In October I had the pleasure of serving as a support crew member for a two-man relay team competing in the Furnace Creek 508, a 508-mile bike race that goes through the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. It was my first time in such a role, and the experience taught me a lot about cycling and endurance. We left at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and finished around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night; I got about two hours sleep in the passenger seat and was exhausted, so I can only imagine how tired the riders must have been. Still, despite the suffering and grinding and constant pedaling in the heat and wind and hills, the race seemed fun. And for the people who manage to finish it, quite an achievement.

Somewhere around the middle of the race, late at night in Death Valley, watching Ken pedal fast through the flats while enjoying relatively pleasant temperatures, I saw a shooting star and quietly vowed to someday complete this race myself. I’ve got a lot of practicing to do before then — first I’m just going to try to make it 200 miles.

Below are some of the photos I shot on the trip, and at the bottom of this post is a time lapse video I made with photos from a GoPro camera that I attached to the inside of the van’s window.