2006 RAAM Solo Rider Video Interviews
The last two Americans to win solo RAAM, Allen Larsen and I did solo rider video interviews on Friday. 61 year old Fred Boethling wants to become the oldest solo finisher. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, Fred wants to lay the groundwork for a new wave of older finishers, and predicts a 70+ will do it within 10 years. Figuring he needs 3-4 hours of sleep per night steered him towards the new Enduro division. In his third year as UMCA records chairman, Boethling admits there is no perfect simulation for RAAM, but setting cross state records with some of your RAAM crew may be the next best thing. He currently holds nine state records, and is proudest of his first one – 200 miles riding West to East across Minnesota at 18-19 mph. Even though he and Dan Crain set the two person 60+ team RAAM record last year, Fred still considers himself very much a solo RAAM rookie.
Two time Mountain bike Olympian David Tinker Juarez has a lot of fear of the many unknowns in his rookie RAAM, but welcomes the challenge. He worries about how hard it will be to get the “circle of motion” going again after stopping to sleep. He sees RAAM as a chance to improve his relationships with his sponsors (has been with Canondale since 1994) to pave the way for future endeavors, and perhaps even get a signature bike deal out of it. His goal is to stay with the leaders, and looks forward to having other riders to pace with across the country. Since silence wears on him so much, he plans to listen to a lot of music during RAAM. Tinker’s fiancé is pregnant with twins. Although his hair looked pretty long to me, he said he recently cut it to better deal with the heat.
Wired through our entire interview, triathlete Shanna Armstrong is addicted to training, says one hour is never enough, & hates the words taper and recovery. On the winning two person mixed team (Team Endorphins with Guy Wells {also in the solo race this year}) last year, Shanna didn’t wear any of her RAAM clothing after finishing because she wasn’t a solo finisher. Scared to death about solo RAAM, she has a gut feeling her neck may be a problem this year. Taken off the Traditional RAAM roster this year because he didn’t want to ride all of RAAM in his neck brace, Allen Larsen discussed Shermerneck with Shanna. She has been corresponding with Randy Van Zee (also removed from RAAM roster after a bad crash) who mailed her his neck brace he used to finish the 2004 RAAM heroically. Shanna is motivated to finish RAAM this year for Larsen, Van Zee, and fellow Texan Mark Metcalfe (also removed from RAAM roster after a bad crash). She calls RAAM the “Super Bowl of Cycling”, and is always looking forward to her next athletic feat which will be the 900 mile Swiss Gigathlon (road & mountain biking, running, swimming, and inline skating) in 2007. My collogue the last two RAAM and on Shanna’s crew this year, journalist Perry Stone sat in on our interview.
Back to avenge a 2004 DNF cause by crew problems and mental difficulties, Dino Nico Valsesia does not use any caffeine. Choosing to ride Traditional this year, he thinks Enduro is something very much different from Traditional which he finished 6th place in 2003.
After becoming World Duathlete Champ in the 1980s, Kenny Souza settled into a conventional life – took a job with Clif Bar as their field marketing manager for Hawaii, Arizona, & South Dakota, got married, and had two kids. He gained 40 pounds and became a drinking couch potato. Fast forward to last year when he was on the winning 8 person RAAM 24 hour corporate challenge team (Team Clif Bar). He then won the solo Furnace Creek 508 mile RAAM qualifier, setting a new course record. Souza has known about RAAM since 1984 when he rode in the parade start with friend Scott Fortner (nearly became the youngest RAAM finisher at age 17, but dropped out close to the finish) who later became a professional road racer on the Saturn Team. He thinks his time trial background (always in an aerodynamic position) will be an advantage in Enduro RAAM. He thinks Enduro will be tougher than Traditional because you have to make it to the next control point before you can sleep.
37 of the 57 time stations this year are manned, and will serve as locations where Enduro riders can log time off the bike towards their mandatory 40 hours. Riders have to check in and out of these time stations, and their cumulative time off the bike will be posted on the RAAM website. Souza thinks RAAM veterans will have an advantage over rookies like himself. He said, “Robic’s a professional soldier, and he will probably kill all of us 30 different ways.” Souza has intentionally put on 5-6 pounds during his recent taper period. He has become the king of time management, and has stayed single on purpose since his divorce. Anticipating foot problems on RAAM, he has four different sized shoes, and orthotics.
Finishing 5th last year, Austria’s Valentin Zeller is back for more abuse. He is the youngest rider in the solo field this year, and loves the idea of the new Enduro division, although he doesn’t like the solo race being separated into two categories. He loves the concept of crossing a 5,000 kilometer country on a bicycle. Troubled by an incident in which a passing motorist threw gasoline on him in last years RAAM, he said in Europe, cars slow down when they pass you. Zeller has spent the last year training with his buddy Wolfgang Fasching, a 3 time RAAM winner. He told me that Switzerland’s Daniel Wyss (a rookie in Traditional) has 2001 RAAM winner Andrea Clavadestscher on his crew.
Slovenia’s Marko Baloh is hoping the third time will be the charm. After two DNFs (2003 & 2005), he is back for unfinished business. Between his two DNFs, he managed to win the windiest Furnace Creek 508 mile race in 2004. In 2005 after his RAAM DNF, he finished 3rd in Le Tour Direct – a RAAM style race not quite as long, but with much more climbing. Although he has only ridden 8,500 kilometers (10,000 less than he had going into the 2005 RAAM) so far this year, he is hoping the quality of these miles will make up for the lack of quantity. In a recent 24 hour drafting race in Europe, he was co-winner with Robic – each riding a very impressive 608 miles. When I asked him to compare this drafting race to the very different FC 508 time trial, he said he suffered more in the 508 where he had knee and butt pain. On the 508, he had an all America crew obtained from a posting on the ultracycling@topica.com e-mail list/forum. Two guys from that crew are on his RAAM crew this year.
Although he likes to downplay his chances this year, you can’t ignore his raw talent. Perhaps Enduro is the perfect stage for a rider such as Baloh to shine/flourish on. He can keep pace with Robic on shorter events which don’t require any sleep, but on multi-day events like RAAM, his speed drops too much from sleep deprivation. I am very curious to see just how much faster he can ride on more sleep, which Enduro will provide. Although they are both from Slovenia and good friends, I have to wonder if Baloh (who has to work a full time job) is not a little bit jealous of Robic who can train full time in the Slovenian army. Getting money and crew for RAAM haunt Baloh much more than the physical training aspect of RAAM. Baloh told me that his wife is expecting another child. He reminded me of my own RAAM finishes and my love for math when he said, “When you sleep so little in RAAM, your emotions get multiplied.”
Rider Video Interviews & Pre-RAAM Dinner
With his team-mate Jeff Rushton, Canadian Kevin Wallace set the two person team speed record of 18.71 mph in 2004. He was so awestruck when he caught/passed the solo riders that he had to become one of them. Returning from his 2004 crew this year are Dr. Pat Hewitt and two others. Having met his wife through cycling, Wallace told me that cycling is his destiny. His biggest fears are negative thoughts, demons, and why. A night person, he plans to sleep two hours per day (in the heat of the afternoon) after the first 48 hours. For the past six months, he has done all of his training at night in cold Canada. His longest continuous ride was 400 miles with 17,000 feet of climbing in 24 hours in –5 degrees C. He said there is no way an Enduro rider can finish before us (Traditional) if we stick to our schedule. He has chosen Traditional with the goal of winning, and breaking Pete Penseyres’ 20 year old 15.4 mph speed record. This sort of attitude reminds me of myself on my first RAAM back in 1994. Seven RAAMs (years) later, the closet I was able to come was 14.72 mph – the 5th fastest solo transcontinental crossing. You should have seen the look on Allen Larsen’s face when he heard Kevin talk about breaking Pete’s record. As long as Enduro keeps drawing a better field because of a better prize list, the speed record will be preserved.
When Jonathan (Jock) Boyer showed up on the starting line of the 1985 RAAM on a Cinelli Lazer bike with aerobars and disk wheels, he was not allowed to use it because this bran new technology hadn’t become mainstream yet. He still became the only rookie to ever win RAAM that year, and set the rookie 14.31 mph speed record that still stands today. The first American to ever ride the Tour de France, Boyer decided to do RAAM on a bet he made with CBS TVs David Michaels. His longest training ride preparing for the 1985 RAAM was 105 miles. He said that his idea of preparing for sleep deprivation is to get as much sleep as possible during training. He is back this year at age 50 riding for a cause – Team Donate Life – an organ transplant awareness group out of the University of California at Davis. He admits his age has slowed him down somewhat (His VO2 max was down to 77.4 {tested two weeks ago} from 81 back when he was a Professional racer in France. He is very excited to be part of the new Enduro race, which he thinks will be a very tactical race. He said efficiency will be critical. Because of the heat and having very little body fat, hydration, nutrients, and recovery will play a huge role in the race.
After finishing fourth last year, bike shop owner David Haase is back to win, though it took me a while to get him to admit it. Traditional is the only race for him, and he misses the opportunity to race against Robic and Baloh this year. He thinks riders be responsible for their own safety concerns. After finishing in 10 Days, 12 Hours last year, his goal is 9 days this year. He and his crew did a spreadsheet of the 15.4 mph speed record (would produce a time of 8:05:36 on this years route), and were just blown away by it – wondering how it was ever achieved. RAAM fans can meet the man/legend behind the record when Pete Penseyres leads his 8 man team out of Oceanside on Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm California time. Having to ride around his 10-12 hour bike shop days, Haase did most of his training at night in very cold weather. In fact, the weather in Wisconsin only went above 80 degrees F for the first time this year just before he left for RAAM. Three weeks ago, he did come to California to ride in the desert for two days. He rode from the start in Oceanside to time station #3 in Chiriaco Summit, but had tire trouble on the way back, and had to hitch hike back to town.
Haase crew member MVP from last year Keelyn Behm is back to nurse him all the way across the country. Dave’s confidence in her ability to keep the right amount of fluids and nutrition in him allows him to ride a relaxed, worry free race – extremely important in RAAM where energy conservation is key. Although he likes music in the daytime, Haase goes into a trance at night when he doesn’t want music played. He feels to be safe in the traditional race, he will have to be off the bike about 2-3 hours per day. If he wins, and is the first solo rider to reach Atlantic City, it is going to be difficult for anybody to tell him he is not the overall solo winner. He realizes the winning times for each solo division could be very close this year.
Except for missing 2004 for health reasons, this year will be the 10th consecutive RAAM for Fabio Biasiolo. Another finish this year (he was 4th last year) would get him up to .500 with 5 completions. At first he thought Enduro was right for him, but later decided he had to do Traditional, which is what RAAM is to him, and Enduro is not RAAM as he knows it. He sees the race personnel wanting to replace Traidtional with Enduro over time, and feels this is very wrong. He wants to win Traditional (has had this feeling before), but has a realistic outlook concerning his chances. Because there are two solo races, he thinks he has a better chance to win, but has no sure feel about winning. He said his main competition will come from Haase and rookie Daniel Wyss. Fabio’s goal is to finish before the Enduro winner does. He thinks that Robic and Baloh made the right/smart decision for themselves to switch over to Enduro. He doesn’t plan on sleeping the first night after which he will sleep one hour per day the first half of the race, and 1.5-2 hours per day the second half. Fabio told Larsen that he has never had problems with his neck in RAAM because he stretches 1-2 hours per day. Fabio will miss his wife Nicoletta and their 16 month old boy Rocco both of whom were on his crew last year.
2001 RAAM champ Andreas Clavadetscher (on Wyss’ crew) convinced Swiss rider Daniel Wyss to enter RAAM this year. Daniel made a good point about a fair comparison being made between Enduro and Traditional can only be made after people finish both. When I asked him about a rookie winning RAAM, he said “Why shouldn’t a rookie win RAAM?” Especially since he believes he has the best crew. He doesn’t know how his body will react to desert heat, but isn’t afraid of it. Daniel will be doing the Traditional race.
This being my 4th year covering RAAM as a writer, I am starting to develop close bonds with riders - similar to what happened when I was a racing. Such is the case with Jure Robic who is trying to become the first male to win three consecutive RAAMs. Entered in Enduro, Robic doesn’t care about finishing in a faster time than the traditional winner, rather only about winning Enduro. He will want to know where the other top riders are, and how much sleep they have logged in the whole race. Robic told me he only takes 5 days off his bike after RAAM, and 3-4 days off after Le Tour Direct. Two weeks after RAAM, his speed is back to normal. He says 24 hour non-drafting (time trial) races are much tougher than 24 hour drafting races. After a 24 hour time trial, he is nearly as tired as he gets by the 4th-5th day of RAAM. He thinks he can increase his 522 mile 24 hour time trial record by some 25 miles.
When I suggested he was like a robot (Robot Robic) being able to recover so quickly after RAAM, he denied it saying he can only do one other ultra race per year besides RAAM. He will do Le Tour Direct this year, and maybe the 24 hour time trial next year. He has ridden about 20,000 kilometers so far this year. His biggest year was 44,000 Km in 2004, and 41,000 in 2005. Since he began keeping track of his mileage in training journals in 1984, the longest period of no riding was 4 months during which he was very depressed. Robic’s boy Nal is now 19 months old.
Enduro rookie Mitch Lesack Has the smallest crew allowed – three people in one minivan. He chose Enduro because he thinks he has a better chance of finishing it officially. Worried about injury on RAAM, he has been a car salesman for 20 years. He originally qualified for RAAM by placing 2nd in the Furnace Creek 508 behind John Hughes. Once that qualification expired, he had to qualify again. He missed qualifying at the 2004 FC 508 by just two minutes. In 2005, he qualified again at Boston-Montreal-Boston, but DNFed at the FC 508. Although he is not big/heavy like Mark Metcalfe, Mitch may be that “average” ultrarider which the entire UMCA community can live vicariously through as he attempts this monster called solo RAAM. Can/will he finish?
The first ever two person 50+ recumbent Team Volae Wolfpack consists of former RAAM HQ director and webmaster Tom Kingsbury, and four person HPV and recumbent teams winner Tim Woudenberg. Tom began his RAAM administration duties in 1999, and found his HQ replacement Jason Kornetsky in 2004, and his webmaster replacement Liz McCraven last year. I wonder how Tom will feel being on the other end of the telephone this year as his team calls into RAAM HQ. A night shift worker, Tom plans on riding most of the night. He told me he is totally unconcerned about the race organization, which leaves him free to concentrate 100% on his riding. Knowing that RAAM needs strong financial backing to survive, Tom is for Enduro as he sees it leading to increased media coverage leading to exposure leading to sponsorship $ leading to growth.
Tom’s team-mate Tim told me their time goal is 7 days. He has be riding recumbents since 2003 when Jim Kern turned him onto them. A low rider (put hand down to stop) is dangerous because it’s not seen as well as a conventional bike by motorists. He believes that RAAM times would be faster on recumbents because it’s so much more comfortable and easier to relax. In an attempt to solve Allen Larsen’s nagging neck problem, Tim let Allen ride his recumbent around our hotel parking lot this morning. Having crew guru Lee Mitchell as their crew chief should be a big asset for Volae Wolfpack.
The Austrian six person Handcycleteam RC-Enjo Vorarlberg will leave with the solo riders on Sunday morning, and hope to finish in 10 days. They all had motorcycle, ski, and car accidents landing them in wheelchairs. They want to prove that limitations exist only in people’s minds. Their team doctor was on Wolfgang Fasching’s winning 2002 RAAM crew. In 2003, they raced across Austria in 9 days.
The 8 person corporate Team Type 1 consists of all Type 1 diabetics who want to show the world that diabetes is a disease you can live well with. They are going for their division speed record of 19.84 mph. They also want to beat all of the teams to Atlantic City this year, and beat the all time 4 person team speed record of 23.06 mph which would yield a finishing time of five and a half days on this year’s route. Why is the 4 person record more than three miles per hour faster than the 8 person record? The 4 person team race has been going on for many more years than the relatively new 8 person team race. The 8 person corporate team race was originally created because the then title sponsor Insight wanted to field a team of their employees. The top 4 person teams have attracted national caliber riders such as Joe Petersen and Kerry Ryan (Boyer’s crew chief this year) with much team RAAM experience. Strategy and logistics are everything in Team RAAM. Team Type 1’s Pratt Rather told me they might put more than one rider on the road at once. Safety is their first and foremost concern. Solo riders are the real RAAM people in Pratt’s eyes.
Furnace Creek 508 man Chris Kostman showed up for the solo rider meeting on Saturday afternoon. Enduro riders and crews had to stay longer for special instructions in this new category of RAAM. The (mandatory) control check point procedure was walked through by Lon Haldeman. If a rider is going to stop, they must sign in and out on a big board held by time station volunteers or officials. These times are then subtracted, and the total off bike time is written on the board. All of this info will be made available on the RAAM website. If the rider is not going to stop, they blow by the time station and have a crew member call in their time to headquarters just like in the Traditional race.
The pre-RAAM dinner was held outdoors close to the pier, and just across the street from the mighty Pacific Ocean. I love the fact that RAAM goes from ocean to ocean this year giving riders a sense of clear boundaries of our great country. After dinner 51 year old solo rider Patty Jo Struve played her trumpet on stage. She was a couch potato – smoking two packs of cigarettes per day for 10 years, and reaching a top non-pregnant weight of 185 pounds. She began riding in 1996, set solo RAAM as her goal in 1998. Her RAAM education was extensive as she crewed for a tandem team in 1996, the 4 person mixed 60+ team Twin PAC in 2002, the 4 person 70+ Team Grand PAC Masters in 2004, and Cat Berge last year. From the Team Grand PAC Masters, Bob Kash is her crew chief. She is a junior high school music teacher.
Solo RAAM will start on Sunday morning at 9 am local time or 12:00 (Noon) race time. Because San Diego County will not allow big groups of riders on the roads, the riders will start at 30 second intervals (time trial style). Numbers were drawn by riders out of a hat on stage after dinner, and the Italians will get to lead with Fabio Biasiolo drawing #1 and Dino Nico Valsesia drawing #2. Le Tour Direct’s Guus Moonen drew #3. Enduro and Traditional riders will be randomly mixed up. 30 seconds after the last solo rider, four 24 hour challenge teams leave at 30 second intervals. 30 seconds later, the only two person mixed 50+ Team leaves followed 30 seconds later by the 6 person handcycle team. Although it probably wouldn’t make any difference (change any places) the time differences will be taken into consideration at the finish in Atlantic City. Finally, Susan Notorangelo took to the stage and briefly summed up her many transcontinental crossings. Two years after giving birth to daughter Rebecca (now 19 years old and on my media team) Susan came back to set the then women’s speed record of 12.93 mph in 1989 finishing 7th place overall. Susan looked at her daughter and told her she was the future of RAAM.
When bringing up the solo riders on stage after dinner. Lon Haldeman mentioned that this was the closest he’s felt to his original transcontinental bike race (the Great American Bike Race) start in Santa Monica way back in 1982 twentyfour years ago. To bad his fellow racers John Marino, Michael Shermer, and John Howard weren’t there to experience this magical moment for the very first Enduro RAAM. If you consider Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, and Irvine all part of Los Angeles, then Oceanside is RAAMs smallest starting city. I hope the riders appreciate the light traffic at the start Sunday morning.
Something still didn’t just seem right to me there, and know I know what was missing: The king of solo RAAM Rob Kish and his wife Brenda! Of the 11 previous RAAMs I have done, they were always a huge part. Rob has ridden and finished more than twice as many RAAMs as anyone else. He became a synonym of the race. After 19 solo finishes (including a record 3 wins and an incredible 12 top 3 finishes) Rob was taken out of his 20th RAAM last year in Colorado by pneumonia. As I walked past Motel 6 (How do you think he could afford so many RAAMs?), I kept looking out of the corner of my eye for the Kish Krew. Perhaps by not showing up this year, Rob & Brenda send a clear message how they feel about the new Enduro division. I will miss them terribly this year, wish them well, and hope they will be back in the future. I LOVE (in emotional tears as writings) you Guys! I wonder if they will follow the race on the RAAM website. If so, I hope they read my Chew’s Views. It just doesn’t feel like (and isn’t) the RAAM I am used to.
Day 1
The 25th Race Across America began on Sunday, June 11th at 9:00 am local time in Oceanside, CA. Official race time is Eastern Standard Time military (0-24 hours) so we began at 12:00. The 29 rider (Fredi Virag never showed up) solo field including 13 Enduro riders, four 24 hour Corporate Challenge [to Flagstaff, AZ] up to 8 person teams, the 2 person mixed Team Racing Against Diabetes, and the 6 person Austrian hand cycle team left in that order at 30 second intervals. This time trial start (unusual for RAAM) was because San Diego County forbids big group riding on its roads even though 7 miles of the 13 mile parade start (neutral zone) were on the San Luis Rey Bike Path. The first 55 mile leg to time station #1 at Lake Henshaw had 4,300 feet of climbing. The 24 hour CC Team Beat Cancer arrived first one minute ahead of Enduro leaders Marko Baloh and Jure Robic. Valentin Zeller and David Tinker Juarez were two minutes back, and Kenny Souza three minutes them. All five of the top solo riders were Enduro. Leading the Traditional race were Marcel Knaus and Fabio Biasiolo. Dino Nico Valsesia was just one minute back, and David Haase four minutes behind Dino. Women’s leader Shanna Banana Armstrong was just 23 minutes behind the Traditional leader. The time range between the first and last solo rider was already 1 hour, 33 minutes. The 6 man hand cycle team rode through one hour after last solo rider Lou Lamoureux.
Between time station 1 and 2, Baloh had 5 rear flat tires enabling Robic to build a 9 minute lead at TS #2. Valsesia and Juarez were riding bikes with no aerobars,
and all of Jock Boyer’s wheels had sew-up (tubular) tires on them. At TS #2, the top 6 soloists were Enduro riders, and Valsesia had taken over as the Traditional leader. In Mecca, Traditional rider Haase took advantage of a brief unexpected stop for a train, to have his crew jump out of their minivan and lay a blanket down for him to lay/stretch on. The high temperature topped out at 103 degrees F.
A lot of activity happened at the 3rd TS in Chiriaco Summit on Interstate Highway 10. This was the second Enduro Control Point (a place where Enduro riders can log time off the bike towards their mandatory 40 hours for the entire race). The 3rd Enduro rider to arrive (6 minutes behind leader Baloh), Boyer stopped a total of 83 minutes for an afternoon/evening sleep. He left in Enduro 6th place, and 10th place among all solo riders. Souza and Juarez logged very short stops. Souza arrived one minute ahead of Juarez, stopped for 9 minutes, and left 4 minutes behind Juarez who stopped for 4 minutes.
Three time 4 person team RAAM winner Kerry Ryan is Boyer’s crew chief. He called the Enduro race the “Penalty box race” because he thinks riders will near the end of the race without getting enough of their 40 off bike hours, and will have to wait out the rest of their time at a time station just before the finish line like I and other riders penalized have done in past RAAMs.
During an Enduro Control Point stop, a rider rides up to the control board, signs it with his initials and number, then usually goes to his crew vehicle for a sleep or something else. After the sleep/rest is over, the riders goes back to the control board and signs out before riding away. An official or manned TS person then subtracts the two times, and writes the off bike time down on the board. All this information is posted on the RAAM website. The kinks of this bran new procedure need to be ironed out. Kenny Souza was the 3rd Enduro rider to ride into TS #4 in Blythe. He signed in and then signed out after a brief stop, but his crew wasn’t ready to pull out with him so he had to wait about 10 minutes until they were. At the TS, head RAAM official Lon Haldeman cut him some slack by changing his sign out time, but I could tell that Lon’s wife Susan wasn’t happy about it.
The heat seemed to have gotten to the two solo Austrian riders. Enduro rider Zeller stopped for a short rest, and fainted when he went to get back on his bike. Traditional rider Gerchard Gulewicz had to stop and vomit next to his minivan, but quickly got back on his bike afterwards.
Orlando Borini and Attila Kaldy got 15 minute penalties for running stop signs. Robic got 15 minutes when his crew stopped on I-10 to service him. Marcel Knaus got 15 when his support vehicle parked on the white line of the road. Riders seem to get the most penalties on the first day when rookie crewmembers are not yet familiar with the rules.
Solo leader Baloh rode 240 miles into Arizona his first 12 hours of RAAM despite heat and flat tires. Comparing this to the first 12 hour leader splits of the previous 3 RAAMs – Robic rode 2-3 miles farther in 2004 & 2005, and Baloh rode 203 miles in his (rookie) 2003 RAAM on a hotter first day, but he did not finish.
Day 2
Solo Enduro
It would appear as thought two Slovenians are dominating the solo RAAM field early into the race much the same way as they did last year, but this is the year of the new Enduro RAAM, so normal observations as in years past, are more complicated than ever. Just because a rider checks into a time station ahead of his competition doesn’t necessarily mean he is winning the race. Among the top Enduro riders (as of Monday afternoon), Boyer has logged the most off bike time with 5 hours, 27 minutes (5:27), then Tinker Juarez with 4:18, followed by Kenny Souza with 3:22, and Valentin Zeller with 3:12. Baloh only has 0:30, and Robic 1:47. Here is the time spread between riders for the top Enduro riders at TS #9 in Flagstaff, and their cumulative off bike times:
1. Baloh 0:30 off bike time
2. Robic is 0:41 behind Baloh 1:47
3. Souza is 1:44 behind Robic 3:22
4. Boyer is 0:45 behind Souza 5:27
5. Juarez is 0:16 behind Boyer 4:18
I see Boyer as being the leader since he is 3:10 behind Baloh, but he has 5:27 of off bike time compared to Baloh’s 0:30. This is only speculation since it assumes that Boyer’s on the bike speed is the same as Baloh’s. By the end of the race, everybody’s off the bike time must be at least 40 hours, so whoever can ride the fastest with this sleep parameter imposed upon them will be the winner.
Staying within 15 minutes of each other the first 24 hours, Marko Baloh and Jure Robic kept exchanging leads. Leader Baloh rode 445 miles his first 24 hours. This is two miles less than 2005 leader Robic did in 2005, 9 miles more than Robic in 2004, and 52 miles more than Allen Larsen did in 2003.
Solo Traditional
With the Enduro riders finally taking some longer sleep stops at control points, the Traditional riders finally had a chance to pass them and move up in position along the route. At TS #9 in Flagstaff, rookie Daniel Wyss was leading Marcel Knaus by just one minute. There were now only 3 Enduro riders ahead of the Traditional leader instead of 6 like back at TS #2. Also, the Traditional leader had closed the time gap between himself and the Enduro leader. I remember back on my RAAM victories, whenever I went down for my 3 hours of sleep at night early in the race, I would wake up many places lower. Later in the race when people got more spread out, I would lose less places. When Juarez arrived at TS #6 in Congress, there were no Traditional riders in front of him. When he arrived at TS #7 after taking a 3:46 stop at TS #6, there were 7 Traditional riders in front of him.
In the women’s race, Shanna Armstrong started out ahead of Patty Jo Struve, but by the Blythe TS, Struve was 44 minutes ahead of Shanna. At the next TS, Shanna was 3 minutes ahead of Struve, and by the next TS Shanna was 1:45 ahead of Struve.
24 Hour Corporate Challenge
RAAM Media director Paul Skilbeck, camera man Jeric Wilhelmsen, local Brian Riebe, and I set up the finish line for the 24 Hour Corporate Challenge at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The winning 8 man Team Beat Cancer lead through every time station and increased their lead over the other teams and solo riders all the way to Flagstaff 489 miles along the route. They finished 4.5 hours ahead of solo leader Baloh, and almost 3 hours faster than the 2nd placed Team Swami’s. Beat Cancer had 4 riders from last years Swami’s Team including captain Albert Barajas. Their ride was dedicated to Albert’s wife Erika’s battle with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with while pregnant two years ago. Ultramarathon running sensation Pam Reed’s Badwater Crew team finished third, 41 minutes behind Swami’s, and Team Illumina was fourth 1.5 hours behind Reed.
Day 3
The 24 Hour Corporate Challenge teams weren’t the only ones whose race ended in Flagstaff. RAAMs first casualty was Austria’s Valentin Zeller who DNFed while in 6th place Enduro (13th place solo) after 489 miles in Flagstaff on Monday evening 34 hours into the race. Arriving at the first time station in 3rd place, he pushed himself too hard in the desert heat, and was never able to come back. Finishing 5th in his rookie RAAM last year, I would have never guessed him to be the first rider to quit.
Two riders are in danger of falling below the 10.49 mph minimum average speed for official finisher status in Enduro. Last years winner of the 2 person mixed team RAAM (along with team-mate Shanna Armstrong), Guy Wells is learning the brutal reality of going from two person to solo. As of TS #10 in Tuba City, AZ, Guy’s speed was 9.37 mph even though he had the least accumulated off bike time of 4:56. He is in a catch 22 situation. Sleep deprivation is making him ride very slow, yet if he takes more time off the bike to sleep, he speed will also drop. As of TS #11 in Kayenta, AZ, rookie Guido Kunze’s speed was 10.54 mph. Traditional rookie rider Lou Lamoureux is in the biggest trouble – As of TS #9 in Flagstaff, his speed was 8.86 mph. For an official finish, Traditional riders must finish within 48 hours of the Traditional winner. This means his speed must be faster than 10.49 unless the winning Traditional time takes longer than 10 Days, 2 Hours.
At TS #13 in Montezuma Creek, UT, two rookie Traditional riders dropped out. Orlando Borini while in 16th place solo with a speed of 12.49 mph, and recumbent rookie James Kern while in 12th place solo with a speed of 14.46 mph. Traditional rookie rider Lou Lamoureux DNFed in Flagstaff while in last place more than a full day behind the solo leader.
A Traditional rider finally led solo RAAM through a time station. Switzerland’s Daniel Wyss (a rookie) beat Enduro rider Robic to TS #12 in Mexican Hat, UT by 9 minutes. It’s about time a Traditional rider take the lead since the Traditional ETA to Mexican Hat was 8 hours faster the Enduro ETA. Wyss’ glory was short lived however, as Robic got back the lead by the next TS. Despite logging 5 hours, 18 minutes of off the bike time, Robic still rode 777 miles his first 48 hours. This was 31 miles less than Robic’s 2005 first two day split, but 3 miles more than his 2004 split. It was 43 miles less than Pete Penseyres’ legendary 820 mile first two day total of his 15.4 mph speed record RAAM 20 years ago.
Beautiful Durango, CO (815 miles and a quarter of the way into the race) is the first mandatory control point for Enduro riders whom must log at least 2 hours off bike time. Solo leader Robic arrived first and Baloh second 1:38 later. Traditional leader Knaus arrived as the third solo rider, but he left Durango (he did not stop) as the solo leader. By the next TS #16 in Pagosa Springs, CO, Robic had retaken the lead. Very much a cycling friendly town, Durango was ready to greet RAAM riders. A group ride of about 100 riders (including Paul Skilbeck) left the TS on Tuesday evening. Mountain bike legend Ned Overend went out in reverse direction on the route to ride back into town with his buddy Kenny Souza. Then Ned hung out at the TS waiting for his other buddy Tinker Juarez to awaken from his stop.
For their 2+ hour stop in Durango, most Enduro riders slept in their RVs or minivans in the parking lot, but Boyer was driven away and Baloh slept outside on the grass under trees. I like how the Enduro and Traditional riders have been exchanging the lead in the solo race, however when the Enduros have led, they have led by a bigger time margin. Also, lead Traditional riders Knaus and Wyss have slept very little to be where they are, and will have to start sleeping more towards the middle of the race.
Starting at the very back of the solo field, the 6 man Austrian Hand Cycle Team have moved up to the middle of the field. Also moving up is solo recumbent rider Jim Kern. Arriving at the first TS in 21st place, Kern had moved up to 11th place by TS #12 in Mexican Hat, UT. Kern would like to see how he would do in a flat RAAM where he could take advantage of his bike. Shanna Armstrong has opened her gap on Patty Jo Struve to over 6 hours by TS #11 in Kayenta, AZ. Shanna is 16.5 hours behind the solo leader at TS #13 in Montezuma Creek, UT 721 miles into the race.
Team RAAM
27 teams started Team RAAM on Tuesday afternoon 53 hours after the solo riders. As expected the 4 man Team Beaver Creek – Vail is leading all of the teams. Joe Petersen’s 2 man Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways is the 2nd fastest among all teams – very impressive for a 2 man team to be this fast! Team Type 1 is leading the 8 person corporate teams, and Dan McGehee’s the Emily’s Team is leading the 4 person mixed teams.
Day 4
Pratt, Kansas is anxiously awaiting RAAMs arrival. On Wednesday morning, I had a live interview with Carl Raida of KWLS 1290 AM radio. Don’t forget that Steve Strecker’s McDonalds restaurant is TS #26 (an Enduro control point) on US Route 54. Steve is offering all RAAM riders; support crews, film crews, officials, and media people free food. The adjusted solo leader ETA to Pratt is 17:00 (4pm local time) Thursday afternoon.
55 year old Texan Guy Wells finally accepted his slow speed and fate in the 2006 Enduro RAAM. He dropped out at TS #10 in Tuba City, AZ 565 miles in. His average speed of 9.37 mph was way below the 10.49 minimum needed for official finisher status in the Enduro race. I think that possibly the lower order Enduro riders thought that their RAAM was going to be easier than Traditional (riders have to finish within 48 hours of the winner), not a good mindset going into an endeavor as difficult/tough as RAAM. Guy got a wake-up call as to why some people (like his 2 person mixed team-mate Shanna Armstrong last year) don’t even call themselves RAAM finishers until they have tamed the ugly beast known as solo RAAM. Shanna, Canadian Kevin Wallace (2 man team RAAM record holder with Jeff Rushton), and Fred Boethling (2 man 60+ team record holder with Dan Crain) are also taking the leap/plunge from 2 person to solo this year.
51 year old Patty Jo Struve dropped out from saddle sores after 771 miles in Cortez, CO. Her average speed was 10.7 mph well above the 8.48 fifty plus record she was shooting for. She was the 7th solo rider to drop out of the 29 rider starting field. This makes 24% of the solo race gone only a quarter of the way across the country. I hope DNFs don’t continue at this rate or there will only
be one rider left. Since finishers beat all riders who drop out, the 22 riders left all get the opportunity to beat Robic – one of the greatest ultra endurance cyclists in the world.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard that Slovenian Jure Robic had dropped out of his 4th RAAM this morning. The two time winner and defending champ, he was my pre-race favorite. He went out hard as usual and led much of the race to Pagosa Springs, CO where he arrived in first position 5 minutes ahead of Traditional leader Knaus. For the 886 miles, Robic had accumulated 9 hours, 2 minutes off bike time, and had an average speed of 15.44 mph. He logged 1:07 off bike time in Pagosa Springs. He rode out towards Wolf Creek Pass, and 28 minutes later returned in his minivan. An ambulance rushed him off to a hospital in Durango where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. If he was willing to change his race goal from winning to finishing, he could take 1-2 days off, and still reach Atlantic City within the 12 day, 2 hour time limit next Friday.
The talent level range in the Enduro field is much greater than the Traditional filed. In Durango, CO 815 miles into the race, the time gap between the first and last Enduro rider (also the first and last solo rider) was over 27 hours. The middle of the field is made up of mostly Traditional riders. Solo leader Wyss posted a 3 day mileage split of 1,047 miles. The solo leaders daily totals have really dropped off from 445 miles the first day to 332 miles the second day to 270 miles the third day. At TS #22 in Springfield, CO 1,223 miles into the race, the lead solo rider’s average speed had dropped to 14.56 mph.
I really like how the lead in the solo race keeps going back and forth between Enduro and Traditional riders. Looking at time station data, this change has happened 7 times by TS #22. I also like how many different riders have had the race lead. The five are Robic, Baloh, Wyss, Boyer, and Biasiolo.
Le Tour Direct’s Guus Moonen moved up to 9th solo position, and was less than 7 hours behind race leader Wyss. In strong favor of Traditional RAAM, Moonen has only slept 30 minutes in the first 1,000+ miles in over 3 days. A two time RAAM finisher from Holland, he wants to be half finished tomorrow, and to break the 50+ speed record of 11.83 mph. Does he realize that Boyer is 50 years old? Moonen is the boss of his own sleep stops.
Passing through TS #19 in La Veta, CO just 7 minutes behind Moonen was Tinker Juarez. A two time mountain bike Olympian, he climbed all three mountain passes in Colorado today in his big chainring. In fact I found out that he has not been out of his big chainring the entire way, but plans on using his small chainring in West Virginia. His crew chief Trevor Finch told me that Tinker has great eyes, and is still jumping railroad tracks. He doesn’t use sunscreen and is a terrific night rider. He rides better when he is tired. Then he has chosen the right event in RAAM which I call experiencing tiredness beyond belief. Tinker has accumulated 20 hours off bike time 1,102 miles into the race in Trinidad, CO.
He has two bikes with aerobars, but doesn’t like them. He started the race with no chamois in his shorts, but started using them in Cortez, CO. Mountain bike world champion Ned Overend visited Tinker just before he left the TS in Durango. Ned told me that Tinker must be able to recover on the bike during RAAM.
Finch said that Tinker is very intuitive about his training. Today was the first day he’s dealt with the pain of yesterday. He never asks where the other riders are. 2005 RAAM finisher Jim Trout is on Tinker’s crew, and told me he would rather be a rider than a crew person. Trevor’s wife Jennifer is also on the Juarez crew. When I asked Tinker why he prefers always riding in his big chainring, he said, “It just feels right.” Raspy with a sore throat (most of the riders have this), Tinker said he needs a whole week to acclimate to the altitude, and he’s only been at altitude for 3 days now.
Solo rookie Kevin Wallace’s primary goal is to raise $250,000 for the Betty Wallace Women's Health Center. While he was taking an afternoon sleep break before leaving the Rocky Mountains, I got a chance to talk with his coach Dr. Pat Hewitt. Kevin doesn’t get information about where other riders are unless he or Hewitt approves it. Kevin doesn’t have a speedometer on his bike, and wears a heart rate monitor about a third of the time. Kevin only eats what food Dr. Pat gives him. No junk food allowed for Kevin the entire trip. His crew is not even allowed to eat junk food around him. Kevin and his crew agreed on a pre-race sleep schedule. Hewitt told me that even gargantuan endurance races such as RAAM can be done with respect to your health. He believes that part of Robic’s strength is that he makes everybody else ride his race. He thinks that the Enduro race allowed Robic to ride even harder and hurt himself more than the Traditional race. Finally, Dr. Pat said that RAAMs halfway point is West Virginia.
Before arriving at the Trinidad time station manned by John Hughes and Victor Gallo, we paid tribute to Bob Breedlove by stopping at his accident site – seeing the cross on the side of the road. As I was going up Wolf Creek Pass, I thought about hanging out with Bob and his crew there along with John Hughes who was climbing with Bob.
Suffering from breathing problems, Enduro rider Kenny Souza has been falling back through the solo field. Early in the race, Souza was the 3rd solo rider in Arizona. He has accumulated over 17 hours off bike time by Pagosa Springs, CO. in the Enduro race. He made it to South Fork, CO as the 13th solo rider, but has not yet checked into the next time station in Alamosa where 17 solo riders have already made it to. Included in these is the only woman left in the solo race – Shanna Armstrong who is in 15th place among the men, and nearly 19 hours behind solo leader Baloh.
Team RAAM
In the 4 person race, Beaver Creek – Vail continues to pull away from all other teams opening up a one hour gap on the leading 8 person Corporate Team Type 1. BC-V rode 559 miles their first 24 hours. Joe Petersen’s two person Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways is the 3rd fastest team, and are averaging a very impressive 22.1 mph. Going at more than twice the speed of the last solo rider Guido Kunze, BC-V should be catching Kunze right about now in Pagosa Springs, CO 886 miles into the race.
Day 5
Although it looks like Pete Penseyres’ 15.4 mph speed record will not be broken, the 2006 RAAM is turning out to be a very close exciting race. Five (Robic, Baloh, Wyss, Boyer, & Biasiolo) riders have led. The big question is will an Enduro or Traditional rider reach Atlantic City first. At the halfway point at TS #27 in Mount Vernon, KS, the top 3 riders were within an hour of each other. Boyer, Biasiolo, & Baloh have been exchanging the lead since rookie sensation Daniel Wyss had the lead back in La Veta, CO. Riders were blasted by 30-40 mph South winds in Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas. Marcel Knaus became the 8th person to drop out of solo RAAM 1,295 miles in at TS #23 in Ulysses, KS. Having briefly led the entire solo field back in Pagosa Springs where Robic dropped out, Knaus had dropped back to 9th solo rider and had an average speed of 13.39 mph when he called it quits.
Although Boyer has been leading the entire solo field, he and his crew have had their share of problems. Being down so low on his bike in aerobars for so long has begun to take its toll on Jock - he has developed Shermerneck (neck muscles become so tired and overused that you can barely hold your head up to see anything). Fortunately, Allen Larsen (taken out of solo Traditional RAAM this year from neck problems) was there in Pratt, KS to help him make a device/contraption (a cardboard column duct taped on his stem to rest his chin on).
Speaking of Pratt, Steve Strecker’s McDonalds restaurant is TS #26. When I arrived there very late, Guus Moonen and his crew were seated in the restaurant (kept open 24/7 to accommodate the two day RAAM parade) taking advantagnsin e of the free food offer to RAAM people. Like many of the other solo riders this year, Guus suffered from lung/breathing problems caused by altitude, but told us the inhaler he kept taking made it less of a problem. He went on to suggest that Robic wouldn’t have gotten pneumonia has he used such an inhaler.
I noticed both of Dave Haase’s minivans at the motel I stayed at next to Strecker’s McDonalds. After arriving in Pratt as the 5th solo rider, Haase rode out 30 miles on the route, and then got driven back to the motel in Pratt where he and his crew took a long sleep stop. Talking to his crew members, I learned that one of Dave’s bikes got destroyed on the roof when the minivan drove under a
low clearance. Also, Dave’s RV he was going to use on RAAM broke down while it was being driven to California from Wisconsin, and had to be abandoned there. 12 hours, 13 minutes after he first arrived in Pratt, Dave finally left the motel, and had his crew drive him 30 miles out onto the route where he stopped riding. The long stop dropped him from 5th to 9th place among all solo riders, and from 3rd to 7th place in the Traditional race. Adjusting for the time spent while he was shuttled 30 miles back to Pratt, and 30 miles back out on the course where he stopped riding, the long stop comes to just over 11 hours - very similar to what Kenny Souza did two nights ago in Alomosa, CO. I commend both of them for staying in the race in a situation where other riders may have dropped out. I hope the extra rest will make them faster, allow them to move up places, and experience the emotional euphoria every RAAM finisher experiences from battling the RAAM monster in what seems much more like a month condensed down to 8-12 days.
When rookie Rob Lucas arrived in Trinidad, CO at TS #20 with his all rookie crew on Thursday morning, he was the 4th place Enduro rider, and the 12th solo rider. Close to his Colorado Springs home, he got the same motel I was at. Rob’s parents and his one and three year old daughter came out to cheer him along. Lucas rode his way from the middle of the field to the front half upon leaving the Rocky Mountains. The IT band on his left knee was bothering him, but he has yet to take any painkillers. He likes to know where the other riders are so that he can gauge his own process. He has logged over 17 hours off bike time 1,102 miles into the race.
The only woman left in the field, Shanna Banana Armstrong arrived in Trinidad the 15th place solo rider. Near the TS, one of her bikes got run over by her crew vehicle. Since her big chainring got bent, David Haase is having a new chainring shipped to a bike shop in Mt. Vernon (TS #27), KS from his Attitude Sports shop in Wisconsin. In what other sporting event would competitors be so willing to help out their competition? Shanna’s father Brent is on her crew. She has been 90 minutes of sleep per night. Entering the Eastern Plains of Colorado after Trinidad, 35 mph crosswinds made it very difficult for light Shanna to stay on the road. She much prefers straight on headwinds over crosswinds. Her cycling shoes had the whole front toe section cut out to alleviate pressure.
The next Enduro rider to Trinidad was rookie Bryce Walsh with his all rookie crew. The 16th solo rider, Walsh missed the right turn out of Trinidad on US Route 160 East, and had ridden 7 miles off route before his crew picked him up and drove him back to the right turn. All in all about 30 minutes lost, but since finishing times in Atlantic City are usually separated by hours, he shouldn’t lose a place over it.
Kenny Souza had major problems with his lungs and breathing the first few days at altitude. At TS #18 in Alamosa, CO 977 miles into the race, Kenny took an 11 hour sleep break to allow himself to recover. The break dropped him 8 places to
18th solo rider. In his Enduro division, he dropped from 4th to 7th place. He woke up behind Shanna Armstrong. I caught up with him and his crew at their brief stop in Trinidad. Souza has had about one hour of stops not credited at Enduro control points. I met his 14 year old son Dalton on his crew. Dalton helped his father win the Furnace Creek 508 mile RAAM qualifier last Fall, and plans on riding it himself this or next year. Dalton told me he can beat his father in any distance running race, but not on the bicycle. Is Ben Couturier’s 18 year old youngest RAAM finisher record safe? Could they become the first father/son duo to ever finish solo RAAM?
The 4 day mileage split for lead solo riders Biasiolo and Boyer was 1,375 miles. The daily mileage splits for the lead solo riders were 445, 332, 270, & 328. They are on schedule to do a sub 9 day crossing, but will a Traditional or Enduro rider arrive in Atlantic City first?
Team RAAM
Bastardly 30-40 mph South crosswinds have caused average speeds to fall in Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas meaning that few speed records will be broken this year, unless you are the two man Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways consisting of Joe Petersen and Kevin McNulty. They have been the 3rd fastest among all the teams. Joe refused to let a broken collarbone keep him out of RAAM this year, and is riding with metal plates holding him together. At TS #24 in Kansas 1,346 miles across the country, their average speed of 21.58 mph is almost 3 mph faster than the two person speed record of 18.71 mph set by Jeff Rushton & Kevin Wallace who is in the Traditional solo race this year.
The fastest team is the 4 man team defending champs Team Beaver Creek – Vail who averaged 22.94 mph for their first 1,444 miles to Pratt, KS. Already falling behind the 4 man team record of 23.06 mph less than halfway into the race means they will probably not get it. Jimmy Mortensen is trying to join Joe Petersen and Kerry Ryan (Boyer’s crew chief) as the only man to win 4 person Team RAAM three times.
The 2nd fastest of all teams and leading the 8 person Corporate Challenge is Team Type 1 consisting of all diabetics. They have averaged 22.70 mph to Pratt. Wanting to beat all of the teams this year, they will most likely have to settle for winning their division, and breaking the 8 person Corporate Challenge speed record of 19.84 mph.
Before the race, Kevin Wallace stated his intention to become one of the many who have attempted to break Pete Penseyres’ 15.4 mph speed record. I have found that RAAM is all about adapting to the many variables thrown at you the whole way across our huge country, and being able to change your goals on the spot accordingly. In my first rookie RAAM in 1994, my goals went from beating the 15.4 mph speed record to winning to finishing in the top 5, which I
accomplished with 4th place. So to all you riders out there who have had your top goal blown away, I hope you still stay on your bikes all the way to Atlantic City with the added bonus of beating Jure Robic who was forced to withdraw because of pneumonia.
There are two new divisions being ridden this year, so all they have to do is make it to the finish line to set a record. The 4 person (two tandem) Team JDRF featuring one of RAAMs most versatile riders Tim Skipper. Tim has finished the most – 5 team RAAM divisions: 4 person men, 8 person (4 tandem) men, 8 person (4 tandem) mixed, 4 person HPV, and 4 person recumbent.
The other new division is the two person recumbent Team WolfPack consisting of former RAAM webmaster & HQ director Tom Kingsbury and Tim Woudenberg of the 4 person HPV Team ALS Lightning, and the 4 person recumbent Team ALS – Bacchetta.
I am sorry that the solo recumbent rider James Kern was unable to set a new division record. He dropped out after 721 miles at TS #13 in Montezuma Creek, UT.
Day 6
Looking at time station data only, the overall solo lead has changed an amazing 15 times over the course of 27 time stations and 1,497 miles to Mount Vernon, Kansas just short of halfway. This may already be a RAAM record, and I hope it changes many more times before we reach Atlantic City. 20 men and one solo woman were slowed considerably across the plains of Kansas where 30+ mph South crosswinds howled at riders slowing them down to a crawl at times, and crashed both division race leaders Biasiolo and Boyer.
Two time RAAM winner, head official, and ultracycling pioneer Lon Haldeman said the 35+ mph winds through Eastern Colorado and nearly all of Kansas were the longest sustained high winds in RAAM history. Blown off his bike overnight, Boyer arrived at TS #28 (an Enduro mandatory control checkpoint) in El Dorado limping.
While going off route for an Internet WiFi signal at a motel in Dodge City, KS, we met a ViolentSkies.com storm chaser who told us he wouldn’t have been there unless there was a good chance of severe weather including tornadoes. On Friday afternoon/evening in Eastern Kansas, severe weather hit TS #28 which was evacuated, and moved indoors. Lon Haldeman said no time credits would be given to anybody affected by this storm. In other words, tought luck budy as changing weather conditions have always been a big part of RAAM.
TS #32 in Camdenton, MO is run by Eric Johnston, Lena Herrera, and Jim Glickert. They offer food to RAAM people, and have a website for their time station called:
http://www.TS32RAAM.com
When I came upon Dave Haase after his 11 hour stop in Pratt, KS, he told me that he caught a cold from pesticide on all those farm roads. He had farm dust in his lungs. By the time he arrived at the next TS in Mount Vernon, KS, his crew had already picked up a new bike for Dave (replacing the one that got destroyed on his minivans roof after driving under a low clearance) priority mailed from Dave’s Attitude Sports shop in Wisconsin. Haase crew member Wayne Lancer works for another bike shop Fond du Lac Cyclery only one mile away from Dave’s store.
Getting only 30 minutes of sleep for the first 1,000 miles of the race finally caught up to Guus Moonen who had to sleep 4 hours overnight and take another two hour sleep in the daytime. Being from Holland, he loves flat terrain like Kansas. A crew member said, “He climbs like a Monkey.”
Overall solo race leader Biasiolo has ridden over 1,700 miles in his first 5 days. Here are the solo leaders daily mileage splits:
Day 1 - 445 miles
Day 2 - 332
Day 3 - 270
Day 4 - 328
Day 5 - 325
In order to break the 15.4 mph solo speed record, you can’t afford to have any under 300 mile days.
The time gap between the first and last solo rider still left in the race was over 41 hours at TS #21 in Kim, CO 1,173 miles in.
Two more DNFs in the solo races takes the total up to 9 (4 Enduro & 5 Traditional). France’s Jean-Marc Velez rode 1,173 miles to TS #21 in Kim, CO. The Enduro rider averaged 9.55 mph – way below the 10.49 mph minimum speed for official finisher finish. 60 year old David Jones rode 1,295 miles to TS #23 in Ulysses KS. The Traditional rider averaged 10.62 mph. This means that the 60+ record now lies entirely in 61 year old Fred Boethling’s legs.
Team RAAM
The 8 person Corporate Team Type 1 (all riders at the team have type 1 diabetes) have been chasing the 4 person defending Team RAAM champs Team Beaver Creek – Vail across much of the country for the race lead. Team Type 1 finally caught and passed BC-V by TS #34 in Marthasville, MO one TS short of the Mississippi River where the real race begins. These two teams also caught and passed the leaders of the Enduro and Traditional races around the same time. I expect a fierce shoot-out between these teams all the way to Atlantic City. Steve Khachadoorian rode 1,360 miles before dropping out of the 1984 RAAM. He is the crew chief of Team Type 1.
The two man Team BodyXchange/Garden have averaged 20.88 mph to TS #32 in Camdenton, MO. They stand a good chance at breaking the two person record of 18.71 mph.
Day 7
Traditional rider Fabio Biasiolo has maintained his overall lead in solo RAAM across Eastern Kansas, all of Missouri, and the mighty Mississippi River where it’s been said the real race begins. Although the first half of the race had five different leaders, Fabio has led for over 550 miles since Mount Vernon, KS, taking 10 time stations across America. Fueled by his powerful thoughts that the new Enduro RAAM is not RAAM as he has known and loved over the past ten years, Fabio told me before the start that is goal was to arrive in Atlantic City before the first Enduro rider. It looks like he is making good on that promise, however he has established his lead by forgoing sleep so he may need to increase his sleep substantially over the last 1,000 miles giving the lead Enduro riders a chance of catching him before the finish. Fabio’s 6 day mileage spit was 1,986 miles. Here are the leaders 24 hour splits:
Day 1 - 445 miles
Day 2 - 332
Day 3 - 270
Day 4 - 328
Day 5 - 325
Day 6 - 286
At TS #36 in Greenville, IL, I talked with Boyer’s crew chief Kerry Ryan while Jock took a break at the Enduro control checkpoint there. Down to just three crew members and one van (they lost there other van in an accident), Team RAAM veteran Ryan seemed to have the situation under control, but he wasn’t getting any sleep. He called a grocery store up ahead on the route near St. Louis, and had a total stranger buy him $100 worth of stuff he picked up later when Boyer & crew passed by.
As I was there, Baloh rolled up with his crew and signed the Enduro control point board for a break. A Baloh crew person told me that Marko is sticking with his original sleep plan. He sleeps two and four hours at a time depending on how he feels. He doesn’t care where the lead Traditional riders are, but asks about some of his friends in the solo race.
Battling it out for 2nd place overall are Enduro leaders Jock Boyer & Slovenian Marko Baloh, and Traditional rookie Daniel Wyss of Switzerland. Switching places often, they are all within a couple hours of each other, and a few hours behind Biasiolo. The next rookie is also a Traditional rider – Canadian Kevin Wallace trading 5th-7th places overall with Dino Nico Valsesia and David Haase all roughly 7 hours behind the front group.
By now Wallace knows all too well the differences between two person team RAAM and solo RAAM. He set the two person speed record of 18.71 mph with team-mate Jeff Rushton in 2004. Wallace is riding to raise funds for the Betty Wallace Women's Health Center. Wallace crew chief Bob Langley told me about the more than 400 e-mail good wishes and dedications their TeamRace.com website has received. The crew calls the Wallace minivan passenger seat the “seat of tears” because the person reading these messages to Kevin (who also cries) is deeply moved from the outcry of support Kevin has received so far. Each member of the Wallace crew keeps a journal which is posted on the website. Near TS #31 in Collins, MO, Kevin and Valsesia went back and forth passing each other to help make the long night more enjoyable.
Tinker Juarez remains in third position in the Enduro field, about 16 hours behind the leaders, and a resurgent Kenny Souza is about 27 hours back after taking an 11 hour sleep at Alamosa, Colorado. Just over halfway into the race, Souza has already accumulated 38 hours off bike time, so he will most likely have more like 50 hours off bike time by the time he reaches Atlantic City.
I will not soon forget my visit to TS #34 in Marthasville, MO where Daniel Boone is buried. The time station is on the front lawn of Cathy & Terry Turman’s house next to their Scenic Cycles bike shop on the 225 mile Katy Bike Trail. They are offering showers to RAAM people. They invited Paul Skilbeck and I into their house for a home cooked meal of hamburgers, salad, and angel food cake with berries for desert. Our other media crew (Allen Larsen, Jeric Wilhemsen, & Jeff Orlowski) joined us for lunch. It was such a different atmosphere than the usual time station that I drifted away from hectic RAAM mode. Also at the TS were Bob Franke, 14 year old Dana, and ultracyclist Jim Amelung.
Although there were no DNFs today, four Enduro riders (Lucas at 10.56, Boethling at 10.57, Lesack at 10.66, & Kunze at 10.69) and one Traditional rider’s (Armstrong at 10.90) average speeds have dropped below 11 mph. The minimum speed for an Enduro official finish is 10.49 mph. Because a rider can expect to lose up to a half mph in average speed (Remember poor Mark Metcalfe last year?) in the Appalachian Mountains near the end of the race, a half mile per hour buffer is needed when starting these steep hills in West Virginia.
Team RAAM
After chasing 4 man Team Beaver Creek – Vail across 6 states, 8 man Team Type 1 finally caught Team BC-V by TS #34 in Marthasville 1,928 miles into the race. TT1 lead BC-V by one minute the next TS, but by the Mississippi River BC-V retook the lead, and opened it up to 8 minutes three TS’s later, and TT1 closed the gap to 3 minutes two stations later. Team BC-V is really impressed that a team of diabetics is pushing themselves so hard, but said they are riding their own race to Atlantic City. Knowing how competitive the guys on BC-V are, I think they will take on this challenge against TT1 all the way to Atlantic City.
Riding in 3rd place among all of the teams, the two man Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways continues their sizzling 20.79 mph journey across America. Big Joe Petersen and Kevin McNulty were part of the 4 person Team Kern Wheelmen – Advocare which had to settle for 3rd place last year. Only having one crew member with RAAM experience, Team BX/GP lost an hour in Prescott, AZ due to the rookie mistake of getting lost. A crew member said “That one made us grow up fast.”
Joe told me that his big chainring is only a 56 this year compared to the 63 he used on 4 person RAAM. He had to use his little chainring (hear that Tinker) this year, but not on 4 man team. He can only stay down in his super aero position for a limited time before he has to sit up from his broken collarbone accident 6 weeks ago.
Kevin jokingly said, “Are we there yet?” and “Ouch” when Paul Skilbeck and I first pulled up alongside him for an interview. He said 2 person is a lot nicer and more relaxed than 4 person, and if you make mistakes, there’s less people to blame them on. I asked him why he had a leg warmer on only one leg. He said he hyper-extended his knee while pedaling fast down a bumpy descent.
Daniel Maegerle of the 4 person Swiss DAMOVO Team was involved in an accident with a vehicle outside of TS 35 on the Mississippi River. He injured his back, and the team withdrew from the race. For much of the race, the team had been in 4th place among all teams, and in 2nd place in the 4 person team race.
Day 8
Fabio’s 7 day (week) mileage spit was 2,304 miles. Here are the leaders 24 hour splits:
Day 1 - 445 miles
Day 2 - 332
Day 3 - 270
Day 4 - 328
Day 5 - 325
Day 6 - 286
Day 7 - 318
Traditional rider Fabio Biasiolo led the solo field from Kansas to Ohio through middle America winning 15 consecutive time stations. Traditional rookie Daniel Wyss of Switzerland took the overall solo lead from Fabio in Ohio, and built a 2 hour, 23 minute lead by TS #44 in Circleville, OH with 593 miles to go. Looking at time station data so far in the race, Wyss has only slept about 10 hours, and Biasiolo about 13.
Almost 5 hours behind Biasiolo, Jock Boyer is leading the Enduro field. Boyer and his crew got a motel next to mine at the Troy TS. The only original Boyer crew is chief Kerry Ryan, and Rick Gonzales who has known Jock for a decade. Byron Rieper joined the crew in El Dorado, KS. A two man team RAAM winner and a two time solo DNFer, Rieper was on the last two Mike Trevino crews. Byron never thought you could do solo RAAM with a 3 person crew, but told me, “With a little luck, it’s doable.” He said it was magical to watch Boyer climb – dancing up the hills. Boyer got back on his bike wearing a neck brace. When I asked him if he was worried about two Traditional riders being ahead of him, he asked me how far up the road they were, and told me he’s competitive and wants to reach Atlantic City before them.
Speaking of a 3 person crew, Enduro rookie Mitch Lesack had an average speed of 10.78 mph at TS #34 just 69 miles short of the Mississippi River.
Arriving in Troy 3 hours after Boyer was Traditional rider David Haase in 3rd place Traditional and 4th place overall. Only 27 minutes after Haase, Marko Baloh rode into Troy in 2nd Enduro and 5th overall. Brutally reminded of his two RAAM DNFs, Baloh was more concerned with finishing than catching Boyer for an Enduro win.
Concerning credited sleep amounts in the Enduro race, 3rd place Tinker Juarez has the most - 52 hours with still 900 miles to go. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has over 70 hours by Atlantic City. On Tinker’s crew, Jim Trout spent 104 hours off his bike (of which he only slept 30) on his way to an 11 Day, 12 Hour 10th place finish in the men’s race last year. I wonder if his influence is rubbing off on Tinker? Did Tinker make it all the way to the Mississippi River in his big chainring? Will he stick to his promise to use his little chainring up the steep hills of West Virginia?
Tinker is not the only Enduro rider over 40 hours already. Lesack has 42 and Souza 40. Boyer has 37 and Baloh 32. The least hours logged so far are 31 by Kunze and Lucas.
Two Enduro riders have fallen below the 10.49 mph minimum average speed for an official finish: Rob Lucas at 10.43 and Fred Boethling at 10.40. Please remember that the record that 61 year old Boethling is going for is 9.66 mph and would yield a 13 Day, 3 Hour crossing this year. Quite simply put, when you are that old, you should be allowed to finish at your own pace.
All Traditional riders still have average speeds over 11 mph except for Shanna Armstrong with 10.95.
The biggest city on the route is Indianapolis, IN. TS #40, it is an Enduro mandatory control point. TS managers Paul & Randa Stern drove over 5 hours from Michigan to take in the RAAM experience. Although she followed the race closely on the RAAM website, Randa said being a time station manager allows her to put a face on the race. Paul observed and heard a lot of stories, with many more to come as only the top 6 solo riders and top 6 teams had passed by.
Paul learned the following about Dave Haase when he and his crew went through. Due to that STRONG South side wind blowing all the way across Kansas, Dave had to stay tilted leaning into it, which caused him to get bad saddle sores on one side. His foot became sore because of the wind. A bike shop owner, Haase complained about his tires being mounted backwards, and told his crew to check all of his wheels. The Haase Crew asked about the weather forecast, and when Paul told them rain, Haase & crew were happy to take rain over wind.
David Haase’s Cousin Alicia Stout drove all the way to Troy (TS #42) to see Dave, but she drove out in reverse direction on the route, and somehow missed him, so she was going to try to meet him at the next TS in London, OH. Endurance must run in the Haase genes as Alicia has run ten marathons.
In the desert in California on day one when Fabio Biasiolo’s crew separated from him, the Haase crew supported and fed Fabio until his own crew returned.
I forgot to mention yesterday that by TS #34 in Marthasville, MO, 1,928 miles into the race, the lead teams (Type 1 and Beaver Creek – Vail) had passed the lead solo rider Fabio Biasiolo. This was one TS and 69 miles short of the Mississippi River near St. Louis.
By TS #29 in Yates Center, KS, 1,619 miles into the race, the last team (4 person 50+ Team Cyclonauts) had passed the last placed solo rider Rob Lucas.
Team RAAM
The 4 man Team Beaver Creek – Vail and the 8 man Team Type 1 kept going back and forth until the more experienced Team BC-V opened up a gap in the steep hills of the Appalachian Mountains. By Pennsylvania, BC-V was leading TT1 by 27 minutes. 218 miles is not enough distance to make 27 minutes up, however BC-V has 45 minutes of penalties and TT1 has 15, so BC-V has to finish at least 30 minutes ahead of TT1 to win. Talk about a close, exciting race! TT1 will most likely destroy the 8 person Corporate speed record of 19.84 mph since they are at 22.42 mph.
Paul Stern also watched the leading two person Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways roll through. Their support vehicle blew a transmission, and they had to rent another one on the spot. They couldn’t put their spare bikes on the new rental, and left behind first aid kits and mechanics tools. McNulty had to ride a long 88 mile leg at 21 mph during the problem. Just before the Indy TS, McNulty hit a pothole and crashed hard. Despite all these problems, they are still the 3rd fastest of all teams, and have an average speed of 20.29 mph with just 497 miles to go. BX/GP will most likely beat the old 2 person team speed record of 18.71 mph.
The leading 4 person mixed team, and 6th overall among teams, the Emily’s Team from Arizona passed through TS #42 in Troy, OH while I was there. UMCA 100 and 200 mile record holder Dan McGehee told me some stories. On the first day in California, their shuttle van got stuck in sand on Box Canyon Road for 7 hours. Near Pratt, KS, STRONG winds blew the façade off a structure, and it was lying in the road. A rider lost 7 minutes when they stopped to wait out the worst of the storm. Eye doctor McGehee wears really tight Rudy Project sunglasses to keep wind and sand out. I found out how much more stuff team RAAMers can do compared to solo riders. Before starting his two person shift, Dan brushed his teeth, and cleaned and lubed his chain in a parking lot in Troy at the TS. Former RAAM headquarters guy Bill Peschka is on the Emily’s Team crew.
At TS #38 in Marshall, IL, I hung out with the 6 man HandCycle Team RC-Enjo Vorarlberg from Austria. Starting out with the solo riders over a week ago, they were last to the first two time stations in California. Moving up through the field across the country, only 7 solo riders beat them to TS #38. I spoke with crew member Dr. Helmuts Ocenasek who was on Wolfgang Fasching’s 1998, 1999, & 2000 RAAM crews. He said the vicious South side/cross winds, which hammered riders on conventional bikes across Eastern Colorado and Kansas were much less of a problem for his team on their handcycles with 3 wheels, but direct headwinds were worse.
Their original goal of 10 days to Atlantic City is still doable. Ocenasek told me they had two periods of down time (no rider on the road). Early in the race, they lost 15 minutes because of a mechanical problem on a handcycle. Around the halfway point in Kansas, their GPS went down, and they got lost giving up 75 minutes. Ocenasek let me ride one of their handcycles around the parking lot at the gas station. It felt really strange/weird to be propelling a machine with my arms and not my legs. Ocenasek brings a very scientific approach to RAAM. He regularly takes blood and urine samples from the riders to check their electrolyte levels.
Day 9
Daniel Wyss’ 8 day mileage spit was 2,614 miles. Here are the leaders 24 hour splits:
Day 1 - 445 miles
Day 2 - 332
Day 3 - 270
Day 4 - 328
Day 5 - 325
Day 6 - 286
Day 7 - 318
Day 8 - 310
Winning the last 10 time stations, Traditional Swiss rookie Daniel Wyss has increased his lead over all solo RAAM riders through Ohio, West Virginia, & Maryland. He has a five hour lead over Traditional rider Fabio Biasiolo in the steep Appalachian Mountains with just 357 miles to go. After placing 6th on the RAAM finish line last year, Pius Achermann warned me about Wyss coming to RAAM this year very strong. Wyss won the Race Across The Alps (RATA) and the XX Alps Extreme last year. He is also fast as he held the world 24 hour drafting record of 607 miles until Baloh & Robic broke it by just one mile before RAAM this year in Austria. Wyss is attempting to become the first rookie to win RAAM since Jock Boyer won back in 1985 when Wyss was just a 15 year old boy. No doubt, having a RAAM champion such as Andreas Clavadetscher (2001) on your crew has to be helping Wyss.
Tradtitional rider Dino Nico Valsesia has passed Enduro leader Boyer in the West Virginia mountains, and moved into 3rd place just 80 minutes behind Biasiolo. In 4th place overall, Enduro leader Boyer has a five hour lead over Enduro rider Marko Baloh who seems to be content on just finishing this year
rather than going after Boyer. After two DNFs in 2003 & 2005, reaching the finish line in Atlantic City on his bike for the first time will indeed be very sweat for him. 4th place Traditional rider David Haase is catching Boyer – only 19 minutes behind him with 402 miles to go.
Fighting it out for 5th place Traditional are Kevin Wallace & Guus Moonen within 3 hours of each other. 3rd place Enduro rider Tinker Juarez is now more than full day behind Wyss. About 12 hours behind Tinker are Kenny Souza & Shanna Armstrong. Poor Rob Lucas dropped out at the Mississippi River as his average speed fell too far below the 10.49 mph minimum. Having held the last place solo rider position for 8 time stations, Lucas stopped with a speed of 10.32 mph. 61 year old Fred Boethling has now inherited last solo rider status, and he was almost 2 days behind solo leader Biasiolo back in Effingham, IL.
Of the 8 Enduro riders left, five are already over the mandated 40 hours off bike time minimum. Although the Enduro riders and crew may be in the habit of signing in and out of Enduro control points, once over 40 hours, they should switch over to Traditional mode for anymore sleep they need to give them flexibility to sleep where ever and whenever they want. Haldeman told me the 40 hour number chosen for the new Enduro division was simply a guess of his, and it could be modified in future years. If after the race is over this year and nearly every rider logs over 50 hours of sleep, perhaps 50 will become the new number.
Once over 40 hours, Enduro riders still have to stop for at least 2 hours at the last mandatory control point at TS #46 in Parkersburg, WV if they are not already past it. For example, Tinker now has over 55 hours of logged off bike time as of TS #43. He still has to stop for at least two hours at Parkersburg, but after that he could ride the last 497 miles nonstop to Atlantic City if he wanted to. Chances are that he will need some more sleep before the finish, but now he can take that sleep where ever and whenever he wants to along the route – just like Traditional riders do.
It’s ironic that those Enduro riders who have accumulated more than 40 hours off bike time long before Atlantic City will now be able to ride the rest of RAAM like Traditional riders except for that one 2 hour mandatory control point stop in Parkersburg.
Enduro rider Rob Lucas became the 11th rider to drop out of solo RAAM this year. Five of the DNFs are Enduro riders. Of the remaining 18 (8 Enduro & 10 Traditional) solo riders, all of the Traditional riders have cumulative average speeds over 11 mph while three Enduro riders have cumulative average speeds less than 11 mph. When you know you have to go faster, you are more inclined to do so. Enduro riders have to keep their speed at or above 10.49 mph to be official finishers. Traditional riders have to finish within 48 hours of the winner’s time. Solo leader’s Wyss’ ETA in Atlantic City is on Tuesday evening at 20:35 race time. This would give him a finishing time of 9 Days, 8 Hours, 35 Minutes.
Adding 48 hours gives 11:08:35 as the cut-off time for Traditional riders. This yields a speed of 11.16 mph which all of the Traditional riders are above except for Shanna Armstrong who is at 11.01 mph, but she doesn’t have to worry because she is in her own women’s division.
Team RAAM
The first two teams put on a close, exciting race, which I thought, might end in a sprint finish. After leading the 8 person Corporate Team Type 1 by as much as two hours in Trinidad, CO, defending champs 4 person Team Beaver Creek–Vail began to fade, and T1 caught them just before the Mississippi River. After this, they went back and forth until the more experienced Team BC-V opened up a gap in the steep hills of the Appalachian Mountains. Knowing that they had accumulated 30 more minutes in penalties than T1, BC-V had to finish more than 30 minutes ahead of T1, which they did do – they finished 35 minutes before T1, and were therefore the first RAAM team to finish.
Although they did not break the 4 person team speed record, BC-V won their 2nd consecutive 4 person team RAAM, and Jimmy Mortenson joins Joe Petersen & Kerry Ryan as a three time 4 person team RAAM winners. Team T1 (consisting of all Type 1 diabetics) blew away the old 8 person Corporate team speed record of 19.84 mph with their impressive 22.36 mph this year. Perhaps in the future, an 8 person team will beat the winning 4 person team as they well should.
Going across much of the country as the 3rd fastest team, Joe Petersen & Kevin McNulty’s two person Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways overcame their share of adversity, and won the two person team race setting a new speed record of 19.58 mph beating Team Coast to Coast Against Cancer’s old record of 18.71 mph. Kevin Wallace (in the solo Traditional race this year) and Jeff Rushton made up that team.
At TS #42 in Troy, OH, I spoke with Joel Fritz who is the crew chief of the leading 4 person women’s Team Vail/Beaver Creek B2B Divas. The team had to endure 100 mph winds in Kansas where a farmer gave the team refuge in his barn. The front passenger door of their Jeep follow vehicle was only cracked open when a gust of wind blew it open 180 degrees, slamming it against the front section of the Jeep. While the front solo riders experienced South winds in Kansas, the B2B Divas had Northwest winds. Linda Guerrette and Debra Decrausaz collided on a transfer in front of the Pratt, KS McDonalds. They were taken to a hospital there, and McDonalds owner and Pratt TS manager Steve Strecker went to the hospital to check on the women. He offered to get them a motel room or anything else they needed. Can you imagine a RAAM on which every time station is a nice as Steve’s? Tristen Grant got blown off her bike in Kansas. On the last two winning B2B Divas teams, Guerrette is about to join Joe Petersen, Kerry Ryan, and Jimmy Mortenson as prestigious three time 4 person team RAAM winners.
TS #42 in Troy, OH was run by Cindy & John Foote, Walt Smith, Ken Girod, Frank Cooley, Lee Kreider, Mike Feinstein, & Dave Curtis. Two time solo RAAM finisher Matt Bond had to leave the TS (after the first two teams whizzed by) for a Chicago business trip, but plans on making it back to Troy on Tuesday afternoon to see the last solo riders. I would like to give a big thanks to Cindy who baked 300 cookies to hand out to RAAM people along with yogurt. Calvin’s 12 Hour Challenge promoters John & Ann McKinley showed up on Sunday, but I missed them.
Guus Moonen didn’t ride past the Troy TS on the exact RAAM route, but he used other roads that went within sight of the TS. RAAM officials had to decide what to do about this little detour Guus took.
Day 10
Daniel Wyss’ 9 day mileage spit was 2,892 miles. Here are the leaders 24 hour splits:
Day 1 - 445 miles
Day 2 - 332
Day 3 - 270
Day 4 - 328
Day 5 - 325
Day 6 - 286
Day 7 - 318
Day 8 - 310
Day 9 - 278
Daniel Wyss’ crew chief and coach Dr. Christian Hoppe had Wyss start RAAM 7 kilograms overweight to fight the daily 7,000 calorie deficit on RAAM. Hoppe also had Wyss stay on a strict diet of Resource, fat, and sugar & salt water. All of this payed off when Wyss was the first solo rider to reach Atlantic City – winning the Traditional race as a rookie. 5 of his 9 member crew had RAAM experience. Hoope was on all three of Adreas Clavadetscher’s RAAM crews. Andreas won the 2001 RAAM. Wyss held back in the desert on the first day, and then started battling it out with the top Enduro riders for the solo race lead which he got in Mexican Hat, UT, and again in LaVeta, CO. He finally took the lead for good in Troy, OH from Fabio Biasiolo.
Wyss became the first rookie to win RAAM since Jock Boyer won in 1985. The strong South winds across Eastern CO and all of KS made for some very slow speeds this year. Daniel’s official finishing time was 9 Days, 11 Hours, 50 Minutes. This means that Traditional riders have 48 more hours or must finish in less than 11 Days, 11 Hours, 50 Minutes to be official. His average speed of 13.36 mph was the slowest for a solo RAAM winner since 1984. The Wyss crew told me the toughest part of RAAM is going without beer for ten days. As a reward for making it to the halfway point, the crew offered Daniel a Snickers candy bar, but he refused it.
Paul Skilbeck & I driving race director Jim Pitre’s full size white media van came upon a hitch-hiker between TS # 52 & 53 in Rouzerville & Hanover, PA. It was Wyss’ crew chief Dr. Hoppe who accidently got left by his crew vehicles, so we picked him up and drove him along the route to rejoin his crew near the Maryland/Delaware state line. I then jumped into the Wyss support vehicle with Daniel as he was getting shuttled across the Delaware River into New Jersey. I was amazed to see a rookie winning RAAM – this is not supposed to happen. Wyss became the first Swiss rider and the second Daniel to ever win solo RAAM.
After Wyss passed him near the IN/OH for the race lead, Biasiolo held onto 2nd place in Traditional all the way into the Appalacain Mountains where Dino Nico Valsesia passed Biasiolo to grab 2nd.
What better birthday present (he turned 35 today) could Dino Nico Valsesia have asked for than a 2nd place finish in the Traditional RAAM this year? Dino finished 5 hours behind Wyss. Valsesia placed 6th in his rookie RAAM in 2003 followed by a DNF after riding 2,378 miles in 2004. This year Dino and crew have been sticking to their pre-race plan of riding 310-330 miles per day. After this mileage is achieved, Dino gets to sleep the remaining hours left out of 24. In theory, the faster Dino rides, the more sleep he earns. Perhaps the reason why Dino didn’t finish in 2004 was because his crew chief Marko Pagani wasn’t on his crew.
Traditional rider Dave Hasse was moving up through the field while Enduro leaders Jock Boyer and Marko Baloh we moving back. With 179 miles to go, Haase was 4th place Traditional, Enduro leader Boyer was in 5th place overall over 11 hours behind leader Wyss, and 2nd place Enduro rider Baloh was in 7th place overall 7 hours behind Boyer. 5th place Traditional rider Wallace was two hours ahead of Baloh.
In the middle of the solo field are Traditional riders Guus Moonen, Gerhard Gulewicz, Tony O’Keeffe, and Attila Kaldy, and Enduro rider David Tinker Juarez. At the back of the solo field are Enduro riders Bryce Walsh, Kenny Souza, Mitch Lesack, Guido Kunze, & Fred Boethling, and the only woman Shanna Banana Armstrong. At TS #44 in Circleville, OH, the time range between the solo leader Wyss and last rider Boethling was 2 Days, 5 Hours, & 2 Minutes.
Team RAAM
Ten teams reached Atlantic City before the first solo rider Daniel Wyss who finished late on Tuesday night – missing the first awards banquet dinner. A second one will be held on Thursday evening.
The second 4 person Team Athletes Racing for Charity finished on Tuesday morning nearly a full day after the first Team Beaver Creek-Vail. On ARC are Patrick Autissier who DNFed last year after 1,635 miles, and Ed Kross a 3 time solo finisher.
The first 4 person mixed team – Emily’s Team of Arizona arrived in Atlantic City on Tuesday afternoon. They are headed by Dan McGehee, an optometrist who holds the UMCA 100 and 200 mile road records.
The third 8 person corporate Team Donate Life 8 finished on Tuesday evening. One of their riders Bobby McMullen is blind, and rides behind his partner guide/girlfriend Theresa Conner who shouts out commands at him. Head race official Lon Haldeman gave Bobby special permission to ride with Tease. DL8 had 15 minutes of downtime (nobody on the road) at the Pratt, KS McDonalds after Dr. Jon Pierce came to a sliding stop in heavy rain. Donate Life is also the sponsor of lead Enduro rider Jock Boyer, so it was a special moment when the team caught Boyer just before Athens, OH. Dwight Morejohn was riding when the team caught Boyer in the morning. Dwight rode with Jock for 10 minutes, and then relief rider Dave Stoker rode with Jock. Boyer wanted to know how the team was doing, and how Bobby was.
The 8 person corporate 60+ Team Cycling for Chaffey arrived late on Tuesday night. RAAM legends Pete & Jim Penseyres headed the team. Towards the end of their trip, Ron Mittino was deeply moved when he rode through two passing Amish horse drawn carriages going in opposite directions on the road. The team got strange looks when Jim’s artificial leg fell out of their car at a Taco Bell restaurant. Jim was riding when the team passed Enduro leader Boyer. Jim wanted to talk with Boyer, but Boyer stopped to put on a jacket.
Pete commented on the route this year being nice with so many quiet back roads, but said his 15.4 mph solo RAAM speed record can’t be broken unless the RAAM route returns to flatter, faster roads like his 1986 route. This means more traffic and dangerous conditions. When Pete caught 2nd place Traditional rider Valsesia, Dino asked Pete “How many more kilometers of hills?” Randy Ice (maker of Spizerinctum used by the Team CfC) picked me up at the San Diego Airport before RAAM started, and told me he tested Pete to have an amazing VO2 max of 86 in 1986. Paul Skilbeck thinks Pete could have been a great Tour de France racer. The fact that so many talented riders have tried and failed to break Pete’s 20 year old speed record verifies Paul’s hypothesis.
Day 11
3.5 hours after Valsesia, Fabio Biasiolo finished his 5th RAAM placing 3rd in the Traditional race. With a history of trouble in the desert heat, Fabio wisely hung back on day 1 riding through TS #3 in Chiriaco Summit, CA as the 23rd solo rider. He worked his way up through the field, taking the overall solo lead in Kansas, and winning 15 consecutive time stations. Traditional rookie Daniel Wyss of Switzerland took the overall solo lead from Fabio in Ohio.
On the finish line stage in Atlantic City, Fabio dedicated his finish to the late Bob Breedlove & Brett Malin who were both killed while riding RAAM. He even had their names stuck on his follow vehicle. This years RAAM was one of his best ever, until day 7 when he rode over a stone and crashed in Putnamville, IN after which something changed in his body. He said, “Kansas is terrible for everyone and for me too this day. The short hills in Pennsylvania seem like you go round and round getting nowhere.” Boyer and Baloh tried to drop Fabio, but couldn’t when Fabio was on his game. Dino passed Fabio for 2nd place Traditional while Fabio was sleeping near the IN/OH state line.
Here is Fabio’s RAAM history:
DNF(1996)134 miles
DNF(1997)2,215
5(1998)9:06:59/13.03
5(1999)8:23:07/13.66
3(2000)9:10:43/13.12
DNF(2001)1,047
DNF(2002)1,082
DNF(2003)1,7613
3(2005)10:08:14/12.29
3(2006)9:19:49/12.90
2 hours after Biasiolo, David Haase finished his 2nd RAAM placing 4th in the Traditional race. On the Haase Crew’s drive out to Oceanside for the start, their RV broke down (had to be abandoned) in Colorado at the same place their support vehicle broke down the year before. Dave said this year’s race wasn’t as
hot as last year, but a lot windier. When his crew sprayed him with champagne on the finish stage, Haase said that’s the first shower he’s had the whole trip.
Dave was glad he made it to Atlantic City before the first Enduro rider. He thinks the Enduro guys (especially Marko Balo) got too caught up in racing against the Traditional guys. At his 11 hour stop in Pratt, KS, he lost 8 pounds. He thinks he had more time off the bike than all the Traditional riders. He loses time to other riders who can urinate off their bikes while riding. His Cousin Alicia did finally meet up with him in London, OH.
100 miles from Atlantic City, he felt so great he thought about turning around and riding all the way back to California, but soon after felt horrible/terrible. Close to dropping out after his 11 hour stop, he told his crew if he can get on his bike and ride at over 12 mph, he would stay in the race. Before the race, Dave’s mother asked him, Do you think you can beat Robic?” Well Haase has beaten Robic this year, so his mother should be very happy. Haase said it was nice to see somebody like Tinker Juarez struggle in this race to show how tough it is. Dave doesn’t keep training journals/diaries because it would take the fun out of riding.
Jonathan Jock Boyer won the new solo Enduro RAAM setting a new 50+ speed record of 12.63 mph. He was the 5th solo rider to reach Atlantic City arriving 13 Hours, 15 Minutes after Traditional winner Daniel Wyss. He logged 45:14 off bike time at Enduro control checkpoints. The only rider to ever win RAAM as a rookie (until Wyss this year) in 1985 when he set the rookie speed record of 14.31 mph, Boyer was the first America to ever ride the Tour de France placing 12th one year. He took the overall solo lead in CO and again in KS where Biasiolo took it from him after he lost his 2nd support vehicle and crew in an accident. Plagued by saddle sores and Shermerneck, Boyer was down to just 3 crew members in one van. Three time 4 man team RAAM winner Kerry Ryan held the small Boyer crew together. In KS, Byron Rieper joined Ryan & Rick Gonzales. This marks the first time a RAAM winner has finished with so few (3) crew members.
After losing the overall race lead to Fabio in KS, Boyer held onto the Enduro lead, but got passed by 4 Traditional riders and the 6 man handcycle team by the finish. A supporter of the new Enduro division (a more sane way of doing RAAM), Boyer said there were no easy sections on his long ride. Having never experienced neck problems before, Jock’s low aerodynamic position (everytime he got down on his aerobars, he gained two mph) caused neck pain after 2 days. 2005 RAAM finisher Cat Berge sent the Boyer crew a neck brace that Jock used. He had to look down at the road more than forward – a dangerous situation. Despite getting more sleep than the Traditional riders, his pace still got slower and slower. He says once you get so tired on RAAM, your mind perceives you’re going fast, but you are not. At some point in the race, every solo RAAM rider gets trapped in slow motion, and they can’t get out of it.
Boyer said that Robic & Baloh made a mistake in that they started as Traditional (sleeping very little) and went to the Enduro format. Boyer’s crew used a hydrometer on him at every stop to check his hydration levels. Worse than his neck, saddle sores slowed him down, and he started using Lynocane on them. He had diarrhea for a whole day in CO, and wasn’t able to hydrate. He had to start eating solid foods. He’d dream of the next Enduro control checkpoint where he would be able to sleep. He never had any difficulty reaching the checkpoints from sleepiness. He was usually asleep within a minute of lying down.
Comparing his 2006 RAAM with his 1985 RAAM, this year he was more coherent, more efficient, and never really hallucinated. In 1985, he was more wasted, but had more energy sources to draw upon. Riding RAAM for a charity (Donate Life organ transplants) has given him a whole different viewpoint on why he rode RAAM. He said, “It’s impossible to get disappointed when you are racing for a cause.”
He wasn’t surprised by Robic’s pneumonia DNF because Robic went out too hard. When asked to compare RAAM with the Tour de France, he said you need a totally different mentality to want to do RAAM. Most Pro bike racers aspire to do the Tour de France.
Canadian rookie Kevin Wallace was the 6th solo rider to reach Atlantic City, and 5th place Traditional. A very well financed rider, Wallace stated on his website that his goal was to win Traditional RAAM and break Pete Penseyres’ 20 year old 15.4 mph solo speed record. Dr. Pat Hewitt had Kevin on a strict regime regulating his sleep, diet, and speed. He started out easy through the desert heat riding mid pack the first two days. He began moving up through the field and was the 7th solo rider to cross the Mississippi River. He held that place passing Baloh en route to Atlantic City.
Wallace was very talkative at the finish line. He asked himself, “How could I get another day off of my time?” He slept 9-13 hours total. When asked about the speed record, he said it’s an incredible record he has more respect for now. When he did two man team RAAM (setting the speed record of 18.71 mph) and was passing solo riders, he wondered how these people can be so slow on a bike, He now knows the answer to this question as he lost his speed after the 4th day. The winds were so STRONG in KS that Kevin could feel the wind pulling skin from his bones. Kevin being a certified bike fitter may have helped his neck which was OK.
He said he didn’t underestimate the race, but it’s so long. He doesn’t know if he enjoyed any of the scenery because he was so worried about staying alive. He said the race exposes all of your weaknesses. There was no privacy in his race, and he felt so exposed to the elements. He started the race intentionally slow. With only 700 miles to go, he sprained his knee, which forced him to take a 5 hour stop. He believes you have to train full time to win RAAM. He thinks he is
built more for Traditional RAAM. He kept seeing Guus Moonen for the first six days.
Wallace had to leave his giant RV and bus driver behind after the steep West Virginia Mountains disabled it. In Jefferson City, MO, his crew and Jeff Rushton emerged from a cornfield wearing pink jerseys like his, and had a pep rally. Jeff was his team-mate for their two man team record. Kevin’s wife and baby girl were in Atlantic City to see him finish. He was wearing 3 pairs of shorts. He said that breaking the speed record is egocentric since the record only helps one person. His Betsy Wallace Foundational Fund charity work is much more rewarding to him.
2004 Michigan 24 Hour Champ (470 miles) Larry Optic was on the Wallace Crew. Optic qualified for RAAM at the Adirondack 540, and plans on riding solo RAAM in the future. Training buddies in Canada, Wallace told me that Optic could be the next RAAM champion.
After two DNFs, Marko Baloh’s first RAAM finish on Wednesday evening was very sweet. He placed 2nd in Enduro finishing 8.5 hours behind winner Boyer. The 7th solo rider to arrive in Atlantic City nearly 22 hours after Traditional winner Wyss, Baloh logged 43:12 off bike time at Enduro control checkpoints. Baloh shared the overall solo race lead with fellow countryman Robic until Eastern CO. Once Baloh fell behind Boyer in the Midwest, his fear of another DNF kept him from chasing after Boyer, and allowed Traditional riders to pass him by Atlantic City. A supporter of the new Enduro format, Baloh found it difficult to know where he stood early in the Enduro race because of riders accumulating different off bike time amounts towards their mandatory 40 hours. He said it was nice to catch a few of the Traditional riders.
When his legs swelled up in the desert on the 2nd day, he had to back off his pace. He said, “Before the race you have a very clear mind to know why you are doing the race. You need a good crew to pep talk the rider. He has pictures of his children taped onto his stem. With emotional tears flowing at the finish line, he was too tired to appreciate his finish. He felt very bad when he heard of Robic’s troubles (went to a hospital with pneumonia that caused him to DNF). From Baloh’s experience, American doctors take very good care of their patients. Robic called Baloh to wish him luck in catching Boyer.
In the beginning, Baloh felt better from sleeping more, but later on he felt as bad as if he was only getting one hour of sleep per night. When asked if he would do the race again, Baloh said there was too much hardship trying to get money & sponsorship, and it took up too much of his family time to train for RAAM.
Team RAAM
On Wednesday morning, the winning 4 person women’s Team Vail/Beaver Creek B2B Divas rolled into Atlantic City. Team captain Linda Guerrette became the first woman (fourth person) to win 4 person Team RAAM 3 times. Joe Petersen, Kerry Ryan, & Jimmy Mortenson have also done this. Linda said this one was the best of the 3 team RAAMs she has won. The whole team went into the Atlantic Ocean after the awards ceremony on the RAAM finishing stage. Joel Fritz, President of Border to Border charity organization for research on pediatric HIV/AIDS, was on their crew.
The next team to arrive in Atlantic City was the 2 person recumbent (a bran new division) Team Volae Wolf Pack consisting of former RAAM webmaster and HQ director Tom Kingsbury and Tim Woudenberg, two time 4 person HPV & recumbent team RAAM finisher. The best Christmas gift Tom could have ever given himself was when he decided he was going to do two person team RAAM last winter.
Up on the RAAM finishing stage Tim said, “Underneath that smooth Dexter, there’s a hairy monster and he’s come out a few times on the trip. On Cuchara Pass, Tom began to talk to the mountain, and the birds probably heard it.” Tim had 3 microphones (2 for his Ipod and one for radio communication with the crew) inside a half tennis ball taped to his helmet. The crosswinds were so bad in Kansas; they had to stop for an hour. To prevent Shermerneck, a crew member made a headrest (out of a Pratt McDonalds food tray) on Tom’s bike. VWP kept changing positions with the B2B Divas. Both teams had the same radio frequency for communication with their vehicles.
The 4 person Team Dreams for Kids consists of Cory Hofman and his 16 year old son Cees, Cees’ Uncle Craig, and Terry Patterson. Cees’ 10 year old brother Cole was on the crew. Before RAAM, they did two 26 hour training rides. Terry rode through a storm in Kansas where there was debris circling all around him. They always slowed down to talk to the solo riders they caught and passed. They enjoyed riding for 10 minutes with Dave Haase. Before the race, they had a preplanned 24 hour stop to observe the Sabbath on Sunday where ever they happened to be. The stopped in Jefferson City, MO, and called race headquarters to tell them what was going on. The stop dropped the team from 8th place among all teams to dead last. By the end of the race, they had worked their way back up to 15th place among all 26 teams that finished.
The second 4 person women’s Team was Team Red Helmets. They were supposed to be a 60+ team, but one of their women had to be replaced with 40 year old Melinda Yelton of Charlotte, NC. Melinda knows 3 time solo RAAM finisher Terry Lansdell. She told me that their team name is tied into the Red Hat Society, an over 50 women’s social club. In West Virginia, the crew had to keep blowing their horn to scare off deer. Unlike the lead riders who got blasted with South winds all across Kansas, the Red Helmets had mostly 10-15 mph tailwinds across KS. Near the KS/MO state line, Melinda’s bike accidentally fell off the
rear rack. She used her damaged bike for 2 days before using another one of the team member’s bike. A triathlete coach, her neck began hurting 4-5 days into their trip.
The second place 2 person men’s Team eXtreme consists of solo RAAM finisher Charles Liskey and Steve Winfrey who did a two person team RAAM under the same name in 2001.
Another bran new division this year is the 2 tandem (4 person) Mixed Team. Team JDRF has RAAMs most versatile rider Tim Skipper who has finished 5 different divisions, and Tom Hooker who has finished 3 (all on teams with Tim).
Day 12
Very early on Thursday morning just before sunrise, 54 year old Le Tour Direct promoter Guus Moonen finished his third RAAM at 11.85 mph. This was his fastest one on a course and in a year that was slower for most people. If not for 50 year old Jock Boyer, Moonen would have broken the old solo 50+ RAAM record of 11.83 mph set by Tom Davies Jr. in 1995. Moonen placed 6th in the Traditional race, and was the 8th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Here is Moonen's RAAM record:
DNF(2001)1,208 miles
8(2002)11:09:51/10.93 mph
7(2004)11:08:09/10.87
Arriving at TS #2 in Salton City, CA as the 21st solo rider, Moonen took advantage of the flexible stop/sleep schedule of a Traditional rider - sleeping only 30 minutes in his first 4.5 days and over 1,400 miles to Pratt, KS where he and his crew enjoyed a free (thanks to owner Steve Strecker) sit down meal at McDonalds before taking his first substantial sleep break at the Days Inn Motel next door. This allowed him to move up through the field to as high as 6th place overall solo by TS #23 in Ulysses, KS 1,295 miles into the race.
After the race, Guus told me he had 19 flat tires, and his support vehicle had two flats. He said the roads are much better in Europe on his Le Tour Direct. When I asked him if he felt as though he beat Robic, he told me no because Robic got so sick with pneumonia, and had to drop out. I found this interesting because every rider who finishes a race (regardless of any length) clearly beats every rider who drops out of the same race – regardless of any reason!
2-3 hours after Moonen, Austrian Gerhard Gulewicz finished his first RAAM - 7th place in the Traditional race, and the 9th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Arriving at TS #1 in Lake Henshaw, CA as the 23rd solo rider. Gulewicz quickly moved up to the front half of the field, and stayed there the rest of the race.
Over 3 hours after Gulewicz, David Tinker Juarez finished his first RAAM – 3rd place in the Enduro race, and the 10th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 64 Hours, 50 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints – the most of any solo rider; he got more sleep than me. A two time mountain bike Olympian, Tinker started out at the front of the field despite having trouble with the desert heat. He was the 5th solo rider to arrive at TS #11 in Kayenta, AZ 637 miles into the race, but logged almost 5 hours off bike time there – he was the 12th solo rider to leave. With about 200 miles to go in Pennsylvania, he passed Traditional rider Attila Kaldy who he beat to Atlantic City.
On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, he talked the most of any rider. He said that RAAM was the hardest thing he’s ever done, and said, “I will never be able to win a race like this with the amount I need to sleep.” I found out that he actually had about 10 more off bike hours, which weren’t logged in. He didn’t realize how hard it was going to be. He was riding thinking the miles weren’t moving. He didn’t want to take his clothes off for a 3 hour sleep. He said, “If I ever do it again, it will probably be with 4 wheels.”
Riding all of the Rocky Mountains and the first half of the race in his big chainring, Tinker finally had to use his little chainring in the steep hills of Eastern Missouri, but went back to his big chainring the last two days. His crew changed his big chainring often to the following teeth: 53 to 52 to 51 to 52. He thanked his crew for getting him to the finish line, and said they were like a second part of his body. During the race, he told them, “I had the worst day of my life, and you’re telling me I rode well.”
After being humbled by RAAM, he said he would stick with mountain biking. He said the race was mentally dangerous. He said, “You are out there with people having good and bad days, and if they’re having a bad day, they let you know it.” After the first day, he knew he wasn’t going to win. The first day was the worst as he came apart from stress. In Kansas, he experienced two days of the most horrible wind in his life. He said he looked like a drunk who gets run over. He said Kansas was a lonely place, and it was very hard to get through. He and his crew were glad to finish penalty free. Unlike most solo riders, Tinker showered every day.
He kept track of the riders behind him including Kenny Souza. Although he actually finished in less than 11 days, He said the 12 days seemed like 12 years. He said that 80% of RAAM is mental. It was not enjoyable to be crawling along less than 10 mph. When asked if he would ever ride RAAM again, he said never say never and never say no. His mountain bike buddies Ned Overend, Travis Brown, and Bob Roll all came out to see him along the route. He hopes his finish will encourage 24 hour mountain biker racers to consider doing RAAM. He
thinks Nat Ross (on the winning 4 person men’s Team Beaver Creek – Vail) could do solo RAAM.
Riding bikes since age 13, Tinker said his 3rd place Enduro finish will forever be stitched to his brain, and tattooed to his mind. He said, “It takes a special kind of person to do RAAM. If I get to the finish, I am a winner. Having kids will be easier than RAAM.”
Tinker’s pregnant (with twins) fiancé Terri was there at the finish line to congratulate him. They live in Winter Garden, FL, and are getting married on July 6th in Saint Lucia (Southern Caribbean) at Tinker’s Trail (a Mtn. Bike trail named after Juarez – it climbs up to Tinker’s Bells).
Terri has a PhD in water pollution and microbiology at the University of Southern Florida. She met Tinker at the 24 Hours of RazorBack in Florida. Terri was a rider and team captain of a 4 person women’s team sponsored by a bike shop. Terri wore underwear over top of her clothing, and would give Tinker her underwear after races. They started an e-mail correspondence, and the rest is history.
Two hours after Tinker, Hungary’s Attila Kaldy finished his second RAAM – 8th place in the Traditional race, and the 11th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. In 2003, he finished on a retro bike (except he had clipless pedals) with one vehicle/3 crew members in 13th place just making the 12 Day, 2 Hour time limit. This year his bike had STI levers and aero rims, but still no aerobars – he admitted he should have had them, but didn’t think he would need them. 47 year old Kaldy was a lot faster this year (11.51 mph) than in 2003 (10.10 mph).
On the finishing stage in Atlantic City with Kaldy was the Hungarian Ambassador translating, and tall Miss Hungary Semmi-Kis Tunde. Kaldy said he had no crisis point on RAAM because his crew was so good this year. On the 5th day, he over stretched a muscle in his left leg. It was still very painful, and he had to ride his bike in a standing position a lot because of it. He said this RAAM was easier than his first one. At TS #28 in El Dorado, KS, which was evacuated because of severe weather, Kaldy spent 2-3 hours at a church (makeshift TS) waiting for weather predictions. Two of his crew members had experienced Hurricane damage in Florida, so they were worried about the weather, and didn’t want Kaldy to ride through the storm.
On his last day, Kaldy was riding at 45 mph when his bike hit a piece of rock or metal flatting both of his tires causing him to lose control of his bike, and he nearly crashed. Both wheels were damaged, and had to be replaced on his bike. The best memory Kaldy will take away from his 2006 RAAM adventure is the kindness, smiles, generosity, and helpfulness of all Americans along the route. At an Indianapolis suburb, a man offered Kaldy a shower and food in his house, but Kaldy didn’t accept it.
4.5 hours after Kaldy, Kenny Souza finished his first RAAM – 4th place in the Enduro race, and the 12th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 48 Hours, 45 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints. World Duathlon (run-bike-run) champion, and winner of the Furnace Creek 508 mile RAAM qualifier (setting a new course record) last fall, Souza started out at the front of the field – he was the 3rd solo rider to TS #4-6 in CA & AZ before stopping for his first sleep. He rode back into 3rd place by TS #9 in Flagstaff where he stopped to sleep again. Souza was the 12th solo rider to arrive at TS #18 in Alamosa, CO 977 miles into the race, but logged over 11 hours off bike time there – he was the 19th solo rider to leave, over a full day behind leader Marko Baloh. The rest of the race, he rode his way up through the middle of the field. With about 200 miles to go in Pennsylvania, he passed Traditional rider Tony O’Keeffe who he beat to Atlantic City.
On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, Enduro rider Souza compared Enduro to Traditional. He said, “Enduro is tougher than Traditional because you had to get to the next control point before you could sleep, and then you had to sleep at places when you might not be ready to sleep.” Once he had logged his mandatory 40 hours off bike time, and got past the last mandatory control point (at least 2 hours) in Parkersburg, WV, Souza enjoyed switching over to Traditional mode – being able to stop and sleep where and whenever he wanted to take power naps. If he were going to do another RAAM, he would definitely ride the Traditional race.
Because of the high altitudes, Kenny got bronchitis on the 2nd day. On his 4th morning of the race approaching Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado, Souza perhaps reached his lowest point in the race. I came upon him stopped on the shoulder of the road. He was only able to ride 4 miles in an entire hour, but having his 14 year old son Dalton on his crew gave him the motivation to finish RAAM. Flooded with emotions (in tears) at the finish line, Dalton embraced his father on the boardwalk in the middle of my post-race interview with Kenny. Dalton told me that seeing his father go through so much hell really opened up Dalton’s heart with love, and makes him want to do RAAM himself someday.
Kenny was very colorful on the finishing stage. At one point in the race, he said to his crew, “Why does everything have to be a negotiation? Just make a decision and stick with it.” He rode conservatively through the desert heat. He noted that guys, who took longer stops early in the race, got a good payoff from it later in the race. The first night he stopped to log time, but he couldn’t sleep at all. RAAM taught Kenny the true human nature of survival. He once asked his crew, “How can you feel this miserable and still be alive?” Souza said RAAM is all about crew and logistics.
After his 11+ hour stop in Alamosa, CO allowed Shanna Armstrong to pass him, he enjoyed riding with her once he caught back up. Shanna told Kenny, “You’re my hero for not dropping out.” Souza got such bad wrist pain, that he couldn’t
even hold onto his aerobars. Concerning the brutal crosswind in Kansas, he said, “Now it’s Mother Nature making the call.” He said there were many times in the race when he thought he was going fast, but he wasn’t. He learned that he isn’t a 90 minutes of sleep per day person like Traditional rookie winner Wyss and Robic. He said nutritionally you get into a calorie deficit that you can’t get out of.
Kenny said that Bryce Walsh looked bad when he passed him towards the end of the race. After a 24 hour charge the final day, Souza realized he couldn’t catch Tinker, so he chilled out and took a 2.5 hour sleep break, which didn’t show up on his Enduro logged off bike time total.
1 hour after Souza, Canadian Tony O’Keeffe finished his first RAAM - 9th place in the Traditional race, and the 13th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Canadian Forces Major O’Keeffe rode a steady race in the middle of the field all the way across the country. His crew was made up of other Canadian Forces personnel, and his sister Trish O’Keeffe with RAAM experience – twice on the 8 person Corporate Team Insight which won in 2003 and placed 2nd in 2004.
On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, he received a congratulatory phone call from the Canadian Chief of Defense General Rick Hillier, head of Canadian Forces. Joining the O’Keeffe Crew the last two days was Canadian Armed Forces Base Commander Colonial Larry Aitken who described RAAM as a demonstration of athlete’s ability and teamwork.
Spending the winter in Canada, he did all his training indoors on a Computrainer until he rode the Sebring, FL 24 hour race – he placed 3rd with 433 miles, which qualified him for RAAM with just 4 months to prepare. Before Sebring, Tony was an UltraMan Triathlete competing against Shanna Armstrong. Early in the race, Tinker rode past Tony and said, “Every hour your attitude will change.” He cared about where other riders were until the heat started to get to him. Not very good at night riding, Tony admitted he hadn’t figured out the sleep aspect of RAAM even by the end of the trip.
During the brutal crosswind in Kansas, police stopped the O’Keeffe Crew, but Tony kept right on riding. Tony started with a liquid diet, which ended on day 1 when he started eating a lot of peanut butter. Taking advantage of Steve Strecker’s generosity, Tony ate at his first McDonalds Restaurant ever in Pratt, KS where he enjoyed a quarter pounder with cheese, and a large strawberry milkshake. Tony said often he was like a baby, wanting to curl up and suck his thumb. He listened to whatever his crew told him to do. Once after 3 hours of sleep, he woke up and had no idea he was in RAAM. It took him about an hour to finally realize he was indeed in RAAM.
One of the things I loved the most about my 3 hours of sleep I used to take at night during my RAAM riding days was that I sometimes would dream that I wasn’t in the race – escaping all the frantic, hectic, and stressful times of being in RAAM mode – always conscious of the never ending race clock ticking away.
10 hours after O’Keeffe (in the middle of the night), Bryce Walsh and his all rookie crew finished their first RAAM - 5th place in the Enduro race, and the 14th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Arriving at the first TS as the 11th solo rider, Walsh soon drifted back to the back half of the field where he stayed the entire race. He logged 41 Hours, 34 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints. This was the least amount of time among all the Enduro finishers. In fact he didn’t go over his mandatory 40 hours until his last sleep break in Rouzerville, PA just 218 miles from the finish.
Even though Bryce came the closest to the 40 hour minimum among all Enduro finishers, he still only finished 5th among 7 finishers. With finishing times being so far spread out (the closest time gap was 6 Hours, 26 Minutes between 3rd & 4th places, and 6th & 7th places) among Enduro riders, strategies concerning off bike times weren’t nearly as important as I thought they were going to be.
Walsh had a hard time deciding which solo race to enter. Since he wanted to race against the best riders and have the most time to finish officially, he chose Enduro. He originally thought of Enduro as an asset (getting so much sleep), but it became a liability to him by the end of the race. Bryce said, “Enduro would be better if you could log stops anywhere along the route.” He estimated that he had about 7 hours of unlogged stops.
Very soft spoken on the finishing stage in Atlantic City, he said the highlight of his trip was when he was in front of a big storm, being pushed down the road. He didn’t even know where it was, but he was just floating on the pedals. In the brutal Kansas crosswinds, he had the slowest 50-100 miles he has ever ridden. Perhaps the worst times of his trip came between 1-3 am when he was often stuck in places far away from any Enduro control checkpoints. He rode close to Kenny Souza for about 2-3 days.
Early on Thursday morning, Enduro rookie Mitch Lesack became the 12th and last solo rider to drop out at TS #49 in Gormania, WV just 357 miles short of Atlantic City. Of the 12 DNFs, half were Enduro and half were Traditional. 9 of the 12 DNFs were rookies. A 48 year old car salesman with just a 3 person crew in one vehicle, Lesack never got to see his home state of Pennsylvania. Arriving at the 2nd TS in CA as the 16th solo rider, Mitch soon drifted to the back of the pack where he stayed the rest of the race.
He was only the last solo rider through one TS #13 in Montezuma Creek, UT where his average speed dropped to 10.3 mph after a 7.5 hour stop the TS before in Mexican Hat, UT. When he dropped out in Gormania, he was the next to last (61 year old Fred Boethling was behind him) solo rider, and his average speed was 10.51 mph (just 0.02 mph above the 10.49 minimum needed for an
official Enduro finish). This years Mark Metcalfe (the average ultracyclist trying to finish RAAM, and every other ultracyclist RAAM fan lives vicariously through him), I was very sad to see Lesack DNF.
Team RAAM
In both solo and team RAAM this year, 6 old division speed records were broken, and 7 new divisions were established. I will address all of them, and the exact amount the existing records were broken by in a future writing.
Awards Banquet at O’Grady’s Restaurant
4 awards banquets were held on Tuesday – Friday evenings at O’Grady’s Restaurant just over a mile away from the boardwalk finish line. I missed the first two, which were primarily for teams, but made the last two. On Thursday evening, the rest of the solo prizes were handed out. The prize breakdowns were as follows:
Solo Enduro:
1st place - $10,000
2nd place - $3,500
3rd place - $2,000
Solo Traditional:
1st place - $4,575
2nd place - $2,150
3rd place - $1,150
The Ian Sandbach Inspirational award (solo or team performance which most embodies the true spirit of RAAM) went to the 6 man Austrian Handcycle Team RC-Enjo Vorarlberg. Starting out with the solo riders in Oceanside, they were dead last through the first two time stations, arriving at the first TS with an average speed of just 10.19 mph. They continued to move up through the solo field all the way to Atlantic City where they finished behind the 4th solo rider and ahead of Enduro winner Boyer.
They posted a very impressive negative split of 0.56 mph: Their cumulative average speed to the halfway point in Mount Vernon, KS was 12.11 mph, and they increased that to 12.67 mph at the finish line. Who would have ever though
that a team could have crossed our great country so fast powered only by arm strength? After they finished, they celebrated by drinking beer and smoking cigars in the old Atlantic City Convention Hall parking lot where all the RAAM vehicles sit, and get cleaned out.
Day 13
On Friday morning, 7 hours after Bryce Walsh, ultra triathlete Shanna Banana Armstrong finished her first solo RAAM – women’s winner, and the 15th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Entering the Traditional race, she rode a steady pace towards the back of the field the entire RAAM. The only other woman in the solo race – 51 year old Patty Jo Struve beat Shanna to TS #4 in Blythe, CA 228 miles into the race, but was soon after slowed by saddle sores causing her to drop out after 771 miles at TS #14 in Cortez, CO.
Very happy to finally finish her ‘Super Bowl of Cycling’, Shanna was every bit as talkative on the finishing stage as she was in her pre-race video interview 3,043 miles before in Oceanside. She said, “RAAM was an absolute dream and I had an amazing time. I didn’t have the fastest time, but had the most fun. We (not I) finished. I kept my goal of finishing friends with my crew members.” Unlike many of the other solo riders, she never asked herself, “Why am I doing this?” There seemed to be a storm wherever she rode, but no amount of rain could keep this Texas gal from finishing. Although she admitted that RAAM had been the best experience of her life, she wouldn’t say she’s coming back. She plans to swim in a triathlon on Sunday, just two days after finishing RAAM.
Shanna’s two person team RAAM last year (partnered with Guy Wells, Team Endorphins won) ended up like something on the Jerry Springer Show. She wanted to come back this year, and erase all the bad memories from last year. She hadn’t even ridden 500 continuous miles before leaving Oceanside this year. Her dear Grandmother spent most of her life in a chair with arthritis. The temperature fluxuations between hot and cold weather on RAAM played havoc with the arthritis in Shanna’s knees.
A spokeswoman for the Boys & Girls Club, Banana hopes to inspire children with her athletic endeavors. At TS #46 in Parkersburg, WV, the local Boys & Girls Club had a bunch of RAAM posters ready for her to sign, but she rode through in the early morning and missed them. Charles Liskey (still tired from his two man Team extreme finish) who’s ultra cycling club in California paid both Shanna & Struve’s RAAM entry fees, went up onto the finishing stage to congratulate Banana. On her crew the whole way, her father Brent said storms slowed her by a full day. Her mother Karen joined her crew in Indianapolis. Shanna rode 3 consecutive time stations without stopping to see her mother in Indy.
Now that she’s finished solo RAAM, Shanna feels she’s a real RAAM finisher. She said there was no comparison between solo and team RAAM. A doer, she doesn’t care much for records (Thanks for slapping myself and UMCA records chairman Fred Boethling in the face). Her crew chief Bernie Comeau (a 1998 solo RAAM DNF) estimated that Banana spent about 30 hours lying down of which 25 were actual sleep. She had to use her neck brace (which Randy Van Zee gave her) for 4 hours in Kansas, and maybe one other time.
She said RAAM was the toughest event she’s ever done, and may stay off her bike for a week afterwards. After she threw up 3 times in CA the first day, she started drinking lots of milk to settle her stomach.
She rode her own race, and wanted to know how other riders (her friends) were doing. A couple of times she jogged around the parking lot to loosen up her legs after a break/stop. She walked into Steve Strecker’s McDonalds in Pratt, KS where she got a chicken sandwich. She started to feel guilty about taking so many stops across America. It was hard for her to conserve energy as she talked a lot to her crew, and even strangers along the route.
My colleague the past two RAAMs, journalist Perry Stone was on Banana’s crew, and filled me in on his trip this year. He said, “Crewing is much tougher than riding and writing. It was profoundly rewarding and profoundly depressing now that it’s over.” To Shanna, he had to be like a parent to the 10th degree. Perry estimates that he slept maybe 24 hours over the 12 day trip. He was in the personal support vehicle about 50% of the time, and only in the RV once. He shot about 800 photographs of her. Stone said about Shanna, “You’ll never see a more positive rider in your life.” She was smiling and laughing 90% of the time.
Stone said it was very difficult to get her to sleep, except when she requested 10 minute naps. Her longest sleep time was 90 minutes. She did two 90 minute sleeps per 24 hours at most two times. He said she never wanted to quit, and was committed to finishing even if it took her 3 weeks. She had problems with her feet until Perry cut out her shoes. She slept her last night during a severe thunderstorm. Once her crew had her bent chainring (a crew member accidently drove over it at the TS in Trinidad, CO) replaced on her spare bike (thanks to David Haase’s bike shop in Wisconsin), she never had to use her spare bike.
2.5 hours after Shanna, Germany’s Guido Kunze finished his first RAAM – 6th place in the Enduro race, and the 16th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 44 hours, 47 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, but he estimated his total off bike time to be about 80 hours. The 21st solo rider to the first time station in CA, Kunze soon drifted to the back of the field where he stayed the whole race. He held the very last position in the solo field for 6 consecutive time stations from Cortez to La Veta, CO and for 5 consecutive time stations from Springfield, CO to Pratt, KS.
Twice Kunze’s cumulative average speed dropped below 10 mph. Once (9.99) in Williams, AZ, and again (9.93) after climbing Wolf Creek Pass in South Fork, CO, but he hung tough, and managed to get it back up to 10.54 by the end of the race. Kunze & crew were surprised to learn of the cut-off times in the Enduro race. For an official finish, a rider must finish with an average speed at or above 10.49 mph, and officials can disqualify a rider if they drop below this speed at 3 checkpoints (quarter, half, & three quarters of the way) along the route. An official told Kunze & crew they only had 3 hours to make it to the Durango TS, and they barely made it by just 4 minutes.
Because his goal was to finish within the 12 Day, 2 Hour time limit, Kunze wasn’t concerned with the mandatory 40 hours off bike time in the Enduro race. He rode his own race, and didn’t compete against other riders, only against making the time cut-offs. On the finishing stage, he put his 3.5 year old son Marvin (on his crew the whole race) onto his shoulders. An ultramarathon runner, Kunze finished 13th in the Badwater 135 mile running race last year, and said RAAM was tougher.
A friend of fellow German Hubert Schwarz (3 time solo RAAM finisher), Kunze told some specifics of his trip. Just before Wolf Creek Pass in CO, he and his crew saw a mountain lion cross the road in front of them. In Ulysses, KS, they saw a tornado from a distance. Just before Yates Center, KS, Kunze was driven 4 miles forward to the TS there where he logged 1 Hour, 14 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoint, then he was driven 4 miles back to resume riding.
6.5 hours after Kunze, 61 year old Fred Boethling finished his first solo RAAM – 7th place in the Enduro race, and the 17th and final solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 50 hours, 27 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, and he estimated his total off bike time to be about 57 hours of which he slept about 75% of the time. Fred became the oldest solo RAAM finisher (Peter Lekisch was 60 when he finished in 2001), and set the new 60+ speed record of 10.31 mph beating Lekisch’s old record of 9.66 mph. Fred held the last position in the solo field for the last 850 miles from TS #39 in Putnamville, IN to the finish.
The last solo finisher usually receives my Most Tired Award (MTA), but Fred looked too fresh up on the finishing stage to be worthy of it. His left arm was bandaged from a crash he had just 20 miles from the finish, and there were bloodstains on his jersey. The Boethling Crew Chief Rick (Fred’s 36 year old son) was very proud of his father - just like 14 year old Dalton was very proud of his father Kenny Souza. RAAM headquarters director Jason Kornetsky (acting as MC in Atlantic City) gave Fred a compliment when he told him, “You’re the most mentally acute person we’ve had on this stage for a long time.”
A cancer survivor for almost 8 years now, Fred said that he never felt so bad that he wanted to quit or stop, though he would ask his crew, “Can I sleep just a little bit longer?” Fred also stressed the same thing he said in my pre-race interview with him in Oceanside about older RAAM riders, “Older guys are staying fitter longer. You’re going to see a bunch of older guys applying their knowledge to get them to the finish line.” He added, “You can’t finish this race just on athletic ability. Half is fitness & training, and half is crew, race management, & planning.”
Fred’s partner (from his two man Team 60+ last year) Dan Crain rode the parade start in Oceanside with Boethling. In comparing the two person team RAAM to solo, Fred said, “It is 5 times harder to go from two person to solo RAAM.” Fred estimated that his diet was 70% solid food, and 30% liquid. He enjoyed a sit down meal of 2 egg McMuffins, 2 cheeseburgers, French fries, & coffee at the Pratt McDonalds in the middle of the night.
Since Fred doesn’t ride well at night, he took sleep stops to break up the nights. He told me, “There’s a common bond between RAAM finishers that just can’t be experienced until you are a RAAM finisher yourself.” With that, I walked Fred to the bathroom in the old Atlantic City Convention Hall (RAAM headquarters), and then went with him & two crew members in their minivan to O’Grady’s Restaurant for the final awards banquet (already in progress). The bid for the RAAM painting (hanging in the restaurant) stayed at $5,000 on Friday evening.
Team RAAM
The only two person mixed Team Racing Against Diabetes (RAD) requested to start with the solo riders in Oceanside. The husband/wife team of 6’5” tall Terry Dutton & 6’0” tall Patty Riddle are both 59 year old volleyball players. Only in last position among all the solo riders through one TS #33 in Jefferson City, MO, RAD were amazed at the courage and determination the solo riders (like Shanna Armstrong) had as they rode with them. Arriving in Atlantic City between solo riders Walsh and Shanna, RAD established a new two person mixed team 50+ record of 10.74 mph. Although Terry has been a type 1 diabetic for 40 years, Patty is not a diabetic. I got a chance to talk to each of them separately.
Terry was on the 5 person 24 Hour Corporate Challenge Team Bicycling San Diego last year. He started the Racing Against Diabetes Foundation Inc. this year, and hopes the RAD RAAM endeavor will encourage other similar start-up groups. At one time, Terry had 9 specialists (doctors) looking after him. On RAAM, he had to check his blood sugar levels 25-30 times per day. After the first two days of RAAM, his weight had dropped from 172 pounds to 166. He told me that Patty’s Aunt Harriet died from breast cancer two days before RAAM started. He also told me that the fastest team this year – the 4 man Team Beaver Creek – Vail had 33 crew members making them the biggest RAAM crew ever.
70 mph crosswinds in Kansas caused Terry to change into his tennis shoes, and walk with his bike along the road/route for a mile. He enjoyed this alone time to reflect on his thoughts. He only averaged 90 minutes of sleep per day. He estimated that RAD had about 6 hours of down/wasted (no rider on the road) time. He and Patty each nearly fell asleep on their bikes the final night. They rode the last 5 miles together. He told me that Patty rode up the entire Yarnell Grade climb, and all of Wolf Creek Pass. Finally, he told me that Patty still plays National Tournament volleyball matches.
I was able to get a few words out of Patty who still seemed very tired less than 12 hours after her Team RAD finish. She told me she was a track sprinter in college. She met Terry while playing volleyball in the 1970’s at the University of Illinois. Terry immediately fell in love with Patty, but it took her 1.5 years to return the feelings. Patty prefers hard court vball to sand beach. She used to be a Physical Education teacher at a public high school. As Patty was riding through Greenville, IL, a former PE student (Joy Arnold had tracked down her old teacher on the Internet) of hers met Patty, and did Team RAD’s laundry. Like her mentor, Joy had also become a PE teacher and coach.
All the different divisions in RAAM get so far spread out on the route that there is no way I can be there to cover every story that unfolds. Such is the case with the 4 man Team Cyclonauts tragedy early in the race, which I hadn’t heard of until Atlantic City. Bernie Barge crashed into the team’s support vehicle, and was hospitalized. He needed over 80 stitches to be sewn back up. At the hospital, a doctor told him if he did a permanent fix on it, Bernie wouldn’t be able to keep riding RAAM, however, if the doctor did a temporary fix on it (leaving a much worse scar), he would be able to resume racing RAAM. Bernie chose the later, and rejoined the team helping them reach Atlantic City as the last of 26 teams (which left Oceanside together on Tuesday, June 13th) early on Thursday morning with an average speed of 15.01 mph. This was still faster than all of the solo riders, and the two teams (6 man handcycle team & 2 person mixed team) that left with the solo riders on Sunday, June 11th.
One diehard RAAM fan I met on the boardwalk in Atlantic City was 46 year old Walter Edwards from Ellenwood, GA. He rode to Atlantic City from his home in GA in 10 days on his recumbent loaded with life’s essentials. He slept on the boardwalk between RAAM rider arrivals. He told me he roots for recumbent riders first, and then for everybody else. He started riding 3 years ago at 268 pounds bodyweight. Thanks to riding and diet, he weighs 180 pounds today. He says McDonalds food is good for you when you exercise because it has lots of calories, carbs, & fat. He followed the 2004 RAAM at home on his computer, and drove up to Atlantic City last year to watch riders finish.
2006 Solo post-RAAM
This year, the solo RAAM field was separated into two divisions: The Traditional race would be run as all solo RAAMs in the past with riders deciding where, when, and how long their rest/sleep stops would be. To be official finishers, riders had to reach Atlantic City within 48 hours of the winner’s time. The new
Enduro race would require riders to log at least 40 hours off their bikes at 37 control points out of 57 total time stations. Five of these control points were mandatory (2 hours minimum at each one), but the rest of the time could be accumulated by any combination of stops at the remaining 32 control points. To be official finishers, riders had to finish within a 12 Day, 2 Hour (12:02:00) flat time limit. Since both races would be starting at the same time, the big question was which division would make it to Atlantic City first. Originally I thought a Traditional rider would do it, but after 2003 RAAM champion Allen Larsen pulled out of the Traditional race because of neck problems, it became possible that an Enduro rider could pull it off especially since the Enduro field appeared to have more talent (lured in by a bigger prize list).
The biggest solo field in 12 years, 29 (13 Enduro) riders including a recumbent (Jim Kern) left Oceanside, CA on June 11th. The first six riders to reach the second and third time stations in California were all Enduro. The first five riders to the first six time stations (well into Arizona) were all Enduro. The first Traditional rider to win a time station was a rookie - Switzerland’s Daniel Wyss who reached the 12th time station in Utah first after the top three riders (all Enduro) stopped for sleep breaks at the previous time station. Enduro Slovenian riders Jure Robic and Marko Baloh led the next six time stations, then Wyss retook the lead at the 19th time station in central Colorado.
For eight consecutive time stations through Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, the lead changed eight times between Enduro riders Baloh & Jonathan Boyer, and Traditional riders Wyss & Fabio Biasiolo. It was a very close race between Enduro and Traditional riders the first half, but Boyer would be the last Enduro rider to win a time station – the 26th one in Pratt, KS just before the halfway point. After this the Traditional riders took over with Biasiolo leading from the middle of Kansas through Missouri, Illinois, & Indiana for 15 consecutive time stations. Wyss then led the last 16 time stations from Western Ohio all the way to the finish in Atlantic City. The first four riders to reach Atlantic City were all Traditional, and 7 out of the top 9 were Traditional. The Enduro winner Boyer arrived in Atlantic City 13 hours after the Traditional winner Wyss, and the second Enduro rider Baloh over 21 hours after Wyss. So what happened to the Enduro riders who started off so fast, and why did they slow down so much in the second half of the race?
Winning 23 of the first 27 time stations (I subtracted Enduro riders’ off bike times, and calculated their new average speeds between time stations.) and leading through 22, Enduro riders really dominated the first half of RAAM. My pick to win Enduro – defending champ Robic led the race through six time stations including four consecutive stations to Pagosa Springs, CO where he dropped out with pneumonia (like Kish last year). He was treated at a hospital where race director Jim Pitre visited him. Had he raced his usual, healthy self, Robic may very well have beaten Wyss to Atlantic City. By Pagosa Springs (886 miles into the race),
Robic had accumulated just over 9 hours of off bike time. By Pratt, KS, leader Boyer had already accumulated nearly 20 hours of off bike time (half of the mandatory 40 hours), yet he still managed to stay fast enough to keep getting back the lead. Similarly, Baloh had accumulated 15 hours of off bike time by Springfield, CO (1,223 miles into the race), which was the last time station he led.
Two time mountain bike Olympian RAAM rookie David Tinker Juarez was the 5th solo rider to arrive at TS #11 in Kayenta, AZ 637 miles into the race, but logged almost 5 hours off bike time there – he was the 12th solo rider to leave. Overwhelmed by the amount of sleep he needed, Tinker still had enough pride to make it through the Rocky Mountains and past the halfway point without getting out of his big chainring. By halfway, he had taken two 6+ hour stops, and had accumulated nearly 29 hours of off bike time. He was the 3rd Enduro rider, and 9th solo rider to halfway. World Duathlon (run-bike-run) champion Kenny Souza started out at the front of the field – he was the 3rd solo rider to time station #4-6 in CA & AZ before stopping for his first sleep. He rode back into 3rd place by time station #9 in Flagstaff where he stopped to sleep again. Because of the high altitudes, Kenny got bronchitis on the 2nd day. Souza was the 12th solo rider to arrive at time station #18 in Alamosa, CO 977 miles into the race, but logged over 11 hours off bike time there – he was the 19th solo rider to leave, over a full day behind leader Marko Baloh. By halfway, Souza had accumulated nearly 36 hours of off bike time. He was the 4th Enduro rider, and 13th solo rider to halfway.
The second half of the race belonged to Traditional riders. Fabio Biasiolo and Daniel Wyss led through the last 31 time stations. Riding his 10th solo RAAM, Fabio had his maximum lead at time station #33 in Jefferson City, MO (an Enduro mandatory control point). He led Enduro leader Baloh by 3 Hours, 16 Minutes (3:16), 2nd place Enduro rider Boyer by 3:48, 2nd place Traditional rider Wyss by 4:49, and 3rd place Traditional rider Dino Nico Valsesia by 10:55. Going for his first win, Fabio had a 1:13 lead over Wyss at time station #39 in Putnamville, IN where he rode over a stone and crashed in the middle of the night. After this, something changed in his body, and his chance to win was over. Strangely enough, this was close to the same place where Mike Trevino crashed out (with a separated shoulder) on solo RAAM last year while in 2nd place behind winner Robic.
Three time stations later in Troy, OH, Wyss took the lead for good, opened up his gap, and won by 5 hours over Dino Nico Valsesia who passed Fabio for 2nd place in the Appalachian Mountains near the WV/MD state line in the middle of the night. Wyss became the first rookie to win RAAM since Boyer way back in 1985. Although Wyss was a RAAM rookie, he won the Race Across The Alps (RATA) & the XX Alps Extreme last year, and his experienced crew were far from rookies. Five of his 9 member crew had RAAM experience. His crew chief and coach Dr. Christian Hoope was on all three of Adreas Clavadetscher’s RAAM crews. The winner of the last RAAM I raced and finished 3rd, Andreas was also on the Wyss Crew. Hoppe had Wyss start RAAM 7 kilograms overweight to fight the daily 7,000 calorie deficit on RAAM. Hoppe also had Wyss stay on a strict diet of Resource, fat, and sugar & salt water. The strong (as high as 70mph) South winds across Eastern CO and all of KS made for some very slow speeds this year. Daniel’s official finishing time was 9:11:50 Minutes. His average speed of 13.36 mph was the slowest for a solo RAAM winner since 1984.
Five hours behind Wyss, Dino Nico Valsesia placed 2nd. Valsesia placed 6th in his rookie RAAM in 2003 followed by a DNF after riding 2,378 miles in 2004. Along with Haase who did a 0.38 mph negative split, Dino posted a very impressive negative split of 0.21 mph – his cumulative average speed went from 12.88 mph at halfway to 13.09 at the end. This year Dino and crew stuck to their pre-race plan of riding 310-330 miles per day. After this mileage was achieved, Dino got to sleep the remaining hours left out of 24. In theory, the faster Dino rode, the more sleep he earned. Perhaps the reason why Dino didn’t finish in 2004 was because his 2003 & 2006 crew chief Marko Pagani wasn’t on his crew.
3.5 hours after Valsesia, Fabio Biasiolo finished his 5th RAAM placing 3rd (same as last year) in the Traditional race. On the finish line stage in Atlantic City, Fabio dedicated his finish to the late Bob Breedlove & Brett Malin who were both killed while riding RAAM. He even had their names stuck on his follow vehicle. Here is Fabio’s RAAM history:
DNF(1996)134 miles
DNF(1997)2,215
5(1998)9:06:59/13.03 mph
5(1999)8:23:07/13.66
3(2000)9:10:43/13.12
DNF(2001)1,047
DNF(2002)1,082
DNF(2003)1,7613
3(2005)10:08:14/12.29 3(2006)9:19:49/12.90
2 hours after Biasiolo, David Haase finished his 2nd RAAM placing 4th (same as last year) in the Traditional race. Along with Valsesia who did a 0.21 mph negative split, Haase posted a very impressive negative split of 0.38 mph – his cumulative average speed went from 12.42 mph at halfway to 12.80 at the end. Dave was glad he made it to Atlantic City before the first Enduro rider. He thinks the Enduro guys (especially Marko Baloh) got too caught up in racing against the Traditional guys. At his 11 hour stop in Pratt, KS, he lost 8 pounds. He thinks he had more time off the bike than all the Traditional riders. Haase said it was nice to see somebody like Tinker Juarez struggle in this race to show how tough it is.
Jonathan Jock Boyer won the new solo Enduro RAAM setting a new 50+ speed record of 12.63 mph. He won 9 time stations and led through 4 in Colorado & Kansas. He was the 5th solo rider to reach Atlantic City arriving 13 Hours, 15 Minutes after Traditional winner Daniel Wyss. The only rider to ever win RAAM as a rookie (until Wyss this year) in 1985 when he set the rookie speed record of 14.31 mph, Boyer was the first America to ever ride the Tour de France placing as high as 12th. He took the overall solo lead in CO and again in KS where Biasiolo took it from him after he lost his 2nd support vehicle and crew in an accident. Plagued by saddle sores and Shermerneck, Boyer was down to just 3 crew members in one van. Three time 4 man team RAAM winner Kerry Ryan held the small Boyer crew together. In KS, Byron Rieper joined Ryan & Rick Gonzales. This marks the first time a RAAM winner has finished with so few (3) crew members.
After losing the overall race lead to Fabio in KS, Boyer held onto the Enduro lead, but got passed by 4 Traditional riders and the 6 man handcycle team by the finish. A supporter of the new Enduro division (a more sane way of doing RAAM), Boyer said there were no easy sections on his long ride. Having never experienced neck problems before, Jock’s low aerodynamic position (everytime he got down on his aerobars, he gained two mph) caused neck pain after 2 days. 2005 RAAM finisher Cat Berge sent the Boyer crew a neck brace that Jock used. He had to look down at the road more than forward – a dangerous situation. Despite getting more sleep than the Traditional riders, his pace still got slower and slower. He says once you get so tired on RAAM, your mind perceives you’re going fast, but you are not. At some point in the race, every solo RAAM rider gets trapped in slow motion, and they can’t get out of it.
Canadian rookie Kevin Wallace was the 6th solo rider to reach Atlantic City, and 5th place Traditional. A very well financed rider, Wallace stated on his website that his goal was to win Traditional RAAM and break Pete Penseyres’ 20 year old 15.4 mph solo speed record. Dr. Pat Hewitt had Kevin on a strict regime regulating his sleep, diet, and speed. He started out easy through the desert heat riding mid pack the first two days. He began moving up through the field and was the 7th solo rider to cross the Mississippi River. He held that place passing Baloh en route to Atlantic City.
Wallace was very talkative at the finish line. He asked himself, “How could I get another day off of my time?” He slept 9-13 hours total. When asked about the speed record, he said it’s an incredible record he has more respect for now. When he did two man team RAAM (setting the speed record of 18.71 mph) and was passing solo riders, he wondered how these people can be so slow on a bike, He now knows the answer to this question as he lost his speed after the 4th day. The winds were so STRONG in KS that Kevin could feel the wind pulling skin from his bones.
After two DNFs, Marko Baloh’s first RAAM finish was very sweet. He placed 2nd in Enduro finishing 8.5 hours behind winner Boyer. He won five time stations and led the race through 12 time stations. He had the highest cumulative average speed decay of 2.01 mph going from 14.21 mph halfway to 12.20 at the end. He was the 7th solo rider to arrive in Atlantic City nearly 22 hours after Traditional winner Wyss. Baloh shared the overall solo race lead with fellow countryman Robic until Eastern CO. Once Baloh fell behind Boyer in the Midwest, his fear of another DNF kept him from chasing after Boyer, and allowed Traditional riders to pass him by Atlantic City. A supporter of the new Enduro format, Baloh found it difficult to know where he stood early in the Enduro race because of riders accumulating different off bike time amounts towards their mandatory 40 hours. In the beginning, Baloh felt better from sleeping more, but later on he felt as bad as if he was only getting one hour of sleep per night.
54 year old Le Tour Direct promoter Guus Moonen finished his third RAAM at 11.85 mph. This was his fastest one on a course and in a year that was slower for most people. If not for 50 year old Jock Boyer, Moonen would have broken the old solo 50+ RAAM record of 11.83 mph set by Tom Davies Jr. in 1995. Moonen placed 6th in the Traditional race, and was the 8th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Arriving at TS #2 in Salton City, CA as the 21st solo rider, Moonen took advantage of the flexible stop/sleep schedule of a Traditional rider - sleeping only 30 minutes in his first 4.5 days and over 1,400 miles to Pratt, KS where he and his crew enjoyed a free (thanks to owner Steve Strecker) sit down meal at McDonalds before taking his first substantial sleep break at the Days Inn Motel next door. This allowed him to move up through the field to as high as 6th place overall solo by TS #23 in Ulysses, KS 1,295 miles into the race. When I asked Moonen if he felt as though he beat Robic, he told me no because Robic got so sick with pneumonia, and had to drop out. I found this interesting because every rider who finishes a race (regardless of any length) clearly beats every rider who drops out of the same race – regardless of any reason!
2-3 hours after Moonen, Austrian Gerhard Gulewicz finished his first RAAM - 7th place in the Traditional race, and the 9th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Arriving at TS #1 in Lake Henshaw, CA as the 23rd solo rider. Gulewicz quickly moved up to the front half of the field, and stayed there the rest of the race.
Over 3 hours after Gulewicz, David Tinker Juarez finished his first RAAM – 3rd place in the Enduro race, and the 10th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 64 Hours, 50 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints – the most of any solo rider; he got more sleep than me. Tied with Kenny Souza, he won the most (10) time stations. On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, he talked the most of any rider. He said that RAAM was the hardest thing he’s ever done, and said, “I will never be able to win a race like this with the amount I need to sleep.”
I found out that he actually had about 10 more off bike hours, which weren’t logged in. He didn’t realize how hard it was going to be. He was riding thinking the miles weren’t moving. Riding all of the Rocky Mountains and the first half of the race in his big chainring, Tinker finally had to use his little chainring in the steep hills of Eastern Missouri, but went back to his big chainring the last two days. He thanked his crew for getting him to the finish line, and said they were like a second part of his body. During the race, he told them, “I had the worst day of my life, and you’re telling me I rode well.” He said that 80% of RAAM is mental. It was not enjoyable to be crawling along less than 10 mph. Riding bikes since age 13, Tinker said his 3rd place Enduro finish will forever be stitched to his brain, and tattooed to his mind. He said, “It takes a special kind of person to do RAAM. If I get to the finish, I am a winner.
Two hours after Tinker, Hungary’s Attila Kaldy finished his second RAAM – 8th place in the Traditional race, and the 11th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. In 2003, he finished on a retro bike (except he had clipless pedals) with one vehicle/3 crew members in 13th place just making the 12 Day, 2 Hour time limit. This year his bike had STI levers and aero rims, but still no aerobars – he admitted he should have had them, but didn’t think he would need them. 47 year old Kaldy was a lot faster this year (11.51 mph) than in 2003 (10.10 mph). The best memory Kaldy will take away from his 2006 RAAM adventure is the kindness, smiles, generosity, and helpfulness of all Americans along the route. At an Indianapolis suburb, a man offered Kaldy a shower and food in his house, but Kaldy didn’t accept it.
4.5 hours after Kaldy, Kenny Souza finished his first RAAM – 4th place in the Enduro race, and the 12th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Tied with Tinker Juarez, he won the most (10) time stations. On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, Enduro rider Souza compared Enduro to Traditional. He said, “Enduro is tougher than Traditional because you had to get to the next control point before you could sleep, and then you had to sleep at places when you might not be ready to sleep.” Once he had logged his mandatory 40 hours off bike time, and got past the last mandatory control point (at least 2 hours) in Parkersburg, WV, Souza enjoyed switching over to Traditional mode – being able to stop and sleep where and whenever he wanted to take power naps. If he were going to do another RAAM, he would definitely ride the Traditional race.
On his 4th morning of the race approaching Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado, Souza perhaps reached his lowest point in the race. I came upon him stopped on the shoulder of the road. He was only able to ride 4 miles in an entire hour, but having his 14 year old son Dalton on his crew gave him the motivation to finish RAAM. Flooded with emotions (in tears) at the finish line, Dalton embraced his father on the boardwalk in the middle of my post-race interview with Kenny. Dalton told me that seeing his father go through so much hell really opened up Dalton’s heart with love, and makes him want to do RAAM himself someday. Kenny once asked his crew, “How can you feel this miserable and still be alive?”
After his 11+ hour stop in Alamosa, CO allowed Shanna Armstrong to pass him, he enjoyed riding with her once he caught back up. Shanna told Kenny, “You’re my hero for not dropping out.”
1 hour after Souza, Canadian Tony O’Keeffe finished his first RAAM - 9th place in the Traditional race, and the 13th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Canadian Forces Major O’Keeffe rode a steady race in the middle of the field all the way across the country. His crew was made up of other Canadian Forces personnel, and his sister Trish O’Keeffe with RAAM experience – twice on the 8 person Corporate Team Insight which won in 2003 and placed 2nd in 2004.
On the finishing stage in Atlantic City, he received a congratulatory phone call from the Canadian Chief of Defense General Rick Hillier, head of Canadian Forces. Joining the O’Keeffe Crew the last two days was Canadian Armed Forces Base Commander Colonial Larry Aitken who described RAAM as a demonstration of athlete’s ability and teamwork.
10 hours after O’Keeffe (in the middle of the night), Bryce Walsh and his all rookie crew finished their first RAAM - 5th place in the Enduro race, and the 14th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Arriving at the first TS as the 11th solo rider, Walsh soon drifted back to the back half of the field where he stayed the entire race. He logged 41 Hours, 34 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints. This was the least amount of time among all the Enduro finishers. In fact he didn’t go over his mandatory 40 hours until his last sleep break in Rouzerville, PA just 218 miles from the finish.
Even though Bryce came the closest to the 40 hour minimum among all Enduro finishers, he still only finished 5th among 7 finishers. With finishing times being so far spread out (the closest time gap was 6 Hours, 26 Minutes between 3rd & 4th places, and 6th & 7th places) among Enduro riders, strategies concerning off bike times weren’t nearly as important as I thought they were going to be.
Walsh had a hard time deciding which solo race to enter. Since he wanted to race against the best riders and have the most time to finish officially, he chose Enduro. He originally thought of Enduro as an asset (getting so much sleep), but it became a liability to him by the end of the race. Bryce said, “Enduro would be better if you could log stops anywhere along the route.” He estimated that he had about 7 hours of unlogged stops.
On Friday morning, 7 hours after Bryce Walsh, ultra triathlete Shanna Banana Armstrong finished her first solo RAAM – women’s winner, and the 15th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. Entering the Traditional race, she rode a steady pace towards the back of the field the entire RAAM. The only other woman in the solo race – 51 year old Patty Jo Struve beat Shanna to TS #4 in Blythe, CA 228 miles into the race, but was soon after slowed by saddle sores causing her to drop out after 771 miles at TS #14 in Cortez, CO.
Very happy to finally finish her ‘Super Bowl of Cycling’, Shanna was every bit as talkative on the finishing stage as she was in her pre-race video interview 3,043 miles before in Oceanside. She said, “RAAM was an absolute dream and I had an amazing time. I didn’t have the fastest time, but had the most fun. We (not I) finished. I kept my goal of finishing friends with my crew members.” Unlike many of the other solo riders, she never asked herself, “Why am I doing this?” There seemed to be a storm wherever she rode, but no amount of rain could keep this Texas gal from finishing. Although she admitted that RAAM had been the best experience of her life, she wouldn’t say she’s coming back.
Now that she’s finished solo RAAM, Shanna feels she’s a real RAAM finisher. She said there was no comparison between solo and team RAAM. She said RAAM was the toughest event she’s ever done, and may stay off her bike for a week afterwards. My colleague the past two RAAMs, journalist Perry Stone was on Banana’s crew, and filled me in on his trip this year. He said, “Crewing is much tougher than riding and writing. It was profoundly rewarding and profoundly depressing now that it’s over.” To Shanna, he had to be like a parent to the 10th degree. Perry estimates that he slept maybe 24 hours over the 12 day trip. He was in the personal support vehicle about 50% of the time, and only in the RV once. He shot about 800 photographs of her. Stone said about Shanna, “You’ll never see a more positive rider in your life.” She was smiling and laughing 90% of the time.
2.5 hours after Shanna, Germany’s Guido Kunze finished his first RAAM – 6th place in the Enduro race, and the 16th solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 44 hours, 47 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, but he estimated his total off bike time to be about 80 hours. The 21st solo rider to the first time station in CA, Kunze soon drifted to the back of the field where he stayed the whole race. He held the very last position in the solo field for 6 consecutive time stations from Cortez to La Veta, CO and for 5 consecutive time stations from Springfield, CO to Pratt, KS.
Twice Kunze’s cumulative average speed dropped below 10 mph. Once (9.99) in Williams, AZ, and again (9.93) after climbing Wolf Creek Pass in South Fork, CO, but he hung tough, and managed to get it back up to 10.54 by the end of the race. Kunze & crew were surprised to learn of the cut-off times in the Enduro race. For an official finish, a rider must finish with an average speed at or above 10.49 mph, and officials can disqualify a rider if they drop below this speed at 3 checkpoints (quarter, half, & three quarters of the way) along the route. An official told Kunze & crew they only had 3 hours to make it to the Durango TS, and they barely made it by just 4 minutes. Because his goal was to finish within the 12 Day, 2 Hour time limit, Kunze wasn’t concerned with the mandatory 40 hours off bike time in the Enduro race. He rode his own race, and didn’t compete against other riders, only against making the time cut-offs. An ultramarathon runner, Kunze finished 13th in the Badwater 135 mile running race last year, and said RAAM was tougher.
6.5 hours after Kunze, 61 year old Fred Boethling finished his first solo RAAM – 7th place in the Enduro race, and the 17th and final solo rider to reach Atlantic City. He logged 50 hours, 27 Minutes off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, and he estimated his total off bike time to be about 57 hours of which he slept about 75% of the time. Fred became the oldest solo RAAM finisher (Peter Lekisch was 60 when he finished in 2001), and set the new 60+ speed record of 10.31 mph beating Lekisch’s old record of 9.66 mph. Fred held the last position in the solo field for the last 850 miles from TS #39 in Putnamville, IN to the finish.
The last solo finisher usually receives my Most Tired Award (MTA), but Fred looked too fresh up on the finishing stage to be worthy of it. His left arm was bandaged from a crash he had just 20 miles from the finish, and there were bloodstains on his jersey. The Boethling Crew Chief Rick (Fred’s 36 year old son) was very proud of his father - just like 14 year old Dalton was very proud of his father Kenny Souza. RAAM headquarters director Jason Kornetsky (acting as MC in Atlantic City) gave Fred a compliment when he told him, “You’re the most mentally acute person we’ve had on this stage for a long time.”
A cancer survivor for almost 8 years now, Fred said that he never felt so bad that he wanted to quit or stop, though he would ask his crew, “Can I sleep just a little bit longer?” Fred also stressed the same thing he said in my pre-race interview with him in Oceanside about older RAAM riders, “Older guys are staying fitter longer. You’re going to see a bunch of older guys applying their knowledge to get them to the finish line.” He added, “You can’t finish this race just on athletic ability. Half is fitness & training, and half is crew, race management, & planning.”
Fred’s partner (from his two man Team 60+ last year) Dan Crain rode the parade start in Oceanside with Boethling. In comparing the two person team RAAM to solo, Fred said, “It is 5 times harder to go from two person to solo RAAM.” Fred estimated that his diet was 70% solid food, and 30% liquid. He enjoyed a sit down meal of 2 egg McMuffins, 2 cheeseburgers, French fries, & coffee at the Pratt McDonalds in the middle of the night.
Since Fred doesn’t ride well at night, he took sleep stops to break up the nights. He told me, “There’s a common bond between RAAM finishers that just can’t be experienced until you are a RAAM finisher yourself.”
The first rider to drop out was Austria’s Valentin Zeller who DNFed while in 6th place Enduro (13th place solo) after 489 miles in Flagstaff 34 hours into the race. Arriving at the first time station in 3rd place, he pushed himself too hard in the desert heat, and had crew problems. Finishing 5th in his rookie RAAM last year, I would have never guessed him to be the first rider to quit.
Liechtenstein’s Marcel Knaus dropped out 1,295 miles into the race at the Ulysses, KS time station where he was the 9th rider to arrive. Although he didn’t lead through any time stations, Knaus led the race briefly after Robic dropped out in Pagosa Springs, CO. I picked Knaus as a possible Traditional winner since he finished 4th in his rookie RAAM in 2003.
Early on Thursday morning, Enduro rookie Mitch Lesack became the 12th and last solo rider to drop out at TS #49 in Gormania, WV just 357 miles short of Atlantic City. A 48 year old car salesman with just a 3 person crew in one vehicle, Lesack never got to see his home state of Pennsylvania. Arriving at the 2nd TS in CA as the 16th solo rider, Mitch soon drifted to the back of the pack where he stayed the rest of the race.
He was only the last solo rider through one TS #13 in Montezuma Creek, UT where his average speed dropped to 10.3 mph after a 7.5 hour stop the TS before in Mexican Hat, UT. When he dropped out in Gormania, he was the next to last (61 year old Fred Boethling was behind him) solo rider, and his average speed was 10.51 mph (just 0.02 mph above the 10.49 minimum needed for an official Enduro finish). This years Mark Metcalfe (the average ultracyclist trying to finish RAAM, and every other ultracyclist RAAM fan lives vicariously through him), I was very sad to see Lesack DNF. I was surprized that Lesack won 4 time stations. Two of these were after stops (7:30 & 2:47) proving that time off the bike increases on-the-bike speed.
Was 40 hours the right amount of off bike time for the Enduro race? Of the 7 finishers, the average total off bike time was 48 Hours, 58 Minutes. No finisher was in danger of coming up short. 5th place in the Enduro race, and the 14th solo rider to reach Atlantic City, Walsh came closest to the mark with a total of 41:34 - not going over 40 hours until a 3:06 stop in Rouzerville, PA just 218 miles from the finish. 8th place in the Traditional race, and the 11th solo rider to reach Atlantic City, Tinker had the most off bike time with 67:18. The last solo rider to drop out, Lesack had logged 58:39 (2nd most) when he quit with just 357 miles to go. Tinker & Lesack stopped at the most – 29 out of the 37 Enduro control points, while Souza & Boethling stopped at the least – 19.
Even though they didn’t have to, Lesack & every finisher except Walsh kept logging in off bike time at control points once they went over 40 hours. I guess after doing this most of the way across the country, it became automatic. Also, towards the end Enduro riders got so far spread out that strategy became less important, and they had the luxury of sleeping a few extra hours if they wanted to. I’m sure there were also some stops in there not recorded at control points. Enduro riders had the chance to switch over to Traditional mode (stopping when and where they liked), and Souza said he liked it so much that he would do the Traditional race again if he were to do RAAM again. Don’t forget about riders like Kunze whose main goal was to finish within the 12 Day, 2 Hour time limit, and therefore wasn’t concerned with the mandatory 40 hours of off bike time in the Enduro race. He logged 44:47 of off bike time at the Enduro control checkpoints, but he estimated his total off bike time to be about 80 hours. I think Lon Haldeman’s guess of 40 hours was right on the money, and I hope it is used again in future Enduro races.
The 2006 RAAM was the year Enduro riders battled against Traditional riders. The first half was very competitive with the race lead changing at least 15 times. Winning 23 out of the first 27 time stations, Enduro riders dominated the first half. The second half Traditional riders took over with Biasiolo leading through 15 consecutive time stations to the IN/OH state line where rookie Wyss turned on the afterburners leading through the last 16 time stations. The 14th solo rider to arrive at the first time station (25 minutes after leaders Baloh & Robic) in Lake Henshaw, CA, I think it was wise for Wyss to hold back in the desert heat on the first day. Winning time stations in UT and CO, he rode steady (his cumulative average speed decay from halfway to the finish was only 0.38 mph) all the way across the country. Who do I think was the overall solo winner in RAAM this year?
I would have to go with Wyss because once the Enduro riders had accumulated their 40 hours of off bike time, they should have been faster because they were more rested; yet they were slower. When Enduro winner Boyer reached his 40 hours at the mandatory control point in Parkersburg, WV, he was 6 hours behind Traditional race leader Wyss. This gap continued to open up all the way to Atlantic City where it was over 13 hours. Simarly, when 2nd placed Enduro rider Baloh reached his 40 hours in Grafton, WV, he was 15.5 hours behind Wyss. By the finish, the gap had grown to 21.5 hours.
At my pre-race interview with Wyss in Oceanside, he said, “Why shouldn’t a rookie win RAAM especially since I have the best crew?” When I asked him to compare Enduro with Traditional, he said. “We will have to wait until the same person finishes both divisions before they can be compared.” The only person to do that is Boyer, and he won both, but 21 years (the longest period anybody has ever been away from and came back to RAAM) is so long ago that he remembers little about his 1985 win when he set the still standing rookie speed record of 14.31 mph on a traditional bike without aerobars or disk wheels. I think it was fantastic that the only two men to ever win RAAM as rookies got to race against each other this year. Did 50 year old Boyer pass the torch on to 36 year old Wyss who was only a 15 year old boy when Boyer won the 4th transcontinental bicycle race in 1985.
I can’t end this article without mentioning RAAM legend Rob Kish. This was my first Kishless RAAM. Something didn’t seem right to me this year, and I know what was missing: The king of solo RAAM Rob Kish and his wife Brenda! Of the 11 previous RAAMs I have done, they were always a huge part. Rob has ridden and finished more than twice as many RAAMs as anyone else. He became a synonym of the race. After 19 solo finishes (including a record 3 wins and an incredible 12 top 3 finishes), Rob was taken out of his 20th RAAM last year in Colorado by pneumonia (like Robic this year). Perhaps by not showing up this year, Rob & Brenda send a clear message how they feel about the new Enduro division. Without Rob & Brenda, it just didn’t feel like the RAAM I am used to.
2006 Solo RAAM Notes:
Of the 12 DNFs, half were Enduro and half were Traditional.
9 of the 12 DNFs were rookies.
10 out of 17 finishers were rookies.
The first and third riders (Wyss & Biasiolo) only won 3 time stations, yet they had the majority (35 out of 57) of race leads.
Of the four people (Kevin Wallace, Shanna Armstrong, Fred Boethling, & Guy Wells) making the very difficult transition from two person team to solo, only Wells failed to finish.