five-gallon buckets and liberally coated the exit bank with river water to assure it would be plenty slippery , even for the first riders through . And finally , these highly enthusiastic spectators absolutely filled every viewable inch of the entire area leading to , surrounding , and exiting , the crossing . Spectators lined the bridge up on the highway , lined the banks on both sides of the river , several rows deep , and especially , packed the actual crossing itself . Oh yes , there were throngs of spectators leading up to the crossing , in the river itself , and especially on the exit bank . Hundreds and hundreds of them right on the course itself . It was most certainly a sight to behold .
For riders attempting to make the crossing , the challenges were many . First , you had to actually get to the river . Crazy as it sounds , there was no “ opening ” in the course leading up to the river . Spectators actually filled in every inch of space , including on the course itself , so riders had to indeed thread their way through the crowd , to the river bank . Then , depending on where you dropped into the water , the bank could easily be vertical , and / or lead into a big hole in the river bottom . Either way , a forward somersault was entirely possible and did indeed occur not infrequently . Then , churning through the water was certainly no easy task , as any rider
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