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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 19-July 1, 2005
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Day 3 - June 21
Sleep deprivation looms & Team RAAM underway
Durango, Colorado, 23:55 EDT
Team RAAM began today, with the ceremonial start in San Diego at 1 p.m. The strongly fancied team Vail went into an early lead of six minutes at Time Station 1, Pine Gap, Ca. and at TS2, El Centro, Ca, their lead had grown to 11 minutes, with the legendary Kern Wheelmen occupying second place
After three days of racing, and going into the third night of racing, the specter of sleep deprivation has joined dehydration and general fatigue as the triple threat to all competitors in the 2004 Insight Race Across America. While Juré Robic maintained his lead, growing it to over an hour by checkpoint 15 in Durango, Colorado, the defending champion temporarily ceded his leader's position to countryman Marko Beloh the night before at checkpoint 13.
With the scorching triple digit temperatures of the Southwest behind them, riders took their first trips into sleep on night two, temporarily reshuffling rider positions. It was the first sleep for Robic and last year's runner up, Mike Trevino, but Beloh chose not to sleep and took the lead while Robic absorbed some much needed shut-eye. And while dawn broke at just after 6 A.M., revealing the majesty of Monument Valley, the turn into the Four Corners region of Utah brought and unwelcome surprise to the leaders: fearsome shifting winds out of the southeast. The wind, combined with 9,000 feet of climbing in the next 200 miles, played havoc with riders looking for any relief from the blast furnace heat of the opening two days.
Trevino moved steadily forward, shadowed by rookie Chris MacDonald, who admitted he was still trying to get used to the singular rigors of RAAM. Trevino suffered through stomach ailments much of day two, ailments that forced him off the bike while his system equalized itself. But some rest and rehydration brought the former football player back into the frame in Colorado.
Fabio Biasiolo, Pius Achermann, and Valentin Zeller positions five through seven during the third day, with exact placings varying by the due to sleep stops. With the time margins between riders now topping the 24 hour mark, the race is spread across a vast expanse of three states. Worth noting is the ride by Wisconsin's Dave Haase, who, after a rough bout with dehydration on day one, has moved from 22nd place into 8th.
Cat's Race
Cat Berge continues her extraordinary debut at RAAM, remaining near the top-10 through all of day three. Berge stayed thick in a group of six racers within an hour of each other, an incredible feat considering the spaces between riders have been growing over the past 24 hours.
50+ Race
The two-man battle for the 50+ might not seem close, with Bob Breedlove enjoying a five-hour lead over 20-time RAAM finisher Rob Kish. But Kish has forgotten more about finishing RAAM than anyone else will ever know and his measured pace has lulled more than a few fellow racers into a false sense of security.
Race Notes
MacDonald is taking no chances with his bikes in RAAM. The Seattle native brought four nearly identical Colnago C-50 bikes outfitted with Campagnolo carbon components. Two of the bikes sports full aero-bar set ups for flatter faster sections, while the two others use road bars with clip-ons for climbs.
What do the racers do for inspiration? Most teams have speakers mounted on their trail vehicles and the music coming out of the spans the spectrum. Pius Achermann's team blasted vintage rock as dawn broke in Monument Valley, treating the Swiss rider to a full-blast version of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust".
Durango Cyclists Pay Tribute to RAAM Racers
50 Durango cyclists, including 2004 Olympic mountain bike team member Todd Wells, and 1990 UCI mountain bike world championships organizer Ed Zink, braved a rainstorm to turn out at time station 15, Durango, on June 21 to wish the RAAM riders well and participate in a RAAM-Time Tour.
RAAM-Time Tours are recreational rides that follow a section of the RAAM course, although in the opposite direction of the race. The idea is for local riders to get on their bikes to support the RAAM competitors and make a ride of it, instead of just standing by the roadside.
Uttering a few words that said much, longtime Durango resident Ed Zink remarked: "We like RAAM here."
2005 A Tough Year
Nobody is complaining, but a lot of the riders are telling us how tough the first couple of days have been. Temperatures well into the hundreds and strong headwinds have extracted a heavy energy toll on many riders. The only one who really seems unaffected is Jure Robic, who at TS 18, Alamosa, Co, was still 0.31 mph faster than at a similar point in last year's race. At this stage, however, it looks like he is slightly behind record pace.
Zeller Hangs Tough
Day two of hot headwinds left Austria's Valentin Zeller dehydrated and tired out, according to journalists traveling with him, but we are told he did not let these details color his otherwise rosy view of the race. The friend of three-time RAAM winner Wolfgang Fasching stopped at time station 14, Cortez, Co, for a rest and an intravenous saline solution. According to our informant, these treatments helped immensely and the Austrian soon regained his good humor and fighting spirit, requesting that the forthcoming mountains be brought on now. Seriously, though, Zeller is looking forward to the mountains, which he sees as a welcome change to the monotonous flat of the plains.
Chew's view
By Dan Chew
Two Slovenians are dominating RAAM as the field continues to spread way out. Staying within two hours of each other, Jure Robic and Marko Baloh are pulling away having both had their first 90 minute sleep break on the 2nd night. However, Robic went down first allowing Baloh to win the time station in Aneth, UT by 25 minutes before Baloh went down himself. Although Baloh briefly lead the race, I call it an invalid lead since it merely happened from variable sleep times on the same night. It is possible though if Robic wanted to lead the entire way across the country after California, not being able to do so could hurt his psyche.
Mike Trevino is holding a solid 3rd place, and closed to within an hour of Baloh because Mike didn't take a substantial sleep break the 2nd night. He may have had one or two 15 minute cat naps. I was surprised to see Mike Trevino using a double water bottle cage behind his seat, and he was regularly reaching back for drinks. The leading rookie Chris MacDonald has been getting the most sleep (3 hours the first night and 3 hours the second night), and is in 4th place 3 hours behind Trevino and 3 hours ahead of Fabio Biasiolo in 5th place. Fabio has climbed through the field amazingly well from 19th place the first day in Blythe. His wife and baby are on his crew.
A late afternoon building fire in Williams, AZ had some middle of the packers taking a very short detour through town. The only woman in the race Cat Berge is using her monster 55 tooth front chainring to stay in the front half of the filed.
We got a motel in Flagstaff, and hung out at the time station there watching riders go pass and stop. As Chris Hopkinson stopped for a short dusk break, I checked out his equipment. He is riding on Rotorcranks, and I saw the disk rear wheel (with "Kiss My Ass" written on both sides) he rode on for the first 350 miles. Ricardo Arap also stopped, and I noticed he only has 5 crew members using a minivan and a car. Italian Alessandro Colo went into his RV where he and his crew chief searched through piles of clothing unable to find a certain favorite warm long sleeve top.
The back of the packers are already concerned about having to average 10.52 mph to be official finishers. A new rule this year will check to see if they are at or above this speed a quarter, half, and three quarters of the way across. If not, they could be disqualified. This means making it 727 miles to time station #13 in Aneth, UT within 72.5 hours.
The race's first casualty was 50 year old David Kees who dropped out for medical reasons at or past time station #6 in Congress, AZ on the second day while in the middle of the field. The second person to drop out was lawyer John D'Elia from exhaustion at or past time station #8 in Williams, AZ while in last place. His average speed had dropped below 10.52 mph by time station #7 and fell even farther to 9.24 mph by Williams. Austrian police Detective Karl Traunmueller is also in trouble. At Congress, his average speed fell below 10.52 mph. For the next three stations it was 9.20, 9.46, and 9.72. He will have to work hard to get it back up to 10.52 mph in the next four stations.
Firefighter Scott Dakus is rookie Kevin Walsh's crew chief. Knee problems forced Dakus out of last years race after 716 miles. Mark Metcalfe who started the race at 220 pounds told me he lost 15 pounds on the first day through the desert. Any help or words of wisdom from Jeff Bubba Stevens for Mark.
Standings
Men's Solo 1 Jure' Robic 988.2 2.12.49 (16.25mph) 2 Mike Trevino 941.7 2.14.27 (15.08mph) 3 Marko Baloh 897.8 2.10.50 (15.26mph) 4 Christopher MacDonald 824.9 2.07.29 (14.87mph) 5 Fabio Biasiolo 824.9 2.11.22 (13.90mph) 6 Valentin Zeller 824.9 2.12.07 (13.72mph) 7 Pius Achermann 824.9 2.14.52 (13.12mph) 8 David Haase 780.7 2.12.06 (12.99mph) 9 Alessandro Colo' 780.7 2.13.58 (12.60mph) 10 Bob Breedlove 726.9 2.08.57 (12.76mph) 11 Urs Koenig 726.9 2.09.22 (12.67mph) 12 Chris Hopkinson 726.9 2.09.57 (12.54mph) 13 Benjamin Couturier 726.9 2.12.33 (12.00mph) 14 Ben Robinson 726.9 2.12.46 (11.96mph) 15 Alexander Gepp 726.9 2.13.46 (11.77mph) 16 Jim Trout 726.9 2.13.54 (11.74mph) 17 Mark Metcalfe 679.8 2.08.10 (12.10mph) 18 Rob Kish 679.8 2.09.39 (11.79mph) 19 Thomas Rodgers 679.8 2.11.02 (11.52mph) 20 Patrick Autissier 679.8 2.12.37 (11.21mph) 21 Kevin Walsh 679.8 2.13.15 (11.10mph) 22 Ricardo Arap 635.2 2.06.17 (11.70mph) 23 Karl Traunmueller 635.2 2.12.24 (10.52mph) DNF John D'Elia (Exhaustion) 450.3 2.00.44 (9.24mph) DNF Dave Kees (Medical) 340.4 1.00.31 (13.88mph) Women's Solo 1 Anna Catharina Berge 780.7 2.14.39 (12.46mph) Two Person Male 1 Team Lower Austria-Krems 124.2 0.06.04 (20.47mph) 2 Crazy Gones 124.2 0.06.20 (19.61mph) 3 Team 60+ 124.2 0.06.50 (18.18mph) 4 Team Wisconsin 124.2 0.07.19 (16.97mph) 5 Citta' Della Speranza 52.5 0.04.54 (10.71mph) Two Person Mixed 1 Free Riders 124.2 0.06.38 (18.72mph) 2 Grupo Guapo 124.2 0.06.56 (17.91mph) 3 Team Endorphins 124.2 0.07.22 (16.86mph) Four Person Male 1 Beaver Creek Team-Vail 165.8 0.07.01 (23.63mph) 2 Kern Wheelmen / Advocare 165.8 0.07.06 (23.35mph) 3 Team Schaffhausen 165.8 0.07.33 (21.96mph) 4 Mucho Gusto Team 124.2 0.06.10 (20.14mph) 5 Team 3V 124.2 0.06.21 (19.56mph) 6 Webcor Builders Endurance 124.2 0.06.26 (19.31mph) 7 Team Inspiration GB 124.2 0.06.50 (18.18mph) 8 Team Give Life 124.2 0.07.16 (17.09mph) Four Person Female 1 Roaring Fork Volvo B2B Divas 124.2 0.06.33 (18.96mph) Four Person Mixed 1 Landis Team Phoenix 124.2 0.06.19 (19.66mph) 2 Team Cheniere's 124.2 0.06.30 (19.11mph) Four Person HPV 1 ALS-Bacchetta 124.2 0.06.30 (19.11mph) 2 Team JDRF VeloKraft 124.2 0.06.34 (18.91mph) Corporate Challenge 1 Team Insight 165.8 0.07.51 (21.12mph) 2 Team Donate Life 124.2 0.06.30 (19.11mph) 3 The Vern's Inc. Team 124.2 0.06.45 (18.40mph) 4 Team Dry Heat 124.2 0.06.54 (18.00mph) 24 Hour Corporate Challenge 1 Clif Bar Team 492.8 0.23.23 (21.07mph) 2 Swami's/Raceplan 492.8 1.01.26 (19.38mph) 3 Kaiser Permanente R2R 492.8 1.02.35 (18.54mph) 4 JMI Rookies 492.8 1.05.46 (16.56mph) 5 Team Bicycling San Diego 492.8 1.05.52 (16.50mph)
