No Limits?

I am fully aware that I am high maintenance. I know this better than anyone because I look after myself all day everyday. Luckily for my race, my supercrew doubled in size and I had two wonderful friends willing to take care of me for the day. Alison and Heidi earned Supercrew status in a day! (not that there was any question beforehand)   Okay, it was for more than a day, their amazingly difficult job of crewing for me began the day before the race. It seemed that there were no limits in what my crew was willing to do, but I was determined to test that thoroughly!

The day before the BIG day, was full and busy. Racers had to go and do medical check in for the race and my crew escorted me to the gym for this and then took care of Tana. Did they know that poop pick up was part of their duties? How many other crews did that? Next up, I went for a short spin on the bike, accompanied by Alison. Since my ride was short and I didn't get to see where the trail really went, she continued on and reported back to me. Honestly, how did I sneak that into crew duty? Heidi attended the pre race meeting as my official photographer, Alison was still out doing recon on a bike trail. Really readers, it was challenging at times to keep two crew members with jobs to do;)  In the afternoon the girls headed out to pre park a vehicle at Twin Lakes aid area. This gave them a home base for the day and also was huge to me in knowing exactly where they would be when I got there. The final chore of the day was to get all my bags and bottles ready for the race. We had an assembly line going of putting Infinit powder in bottles, bagging various food items and getting extra clothes where they needed to be. Luckily, Alison had a spreadsheet prepared of everything I needed and where I needed it to be. It was organized chaos. On Tana's afternoon walk they dropped off my Disney Princess bag for the top of the Columbine climb, and they might have had poop duty again. Still no complaints. Supercrew for SURE!! In case you are thinking that I didn't take care of them at all, I took them to a lovely dinner out. It was literally a dinner out, we sat at tables in a field. After dinner, Alison had more work to do as she cleaned my bike for me. Honestly, these girls were limitless in what they would do!

Race morning came bright and early, brighter and earlier for Heidi than for me. She and Jen's crew Stacey had agreed (without use of torture devices) to take our bikes to the start line at 4:15am. They got us an amazing spot to avoid the chaos of nervous, squirrely riders.

Bike is Ready, Rider is not!

The Supercrews, Stacey, Alison and Heidi

All day long my crew was amazing. I would show up at the aid area and there they would be, exactly where we had planned. My stops were very efficient as the girls would have my bottles ready to go and put them exactly where they were suppose to go according to the plan we had made. I tried throwing some challenges at them as the day went on just to see what their limits might be for future reference. I would pull in and hand off my bike as I went to pee in the bush (or near a bush at least, I am pretty sure as the day went on I cared less and less how far off the trail I was). I asked them to use the pre prepared Kool n Fit sponge on my legs, back and even my butt. Alison did all of this without complaint. She even pulled down my shorts to get my glutes properly. (I publicly apologize now to everyone who had the unfortunate view of my bare ass during the race, I hope that the mental image isn't burning your retina!). I told the girls at one point that I needed salt and the next time I saw them, they delivered me super salty rice cakes! How was I going to know where they drew the line??

Twin Lakes Aid Station

Maybe, the spectacular views and scenery that the girls got to enjoy all day was putting them in too charitable of a mood. When I came into the Twin Lakes aid station that all changed. I dropped my bike and pulling down my shorts went behind the van shouting 'LUBE ME'. The look on Alison's face, told me that 1)she misunderstood my request and 2) I had found my crews limit. I of course meant my chain, but with my shorts coming down and there being chamois cream in the emergency kit, I could see how confusion occurred. That was the only chink in the armour I could find all day, and to be frank, I have my limits on what I would let them do for me, and lubing my privates crosses my boundaries too!

The (almost) Limitless Crew and Me at the Finish

When I first decided that I wanted to take on the challenge of the Leadville Trail 100 I made a very important phone call. I called Alison, and asked if she would crew for me. I knew that my success depended on having an amazing crew and I was right. These girls got me to the finish line safely and they were awesome to have out on the course all day. I got lucky when Heidi also wanted to come to Leadville, I should have known I was too much work for one person! I want you girls to know that I truly appreciate everything you did for me on race day, you guys made my day go smoothly and you earned the buckle with me! When you line up at Leadville, I'll be there to crew for you:) Just don't expect to be lubed!