There's a lot that goes into doing the Race Across America. The long hours of training, making a nutrition plan, convincing at least 6 people to take 12 days to cross the country and the list goes on. One of the hardest things if you're not a top rider is coming up with enough money. I think even the top riders struggle with getting sponsors.
When I did RAAM last year, I didn't do very well getting enough sponsors. A big thanks goes out to the sponsors I did have. I ended up spending a lot of my own money to make RAAM happen for me. Money is the biggest factor as to when I attempt RAAM again. Time to train is another factor but that can be helped with enough money.
There's an easy way you can help me get the money to do RAAM again. It won't cost you any extra and it might even save you some money. At the top of this page there is a cycling and outdoor gear search box. I have over 150,000 product entries from over 40 cycling and outdoor gear stores. They include companies like Price Point, Performance Bike, Bike Nashbar, Jenson USA and I'm working on adding more. Each time you make a purchase, I get a commission and I'll use it to do RAAM or maybe I'll make a detour along the way and do the Great Divide Race.
You can also help by linking to my cycling and outdoor gear search page if you have a blog or website. Even if you don't have a lot of traffic, it still helps for you to link because search engines rank sites with more links higher. Thanks for helping me continue to pursue my dreams.
Ken Chlouber confirmed that he runs that race as a NORBA sanctioned event because of the insurance they provide. He says if Landis is suspended and can't race NORBA he'll drop NORBA and get insurance elsewhere. Now the question is, will Lance show up too?
Unfortunately this month I've continued to make my ride for the UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge half my time on the bike for the month. I was partly to blame this month for spending too much time thinking about the Race Across America. Saturday I got out for 95 miles with 3540 feet of climbing.
On Friday I got my new Olympus Stylus 750 camera. I've been using a Stylus 410 but sometimes I want more zoom. We only have one digital camera so sometimes Julie ends up using an older film camera so it seemed like a good idea to get another digital camera. Some other endurance riders have gone with the Stylus 725 SW camera which is pretty much bomb proof but it only has a 3x optical zoom. The Stylus 750 has a 5x optical zoom. I've never had a problem throwing the Stylus 410 in my jersey pocket without anything to protect it so I don't think I need the 725 SW. With both cameras you can get more zoom using digital zoom. The Stylus 780 is out but I couldn't find any reason to spend $305 on it versus $170 for the 750.
Since I wanted to try out the new camera I took it along on a ride that I wouldn't normally bother to carry a camera. I rode in areas where I ride fairly often and although it's pretty, the views aren't as spectacular as in the mountains. Here are some of the unedited pictures I took.
I've received a couple e-mails about a new reflective white stripe in the Garden of the Gods. I haven't ridden there since it's been added so I don't know exactly what it looks like but several people have crashed. One of the top local mountain bike racers crashed but wasn't seriously hurt. An USA Cycling employee went down and broke his ankle and had to have surgery. Just be careful if you do ride in the Garden of the Gods. I generally stay away this time of year because the tourists make it dangerous.
The Race Across America was officially over Friday afternoon. There were 5 guys that I thought were going to have a tough time making the time cut-off. They all made it except 2 hours and 45 minutes of time penalties pushed Patrick Autissier 34 minutes over the limit. He was still counted as an official finisher and I think he deserved it.
This year the time cut-off was 3 hours longer than it's been the last several years. 4 racers were over the old time limit. In the early years of RAAM, the time cut-off was 48 hours after the winner. 13 racers this year were over that. Some old timers think that RAAM has become too easy. It may be easier to get an official finish but it's still far from being easy.
David Jones dropped out of RAAM last year after he was blown off his bike in the wind storm in Eastern Colorado and Kansas. This year he came back and finished a few hours before the time cut-off to set a new record in the 60+ category. He's not quite as old as Fred Boethling was last year so Fred still is the oldest RAAM finisher although he was a couple hours over the time limit.
Another rider to finish with just a couple hours to spare was John Spurgeon. The impressive thing about him was he did the race on a single speed. He had one bike set up with a gear for climbing and another one with a gear for everything else. RAAM is hard enough with gears. I can't imagine doing with only 2 gears and shifting gears required switching bikes.
Kerry White was the last of 5 women to official DNF this year. The diabetic from Vail, Colorado continued on and finished around 1:30 PM on Saturday. She had the most cheering of any finisher when she made it to the boardwalk. Some pictures of her on the boardwalk have been posted on the RAAM website.
Last year at my sleep break in Jefferson City, I didn't sleep very well. It seemed like light was flickering in my hotel room. My wife did say there was something strange about the hall lights so maybe I wasn't totally losing it. However, I did think my crew had snuck in and were laying on the floor on the other side of the 2nd bed. I went so far as turning on the light and checking only to find there was no one in the room.
After a way too short 90 minutes, my crew came and got me up. I had really wanted a 3 hour sleep break but had been too tired to argue about it. When I was ready to leave the time station, Fred Boethling's son said his dad had just left. He encouraged me on and said they were going to try to figure out how they could meet up to have their massage therapist see what she could do for me. Once again this mandatory time off the bike time station didn't fall at a very good time. I had stopped at dusk and was leaving around 11:30 PM meaning I'd be riding during the time it's always the hardest for me to stay awake.
On the straight sections, I could see the flashing lights from Fred's follow vehicle. It should have motivated me. I was tired and in a bad mood and I just couldn't chase. I just wanted to go back to bed.
A short nap improved things slightly but not enough. My IT band was really bothering me and in general I was feeling really off. Although it was mostly flat to the next time station there where a couple sections of short, steep climbs. I ended up walking a couple times.
I got to the point I just couldn't stay awake. I kept falling asleep. I'm not talking about just zoned out but eyes shut and completely out. I've fallen asleep on the bike before and it's much more likely to happen on downhill sections. Although it was obvious to my crew that I was asleep because I was weaving all over the road, I continued to pedal and go about the same speed. They'd wake me with the two way radio. I'd stay awake long enough to get back in the middle of the lane and then I'd go right back to sleep. After about an hour of that, they stopped me for a 30 minute nap.
After the nap I stayed awake and it soon got light. I still was having trouble getting my legs to work and my IT band was really bothering me. At the time station in Marthasville, MO, Tom worked on my legs for a while. He didn't have any massage therapist training but he did the best on working my legs out after Pog left was planned at Trinidad, CO.
Even after Tom worked on my legs, I just couldn't seem to get them to work. The day before I had taken quite a bit of caffeine to keep moving to make it to Jefferson City in time. Normally I try to take only a little caffeine but I had needed to keep moving and was struggling with staying awake. My legs were feeling like they'd felt in the past after getting really dehydrated.
Even if I was riding fairly well, it was going to be tough making it to the time cut-off in Indianapolis the next morning. I had ridden almost 800 miles over 4 days since I had started having trouble with my leg. Before that I had averaged about 280 miles a day. Not only was a riding slower, but I was spending a lot more time off the bike even though I was sleeping less.
I finally made up my mind. It was over. There was no way I would be an official finisher and I didn't think I could make it unofficially to Atlantic City. I was about 40 miles from the Mississippi and wanted to end my race there.
Emotionally I had gone through dropping out 2 days earlier while I was still in Kansas. Now actually making the decision was more of a relief. Now I neededt to break the news to my crew. They were committed to getting me all the way. My wife was in the follow van so I told the crew we needed to find a spot to stop and let me go for a walk with my wife. When I told her, she supported my decision although it was hard for her. She really did want me to make it all the way but she knew what I was going through.
We told the rest of the crew that I was dropping out once I made it to the Mississippi. They really wanted me to continue on and thought maybe the officials would be lenient with me at Indianapolis. At RAAM headquarters they had noted the day before that I was making better progress. Unfortunately that better progress had taken it's toll on me.
As I rode on toward the Mississippi, the crew called RAAM HQ to discuss what our options were. They said that officials Mike and Cindy Roark were in the area and they'd try getting them to meet us at the Mississippi. They ended up catching up to us about 20 miles before we got there.
We stopped and I told them how I was feeling. They said that in theory I could make it to Indianapolis before the time cut-off if I didn't sleep much. With the way I'd been having trouble staying awake and my leg injury, they felt I was making a smart decision to drop out. Once we got the decision out of the way, we talked for nearly an hour before I continued on to the Mississippi.
After 20 years of dreaming of doing the Race Across America, I had given it my best shot. My crew had done everything they knew to do for me. Unfortunately I didn't make it all the way. The first 4 days had been better than I had ever imagined. The next 4 days where extremely tough but I had kept going. Even many riders that have gone on to finish well at RAAM, didn't finish or make it as far as I did on their first attempt. I hope to be able to try again sometime and make it all the way.
Medicine Wheel is having the first work day for the new Bear Creek Park singletrack trail tomorrow. The new trail will be near the dog park on 21st street. The draft trail map is on the website and it looks like it will be about a 2 mile loop. One of the plans I've heard for the trail is for a developmental mountain bike race series. We haven't really had anything local since the days of the Sand Creek Series.
I'm not going to make it to tomorrow's work day but plan to help out at some point. Here's the info from Jim Schwerin. His e-mail is jim[at]medwheel.org.
We are going to be meeting tomorrow morning Saturday, June 23 to start building a new trail in Bear Creek park.
You can see a draft map and more information on the MW web site.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering to build this new trail is welcome. No experience is needed.
We will meet at the pavilion in Bear Creek Park off Argus and 21st Street here. It is the first picnic shelter on your left as you drive into the park. We will meet at 8:30 am to look at the maps, walk the trail, and organize trail crews and scheduling for future trail building. We may even build some trail. Expect to be there until about noon.
If you would like to help, please send me an email letting me know. Even if you can't make Saturday, we may be out on Sunday as well.
There's about 17 hours before the finish line cut-off for the 2007 Race Across America. There are still 10 men trying to make it to the finish line in time. Some have willing minds but unwilling bodies. I know that feeling all too well.
Yesterday when I wrote that it would be hard for Richard Vollebregt to catch Attila Kaldy, I hadn't checked the time penalties. It turned out Kaldy had 4 penalties for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Vollebregt only had 1 for 15 minutes. The amount of time given for a penalty isn't determined by what rule was broken but by how many previous penalties the rider had. The first penalty is 15 minutes and they keep being 15 minutes longer. Six penalties results in a DNF.
Rookie Jeff Oatley from Alaska crossed the finish line this morning in 7th place to be the first American finisher this year.
It looks like David Jones will be close to the cut-off but he currently is on pace to break the 60+ record by about 3 1/2 hours.
Although Kerry White didn't make the Indianapolis time cut-off, she has continued to ride. There were so many e-mails about here that she's being tracked unofficially. The last update showed her in Grafton, West Virginia.
This is Alessandro Colo 3rd attempt at the Race Across America. In 2004 he dropped out 1,191 miles into the race from saddle sores. That year I had ridden with him on a 4 day pre-ride of the Race Across Oregon course. He then did the Race Across Oregon only 2 weeks before RAAM. It didn't seem like a good idea. I heard his butt was in pretty bad shape by the end of RAO so it didn't suprise me when he dropped out of RAAM. In 2005 he made it to Pratt, Kansas. I never heard the whole story but it seemed to have to do with the hot weather, crew, and money problems.
Alessandro is now less than 110 miles from the finish and has been riding really well for the last day. It looks like he'll ride the 2nd half faster than the first half. This is very tough to do as they body gets tired and sleep deprevation kick in.
As expected Jure Robic won the Race Across America yesterday morning. Including his time penalties it took him 8 days, 19 hours and 33 minutes for an average speed of 14.38 mph. Wolfgang Fasching held onto his 2nd place and Gerhard Gulewicz finished out the top 3. Last year's winner, Daniel Wyss, struggled near the end and finished 4th.
Kerry White, the only remaining women officially, was unable to make the time cut-off in Indianapolis and was cut from the race. All the remaining men made the Indianapolis time cut-off but I think at least the last 5 riders are in danger of not making it to Atlantic city in the required 12 days and 5 hours.
It looks like push-up champion Attila Kaldy will round out the top 5. This is his 3rd RAAM and the best he has ridden. Last year I saw him a few times the first 2 days. In the evening on the first day, I was surprised to see him stopped sitting in a camp chair enjoying a bowl of something. He really didn't look in a hurry to go anywhere. We were actually back and forth because of sleep breaks until he passed me while I was sleeping in Trinidad, CO and I never caught him again since I had the trouble with my leg.
Richard Vollebregt is only 1 1/2 hours behind Attila Kaldy and is riding well. They only have 64.9 miles left to the boardwalk so I doubt they'll change positions.
This is a video that Tom Stormcrowe but together last year of images he took while crewing for me in the Race Across America. The pictures and video are from the start to about the Colorado and Kansas border.
Most years just over half of the solo Race Across America racers make it to the finish line. Amazingly nobody has dropped out in the last 24 hours. In the men's race, only 5 out of 25 races have dropped out. A few are very close to the time cut-off and are in danger of being cut from the race in Indianapolis. It still seems like a high finish rate is possible this year.
Jure Robic only has 110 miles left to Atlantic City. His closest competitor is over 100 miles behind. Unless something goes wrong, he'll probably be celebrating his 3rd Race Across America victory by the time I get out of bed in the morning. Wolfgang Fasching is still in 2nd place but Daniel Wyss and Gerhard Gulewicz are less than 2 hour behind so sleep breaks could determine who pulls off 2nd place. Fasching is said to be suffering but so are the other 2. Fasching has won three times so I believe he'll use his experience to hold onto 2nd place.
Patty Riddle is indeed continuing to ride across America even though she is officially out of the Race Across America. Updates are being posted on the Race Against Diabetes website. She's almost to Kansas. Here are the 2 latest updates.
Mon. 6/18, 6:00 am PDT: Patty called as she was about to leave Springfield, CO. She sounded good, and even answered questions coherently (—he: “Where are our passports so I can shortcut through Canada in Stage Two?” —she: “Same place they’ve always been, dummy.”). She also remembered that we both forgot to call her father on Happy Daddy’s Day—Happy Late Daddy’s Day, Chuck! Patty says her goal isn’t to break 50+/60+ records, it’s just to get to Atlantic City. Go Patty!
Sun. 6/17, 7:00 am PDT: Patty rode out of La Veta toward Trinidad, CO around 4:00 am RAAM time (1:00 am PDT). She was officially listed as DNF for the race last night so that RAAM could take its Time Stations down and keep its officials up the road with the other racers, but Patty immediately decided to keep riding on. (There’s been a lot of time on the bike for every option to be weighed—over and over . . . .) If she picks up time on the never-ending flats of the Midwest, she could still finish under the record time for 50+ and 60+ women—but that’s premature to think about, given the elements of weather, sleep deprivation, weather, stomach, weather, neck, weather, feet, weather, crotch, weather . . . and the fact that she has over 1,900 miles to go. Time for some tailwind, please! Go Patty!
After letting me sleep for 2 hours in El Dorado, KS, my crew got me up. Although it was late on Saturday afternoon, they had found a massage therapist that would give me a massage. They took me over to her and discussed how we only had 30 minutes for the massage. She insisted that she needed a full hour.
I dozed in and out but I could tell she was really good at finding tight spots and getting the muscle to release. After about 45 minutes, I could hear my crew getting anxious outside the massage room. I don't remember exactly but I think they knocked on the door and told her she needed to finish up. They started getting all my stuff ready to get me dressed and back on the bike.
When I started riding, the sun was about to go down. It was a nice evening with a tailwind. It still hurt to pedal but my leg felt much better. Maybe I still had a chance to finish.
About an hour after leaving El Dorado, a RAAM vehicle passed and pulled off a short distance up the road. The official got out and I thought he was just watching me go by. My crew wasn't sure what he was doing. Soon he came flying by again and stopped just up the road. This time we could see he was frantically waving his arms so we pulled over. He said a tornado had been spotted in the town where the next time station was and they had closed the time station down. He said it was also raining hard. RAAM doesn't stop for any kind of weather but he wanted us to be aware of the tornado in case we got into any weird winds. Fortunately we just got another spectacular lightning display and a few sprinkles and wet roads.
Since I had to stop in El Dorado because of the mandatory Enduro category 2 hour stop, the plan was for me to ride through the night instead of taking an early morning sleep break. One of my criticisms of the mandatory stops was I might have to stop when I didn't need to and it would then throw my sleep pattern off. Durango had worked out OK although I would have slept in Cortez if Durango hadn't been a mandatory stop. It turned out I couldn't stay awake in the wee hours of the morning. We first tried a 10 minute nap but that didn't make a difference. Then I took a 15 minute nap which helped for about an hour. Then I couldn't stay awake again and ended up taking a 30 minute nap.
The morning brought the good news in I was finally out of Kansas and into Missouri. Mentally that was a boost. The only problem was that the Enduro category had another time cut-off at Jefferson City, MO. It was going to be tough for me to make it.
Before too long, being in Missouri meant more hills. They were just rollers but they kept getting bigger. The worst thing was it hurt too much for me to stand up to get over the tops. It felt like something was binding in my left leg. I kept wanting to stop to stretch but my crew was trying to make sure I made the time cut-off. They did let me stop a few times. I considered riding slow enough to miss the cut-off so the pain would be over but I still had enough desire to finish that I kept doing my best. Nearly every time my crew had me pretzeled up on the side of the road, some local would stop and ask if everything was OK. Finally we got a big pop out of my hip. It made enough of a difference that I was able to stand up on the hills.
Through this section, a couple kept passing us and stopping to cheer me on. They were using my first name and the van only had my last name on it so they clearly had been keeping track of the race. Finally my crew stopped and talked to them. They had driven all the way from Texas to see RAAM. They were Fat Cyclist readers and had found my blog from one of his posts. It certainly was a boost to have someone cheering for me.
It was a hot day. Crawling up the hills in the Ozarks made it seem even hotter. In the desert we had used a sock filled with ice wrapped around my neck to cool me. In Missouri with the higher humidity, that just left me soaked without cooling a whole lot. Because my butt was raw and painful, I was wearing double shorts. That helped with the butt pain but it was making me too hot. I ended up going back to one pair of shorts. Going through the Ozarks, I did have one local cyclist ride beside me for a short ways which was nice.
The last 60 miles or so into Jefferson city was on a busy highway. I was hot and tired and the traffic noise was driving me crazy. I felt I was going to snap at any moment. I so badly wanted to get somewhere where it was quiet. In spite of the noise, I still managed to fall asleep a couple times.
My crew had told me that I had about 20 miles less to the time station than what the signs were saying to Jefferson City. I kept hoping that the time station was really just before Jefferson City. Finally my crew gave me the bad news. They had given me the wrong mileage and I had farther to go. Fortunately I had suspected that or I probably would have come unglued with them.
I kept looking at the time and knew I was barely going to make the time cut-off if I even did. I was getting pretty concerned and kept pushing myself. Strangely my crew didn't seem concerned even though it had been a big deal earlier in the day. I finally made it to the time station with 4 minutes left to the time cut-off. Only then did the crew tell me that they had found out that RAAM had decided not to make Jefferson City a time cut-off but they hadn't told me because they wanted me to keep pushing.
Jefferson City was the 3rd mandatory 2 hour stop for the Enduro category. It was early evening so again it wasn't an ideal time for me to stop but I was having trouble staying awake. One of the time station volunteers was a massage therapist and she agreed to give me a bit of a massage. Then it was time for 90 minutes of sleep.
On the 8th day of racing in the Race Across America, Jure Robic is continuing to build his lead. The three riders behind him are suffering. Wolfgang Fasching is holding on to 2nd place but Gerhard Gulewicz is close behind. Fasching is reported to be suffering from Shermer's neck and electrolyte problems. Maybe he doesn't know about Endurolytes. Shermer's neck is named after the original RAAM racer that had his neck muscles give out so he couldn't hold his head up. Last years winner, Daniel Wyss, has dropped to 4th place.
Tom Seabourne missed the time cut-off in El Dorado by 4 hours and Kerry White missed it by 6 1/2 hours. They both were allowed to continue riding but Tom has since dropped out. He seemed to be moving really slow today. Kerry is the only woman left officially and has been able to pick her speed up slightly. She is a diabetic so another impressive effort by someone with an extra challenge.
After leaving Pratt, KS with only 30 minutes of sleep plus dozing a little while at the chiropractor, I struggled to stay awake. I feel asleep on the bike more than once. I always struggle to stay awake between 2 and 4 AM. I ended up taking a couple 10-15 minute naps to get me through to daylight.
Once it got daylight, staying awake wasn't as much of an issue. A bigger issue was I couldn't get any power out of my left leg. Mentally I was wanting to go but I just couldn't get my body to cooperate. I knew the race was over for me unless my condition improved drastically. It was very hard for me emotionally.
A couple local cyclist that were out riding, made a U-turn and rode with me for a few minutes which was a big help. We stopped where the crew from an European rider was stopped. They didn't speak much English but where more than happy to see if they could help. They took me into their RV and do some massage. Unfortunately I couldn't tell a difference when I got back on the bike.
My wife wasn't in the follow car but I decided that when I got to the 2 hour mandatory stop in El Dorado, I'd discuss dropping out. When we got to El Dorado, things were a bit crazy. There was friction on the crew and my wife was upset.
We had started with 6 crew members which I think is the minimum that works well. One guy needed to leave the crew in Colorado and my wife would replace him. After Stormy left in Ulysses, the crew was down to 5. This made getting sleep tougher since we needed 3 crew in the follow vehicle. We had been on the road for most of a week and everybody was getting very tired.
I got all the crew together and told them they needed to not take things too personally. Everybody was doing their best but they were all sleep deprived. I then went to sleep without discussing my thoughts about dropping out.
when I hiked the 
which is pretty much bomb proof but it only has a 3x optical zoom. The 
is out but I couldn't find any reason to spend $305 on it versus $170 for the 750.
