On the Road: Notes from RAAM
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jun. 15, 2007
VeloNews contributor Vic Armijo is following this year’s Race Across America and – when he finds a WiFi signal – is sending in regular dispatches from the road.
Friday – Jure Robic continues to dominate the solo men’s field. As of this afternoon (Friday) he’s already reached the Marthasville, Missouri, time station. His closest rival, Wolfgang Fashing is approximately five hours back, with third place Daniel Wyss riding another two and half hours back.
Robic is currently averaging 15.56 miles and hour. While that’s still slightly better than Pete Penseyres’ 15.4 mile an hour record the likelihood that Robic will be able to keep that through the relentless rolling hills ahead is slim.
The men’s solo field has slimmed a bit in the last 24 hours, with Italy’s Fabio Biasiolo pulling out with medical problems and Walter Blättler of Switzerland packing it in after an accident.
It was thought by some within the RAAM traveling circus that kidney transplant recipient Lou Lamoureux would also be gone from today’s roster, but he’s still out there, having reached Trinidad Colorado, at about the same time that Robic was riding between Yates and Fort Scott Kansas. Oh well, Lamoureux never had any notions of being at the front, “Finishing, that’s what it’s all about for me,” he said back in Oceanside.
There’s a real race going on among the women. This morning on one of the most beautiful stretches of the entire route, the 66 miles between La Veta and time station 20 in Trinidad, Colorado, your roving reporter passed Lauren Fithian, currently in third and a few miles later, Caroline Van Den Bulk.
Both were riding well. It’s very interesting to note that whenever we pass a rider, I have my driver match the rider’s speed for a moment so that I can hang out the window to snap a few photos. Nearly without fail, upon realizing that a photographer is taking aim, a rider’s cadence will pick up and his/her pedaling form will improve. It was no different with either of these women. A good sign.
Way up the road, well past Trinidad and nearly to the final Colorado time station in Springfield, I passed Kerry White. While passing her I asked if she had any luck in finding that “new butt” she had asked for back in Durango. She nodded a “no,” and said, “I wish. My husband is making some calls. But look at my saddle,” she said as she stood up to reveal a Selle Italia that looks like it’s been chewed on by a pit bull.
Actually the gouging and cutting was done on purpose, with material being removed to eliminate pressure points. Way back in fourth is Patty Riddle. While the sixty year old has made it to time station 16 in Pagosa Springs, it’s not looking good for her.
RAAM has time cut-offs and riders who don’t reach them can be eliminated. In fact, the entire women’s field is perilously close to being cut.
Whether the organizers will indeed take such harsh measures remains to be seen. And if so, will these women continue on to Atlantic City regardless? These questions will be answered in the days ahead.
Thursday: Slovenia’s Major marches on to a record pace
Two-time solo winner Jure Robic is running first. He’s now in Kansas,having passed the halfway mark. So far he’s averaging 15.97 miles per hour,on track to beat the 21-year-old record of 15.4 miles per hour set by RAAMlegend Pete Penseyres. Robic’s nearest challenger, Wolfgang Fasching istwo hours back, with defending champion Daniel Wyss another two hours behindhim. Despite a few bouts of asthma, fourth place Gerhard Gulewicz is maintaininghis pace.
While the relay teams started two days after the solos the front runnershave already passed many of the solos and will eventually beat even thesolo leader to Atlantic City. Last year’s 4-rider male team winner, TeamBeaver Creek out of Colorado are favored by many to repeat.
However the new Team Psycho mounted an attack and held the lead untiljust a few hours ago when Beaver Creek muscled by the newcomers.
Not all of the relay teams are made up of such serious hammer-heads.Most of the teams are made up of weekend warriors who recognize the potentialfor fun in crossing the country with a group of friends. Some team effortsare to promote a cause, such as diabetes. There’s a team of firefighterscalled “Blazing Saddles.” A group of age 60+ riders form Team Sixty GoingHard. There’s even an all women team, Kalyra’s Women Race Team that isholding its own against the men’s teams.
The Race Across America isn’t just about sleep deprivation and saddle-sores.It’s also about the camaraderie of being on a team, of sharing an epicexperience. It’s not just for the elite endurance athlete. The relay teamsgive the amateur cyclist an opportunity to participate in one of the mostchallenging events the world has to offer.
This year’s RAAM is blessed with one of the largest fields of solo womenin years, with six lining up in Oceanside. That number is now down to fivewith Czechoslovakian Han Ebertova pulling out in Arizona, a victim of extremeexhaustion. The fifth place rider, Patty Riddle is also a question mark.Her last reported position is way back at time station #11 in Kayenta,Arizona, putting the 60 year old more than a day behind the other women.
Yesterday we met up with race leader Kerry White at the Durango timestation. Like her close rival, Caroline Van Den Bunk, the 37 year old Whitesays that she’s here not to be competitive, “. I’m not racing anyone,”she said, further explaining that her goal is to simply make it to AtlanticCity. That goal has taken its toll, “I’m pretty beat up,” she said as shereadied herself to remount her bike. “I’ve had a few problems with oneof my feet. I have a nerve that once it gets swollen is pretty painful.”
While we spoke a team member handed her a syringe of insulin, whichshe casually injected. Yes, she’s a type-1 diabetic. Asked how her bloodsugar levels are doing under the strain, she answered, “They’re okay. They’reup and down a lot. We just have to keep up with it and make adjustmentsalong the way.”
That having a plan and adapting along the way is the smart way to doRAAM. And according to White’s father and crew chief Bill Lawson, “She’sgoing pretty much according to plan. As long as she can hold up to thetargets that she set for herself. There was some concern among the teamthat Tuesday night that she might not make the time cutoff.” “Theteam’s spirits are good. We’ve got a specialist in just about everythingthat we could need.”
However there was one request that White had that her otherwise well-preparedteam that went unfulfilled: her appeal for a new butt! “This oneis worn out!” she declared as she prepared to mount her bike and departfrom the Durango time station.
But there was one last item on her checklist. A crew member producedan insulin syringe and White self-administered an injection—yes, she’sa type-1 diabetic. Which makes her effort all the more inspiring.
Not long after White’s departure Van Den Bulk arrived in Durango, a40 year old, who lives in Ontario, Canada. It was immediately apparentthat the fair-skinned Holland native is looking quite a bit browner thanshe did on Sunday, “That’s what happens with this beautiful weather,”
she said with a laugh. “I always enjoy warm weather. On our way intoDurango we stopped at the side of the road to photograph her on the climb.She wore a serious look of concentration as she made her way up the grade,“That’s a long way up,” she said, “–and a very long way down coming downhere into Durango.”
She stayed in Durango the better part of an hour. Unlike most RAAM riderswho usually spend their off-the-bike-time reclining or sitting, Van DenBulk stayed on her feet, munching grapefruit and blueberries, “The best!”she said of the berries, holding them up for the camera. She’s fuelingherself on a liquid protein mix, supplemented by apples, papaya, mangoes,and the aforementioned grapefruit and blueberries. And instead of commerciallymanufactured gels, she’s using a home-made honey mixture.
The only troubles she’s had so far was “–a little bit of problem withmy stomach. But that went away.” When asked if she was concernedabout White, Van Den Bulk answered, “No, I played cat and mouse with heralready for three days.” When told that White had left just a half hourprevious and that White says that she-s unconcerned about competing againstthe others, Van Den Bulk shrugged, “Me too.”
In contrast Lauren Fithian has a strong competitive bent.
A crew member explained, “When she hears that another woman is ahead,or can see the other woman, that just spurs her on. Just when we thinkshe’s putting out all of the effort that she possibly can, she sees thatrider ahead and we can see her put out just a little bit more.”
That was certainly illustrated outside of Durango where the motherof five saw, caught at passed Van Den Bulk to take over second place.
According to her crew, Fithian is on schedule, despite some “chafingissues” that have been solved by altering her bike position and chamoiscream use. On that formidable climb to Durango yesterday, Fithian rodeto the beat of crew member Simon’s calls of “one two, climb the hill, threefour climb the hill,” his once-per-second cadence helping to keep her turningher cranks at a steady 60rpm.
RACE NOTES
Phillip Baker’s Team Baker has had yet another visit to hospital. Butthis time it wasn’t for the rider but for the coach who fell out of themoving follow car when the over-door handle he was grasping broke off,sending him tumbling to the pavement. A case of road rash worthy of a Category5 criterium rider was the only real damage—other than to his pride.
Wednesday: The race so far
Thanks to his apparent desire to end his RAAM career with an exclamationmark, race leader Jure Robic has kept a pace that has put him and his pursuersseveral hours ahead of the pace that Daniel Wyss rode to win last year’s25th annual RAAM. Robic had to feel a special joy midday Tuesday when hepassed through Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the time station where he droppedout last year due to pneumonia.
Looking back at the race thus far, while it was certainly hot on Sunday’sride from the California coast to the deserts of California and Arizona,it was still cooler than it had been a year ago when temperatures pushedthe hundred degree mark. That cooler trend continued for Monday’s pushthrough Arizona, with high clouds keeping the heat down to the 80’s. Thoseconditions helped front runners Robic and Wolfgang Fasching keep a blisteringpace—both are currently ahead of the record speed average of 15.4 milesper hour set by Pete Penseyres, 21 years ago.
Monday night when your roving Velo News correspondent reached the entranceto Monument Valley—site of many a western movie and of course the memorableForest Gump running scene—I came across Robic’s motor home some ten milesinto the valley. It was pulled off onto a side road.
All was dark and still in his RV, indicating that Robic was likely sleeping,possibly for the first time since Oceanside. This was of particular interestas not more than twenty miles back we had driven past Gerhard Gulewiczand last year’s winner Daniel Wyss. And where was Fasching? Fasching hadheld the lead briefly earlier in the race and it seemed he had taken itagain.
Would Robic stay stopped, or would he get up to not only fend off hischallengers, but to take advantage of the stiff wind blowing East throughMonument Valley? I hadn’t been asleep in my little travel trailer longwhen my answer came. Over the sound of the constant wind suddenly appearedthe sound of amplified European disco music, and the glare of flashinglights briefly shined into my trailer. Another brief serenade and lightshow soon followed, and not long after another. It seemed that a race wason, with at least three riders taking advantage of the cool air and stiffbreeze to make time over the desert of Arizona and on to Utah.
The next morning Robic, Fasching, Wyss and Gulewicz were long gone fromMonument Valley, with Italy’s Fabio Biasiolo and Australia’s Richard Vollebregtpassing through mid-morning, well into the heat of the day and long afterthe previous night’s tail wind had passed.
Throughout the day much of the rest of the field passed through thered rock valley. Some however, including virtually the entire women’s fielddidn’t make it through until well after dark.
Sadly that women’s field is now missing a fan favorite.
Czechoslovakia’s Hana Ebertova pulled out after station 10 in TubaCity, Arizona. The 37 year old, who had saved for ten years for her RAAMeffort, was simply exhausted. Of the remaining four riders, all claim tobe “riding just to finish” with no thoughts of directly competing againstthe others. Yet, current leader Kerry White and second place rider CarolineVan Den Bulk have traded the lead more than once, and have often stayedwithin an hour of so of one another. And coming up the climb into Durango,Colorado this afternoon, Lauren Fithian was not more than thirty minutesbehind Van Den Bulk.
And then there are the rest of the riders. Those hearty souls who havelikely already had their last glimpses of the leaders back on the startingline in Oceanside. Lou Lameroux for instance, a 36 year old kidney transplantrecipient who is currently in the “lantern rouge”
position. Stomach ailments on day one and the challenge of keepingpace with the mileage while dealing with the many physical challenges ofa transplant patient have kept him off the pace of those riders equippedwith all of their original internal organs. Riding RAAM is tough enoughwithout having to perform daily blood tests or stay on schedule with themany medications that transplant patients need.
The oldest rider in the field, Phillip Baker, age 66 endured his ownmedical situation. At the Chiriaco Summit time station in the Californiadesert on day one, the UK native became dizzy and suffered bouts of vomiting.A trip to the emergency ward in nearby Indio revealed that he was dehydrated.Four hours later, after receiving IV fluids, he was back on the bike andback in the race. His crew chief revealed that while the doctors were helpfuland supportive they also said “You people are crazy!”
No one associated with RAAM would ever argue that point.
Monday: RAAM 101
This year’s Race Across America, which began Sunday, promises to beone of the most competitive ever. This monumental event, which covers some3050 miles in its route from the pier in Oceanside, California, to theboardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, boasts some 192 riders this year,the greatest number in the 26-year history of the race.
While the majority of those riders are on relay teams, 30 are goingit alone in the solo division that has been called by many the “world’stoughest bicycle race.” What earns the event that moniker is the fact thatunlike a stage race, where each day is in essence a separate race, witha set start and finish point, in the Race Across America (or RAAM as itis often called) the clock is always running.
To be competitive a rider faces twenty or more hours in the saddle inorder to log the 300+ miles a day – no drafting allowed – it takes to makethe podium. Each solo rider is his/her own team, complete with supportcrew.
A well organized and equipped crew is essential to having a successfulRAAM. The standard solo approach to RAAM is to have a crew of six or more,an RV, a follow car and usually one back-up vehicle. The RV is essentialfor preparing meals and for having a place for the rider and crew to sleepand shower—albeit not often.
The follow car, which for most of the race maintains a close distancebehind the rider, serves two purposes. First, it’s there for the safetyof the rider, especially at night where it is mandatory that the riderstay within the shine of the headlights. The follow car is equipped withflashing beacons and signage to alert approaching motorists of the presenceof a slow moving bicycle on the road.
Secondly, the follow car is the rider’s lifeline, providing food, andhydration, mechanical and moral support. Finally, the back-up vehicle isthere as a spare in case the main follow car suffers mechanical problems—whichare common—vehicles often do not take well to being driven 3000+ milesat 20 miles an hour. The back-up car is also used to zip ahead to fetchgroceries or other essentials and monitor the locations and actions ofother riders.
The ’07 solo field is among the most competitive ever.
Two-time winner Jure Robic, a major in the Slovenian Army, is back afterpulling out with pneumonia in Colorado last year. For Robic, with his tough-as-nailsreputation, to have pulled out while running in second place could nothave been easy, “but you must listen to your body at all times,” he saidthe day before this year’s event. “If something is going wrong, you mustnot ignore.”
Robic vows that this will be his last RAAM. Also riding what he claimsto be his final RAAM is Austria’s Wolfgang Fasching, an 11-time entrantand three-time winner. Back is ‘06 winner, Daniel Wyss of Switzerland,who last became only the second ever rookie winner.
Italian Fabio Biasiolo, a front-runner for several years, has returnedfor another shot at the win. New to RAAM this year is Australian RichardVollebregt, who recently broke Fashing’s Trans-Australia crossing recordby some twenty-three hours.
The fun-loving and outgoing Aussie is on many RAAM pundits “must watch”lists. So too is Canadian Larry Optis, who at age twenty-eight is the youngestrider in this year’s field. Many close to him tout Optis as a future winner—withsome claiming that that future is only eight or so days away!
The largest field of solo women in years took to the course on Sunday.Among them is 60 year-old Patty Riddle who surely won the shortest commuteto the start award, her La Jolla, CA home is mere minutes from Oceanside.
In contrast, Kerry White, age 36 has a current address of Vail, Colorado,but is originally from Australia. Lauren Fithian, age 49 hails from Minneapolis.Caroline van den Bulk, age 40, is originally from Holland and now livesin Huntsville, Ontario, Canada where she and her husband own a bike shop.
Finally we have Hana Ebertova, age 37 from Prague, Czechoslovakia, whoin many ways has had the longest journey to the starting line of all. Itwas ten years ago that she decided to do RAAM. It has taken her that longto save enough money to mount an effort. The Czech rider says that sheis not here to compete against the other riders, but to race against thecourse itself and against the mountains, the desert and herself.
Her making the start at all seemed tenuous as late as the night before,long after all of the other riders had been through tech inspection andhad had their vehicles and equipment signed off, Ebertova’s crew was stillscrambling to ready their equipment. In the end, they made it.
Photo Gallery
FILED UNDER: Road