The crew as a whole did a fantastic job supporting Rick and I. They were a green crew and they learned lots of things on the fly. I commend them on a job well done.
Furthermore, I wish to acknowledge Brandy for being my primary support person. She kept up on my nutrition, my supplements and provided care to my hemoroids--not exactly a task anyone would want to sign up for. She was there to console me during my lows and very painful times (bowel movements) and shared in my heights when my riding was back to normal. I would not have been able to get through it without her personal support. She was gold and I would have her on my crew again. Thank you Brandy.
I also remember coming in from cold and rainy pulls and someone handing me a cup of soup. This activity was repeated over and over again. I remember Reggie, Herman and Shari everyone chipping in to comfort me after a pull with a soup or a sandwich or a cup of Ensure. Thank you Reggie, Herman and Shari.
To everyone who washed bottles, made bottles, prepped my bike, aired up my tires, ran around looking for headlights and tailights that worked at every night pull you guys/gals were great. Thank you.
To the drivers and navigators who kept me safe and on course. I want to say thank you for protecting as we entered Interstate Hwys and metro areas. I felt a level of comfort and safety knowing that you were there shielding me from the crazy road rage drivers. By and large people were supporting me as they drove by with thumbs up but it took nerves of steel to flare out wide enough to protect me from 18 wheelers that were bearing down on me at 4x my speed. Many of you did your duty while sleep deprived and yet I wasn't ever lost or run off the road. Many crew reports talk about that very thing and that didn't happen to us. Thank you I am home safely because of you.
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7 comments:
This is Rick, the other half if you can't make it out by my blogging handle. Having had the fortune (mis fortune) of watching Brandy take care of George during his "difficult" times I can tell you first hand it is not a job I would wish on anyone yet she did it.
On another note, I have received various emails and phone calls about the mainly George pictures on the flicker. This is because Brandy mainly has access only to her camera. I still do not have pictures from James neither does Brandy. We have to get home and get access to the photos before they can all be updated. If we did this race again, the person taking care of me would get full access to the blog and training on how to upload photos and this imbalance wouldn't exist - hind sight is 20-20. The van crew is back home now as well and dropping off some of the bikes. The RV is about 80 miles outside Flagstaff, delayed heavily due to three flats on the way home.
This race was a learning experience for all, and boy did we learn! :-)
Yes there has definitely been a learning curve. There were three other people that could have blogged but in the madness I don't think they had the time nor interest to blog. Sleep and rest took priority--just my opinion.
The sooner we get those pictures off the other cameras the sooner we can upload to flicker. I am so anxious to see James pictures. He is a phenom with a camera. He has an incredible eye for composition. He told be he filled a 2 gig card. Now that is a lot of pictures.
Here is a couple of samples of your wonderful Brandy. This is copied from her post on BikeForum. Okay, try to convince everyone she was so "wonderful" This is what you call teamwork?
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06-19-07, 06:32 PM #135
Brandy
Miss Crew Chief
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Huntington Beach, Ca We're back on the road. We took a break right after the Indy TS to stop at the home of one of George's customers. They went shopping for us, had a wonderful meal, a massage therapist, showers for everyone and beds for us to sleep in. The guys had pushed hard to make it to Indy and this was a much needed break for everyone. Well that, and we all smell much better now.
Mark, yes...a good crew is essential. This is quite the social experiment, throwing together this many strangers into small quarters, all with different personalities and diferent reactions to stress and sleep deprivation. One of our riders made a HUGE error this morning after a f*cked up exchange and told the crew that I was being pulled off as crew chief BEFORE he talked to me. Once he had the whole story, he retracted, but I told him flat out that what he did totally undermined any authority that I had and that it showed the crew that he didn't have confidence in me. Out of all of the f*ck ups that we've had along the way, in my mind, that was the most critical error in judgment of all...especially at this point in the race. He apologized and called the crew together and told him that he made a mistake, but still...
bitter b:
What is your point? People don't like being told what to do in general, but especially under stressful situations. Maybe the biggest error on their part was having Brandy be the crew chief AND George's main support, given their relationship, it seems like people are being judgmental. Since it sounds like everyone else was a rookie, I doubt anyone else could have done any better. People make mistakes and this sounds like it was an experience of a lifetime and a life learning lesson.
I have known Brandy since our first born were months old and she is a wonderful person. Additionally, she gave up a chunk of her time away from her kids to do this. Do you think she did that to have a horrible time? I doubt it. Get over yourself and stop trying to paint her as a bad person. The only bad person I see here is you and your insistance to cause negative intent. I doubt you even know her in real life.
Next year get off your ass and step up to do what she and the rest of the crew did, then come back and be judge-holier-than-thou!
hey bitterb
Any reason you dont want to put your name on there? Hiding behind the keyboard as an anonymous poster carries little weight.
Sean
I am George's "EX" wife. I am also a fan of George and I was happy to follow his amazing RAAM journey along with our 17 year old son, Nick.
I don't know how much my opinion counts here but, I have to say that I really enjoyed Brandy's blog posts with updates not only about George but about Rick as well. The pictures were also fantastic.
I wrote in an email to George the other day that I think Brandy did an amazing job. I never once thought that this had a "George slant" to it. Brandy, at many times spoke and updated us all on Rick and saying how awesome he was. She seemed to give Rick kudos whenever possible. Anyone who doubts that should go back and re-read the past posts.
Speaking of the posts, anyone who had or found the link to this blog could post a comment at any time. If a lot of people were posting comments about George, that should not be reflecting poorly on Brandy. She had no control over what comments people made or about who they were made about.
Instead of looking for bad things to say about this awesome team of people, why can't we just "not sweat the small s*it" (as George would say) and celebrate their (GEORGE, RICK, & CREW's) amazing accomplishment? They deserve it...all of them.
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