‘Breathe With Me’

I feel a little like the victim in Prodigy’s song, “Breathe.” Every time Justin’s dot hesitates, I hear the lyrics, Come play my game I'll test ya’. Psychosomatic addict insane…and every time it moves again, I hear, Exhale, exhale, exhale.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief this morning when I found out via MTBCast that Justin is alive and well (and apparently oblivious to being untraceable for the past 26 hours). He called in from Helena, MT, last night not knowing what day of the week it was—but knew he was Day 5 into the Tour!

In his call, he says he’s trying to wean himself off the 1,800 milligrams of Ibuprofen he takes DAILY for his injury. He tried taking fewer pills, but had a sleepless Sunday night, which did little to prepare him for climbing two big passes the next day. He saw his first cub sighting (thankfully, no momma bear was in sight) on the first pass.

The second pass, Richmond Peak, was “pretty much a nightmare,” he recounted. “There was a big storm that had just rolled in. So, super tacky, muddy…there were so many mosquitoes it looked like it was raining…and then hike-a-bike through a mile of snow at the top.”

Justin rode 130 miles yesterday and plans to make it to Wise River, MT, today—noted for its peaks, lakes and spectacular scenery.


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He continues to ride strong despite his injury and the unprecedented number of storms this year. In a recent race report, Kevin Montgomery wrote:

In addition to the terrain that the racers are facing, there are a number of bad storms that continue to rain down on the racers and slow down progress. Unlike recent years with generally favorable weather through Montana, this year the racers have been forced to endure many cold and stormy days.

Hopefully Justin will get the chance to chat up Rob Leipheimer (the older brother of Astana pro cyclist Levi) when he rolls through Butte like Matthew Lee did.

Also, if you haven’t noticed the split chart (I hadn’t until it was mentioned in the TD blog), check it out. There’s also been some banter in the comment sections that are worth a read.

For those of you who’d like to revisit 1996, here’s Prodigy's (family-unfriendly) video:



Exhale.