Two weeks ago, Lara and I rode with our friends organized by the amazing Pam and Jim Buderus on their annual 3×3.  We did three (actually four) passes in three days and nearly 300 miles of riding.  I enjoyed logging some great base miles.  RAAM was nothing but interval work, so it has been important to get back to some base work.  I did do some work up the climbs and the numbers are coming around quickly. 

 
 
 
 

 
 

Back to RAAM:

Preparation was key to the success of Team4Mil, but by Friday night our entire team, racers and crew, was sick of preparing.  We had a great plan, great racers, great crew, and great camaraderie. I knew it was going to be fun, but I was so dam apprehensive and nervous due to the build up.  The worst part was not being at the start. 

My sub team, Bravo Team, was going to pick-up the action about 200 miles down the road. The start time of about noon on Saturday meant an evening start for Bravo Team.  The first several miles is a parade start in a time trial format.  This allows each team to roll out from the start safely and fairly.  It is also a chance for each team to get some microphone time with the race director and give credit to sponsors and explain the team’s mission, such as our assistance with the wounded warriors this year. After the parade miles end, it goes into race mode and completely unsupported for about 25 very solid miles.  We put down a couple riders for the start to work together, but to also allow us to keep going, if there is a flat or a mechanical. PBro and the good Doctor started out for us, which was likely the best since they had probably done more miles together than any other two on the whole team.

Another point of explanation for the race is Time Stations, the only official check-in process for RAAM.  Each racer (team or individual) must check-in as they pass each time station, about every 60 miles.  This can be done by phone, but only once the team passes the time station.  Unlike my brevets and PBP, we did not have to stop and get anything stamped.  Each time we passed a Time Station our team had to phone race headquarters to give them an update and also find out if there were any route changes.  This was all a job of the crew and was transparent to the racers.  We did however, use these Time Station checks to see where we stood against our competition and the course record.  Unfortunately in the first couple hundred miles our team was behind both the competition and our goal time sheet.  It was early, but it did add a bit of anxiety to Bravo Team’s final preparation in the eastern deserts of California.

Our first team transition point was something out of my days in Iraq, as there was absolutely nothing around in the desert and it was such a nasty dry heat.  Thankfully it started to cool a little as the sun dropped.  We were between Blythe and Brawley, California. The initial wait was horrible with several panic attacks as we thought our racer was there early, but it all happened smoothly, just as in practice.

Bravo Team picked up the action with ABConFire- rolling out into the night.  The rest of us gathered our gear and a lunchbox of goodies for our shift and piled into a van with our bikes to its rear. We were a bit excited to start. Each of us had a rock-star like first pull.  ABConFire came sputtering back to the transition/rider van after his pull looking as if, it might be his last.  Much of this was due to the lack of moisture in the air, but some of it was initial pull anxieties.  We were killin’ it due to all the pent-up nervousness.  As a long course mentality guy, I immediately noted to myself that we had to hold some back.  This was also so much easier to do and think about in the van, but our legs were so good that I even hammered much more than I should have in the first night.  The first rotation of pulls, had each us on the road for about eight miles each and it was tough.  It was dry, hot, and of course we were all on the gas pedal since there was little terrain to hold us back.

At one point on the bike, I was told via the radio the team was going six miles up the road and I was FLYING.  In the back of my mind, I wanted to show the guys in the van that they were not going to be ready by stopping that early.  It so happened that they attempted a rider exchange and a gas fill-up all at once and there was a failure to have the next rider ready for me.  Honestly, I could not have been happier.  I was a little tired, but it was great to really start to see how well I was gonna be able to dig deep.  That was my longest pull of that night and it was amazing to see the power I held for that entire pull.

As the night went into the 0200 to 0500 time frame we all seemed to go through a series of lows.  It kind of shifted through the van.  Each one of us would seemingly take a turn going quiet and trying to work through the no-sleep demons. I had smartly had my lunch pail packed with two cokes and that was my immediate reaction when the bad patches came.  Coke is my favorite wonder drug for endurance racing from ironman to PBP- it is the sweet nectar of the gods.  My lunch pail had been packed with a meat and cheese sandwich, a PBJ, some bars, of course some GUs, and two cokes.  I also supplemented all night with Gu Brew to keep up the electrolytes.  I even had some SaltStick tablets that were key in the heat we would experience throughout our race.  It all sat well with me, but the ham and cheese- flashbacks to jambon et fromage in France, so I went with just PBJ when eating on my shifts after the initial one.

Our shift ended on Yarnell Grade, our sub-team’s first real climb, just outside of Congress, Arizona.  It was the best way to end our shift. The sun was coming up and warming our faces and lighting up the desert rock faces. I received a great boost from the rising sun and Kyle even got my go-to-song of the race (Linkin Park’s Burn it Down)on the stereo before my last pull up the last three miles.  My only concern was that half way up the climb the Strategic Lions had a rider exchange vehicle pass me going up the climb.  I got really worried that I was failing my team and allowing Strat Lions back in the race.  Looking back at the numbers, it is obvious, no-one was catching me on my last pull.  I blasted up those last three miles, so dam stoked to be in the race.  When I saw my team bus at the top of the grade and a rider on the road ready to put Alpha Team into action, I just yelled.  I could not talk to them, so it was my chance to let them know I was getting it done and it was their turn to “race their faces off” (CaptAmerica’s quote).

 

Pulls:
(distance/time/speed/avg/Normal watts)
1- 6.2 mi/13:05/28.6mph/348/351 watt (first pull amazingness)
2- 5.8 mi/12:20/28.1mph/352/355 watts
3- 13.2 mi/31:50/25.0 mph/331/338 watts (the missed exchange- most fun pull of night)
4- 7.6 mi/17:19/26.2 mph/348/348 watts
5- 7.2 mi/17:17/25.1 mph/335/334 watts
6- 5.8 mi/14:03/24.6 mph/331/331 watts
7- 4.5 mi/14:09/18.9 mph/ 330/332 watts
8- 3.0 mi/14:38/12.2 mph/345/347 watts (slower on the grade at 6000ft  but with last pull energy)