished his ride late last Friday night, completing the arduous journey in slightly over 21 days and 11 hours — a good three days faster than the goal he had set for himself. He was the ninth finisher out of 42 starters, with 19 riders dropping out during the race due to injury, bicycle issues or simple exhaustion.

It looks like Bruntjen achieved his other goal as well: raising the more than $10,000 it will take to purchase the specialized wheelchair for Mettie. If all of the people who pledged during Bruntjen’s three-week trek, as much as $12,000 might go into the “Evan Mettie Donation” fund at U.S. Bank.

Mettie’s parents have said any money beyond what’s necessary to purchase the wheelchair will be donated to an organization that serves local injured vets.

More than $3,000 of the amassed donations came from Northwest Farm Credit Services, where Valley employees combined to donate about $1,500 and the company’s Spokane headquarters made a matching donation.

A good-news story about good folks

YAKIMA, Wash. — Many of you who were following Eric Bruntjen’s arduous 2,780-mile mountain bike in the Tour Divide race may remember the Herald-Republic story on the good folks at Northwest Farm Credit Services’ Valley offices, who decided to step up to support Eric’s efforts to raise money towards the purchase of an all-terrain wheelchair for Selah’s Evan Mettie, an injured Iraq war veteran.

Just to catch you up if you haven’t: Michael Gibbons, who works for NFCS’ Yakima office, read in the Herald-Republic about what Bruntjen was doing. Gibbons didn’t know Bruntjen and didn’t know Evan Mettie, but has a special place in his heart for our country’s veterans; he himself has a son on his third tour in Iraq. So he sent an e-mail around to the people at NFCS’ offices in the Valley suggesting that they all donate to Eric’s cause.

Almost all of them did.

And  not only did the local NFCS employees step up in a big way, combining to donate more than $1,500, the NFCS corporate office folks in Spokane said they would match whatever the employees generated.

On Thursday, Gibbons was working with Bruntjen to arrange a time when NFCS could present a check (or checks) exceeding $3,000 toward Evan Mettie’s wheelchair.

With so much bad news out there, that — a group of people reaching deeply into their own pockets to support a truly worthy cause — is the kind of good news that warms the heart.

So next time you run into somebody from Northwest Farm Credit Services, I hope that’s one of the first things that comes into your mind: “Hey, aren’t you the good folks who …?”

– Scott Sandsberry

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

Eric Bruntjen reaches the end of his ride

YAKIMA, Wash. — The headline is true, and in a good way.

Twenty-two days ago, Eric Bruntjen, the 38-year-old information technology specialist from Yakima was one of 42 endurance athletes from around the world in the Canadian Rockies tourist town of Banff at the starting line of the 2,780-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race.

He was riding in hopes of generating enough per-mile pledges to purchase a specialized all-terrain wheelchair for profoundly injured Iraq war veteran Evan Mettie of Selah. For those three weeks and one day, people have been sending e-mails to tourdechair@gmail.com, with all pledge donations going to the “Evan Mettie Donation” fund at U.S. Bank.

Whether or not Eric Bruntjen reached that first goal won’t be known for a few days, until everyone who pledged to donate actually does so. (Or for anybody who has so far missed out on that part of this adventure to join in the party.) I think it’s going to happen, but for now that goal is still out there.

But tonight, Eric reached his other goal: He rode into Antelope Wells, a border crossing at the U.S.-Mexico border, slightly more than 21 days and 11 hours after he began. I believe he finished in eighth place – out of 42. None too shabby.

I imagine we’ll be visiting with Eric in a few days, after he’s had a chance to catch his breath, reconnect with his wife and two children and catch up on some well-earned sleep.

But right now, I think I’ll just tip my hat, raise a glass, offer a toast and say congratulations. If anybody has ever earned a Fourth of July worth celebrating, it’s Eric Bruntjen.

– Scott Sandsberry

Eric B.: a busted tire, closing in anyway

YAKIMA, Wash. — Even after a couple of days of struggling with mechanical issues (and out of communication for most of that time), Eric Bruntjen is still competing in the Tour Divide. Not just riding. Competing.

He spent several hours in Grants Pass dealing with a tire issue that made it all but impossible to ride. He called his buddy and logistical aide Frank Hieber in a telephone call, was “sliced open.” It was really too bad, because Eric had that morning caught up with a couple of the five or six riders he had been gaining on for several days, which you know if you’ve been following the Tour Divide leaderboard.

We got a call-in this morning from Eric Bruntjen, which I’ll be posting below, but first I want to pass on something you might enjoy seeing — a photograph or two (if a technically challenged blogger such as myself can manage it when there are no IT guys around) — taken of Eric by an Albuquerque gentleman named Gordon Stalgren. Gordon, who had also been following Eric’s race progress online, drove over from Albuquerque to Grants, hoping to be able to say hello and perhaps raise Eric’s spirits a bit. The photos were sent to me by Gordon’s son, Glenn, an old college buddy of Eric’s who has been following Eric’s adventures both on the Tour Divide site and on this blog.

Thanks to Gordon Stalgren and especially to Glenn, because I’m sure people who have been following Eric’s trials and tribulations will be glad to know he can still smile. I’ll pass along some insights from Glenn below, but for now, without further adieu, here’s what he had to say (listen) when he stopped long enough in Silver City, N.M., to give us a call.

Hey, Eric Bruntjen calling in from Silver City.

A couple of real quick technical things. First of all, I know my brother’s following the race on the blog, so I want to wish him a happy birthday and I hope he gets better. You shouldn’t be riding those Jet Skis, Warner, you should be doing something safe like riding the Tour Divide with your little brother. [EDITOR'S NOTE No. 1: It sounds like Warner on the message, but if I heard it wrong and have the name wrong, sorry, oops.]

The other thing is, it occurred to me riding in the desert the other night that I hope I didn’t break the rules in Kremmling by accepting a ride in a car, borrowing that guy’s car. I talked to some other racers, they said no, that

was OK because I was off-route. Kremmling’s a couple miles off-route, and my bag was in the kind of dirt below the chipper plant there. But that’s on the other side of the river from where the route takes off, so … I think I’m good. But if anyone out there wants to check the Web site, read the rules and put my heart at ease, that’d be great. [EDITOR'S NOTE No. 2: If you haven't been following along over the past three weeks, don't worry, Eric wasn't cheating and using the car to get further along the course. He was backtracking on distance he had already ridden, to find a rucksack that included his tent and sleeping bag and had fallen from his bike (thanks to a broken clip) as he rode in a driving rainstorm.]

Other than that, I limped into Silver City with a busted front wheel. Just about everything bad that can happen to a tire and a wheel happened at the Wal-Mart in Grants. But I’ve got some tape on it and I’m limping to the bike shop to get a new wheel right now.

Spent the night last night up in the mountains with a Tour Divide fan named Kevin who drove from Tucson to come see the racers. And there were three other racers that I’ve been chasing since pretty much since Montana and Wyoming, were in that campground with Kevin. Pulled in there real late last night, came off the ridge chased by a lightning storm. Pretty wild ride down into the dark canyon. But everything turned out OK. Anyways, this thing’s not over until it’s over, but I got about 125 miles to go, I’m hoping to do it today, and finishing up.

I think I’m good on everything. I’m not eating as much, but that’s a good thing, and my next call will be from Antelope Wells. Bye.

If he finishes tonight as he believes he will, Eric will have finished this 2,780-mile beast of a mountain bike race in 22 days — three days faster than he’d hoped and a good week faster than I’d believed he could do it. Very impressive for a 6-foot-6, 225-pound, 38-year-old man.

But what I have learned over these three weeks, both from listening to Eric’s regular updates and from hearing from his friends, is that Eric is no ordinary guy. For one thing, not many other people I know would decide to take on such a profoundly physical and time-consuming challenge in order to raise money to buy an all-terrain wheelchair for a local veteran he had only read about in the newspaper.

Glenn Stalgren told me that Eric — who Glenn calls Brunch, a shorthand version of Eric’s last name — had asked him to do this Tour Divide race with him. Glenn, who has a 1-year-old son at home, didn’t think he could be away from home that long. “Of course, similar circumstances didn’t stop him,” Glenn wrote. Glenn also added a couple of little tales from their past history that should help give people yet more insight into how unstoppable a force Eric Bruntjen is. These are Glenn’s words:

In 1997 we rode from Canada to San Francisco on bikes, camping out along the way. Brunch saw the Pacific Coast, I saw his butt (I drafted off him the whole way). I guess that would’ve been against the rules in this race.

Another story about Brunch… He got in a bike wreck a few years ago. He cut his leg pretty bad and hurt his wrist. Finally after three or four days he went to see a doctor because the gash wasn’t closing. “That could’ve used stitches,” the doctor told him. “But’s it’s too late now. You’ll just have a big scar.” (He does). “That was quite a wreck. Hurt anything else?” Brunch mentioned his wrist, only after being asked. The doctor poked his wrist in a few spots and at one Brunch yelped. The X-ray confirmed the doctor’s suspicion. Brunch had a fractured wrist. Before he left the office, the doctor told Brunch, “You’re tougher than the average bear.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought the same thing returning from one of our adventures — him bounding and wanting more, me dragging myself from a hot shower and into bed.

That’s great stuff, and I’m very thankful to Glenn for passing it along, as well as the pictures.

I just checked the leaderboard and see that Eric — tire problems and all — has caught three of the six riders he’s been chasing for four states. They were 100 miles ahead of him a week ago. Now they’re eating his dust. Holy moly.

Kind of inspires you to want to donate a penny or two per mile toward Evan Mettie’s wheelchair by e-mail to tourdechair@gmail.com, doesn’t it?  I’m not sure enough have yet enough donations have come in to make that wheelchair a reality quite yet. And that would be a real bummer if, after all he’s been through over the last 22 days, those of us sitting here at home didn’t step up to the plate and do our part.

I’m just sayin’.

– Scott Sandsberry

Eric B. chasing ghosts in the desert

YAKIMA, Wash. — Before this whole Tour Divide adventure began, Eric Bruntjen told me he was hoping to be able to complete the 2,780-mile mountain bike race — which basically follows the Continental Divide, crisscrossing it at times to generate a daily average of 10,000 vertical feet of climbing — in 25 days.

At the time, I thought he was crazy. He’s 38, which is a young man in many ways but not by elite-level endurance-athlete standards. He’s 6-foot-6 and weighs 225 pounds, which is not remotely the typical tale of the tape for a mountain biker, much less for an endurance athlete. I looked at some of the finish times from the last couple of years in the Tour Divide and thought no way was he, as a first-time competitor, finishing in 25 days. I could 27, maybe, or 28. If at all.

Clearly, I misjudged Eric Bruntjen. Today is his 20th day. And unless he has some major mishap, it looks like he’ll finish by Saturday night — his 23rd day. Despite suffering a badly sprained ankle a week into the race. Despite heavy rains that hammered him for probably 14 or 15 days of his ride.

Holy moly.

He called in Tuesday afternoon from Cuba, N.M., about 5:45 p.m. his time. He still had several more hours of riding to do, but here’s what he had to say:

Hey, Eric Bruntjen calling from Cuba, New Mexico. Been a pretty good day today. I spent the night in the desert outside of Abiquiu yesterday and rode back up to 10,000 feet today. New Mexico is tough riding — a lot of rocks, pretty technical. But it’s just a terrific state. It’s so beautiful, and the riding’s been a lot of fun — challenging but fun.

On a technical note, right now I’m going to take an approved alternate. It’s the only alternate you can take in the race so I’m going to be on pavement to avoid some dangerous areas if there’s a storm between Cuba and Pie Town.

Something kind of interesting in the mountains today, there’s a rainbow gathering. It’s thick with hippies; they say there’s 2,000 of them up there, and I rode right through their camp. So for a little bit today I wasn’t the only funny-dressed, stinky guy in the woods today. So that was quite an experience, to ride through the hippies like that.

Other than that, I’ve been chasing ghosts all day, just tracking down these tire tracks that I see. It’s been fun but challenging. So tonight I’m going to be out in the desert. Tomorrow, Grants. And keep heading south.
I’m feeling pretty good. Bike’s hanging in there. I’m optimistic right now, but there’s a long ways to go before this thing ends.

Eric has been steadily gaining on about six riders for several days. A week ago, they were 100 miles ahead of him. This morning, he’s within 30 miles of them. If you want to see if he’s gaining on them, you might check out the leaderboard on the Tour Divide site.

On another note, pledges have slowed down in recent days in Eric’s ride for Evan Mettie, the Iraq war veteran who was profoundly injured by bomb shrapnel. He’s been riding to raise money for an all-terrain wheelchair for Evan, with people supporting this effort by making per-mile pledges to tourdechair@gmail.com.

If you pledge a penny per mile, you’d be pledging to make a donation of just under $28 to the “Evan Mettie Donation” fund at any U.S. Bank.

And that would put Eric that much closer a goal every bit as big to him as the finish line.

– Scott Sandsberry

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