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Race Across America - NE

USA, June 19-July 1, 2005

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Day 4 - June 22

Chew's view: Robic defends, Breedlove reminisces

By Daniel Chew

Taking another 90 minute sleep break on his 3rd night, Robic continues to defend his RAAM title convincingly with a four hour lead over 2nd place. In the early afternoon in Western Colorado, Trevino passed Baloh to move into 2nd place. It looks like Trevino took his longest (one hour) sleep break of the race thus far on the 3rd night while Baloh slept 2.5 hours. Holding onto 4th place, rookie leader Chris MacDonald got his 3rd consecutive night of 3 hours of sleep (Chew style). After falling back to 25th place the first day in the desert from severe dehydration, David Haase made a remarkable comeback moving up to 8th place in Colorado.

Around Noon local time on Tuesday, Dr. Bob Breedlove walked into the gas station at time station 12 in Mexican Hat, UT to cool off. With an ice pack on his head, he began reminiscing about his many past transcontinental crossings. He had ridden on this section of the course two times. He said that the Southern course he set the 50+ record on in 2002 (outside of RAAM) was much flatter the first half. UMCA magazine editor John Hughes was there shooting photos. Getting ready to leave, Bob put on a pair of thin orange long-fingered gloves overtop regular cycling gloves so people can see him waving at them across the country.

18 year old Alaskan Ben Couturier moved up into 12th place within an hour of Cat Berge in 11th. In danger of being disqualified from falling below 10.52 mph at time station

13 (a fourth of the way across), Austrian Karl Traunmueller got his average speed up to 10.68 mph just in time. Patrick Autissier's speed was right on the edge at 10.51 mph at the time station. Not so fortunate was Brazil's Ricardo Arap who was stuck at time station 11 in Kayenta, AZ 635 miles in for over 12 hours helplessly watching his speed drop below 10.52 mph. In spite of arriving at the time station in 17th place (ahead of 7 men and two DNFs), he became the 3rd casualty of the race when he dropped out on Wednesday morning.

Leader Robic rode 361 miles his 2nd day giving him a 48 hour split of 808 miles. This is 34 miles more than he did last year, but 12 miles less than than Pete Penseyres rode his first two days of his 15.4 mph record. Robic rode 317 miles his 3rd day giving him a 3 day split of 1,125 miles. 4 miles less than he did last year and 85 miles less than Pete Penseyres rode his first three days of his 15.4 mph record.

Team RAAM

25 teams representing 8 divisions or categories started Team RAAM on Tuesday afternoon 55 hours after the solo riders left on Sunday morning. Lead solo rider Jure Robic has a 920 mile head start - he was climbing up Wolf Creek Pass to the Continental Divide when the teams started after him. How long will it take to catch him? The 4 person teams started at 17:11 followed by the 2 person teams 5 minutes later, and the 8 person corporate teams 5 minutes after the 2 person teams.

The fastest division will be the 4 person. The first person to win 4 person three times is big Joe Petersen who also has two 2nds and a 4th. Joe will be going for his 4th win this year on his Kern Wheelmen Team with 3 rookies. The only other person to win 4 person three times is Kerry Ryan last year on his Action Sports Team. Ryan broke Petersen's 8 year old speed record last year by a mere 0.02 mph.

Joe, a 46 year old certified personal trainer from Bakersfield, CA is 6'4" tall and 230 pounds. He believes the only limitations we have are those we put on ourselves. He is married and a father of five children. He rides 180 Rotor cranks with 46/63 chainrings and an 11-24 rear cluster. He seldom shifts so the 63x11 gets most of the wear. He hasn't used smaller than a 60 chainring in over 12 years. He spoke with Chris Carmichael about his gearing, and he's the first coach who ever agreed with Joe's selection. For Joe's unusual size, leg length, strength, and "riding style" it optimizes his pedal stroke. Joe's position on a bike is unmistakable. He has shattered both of his shoulders and in an aero tuck position, they collapse and almost disappear. Due to extreme flexibility, he is able to ride completely flat which gives him a huge aerodynamic advantage. Finally, the fact that he does not displace any more frontal area than smaller riders, but has longer and much stronger levers, makes him a threat on everything except the steepest climbs.

RAAM has become very dear to Joe's heart over the years. His main goal for his Kern Wheelmen team this year is to do RAAM to the absolute best of their abilities. Joe writes:

"If I can lead and co-ordinate 3 men and 16 crew members into functioning as a cohesive unit, and have each of them coming away with the knowledge that they all did everything in their power to attain perfection; Then we all walk away Winners in the truest sense of the word. Podium finishes, and records are to be savored like the wildflowers in spring. Real victory lies in the battle well fought, the journey well traveled. Everyone who crosses the finish line in RAAM is a winner and a true Champion. Dreams do not 'just happen', fantasies are just fantasies, it takes a Champion to put it all into motion, and make it come true. When it is all said and done, I don't want to look back on my life and say I wish could have, or would have done something. Life experiences should be cherished, life is much too short to just stand idly by and not embrace it with your heart and soul. In RAAM, I have found a journey like no other; it's not just a journey across our great country, but an inner journey of self-discovery."

The biggest obstacle in the way of Joe's 4th victory is Team Beaver Creek - Vail out of Colorado. Their captain Zach Bingham, a three time 4 person veteran including a victory in 2001, was knocked out of this years RAAM with hepatitis. Zack's teammate on all 3 teams,

Mortenson will lead the team along with pro mountain bike racer Mike Janelle on the 2004 Vail - Go Fast team that placed 2nd. Beaver Creek has an average age of 32.75 years old, and Kern Wheelmen 40.5

Team Beaver Creek - Vail won the first time station over Switzerland's Team 1WC Schaffhausen by 6 minutes. Kern Wheelman was 3rd two minutes behind 1WC. At TS 2, KW moved into 2nd, but fell 11 minutes behind BC-V. KW came within one minute of BC-V in Hope, AZ, but fell 57 minutes behind by Flagstaff. 1WC held onto 3rd place. BC-V rode 561 miles to Tuba City, AZ in the first 24 hours.

In the 4 person recumbent division, ALS Bacchetta and JDRF VeloKraft started out slow, but moved up to 4th and 7th place overall among the teams by Flagstaff, AZ separated by 27 minutes. In the 2 person race, Lower Austria - City of Krems was as high as 4th place overall among all teams, and had a two hour lead on Crazy Gones in Williams, AZ. In the mixed 2 person, Free Riders had a 10 minute lead over Grupo Gaupo, and was 55 minutes ahead of Endorphins in Prescott, AZ. In the 8 person corporate challenge, Insight was as high as 4th overall among all the teams, and was leading Eric Heiden's Donate Life team by 43 minutes in Flagstaff.

Standings

Men's Solo                             Distance   Time     Av Speed
 
1 Jure' Robic                           1417.4   3.20.59  (15.24mph)
2 Mike Trevino                          1305.5   3.18.51  (14.37mph)
3 Christopher MacDonald                 1251.6   3.17.22  (14.01mph)
4 Marko Baloh                           1251.6   3.17.29  (13.99mph)
5 Pius Achermann                        1183.1   3.20.57  (12.73mph)
6 Fabio Biasiolo                        1112.5   3.12.44  (13.13mph)
7 Valentin Zeller                       1112.5   3.14.22  (12.88mph)
8 David Haase                           1112.5   3.20.22  (12.04mph)
9 Benjamin Couturier                    1047.0   3.18.12  (11.61mph)
10 Chris Hopkinson                      1047.0   3.20.25  (11.33mph)
11 Bob Breedlove                         988.2   3.11.21  (11.86mph)
12 Ben Robinson                          988.2   3.15.45  (11.26mph)
13 Alessandro Colo'                      988.2   3.16.47  (11.13mph)
14 Mark Metcalfe                         988.2   3.17.39  (11.02mph)
15 Alexander Gepp                        988.2   3.17.51  (11.00mph)
16 Jim Trout                             941.7   3.18.36  (10.39mph)
17 Karl Traunmueller                     941.7   3.19.20  (10.31mph)
18 Thomas Rodgers                        897.8   3.11.44  (10.72mph)
19 Patrick Autissier                     897.8   3.12.52  (10.58mph)
20 Rob Kish                              897.8   3.15.08  (10.30mph)
21 Kevin Walsh                           897.8   3.19.55   (9.77mph)
DNF Urs Koenig (Medical)                 824.9   2.23.40  (11.51mph)
DNF R. Arap (Missed cutoff)              635.2   2.06.17  (11.70mph)
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                  1047.0   3.15.34  (11.96mph)
 
Two Person Male
 
1 Team Lower Austria-Krems               679.8   1.11.27  (19.18mph)
2 Crazy Gones                            679.8   1.14.00  (17.89mph)
3 Team 60+                               563.3   1.13.14  (15.13mph)
4 Team Wisconsin                         492.8   1.13.44  (13.06mph)
5 Citta' Della Speranza                  450.3   1.12.24  (12.37mph)
 
Two Person Mixed
 
1 Grupo Guapo                            563.3   1.11.14  (15.99mph)
2 Team Endorphins                        492.8   1.09.04  (14.90mph)
3 Free Riders                            492.8   1.12.52  (13.37mph)
 
Four Person Male
 
1 Beaver Creek Team-Vail                 824.9   1.11.03  (23.53mph)
2 Team Schaffhausen                      824.9   1.14.10  (21.61mph)
3 Kern Wheelmen / Advocare               726.9   1.08.59  (22.04mph)
4 Mucho Gusto Team                       726.9   1.14.04  (19.10mph)
5 Webcor Builders Endurance              726.9   1.14.14  (19.01mph)
6 Team Inspiration GB                    679.8   1.12.15  (18.75mph)
7 Team 3V                                679.8   1.12.41  (18.53mph)
8 Team Give Life                         635.2   1.14.21  (16.56mph)
 
Four Person Female
 
1 Roaring Fork Volvo B2B Divas           679.8   1.14.08  (17.83mph)
 
Four Person Mixed
 
1 Landis Team Phoenix                    726.9   1.14.17  (18.99mph)
2 Team Cheniere's                        679.8   1.12.07  (18.82mph)
 
Four Person HPV 
 
1 ALS-Bacchetta                          780.7   1.14.22  (20.35mph)
2 Team JDRF VeloKraft                    726.9   1.13.41  (19.29mph)
 
Corporate Challenge
 
1 Team Insight                           726.9   1.12.43  (19.80mph)
2 Team Donate Life                       726.9   1.13.38  (19.32mph)
3 Team Dry Heat                          635.2   1.13.43  (16.84mph)
4 The Vern's Inc. Team                   635.2   1.14.05  (16.68mph)
 
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)