I blame Mike

I want to take a sentence or two to apologize for the lack of updates, I would personally like to blame Mike for not giving me/mom great updates. Mom has been keeping up on facebook with their updates and bringing up stuff that they are doing on that. So sincerely apologize, however, I knew it wouldn't be as awesome, because well, I and Mom are not there getting the details first hand.

Monday:

They started in Evansville, IN and went to Bowling Green, KY. On this route they had to take this crazy wooden bridge. Here is a picture of some riders going over it (pictures were taken by crew from the Chase)

Photo credit: Mike

Originally I was under the impression that It was just this one bridge, but after talking to mom, there was actually two! They got over this bridge, all thankful for that, and then they came up to another one, and it was longer. And it was in the same condition. The trick for this kind of riding is to go fast and stay in a straight line. It allows you to essentially bounce over some of the hole-y areas. Mike believes (and I would have to agree) that his dirt biking skills helped him get over these bridges with no issues and to know how to get over them. He did see that some riders did put their feet down on both sides to almost balance themselves while going slower.

He did think that everyone made it across without issues, but later found out that two did not. One guy kind of went down and broke his finger. OUCH! And the other rider got stuck in the middle section and couldn't get out, when he tried he ended up tipping his bike. For the record, he did get his bike out.

Unfortunately many people disliked the ride Monday because there was a lot of construction (which I assume is hard to prepare for when making these routes). The construction ended up making the riders go on 4 lanes roads. (side note-- is that what they are called? when two lanes are going one way and two lanes are going the other way? DON'T JUDGE ME!) With these older bikes, interstate highway riding is really hard on the bikes, you are pretty much riding them open throttle. Two riders said they weren't enjoying the ride, one actually called his family to come pick him up. But they said nope. (It sounds harsh, but if you live with someone who does The Chase and the Cannonball and spends money on this hobby, I personally would give the same response and say 'suck it up buttercup')). And supposedly the other rider actually did quit. All in all, I think it is just more taxing on the riders. They don't have that support crew, they can't just roll the bike up into the trailer, they have to take all their things into the hotel, no one to help them with anything, etc. I guess one guy in the beginning was explaining how badly he needed his support crew, realizing they put a lot of effort in. Anyway, there were a lot of bike problems for people this day, mostly batteries and primary chains.

The weather was REALLY hot. In the 90s.

Tuesday:

Murfressboro, TN to Chattanooga, TN

Someone had an accident (mom thinks that this happened on Tuesday). They pulled out in front of a vehicle and clipped the front wheel which fell off. They thought he broke his ankle but sounds like he's okay. Fortunately, he's from the area, and will get a new bike to finish the ride. He will be disqualified just like Mike is, but thats typically not why people do this.

I guess Mike LOOOOOOOOOOVED the ride that morning. There were up and down hills, winding roads. Mostly all backroads. It was sunny. The only problem it was 98 degrees. They were in Tennessee. He thought it was really cool (mostly because he had never seen it before) but there would be a huge plantation mansion on one side of the road with fields and then across the road a little bitty trailer shack and it was like that EVERYWHERE.

Wednesday:

After changing out Steve's primary chain, Steve took his bike out for a test drive. He got lost, and couldn't find his way back to the hotel. As he was driving around looking for the hotel, a cop pulled him over because he wasn't wearing a helmet. Georgia is a helmet state--meaning you can get ticketed for not wearing it. If you get a ticket while riding in the Chase you are disqualified. Fortunately, Steve showed him his greasy hands and explained that he was just trying to see if the chain was okay, but then got lost and couldn't find his way back to the hotel. The cop didn't give him a ticket, but did give him directions back to the hotel! Oofta, that was a close one.

Steve may have also lost his jacket when he drove off for the test drive. They're hoping someone found it and turned it in to the lost and found. Mom I guess was teasing that the lost and found is probably the largest that the organizers have ever seen with The Chase, since the riders don't have their support crews "sweeping" up after them.

I guess one of the riders - maybe more - are having problems with staying hydrated. One had to not ride due to having heat exhaustion. The rider was found wandering around under a tree, didn't know where they were, couldn't read a map, nor really see. I'd personally like to make a service announcement as a nurse -- take this shit serious. Confusion, dizziness, fatigue, loss of consciousness, muscle fatigue, etc. It can develop into heat stroke -- don't get me started.

The riders have no discovered that Mike is an emergency physician. He's been approached by multiple riders asking for medical advice. I guess it's pretty handy having a doc around to get back on the road and not miss a beat!

Mike also loves Jody Perewitz's snaps wit. They were chatting when she mentions that she had called an "uba" to take her to the "pot" store. Fortunately, that sentence was part of a greater conversation where she was saying that she had to help another rider who needed parts to fix his motorcycle. She had called an Uber to take her to the parts store. Mike laughed at her accent an she quipped back "what do you mean accent? we were here before you were" referring to her home being in Massachusetts vs Mike living in Minnesota.

Photo credit: Ron Alft that I stole from Jerry's facebook