Rick's Ride: 3,500 Kilometers. 23 Days.
The 2008 Tour de France.
PRESS COVERAGE
LeParisien.fr has interviewed Czelusta and posted this article, which is translated below, courtesy of Simone Barrilleaux.
Jesse and His Guardian Angels
EPISODE 2. Throughout the Tour de France, we invite you to experience the wanderings of a 32-year-old Californian who rides all stages ahead of the peloton, in memory of a friend and to raise funds for two charities.We joined him between Brest and Nantes, nd we followed him before, during, and after crossing the Pyrenees. His blue eyes have grown pale. His cheeks are a bit hollow. According to the counter, Jesse the Californian has now ridden 2286.5 km of the Tour and more than 2500 km total. A few days earlier, on the terrace of the train station hotel near Lannemezan (Hautes-Pyrenees), he savored his day of rest, though he seemed a bit hazy. He had just conquered some of the most mythical mountain passes of the Pyrenees and was preparing himself for the next stages... resolved to confront new challenges. Repeated breakdowns, grueling knee pain, difficulty sleeping, and massive logistical headache getting from one town to the next... In the twelfth day of racing, he confessed, "It has turned out to be an even bigger adventure than I had planned"..."This whole adventure has been a battle of problem versus solutions, and every day I ask myself, 'Okay, what's the challenge going to be today?'"
Then, smiling, he talks about an email he sent to his mother recently: "Mom, do not worry; I am surrounded by angels in camping cars."
The assistance of a former race car driver helped Jesse take his first blow in stride when his luggage rack broke twice. "I thought it was the end of the race." But the first angels would appear:. "Two guys in a camping car cobbled it together with bungee cords and baling wire."
The same scenario the next day: "A neighbor in a tent tracked me down a pair of pliers and brought me to the repair shop. Then two Canadians in a camper-van have offered to help carry my luggage."
After the departure of his friend Thomas at Cholet (see prior article on July 8), Jesse has survived three difficult stages of the Tour alone. At Aurilliac, his younger brother Craig Jason, called CJ, who was supposed to join him in Toulouse, was waiting for Jesse a day in advance just one kilometer from the finish... "with a beer and a smile! I was so happy to see him that I felt I could go to the Alps!"
After the first Pyrenean mountain passes, there was yet another discouragement. On the eve of Bastille Day, the stem of his bike cracked. He rode a short stage on the bike of his late friend Rick, provided by CJ, and CJ went in search of a repair shop.... and happens upon Guy Bloy, bicycle mechanic in Pau, who did not hesitate to sacrifice his holiday to do the repair. At Lannemezan is Charre Martial, who has a shop downtown, who repairs the bike's saddle. Beforehand, amidst the summits of Hautacam, a family offered him a place to nap in their garden. Further on, during the stage on the day before yesterday, his derailleur broke a second time, he is helped by a former rider of the Tour de France, Dutchman Art Vierhouten. At the Lourdes passage, Jesse stopped to pray. His mother, a very religious woman, had requested he do so. While he says he is "is not very religious," he affirms that while forging his way through the Tour, "each day is a test of faith!"
