Photos - finally!

I've got a few pics to post and finally some time to download/post them. Nike just passed through CP30 on their way to the finish line! Yay! They took longer to get here than people thought. I misunderestimated by only an hour; last night some people thought the team would be at the finish line by early Saturday morning. Yeah, right. This last trek is really, really long - no big climbs, just a bunch of distance. When I was plotting the points right after the race start, it stunned me that they would finish the race with a trek to the Madison River and a bike back to Big Sky. The teams will have seen 3 rivers by the time they finish, and those rivers aren't exactly right next to each other. But I guess when the starting line is bordered by a wilderness area on two sides and there's no way you can put teams on highway 191 (huge trucks blow by and there is no shoulder), your course design options are limited.

Anyway, Nike walked into the TA and spent half an hour getting ready. I'm sure they realize they have the race in the bag, no pressure. Mona was walking a tad gingerly. They didn't seem to have any problems once they got on the bike, and their Spot shows them partway up the valley toward Big Sky. Probably stopped right now for their "10 question/5 minute media chat" which is required of each team on the bike ride home.

Oh, so I have some photos... here we go...

The water crew right before the start of the race:
Lone Mountain looming:
MOAT with a front-row seat:
Go go go!
MOAT go go going!
And the train begins:
House Rock (site of the riverboard portage):
Three teams waiting for pickup after the Gallatin River was closed for business:
One of many trees taking a trip down the Yellowstone River:
TA14/CP30 is now open:
John posing with a Go Pro camera on a wrist strap (can also be placed on your head or set up somehow on a vehicle; I wasn't impressed with the suction cup mount though):
Team Nike setting up maps for the final leg:
Team Nike getting a last bite to eat before their last bike ride:
Mark Macy of Team Stray Dogs (father of Travis Macy on Team Merrell), about to go out on a run:
PS - huge thanks to Emily Kloser for the ice cream sandwiches!