During a few months he did what he needed to in order to raise the required amount. The night before race day he decided he was going to make and laminate a sign for his back. His sign simply said In memory of Travis Poll with his birth and death date. The next morning when he started the race he pinned his sign to his back.
At the finish line he told us and others that this ride was more emotional for him. He said the support he received during the race was amazing. There were several times in the ride that people would ride up to him and start talking about Travis. They wanted to know all about him. Other times people would ride up and say jump in with our group Travis would not want you to quit. He was amazed with all the support people were giving him.
When he finished the race we were waiting at the finish line for my brothers. We werestanding around talking and watching the other riders when a lady stopped and started reading the sign on his back. She got a huge grin on her face and started getting the attention of the other people with her. They approached us and began asking how we knew Travis Poll. Nelson explained that it was a good friend of his. They became teary and said, “That is our cousin and nephew, thank you so much for doing this for him”. They asked him if he would take off his sign so they could get pictures taken with him. I felt myself get emotional as I watched and listened to them talk to each other. The crazy thing is there are about 1,800 people who do the race. What are the chances we would run into someone who would know Travis?
Nelson had a great race and felt pretty good when he was done. This year for the race Nelson wanted to complete it in ten hours and 30 minutes. He actually got 11:08. He was not so pleased with that but still had such a great accomplishment of completing the race. This year was a little rougher on the training with the half ironman and his bishop responsibilities. He did a great job and I was grateful we could be there cheering him on. 
