By way of a bicycle-club mailing list I’m on, a good read in the Los Angeles Times (free registration required) on the Furnace Creek 508, an ultramarathon cycling race held in the Southern California desert every fall. The writer competed on a four-man relay team and gives a beautiful portrait of the race and his teammates:
“Only one thing remained constant: Ron’s speed. At the chilly 9 a.m. start in Santa Clarita, he bolted to the front of the team race. The 44-year-old corporate wellness coach from Lawrenceville, Ga., flung himself past the wind-bent juniper trees on the long, 2,500-foot climb out of town and onto the flat, Joshua tree-studded Mojave Desert with the same abandon he had in 1996. …
“By noon, riding strong tailwinds, Ron had blown through tough, windmill-covered hills and a vast airplane-repair graveyard, miles on his way into California City. He finished his 82-mile segment in an average speed of 24 mph, impressive, given the 5,000 feet of climbing, and miles ahead of everyone else. ‘He’s sending a chi statement,’ said Steve, who owns a Tarzana yoga studio. ‘There is no duality in his dharma. This is karma in action.’ ”