Spokane to Sandpoint/Blue Crusie with Kristin Armstron

A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I would help with the Spokane to Sandpoint run. See there is a relay run with a team of 12 runners that start from Mt. Spokane and run through downtown Spokane, Post Falls, CDA and work their way up to Sandpoint. CRAZY, I know, but some would say the riding I do on my bike is also crazy so who am I to judge. When he asked me to help he was wondering if I would help him be the bike escorts that the runners are allowed through the night runs. See by the time darkness falls they are well on their way to the rural areas between CDA and Sandpoint. Dark, lonely roads with no shoulders can make for a dangerous run through the night. So I said, sure that sounds like a good idea, might be kind of fun. What I didn't realize was that the weather would be not so summer like, and a few other things would come up that would require my attendance.

In the weeks following my commitment to the team I found out that the Blue Cruise ride with Kristin Armstrong would be the morning after my duties of bike riding through the night. Our team director Jenni Gaertner had set it up so Kristin could take a team picture with us before the ride. The S2S bike escort started at 6 pm Friday night, and required me to ride with them until Saturday morning when the sun came up (around 5:30), the team picture was at 7:30 Saturday morning. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that meant no sleep for me.

Throughout the night we rode along the back roads lighting the way for each runner and safely delivering them to their exchange points. As the night wore on I grew more and more tired, each time I thought about staying awake that long it made me worse. I even at one point starting daydreaming about how good my bed would feel once I was able to climb in to it. Well, as it always does, the sun rose, and we arrived in Blanchard. Mike's truck was parked there so we could make a quick exit and head back to town so I could be on time for the ride and picture. Not before having a quick, well deserved beer! I did two things I never really thought I would this weekend...1. had a beer at 5:30 am, 2. rode my bike 12 hours through the night.

Once the S2S ride was over I ran down to the NIC campus for the Blue Crusie ride with Kristin Armstrong. Even a night of riding without sleep was not going to keep my from this opportunity. I only rode part of the metric century route, opting to pull off when the ride went close to my parents house. I arrived at their house around 9:30, 27 hours since I had last seen any sleep, got in the shower and found the nearest place to sleep. AHHHH, sleep never felt so good. It was worth every bit of being tired, feeling like crap.