Insight Race Across America - NE

USA, June 20-July 2, 2004

Main Page Results Previous Day Next Day

Day 8 - June 27

Royal Air Force rides to third place

Ride to Remember wins corporate challenge

Starting this afternoon, five more teams crossed the finish line on Atlantic City's Kennedy Plaza today. Royal Air Force from Great Britain arrived at 14:09 in third place in the four-man category followed by fourth place Swiss Canon at 19:09. The two European teams noted their respective amateur rosters in contrast to the first and second place teams, both of which featured pro road and mountain bike racers.

"The competition was immense, Action Sports and Vail - Go Fast were just machines," said RAF's Lee Wiggington. "There were pro riders who had all the right equipment, all the right fitness. We held them for a while but then they just got away."

With first and second places disappearing into the horizon, a new race for third place was forged between RAF and Swiss Canon. Four-man RAAM race strategies are engineered around rotating riders to achieve maximum speed, reduce fatigue, and to allow for proper rest periods in between shifts.

"We had teams of two and each couple included a very strong rider on the hills and someone very good on flats, said Daniel Mägerle of Swiss Canon. "We were doing one hour intervals but one hour was not fast enough to keep up with Royal Air Force so we changed. The last 1,000 kilometers were very difficult."

All eight members of the corporate Ride to Remember - Kaiser Permanente team cruised to a tidy first place ahead of RAAM title sponsor Team Insight and Rim 2 Rim Cycling. While the battle for second was still being waged, Ride to Remember - KP took the time to greet family member and reflect on the effect RAAM has on participants.

"When you live in close quarters, under stressful situations, this strips you down to the bare guts," said Tom Paluch of Ride to Remember. "You're tired, hungry, hurt, and looking at this daunting task. You get to find out who you are in that moment."

Sponsors in this year's RAAM corporate category each contributed financially to their team but to bolster the team's chances of winning, some sponsors provided an edge that would prove critical to the race. Kaiser - Permanente allowed five physicians to take a week off from work to compete in RAAM, as you might expect, Team Ride to Remember enjoyed top medical care across the country. Insight's elaborate dashboard of navigational instruments--courtesy of their sponsors--guaranteed that they would never get lost. And Rim 2 Rim's sponsorship agreement with the leading golf club manufacturer suggests that country club gates across the nation were open to them.

Second place runner-up, Rim 2 Rim, arrived to Kennedy Plaza at 00:51 on June 28 while Insight rode narrowly into second place 22 minutes earlier at 00:29.

Saddles sores have taken another solo rider out this year's RAAM. Germany's Peter Holy withdrew at 11:45 EST June 27 in Camdenton, Missouri.

The solo field and teams VeloWear/Co-Motion, Vail B2B Divas, the Grand PAC Masters are still to come to the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. Team Coast to Coast Against Cancer is expected at 7 a.m. June 28 and the much anticipated arrival of solo leader, Juré Robic, is scheduled for approximately 4 p.m.

Chew's Views

By Dan Chew

After leading all categories of RAAM, and opening up a 4 hour lead over the top two 4 person teams in the flat Midwest, ALS Lightning HPV Team had to climb the hills of Southeastern Ohio and the mountains of West Virginia & Maryland which slowed their average speed down too much to set a new record. ALS was almost caught as a fierce battle was going on between Action Sports & Vail - Go Fast. Action Sports led the first day. Vail - Go Fast built up a descent lead in the Rocky Mountains, but Action Sports never gave up (even with only 3 man rotations at times due to losing a rider from sickness) and retook the lead in Ohio after it went back and forth until Action Sports was finally able to pull away for good in the Maryland mountains. Although ALS won, their average speed was slower than the team Bob Fourney also led in 1989. Action Sports won the 4 man conventional bikes division (a more established division than the HPV) beating Vail - Go Fast by over two hours. Action Sports just barely (by 7 minutes) established a new average speed record of 23.06 mph winning $25,000 for it. Having won his 3rd team RAAM, Kerry Ryan is in that prestigious category along with Joe Peterson. Team Royal Air Force (my pre-race pick) finished 3rd some 10 hours behind.

In the 2 person mixed race, VeloWear/Co-Motion (George Thomas & Terri Gooch who both promote/run Race Across Oregon) now lead No Limits by 17 hours. George told me he absolutely loves night riding on RAAM and will sleep in the afternoons which are toughest on him. It looks like there will finally be finishers in this category, which seems to have been jinxed in past years.

In the 8 person Corporate Challenge, Ride to Remember - Kaiser Permanente have a 2.5 hour lead on Insight. Rim to Rim Cycling has closed what was once an hour gap down to just 25 minutes, but they are quickly running out of America to catch/pass Insight in.

Soloists

With less than 500 miles to go, Slovenian Jure Robic increased his lead over rookie sensation Michael Trevino to 8 hours. A general rule in RAAM is that you can only catch a rider if they are within 10% of the remaining distance. At 15 mph, 8 hours corresponds to 120 miles, so Trevino would need 1,200 miles left to close a 120 mile gap. Unless Robic has some sort of catastrophe, there is simply not enough of America left for Trevino to catch Robic. Robic rode 2,490 miles his first 7 days (week). This is 142 miles more than Larsen last year, and 379 miles ahead of Robic's 2003 pace. Here is a mileage comparison chart of 2003 Larsen versus 2004 Robic:

2003 Larsen  miles/Cum miles     2004 Robic miles/Cum miles
 
1st day         393   /   393              436   /   436
2nd day         324   /   717              338   /   774
3rd day         384   /   1101             355   /   1129
4th day         370   /   1471             409   /   1538
5th day         294   /   1765             323   /   1861
6th day         312   /   2077             351   /   2212
7th day         271   /   2348             278   /   2490

Fasching has closed the once 8 hour gap between him and Trevino to 4 hours. If Faschings crew is feeding him info on Trevino, he can smell 2nd place like he did back in 1998 when Tatrai won. 2nd place is not a win, but it is better than 3rd. 4th place Enrico DeAngeli has made a very impressive surge to break out of the pack of 4 riders he was in. To open up a 5-hour gap on Kish, he went two nights in a row without any significant sleep. A person usually can't do this in the middle of RAAM without paying a big price for it down the road. Kish is in 5th place close to David Haase who is having the ride of his life. Valsesia is in 7th place within striking distance of 4th place. Andrew Otto continues to ride in Shermerland - too far behind to catch the rider ahead of him, and too far ahead to be caught by the rider behind him. This makes for a relaxing RAAM for both Otto and his crew. When last position (11th place) oldest (57) rider Peter Holy dropped out at time station # 29 in MO from saddle sores, Randy Van Zee inherited last place taking pressure off him from another rider breathing down his back. However, he has to worry about his average speed staying over 10.2 mph at the finish to be an official finisher. Good thing he is currently a high 10 mph average to allow for decay over the Appalachian Mountains towards the end.

Notes: On late Friday night/early Saturday morning in Indiana at his sleep stop, Mike Trevino traded his cycling shoes for running shoes and went for a short run with his girlfriend Amanda. An observer noticed that Mike put his bike down and was maybe going to drop out, until Amanda was smart enough to use running (Mike's primary sport) to get his mind back in the right place to finish RAAM. I would like to thank Mike's crew for doing such a terrific job keeping him motivated and on his bike.

Results

                                    Dist   Time    (av. speed)
                                   (miles)(d.hh.mm)
Men's Solo
 
1 Jure Robic                        2694.3  7.12.16  (14.95mph)
2 Michael Trevino                   2598.6  7.13.24  (14.33mph)
3 Wolfgang Fasching                 2507.6  7.10.06  (14.08mph)
4 Enrico De Angeli                  2377.5  7.13.32  (13.10mph)
5 Rob Kish                          2327.2  7.10.01  (13.07mph)
6 David Haase                       2327.2  7.11.46  (12.95mph)
7 Dino Nico Valsesia                2275.0  7.10.26  (12.75mph)
8 Andrew Otto                       2160.6  7.10.11  (12.13mph)
9 Guus Moonen                       1962.6  7.12.29  (10.87mph)
10 Randy Van Zee                    1962.6  7.13.00  (10.84mph)
DNF Peter Holy (Saddle Sores)       1661.3  6.20.47  (10.08mph)
DNF Alessandro Colo' (Saddle Sore)  1191.2  4.14.56  (10.74mph)
DNF James Rosar (Exhaustion)        1191.2  4.19.39  (10.30mph)
DNF Pius Achermann (Saddle Sores)   1119.7  3.08.31  (13.91mph)
DNF Andrew Lapkass (Back Spasms)    1074.1  4.12.16  (9.92mph)
DNF Robert Rich (Knee Problem)      1074.1  4.18.01  (9.42mph)
DNF Tracy McKay (Strained Quad)     863.3  3.14.29  (9.98mph)
DNF Scott Dakus (Knee Problem)      716.0  2.14.38  (11.43mph)
DNF Russ Goodwin (Crew left)        553.7  2.02.18  (11.01mph)
 
Two Person Male
 
1 Team Coast To Coast               2781.4  6.04.36  (18.72mph)
2 Team New England                  2113.2  6.04.12  (14.26mph)
3 Team TBW Brasil                   2113.2  6.05.34  (14.13mph)
 
Two Person Mixed
 
1 Team Velowear.com/Co-Motion       2418.4  6.04.16  (16.31mph)
2 Team No Limits                    2160.6  6.06.19  (14.37mph)
 
Four Person Male
 
1 Team Action Sports                2958.5  5.08.17  (23.06mph)
2 Team Vail - Go Fast               2958.5  5.10.26  (22.68mph)
3 Team Royal Air Force              2958.5  5.21.09  (20.96mph)
4 Team Swiss Canon                  2958.5  6.02.09  (20.24mph)
5 Team Extra Distance               2598.6  6.04.39  (17.48mph)
6 Team Grand PAC Masters            2459.0  6.06.38  (16.32mph)
 
Four Person Male HPV
 
1 Team ALS Lightning                2958.5  5.07.52  (23.14mph)
 
Four Person Female
 
1 Team Vail B2B Divas               2644.8  6.04.40  (17.79mph)
2 Team Frauleins                    2275.0  6.06.20  (15.13mph)
 
Four Person Mixed
 
1 Team Just Sweat - No Tears        2644.8  6.04.16  (17.84mph)
 
Corporate Challenge
 
1 Team R2R-Kaiser Permanente        2958.5  6.05.07  (19.84mph)
2 Team Insight                      2944.1  6.06.42  (19.54mph)
3 Team Rim 2 Rim Cycling            2896.3  6.04.45  (19.47mph)