Race Across America - NE

USA, June 10-22, 2007

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Day 4 - June 13

Rain slows Robic, White regains women's lead

By Danny Chew

Solo men's leader Robic has fallen off of Pete Penseyres' legendary 21 year old 15.4 mph average speed record pace. Robic rode 333 miles his 3rd day, and is now 52 miles behind Pete's pace. Robic's 1,158 mile 3 day total is still a personal best for him. Leaving the Rocky Mountains and exiting Colorado for the Kansas Plains, Robic maintains a 3 hour lead over second place Wolfgang Fasching. Fasching is 2 hours ahead of defending champ Daniel Wyss. One hour behind Wyss, Austrian Gulewicz is having the ride of his life. As a rookie last year, he placed 7th in the solo Traditional and was the 9th rider to reach Atlantic City 31 hours behind winner Daniel Wyss.

As Robic rode through Cortez, CO where he dropped out 771 miles into the race with pneumonia last year, his emotions got the best of him. Close to death last year, he is feeling the opposite this year – strong, fast, and confident. He has stuck with his schedule of sleeping around one hour per night starting on the second night. He told me he doesn’t care where the other riders are, as he is riding his own race. Robic said the rain and cold slowed him down as he froze in the Colorado Mountains and said he would take heat over rain, and that his crew didn’t have any long fingered gloves for him because he didn’t need them on his four previous RAAMs.

In the women's race, Canadian Carolyn van den Bulk and Kerry White have been exchanging leads over the past two days. In Durango, leader White had a two hour lead over Bulk with third placed Lauren Fithian one hour behind. Riding in 4th place, the Czech Hana Ebertova, who led through the first three time stations, became RAAMs first casualty this year – dropping out from exhaustion at TS#10 in Tuba City, Arizona, 571 miles into the race.

In the team races, the overall leaders Team Type I, the defending champs in the 8 person team race, rode 551 miles their first 24 hours. The top four teams all had higher average speeds to Flagstaff than the six person 24 Hour race winners Team Clif Bar headed by Kenny Souza, despite the fact they had the majority of the country ahead of them!

Team Type I has their sights set on the all time all divisions speed record of 24.02 mph set by a four person HPV team in the first ever Team RAAM back in 1989. In the 8 person division, Team Type I had a three hour lead over Team Donate Life - Grace Valley. In the four person team race, defending champs Team Beaver Creek – Catlin had a three hour lead over Team Psycho.

Team Strong Heart Rolls Forward

The morning of day three saw our team surging forward and maintaining our fourth position in the overall standings. The past day or so has been a mixed bag of improvisation, re-tooling former practices (on and off the bike) and getting back to the basics of putting riders out on the road. Our team captain, Bernie Kaeferlein, was sent to the hospital yesterday in Prescott due to some stomach and dehydration issues. With three riders remaining for part of the day, we were put in a position of difficulty and adjustment. Greg Kostik and I worked through one of the time station stages for a total of about 50 miles of steady climbing before flying down into Prescott, AZ to rejoin Bernie and his sub-team partner, Neil Eerdmans.

Riding northeast up through Flagstaff, our team pressed on up into Utah overnight and then finally this morning into Colorado, where we're at up to this moment. A slight oversight left Bernie and I out on a six hour overnight shift, but the burden was well worth the view of the sun rising up over the mountains in south eastern Colorado. Now Greg and Neil are out on the course, continuing the upward ascent towards the base of Wolf Creek Pass and beautiful Durango, Colorado.

The new Team Strong Heart motto: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome

Until next time…

Tim Case, Racer Team Strong Heart

Team Donate Life diary #2

By Jason Weckworth

Hey everyone, I'm right in the middle of my rotation (thanks to 2005 rider Felix Battistella)... 8 on, 4 off, 4 on, 4 off, 4 on, 4 off, 8 on, then 12 off! So far, two of our crew teams (three people each) and two riders have taken off for their 12-hour rests. It has helped tremendously - Danny (veteran of all three TDL RAAMs) says he feels great and is far more rested than ever before.

I, on the other hand, am struggling a bit. With the start of the race and all four of us on the course, I am taking the last rotation off. That will be in another 20 hours. So I had an eight-hour shift all night, then slept four hours like a baby in the follow vehicle.

I took the first big descent heading into Salton City last night just before dusk. Ten miles at 42 mph around tight curves - almost out ran the support vehicles! Then we had the longest transition in RAAM history. Lorenzo wasn't out yet when I came by, so he chased me for two miles until one of our crew vehicles drove up to tell me he was back there! This is great fun with an awesome crew. Everyone is so helpful and kind to each other (let's see how long that lasts!).

Having such a competitive spirit, I wish we were doing a little better in the standings, but that is not nearly as important as our cause. All the riders are giving their best, and that is what counts although I did get into a sprint race with a member of team 412 last night. He passed me with five miles to TS 3, and I didn't like that! So I chased him down, passed him back, and we sprinted to the time station. I won!

Then about a quarter mile later, the crew told me to take a wrong turn and 412 got us back! It was great fun while it lasted, and Kristen was cheering me on from the follow vehicle like we were in the Tour deFrance. Oh well, our own little race during RAAM. By the way, I blew up and paid for that sprint about four hours later (and it was worth it!)

Dave and Chris are both looking extremely good in the climbing sections. We'll send some pictures as soon as Kristen comes back from her 12-hour rest and my phone/internet access is working.

I love this race! It's very, very hard with a lot of suffering, but it's the journey and the people that we do it with that make it so fun. I think everyone should do RAAM at least once.

Results

Men's Solo
 
1 Jure Robic                             1496.8  3.21.45 (15.97mph)
2 Wolfgang Fasching                      1443.5  3.22.29 (15.28mph)
3 Daniel Wyss                            1443.5  4.00.56 (14.89mph)
4 Gerhard Gulewicz                       1401.4  3.23.07 (14.73mph)
5 Attila Kaldy                           1173.1  3.22.57 (12.35mph)
6 Richard Vollebregt                     1173.1  3.23.52 (12.24mph)
7 Fabio Biasiolo - DNF Medical           1101.9  3.05.20 (14.25mph)
8 Jeff Oatley                            1101.9  3.21.35 (11.77mph)
9 Peter Oyler                            1101.9  3.22.19 (11.68mph)
10 Julio Paterlini                       1101.9  4.00.47 (11.39mph)
11 Claudio Clarindo de (Oliviera)        1037.1  3.20.23 (11.23mph)
12 Jean Marc Velez                       1037.1  3.21.37 (11.08mph)
13 John Jurczynski                       1037.1  3.22.49 (10.94mph)
14 Patrick Autissier                     1037.1  3.23.01 (10.91mph)
15 David Jones                           1037.1  3.23.04 (10.91mph)
16 John Spurgeon                         1037.1  3.23.08 (10.90mph)
17 Larry Optis                           1037.1  3.23.58 (10.81mph)
18 Alfiero Tassinari                     977.0  3.20.48 (10.53mph)
19 Jim Rees                              977.0  3.23.11 (10.26mph)
20 Brett Walker                          977.0  3.23.17 (10.25mph)
21 Tom Seabourne                         977.0  3.23.45 (10.20mph)
22 Philip Baker                          931.7  4.00.37 (9.64mph)
23 Walter Blaettler                      815.3  3.04.05 (10.72mph)
24 Lou Lamoureux                         815.3  3.17.23 (9.12mph)
 
Women's Solo
 
1 Kerry White                            931.7  3.22.05 (9.90mph)
2 Caroline van den Bulk                  931.7  4.00.29 (9.66mph)
3 Lauren Fithian                         885.5  3.15.00 (10.18mph)
4 Patty Riddle                           681.6  4.00.44 (7.05mph)
5 Hana Ebertova - DNF Exhaustion         565.1  2.11.15 (9.54mph)
 
Men's Solo - Enduro
 
1 Alessandro Colo                        977.0  3.23.10 (10.27mph)
 
Two Person Male
 
1 Team IWC Schaffhausen                  815.3  1.17.25 (19.69mph)
2 Team BodyXchange / Garden Pathways     815.3  1.17.36 (19.60mph)
3 Team R.A.C.E. / BMO Fountain of Hope   721.0  1.20.05 (16.36mph)
4 Virag / Stoklas Team                   681.6  1.18.30 (16.04mph)
5 Team Donate Life - TexOz (50+)         637.0  1.18.41 (14.92mph)
6 Team Beat Cancer                       637.0  1.19.29 (14.65mph)
7 S.K.R.A.A.M                            488.9  1.17.56 (11.66mph)
8 Team Murphy - DNF Medical              389.9  1.05.38 (13.16mph)
 
Two Person Female
 
1 Team Phoenix                           681.6  1.18.33 (16.02mph)
 
Two Person Mixed
 
1 Team Donate Life - Beauty & the Beast  637.0  1.18.05 (15.14mph)
2 Team Kitten                            488.9  1.18.09 (11.60mph)
 
Two Person Recumbent
 
1 Bacchetta B Team                       771.2  1.18.53 (17.98mph)
2 Team Velokraft                         721.0  1.17.42 (17.29mph)
 
Four Person Male
 
1 Beaver Creek - Catlin Team             931.7  1.19.01 (21.66mph)
2 Team Psycho                            931.7  1.19.49 (21.26mph)
3 Team VMG Cycling                       815.3  1.19.11 (18.88mph)
4 Team Strong Heart                      815.3  1.19.45 (18.64mph)
5 Team Gs - Logistik Austria             815.3  1.20.13 (18.44mph)
6 Team N.U.B.S.                          771.2  1.18.10 (18.29mph)
7 Team Endeavor                          771.2  1.18.13 (18.27mph)
8 Team Sixty Going Hard                  771.2  1.18.43 (18.05mph)
9 Hoosiers                               771.2  1.19.20 (17.80mph)
10 Team Burns & Trauma                   721.0  1.18.05 (17.13mph)
11 Team Donate Life - Race 4 Life        721.0  1.18.32 (16.95mph)
12 Shannon's Soldiers                    721.0  1.18.52 (16.82mph)
13 Team Blazing Saddles                  721.0  1.19.55 (16.42mph)
14 Vencendo Desafios Team Brazil         681.6  1.18.37 (15.99mph)
15 Team 2 Cure Huntingtons Disease       681.6  1.19.56 (15.51mph)
16 Ari's Angels Team                     637.0  1.20.02 (14.47mph)
 
Four Person Female
 
1 Kalyra Women's Race Team               771.2  1.18.52 (17.99mph)
 
Four Person Mixed
 
1 Team JDRF                              771.2  1.20.05 (17.49mph)
 
Corporate Challenge
 
1 Team Type I - monitored by: Freestyle  977.0  1.19.46 (22.32mph)
2 Team Donate Life - Grace Valley        885.5  1.18.58 (20.61mph)
3 Cheniere's Making Cancer History Team  815.3  1.17.20 (19.72mph)
4 Team ViaSat                            815.3  1.17.28 (19.66mph)
5 North Coast Cycling Team               815.3  1.17.37 (19.59mph)
6 Team Donate Life - Primo               771.2  1.18.19 (18.22mph)
7 Team Santa Barbara Bank & Trust        771.2  1.20.03 (17.51mph)
8 Team Donate Life - Heels on Wheels     721.0  1.19.41 (16.51mph)
 
24 Hour Corporate Challenge
 
1 Team Clif Bar                          488.9  0.23.29 (20.82mph)
2 American Specialty Health Riders       488.9  1.01.16 (19.35mph)
3 Swami's TeamSam.com                    488.9  1.01.41 (19.04mph)
4 Denver Paramedic Cycling Team          488.9  1.04.03 (17.43mph)