Thursday, June 26, 2008

Beard update

I keep trying to put too much into one post and I haven't finished it yet. So here's a short one with a bit of news.

We are stationed as TA captains at TA7 within a couple miles of the interstate, so our Sprint broadband card is providing internet into the TA. Along with the Spot tracking (which seems to be working most of the time), we're providing some good beta to the teams and support crews. It's awesome that they can see the map and team locations real-time (although I'm sticking to low-res shots so they can't see exact routes of teams ahead of them...not that it would really matter since this race appears to be a Don Mann special-follow-the-trail race.)

We spent Monday setting up the duckie/riverboarding section, then Tuesday patrolling the river and fishing teams out of the water. In the middle of the afternoon the river section was closed (too many possible problems going on at the same time and too much potential for more issues). It all ended fine, only a few bumps and bruises but no injuries. Sigh of relief!

We have been at TA7 ever since, and I'm sure I'll get a collection of stories from both locations posted eventually.

All is well, having fun!

3 comments:

robyn said...

sooooo fun to see the coverage! its like i am there. saw you on the PQ website marcy..very cool! robyn

robyn said...

i saw JB in a pic today...looks like you are getting to see all the teams and action at TA7...cool!

Kipley Fiebig said...

I think I figured out where TA 7 is (it's not obvious on the tracking map)... I'm pretty sure it's Checkpoint 15. So, the easternmost point on the course. Where teams transition from mountain biking, to... mountain biking. I'm assuming that's because this is a better spot for support crews to meet their teams than higher up in the mountains, at CP 16, where they drop their bikes and start another mountain trek.

So, most of the teams in the race, including all the Texas teams, are through the Beard's checkpoint.