Day 2: Back from the Dead

Editor’s Note: Tim Case has survived the second night of the Race Across America. This is a solo bike race that will have him cross the United States in about 10 days. He left Oceanside, Calif., Sunday morning and had completed 550 miles by 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tim is riding for Team Strong Heart to raise money and awareness for Camp Odayin, which is dedicated to serving children with severe heart problems.

We are a new team right now. Whew, we had quite an adventure the last 24 hours. Tim is still going. Yesterday, he was physically starting to decline and mentally, he was doubting himself. This was in the middle of the day, in the dead of heat, in the middle of the desert.

Things weren’t looking good. We had to pull together as a team. He wasn’t even mentally there. He was so sleep deprived.

We decided it was time for him to sleep. We told him it was time to go to sleep. He had to sleep for longer than just 30 minutes. We got him a hotel. He slept for two hours, got a shower. He was a new man.

It re-motivated him. He rode through the night. He rode over 130 miles through the night. It was awesome. And he is just cruising right now. We passed him going 29 miles per hour a few minutes ago. We got him to gain five pounds since yesterday.

We’re passing riders. It’s happening now.

Just a few hours ago, we didn’t know if he was going to make it. He needed sleep. It was like seeing Tim after a night working the fire station. When he gets a lot of calls and is sleep deprived, he gets delirious.

It was the same situation. We had to force him to sleep. He woke up, and he is a whole new man. Yesterday, he was very much doubting that he could finish. We told him, “We are not letting you stop.” We told him, “This is your dream.”

When he slept at the hotel, we came up with a new game plane. Tim is a numbers man. He wakes up everyday at 6:15, gets to the firehouse at 7, makes coffee. It’s like clockwork, every day he does the same thing.

Our new schedule for him is broken down to the minute. We broke this down into mini events, and he feels really good about it. It’s amazing how in 12 hours this entire race has turned around in a positive way.

Our half of the crew had been up for 36 hours straight. We took our own advice and we finally slept and showered at the same motel he stayed at. We feel awesome now. Right now we are 20 miles ahead of Tim, almost at Tuba City, Ariz. (Time check 9, 562.5 miles from the start).

He’s been averaging 11.16 miles per hour since the start (including all stops). You are going to start to see his numbers going up. We basically had to figure out how our machine works. This is our first time running it, and it took a lot of people to come together.

We are not stopping until we get to Annapolis.

We are above the race’s minimum pace and right now Tim’s goal is to complete this race in 10 days. He can make that call now. Yesterday, he couldn’t make a decision; he couldn’t focus. He was not there mentally; he was extremely nauseas and wasting eating.

This morning he was hungry, he was eating pancakes. He’s all there. He is 100 percent. He is back in this race.

—Michelle Pearl, Tim’s girlfriend and crew member. Dictated to Jacob Harkins

Other Posts:
Some thoughts from Tim
The Finish
Day 11 1/2
Day 11
Day 9
Day 8
Day 7
Day 6
Day 5
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1