Gary Robbins and John Kelly go for a bromantic bike ride
Last year's Barkley Marathon partners rode up Mount Baker this week, and met some curiously well-informed border guards in the process
When ultramarathoner and triathlete John Kelly of Rockville, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.) found himself in Vancouver on business this week, he made a point of catching up with his pal Gary Robbins, who took him for a bike ride. A bike ride of 100 miles, across the U.S. border and up Washington state’s Mount Baker.
They met some curiously knowledgeable border guards on their trip, as Robbins described in an Instagram post last night.
RELATED: Robbins’ 2018 Barkley race report: “Help is not coming”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl9c7axHSDd/?taken-by=garyrobbins
Robbins and Kelly bonded as the final two Barkley Marathons participants left on the course last year. (They ran at least one loop of the 100-miler together, but the race rules prohibited them from teaming up for the final loop, which Kelly successfully finished, and Robbins did not.)
The Barkley has been captured in a number of documentaries, including Ethan Newberry’s “Where Dreams Go To Die” and Matthew Dorman’s “Endless,” which aired recently on TSN. Robbins was back at Barkley this year, but a night of torrential rain on the course conspired to end his race after completing three out of five loops of the notoriously difficult 100-mile course.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_DGiAldeL/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=9erd282ttj67
Kelly commented in his Facebook post how nice it was to spend time with Robbins “outside Frozen Head” (referring to Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park, site of the Barkley Marathons).
Crossing into the U.S. yesterday, Robbins and Kelly met a border guard who asked Robbins if he ordered pizza while running 135 miles. Robbins assumed he’d read Dean Karnazes’ book, Ultramarathon Man, though it’s more likely he’d seen Karnazes on Letterman, where he described ordering pizza on his cellphone in the middle of a very long run–guesstimating his location 30 minutes hence–and eating it while running.
On the way back, the border guard actually recognized Robbins from coverage of the Barkley. Apparently the chances of meeting a Canada/U.S. border official familiar with ultrarunning are higher in B.C./Washington than elsewhere.
RELATED: Gary Robbins is a runner turned cyclist (for the summer)
Robbins is recovering from a stress fracture and not currently running, so he’s been doing a lot of cycling, for which Kelly was quick to give him credit.
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