In the past two years, I have had the privilege to participate/compete in some amazing cycling adventures outside of triathlon and the first month of this summer was no different. Three weeks ago, I crossed a quiet finish line (piece of tape on the road) about midnight on the streets around Annapolis, MD.  I was not alone,  three other great men of the military were on the road with me as we rode a four man TT into the finish.  Six crazy crew members were in two vans shouting and yelling into our personal radios as we flew up and over hills at 25-30mph in perfect rotations. Four other great cyclists of the military had also done some serious work to put us there for the finishing kick.  Then there were another dozen crew members up the road in Annapolis ready to join us at the finish, also having completed their job like the other four great riders.  It was an amazing nighttime finish,  and I was happy to hide in the dark of the finish parade ride. I was exhausted, but happy to tears to be a part of Team4Mil and our quest to conquer RAAM.  A finish like that must have a great journey, so let me try to share in a series of blog posts.

Two years ago a classmate of mine, Kyle started doing RAAM as part of a team, Team4Mil.  To me it initially sounded pretty lame, because RAAM to me was solo riders exhausting themselves over 3000 miles in eight to ten days. Keep in mind, the lovely and tough Lara has ridden her bike across country (her journey was 3200 miles) in 28 days. I have ridden 760 miles in two days, so the idea of needing help in the form of another person, let alone seven others seemed a bit of a slacker session. However, I soon learned that as a team, it was still a real amazing and tough race.  In 2011, the team was second to a British team Strategic Lions and both teams came close to breaking a very competitive course record of 5 days 9 hours 3 minutes.  That is over 23 mph and was done with non-stop cycling.  It ain’t no tour, the RACE clock starts at the pier in Oceanside, CA and stops in Annapolis, MD.

Over the couple years, I learned that Team4Mil was more than just prepping for the RACE Across America. They were doing so in an effort to bring awareness to wounded veterans and the use of cycling to get them back to a full life. This year, the team was going to mentor an eight man wounded warrior team to complete the same race. In April, I even had the privilege to meet most of the wounded warrior team at a training camp.  There were two Marines on the team: one an H2 handcylist, and the other a relatively recent below the knee amputee.  I learned so much from them about their injuries and how they were taking their military ethos to a new outlet in competitive cycling.  RAAM was now a part of that journey in their new life. It really gave a new perspective on competition and getting the most out of my body.   I might not touch too more on the other team, but know these guys were always on my mind during my race and preparation.  I knew RAAM would be tough for my team, but eight other like-minded men doing the same thing with many more obstacles would be out there pushing forward like we always do in the U.S. military.

Let me briefly explain how this triathlete had to actually adapt his training for RAAM. I only raced a couple tris this spring with relatively poor results, but I was really training well, swimming better than ever and always running consistently. I know my power numbers (thanks to some teaching by Dr. Phil Skiba) and have soundly built my triathlon training around them with smart goals for racing.  The smartest coach-type of Team4Mil, aka “175”, told me I needed to plan on pushing low LT watts for my relatively short pulls for 2-10 miles (2 miles in the mountains to 10 miles on the flats).  Between my pulls I would sit in a van- refit and refuel.  When I got back on the bike, no warm-up, just GO!  My workouts slowly morphed into 3-4 days in a row of 2-5 hour rides with multiple LT sets with lots of low watt spin recoveries.  Going into the weeks leading up to RAAM, it was still a little unclear as to whether I could hold LT numbers from Cali to Maryland, but I had a better feeling for how it might feel.  The only unknown was the low-points that you experience in ultra-racing.  I also had no idea how my body would handle the constant up and down within my shifts of racing and then the down time being used to put a group of us up the road and fully recover.  In the next entry, I will give a vague description of our tactics and also explain how the race started for my sub-team and I.

For more information on Team4Mil go to www.team4mil.org
Here’s to hoping I can keep up this little story, as it was a great journey.