RAAM 2012 Race Report

2012 RAAM Race Report

Background

I participated in the 2012 Race Across America (RAAM) as part of the 8-person CEO Challenges/Challegned Athletes Foundation (CEO/CAF) team.  This is a summary race report of that experience, which took place from Saturday June 16th to Friday, June 22nd.  This race report is in two parts—the first is a sequential review of the race from Time Station (TS) to Time Station and the second is a number of observations/lessons learned that I offer to the interested reader.

RAAM is considered by many in the cycling world to be the most difficult single-stage endurance bike race in the world.  For solo riders, it surely must be.  The race is also contested by 2, 4 and 8 person teams.  Our CEO/CAF team was one of the 18 8-person teams entered this year.  Our team was comprised of 7 CEO/Senior Executives and Sargent Major Chris Self, who has served our country with multiple tours in the Middle East in the Army Special Forces.  In one tour, he was shot multiple times and his right leg was paralyzed below the knee.  He was subsequently confined to a wheel chair.  He bravely elected to amputate his leg below the knee and with the support of CAF, he has resumed his athletic life utilizing various prosthetics.  Our team raised money in support of CAF, which helps people of all types overcome physical disabilities and participate in athletic events.  We raised nearly $25,000 as part of our race.

Our team broke into two sub-teams—the “A” team, which included Chris, myself, Jon Hill and Roger Martin; and the “B” team, which included Terry Harker, Brent Underdahl, Joe Marinucci, and Mark Biedrzycki.  We also had 9 support crew members on the team (plus we hired two commercial drivers to drive our RV).  The “A” team crew was Ted Kennedy (our Crew Chief), Tracey Armington, Simon Bennett (who was a member of the record holding 8-man team), and Meg Gray (our nurse).  The “B” team crew included Shawna Organisciak (Co-Crew chief), Emily Booth, David Clarke, and Dylan Stucki (our mechanic).  Additionally, we had Heidi Deprey who floated between the teams and prinicipaly stayed on the RV and provided massages and other support for the team.

We utilized three vehicles, a close-follow SUV, a larger “Sprinter” van that carried the active riders and bikes, and a very large RV that carried the non-active team from team rotation point to rotation point.

I, Randy Christofferson, am a 55-year old triathlete (and I am older by 9 years than anyone else on the team) whose strongest discipline is cycling, though by the standards of “real cyclists”, I am certainly nothing special.  Like all of the riders and most of the crew, I am a RAAM rookie.  In addition to being a rookie, we basically met each other for the first time the night before the race in Oceanside—it was going to be interesting to see how we melded as a team.

As for the race itself, it starts in Oceanside, CA and covers 2,993.4 miles with over 170,000 feet of vertical climbing, and finishes at the City Dock in Annapolis, MD.  In between, we pass through 12 states and more than 350 towns and communities.  We must successfully navigate almost 1000 turns and adhere to all traffic laws along the way.  There are close to 60 pages of rules and extensive time penalties for not abiding by them.

From Oceanside, the route immediately climbs the Coastal Range, crosses the desserts of the Southwest, climbs to the Coconino Plateau and passes through the Four Corners region.  We cross the Rockies and the Continental Divide at Wolf’s Creek, at nearly 11,000 feet in altitude, descend into the Great Plains and across the farmlands of the central U. S..  Finally, we cross the Appalachians and descend to the Chesapeake Bay.  Along the way, we cross all three major American mountain ranges and four of our five major rivers: the Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi and the Ohio.

With that, let’s begin!

Rotation One: TS 1-2: Oceanside, CA to Brawley, CA

June 16th: 3:44pm-11:52pm (EST)
Total time: 8:08/My time: 2:04:52
Total distance: 145.2 miles/My distance: 32.3 miles
Average speed: 17.86 mph/My speed: 15.5 mph
My number of pulls: 4
My average power: 238 watts

The race starts near the pier in Oceanside and has first 2 then 4 and 8-person teams going off in 1-minute intervals.  The solo riders had left on 2-3 days before the teams.  As team number T816, we were among the last 3 teams to leave—departing at almost 1 o’clock PST.

The first 24 miles are unsupported by follow vehicles and includes a parade or non-racing portion of 7.8 miles.  Chris and Roger left together in case one had a mechanical.  The early course is difficult to follow and at one point we went off course and that cost us several minutes—not a big concern, as it is a very long race!

In due course we executed our first moving exchange and I had my first pull of the race.  It was very surreal to actually be racing in RAAM.  I had no idea what to expect over the next 6+ days but my first pull had me immediately into an 800-foot climb as we ascended the Coastal Range—what a way to start!

We proceeded through Rotation One smoothly and without further mishap.  All of us were trying to feel-out how hard to go.  Simon, our coach, kept urging us to push harder, but I think we were all a bit skeptical of this advice and were definitely holding back, afraid to blow-up on day one.  None-of-us had ever done any of this type of racing where you have 4-16 very hard pulls of 10-40 minutes everyday.  Further, none of our riders entered the race in what you’d call peak fitness.  For example, I am planning on peaking for Kona this year so I won’t really start my hard training until July.  Still, I averaged 238 watts for this rotation, which is much more than I planned to do.  My second pull at almost 38 minutes would be my longest of the race.  During this time, the Sacremento Police blew pass us on the climb setting up what would become one of the most memorable nights of our lives—but that is a story for a little later in our journey.

After surmounting the Coastal Range we descended the “Glass Elevator”, from 4,200 feet to 187 feet below sea level at the Salton Sea.  The descent was treacherous at 8% but very beautiful.  Our team quickly settled into a pattern where Chris and Jon would take most of the major descents and Roger and I would handle more of the climbing duties—this of course lowered our average speeds below the team average—at least during the mountain sections.  Also, it tended to make our pulls more physically demanding and thus our team director tended to make them shorter than the big descending pulls that Chris and Jon emphasized.  This arrangement really served us well throughout the race and undoubtedly was a vital component of our ultimate success.

As we passed 7pm local time, the SUV was required to “close-follow” so that we were always in the headlights and could see what was ahead of us.  I had my first night pull, which was mesmerizing and I blasted along at 22.4 mph as I had my first taste of a non-climbing pull.  This pull was all below sea level and the air was thick with bugs.  I had to keep my mouth shut as I was peppered with literally thousands of bugs.

We finished our first rotation and executed a very slow, 5-minute or so rotation to the “B” team.  Because we were under “close-follow” requirements the rider couldn’t go until the SUV was ready with the new crew members.  We would eventually work out how to do this better, but at this early stage, our rookie status was costing us.  We passed TS2 in 10th place and all of us felt, at this point, that this is where we probably belonged—in the middle of the pack.

Rotation Two: TS 3-4: Brawley, CA to Parker, AZ

June 16th/11:52pm-June 17th/6:14am
Total time: 6:24
Total distance: 141.1 miles
286.3 miles completed/2,707.1 miles to go
Average speed: 22.16 mph
Team average for the whole race: 19.23 mph

Our team had our first experience of moving from Rotation Point to Rotation Point on the big RV.  I bought an hour in a very divey motel for $30 and we were all able to take showers—which was awesome.  The B team blasted through a relatively flattish stage and so our down time was very short.  I was unable to sleep at all and we were soon up again near 3 am.

Out of the road, the B team rocked and passed many of the other 8-person teams.  In fact we moved up into 5th place during the night.  The first three teams were way ahead and light-years above us (they were all basically pro/CAT1 teams).   However we were closely competitive with several over teams.  Team TDL/Believe and Achieve—a group of elite junior cyclists (the first all junior team in RAAM history) a team we would come to call “The Kiddies”, the Sacramento Police (“The Cops”), and Team XSTRATA.  Here is where we stood at TS4:

4th Kiddies 14:18 (HR:MIN)
5th CEO/CAF 14:30
6th X-Strata 14:48
7th Cops 14:52

So while we were all tightly bunched, we were just 12 minutes out of 4th at this point.  This was a surprising development to us and we weren’t really sure what to make of it, but we were certainly pleased.  We executed another poor, 5-minute Rotation and the A team was back on the road.

Rotation Three: TS 4-7: Parker, AZ to Prescott, AZ

June 17th/6:14am-3:08pm
Total time: 8:15/My time: 2:00:45
Total distance: 154.8 miles/My distance: 34.1 miles
Average speed: 18.8 mph/My speed: 16.9 mph
441.1 miles completed/2,552.3 to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 19.08 mph
My number of pulls: 6
My average power: 235 watts

We started at 3:20am local time and generally climbed up from the Colorado River valley in Arizona towards Flagstaff.  We started at 417 feet of elevation and finished at 5476 feet.  We had several difficult climbs including the Yarnell Grade, which involves 1800 feet of climbing over 7 miles.  Between TS 6 and 7, the climbing is actually the most difficult west of Maryland, averaging over 130 feet/mile.

We start in a very pleasant 72 degrees and the riding is fantastic!  The sky is a fire with stars and the night riding is hypnotic.  Soon however, the sun rises and by 8am the temperature hits 101 degrees, on it’s way to 113 degrees.  Fortunately, it’s a dry heat, as they say.  The road is very poor here—being an annoying chip-seal that rattles your very soul.

We all feel very good but continue to be tentative and the Police once again catch us on the road.  We are amazed at how much stronger they seem to be than us on the climbs. The Kiddies continue to rock and are clearly throwing down the challenge in this early part of the race.  We have now dropped 50 minutes behind the Kiddies:

4th Kiddies 22:34
5th Cops 23:07
6th CEO/CAF 23:24
7th Georgia Cycle 23:27
8th XSTRATA 23:39

At this point, we are in 6th 17 minutes behind the Cops and 50 minutes behind the kids.  We are beginning to realize that maybe we have a chance to compete and finish in the top half of the 8-person race!

Rotation Four: TS 7-10: Prescott, AZ to Tuba City, AZ

June 17th/3:08pm-11:31pm
Total time: 8:23
Total distance: 166.9 miles
608.0 miles completed/2,385.4 miles to go
Average speed: 19.9 mph
Team average for the whole race: 19.13 mph

The B team faces a series of up and downs between 3 and 7 thousand feet over the first two TS segments in this rotation.  While our B team is younger than the A team, they are also bigger and this climbing takes it’s toll as we lose time to both the Kiddies and the Cops.  Clearly, the more mountainous stages are going to be a challenge for us—especially against the far lighter Kid’s team.

However, the 3rd stage of this rotation has the B team heading down a screaming descent into the Navajo Nation and they are able to make up all the lost time and then-some as we are now just 12 minutes behind the Cops and 41 behind the Kiddies:

4th Kiddies 1:07:06 (DAYS:HOURS:MINUTES)
5th Cops 1:07:35
6th CEO/CAF 1:07:47
7th XSTRATA 1:08:21
8th Georgia Cycle 1:08:31

Meanwhile up the road in Tuba City, I feel a lot better after getting an Ambien from Roger and getting about 3-4 hours of deep sleep.  I hit the Sonic Burger in Tuba City and eat a great Cheeseburger and talk to my son Anders as he calls to wish me Happy Father’s Day.  It’s quite beautiful looking out over the desert and in the shade, the 95 degrees actually feels pretty nice!

Rotation Five: TS 10-12: Tuba City, AZ to Mexican Hat, UT

June 17th/11:31pm-June 18th/4:59am
Total time: 5:38/My time: 1:24:06
Total distance: 116.5 miles/My distance: 32.5 miles
Average speed: 20.7 mph/My speed: 23.1 mph
724.6 miles completed/2,268.9 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 19.45 mph
My number of pulls: 4
My average power: 243 watts

In our first stage this evening we face a long, moderate climb of 30 miles and we are very focused on trying to not lose any more time to the stronger climbing teams.  Each of the four of us are putting extra effort into our pulls—there is a new sense of urgency in Team A.

My second pull involves an 800-foot descent into Kayenta, AZ.  I close in on a Brazilian 4-man team and crank my speed up to 38 mph and try to go around.  Their support vehicle, which is driving down the middle of the lane (against the rules), pulls ahead and seems to try to keep me from pulling back over to the right side of the road.  The Brazilians are honking like crazy and I hardly know what to do.  I decide to power onward and eventually am able to move right ahead of the Brazilian rider.  My follow vehicle tucks in behind me and then a train of 8-cars comes past honking their horns in frustration at being held up.  I keep looking back but can’t figure out what’s going on because I’m blinded by the lights.   I average 26.4 mph on this 24-minute pull.

As we hit TS 11, we have closed to within 6 minutes of the Police!  We continue to push and we begin to see the Police and the flashing lights of their support vehicle up ahead.  We don’t know how far ahead they are but feel we must be close even though you can see a long ways ion the desert.  They pass in and out of view as various hills are crested.

About halfway through this rotation’s 2nd TS-section, we pass into Utah and Ute country.  We are now in the heart of one of the most beautiful places in the world, Monument Valley—of course it’s pitch black so we can’t see a thing!

We continue to close on the Police and we are very excited in the Sprinter.  We throw caution out the window and are urging each other to really go for it and catch the Cops.  Roger and Jon do a great job of eating into the Cops’ lead and I start my last pull just 50 seconds down.  Almost immediately into my pull, the Police counter our change by putting a fresh rider out against me.

I’m giving it a monumental effort but I notice the new rider starting to pull-away.  I keep urging myself to dig deeper and limit the damage.  Soon the gap stabilizes and then begins to shrink!  As I start to reel in the 50 second deficit, I begin to realize that I have to get in front of the Police rider so that Chris can start the descent ahead of the Police—the descent into Mexican Hat is perilous and it would be next to impossible to pass once they start going down.

I jump out of my saddle for 5-6 minutes as I surge up the climb.  Finally, I catch them and move pass the Cops.  Unlike the Brazilians, the support vehicle moves out of my way their rider yells his congratulations.  I am absolutely at my redline limit.  I don’t know how much further I have to go and I’m looking desperately up the road for the Sprinter’s lights and the exchange with Chris.  I glance behind trying to see if the cops are coming back but with the high beams of the SUV, I can see nothing.

Finally, up ahead I see blinking lights and surge again only to find it’s a Brazilian support vehicle waiting for their rider who is many minutes arrears at this point.  Arggghhh!  I pantomime putting a gun to my head—I’m absolutely cooked at this point but I try to carry on.  I began to worry that my team could not find anyplace to pull over for the exchange given the soft shoulders and I might have to do the 13-mile descent that awaits at the top of the climb.   And then, there it is!  I feel a flood of relief and stand-up and surge yet again.  I race to the van and as we execute our stationary exchange I say to Chris: “that’s for you, brother”.

As we put my bike in the van we realize that I have opened up a 2+ minute lead.  This is the pull of my race and one of the best rides of my life.  I average 313 watts over 17 minutes.  Chris surges down the descent at times reaching 52-54 mph!  Jon brings it in and we reach TS 12 4 minutes ahead of the Police.  However, another slow night-time exchange allows them to essentially catch us as the B team takes over.  Despite this slow exchange and all of the climbing we actually make up a minute on the Kiddies and 12 on the Police.  The other teams have dropped further back and we really don’t focus on them anymore.  For the first time, Team A is really racing!

4th Kiddies 1:12:35
5th CEO/CAF 1:13:15
6th Cops 1:13:15

Rotation Six: TS 12-16: Mexican Hat, AZ to Pagosa Springs, CO

June 18th/4:59a-2:53pm
Total time: 9:54
Total distance: 188.3 miles
912.9 miles completed/2,080.6 miles to go
Average speed: 19.0 mph
Team average for the whole race: 19.36 mph

We now have new team names—we have been christened the “Cop Killers” and the B team is now the “Killer B’s”.  The B’s have a longer rotation today and begin by quickly putting distance on the Cops—we are destined to not see them again until the Award Banquet.  At first the riding is easy on this rotation but as they move past TS 13 and 14 they begin to enter the heart of the Rockies.  At TS 14 the Cops have to serve a 15-minute penalty further putting them behind us.  Our team gets held up at a rockslide for about 7 minutes but still continues to make time against our prime competitors.  About 2/3rds of the way through TS 15/16, we start a 45-mile section that leads to Wolf’s Creek/Continental divide and the highest point on the course.  During this time we’ll gain 4,281 feet of elevation but will in-fact climb over 6,500 feet.  The B’s complete the first third of this section.  Here is where we stood at TS 16:

4th Kiddies 1:22:49
5th CEO/CAF 1:23:09
6th Cops 1:23:41

Rotation Seven: TS 16-19: Pagosa Springs, CO to La Veta, CO

June 18th/2:53 pm-9:45pm
Total time: 6:52/My time: 1:55:49
Total distance: 152.9 miles/My distance: 42.5 miles
Average speed: 22.3 mph/My speed: 22.0 mph
1065.8 miles completed/1,927.6 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 19.73 mph
My number of pulls: 5
My average power: 216 watts

After the excitement of last night and “The Battle of Monument Valley”, today was far more subdued as we never saw another racer of any type the whole day.  Also, after the herculean efforts of yesterday it seemed prudent to back down our efforts just a tad.  Further, the cumulative stress of the race was beginning to take its toll.

The route itself was anything but mundane.  We crossed the two major Rocky Mountain passes on the course: Wolf’s Creek and La Veta.  Wolf’s Creek leads to the highest point on this year’s course: 10,856 feet.  We did pretty well on the climb and didn’t have any major problems with the altitude.  We learned latter that in rotation six, one of the members of the Killer B’s suffered from altitude sickness and had to miss a few pulls.  We also Passed George, the race director and his wife—George insisted on completing the whole Wolf’s Creek pass on his own—George is the real deal!

We lost 25 minutes to the Kiddies on the Wolf Creek pass but surprisingly made back 5 minutes on the next two sections, despite the second major climb.  Even with these two major Rocky Mountain climbs we averaged 22.3 mph today and we were able to put 9 minutes on the Coppers.  Two of my five pulls were in the climbs.  Here is where we were at TS 19—now more than 1000 miles into the race:

4th Kiddies 2:05:21
5th CEO/CAF 2:06:01
6th Cops 2:06:44

Rotation Eight: TS 19-22: La Veta, CO to Walsh, CO

June 18th/4:59a-2:53pm
Total time: 9:30
Total distance: 205.1 miles
1,270.9 miles completed/1,722.5 miles to go
Average speed: 21.6 mph
Team average for the whole race: 20.01 mph

In rotation 8 the Killer B’s pull the longest rotation so far at 205 miles.  Fortunately, these 4 TS sections are basically a long gradual descent through the High Plains.  Throughout this rotation, we lose 4,000 feet of elevation.  From TS 21 to 22, we run through the flattest section on the course.  Our team average speed climbs above 20 mph for the first time in the race.

Even though they are quite fatigued at this point, the B’s continue their solid performance putting almost 40 minutes into the Cops and taking back 13 from the kids:

4th Kiddies 2:15:04
5th CEO/CAF 2:15:31
6th Cops 2:16:50

Rotation Nine: TS 22-26: Walsh, CO to Pratt, KS

June 19th/7:15am-5:41pm
Total time: 10:26/My time: 3:15:57
Total distance: 202.6 miles/My distance: 68.2 miles
Average speed: 19.4 mph/My speed: 20.9 mph
1,473.5 miles completed/1,520.0 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 19.93 mph
My number of pulls: 8
My average power: 223 watts

Today was the crucible.  The crux.  The day from and of Hell!

It started innocently enough with Chris and I both enjoying the descent and tailwinds that the B’s were benefitting from at the end of rotation 8.  My first pull lasted 26 minutes and averaged 25.0 mph and I was cruising along at what now seemed like a pedestrian 223 watts.  We had our longest day of the race so far on tap (203 miles) and we wanted to build into it.

We were really counting on hurting the kids as we entered Kansas.  Theoretically, our superior power output would allow us to make up time on the flat lands.  Boy, were we in for a rude awakening.  As the sun rose and began to heat things up, the westerly winds shifted dramatically to the south and greatly intensified.  Soon we were facing dramatic side-winds—even by 9 am they had reached 40 mph.  Here are my notes from this rotation.

-At TS 23 we have made up 4 minutes on the kids and we are now just 23 minutes down.  We are psyched but concerned about the growing winds
-We rapidly get 3 flats in succession, a couple cost us several minutes but we feel like we are doing a good job at dealing with them.
-My second pull is surprisingly difficult.  I’m having trouble controlling my bike.  I decide to ditch my TT helmet.
-The temperature continues to rise and by 10am has reached 99 degrees
-There are wind/driving warnings—at least for east/west travel—unfortunately we have to go east.  A woman is blown off of her motorcycle and is killed.
-Simon has a lot of difficulty keeping the Sprinter on the road—the winds are crazy.
-I now conclude that these are the worse winds that I’ve ever ridden in.  I gear down to put more torque on my rear wheel in an attempt to keep the bike under control.  I keep repeating my mantra over and over again—I’m trying not to think of anything but just the next pedal stroke.
-We pass our first soloist, despite their 2-day head start.  He is in last place as their have now been 13 DNFs—most here in Kansas.
-We continue to have bad luck flat wise (this is Flat Tuesday and we have 5 flats today).  On one of my pulls I roll up for the exchange and a towel blows out of the van and into Roger’s rear wheel.  It lodges between his spokes and rips his valve stem off resulting in an immediate flat—as a result I just keep going for another 3 miles.  All of the flats are very challenging but we rally as a team and handle them very well.

Given all of the challenges we faced, I think we did pretty well on this rotation.  We ended up losing just 3 minutes to the Kiddies (we clawed back 15 minutes over the stretch from TS 25 to 26 as we finally didn’t have any flats for a stretch) and we put another 6 minutes on the Cops—at this point, we are only focused on catching the Kids:

4th Kiddies 3:01:27
5th CEO/CAF 3:01:57

We actually continue on beyond TS 26 all the way to Kingsman, KS.  This is in-between TS 26 and 27 so in-fact the Cop Killers end up doing a back breaking 235 miles today and we spent more than 12 hours in the saddle.  What a very brutal day.  The good news is that we are now half way through the race!

We are in good spirits.  We are concerned about the continuing wind and the tough conditions that the B’s will face tonight.  I’m doing fine physically and I’ve now had 8 hours of sleep over the last 3 days so I’m feeling better.  Simon came by and asked me to up my intensity tomorrow and that I will—on it goes!

Rotation Ten: TS 26-30: Pratt, KS to Fort Scott, KS

June 19th/5:41pm-6/20th/5:29am
Total time: 11:48
Total distance: 234.4 miles
1,707.9 miles completed/1,285.6 miles to go
Average speed: 19.86 mph
Team average for the whole race: 19.92 mph

So we started in between TS 26/27 and we ended between TS 30/31 so all of this data is approximate.  I’m guessing that the Killer B’s just put in the biggest rotation of our race.  The road for the most part, this being Kansas, is flat and generally very good.  There is a modest downward slant as the B’s will lose about 1000 feet of elevation over the 234 miles or so that they ride this night.  The winds are still high, but much less than during the nightmare of rotation nine—probably in the low 20s.  The temp is a comfortable 75 degrees now.

After the trials of Kansas, the Cop Killers all sleep really well.  It’s a long shift so we get an extra long break.  With the help of the magic little white pill I get a full 8 hours of very deep sleep—fantastic!  We awake in western Missouri and as we look around we know this isn’t Kansas any more as the road seems to wander in all three dimensions.  It looks pretty and we are pumped to get after it again.

With the reduced wind the Killer B’s are able to exploit our power advantage and put another 17 minutes into the Kiddies—we are now just 13 minutes behind:

4th Kids 3:13:32
5th CEO/CAF 3:13:45

Rotation Eleven: TS 30-33: Fort Scott, KS to Jefferson City, MO

June 20th/5:29am-1:32pm
Total time: 8:03/My time: 1:35:53
Total distance: 172.7 miles/My distance: 37.5 miles
Average speed: 21.5 mph/My speed: 23.5 mph
1,774.3 miles completed/1,219.1 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 20.05 mph
My number of pulls: 5
My average power: 247 watts

We actually start and finish in-between TS locations today so the above data is slightly off—we started in Nevada, KS (I think) and we definitely finished in Hermann, MO.  The latter is a very charming little town filled with Wineries and Breweries with tasting rooms (off-limits to us racers).  There is also a farmer’s market and a fantastic deli—more on that in a minute.

Out on the road we all felt great today.  We had two more flats bringing the team total to 8.  One of them cost us a few minutes as Chris was up the road between support car leapfrogs.  We were very concerned with the rising toll of the flats and called ahead to a bike store in Jefferson City and arranged for an employee to meet us by the side of the highway and deliver us 4 tires and 6 tubes.  This involved some complicated navigation but due to the miracle of Wi-Fi and Mapquest we were able to execute this maneuver successfully and we rapidly joined back up with the close-follow vehicle and Roger who was on the road at the time.  Ironically, we were to have no more flats for the rest of the race.

The roads are smooth and nice as we are basically traveling in the breakdown lane of a highway.  The traffic is heavy and seems to be dominated by trucks but as the shoulders are wide we feel very safe.  The terrain is always either up or down with constant 100-200 foot elevation gain rollers.  Unlike Kansas, the countryside is verdant and the trees help shield us from the wind.  We are flying and Chris pronounces this as his favorite riding of the whole race.

It is quite warm out and we now really feel the humidity.  It’s in the mid 80s but my guess is that humidity is above 50%.  We cross over Lake Ozark several times and we are struck by the beauty of Missouri.  This is soooo much better than the hell of Kansas!

Competitively we do pretty well as we put 21 minutes on the cops and stay even the kids.  We are now just 13 minutes behind them—we actually saw them go by in Nevada, MO at the beginning of our shift.  Our average speed is once again above 20 mph, where it will stay for the rest of the race.  As we had it off to the Killer B’s there is a sense that now is the time to surge forward and catch them.

4th Kiddies 3:16:49
5th CEO/CAF 3:17:02

Rotation Twelve: TS 33-37: Jefferson City, MO to Effingham, IL

June 20th/1:14pm-June/21th/1:30am
Total time: 12:03
Total distance: 244.7 miles
2,125.3 miles completed/868.1 miles to go
Average speed: 20.30 mph
Team average for the whole race: 20.14 mph

The Killer B’s rotation actually started in Hermann, MO so their actual distance was 196 miles and their actual time was around 9:30 or so.  The support crew for the B’s is a bit fried from nighttime close-follow so we opted to shorten their rotation so that they can get a daytime shift on the next rotation.

Our teammates staged an epic battle akin to our Battle of Monument Valley.  They finally passed the Kiddies on the road just past West Alton, MO as they crossed the Mississippi—it took us almost 2,100 miles to make up the 8 minute head-start they had us.  These Kids are very good and have truly raced a fantastic RAAM.  The B’s are very pumped and throw everything they have into it and open up a 23-minute lead on the Kids—undoubtedly it is psychologically very tough for the Kids and their effort-level is probably lessening.

4th CEO/CAF 4:09:31
5th The Kids 4:09:54

 Rotation Thirteen: TS 37-40: Effingham, IL to Greensburg, IN

June 21th1:15am-11:02am
Total time: 9:47/My time: 2:36:18
Total distance: 203.6 miles/My distance: 60.1 miles
Average speed: 20.8 mph/My speed: 23.1 mph
2,328.7 miles completed/664.8 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 20.19 mph
My number of pulls: 7
My average power: 256 watts

We start just after midnight local time and race through mostly the rural portions of Illinois and Indiana.  In the first two sections there are lots of small hills but nothing of any real significance.  The last stage has a number of more impressive climbs and I find that I am increasingly comfortable hammering the descents.  I stay in my aero bars if the road is nice and the descent isn’t very technical and I get down in my drops when it gets a little sketchier.  I’m routinely getting above 40 mph now on the descents.  This is nothing compared to Jon and Chris but it is a noticeable improvement for yours truly.

We are now rolling through more populated areas from time to time and we are having to deal with more traffic and stop signs/stop lights.  The congestion is especially bad near Indiana University in Bloomington and a last minute detour and some confusion about which way to go costs us a couple of minutes.

The four of us feel strong and we are able to put another 16 minutes on the Kids extending our lead to 39.  We are apprehensive about the Appilachian Mountains ahead of us and feel we’ll need at least an hour lead to be able to hold the kids off due to their superior climbing capabilities.

I feel exceptionally strong for the whole rotation.  I seem to be getting stronger as the race goes on.  I’ve been getting good sleep and eating a ton so I’m sure that helps.  I average 256 watts for my 7 pulls over 2.5+ hours and Simon seems to notice as I get a much larger proportion of the time on the road today.  My last pull averages 308 watts/28 mph on a final dash into Greensburg.  Later, most of our team, racers and crew, hit a local restaurant and eat cheeseburgers and the like.

4th CEO/CAF 4:19:18
5th Kiddies 4:19:57

Rotation Fourteen: TS 40-44: Greensburg, IN to Athens, OH

June 21st/11:02am-9:17pm
Total time: 10:15
Total distance: 217.1 miles
2,545.8 miles completed/447.7 miles to go
Average speed: 21.2 mph
Team average for the whole race: 20.28 mph

The B’s head out for rotation fourteen knowing that this is the last mostly flattish section before we face what will likely be 20 hours in the mountains.  It’s our last chance to put time into the Kiddies before the terrain swings largely in their favor.  Our guys hammer it but the Kiddies are very good and refuse to give up and over the first three sections of this rotation no time is gained or loss.  However, the boys really suck it up on their last two sections (this was their pattern throughout) and put 29 minutes on the Kiddies so we reach TS 44 with a 69-minute lead on the Kiddies:

4th CEO/CAF 5:05:33
5th Kiddies 5:06:42

Rotation Fifteen: TS 44-47: Athens, OH to Kaiser, WV
June 21th/9:17pm-June 22nd/8:18am
Total time: 11:01/My time: 2:28:22
Total distance: 201.9miles/My distance: 42.4 miles
Average speed: 18.3 mph/My speed: 17.1 mph
2,747.5 miles completed/245.7 miles to go
Team average speed for the whole race: 20.12 mph
My number of pulls: 8
My average power: 234 watts

Our end-game strategy is now clear.  We’ll fly over the next 3 sections and about 200 miles.  The B’s will jump in to a very difficult 160 and the Cop Killers are up to bring it home in rotation 17 over 85 miles.  The next 7 sections, our 3 and the B’s 4 will determine if we finish 4th or 5th.  In the prior 3 major climbing stages we lost 25, 32 and 42 minutes to the kids.  We have 7 major climbing stages in front of us and it’s entirely possible that we will drop to 5th.  The Cop Killers are very tired but very focused on passing the lead back to our bretheran.

I felt like superman in rotation 13 and definitely carried a bigger load.  That was not the case in rotation 15.  I complained to Simon that I was “missing 20 watts” all day.  Fortunately, Rog, Jon and Chris all had a monster day today.  I rallied down the stretch with my last couple of pulls today but no question, all 3 of my teammates made it happen today.  I think Roger had his very best day today—right when we needed it.  I was very grateful for how my teammates carried me!

The terrain was extremely difficult—in fact the 3 stages we faced today, in terms of elevation gained, are the 3 hardest in RAAM.  They were very tough.  I felt very good on my many descents.  All of us, between pulls, would pass out for a few minutes after each pull.  We were definitely at our limit at this point—just trying to minimize the damage the kids did to us.  We end up just losing 11 minutes over these three stages of mountain racing.  This is such a moral victory for us!  We still have a 58 minute lead and if the B’s can do it just one more time, we’re confident that the Cop Killers can seal the deal!

4th CEO/CAF 5:16:34
5th Kiddies 5:17:32

Rotation Sixteen: TS 47-51: Kaiser, WV to Hanover, PA

June 22nd/8:18am-4:25pm
Total time: 8:07
Total distance: 154.7 miles
2,902.2miles completed/91.2 miles to go
Average speed: 19.1 mph
Team average for the whole race: 20.06 mph

The B’s are very tired but they get it done.  They lose some time early but come roaring back in their last section and the net result is that they stay even through this very, very difficult climbing section.  They surmount Sideling Hill which may in-fact be the single hardest climb in the whole race.

Ted, our leader talks to the Kid’s manager and learns that they really wanted to and believed that they could catch us over the last two rotations but eventually decided that we were too strong.

Meanwhile, as we waited for the B’s to come in and Chris was once again getting interviewed by the local press, I happened to go into the bus and called out to the B team via radio and learned that they were just 45 seconds out.  We went nuts for that time and happily got Chris out with no loss of time.  We had 85 miles of racing in friendly terrain with an insurmountable lead—as long as we made no major mistakes.  We started in the late afternoon feeling very confident.

Rotation Seventeen: TS 51-54: Hanover,PA to Annapolis, MD
June 22nd/4:25-9:02pm
Total time: 4:37/My time: 1:20:21
Total distance: 85.5/My distance: 27.3 miles
Average speed: 18.5 mph/My speed: 20.4 mph
All completed:
Team average speed for the whole race: 20.01 mph
My number of pulls: 3
My average power: 234 watts

With our big lead—thanks B’s!!!—we just rode easy down the stretch.  For the first time in the race it rained—and rained and thundered very heavily.  No worries.  We knew we were going to finish and finish 4th.  We stay steady and put another 15 minutes on the kids.  We tried to TT in all 4 of us but with the heavy traffic, lights, and close follow requirements, Rog and I turned it over to Chris and Jon to seal the deal—which they did in style, despite the heavy traffic.  We finished above 20 mph, which all of us feel extremely proud of—this is not easy to do, trust me!

We, all 8 of us meet up about 5.7 miles from the final finish line—the racing was over.  We had two vehicles escort us in, and as we wound our way through Annapolis, the eight of us were treated to many folks calling out their admiration for our accomplishments.  We hit the final finish line recording an average speed of 20.05mph.  We took a lot of pictures.  We were interviewed on stage and most of us jumped off the dock into the Chesapeake—it felt awesome!

Judy was there to help me celebrate, which was extraordinary.  We went out to Buffalo Wild wings and had salad and queasidillas.  I wiped out mid-way past my 3rd IPA and we went back to our hotel.  The youngsters on my team were just heading out at midnight for 5 hours of bodily punishment but we were very happy to retire to our room.  My first bed in 7 nights and it was all the better to be there with my bride—our first time together in 16 days.  And so it finally ended!

Final 8-team standings

1st ViaSat 5:05:05/23.93 MPH
2nd 4Mil 5:08:49/23.24
3rd Strategic Lions 5:13:17/22.46
4th CEO/CAF 6:05:18/20.05
5TH TDL (KIDDIES) 6:06:31/19.89
6TH Cops 6:07:57/19.70
7th XSTRATA 6:09:42/19.47
8th Georgia 6:13:59/18.95
9th Docs/Jocs 6:14:50/18.85
10th Tli Cho Landtran 6:15:41/18.74
11th Ohio Cycle 6:18:33/18.41
12th Atlanta 6:18:56/18.37
13th Above/Beyond 6:21:17/18.11
14th Stormwind 7:01:08/17.70
15th Wounded War 7:02:50/17.52
16th Brazilian Bike 7:03:53/17.41
17th Battle Back 7:07:38/17.04
18th Crystel’s Gift 7:07:51/17.02



Random Observations/Lessons Learned

Team Deployment Strategy

We used what is probably the most common racer deployment strategy as we split into two 4-man sub-teams.  This has the advantage of being the easiest from a logistics perspective—especialy since we had three support vehicles.  The two-team structure allowed one team to always have the opportunity for a bit of rest—critical for both racers and crew.

Our two teams were fixed so the teams had very little interaction during the race—really just a few minutes at every rotation.  I imagine a team could break into 4 2-man teams and send the 2-man teams out two at a time but very the pairings. For example: AB, BC, CD, DA, AB…..This would add some variety but I don’t believe it would be of any material strategic advantage.

Our two teams were relatively well balanced.  I think the B team was competitively stronger than our A team although I think the A team did relatively better on the climbing stages.  This makes some sense since the B team was both younger and bigger than the riders on the A team (on average).  As it played out, the A team had much more of the climbing stages (Coastal Mountains, both Rocky Mountain passes, one of the Appalachian rotations).  It worked out that each team had descending and climbing specialists so I think our structure really made sense—especially since we were all rookies.

I could imagine teams having more specialization (climbers, flat-landers, etc.) and an explicit strategy of matching riders to the terrain.  This is a complicated strategy and probably would necessitate the addition of a 4th support vehicle.

Pre-planning

I’m not sure about the details of all of the planning and organizing that Ted and his team put into getting ready for RAAM but I can assure you they did a ton of it.  They consulted with George-the race director-and Simon, who had the benefit of having raced in a record setting 8-man team.  Ted and several of the team members participated in a 400-mile trial run in Colorado, a month or so before RAAM.  This planning work was critical to our success and there is no way we would have had such a glitch-free race without all of the up-front work.

Racers and Crew

RAAM history is filled with tales of really nasty relationships between the crew and racers and within each of those two groups.  Happily, we had the opposite experience.  Of-course, when you move 19 people, 8 bikes, and 3 vehicles 3000 miles tensions do arise but we were blessed with nothing of any real significance.  To a person, we emphasized please and thank-yous and this focus on courtesy really paid off.

I think one of the positive things that happened is the racers didn’t look at all of the non-riding tasks as being solely the domain of the crew.  Racers pitched in getting bikes ready, helping with navigation, cleaning up, etc.  Obviously, only the cyclists can race but everyone can pitch in to do the countless things necessary to have a great RAAM experience.

In many respects, Crewing is more difficult than racing.  Obviously, not the physical part, but surely the mental part.  Following 10-20 feet behind a rider all-night long is tedious and requires a great deal of concentration—especially on a 50 mph descent.  Getting in and out of the van 400 times and exchanging bikes, turning bike lights on and off, etc. is no cup of tea either.

The strategic and tactical decisions made by our crew were also critically important.  How long to make a rotation and how long to make any individual pull makes a huge difference if done right.  Navigating and exchanging and rotating are all driven by crew effectiveness and a good crew can gain the team real time—free speed.  I think one of the most important stories in our RAAM adventure is the A+ performance of our crew—all the more impressive because they were rookies.

Lastly, I think it’s telling that all of the crew members have already indicated a desire to return and do it again next year.  I certainly wouldn’t want to do the race again with any other crew than the one we had on this race.

Rotation Characteristics

We utilized a two 4-racer team structure.  We rotated 17 times from one team to another.  Our team, the “A” team had 9 rotations and our teammates had 8.  Since we covered 2,993.5 miles our average rotation was 199.6 miles.  We took 6 days, 5 hours and 18 minutes so our average rotation was 9:57 time-wise.  Of course averages are misleading.  Here are some stats about the individual rotations:

Shortest rotation--#17 (the last one): 4:37/85.5 miles
Shortest other rotation: #5: 5:38/116.5 miles
Longest rotation (I think): #11: 11:48/234.4 miles
Fastest average speed: #12: 22.4 mph

Early on, with the challenging initial terrain, we used shorter rotations.  Once pass the Rockies we increased our rotation time to 10 or so hours—this allowed the down-team more time to rest and recover.

Our slowest pace between Time Stations was between TS 6 and 7 (Congress to Prescott, AZ) where we averaged 15.65 mph (this excludes the last two Annapolis sections).  Our fastest was between TS 17 and TS 18 (South fork to Alamosa, CO) where we averaged 24.97 mph.  In 25 of the 54 race sections we averaged less than 20 mph.  In 29 sections we were greater than 20 mph.

Individual Pull Characteristics

I had 50 individual pulls during the race.  Based on this I’d guess that we had about 400 pulls all together as a team.  This means our average pull was about 7.4 miles in length and on average took 22:27 time-wise.  Of course, the individual pulls varied wildly.

From a personal perspective, my 50 pulls covered 376.9 miles or about 12.6% of the total race distance—almost exactly 1/8th of the total.  I took 18:42:23 to complete my 376.9 miles, which works out to an average pace of 20.1 mph.  I averaged 236 watts over these 50 pulls/377 miles/18.6 hours.  My average pull was 7.4 miles in length and took about 22:27 to finish.  So all of my averages were nearly identical to the team’s overall average!  My shortest pull was about 9 minutes and my longest 38.  I had one pull that was just 1.5 miles in length and my longest was 14 miles.

I was very skeptical, before the race, of our plan to pull for 25 to 30 minutes.  This was completely counter to my prior experience and I thought pulls of 1-2 hours made more sense.  Having now experienced RAAM it is absolutely clear to me that shorter pulls are superior—in fact I think 15-20 minute pulls might be optimal, at least during the day when you can have moving exchanges.  Maybe 20-25 is right for the night with stationary exchanges.

How your body responds

I was very shocked to have this 55 year-old body hold up to 50 pulls of the duration and intensity that I did.  My guess is that my Functional Threshold Power was about 280 watts before the race so my 236-watt average translates into about 84% of FTP.  I had expected to average somewhere in the 200-220 range.

Interestingly, I seemed to get stronger as the race progressed.  I had a little dip in my 4th and 5th rotations but my power numbers seemed to trend upward down the stretch:

1: 238
2: 235
3: 243
4: 216
5: 223
6: 247
7: 256
8: 234
9: 234

The last 3-4 rotations I probably had higher average power than reported above as these involved a lot more urban riding and we had to deal with stop signs and stop lights much more so than our west.

As I write this five days after the end of RAAM my body is still not anywhere close to recovered.  Once I took a day off of riding, my body seemed to shut down and went into repair mode—almost like it does when I taper for an Ironman.  I think I understand now why Tour de France riders still ride 4-5 hours on their rest days.  It seems you can really keep going day after day as long as you pay attention to nutrition and hydration.

Simon was really good at pestering us to constantly eat.  After every pull I would eat 200-400 calories (sandwich, Snickers Bar, pretzels, donuts, etc.) and drink at least 20 ounces (Gatorade, soda, water).  My guess is that I ate 3000-4000 calories a day and I still lost 6 pounds during the race.

It’s also critical to take care of the “Boys” during the race.  That meant chamois butter before each ride and anti-fungal cream a couple times a day.  We also took to stripping off our kits after each pull and sitting in the van naked with a couple of towels.  We took the B teams example and bought some cheep ones at Walmart—I strongly recommend that you buy some cheap towels 4-5 times during the race.  One of my fondest memories of the race is during exchanges and all of the resting racers, standing with our butts to the wind, beside the Sprinter Van and our bibs at our knees airing things out.  Towels in the front but our bear-nakeds hanging out the back  (this was easier to do out West than it was once we rolled across the Mississippi!).

Four times during the race we secured motel rooms where we were all able to shower and use the toilet.  This did wonders for team morale and I highly recommend this practice.
Equipment

I used an aero road-bike (Cervelo SLC-SL) with clip-on aero-bars.  The 3 pro teams that finished in front of us all used TT bikes and I think truly strong cyclists (Pro/Cat1) probably should do so.  I’m more of a Cat3-4 rider so I think the lighter and more stable road geometry was the right call for me.  Ideally, you’d have a road bike for climbing/descending and a TT bike for the flatter stuff but we didn’t have the room for that.

I used a compact drive-chain: 50/34 by 11/23.  Some of the other guys used 53/39s but they had a 26 or 27 tooth cassette for their small gears.  I found the 34/23 to be just fine for all of the climbing on the course but I’m a relatively good climber.  Maybe a 34/35 would be a better choice for some.

I used Zipp 404s and with the viscious cross-winds of Kansas I would not have wanted anything deeper.  One fellow on our team used a disc but he had to take it off in a bunch of places.  I also brought my aero helmet which I used from time to time—I probably should have used it more than I did.

The Experience

RAAM is very different than anything I have ever done before.  I’ve had some great endurance/adventure experiences through the years—my first Ironman, my first time at Kona, climbing Rainier, etc. but this experience in many ways tops them.  They are hard to compare but the sheer scale of the race is so compelling.  Also the team aspect and the intellectual and mental challenges are very different than Ironman racing.

I know I’d like to do it again for sure.  I could imagine doing a 4-man team but the 2-man and solo stuff I’ll leave to stronger souls than I.

If you’re into endurance sports and enjoy the challenge of LC triathlons, you seriously should consider doing this race at some point in your life—it is a true-life highlight!

Thanks for reading!