UltraRob's Adventures

Wyss has won the 2009 solo RAAM. He raced 3021 miles in a time of 8 days 5 hours 45 minutes. His average speed of 15.28 mph wasn't much slower than the record of 15.4 mph. Pete Penseyres set the speed record in 1986 and no one has been able to break it.

In a very disappointing end to the extremely close battle between Wyss and Robic the last couple days, Robic dropped out of RAAM with 54 miles to go. Here's what's posted on Robic's blog

Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51.

Today it was written the history of RAAM. Jure and Dani staged the toughest fight ever and on the end the fastest didn't won.

Robic's 2 penalties on the road seemed legitimate. My RAAM update yesterday has more details on the penalty Robic received yesterday. The only thing I've found about the one at the start was that someone saw him urinate at the side of the stage and thought he might have gotten a penalty for it. I don't know for sure.

His crew claimed that Wyss ran a stop sign and didn't get a penalty. Of course when Mike Trevino was close to Robic in 2004, they accused him of cheating. Trevino actually stopped but finally was convinced to continue but never was close to Robic again.

Whether or not the penalties were fair, I think it's poor sportsmanship to just quit. Still no official word from RAAM so there may be more to the story.

Update
Robic didn't change his mind and received a DNF. Jure Robics crew has posted a few videos that they claim show reasons Wyss should have been penalized and wasn't. Because of the way he feels he was treated this year, he says he won't be back to RAAM.

In the video I've embedded below, it does seem that Wyss made a right turn at a red light, did a u-turn and then turned right to avoid the red light. This is against the rules. I had to watch it a couple times but then it seemed clear what he had done. RAAM officials thought it may have been accidental and gave a warning instead of a penalty.

They have a video showing Wyss over the double yellow line. From what I can see, he's staying in the center out of the way of traffic when he pulls out until his follow van comes in behind. It seems like a safe thing to do and no penalty should have been given.

In another video he grabs the butt of a girl cheering him on. You can argue about tastefulness of it but I don't know of any RAAM rule against it.

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Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Update: Wyss Wins, Robic Quits!

The last couple years, Jure Robic has dominated the Race Across America. Robic has won 4 out of the last 5 years.

Robic didn't win in 2006. That year Dani Wyss won. Robic was taken off the course by ambulance in Pagosa, CO with respiratory problems.

2006 was the year I raced and I remember RAAM legend, Danny Chew, telling me all I had to do to be one of the few to beat Robic was to finish. I ended up dropping out at the Mississippi due to a leg injury though.

This year Robic and Wyss are locked in battle. It was long been said that the race doesn't really start until the Mississippi. In the race from the Mississippi to the finish, Robic started with about an hour lead over Wyss.

Now 2500 miles into the race, Wyss has closed the gap and Robic and Wyss are trading the lead on the road. In reality Wyss has the lead. Robic has 1 hour of time penalties and Wyss has none.

Robic's latest time penalty was from taking the wrong route to time station 40. There was difference between the GPS file and the route book. RAAM rules state that the route book is the official route and GPS is only provided to assist crews.

If a racer goes off course, they must go back to where they went off course and continue riding the course. They can be shuttled back to that point by vehicle. Apparently it was quite a ways back to where Robic went off course and his crew chose to take a 30 minute penalty instead.

Robic wasn't the only one to have route issues yesterday. Earlier in the day, Wyss rode 9 miles off course before being taken back to the course. His crew estimated he lost 45 minutes from the route mistake.

With 500 miles left to race, both riders and their crews will have to manage their sleep breaks very carefully. Sleep too much and they could lose the race. Not sleep enough and they could crack and lose the race.

It seems that Wyss has been riding faster the last couple days but also taking longer sleep breaks. Maybe he's more rested. Robic though is known for not needint much sleep.

Dani Wyss' blog (Google translation) has interesting graphs comparing the average speeds between time stations 24 and 40.





The solo women's race is also close. Janet Christiansen and Daniela Figueiredo Genovesi are about 30 minutes apart a few miles past the Mississippi. The have a little over 900 miles left to race.

In the women's race, Christiansen has no penalties and Genovesi has 30 minutes so that extends Christiansen's lead. It does seem though that Genovesi has been riding better the last day so it'll be interesting to see how the race plays out.

Update: Wyss Wins, Robic Quits!

Related Links: RAAM FAQ | Robic's blog | Wyss' blog | Janet Christiansen's twitter

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Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Solo Men start the Race Across America (RAAM) at noon PDT today. Solo women and men over 60 started yesterday. Relay teams will start on Saturday.

RAAM has been called the world's toughest sporting event. More people have summitted Mount Everest than have finished RAAM. In the movie Bicycle Dreams, Perry Stone says, "It's not a sporting event in a classic sense. It's more of sending a gladiator into a pit with a lion."

So what's so tough about this event? The competitors ride their bikes from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis. MD which is just over 3,000 miles. The time cut-off is 12 days. Some years the winner finishes in under 9 days. This is equivalent to riding the Tour de France 1.5 times in less than half the time.

For more about RAAM, read my Race Across America FAQ. Also go read my guest posts on Bike Crave and MissingSaddle.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Bicycle Dreams is a new documentary about the 2005 Race Across America (RAAM). Bicycle Dreams won the Best Documentary Feature at the Fallbrook Film Festival.

RAAM has been called the world's toughest sporting event. The top racers ride their bike 3,000 miles from coast to coast in only 9 days. More people have stood on the summit of Mt. Everest than have finished RAAM. It's more than just an event. It's an extreme journey.

I first became fascinated with RAAM over 20 years ago. I found a book about it at the library when I was in high school. I continued to follow the race but for many years I didn't think I'd actually compete in it. In 2006 I did race in RAAM although I dropped out at the Mississippi River, 2,000 miles and 8 days into the race.

Because the racers are riding more than 20 hours a day and end up spread across several states, it is a difficult event to cover. Filmmaker Stephen Auerbach and his crew traveled inside the riders’ crew vehicles to get an inside look at the race. They used 18 cameras to capture the scenery and the highs and lows of the racers.

Auerbach doesn't cover the race much from how the racers are doing in the race standings but focuses on their own personal battles. Battles with things like sleep deprivation, hallucinations and physical ailments that come from pushing the body to the extreme.

One of the things that the film tries to answer is why someone would attempt to do an event like RAAM. In trying to find the answer, it looks at the history of some of the racers and how it motivates them.

The 2005 RAAM was the year that tragedy stuck and Bob Breedlove was hit head on and killed instantly. Bob was a 5 time RAAM finisher. Bicycle Dreams follows Patrick Autissier as he tries to deal with Bob's death on top of his race battle.

I have seen several RAAM videos over the years and Bicycle Dreams shows the emotions of the race the best. RAAM fans will love the film. Even non-cyclists will enjoy watching it and seeing how riders deal with pushing their limits.

Bicycle Dreams is now available on DVD from Bicycle Dreams website. I suggest you order your copy today.

For more about RAAM, check out my Race Across America FAQ. The 2009 race starts on June 17th.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

This weekend 84 solo racers and 48 relay teams are racing 508 miles through the desert of California. The Furnace Creek 508 has been the oldest RAAM qualifier. This year it's not a qualifier due to the ongoing feud over the UMCA buying RAAM a couple years ago. Not being a qualifier doesn't seem to have hurt the race much.

The Furnace Creek 508 is where I first qualified for RAAM in 2002. It's a great race and has a lot of history but the desolation of the desert started getting to me mentally. There's beauty in some deserts but not much where the 508 goes. It does go through Death Valley which has beauty but nearly all the riders go through it in the dark.

The lead riders are already through the Trona check point, 153 miles into the race. The top 5 are

• Kevin McNulty
• Michael Emde
• Chris Ragsdale
• Gerry Cody
• Vinnie Tortorich

That means that Kevin McNulty has averaged 23.8 miles an hour. As with all RAAM qualifiers, that's without any drafting!

Vinnie in 5th place was on David Holt's RAAM crew with me this summer. He's a great guy. Last year he DNF'd so I hope he continues to do well.

In the women's race, Catharina Berge is the only one through Trona. In California City, Isabelle Drake was 2nd and Shanna Armstrong was third.

You can keep track of the standings as the race continues today and tomorrow. Pictures are also being uploaded to the webcast.

• Vinnie Tortorich in the Oak Park Acorn
• Vinnie Tortorich in Westside Today
• Vinnie Tortorich in The Signal
• Joseph Desena on Santa Clarita Radio

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Photo from Planet Ultra

The Hoodoo 500 is taking place this weekend in a beautiful part of Utah. It is 519 miles with about 30,000 feet of climbing. I had hoped to race it this year but have stayed too busy with projects around the house to be able to train much.

This year it is a RAAM qualifier since the Furnace Creek 508 isn't. RAAM doesn't allow qualifiers to be less than a month apart if there closer than 1,000 miles.

One of the cool things at the Hoodoo is the solo riders are split between those doing it with RAAM style support and racers doing it self supported. 18 riders are doing it supported and 12 are doing it unsupported.

Unsupported riders can still qualify for RAAM but the qualifying time is based on the fastest solo rider not already qualified for RAAM. The solo riders will be lumped together for purposes of RAAM qualifying. Unsupported riders will be at a big disadvantage if they're trying to qualify for RAAM.

Planet Ultra will be updating their web cast during the race as they can find internet access. Alex Isaly is racing solo and his wife is going to try to post updates on Twitter during the race. David McColgan is racing on a 4 man team. He also is a Twitter user but doesn't say whether he'll be updating during the race.

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Labels: cycling, Hoodoo 500, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling, Utah

Picture from www.raceacrossamerica.org
Today Jure Robic became the first person to win RAAM 4 times. He finished just under 9 days with a time of 8 days 23 hours and 33 minutes. When I raced in 2006 he was trying to become the first person to win 3 consecutive times but dropped out in Pagosa, CO with pneumonia.

In the team division another record was broken. The 8-person Byggkjøp/BMC Cycling Team set a new relay team record. Their time was 5 days 9 hours and 56 minutes. This gives them an average speed of 23.2 mph.

The rest of the solo field is stretched all the way from Maryland to Ohio which is about 550 miles of the course. David Haase is the only American in the top 5. He's currently in 2nd on the road by less than an although it seems he's really in 3rd place.

I have always thought there were no time credits in RAAM, just time penalties. I'm sure I've also read that in the rules. In any case, Mark Pattinson has been given a 4 hour and 35 minute time credit. It's for an incident near Taos, NM involving drunk cowboys not allowing him and his crew to pass through. I haven't really been able to find information on what happened but it seems that race officials may have told Pattinson to stop riding.

The 50+ age group is very close for 1st and 2nd. Currently in Chillicothe, OH, Arvid Loewen is less than 20 minutes ahead of Doug Levy. They have just over 500 miles left to the finish line.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

The Race Across America website has a RAAM FAQ. Although it has some great answers to questions, there are questions that I get asked that aren't on the web site.

Of course with as few people that know about the Race Across America, maybe the first question should be What is the Race Across America? It's a bike race that is 50% longer than the Tour de France and is done in about half the time.

I've written answers to some of the questions that I often get. I didn't answer all the ones that are on the RAAM site or gave different answers so you may want to read that FAQ too. If you have any other questions, ask it in the comments below.

Where is the start and finish?
How many years has the race existed?
Who can do the race?
How far is it?
How long do racers have to finish?
What is the typical winning time for the solo racers?
How much do RAAM racers eat?
What do RAAM racers eat?
How much sleep do the racers get?
How much sleep does the support crew get?
What happens if the weather is bad?
Why are the solo average speeds so slow?
Why do the riders always ride alone?
How do the solo racers keep from getting sore butts?
What are time penalties?
Why would someone volunteer to crew?
Why are all times reported in Eastern Daylight Time?

Where is the start and finish?

In 2008 the start is in Oceanside, CA and the finish is in Annapolis, MD. Normally there are small changes to the route from one year to the next. Sometimes the route is totally changed.

How many years has the race existed?

2008 is the 27th year for the solo race. The first year it was called the Great American Bike Race and 4 guys competed.

Who can do the race?

Anybody can race on a relay team. Racers have to qualify to race solo. Most of the qualifiers are over 500 miles or are 24 hour events.

How far is it?

RAAM is always right around 3,000 miles. Compare that to the Tour de France which is 2,000 miles and takes 3 weeks.

How long do racers have to finish?

Generally the racers have the time below to finish. Racers riding a fixed gear bike, hand cycle, etc. are often given extra time to finish. There are also time cut-offs along the route to keep the race from getting too spread out.

• Solo Men – 288 hours (12 days)
• Solo Men 60+ – 309 hours (12 days, 21 hours)
• Solo Women – 309 hours (12 days, 21 hours)
• Teams – 216 hours (9 days)

What is the typical winning time for the solo racers?

The last several years the winning time for the solo racers has been a little under or just over 9 days.

How much do RAAM racers eat?

Most racers try to get about a little less than 300 calories an hour. Some are able to eat even more. That adds up to about 6,000 calories a day. That's 3 times the typical calories for a man.

What do RAAM racers eat?

Many racers eat mainly liquids since they're easier to digest. Others claim to be able to stomach pizza and cheeseburgers. I wrote fairly detailed about my RAAM nutrition when I raced in 2006.

How much sleep do the racers get?

The top solo racers typically take short naps or sleep for 90 minutes at a time. More than 3 hours of sleep a day is considered a lot. It's said that one year Jure Robic slept 8 hours in the 9 days it took him to finish.

The racers on the relay teams can get more sleep since they can sleep while another racers is riding. For them the amount of sleep will depend on whether they are on a 2, 4 or 8 person team.

How much sleep does the support crew get?

The people on the support crew should be able to get more sleep than the racer since they take turns in the follow vehicle. Even so the crew also has to get the other vehicles down the road, find food and water, fix bikes, etc. The crew also end up being at least a bit sleep deprived.

What happens if the weather is bad?

The clock is always ticking in RAAM in spite of what happens. One rider getting caught in a storm and another one not is just part of RAAM. Riders will sometimes decide to sleep during a storm. In 2006 an official stopped me just after dark one night, he said there was a tornado in a town not far down the road. He wanted us to stay safe but I wouldn't get any time adjustment if I stopped.

Why are the solo average speeds so slow?

The average speed is calculated on total elapsed time. It includes all the time that the racer is off the bike. Unlike races like the Tour de France, riders aren't allowed to ride in packs so the speeds are slower. Also as most racers become fatigued and sleep deprived they struggle to go very fast. When the average speed for a time station is shown under 10 mph, it's usually because the rider took a sleep break.

Why do the riders always ride alone?

It's one of the rules of RAAM. It is an individual competition and no drafting is allowed. Racers are actually allowed to ride side by side for up to 15 minutes. After 15 minutes they have to separate until 24 hours has gone by. Riders get spread out and don't pass very often. Even when they do they generally aren't in the mood for more than a couple minutes of chatting.

How do the solo racers keep from getting sore butts?

There are lots of things like using chamois creams, good padded shorts, and keeping the shorts dry to help prevent saddles sores. Unfortunately nearly every rider ends up with a hurting behind.

What are time penalties?

Time penalties are generally given for the support crew breaking a rule. There are a lot of rules to keep the racer and crew safe. Penalties can be given for things like not calling race HQ within 30 minutes of going through a time station, not pulling the support vehicle far enough off the road when stopped, following a racer without flashers turned on, etc.

Time for penalties is as follows

• 1st Penalty 15 minutes
• 2nd Penalty 15 minutes (Total – 30 minutes)
• 3rd Penalty 30 minutes (Total – 60 minutes)
• 4th Penalty 45 minutes (Total – 105 minutes)
• 5th Penalty 60 minutes (Total – 165 minutes)
• 6th Penalty Disqualification

Who pays for the crews?

Each racer finds their own crew. The racer normally pay all the crew's expenses. Most crew members are volunteers but in some cases they get paid a small amount.

Why would someone volunteer to crew?

It's a way for people that don't think they can do the race to be involved. There are some that have crewed many years. It's also a good way for someone thinking about racing to learn more about the race. Some that crew are friends and family that are talked into it.

Why are all times reported in Eastern Daylight Time?

The race crosses 3 time zones. Rather than keep track of time zones, all times are reported in race time which is EDT. Watches and clocks in support vehicles are set to EDT before the start.

Crew still have to remember which time zone they are in to know when they must be directly following a rider. Riders must always have a follow vehicle between 7:30 PM and 6 AM. Crews also have to know local time to know when stores open and close.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

As I know all too well from my 2006 RAAM attempt, a RAAM racer can quickly go from riding well to struggling to move down the road. David Holt was riding well most of the way to Durango.

David took a sleep break in Durango. When he got up he mentioned that his butt was getting sore. My butt was hurting by that point when I raced so I wasn't that concerned. We just knew we needed to do something to try keeping it from getting worse.

Before we got to the next time station in Pagosa Springs he was having trouble putting power into his pedal stroke because of the pain. We got a hold of multi-time RAAM finisher George Thomas to try figuring out more to do. We got more supplies in Pagosa Springs but David continued to suffer.

During what was to be crew chief Lisa and my sleep break, we spent time trying to figure out how to get some Assos Chamois Cream, different saddle, different shorts, and a saddle cover. A big thanks to Gearing Up Bicycle Shop in Taos, NM for agreeing to take a couple pairs of shorts to a hotel so we could pick them up after hours. I called my sister and had her overnight the other things from Colorado Springs, CO to a hotel in Clayton, NM so we could pick them the next afternoon.

I jumped back into the follow vehicle in Antonito, CO. It was cold and David is from southern California. Before the night was over the temperature would drop into the 30s. David was not doing well. It was tough to see him struggling so much.

As we were talking in the follow vehicle, I found out that we did have another saddle for him. We had David stop for a quick saddle change. It seemed to help him but not enough.

I noticed that David wasn't eating as much as he should have been. Vinnie and Ken who had already been in the vehicle for a while said they'd been having trouble with it for a while. I talked to David and he said he no longer could take the taste of the Ensure and Perpetuem that had been the majority of his calories.

We got him to eat some but I think it was too late. His energy levels were dropping which caused him to get really cold. We kept putting more layers on him but it wasn't helping. It seemed that he was getting hypothermia.

We were already planning on having his saddle sores checked at the ER in Taos. We weren't optimistic they'd be able to do anything but figured it was worth a try. In Allen Larsen's rookie RAAM, he had stopped because his butt was in pretty bad shape. The ER doctor told him, "Son, you just have to stop riding the bike." Allen got back on the bike and finished 3rd.

We were still about 35 miles from Taos when it was obvious David wasn't riding there without getting warmed up and some relief from his saddle sores. We got him in the follow van and started driving him into Taos. There was a bridge part way to Taos where we'd been warned we might have to stop for 30 minutes because of a movie being filmed.

There was a sheriff sitting there and we told her we had an emergency and needed to be able to get through. It turned out that traffic wasn't stopped but she said she'd give us an escort into Taos. At the edge of Taos, an ambulance meet us and took David on into the ER.

By the time we went to a hotel and ate some food, David was there from the ER. Not surprisingly the ER doctor told him he should stop. David said the race was over.

Some of us on the crew wanted him to try continuing on. We decided we'd let him sleep as long as possible and still be able to get him back on the bike and make the time cut-off in Taos. We doubted he'd change his mind. Still we wanted to leave the possibility open.

David actually was back up by the time we got up. We read him an e-mail that a winner of the Race Across Oregon had sent encouraging him to go on. We also got George Thomas to talk to him. The answer was still that the race was over for him.

Lisa made the official call to race headquarters. We then made plans to get everyone back home and get the vehicles back to where they needed to go. It was disappointing to not see him able to go all the way but RAAM is a brutal race. Only a few racers start and only about half make it all the way to the finish line.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

At the racer meeting before the start of RAAM, the race director, Terry Zmrhal, said there were 2 key phrases that we could use during the race. The first one was Sweet! The 2nd one was this sucks.

The first part of the race when David Holt was riding well we had lots of Sweet! moments. Now we're really having a this sucks moment.

Tonight we were trying to get David to Taos before having him stop to rest. He was really struggling as he had been all day. Taos is the first time cut-off of the race. Getting him to Taos would allow him to take a long break and not have to worry about the time cut-off.

We were having trouble getting him to eat since he was hurting so bad. The temperature was in the low 40's. Since he wasn't eating enough, he wasn't staying warm. Unfortunately about 35 miles before Taos, we had to drive him into Taos for medical attention.

He's still talking and knows what's going on. We don't believe it's anything serious but we need to get him recovered. In theory we have plenty of time to let him get enough rest and then make the time cut-off. After that we could let him rest some more. We'll just have to see how the next few hours go.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

It was another busy day getting ready for the RAAM. Unless you've been involved with the race it's tough to imagine the planning it takes to do this race. Even after all the planning over the last few months, we've kept very busy the last 2 days making final preparations.

The race starts tomorrow at noon PDT. Race standings should be kept updated here but can be delayed. You can also visit the Race Across America home page to see more updates and pictures

If you want to send something to help encourage David across the country, send email to raam08@ultrarob.com. As we all become sleep deprived, we may need some good jokes to keep us all awake.

Some of David Holt's 2008 RAAM crew having breakfast by the harbor.

In RAAM you need to be able to figure things out as you go. One of the things we've done the last couple days is make a trip to Home Depot to make a flag holder for the required safety flag

David's Wife & Vinnie's Girlfriend on RV

David Holt and his RAAM crew

Crew chief Lisa talks to the officials and vehicle and bike inspection.

Lisa is very happy when the vehicles and bikes easily pass inspection.

The Oceanside pier where RAAM starts.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

It's been a busy day getting everything prepared for RAAM.  We got signs on the 2 follow vehicles.  Tomorrow we'll get the RV.

Look at the Twitter updates in the right sidebar for the most frequent RAAM updates.

 

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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Labels: cycling RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

In about a week I'll be in California to crew for David Holt in the Race Across America. Outside magazine once rated this as the world's toughest sporting event. I raced in 2006. Crewing will be much different than racing but I'm not sure it'll be easier.

In addition to crewing, I plan to blog the experience as much as possible as we go. With David being on the bike for 20+ hours a day, I expect it will be challenging.

My father-in-law loaned me his T-Mobile card for internet access while we're on the road. I'm not confident that it'll work well especially in the southwest where we won't be near cities for long periods. I've heard that Verizon is better for mobile internet access but I don't want a 2 year plan.

I plan on using Twitter to post some updates. Twitter allows messages of up to 140 characters to be posted. One of the ways this can be done is by sending a text message. Before I leave I plan to put a widget in the right sidebar that will show my Twitter updates.

In addition to text blogging, I'm also going to be doing audio blogging. Jott allows posts of up to 30 seconds. Not only do they provide the audio, but they also convert it to text. I wonder what they'll think I'm saying at 3 AM. I've also signed up with GabCast for longer audio updates. I haven't had a chance to do any testing with it.

Anybody have any suggestions on other services I should check out? I have a basic cell phone so there's not much I can do on it.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Former Race Across America Director, Jim Pitre, posted the sad news to the RAAM Yahoo Group that Randy Van Zee was killed yesterday while riding his bike. He was struck and killed instantly by a vehicle from behind as he was riding west into the setting sun near his home last evening.

Randy is survived by his wife, Denise and family in Sheldon, IA. A funeral is planned Tuesday afternoon April 8th at Vander Ploeg funeral home in Sheldon. My prayers are with his family.

In 2004 Randy finished RAAM even though he had crashed and couldn't get on or off is bike by himself. After finishing RAAM, he went to the hospital and found out that he had a broken pelvis. In 2006, the year I attempted RAAM, he was planning to race again but a training accident kept him from racing.

Quote from Danny Chews comments in 2004 from the UMCA website.

The last finisher in the solo race was 52-year-old Randy Van Zee of Sheldon, IA. He finished in eighth place (second night time solo finisher) on Friday morning at 2:40 a.m. with a time of 11:16:26 over eight hours behind Moonen.

Riders have to finish in less than 12 days and 2 hours to be official, i.e., by noon, Friday, July 2. Randy had over nine hours to spare. He had the classic solo RAAM finish - exhausted with failed neck muscles and terribly swollen feet and ankles; he had to be helped off his bicycle by crewmembers. Having an all rookie crew with just two minivans, he slept on cement at times. Waking up at 4 a.m. to ride before work every day in training finally paid off, though he said, "I never trained enough for RAAM." When his neck gave out on him in New Mexico, he had to start wearing an Allen Larsen-inspired neck brace. His friends made it after they watched Larsen's RAAM videotape. Two ladies he works with brought him this device and adjusted it on him. He crashed near Troy, OH, injured his groin and cracked his pelvis. Although he couldn't walk, he could still ride!

Randy's daughter Rachel lives in Germany and flew to Atlantic City to see her father finish. Her husband Chris (serving the USA in Iraq) learned by e-mail of Randy's finish. Standing very proudly on the Boardwalk, Randy said, "If you can do RAAM, you can do anything." So how can a 52-year old, full time worker and grandfather finish RAAM while other much younger men training full time have to drop out? The difference has to be in attitude. Van Zee had an iron-willed desire to make it to the finish line regardless of whatever obstacles were thrown into his way. When his neck muscles gave out in New Mexico, he could have thrown in the towel. When his feet and ankles became painfully swollen, he could have checked into some hospital and had a doctor tell him things will only get worse if he keeps riding, but he didn't. My vote for the Ian Sandbach inspiration award would have clearly gone to Randy Van Zee, but then the award couldn't have been handed out at the awards banquet on Wednesday evening. So I hereby create a new award called Chew's Most Tired Award given to the solo rider who finishes looking the most exhausted/beaten-up thus embodying the true spirit of RAAM. Few people got to see Randy finish in the wee hours of the morning that night (many officials, media people, riders, and crew had already left for home), but those who did will forever remember Van Zee's courageous/heroic finish. His neck muscles will heal and the swelling of his feet and ankles will go down, but his finish will never be forgotten. Randy became the 169th person (including unofficial fin ishers) to finish solo RAAM - a number far less than those people who have climbed to the top of Mt. Everest.

"Van Zee had an iron-willed desire to make it to the finish line."

Related Links: Randy Van Zee Out of RAAM | Outside Magazine Article on Bob Breedlove

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Labels: RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

As much as I'd like to say I've secretly been training for the Race Across America, I haven't been. I'm far from that kind of fitness but I still plan to be a part of the race this year.

Last year I had planned to crew for David Holt's rookie RAAM attempt. Unfortunately some physical problems during training caused him to cancel a couple months before. He's been training hard this winter and is ready to do it this year.

He still needs a couple more people to crew for him in order to do it. Of course he prefers someone he has been involved with RAAM or at least a qualifier but that's not necessary. Being able to function with a small amount of sleep, sit in a van for longs hours and deal with the unexpected is. If this sounds interesting, leave a comment or send an e-mail.

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Labels: RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

The Furnace Creek 508 is happening this weekend. It was where I first qualified for the Race Across America. The leaders should be well into Death Valley and shouldn't be far from the check point. The race splits are being updated throughout the race. Race pictures are also being uploaded.

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Labels: cycling, Furnace Creek 508, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Here are the results for the Race Across Oregon. Tom Letsinger, who crewed for me in the Race Across America last year, didn't finish but I haven't found out why.

Al Smudz	35:30
Glenn Johnson	39:05
Robert Buntrock	40:12
Ryan Correy	41:31
Bruce Carroll	42:19
Adam Garmon	44:22
Hugh Gapay	DNF
Tom Letsinger	DNF
Ross Muecke	DNF
Brian Cushing	DNF

When I did the Race Across Oregon in 2004 my time was 41:42. That was on a slightly shortened race because we finished at Government Camp instead of doing the last 6 miles up to Timberline Lodge. Actually a few miles have been taken out in other places but they were mostly flat. When the leaders we close to finishing, it was snowing so hard that George and Terri, the race organizers, felt it was unsafe to ride in. It would have been still rideable but it was a white-out and they were afraid someone would get hit by a car. I don't know what it was like up higher when I finished but it was barely above freezing and pouring down rain down lower.

Although I finished fast enough to qualify for RAAM for my 3rd time, I certainly didn't feel the race went well for me. We started in drizzle that turned into cold rain as we climbed near Mount Hood. I got a little chilled and apparently burned extra calories and started bonking a little over 100 miles into the race. I did recover from that fairly quickly as I got to where it was warm and dry. Then during the night I had sleep issues from some nasal spray. Trying to stay awake I created GI issues and several quick trips to the bushes. It then became too painful to sit on my saddle and I spent some crying by the road side of the road. My crew got me going again but I felt I was out of the race and I wasn't going very fast.

Near dark of the 2nd day I felt better and kicked it up a notch after Kelly Hegar passed me late in the race. I was able to pass him back and finished 11 minutes ahead of him. Coming off the last pass it was very dark and pouring down rain. It was in the mid 30s and I had on neoprene booties, winter tights and jacket, Gore-Tex helmet cover and winter gloves and I was still cold. Water was running everywhere but I didn't let it keep me from still going close to 50 mph.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Race Across Oregon, ultra cycling

The Race Across Oregon started this morning in Portland. It is a brutal 535 mile Race Across America qualifier. It's more a loop around Oregon than it is just across Oregon. After Chris Grealish did it in 2004, he said it should be called the Race up Every Climb in Oregon. It climbs over 40,000 feet in those 535 miles. I also raced it in 2004 and quite honestly it felt like more than 40,000 feet. A month before the race, I had ridden the course in 4 days and even then it felt like more than 40,000 feet of climbing. Not only does it have that much climbing but it finishes with a brutal climb to Timberline Lodge.

Standings at the time stations and some information about how the racers are doing is being posted on the website. A few pictures have also been posted.

Tom Letsinger from GVH Bikes is racing this year. He crewed for me in RAAM last year. Tom finished 3rd in the Ring of Fire last year with 342.2 miles in 24 hours. I believe that's the longest he's ridden before. Right now he's toward the back of the pack but it's still early in the race. In any case, just finishing the Race Across Oregon is a very tough task.

In 2004 I motioned my follow vehicle beside me around mile 340. I stopped and leaned against the vehicle and told my crew I couldn't continue. I then sat down and cried from the emotion of dropping out and the pain I was in.

I had some GI issues brought on by too much caffeine and sugar in an attempt to stay awake after some nasal spray made me sleepy. Several trips to the bushes had made it unbearable to sit on my saddle. After my crew let me cry beside the road for a few minutes, they coaxed me the 60 miles to Prineville which is the only town of any size on the course. There they were able to get some medicine that helped but I was still in pain. I did make it to the finish and qualified for RAAM for the 3rd consecutive year. I have now qualified 4 times and the Race Across Oregon was by far the toughest qualifier for me.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Race Across Oregon, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, Great Divide Race, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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!

Labels: cycling, Patty Riddle, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

At the other end of the race, Lou Lamoureux and Patty Riddle were dropped from the race because of missing time cut-offs. Word is that Patty is continuing to ride unofficially.
Lou made it much farther this year than last year and gave all he had. He's riding with a donated kidney. There's a great post by someone on his crew about the experience.

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.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

With the Race Across America in it's 7th day, Jure Robic has extended his lead over Wolfgang Fasching to 100 miles. Daniel Wyss is in 3rd place, a 150 miles behind Robic. Although there still is a lot of racing left, it will be hard for anyone to catch Robic unless he has a total melt down. He's won twice before so the chance of that seems slim. Robic has now ridden over 2237 miles which is more than the Tour de France riders do in 3 weeks.

Of the 5 women that started, only Kerry White is officially left. Lauren Fithian and Caroline van den Bulk have dropped out since they won't be able to make the time cut-off in El Dorado, KS. Patty Riddle seems to still be riding in central Colorado.

Lou Lamoureux is still riding near the Colorado and Kansas border although he won't make the time cut-off in El Dorado. Tom Seabourne also doesn't seem to chance at making the time cut-off and a couple others will be close.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

When my crew woke me up in Ulysses, KS, they hadn't found anyone that thought the could help with my SI joint and IT band problem. It was still dark and we decided the best thing was to keep trying to make progress. We thought maybe we could find a chiropractor in another town once it was business hours.

I began riding and I certainly wasn't any better than before my sleep break. I think I made it about 15 miles down the road before I couldn't get through a pedal stroke. RAAM rules allow a rider to be shuttled somewhere as long as they start riding where they stopped. I was shuttled back to Ulysses and went back to sleep while my crew figured out what to do.

They again got a hold of my doctor. He checked into what doctors were in Ulysses and contacted another D.O. He was able to get the doctor to see me before his scheduled patients so we showed up as the staff was getting there. Unfortunately, even though he was a D.O., he didn't to manipulative treatment. He really had no clue what to do for me other than giving me a shot so I wouldn't feel the pain. We decided against that option. He did know a chiropractor in town that my crew hadn't been able to find in the phone book. He called the chiropractor and arranged an urgent visit.

The chiropractor evaluated me and said that my pelvis had rotated. Most likely it was from the cross-wind and leaning my bike over hour after hour to stay upright. He began adjusting me. He was a little strange and did some chanting but he was doing things that other chiropractors had done so I figured he knew what he was doing.

While this was all taking place, some of the crew were talking and Tom Stormcrowe, who we called Stormy, decided that it was best that he leave the crew and get home. He had diabetes and the crazy hours and bad food was causing blood sugar problems. He felt that was why we had a scary moment the day before. In eastern Colorado he had fallen asleep while driving the follow van. His foot went heavy on the gas and the van came at me at full speed. Fortunately my wife screamed and he swerved and came beside me in the ditch. In my sleep deprived state I don't think it totally sunk in what had just had just happened but it did enough to freak me out.

After the medical help and the loss of a few hours, I was shuttled back out to where I had stopped riding. My hip felt much better but I had a knot the size of a golf ball in my IT band and it still bothered me. I was however able to make progress although not as fast as I wanted. I had to stop fairly often to stretch.

About dark it started really raining with a lot of lightning. The lightning was to close for comfort but I was less than a mile from a time station where I could get credit for time off the bike so my crew pushed me on. At the time station, I got an unplanned 15 minute nap until the lightning stopped. I then started riding again and rode in the rain for a couple hours. There's a picture of me leaving the time station in the rain in the RAAM picture gallery.

I wasn't too happy riding in the rain since I was already dealing with the pain of my leg. I was also going into a head wind and I thought if I let the storm get ahead of me the wind might not be so bad. My crew kept pushing me on because the chiropractor we had seen in the morning and contacted a chiropractor in Pratt, KS. My crew had told the chiropractor in Pratt that it would be at least midnight when we got there. He gave them his cell number and said it didn't matter when we got there as he lived a couple blocks from his office.

We ended up getting to Pratt at 1:30 AM local time. Pratt is known in the RAAM world for the McDonalds that is always the time station and riders and their crew can order anything and get it free. My crew had gotten me a chicken sandwich minus the sauce at my request. I was doing a mostly liquid diet with some fruit, crackers and pretzels. I was going to off the bike going to the chiropractor so I felt having something more in my stomach would be fine.

The chiropractor spent a while adjusting me. He thought I was going to be alright and that the IT band would take care of itself with everything back in alignment. He refused payment and had brought his camera and just wanted a picture with somebody that would do something like RAAM.

After the chiropractor visit, it was time to get a 30 minute nap in the McDonalds parking lot before continuing to ride. I was only 2 time stations away from a mandatory 2 hour stop in El Dorado, KS.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

The 2007 Race Across America is now into it's 6th day. Jure Robic has continued to build his lead at the front and now has nearly a 5 hour lead over Wolfgang Fasching. It's still over a 1,000 miles for them so anything could happen. According to a report on the RAAM website, Robic has had only 6 hours of sleep so far.

So far today, there haven't been any more DNFs. Even Patty Riddle continues to ride even though she's only made it to Pagosa Springs and can't have any hope of an official finish. Lou Lamoureux is staying positive even though it'll be tough for him to make the time cut off in El Dorado, KS. He's also in need of more crew so if you need something to do for the next several days, you should give him a hand.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

When I got up from my sleep break in Trinidad in the Race Across America last year, things seemed to be going great for me. The last 2 days I had felt good and especially the day before when I rode from Durango to Trinidad. I had felt great and had a lot of fun most of the day. I had moved up to 4th place in the Enduro category. The mountains were behind me and although I was worried about boredom on the plains, I'm a big power rider so flats are good for me.

I was only 90 miles from my home. My parents and in-laws had brought my girls down to see me. It was good to see them and they hung out with me while I got ready to ride. All too soon it was time to continue on.

When I left Trinidad, there was a really strong wind but it was a tailwind so nothing to complain about. Then it became a cross-wind and then a head-wind and then back to a cross-wind. It then stayed a cross-wind hour after hour. I got used to tumbleweeds blowing across the road. I did get concerned though when I saw a couple bushes fly across. The wind was about 40 mph with much stronger gusts. I heard some gusts hit 100 mph. I think those were late in the afternoon when thunderstorms started moving through. At first there were only a few sprinkles with the thunderstorms but a lot of lightning. It was freaky because we kept seeing plumes of smoke from fires started by the lightning and fire trucks headed out to the fields.

Some racers got blown off their bikes. One abandoned from I think an injured shoulder from being blown off his bike. I didn't get blown off but a couple times I went from a third of the way into my traffic lane to almost off the wrong side of the road.

During the wind, the IT band in my left leg started hurting. I've had problems before and it's when the SI joint in my hip locks up. Sometimes it will pop and start working right again by crossing my leg over my chest and having someone push down on my leg while I try to push up. We kept trying but couldn't get it to pop. Shanna Armstrong's crew came by when my wife had me crunched up on the side of the road. A guy from France on her crew had some physical therapy training or something. We couldn't quite understand what but he offered to try helping. He worked on me for a few minutes. It helped but didn't get me to where I needed to be.

I kept trying to make as much progress down the road as possible but had to keep stopping and stretching. 11 o'clock at night my crew was able to get a hold of my doctor. They had me as much out of the wind as possible beside a grain elevator as the wind howled and lightning flashed all around. He's a D.O. and so he tried to help them with the technique for popping my SI joint. They never were able to get it to pop.

Through this section of Kansas, there were several nasty railroad crossings. They crossed at long angles to the road and had rough wood around them. In the darkness it was tough to choose a good spot to cross. On one of them, I lined up so I could cross at 90 degrees. Just as I got to it I got enough light to see that I was ready to go straight into a big hole where the wood had rotted out. I knew I would endo when my front wheel dropped in. I decided to turn back straight with the road which made a bad angle with the tracks. It was worse since the road was wet. It wasn't raining right then but had been. My front wheel slid on the first track and I went down. I knew there was a good chance I'd crash so I was ready for it. I was quickly back up and not even scraped up. My crew was very concerned and had made it out of the follow van and to me by the time I got up.

I arrived at the Ulysses, KS time station about 2:30 AM local time for a planned 3 hour sleep break. A quick check didn't turn up anybody with massage or chiropractic experience but my crew was going to see what they could come up with while I slept. I went to sleep a bit concerned but hoped things would work out when I got back up.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

It is now Day 5 of the 2007 Race Across America. Yesterday saw the leaders finish riding across Colorado and well into Kansas. Robic is still leading and increasing his lead. He should be into Missouri soon after dark tonight. Solo racers are now scattered all the way from western Colorado to eastern Kansas.

Yesterday saw the first DNFs of the race. Hana Ebertova dropped citing exhaustion and Fabio Biasiolo from a medical issue. Walter Blaettler didn't pass any time stations after yesterday afternoon and today he was listed as a DNF from a vehicle accident. Latest report from the live updates on the Race Across America website says he was taken to a hospital and released so nothing too serious but enough to put him out of the race.

Lauren Fithian and Alessandro Colo passed through Cortez over half an hour after the official time cut off. I think adjusted for the staggered start it was around 10 minutes. With the teams still behind them and not being over the limit by much, I'm not surprised that they appear to have been allowed to continue. Lou Lamoureux came in nearly 11 hours over the limit. According to a post from his crew, he had been exhausted and was out of the race but he got energized and is back in the race. It will be very hard though for these racers to ride fast enough since everybody normally gets slower. Patty Riddle appears to still be riding and going through time stations although the next one is Cortez where she should have been yesterday.

I first became interested in RAAM about 20 years ago when I was 15 or 16. I began dreaming about doing it although for a long time I didn't think I'd ever actually do it. Once there was a website, I would keep close track of the race as it happened. This year I thought it would be pretty much the same.

After my DNF last year, I didn't think I'd be able to afford to do it again any time soon. There were other things I was interested in. I mentioned in a post a few months ago there was something else probably even harder than RAAM that I wanted to do. I started writing a post about it but things got crazy at work and that post is still just a draft. I thought I had moved on from RAAM but keeping track of the race the last few days has brought back so many memories. I'm not sure how I'll pull it off but I now really hope to be back to RAAM sooner than later.

I won't keep you wondering what else I'm interested in that I think is tougher than RAAM. It's the Great Divide Race. This year's race starts tomorrow. Text updates and audio updates will be posted as riders check in when they get places civilized enough to have a phone.

My friend Larry is planning on doing it next year. It would be great to do it at the same time he does. We could train and plan together. There's a lot that would have to come together for me to be able to do it next year. It would also mean longer before I'd get back to RAAM.

Labels: cycling, Great Divide Race, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

The 2007 Race Across America is into it's 4th day. The team racers started yesterday. The solo leaders made it through most of the Colorado mountains yesterday and will be headed across the southeastern plains of Colorado into Kansas today. Most of the racers will be riding the Colorado mountains today including Wolf Creek Pass which is the high point of the race at 10,850. You can get the current standings and the latest race news on the Race Across America website.

Unfortunately it looks like Lou Lamoureux, Hana Ebertova and Patty Riddle will be cut in Cortez. They have to reach it today before 2 PM race time which is always Eastern Daylight Time. Lou crashed out last year between Flagstaff and Tuba City so he has made it a little farther this year.

Last year I got to Durango just after it got light and took a sleep break. I was doing the Enduro division and we were required to stop for a minimum of 2 hours in Durango. After suffering in the desert, I was happy to be in Colorado. I knew exactly where I was and where I was going and it was cooler.

From Durango to the start of Wolf Creek, it's gently rolling and a good bit of the course is on a quiet back road. I was back and forth with Shanna Armstrong until she stopped to take a nap in Pagosa Springs. It was nice to have someone else in sight since most of the time I rarely saw any other riders.

I had never ridden Wolf Creek Pass before but I think I've been over it in a car at least once in each of the last 20 years. Although it is a long climb, it's never really steep and the grade is very consistent making it easy to get into a groove. I just rode a comfortable pace and took my time and enjoyed being in the mountains where I felt at home. I also thought about the great decent that was waiting for me.

Once off the east side of Wolf Creek Pass, the route crosses the San Luis Valley. This area has some of the flattest and straightest roads in the state. After that it's up and over La Veta Pass. From the west, La Veta Pass is very gentle and doesn't climb a huge amount. It was even easier since I had a good tailwind. Next it's a descent down to the town of La Veta. It was a little past midnight local time when I arrived and I stopped for a 15 minute nap.

From La Veta, the route heads over Cucharas Pass. It's a hard climb and probably felt harder because I was doing it in the dark. Unlike Wolf Creek Pass, it also doesn't have a consistent grade. I was very happy to get to the top and get to descend. I was hitting 50 mph in the dark which added to the excitement. Fortunately Tom did a great of driving and keeping me in the headlights. I arrived in Trinidad at 6:30 AM local time and stopped for a much needed sleep break.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

The Race Across America is now into it's 3rd day. Jure Robic and Wolfgang Fasching have been within a few minutes of each other for most of the time but Robic went through Cortez, CO 69 minutes ahead of Fasching. They are now 771 miles into the race.

Yesterday most of the racers had to deal with the heat of the desert although the leaders had made it to higher altitude before it got hot. Last year I hit the Yarnell grade early in the afternoon when it was really hot. The reward of all the climbing was cooler temperatures especially by the time I got close to Prescott, AZ.

This morning a lot of the riders were near Flagstaff, AZ. Although it can be warm during the day, the temperatures really drop at night. I think when I left there just before dawn after a sleep break last year, it was 39 degrees. It felt really cold after riding most of the day before with temperatures in the upper 90 through the desert. By afternoon it was back in the 90s as I rode through Monument Valley.

The leaders will spend today riding through the mountains of Colorado while most of the other racers will be riding through the high altitude desert of the four corners region. By evening most of them should be headed into Colorado.

Labels: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Danny Chew photo with Me at Race Across America Start Last Year

The solo Race Across America racers started this morning for Oceanside. It's hard to believe it's been a year since I lined up there. The temperatures shouldn't have been too bad for the first few house since the route climbs up into the hills. Then it drops down a great decent into the desert. Last year it was like dropping into an oven. Even though it was still in the 90s when I rode by the Salton Sea, there was a cooler breeze blowing off it that made it not seem so bad. Still I was happy when it got dark and the temperatures dropped.

It should be a great race this year with three former winners racing. There is last year's winner Daniel Wyss from Switzerland, 2 time winner Jure Robic from Slovenia who dropped out last year with pnuemonia and 3 time winner Wolfgang Fasching from Austria. Currently Robic is in the lead with Wyss in 2nd and Fasching in 4th. At this point it's all about pacing, staying hydrated and fueled for the long days ahead.

This year also has 5 women entered which is the most since 1993. Patty Riddle is attempting to become the oldest women finisher.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Tom Stormcrowe otherwise known as The Amazing Shrinking Man is doing the Tour de Cure Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 14. He has lost over 350 pounds! He is very close to his goal of raising a $1,000 for the American Diabetes Association. You can help him reach his goal or even exceed it by donating from his page for the ride.

He has diabetes although it's currently in remission from diet and exercise. He took up cycling to get his weight down. He crewed for me for Race Across America last year. From the crazy hours and gas station food, his blood sugar got out of whack and he ended up needing to leave my crew while we were in Kansas.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Tour de Cure, weight loss

Tomorrow is the last day for ballots to be postmarked for the UMCA elections. If you haven't voted yet, you really should. This could be a very important election.

There are 18 candidates for 6 director positions. There have been ugly discussions on the Topica list since January. To be honest, I don't know what the truth is. It does seem some rules where broken to buy Race Across America but I'm not a lawyer. That was the start of the controversy and then it spread to some people wanting John Hughes, the UMCA managing director, gone. People on both sides of the issue have been very ugly at times.

Transplant Athlete is one of the candidates. He's finished the Race Across America on a 2 person team and he attempted it solo last year. He's giving it another try this year. He has posted about the UMCA a couple times - here and here.

Labels: Race Across America, ultra cycling, UMCA

Two time Race Across America winner Jure Robic won the first Race Around Slovenia this past weekend. It was 1,100 kilometers. I haven't found a race report but it was posted to the UltraCycling Topica list that Robic won by a big margin.

Once again Robic is signed up for the Race Across America. Last year he dropped out in Pagosa Springs with pneumonia. Kenny Souza was also having breathing trouble and was stopped about 60 miles earlier in Durango for several hours. That's when I was feeling great in an area I know well. That's where I moved into 4th place in the Enduro division. Of course it didn't matter when I got injured in the fierce wind storm in eastern Colorado and western Kansas. I limped my way to the Mississippi River before dropping out.

Labels: Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, Race Around Slovenia, ultra cycling

While mountain bikers, skiers, and runners were conquering 100 miles of snow in Alaska, ultra road cyclists where competing in the first RAAM qualifier of the year at Sebring, FL. The reports are that it was cold for Florida but I'm sure it was nothing like it was in Alaska. There are actually several different divisions and only the 24 hour non-drafting event is a RAAM qualifier.

John Schlitter put in the most miles at the event with 479.5 miles on a recumbent. He'll be racing RAAM on a 2 man team. Brett Walker who is training for solo RAAM this year won the 24 hour race with 467.5 miles. John Jurczynski who is also training for RAAM won the 12 hour division with 245.5 miles. Nancy Guth won the women's drafting 24 hour race with 309.4 miles. Complete results for the 24 hours are posted here and the 12 hours results are here.

Bloggers JB and Transplant Athlete (Lou) were there. JB put in 353.8 miles. He was written a preliminary race report. Lou did RAAM last year. He's doing RAAM again this year. He didn't feel good and ended up bailing after 14:45 with 222.5 miles in. He was quite disappointed with that but it's a long time until RAAM.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Sebring, ultra cycling

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Danny Chew saying that he plans to climb up Pitt's Cathedral of Learning Building at least a 100 times this Saturday. That would be more than 40,000 feet of climbing! Danny Chew has won the Race Across America twice. His goal is to ride one million miles in his lifetime. He reached 600,000 miles on September 10th, 2006. Below is the e-mail he sent.

Twas 14 years ago that I set my 86 times up Pitt's Cathedral of Learning Building record in 12 hours. That record has stood for long enough, so I plan to break it (shooting for at least 100 times up) this coming Saturday, February 10, 2007 starting at 8am. I plan to average about 6-7 times (actual climbing time of 6-8 minutes) up per hour - meaning it will take me just over 13 hours (ETA: 9pm)to tie my 86 times up record, and about 15 hours (ETA: 11pm) to reach my projected goal of 100 times up! Then depending on how I feel, I may just go on for 24 hours and 150 total times up.

Don Erdeljac will be my main support person. Please feel free to come out and do some climbs up with me. The Cathedral of Learning Building is located on the University of Pittsburgh campus between Forbes & 5th Avenues in Oakland. If you show up late, the 5th Avenue side entrance doors always seem to be open. I will be climbing up all 764 steps between the Ground and 36th floors - taking the elevators down each time.

I will be counting my laps on the top (36th floor) with tally marks on a yellow sheet. I will also have guest sign-in sheet on which you can write down how many times you climbed up that day. The vertical mile (12 times up) is a common endurance goal for some people.

With over 400 vertical feet one time up, 100 times up would be more than 40,000 feet or over 7 miles up - much greater than from sea level to the top of Mt. Everest! Stepclimbing records are posted on my website.

Labels: Danny Chew, RAAM, Race Across America, stair climbing

Last Saturday night George Hood finished riding an indoor bike for 85 hours straight to set a new Guinness World Record. Actually the elapsed time was a little longer because the rules allow for 5 minutes off the bike for every hour ridden. He was riding to raise money for Illinois COPS.

On Monday John Jurczynski started riding for a planned 50 hours to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. John is training for solo RAAM this year. In December he had done 50 hours to raise money for his local Children's Santa Fund. When he heard of the new record, he decided to see if he could break it. Soon after midnight this morning, he made it to over 87 hours with an elapsed time of 89 hours. That means that in over 3.5 days he was only off the bike for about 2 hours! Since he decided to go for the record at the last minute it may end up being unofficial because he wasn't sure what was required to get into the Guinness World Records Book. One thing that Biking Bis mentions is that the whole time has to be videotaped.

In 2004 while training for the Race Across Oregon, I did a training camp with the race directors and 2 others where we rode the 535 miles in 4 days. One of the other riders was Italian Alessandro Colo. Over New Years he had done a massive spinning session that was a little under 200 hours as I recall. Over New Years of 2005, he did another spinning session that was 201 hours and was reported by CyclingNews. Alessandro's English was rather broken so it was a little hard to carry on a conversation with him but I talked to him a fair amount over the 4 days. One of the nights we shared a room. As I recall he took some short naps during his record attempt in 2004. That would be possible with the rules if he saved up his 5 minutes per hour for several hours and then took them at one time. Biking Bis says Alessandro's record isn't in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records but I thought he was trying to get it in. He used to have some English pages on his website but now it seems to all be in Italian. Babel Fish didn't help me very much.

Update 12/15/07: John "Blue Dog" Jurczynski and Mike "Mad Dog" Gallagher have pushed the Guinness spinning record to 113 hours!

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, spinning record

As I posted a couple weeks ago, Fred Boethling and John Hughes have taken over RAAM. They haven't wasted any time changing the Enduro rules and appointing people to several positions. Jeff Stephens of Stephens Performance Marketing has been appointed to be the Sales and Marketing Director for RAAM. Jeff has 20 years of marketing with American Lung Association and American Heart Association. Hopefully he'll be able to bring more exposure to RAAM and increase sponsorship.

The Enduro rules have been changed to not have any mandatory control points. Racers will be required to take a minimum of 10 hours off the bike in the first 1,000 miles and another 10 hours in the last 1,000 miles. The total off bike time required remains 40 hours.

This year we were required to take a minimum of 2 hours off the bike at 5 control points. I only made it past the first 3 but 2 of them totally threw my sleep off. I was required to stop when I didn't feel I needed to since it was daylight. After stopping I tried to ride through the night since I'd already slept but kept falling asleep on the bike. I had posted a response on the Topica ultracycling list last week saying I thought the change was good. Paul Skilbeck that was the RAAM media director responded that he thought it was a bad idea because the media knew at least 5 spots along the race where riders would be stopped. I agree there has to be a balance between getting media exposure to help the race survive and not hindering the racers.

Labels: RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Fred Boethling and John Hughes just signed a letter of intent to buy RAAM from Jim Pitre and Lon Haldeman. More details are on the Race Across America website.

The only time I've meet John Hughes is when I signed in at the timestation in Trinidad, CO for a sleep break this year in RAAM. I've had e-mail exchanges with him over the last couple years. I meet Fred Boethling at Texas Hellweek this year and rode the 300k brevet with him except the first couple miles. We were the first 2 finishers of that ride. Based on what I know, I think RAAM will continue to be in good hands.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Danny Chew has posted his post 2006 RAAM interviews with a few of the riders plus Chris Kostman. Until last year Chris Kostman was the youngest rider to finish RAAM and organizes the Furnace Creek 508, Badwater Ultramaration, and other events. I have a copy of of my interview on my website.

Labels: RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Planet Ultra has announced a new ultra cycling race called the Hoodoo 500. It is scheduled for September 15-17, 2007 and will start and finish in St. George, UT. It sounds like a great route with great scenery. It will 512 miles with about 30,000 feet of climbing.

Unfortunately the UMCA has denied their request to be a RAAM qualifier. I don't know why but I'd guess it may have something to do with it being the same weekend as the Adirondack 540. The two races are on nearly opposite sides of the country so I don't think there would be that much of a conflict. It would only be a 10 hour drive for me and would be closer than any of the other RAAM qualifiers.

Labels: Planet Ultra, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling, Utah

Last May at the local Ride of Silence, I talked to Bob Breedlove's daughter and she had said the family didn't believe the official Colorado State report of how he was killed during RAAM in 2005. I didn't write much about it out of respect for the family. She had told me they had hired a private investigator and that things didn't make sense. The November issue of Outside magazine has an article about the accident. I don't get Outside magazine and couldn't find the article on their website when I heard about it several weeks ago. I had thought of buying one just to read the article but one of the guys at work gave his copy to me without me saying anything about it. Outside has now posted the article online.

I doubt we'll ever find out the truth of what happened but there are certainly some things about the accident that are disturbing. The judge that sentenced the 15 year old that was driving without a license was never even told that the accident involved a fatality. This year in RAAM, I rode that section of highway just after daybreak. I was surprised at how much traffic there was so early in the morning. I certainly feel for the Breedlove family and my prayers are with them.

Labels: Bob Breedlove, cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

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.

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Labels: allergies, asthma, cycling, RAAM, Race Across America

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.

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Labels: cycling, hypothyroidism, RAAM, Race Across America

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:

• 1 Race Cap Supreme
• 1 Mito-R Cap
• 2 Anti-Fatigue Caps
• 3 Endurolytes capsules

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

We're slowly making our way back to Colorado and visiting relatives along the way. At Julie's grandparent's cottage we didn't have internet access although I did go into town to an internet cafe. Now we're at my brother's place in Ohio and he has internet access but we also have a lot going on.

This is old news but something I haven't written about yet. The night after I dropped out of RAAM, I woke up totally drenched in sweat and the sheets were pretty soaked too. All I wanted to do was sleep but Julie was pretty freaked out about it. I felt fine other than muscle soreness. Julie insisted I go to the Emergency Room.

Once we got to the ER they were concerned about my electrolyte levels because of what I had just done. I was confident that amount of Endurolytes I was using would have been more than enough but figured getting tested would be a good way to find out for sure. They drew a bunch of blood and tested for several things.

The results showed my electrolytes were indeed fine. The only things the tests showed were I had significant muscle damage which didn't surprise them and that I'm low on my thyroid medication. I thought the one result they talked about was Muscle Damage Index and mine was 900 but I lost the sheet and can't find any information on it. They also said my free T4 was low. I'm on a high dose of thyroid medication which has seemed to be working well but the problem is I don't know what happens I do really long rides. Dr. Carter plans to do more tests when I get back home. A big thanks to Dr. Carter for his help during the race. He was on the phone with my crew at 11:30 at night the first night in Kansas trying to help walk them through popping my pelvis. He also was helping track down doctors for me along the way.

The conclusion on the sweats was that my body was just trying to flush out all the toxins from my effort. They continued for a couple nights and now I seem to be over them.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Randy Van Zee has had to withdraw from racing RAAM in the Enduro category. He had a serious cycling accident last Saturday and sustained multiple facial fractures.

Related Links: RAAM Finisher Randy Van Zee Killed

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Labels: RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling

Last night I did the local Ride of Silence. There were a little over 30 people for it. I had actually hoped for more than that but this is the first year for Colorado Springs so maybe it will take time to grow. It was a bit hard to ride for an hour and keep the pace below 12 mph but it was good time to reflect about the cyclist killed and injured on the roads. One of Dr. Breedlove's daughters was there and so was Alison Dunlap.

I chatted a little with Dr. Breedlove's daughter which was interesting because the official story on his death in RAAM last year left me with a lot of questions. Without me asking she gave me more details. The family believes there is evidence that the official report isn't correct and that there is evidence that suggests he never crossed the center line as the driver claims. However, the State Patrol believes the 15 year old driver that was driving even though his learner's permit was revoked because of an earlier hit and run.

Update: Outside magazine did an article on Dr. Breedlove's death in the November 2006 issue. I have some of my thoughts on it plus a link to the article online.

Labels: Bob Breedlove, cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Ride of Silence, share the road

It is now 170 days until the start of RAAM 2006. In a way this seems like a long time but considering the training and everything else I need to do, it seems too short. I consider November 1st as the start of my training and I rode my bike 21 times in November and hiked once.

I haven't been worried about getting lots of training time in but just trying to be consistent. In August I was working way too much and only was on the bike 12 times. I still was able to ride a RAAM qualifying time at the Adirondack 540 in September but certainly wasn't the way to train so I'm trying not to let that happen leading up to RAAM. This month I haven't been as consistent as in November because of some very cold weather and being sick. Once night it was -16 degrees when we went to bed which is the coldest it's been in nearly 10 years. I also was sick and didn't feel like doing any training most of last week so I guess the timing of the cold weather wasn't bad. Yesterday it was in the 50's and it is again today so I'm back to training outside on the bike.

As always I weigh too much. One of my big challenges is to lose 20 lbs before RAAM. It should be doable but will require more to be very disciplined with my eating. I lost over 20 lbs a view years ago by tracking everything I ate in DietPower but I gained it back last winter when I took 4 months off the bike to gut a third of the house and remodel it. My thyroid doesn't really work any more and although I'm on medication it's so easy to gain weight and really hard to get rid of it. I'm not far from being obese by the BMI measurement but I've always been bulky. When I was in high school, one of the employees at the local bike shop kept telling me I should be a body builder instead of a cyclist but I love being outside too much to ever consider doing that.

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Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling