Day 07 – Main Course

Breakfast was served at 3:45am and the rider meeting started at 4:00am on Sunday morning. Jeff has served up 34 pages of deliciousness for the riders to consider. Who will suffer from biting off to much, or over eating, or indigestion? Who will be satisfied with a safe choice and who will take the spicy adventure? Who will order the best dish and be ready for the dessert awaiting them at the finish? For a historical culinary tidbit, the riders who took the Alaska option in the 2001 rally were served Baked Alaska at the finish. It was delicious and your scribe enjoyed it immensely.

The staff was interested in several things regarding the riders in the meeting. For instance, what their reaction might be when the standings were announced and the shake up, with some riders dropping significantly and some gaining places significantly became apparent to everyone, especially the leaders. Another topic of speculation was how long would it take riders to plan a route for such a long third leg, with a lot of bonus opportunities and combinations available all across the country… and beyond.

Leg 2 rider standings may be seen here: Rally Data > Standings

Riders who left the hotel lobby after less than 1.5 hours of planning time:

There were still bikes in the parking lot and riders trying to plan routes well after 10:00am.

Leg 2 leader Steve Gallant was eating pie in the middle of the leg. The Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pie bonus, worth 884 points was the deciding difference between 1^st place and 2^nd place standing at the end of Leg 2. We are guessing that the memory of eating that fried pie will be even sweeter for Steve than how it tasted the first time.