New York Times has an excellent article about endurance cyclist Jure Rubic. Jure, A member of the Slovenian Special Forces, has an intense style when he races but before the article I did not realize how intense. Basically he goes crazy. It talks about how he will occasionally jump off of his bike and fight invisible Mujahadeen and then jump back on his bike and ride fast to get away from the invisible enemies. John Stamsted said that when you push yourself in these events peoples personalities tend to shift. Quiet people get loud and the meager get aggressive. Jure explains it by saying that the mental and physical stress turns you inside-out. Everything that is buried in you gets brought to the surface, nothing can hide. This is why I believe that so many enduro-athletes refer to the importance of knowing yourself.
The Race Across America has always been a fascination for me. The excessive and expensive support system that each rider has is a turn off for me, but I still like following the race. I have kept up with the race in recent years to follow Allen Larsen (click on the link just to see a picture of Allen which pretty much sums up what it takes to win RAAM), Tinker Jaurez, and 18 year old Ben Couturier. In 2008 I will be following local rider Micheal Emde. Micheal tore up the Furnace Creek 508 the last two years which should indicate that he can be competitive in RAAM,
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