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Sounding Like a Bunch of Smokers
Wednesday, May 3, 2000

Checkpoint 18 is also a HQ/AP. It is at a low altitude of only 780m, and is located a short distance from the village of Lamosangu. It is situated next to the Bhote Kosi river and will allow everyone a chance to get cleaned up, plus the weather is warm and clear.

The Raid Organization was happy to report at last night's press briefing that all the teams still competing in the race have passed CP10. The next deadline that teams must get through in order to continue racing is the China-Tibet border by 7:45am today. The front of the race is very tight with as many as 10 teams vying for the top position. The middle of the pack is very busy also with some teams being able to better their placement by the end of the week.

At 4am, CP18 holds a lot of early activity as the teams get up, eat and gear up for the 23km hydro swim. They are allowed to enter the water at 5:30am and many are leaving to make the trek down to the water, which is about 3km away. It is dark still, but considerably warmer than at CP10. After teams depart the river they will be met by their assistance team for lunch, change of gear and then head out on the trek through Nepal, which will reach a height of 3149m. The teams can expect to have a long up and down trek and it will be cold again.

Team Odyssey
They have arrived into CP18 and have decided to stay the night with their assistance crew. Don Mann is feeling the affects of the altitude and is having some trouble with his lungs. Terry Schneider is not feeling great today after a reaction with Iodine (added to the water for purification). But all five team members are together and will attack the water early tomorrow. This team has also filed a protest to the Raid Jury: They are protesting that they were not informed about the early opening of the Nepal border crossing.

Adrian Crane: "We slept at CP10 because of the dark and the snow, we knew our times exactly [to get to the border], rather than sit at the border, we slept."

Apparently, other teams were not made to wait and the border was open to them early to continue on rather than be held up. This team feels that the others must have somehow known, otherwise there would have been no reason to get there any earlier. The jury ruling is pending.

Dick Crane: He has biked on this stretch of road before and knew how long it would take stating, "The time was perfect."

Terry Schneider: Regarding the horse she said, "That poor horse did 50 river crossings. We used a tow rope system and let the horse pull us, it was great." Schneider also said that the bike ride was "stunning."

Andrew Matulionis: About the course he said, "The Tibetan plateau is so isolated and cold, the wind is relentless, it's like a moonscape."

Team Odyssey, however, had a few mechanical problems while biking.

Adrian Crane: He had a bulging tire that luckily was seen by Terry during a photo stop. "We fixed it with a Power Gel wrapper and duct tape."

He said that he had his eyes open for a bike shop in the hopes of getting a replacement tire. Unbelievable, but true, they came across a bus with a cycle tour group. He asked if they had any 26-inch tires that he could purchase. Not only did they have one, they gave him a top-of-the-line model. He is happy to put off the water section until tomorrow, "I hate water, I haven't found one [water sport] that isn't cold and miserable," Crane said.

Team El Faco Ba
They arrived last night and had a meal and a good night's rest and are getting set under the light of their headlamps.

Kent Davidson: Regarding the bike section he said, "It was easy — stopped, did some sightseeing, a little bit of a rest day."

Richard Whisnant: Upon hearing Kent's comment, Richard said, "Yeah, your average 12,000-foot-descent rest day, sure!"

Robert Orr: On their plans for today, Orr commented, "We'll knock the swim out, we let teams go by us yesterday, we have no sense of urgency, we were thinking about the next trek. Our batteries are recharged, we slept at CP10, stopped and ate at two restaurants [on bike section], another meal here [CP18], slept and ready to go."

Greg Eason: Asked if the team had any mechanical problems on the bikes, Eason said, "Amazingly enough, nothing. No flats and that road was rough. Only problem we had was going slow enough on the required section."

Roberta Orr: When asked how the guys were treating her, she laughed and said, "I have to keep them in line. No, they are great. We had a good day yesterday, refuelled, got rest. A little different from yesterday morning," [CP10 snow and cold]. On how she is feeling Roberta said, "I coughed up half of Tibet, yesterday, feel better now as far as my cough. We sound like a bunch of smokers."

Mary Ann Davidson: Since she knows Davidson better than anyone she was asked how he is really doing and she said, "Faring really well, spirits are good energy good, actually it is hard for them to rein it in. They could have come and taken a chance and gone out fast, or rein it in and finish and also do well. They want to finish."

On the rest of the assistance team's day, Mary Ann said, "We will meet the team for lunch and take the gear down to the end of the water section, then they [the team] will get seven-to-eight hours trekking. We'll come back, break camp and go to AP3."

Assistance Teams Reports
Norman Matte, Team Endeavour: He and Steve Harvey will be breaking camp and heading to AP3 today. When asked how his team looked when they came through here he replied, "They were all happy to be in thick air and they all looked good."

Erin West, Team America Sportsmaster: She and Greg Theodore have been set up and waiting for their team for two days now and she took some time to go shopping in town yesterday with Team Tactel Ispira's assistant Anne Wilson. She said that, "We bought a sari and cut it in half to use as two skirts, the people — old ladies especially — were laughing at us. They couldn't believe when we just pulled it on and slid our shorts out from underneath, their faces were so funny." She commented that Greg is good at every sport and has played soccer everywhere they have gone.

Michael Nolan, Team Odyssey: His team got away early [4:20am] to be the first on the water today. He said, "The team is feeling a whole lot better. Don said he slept well and Terry is feeling better also. "We will meet them at the end of the swim and give them as much fresh, bottled water as they want. They don't plan to take a lot on the trek, because they can re-supply at the top at a village."

Arthur "Thor" Gormley, Team Odyssey: "We will break camp, meet team and take them lunch, load up the truck and go to HQ3, the end of trek and beginning of canoe."

Michael and Thor said that the Jury rejected Team Odyssey's protest. First they were told that it was not written correctly and then said that it was rejected because the other teams "took a gamble to get there and hoped that it [the border] would be open. It is due to the spirit of adventure." They were also told that the briefing had stated, "the time at the border was a gray area."

— Provided by Raid Gauloises

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