Captain Erin Speaks

Captain Erin Speaks


As time has gone on we have really started to fall into our natural biking groups. Speeds have been determined and riders are becoming more consistent with who they ride with. Of course the fast racers are nowhere to be seen most of the day and the slower riders generally go onto the lunch truck after lunch, it has been difficult to find riders of the same speed and ability as me. I have found myself in a bike group with a very strong rider (Erin) who we affectionately call her “Captain”. Erin is in the Guiness Book Of World Records for being the Youngest woman to run a marathon on all seven continents at the age of 23years old and she is an ironman. She is 26 and very determined. I have met my match and possibly my future ultrarunning partner. She is great, however Erin is very consistent and does not wait for anyone. I have learned this the hard way several times as I delay in the morning or go to the bathroom and get left behind. One morning I told her I was running to the bathroom and she says, “catch up!” which is an impossible task as she is an incredible rider. It makes us efficient in the morning though and and those of us that want to ride with Erin, know to watch her as she eats in the morning to know when we are leaving… It has become a joke as we can now leave whenever, punching in. Our morning routines, seem so natural to us now, however to an outsider may think it is very bizarre. With 58 riders plus sectional riders everything involves trying to figure out the most efficient plan of how not to stand in lines…. My morning generally looks like this, I wake up at 5:15, go to the truck, get the shovel, walk into the field and take my morning toilet trip. I walk back to my tent, put on chamois cream and sunscreen and don my bike clothes, pack up my tent and try to arrive at the door of the truck no later than 6:20am (the line starts shortly after this or some days someone makes it ahead of me…) At 6:30 the truck music turns on (wake up alarm clock if you want to stand in line later on…) then the truck doors open. We head down the two foot wide locker hallway and try and cram all our crap into our lockers as quiclkly as possible to not cause a delay for the other 50 riders, the longer you take the longer the line gets… Then I get off and fill my water bottles, double check my tires, put my newly patched (did I mention I get a lot of flat tires?) tubes into my bike and head back to pick up my hot drink at 6:45, which used to be 7am until I filled enough complaints to get that time changed to the celebration of many riders…( Anyone who has worked in the field with me before knows how near and dear to my heart hot drinks are, and the thought of watching the staff drink their hot drinks before 7 and us having to wait until 7 was pushing me over the edge….). At 7 am breakfast is served and we huddle around the table to avoid being last in line, which means, leaving camp later, which means arriving at lunch and camp later, Every decision has consequences… We scarf down breakfast and then get back in line to put our dishes into the locker…Or in my case see who I can bribe that day to put my dishes in their locker… Then helmets on, bike gloves on, scan in, and on the rode no later than 7:20am (Captain Erin speaks! This is her time of leaving, if you wait any longer you will get left behind!). We arrive at lunch hours later, eat lunch and ride to camp, scan in, get our stuff out of the lockers, set up our tents, and eat soup. Depending on what time you get to camp based on your riding day means how long you wait for dinner. Then we have a rider meeting, learn about the next day and then eat dinner, go to bed to wake up and do it all over again. And that is the day in the life of an African bike rider.