It’s time to bring a bit of personality to one of those pink spots towards the back of the pack, Jo Ann Burtard.  I have been following her day and night as she tackles the rigors of the Divide.  And she drives me nuts without her spot tracker regularly on; I mean how are we going to make sure that she’s ok out there in the big world?  I mean, even the Big Guys fear the bears and they are more accounted for with their trackers blinking reliably! But Jo’s independent and fierce in her own way.  By profession Jo Ann is a yoga teacher and Shiatsu body worker living in Santa Fe.  She never uses age as an excuse, but she’s 56 years young and 5’ tall.  She chose to ride her cross bike for this ride, despite other’s discouraging her.  Some would still be recovering from their collar bone fracture, the 4th one….But Jo was determined to do this adventure and nothing was going to stop her.  She called her husband from Pinedale last night, having had her bike worked on that made it worse than when she got to the shop.  She described numb fingertips that make it necessary to push her tracker with a stick.  She described an encounter with a moose that she no doubt, thoroughly appreciated.  Still she’s pressing on this morning, again without her tracker on, and has miles to go.  Jo is my most loyal, grateful and appreciative friend, (to say nothing of ambitious and strong) and she’s my hero in this event.

It’s time to bring a bit of personality to one of those pink spots towards the back of the pack, Jo Ann Burtard.  I have been following her day and night as she tackles the rigors of the Divide.  And she drives me nuts without her spot tracker regularly on; I mean how are we going to make sure that she’s ok out there in the big world?  I mean, even the Big Guys fear the bears and they are more accounted for with their trackers blinking reliably! But Jo’s independent and fierce in her own way.  By profession Jo Ann is a yoga teacher and Shiatsu body worker living in Santa Fe.  She never uses age as an excuse, but she’s 56 years young and 5’ tall.  She chose to ride her cross bike for this ride, despite other’s discouraging her.  Some would still be recovering from their collar bone fracture, the 4th one….But Jo was determined to do this adventure and nothing was going to stop her.  She called her husband from Pinedale last night, having had her bike worked on that made it worse than when she got to the shop.  She described numb fingertips that make it necessary to push her tracker with a stick.  She described an encounter with a moose that she no doubt, thoroughly appreciated.  Still she’s pressing on this morning, again without her tracker on, and has miles to go.  Jo is my most loyal, grateful and appreciative friend, (to say nothing of ambitious and strong) and she’s my hero in this event.