Towards the end of the Race Across America, he was known to weep uncontrollably and was sometimes to be seen hopping off his bike to fight imaginary assailants – bears, wolves or aliens – which turned out to be mailboxes. He imagined that cracks in the road were coded messages, and on one occasion became convinced he was being pursued by the Mujahedeen on horseback; his support team encouraged him to ride faster, pretending that they could see them too. "Sometimes during races he gets off his bike and walks towards us in the follow car, very angry," recalled a team member in 2006. "We lock the doors."