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Outside Magazine May 2003
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The Hard Way
Misery Loves Company (Cont.)

SCABBED LEGS and bruised arms hanging out the windows and some mournful Tammy Wynette tune on the radio and Nevada floating by like a Magritte dream.

"If I come in from a lap and have suffered as much as I possibly could, that means I had a great lap, that means I had a lot of fun..." sighs Nat.

"When you're having a good race and you get into the groove and you're focusing, you can sort of transcend the suffering—that's what's fun..." says Pat.

"It's suffering together," Dan squeaks.


Something happened in the night. We were all out there struggling together, and it was so difficult that the nasty side of competitiveness just melted away. You didn't know who was ahead or behind; you were just gliding through the cool darkness, pushed onward by the faith of others. Your legs had turned to lead and your lungs were on fire and you were so whipped you wanted to cry, but when dawn finally came, every racer on the mountain had become a member of the same bighearted team.

I want to ask who's up for Moab, but I'm half asleep. We're all half asleep, the ghost van carrying us across the desert.




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