Surprise, Surprise

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Jody and I are constantly calculating and re-calculating roughly where the riders are located, based on things like Time Station check-in times, the riders' average speeds, other riders' locations, and what the winds are like.


Believe it or not, we usually end up guessing correctly within 10-20 miles, but sometimes even within a mile or two, and sometimes even to the exact minute. (Thank you very much.)

As a matter of fact, even right now as I type this while we are heading toward Time Station 33 (Jefferson City, Missiouri), I'm telling Jody that we should see Strasser pretty soon. (We did!)

Because our calculations are usually pretty accurate, we were really surprised when, about 12 miles past Time Station 28 (El Dorado, KS), or roughly 66 miles down the road from where we last saw Strasser and Schoch riding just a few minutes apart, there was Strasser and his crew, off on the side of the road.

As we drove past, we noticed that Strasser was about to climb back on his bike, so it immediately occurred to us that he must have just woken up from a two-hour nap. Although we figured Strasser would be sleeping at night, for all we know taking sleep breaks during the day is part of the Strasser strategy. Who knows?

The bottom line is, no matter who is in the lead at any one Time Station, by the time the riders get to the next one, anything can happen.

10 minutes later, we caught up and passed Trix once again. Just as we passed, she pulled off the road, but because she looked as strong as ever, we're sure she was simply taking a quick bathroom break.

I guess these super-athletes are human after all!