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Riding Through Sewage
Monday, May 8, 2000

Team Odyssey arrived just after Team Lotus at 6:50am. They are very dirty and can barely wait to get to the showers. Terry Schneider is shaking her head and declares that it was "a disgusting bike ride, we rode through open sewage. It was terrible. We should have been here last night — frustrating — we were ready to go."



"I'm just about done, the young teams are getting too good."—Adrian Crane, Team Odyssey

Andrew Matulionis did say "it was amazing the changing cultures [they saw] since the beginning of the race." Don Mann felt that the team had "no real high or low in any discipline. The bike ride was our best, strongest. The water swim and canyoning were a blast." He did add that he was "amazed about one thing and that was we made minor mistakes [and he was very sick] and still we had to fight to maintain our position. I rode the horse for a long time while sick."

Adrian Crane felt that the "navigation was pretty easy, almost to the point of putting flags on trees." This is his third Raid Gauloises and 10th major adventure race, "I'm just about done, the young teams are getting too good." This statement from a guy who, in his younger years, trekked with his brother, Dick, the length of the Himalayas, 3500km in 101 days. They did it in 1983 and carried only 10 pounds of gear each, which included a camera, diary and film. They shared one water container and each wore one pair of socks and the same clothes for the entire trek. They lived off the support of the local people. They wrote a book about their experience called Running the Himalayas. Their story doesn't stop there though; Dick Crane in 1986 rode a bike from Kathmandu to Lhasa [actually from Bangladesh to the Gobi Desert in 54 days]. His book is entitled Journey to the Center of the World.

Team Tactel Ispira left this morning without their team reporter, Bill Miller. He will be flying out to Kathmandu after being very ill...
When I asked him which direction he preferred cycling, he replied that they were "both brilliant rides. A fabulous downhill, very clever of the organization to make a journey like that." These two brothers get along great but share a certain amount of rivalry also. In 1984-'85, Dick rode a bike up Kilimanjaro (19,500 feet) and set the record for the highest altitude cycled. The record only lasted until 1986-'87, when Adrian broke it by riding up Chimborazo (20,500 feet). If this is their last Raid Gauloises they are two very delightful and interesting characters that will be missed.

Update on Team Odyssey at 12pm on Monday, May 8th. Dick and Adrian Crane, along with their assistant, Mike Nolan, have just finished cleaning up their bikes and are now gearing up to ride their bikes back to Kathmandu, a distance of about 100 miles. The rest of the team will travel back by vehicle. These guys are unreal; it is blistering hot today, yet off they go.

Medical Update: Team Tactel Ispira left this morning without their team reporter, Bill Miller. He will be flying out later today for Kathmandu after being very ill and be attended to by the Raid doctors here at HQ5. He suffered from a severe fever, spasms and dehydration [he's not sure what he had], and slept for 24 hours with an IV drip in his arm. He is doing much better now.

Provided by Susan Hemond-Dent for Raid Gauloises

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