Day 6 is the long day. A 250 mile ride from the Blue Ridge mountains to the Allegheny mountains on the border of the Virginias. There will be roads but probably not good ones. There will be dirt and ruts, and none of it will be flat. Two routes divide the teams but both travel through the National Radio Quiet Zone. A 13,000 square mile are on the border of the Virginias set aside to listen to deep space and enemies of the state. That little detail means the teams will go into the mountains then lose all cell reception. We won’t know what happens until they pop up at camp.
Team Clark started the day off right with an exhaust breaking again. Then a mystery problem once the pipe swap was completed. I’m not sure the order of events but I do know they pulled the bike apart again before realizing the cdi was still wet from yesterday and needed to dry out to run correctly. Real shame they took the top end off the motor before they realized that.
Honestly most of the day was radio silent, because of the giant silent radio zone. Chad Burke was transported to mopeding 20 years ago when he ran out of gas going up a mountain. With no phone to call anyone or to locate a gas station he was forced to just push up the mountain then coast down the other side, looking for the kindness of strangers. He eventually found that kindness and bought a $20 gallon of gas. Supply and demand I guess, but really what he bought was another day of not DNF-ing. Well worth the price.
Team T3 arrived at 3:38, QCB at 3:39, Jose at 3:40, Burke at 5:28, Clark family band at 7:12, and finally Jordan at 7:17. And that’s about all I know. Again, the radio dead zone. I know, I know, that’s not very exciting to read, just a quick list of finish times. I wish I had grand story of failure and triumph, steadfast determination through treacherous conditions when all hope felt lost on the side of the road. Instead how about I offer you a chance to watch the award ceremony tomorrow live on Instagram at 8PM EST/ 5 PM PST! Join Maitland, all the riders, teams, chase, and other party people at their final destination tomorrow at Thomas and Ashley’s in Richmond, VA and celebrate with everyone on the live feed. Expected ETA for first riders is going to be somewhere between 1:30-2:30 PM EST stay tuned to IG and Glympse starting at 9:00 AM PST /12:00 PM EST.
Oh and also QCB destroyed a spark plug electrode. See ya’ll at the ceremony!