More News From India

Doug writes:

This trip has been a rollercoaster of greater proportions. The past two days (we've dubbed "race day #10" and "race day #11") have been both stressful and tiresome. So much for resting post-race...

Many promises were made about this 'race' (logistics, winnings, etc..) and many promises were broken from the minute we set foot here in India. This continued all the way to the amount the winners got in their checks yesterday (0-50% of the advertised amount). We (all 40something participants) questioned the authority during yesterday's 'awards ceremony'. As a result we were all over this morning's local newspapers and TV. After yet another stressful day today, things are rectified and the winners are paid out what they were owed while I was paid what I was owed in hotel and food and transportation bills that my race entrance fee was supposed to cover.. In the end, this was a life changing trip..

Tim, Janel and I begin our travels home tomorrow morning, 12hrs from now. Harlan and Courtney are staying another week.

I gave away a bunch of my Vicious Cycles jerseys and vests to some of our new-found friends and compadres. I also gave my one-off Ghostship T-shirt (from last year's Hustle 'N Flow contest) to my friend Mangal, one of the top Nepalese mountain bikers. Ghostship is now global. hahaha

Time to finish packing.
Doug