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French newspaper l'Equipe alleged over the weekend that some of the testosterone in Landis's urine sample is synthetic. Of course it seems this is all based on information that has been leaked and not been officially released. The German media rumored on Sunday that the testosterone and epitestosterone ratio was 11:1 which is more than double the 4:1 limit. Cyclingnews.com has an article on how one of the carbon isotopes is lower in synthetic testosterone than it is in natural testosterone. By using the method called Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, the synthetic testosterone can be detected. Our local paper also has a story from the AP on the rumor. Landis has officially requested that his B sample be tested but it is expected to return the same result. As I said in a previous post, I don't think anything should be released about a positive until the B sample is tested or the athlete doesn't ask for it to be tested. I don't understand why Landis would have used testosterone before stage 17 if it's true that it wouldn't have given him an immediate boost. A couple experts that I don't believe have any association with Landis said that in a FOXNews article.
posted by UltraRob @ 8:45:00 PM
 
The 24 Hour Mountain Bike Championships started this morning at 10 AM at 24 Hours of 9 Mile. Since it is a 24 hour race, it will be over at 10 AM tomorrow. JB posted a list of bloggers that are there. I doubt they'll have any updates until after the race but hopefully there will be some good race reports.
posted by UltraRob @ 2:54:00 PM
Landis was interviewed by phone on Larry King last night. The transcript of the interview is on CNN.com His physician Dr. Brent Kay was also on and said that testosterone really wouldn't have helped Landis. He said taking large amounts over time would actually decrease performance because of too much muscle mass gain. Lance Armstrong also was on the phone and brought up that the positive came from the same French lab that leaked that it had tested Armstrong's urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France. Lance said, "You know I'm a little skeptical of this particular laboratory ..."
posted by UltraRob @ 2:43:00 PM
Yesterday I posted that I thought pretty much everybody in pro cycling is doping in some form. This doesn't mean I think they're all using EPO, steroids, or blood doping. There's a wide range of ways to dope from the hard core stuff to some pretty innocent ways. It might be more accurate to say they take banned substances instead of calling it doping. Things like caffeine and Sudafed have only recently been removed from the banned list. I really have a hard time believing that Floyd Landis took anything before stage 17 of the Tour de France to increase his testosterone. He would have known he would be tested if he won the stage. Unlike some other forms of doping, testosterone is easily detected and fairly well understood. Also testosterone is something that needs to be taken over time in order to gain a performance boost. Getting an injection the night before stage 17 wouldn't have allowed him to have the incredible comeback that he did. I think that Floyd is telling the truth when he says he didn't dope. I think Floyd is one of the least likely in the peloton to dope and even if he did it wouldn't have been this way. He's too smart and has too good of doctors. There are natural ways this could have happened. A Fox News article does the best job I've been able to find of explaining reasons for testing positive. I'd like to know how high his testosterone/epitestosterone ratio was. Was it 4.1:1 or was it off the charts. Unfortunately Floyd's career and cycling in general have been damaged no matter what the result is for his B sample. If his B sample is also positive, then the final outcome will likely take months as he undergoes endocrine tests to prove that he naturally has high testosterone levels.
posted by UltraRob @ 9:36:00 AM
By now pretty much everyone whether or not they're a cyclist has heard that Floyd Landis has tested positive for too high a level of testosterone. They actually test for the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. Normally it is about 1 to 1. Recently the ratio for a positive test was lowered from 6:1 to 4:1. Only the A sample has been tested and Landis has said he will ask for the B sample to also be tested. He says he "can't be hopeful" about the B test. In the Tour de France they automatically test the stage winner and the yellow jersey wearer after each stage so he would have been tested a couple days before. I wonder if he was close to the limit then. Several riders who have returned test results with high testosterone have been able to prove they have naturally high levels of testosterone. In an article on BBC Sport, Landis says that maybe the injections of cortisone he's been getting for his hip may have had an effect. Normally cortisone is banned but he has an exemption because of his bad hip. He also revealed that he's been on thyroid medication for about a year. Reached by the AP, his mother Arlene Landis said she wouldn't blame her son for taking medication to ease the pain of his hip. "If it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win. I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are. I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions... It disappoints me." I certainly hope he can be cleared but that will take time. I do have a problem with the fact that it was released yesterday that a rider had tested positive during the Tour. That caused speculation that it was Landis because he didn't show up to 2 criteriums he was scheduled to be at. I don't think anything should be released until after the B sample has been tested if the rider asks for it. If Landis isn't able to prove he didn't dope, that will only add to my belief for the last 10 years that at that level of cycling they're all doping. It's partly based on a conversation several years ago with a rider that had raced in Europe as a pro. A lot of races in Colorado were sponsored by a company that sold a supplement called Sports Pep. It had some pretty powerful stimulants that at too high of levels were banned. If I took 2 of them before a race, I'd sit on the start line with my heart rate at 140 and I'd race very aggressive. I had a friend that didn't weigh much and he took one before a race and was so shaky that he could hardly control his bike on the downhills. This former pro rider told me he had taken 6 of them before a race we had just done. When I said that was a lot the replied that "it was nothing compared to what they took in Europe". Yes, I even think Lance doped. He just had good enough doctors to keep him from testing positive. I don't have anything to back that so it's just my opinion. However, I think that cycling is probably cleaner than baseball and football but they don't seem to get as much attention. Maybe it's because they require more strength and less endurance so they don't use drugs that seem so exotic. Some people have suggested that no testing be done and just let athletes do whatever it takes. I really don't think that is a good idea. Sports would then be dominated by 20 year olds that care more about winning than living to be 30. Testing limits the doping to what can be done without detection. This keeps the playing field somewhat level although those with more money or the right connections can gain a bit of an advantage. In an interview posted on cyclingnews.com on July 7th German doctor Kurt Moosburger says drug use in cycling is common. Below is how he says some of the doping is done to avoid detection. German doctor Kurt Moosburger, who has looked after Jorg Jaksche (among others) for the past two years, has told dpa that he believes that performance enhancing drugs are "indispensable" for high level cycling
In a frank interview, Moosburger pointed to the average speeds of modern professional races, especially hard tours. "The average in last year's Tour was 41 kilometres per hour - that is incredible. You can do a hard Alpine stage without doping. But after that, the muscles are exhausted. You need - depending on your training conditions - up to three days in order to regenerate."
To help recover, testosterone and human growth hormone can be used. "Both are made by the body and are therefore natural substances," he said. "They help to build muscle as well as in muscle recovery."
Dr Moosburger explained how it was done. "You put a standard testosterone patch that is used for male hormone replacement therapy on your scrotum and leave it there for about six hours. The small dose is not sufficient to produce a positive urine result in the doping test, but the body actually recovers faster."
Dr Moosburger went onto explain that, "The supply of oxygen to the blood decides what the body is capable of in terms of fat- and carbohydrate metabolism. This capacity is mostly genetically determined.The muscles of athletes who are able to reach the top level of sport can carry about 60 millilitres per kilo per minute in an untrained condition. That of an average person is only about 40 millilitres per kilo. In order to be able to keep up with the world's best, it must be 85 to 90 millilitres.
EPO helps oxygen carrying capacity, and has long been the performance enhancing drug of choice in endurance sports. "It enables you to hold the haematocrit of the blood in the upper level of what's allowed for the whole season. Before the EPO test, for example, athletes injected 4000 units three times per week. Now they inject a small dose almost daily."
Finally, in the opinion of Dr Moosburger, blood doping via transfusion would give an athlete a five percent boost for two to three weeks. "And therefore can last for a grand tour."
posted by UltraRob @ 3:24:00 PM
As I posted a couple days ago, I have hypothyroidism. Unfortunately that isn't the only medical issue I have. I also have bad allergies and asthma. My asthma is mainly triggered by allergens but I also have a bit of exercise induced-asthma. Of the 32 pollens in the standard prick test, there's only 4 that I'm not allergic to. I'm off the scale for grass and sage brush. That's why I put in my profile for Race Across America that I was worried that some farmer cutting his hay in Kansas would trigger an asthma attack. Last year while doing the RMCC 400k brevet, I went by a hay field where they were cutting hay and could feel my lungs shutting down. I struggled through the last 80 miles of the ride and ended up going to the ER after I finished. My peak flow, which is a measure of how well you can exhale, was only 30% of predicted at the ER. Even when I feel I'm breathing well, I'm only 80% of what is predicted for non-athletes. Athletes are typically 120-130% of predicted. I take a lot of medication to keep me breathing reasonably well. I take Zyrtec, an anti-histamine, every night. I also take Singulair at night. Morning and evening, I take the inhalers Pulmicort and Serevent and the nasal spray Nasonex. Before exercise I use another 3 inhalers. They are albuterol, Atrovent, and Intal. I also get allergy shots once a week and a Xolair shot once a month. A couple of these require a therapeutic use exemption for use as an athlete. I don't really expect to be tested with what I do but I'd rather have my form on file with USADA than risk it. I also had to provide RAAM with documentation before racing. Every race I've done that has been at least 24 hours long, I've had trouble with asthma except for the Adirondack 540 last year. I think that was partly because it rained a lot the first day and night of the race and also because I changed how I took my medication. In long races my asthma doctor also has me periodically take the 3 inhalers I normally take just before exercise in addition to the medication I take once or twice a day. In the past I had tried taking as much of it at one time so I wouldn't have to deal with taking medications too often. At the Adirondack 540, I decided to try spreading out my inhalers as much as possible. For example I normally take 3 puffs of Pulmicort twice a day but during the race I took 1 puff every 4 hours. Instead of taking the albuterol, Atrovent, and Intal at the same time, I spread them out. My thought was that at times I was low on protection from the medication and by spreading it out I'd be more evenly protected. I really do think it made a difference. Based on those results, I came up with a medication plan for RAAM. In addition to all the medication I normally take, I got a pneumonia vaccine since people have dropped out of RAAM in the past because of it. It ended up taking Jure Robic out this year and it was thought that Kenny Souza was suffering from it when he stopped for over 7 hours in Durango. The only time I really had much trouble with breathing was on the climb into Prescott. I think what triggered it there was that because of the dryness of the desert I had blood draining out of my sinuses into my throat and it was irritating my air passages. I took albuterol, Atrovent and Intal and stopped for about 20 minutes and then improved enough to get back on the bike. Labels: allergies, asthma, cycling, RAAM, Race Across America
posted by UltraRob @ 2:02:00 PM
When people find out that I have hypothyroidism, they ask how that affects my ability to do ultra-endurance activities. The biggest effect is that I have trouble with my weight. Even while I was training for the Race Across America, I logged my food everyday to get my weight to where I wanted it. Now that I'm not riding as much and not logging my food, my weight is creeping back up. Although the weight is a problem for my performance, the fact that my metabolism is slow may actually help me since I don't need as many calories. I also think my asthma hasn't been as bad since my thyroid medication has been regulated to the point I feel better. It's possible that it is at least partially responsible for some of my asthma problems. I had hypothyroidism symptoms for a while before I was diagnosed with it. The main test for hypothyroidism is a blood test for TSH which stands for thyroid-stimulating hormone. It is produced by the pituitary gland to tell the thyroid to produce more hormone. The problem is in the past labs have said that a normal value was 0.5 to 5.5. In early 2003 the range was changed to 0.3 to 3.0. I think the first couple times I was tested I was near the upper end of the range but didn't know enough to know what it meant. Free T4 and Free T3 are the other things tested for. It took about 3 frustrating years to get my medication to the point of feeling good. By the time I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I'd have a deep fatigue feeling during the last hour of 2 or 3 hour mountain bike races and I would struggle just to keep moving. Even once my blood tests were within the normal range, I still didn't recover well and would gain 5 pounds if I got sick with a cold. Now I've found that I don't feel good unless my TSH is down near 0.5. I think the important thing is to use blood tests as a guide but make sure your doctor treats you based on how you feel and not be whether you fall within some range. My TSH has been around 0.5 the last few years but when I was at the Emergency Room after dropping out of RAAM, my free T4 was low. Today I went in to get a blood test to see if that was because of the effort of RAAM or if I'm still that way. The ER doctor said my TSH was normal but of course without knowing the value of it, I don't know where it was in the range or what range was being used. When we were at the ER, it was 2 in the morning and the first time in over eight days that I'd slept more than 3 hours at a time so I didn't ask many questions. I need to get the full lab results sent to my doctor so I know what the TSH value was. I also found that I didn't feel good when I was on Synthroid and the other T4 only drugs. I had done some research and had read that some people do better with also supplementing T3. There's a good article on About.com that talks about it and also has links to other good articles about hypothyroidism. Another good article discusses the a New England Journal of medicine report on T4 versus T4 and T3 treatment. I remember reading something that said athlete's were more likely to need to take T3 but I can't find it now. I started taking Armour Thyroid and in only a few days I could tell a big difference. My doctor actually planned to put me on Thyrolar but it's expensive and the pharmacy I use doesn't even stock it. The pharmacy said to get me regulated on the Armour Thyroid and then use a formula to determine how much Thyrolar to take. I've felt well enough on Armour Thyroid to not want to go through trying something else. I've seen things about diet changes that are supposed to help if you have hypothyroidism. One thing that I've read is that cabbage somehow keeps you from absorbing the medication well. Eating healthy and avoiding sugar helps me feel better and recover faster from hard training rides but I think that would be true whether or not I had hypothyroidism. Honestly I can't say that what I eat makes a difference because of my thyroid other than keeping my weight under control. Labels: cycling, hypothyroidism, RAAM, Race Across America
posted by UltraRob @ 1:21:00 PM
The Race Across Oregon is going on this weekend. In the past it's been held in early June but the weather can get bad then. Rider positions are being updated on the results page as they go through each time station. At Prineville 404 miles into the race, Saunders Whittlesey is leading with about an hour lead over David Holt. I did it in 2004 and it is a brutal race. It is 538 miles with over 40,000 feet of climbing! It has been by far the most miserable ultra race I've done due to some nasal spray that I used which caused bad side effects. It's the only RAAM qualifier that I've gotten off the bike and told my crew to put it on the roof rack and I was dropping out. Even so it is a race I'd like to do again sometime. The year I did it we had a lot of cold rain and it was snowing so hard at the finish that they shortened the course by 6 miles. They weren't worried about us riding in the snow but the visibility was so bad they were afraid of us getting hurt by a car. George and Terri put on a quality event and are a great couple. I did their first 4 day training camp and it was small group so I got a chance to get to know them. Even if you aren't planning on doing the race, the training camps would make for a great, tough ride. If the weather is nice, the scenery is great and you get into some remote areas of Oregon. I think the 4 day camp is the best option. The 3 day camp makes for some really long days even though they don't do the first 40 or so miles.
posted by UltraRob @ 9:58:00 AM
Floyd Landis seemed to say after he cracked on stage 16 of the Tour de France that he just had a bad day. In an interview on cyclingnews.com after the time trial today, he does say that he didn't eat enough on stage 16 so his amazing ride on stage 17 wasn't some kind of miraculous improvement but was just him getting back to normal. Did he want the other riders to think he was sick instead of bonking so he could get off the front the next day? In any case he's had an amazing couple of days and tomorrow should make it 8 years in a row for an American to win the Tour de France.
posted by UltraRob @ 10:17:00 PM
 Nathan Archer, who we hired in January after he graduated from University of Texas, is still riding his bike toward Anchorage, Alaska after leaving Austin, Texas on June 3rd. He is part of the Texas 4000 group cycling to raise money for the fight against cancer. They plan to arrive in Anchorage on August 11. They came through Colorado Springs while I was racing RAAM. He posted a journal entry on Tuesday while they were taking a rest day in Prince George, BC. It sounds like he's tired but having a lot of fun. Actually I'm quite jealous. Several of them, including Nathan, got mohawks on the rest day so I'll have to see it when he gets back to work. It's great that we work at a Fluke Networks that allows us the flexibility to pursue our dreams outside of work. I still need to work a couple extra days on the weekends to make up for the time off I didn't have that I used to recover from RAAM.
posted by UltraRob @ 9:48:00 PM
 This week I've commuting by bike everyday since my wife's van has been in the shop and she's using my vehicle. It takes about 45 minutes to get to work and 30 minutes to get home. At our old work location, it was 24 minutes to work and 12 minutes home which was just enough to need a shower but not feel like I'd gotten a ride in. The first two thirds is on the bike path along Fountain Creek and the last third is mainly quiet street with only a few blocks of busy street. After a very dry first 6 months of the year, we've been having thunderstorms nearly every day. Yesterday it rained so hard at work that you could nearly go rafting in the parking lot. Officially this month we've had nearly double the precipitation of the first 6 months. That's recorded at the airport at the southwest corner of the city and the thunderstorms generally are worse to the west and north. Yesterday the official rainfall was only 0.03 inch. Fortunately by the time I got ready to ride home the extreme lightning was over and there was only light rain. On the short section that I'm along Cottonwood Creek, there was a little water flowing on the bike path. Normally it's just a tiny stream but yesterday it was a raging torrent. With all the storms, at least 5 people have been injured and one killed by lightening in Colorado in the last week. During the storms during RAAM there were a couple times were I didn't feel safe because of lightening and I took shelter in the follow van. According to the NOAA lightning safety information if you get caught out on a bike during a thunderstorm there's really no safe place but gives a list of safer locations. If you are really caught out with nowhere to go, they have what they call the lightning desperation position.
posted by UltraRob @ 5:13:00 PM
I was really disappointed yesterday when Floyd Landis cracked on the climb to La Toussuire. He seemed to say he was just having an off day but other reports have said he bonked hard. There's a good article on Biking Bis about what might have happened. I was really hoping he would win the overall. He was a mountain biker before making the switch to the road and I admire his hard work ethic. I can also relate to the way he grew up. Since I don't have cable, I read the live report on cyclingnews.com. Since I know a lot of people watch the stage in the evening, I won't spoil it but it was an incredible stage. With only 30 seconds between the top 3 riders on GC, Saturday's time trial will determine the overall winner.
posted by UltraRob @ 2:19:00 PM
 Photo courtesy of Tom at GVH Bikes.I have spent the last 8 years refining my nutrition for 24 hour and longer races. I owe a big thanks to Dr. Bill, who is now retired from Hammer Nutrition. After having serious stomach problems in my first couple 24 hour mountain bike races, Dr. Bill tried convincing me that I didn't need solid food in a race that short. It took him a while but I finally decided to try it my 2nd time solo at the 24 Hours of Moab. It worked so well I've stuck with all liquid fueling since then for 24 hour and shorter events. In the Race Across America qualifiers, I've eaten only a small amount of saltines, fruits and nuts. The exception to this was last year in the Adirondack 540 where my stomach was messed up from taking predisone after an asthma attack during the RMCC 400k brevet last June. Steve Born, also Hammer Nutrition, has helped me fine tune my nutrition including supplements for the longer events. E-CAPS/Hammer Nutrition is one of my sponsors and a big thanks goes out to them. If you've never tried their products and you do long events, you owe it to yourself to give their products a try. They are really good at helping their customers fine tune their fuels and supplements. You can get 15% off your first order by using this link. A previous blog entry describes the basics of how I use their products for various length events. Nutrition was never an issue in my RAAM attempt. I had consistent energy except for one time in the desert when I gave in to my Coke craving. I fought it for 5 or 6 hours and finally asked my crew for a Coke. I told myself I'd only drink half of it. They got me a 20 oz bottle and I drank close to 2/3 of it. It only took about 15 minutes before my energy started crashing. Of course this had to be just before the Yarnell grade of 8 miles at 8% grade. To make matters worse it was early afternoon with a brutal sun and about 100 degrees. During RAAM my goal was to get at least 70% of my calories from liquids. I think I was quite a bit higher than that. As long as my digestion could keep up, I tried getting between 250-280 calories and hour. The majority of the time I was drinking a bottle with 2 scoops of Perpetuem and 2 scoops of Endurolyte powder. On the Yarnell Grade and also on Wolf Creek Pass I switched to HEED although I wasn't having a problem with the Perpetuem but HEED is easier to digest. I think I had a couple other bottles of HEED through the desert mainly for something different. I was also eating small amounts of watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, red grapes, pretzels, saltines, nuts, and turkey lunch meat. At Tuba City I requested a chicken soft taco with rice from Taco Bell minus some of the sauces. Especially in the desert the watermelon was great. My crew would cut it up and put it in a plastic bag in one of the ice bags so it was really cold. My mouth would get so dry that sipping water wouldn't help the dryness but eating the watermelon would. Here's what I did pretty much every hour for E-caps and Hammer Nutrition Supplements: Every 4th hour I was taking 1 Super AO. From 10 AM until 6 PM I was mixing in a serving of Liquid Endurance to my drink. I actually got to the point of preferring the taste of Perpetuem with Liquid Endurance over just Perpetuem. I did find that a few times a day my stomach would get a little acidic and I'd take a couple Tums. I was also using a few tums a day that I would let sit in my mouth as a paste to help with mouth sores. I actually had less problems during RAAM than I had in my qualifiers. I was also occasionally rinsing my mouth with Mylanta in an attempt to decrease the mouth sores. An hour before I'd stop for a sleep break, I would take 3 PICs and start drinking a bottle with 3 scoops of Recoverite in it. Once I'd stop, I'd take 4 more PICs, drink 5 scoops of Recoverite, take 2 capsules of fish oil and take 3 Tissue Rejuvenators. I was amazed at how much I was recovering with just 3 hours of sleep. Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, sports nutrition
posted by UltraRob @ 2:03:00 PM
Right now I'm thinking I'll do the RMCC 200k on July 29th. They also have a 300k from Denver to Aspen the following weekend but that would mean a lot more driving and time away from home. I did both of them last year. The 300k is really a great ride and goes over Independence Pass which is one of my favorites in the state. If my training goes well and my leg is recovered, I'd then like to do the Durango MTB 100. I finished 4th there in 2003 and 5th in 2004. I'll have to feel like I'm riding well to go do it because it is a race that can really beat you up. It really makes the other 100 milers seem easy. There's 18,000 feet of climbing with the high point being over 11,500 feet. In 2003 there were 70 starters and only 15 finishers. Part of it was the really muddy conditions but in 2004 the conditions were probably about as good as they'll ever be and there were only 16 finishers. The number of starters for the 103 miles has dropped because they're also offering a 50k and 100k. I'd really like to be back at RAAM next year but don't see how I can afford it or have enough vacation time. Of course if I had the money, I could take unpaid time off from work. If you know of any good sponsors or would like to sponsor me, please contact me. Of course if everybody that reads this blog would donate $10 and ask 10 of their friends to do the same, I'd have enough money for RAAM. The only problem is that sounds like those get rich scheme's that are always filling up my inbox.
posted by UltraRob @ 9:54:00 PM
The last couple weeks I've kept my rides an hour or less and at a recovery pace. Monday I rode an hour and 15 minutes and my left leg was only a little tighter after the ride. Yesterday 5 of us from work went out at lunch. I'm lucky to work with several good riders. James won the 24 Hours of EROCK the beginning of June even though he did a fair amount of it without a crew. Last year he finished the Leadville 100 in under 8 hours which is something very few people have done. Bob was also on the ride. He was on was on the 4 person team that finished 3rd overall at the 24 Hours of Steamboat this year. John is a Sport mountain bike racer and we also had Daryle, my 2nd level manager, who is a strong recreational rider. We also have a few other strong recreational riders that weren't on yesterday's ride. We went out into Black Forest which has lots of rollers. At least that's what we call them although people from other places don't agree. I was riding with Mike Enfield from Arizona at last years RMCC 200k and he insisted they were climbs instead of rollers. James was pushing what seemed like a hard pace but I haven't done any intensity for nearly a month and a half. I managed to hang on even though Daryle and John got dropped. Bob also looked like he was working hard to stay on so I think I haven't lost as much speed as I thought I might have. I had some pain in my left leg and hip but not nearly bad enough to affect my riding. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before everything is back to normal.
posted by UltraRob @ 7:24:00 AM
I've been posting deals that I find out about from my advertisers on UltraRob's Deals. Ok, I didn't keep up the last few weeks before RAAM and of course during RAAM but I've been posting deals since then. Yesterday I got a great deal from Bike Nashbar that you'll want to take advantage in the next few days if they have something that you're needing.  Get 20% off at Nashbar.com on orders over $100 now through 7/14/06. Use coupon code AF71.
posted by UltraRob @ 7:00:00 AM
Below is an e-mail I received from Perimeter Bicycling. I couldn't find more information on their website but as far as I know you can vote for any rider whether or not they finished.
It was a grueling race this year and your vote is needed to honor the dedication, discipline and valor of your favorite RAAM cyclist! Use your own criteria for any cyclist – solo or member of a team.
Please send an e-mail today to info@perimeterbicycling.com with your selection! In order to validate your vote please include your name, your e-mail and your address.
Votes will be counted on Friday, July 14, 2006, so please vote NOW!All RAAM cyclists (solos and individual members of the relay teams) are eligible for this prestigious award. Amongst other accolades, the winner will receive: - Round-Trip airfare (U.S only, sorry!) to participate in the 2006 First Magnus El Tour de Tucson XXIV presented by Diamond Ventures on Nov 18, including complimentary entry and 4-day hotel accommodations. El Tour is the largest Perimeter Bicycling event in the U.S. welcoming over 8000 participants from all over the world including Olympic & pro-level racers as well as families at all levels of cycling experience.
- Two complimentary tickets to the El Tour Dedication Dinner, where he/she will be introduced.
- Recognition at the El Tour Grand Cycling Awards Ceremony after the event on Saturday, November 19
Thank you for participating! Please feel free to pass this on to others you feel would like to have their voice heard! If you’ve already voted – THANK YOU! You are part of the Sprit of RAAM Please vote today!
posted by UltraRob @ 7:58:00 PM
Our local paper, the Gazette, published an article about RAAM last week.
posted by UltraRob @ 7:47:00 PM
Today I went in to Dr. Wood to get my leg troubles worked on. He adjusted my pelvis, back and neck. In addition to doing chiropractive adjustments he also uses Active Release Technique to work on soft tissue. As he felt along my IT band he had a "this isn't good look". He worked out a big knot in the IT band and also said I had a problem with my Sartorius muscle. He also worked some on the tightness in the quads but said it was from the other issues. A big thanks to Dr. Leahy who developed the Active Release Technique. I am lucky that Dr. Leahy is right here in Colorado Springs. Dr. Wood and Dr. Matthews are also in the office here. They are one of my sponsors and were a big help during my training for RAAM and now they are helping me recover. They have trained providers all over the country. You can search for ART providers in your area.
posted by UltraRob @ 10:12:00 PM
We got back home around midnight on Saturday. We drove about 1600 miles in 2 days which seemed like a long ways especially with a 3 year old and a 21 month old. It helped me put into perspective the 2,000 miles of RAAM that I did in 8 days on a bike. I plan to write a more detailed day by day account of my RAAM experience over the next several days or weeks depending on how quickly I get the pile of bills cleared off my desk. We've spent the last couple days trying to get caught up on things but I still have a mountain of mail to go through. Today was my first day at work in a month. To make it tougher, they moved the office to another building while I was gone for RAAM. I spent some time wandering around the cubicle maze trying to figure out where everything is. The good news about the work move is we will now have 3 showers instead of 2 in the locker room. I thought we were supposed to have more lockers since we often ended up stacking stuff on the bench at the old location. The lockers aren't in yet but I'm having trouble seeing how there can be more. Definitely on the downside is we're farther from the good road riding and it's even worse for mountain bike riding. It also increasing my drive time a fair amount although now it's far enough to make sense to ride my bike in on easy days. The old location was about 4.5 miles from my house which was just far enough to need a shower but not far enough to count as a training ride.
posted by UltraRob @ 9:42:00 PM
 Tom from GVH Bikes crewed for me in RAAM. He has put pictures that do a really good job of summarizing my race on the GVH Bikes website. Just follow the link from the home page. If you ever want a bike built up just the way you want it instead of with pre-selected components, Tom can build one just the way you want it.
posted by UltraRob @ 10:14:00 AM
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