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RAAM 2007 - Another perspective
Our race mechanic, John Nicholson from Cycle Works in Byram, NJ has been sharing his experiences of RAAM 2007 on his bike shop's discussion forum. You need to register (free) to read his posts and the forum can be found here:
http://www.cycleworks206.com/forum/ - look under "Water Cooler" // "Share Your Ride Experiences!" // "RAAM Coast to Coast"
John's pictures from the trip can be found on the Cycle Works picture gallery at:
http://www.cycleworks206.com/gallery/main.php
Thanks for sharing your expertise and experiences with us John.
June 19, 2007 - We finished!
With an official finish time of 7 days, 1 hour and 23 minutes, TeamEndeavor Racing presented by Volvo completes the 2007 Race Across America - the world's toughest cycling race. Thanks to everyone that has supported us through this. We had a solid sixth place finish spurred on in part by an overnight rally and chase from Team Hoosiers. The riders recieved flowers and medals for their finish line accomplishement. We learned at the awards ceremony that in the quarter of a century that RAAM has been going on, only 600 of these four-person team finishers medals have ever been handed out - precious metal indeed.
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June 19, 2007 - 4:31PM EDT - Race Update
While Team 1 is out on the course riding to the "last" time station (TS#56 McKee City, NJ), the rest of the crew and riders anxiously await the arrival of Team 1. From here, we have a short ride to a staging area where we will serve our penalties (2 penalties for a total of 45 minutes) and then get a police escort to the finish line. Those of us waiting here got to congratulate "The Austrians" on a strong finish a few hours ago (and start smack-talk for "next time"). Plus, we had the privilege of chatting with "Fuzzy". Time Station #54 in Georgetown, PA was another great place to chat with our friends and family (some new arrivals, some following us from Hanover). Even though there are no guarantees, everyone is really relaxed and mellow with the confidence of a job well done. Can't wait to see (and ride across) the finish line!
June 19, 2007 - 11:51AM EDT - Race Update
Lots of stuff going on during the overnight session. Most important though is that Bob got to climb Sidling Hill just like he wanted to. Congratulations Bob! One of the other four-person male teams made a bid to pass up last night, but we have been able to hold them off so far and keep them at a safe distance. We've just passed our last Time Station in our home state and it was nice to see friends and family come out to cheer us on. Thanks for your support! Two more intermediate Time Stations stand between us and the finish line, so ready or not Atlantic City, here we come!!!
June 18, 2007 - 6:22AM EDT - Race Update
Early Moday morning finds us ticking away the miles through Ohio. We have one more Time Station in Ohio and then it's off to the hills of West Virginia. Everyone - riders and crew - is excited to be on our home turf and we are stepping up our effort even more. There's one hill in PA that everyone is talking about though... Sidling Hill. It's worked out during every training weekend that Bob ended up climbing that hill. It's looking like Bob will be climbing Sidling Hill during the race too and he's very excited about it. As are the rest of us that won't have to ride it.
June 17, 2007 - 10:31PM EDT - Race Update
Illinois and Indiana - Check and check. That leaves Ohio for us next followed by West Virginia some Maryland/West Virginia back and forth crossings, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey... We've got just under 800 miles to go, so that means that we're over 3/4 of the way finished!!!
June 17, 2007 - 11:25AM EDT - Race Update
Missouri is now behind us and we are crusing through Illinois with Team 1 approaching Time Station 37 (Effingham, IL) where Team 2 will take over the next riding shift to the last time station in Illinois (#38 - Marshall, IL). After that, three time stations in Indiana will take us to Time Station #42 in Troy, OH. That'll take us onto our home turf as we've trained on the course from Troy, OH to Georgetown, PA. It's going to be great to go through our local Time Stations and see our friends and families!
One other thing that has been really great is seeing how some of these communities show up to cheer or put something as simple as a welcome sign on their lawn.
June 16, 2007 - 11:16PM EDT - Race Update
What are the chances of a bicycle race route going through a town by the name of Chamois? Let there be known that there is a place called Chamois, MO and RAAM 2007 goes right past it.
In other news, our friend Ted (remember Ted and Lori's excellent adventure? Yes, that Ted) put together some video of the race start in California. Below is link to that video - nicely done Ted, thanks!
(Click to play video or right click and select "Save Link As..." to download)
(6.9MB)
June 16, 2007 - 7:31PM EDT - Race Update
With a litle dust in the wind, Kansas is now in our rearview mirror as we trek our way across Missouri. A little bit of rain, some heat and lots of rolling hills cetainly add to the endurance challenge of an event like this, but Pennsylvania and West Virginia hills are hillier, so we're not out of our element here. We've been making some new friends along the way like Simon and his crew at Time Station 30 and Eric and his crew at Time Station 32. TS 32 fed us well and were great to visit with. We also got to meet a Kansas cousin of one of our PA cycling friends, so that was a nice treat as well. The Mississippi river and Illinois are next.
June 16, 2007 - 1:28PM EDT - Picture Highlights
Tuesday June 12th - (Click on a picture for a larger copy)
Wednesday June 13th - (Click on a picture for a larger copy)
Thurday June 14th - (Click on a picture for a larger copy)
Friday June 15th - (Click on a picture for a larger copy)
June 16, 2007 - 1:28PM EDT - Race Update
Well, we have a little bit of time for a longer update than usual, so here's the scoop about the past couple of days... Most of us had never been to Utah before, but now we can say that we've had the dubious honor of having been in Utah, but we still haven't seen Utah. We hear that Monument Valley is breathtaking, but as far as we know it's a two lane strip of asphault with white and yellow racing stripes that goes as far as your headlights... Every once in a while we'd catch a glimpse of rock formations along the sides of the road, but unfortunately that was it. Sunrise in Montezuma Creek, UT was really beautiful though and it was a nice way to start our ride into Colorado. Colorado was just how we thought it would be - HILLS! Big ones. Big enough to call mountains. There was still plenty of snow on the ground through Wolf Creek Pass (in June?) and if we weren't in the middle of a race, there's a really good chance the RV crew would have stopped, gotten out and had a snow ball battle of mythic proportions
Making our way through Kansas was actually more eventful than we could have ever realised. We
One other thing that deserves mention happened on our way to Time Station #26 (Pratt, KS). We passed through the town of Greensburg. What a sobering and humbling site. Directions to the Fire Department, City Hall and the Hospital are spray painted on the sides of buildings every couple of blocks. Not much left of many of the buildings and the trees were stripped bare. The convenience store was open and the bank had it's time and temperture sign working so those were striking images compared to the lack of anything else. In some ways it looked like a town that was finished, but in so many more ways it looks like a town getting started again. Our best wishes to the citizens of Greensburg as they rebuild their town. Thank you for sharing your loss, your heartbreak and your town with us.
June 15, 2007 - 3:25PM EDT - Race Update
Some more mountains in Colorado scrubbed off some of our speed, but we're in the flatlands now and starting to get back into our groove. Our riders have crossed into Kansas and we should be getting to our first Time Station in Kansas in a little while.
A note about the Current Standings page on RAAM's website. As it is updated, they re-order teams according not only to their last check-in time, but also which Time Station they checked into last. So it's possible for the standings to get tossed around a little bit until every team in that group gets to the same time station.
June 15, 2007 - 1:55AM EDT - Race Update
Some teams are starting to slow down, but starting more conservatively for us is starting to pay dividends as we catch up to other teams, trade places back and forth with others and pass other teams completely. Everyone is adapting to the raceload and getting faster as we go. In fact, TeamEndeavor ranked the highest speed among our close rivals for our arrival at Time Station #18 with an average speed of 26.91mph over a distance of 45 miles. What's turned out to be really funny though is that those of us racing close together have begun to make up nicknames for each other. We call the one team from Austria, what else? Yep, "The Austrians" and they have begun to refer to us as "Ze Volvos." Gotta' love it, no?
We've also completed some race milestones. Our arrival at Time Station #19 (La Veta, CO) puts us beyond the first 1000 miles of the race - which means that we're over 1/3rd of the way to the finish. We also reached the mandatory time station in Cortez, CO well ahead of the cut-off time (and date), so we're continuing to race.
Also, thank you very much for all of your positive thoughts and encouragements!
June 14, 2007 - 8:21PM EDT - Race Update
California? - Check. Arizona, Utah, Colorado? - Check, check and well underway. Shortly after fixing our wireless internet connection, we lost cell phone connectivity shortly afterward. We've made it through Wolf Creek Pass (the Continental Divide and the point of highest elevation on the RAAM 2007 route), and we're making our way across the rest of Colorado. Kansas awaits our arrival from there.
June 13, 2007 - 7:16PM EDT - TeamEndeavor is Back On-Line
Some issues with our wireless connectivity throughout the day kept us off-line, but we're back and hope to have a more substantial update soon. At the moment, we're getting ready to do our next team transition just a few miles from Time Station 9 - Flagstaff, AZ. Two more Time Stations remain in Arizona and then we're off to Utah!
June 13, 2007 - 5:36AM EDT - Race Update
Crew/support vehicles crossed into Arizona just before 5:00AM. Team one is napping and team two is putting in work.
June 13, 2007 - 1:44AM EDT - Race Update
"Wow!" The best way to describe the night sky at our forward support location just East of Time Station 3 (Chiriaco Summit, CA) is exactly that - "Wow!" The stars (the celestial sort, not the celebrity ones) fill the sky more beautifully than any planetarium that man can create. For the crew, it's a hard choice between catching a power nap and gawking at a sky that we don't get to see in Central PA. Team one (Ray, Doug, Mary and Lenore) are out on the road taking care of business and team two (Mike, Bob, George and Regis) are taking care of sleep. At this point, we've gone through Time Station 2 (Salton City, CA) and our riders are on their way to Time Station 3.
June 12, 2007 - 8:35PM EDT - Race Update
Team Endeavor has made it to Time Station 1 at Lake Henshaw and we completed our first team transition at that point as well. All four riders started together and rode the parade route. At that point, Ray took shift one as our first rider to start racing in earnest in RAAM 2007. More updates as we go along.
June 12, 2007 - RAAM 2007 Team Start!
Woohoo! Race day is finally here. The keys to the Volvo SUV's are now in the hands of the team captains so that they can make their final preparations and stock the last supplies for their teams. Everyone looks well rested and ready to roll! The air is cool and the sun is out. A beautiful day to start a race across this amazing country of ours.
We're not sure how many pictures we'll post over the next couple of days until we get into our rhythm, but we'll do what we can to post something in the diary at least once a day and we'll be sure to update our progress page as we get to each time station (well, as long as we have wireless broadband access too). Wish us luck! We'll see all of our fellow racers and crew along the way and in Atlantic City - have a safe race everyone!
Ted and Lori's Excellent Adventure
Question: How does a RAAM team that needs to start on the West coast and go East get their RV from Pennsylvania to California?
Answer: Ted and Lori's Excellent Adventure, that's how. Below is a trip diary from our friends Ted and Lori - yep, they drove the RV from Pennsylvania out to the race start in Oceanside, CA for us. Thanks guys!
Ted & Lori here, reporting from San Diego... Coronado Island to be exact. We arrived here Friday afternoon w/the TeamEndeavor RV. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make regular internet connections en route, so here's a summary of our week across the country:
Day 1 (Sunday June 3): Harrisburg PA to Richmond IN, 475 miles; Smooth sailing all day, with a stop ahead of schedule in New Stanton to pickup Bob's and Regis's gear. We camped Sunday night at a quiet family-owned RV park in Richmond. Lori was impressed w/Ted's skillful handling of the sewage hookups (according to Ted.)
Day 2 (Monday June 4): Richmond IN to Springfield MO, 522 miles; We cruised without incident, but seem to have lost a rear hubcap. Think it happened as we approached the campground in Springfield when Ted had to pull off a country road to allow a monster tractor - piloted by a 12-yr-old - to pass. Very nice KOA campground...but no fewer than 10 freight trains during our brief stay! Admittedly, we slept soundly from 10pm to 4am.
Day 3 (Tues June 5): Springfield MO to Amarillo TX, 575 miles; This day's a blur of the country's mid-section. St. Louis gets Ted's vote for the most chaotic and rough beltway of the trip. Oy! Seeing cattle all day made us hungry for beef so we inquired with some of the locals upon our arrival in Amarillo. The best steak, they said, could be found at Texas Roadhouse (note: Texas Roadhouse is an Indiana-based chain.)
Day 4 (Wed June 6): Amarillo TX to Holbrook AZ 527 miles; We decided to add some mileage to today's plan, so we can enjoy our last two days driving west...but we didn't count on the wind. Most of this day was spent navigating brutal wind storms from the time we hit New Mexico until our arrival in Holbrook. Crosswinds that tossed our 29-footer around like a shoebox were constantly @ 30 mph, with gusts over 55mph. Near Prescott AZ, traffic was slowed by a wildfire on both sides of the highway. Truly scary.
Day 5 (Thur June 7): Holbrook AZ to Las Vegas NV, 406 miles; Ted's fond childhood memories of AZ as a hot, arid place were challenged by the near-freezin' temps to which we awoke. We actually had to use the RV's furnace. Today we took the liberty of a sidetrip to the Grand Canyon then stayed with our friends John & Judy in Vegas! Exhausted, we were pretty boring guests, but they made sure we saw the Vegas Strip and even took us to the Bellagio to experience it's extravagance.
Day 6 (Fri June 8): Vegas to San Diego, 295 miles; After a delightful hot shower we said farewell to our generous hosts (thanks John & Judy!) We made it to Coronado in about 5 hours and met Ray & Chris in front of the Crown City Inn. Had to admit, we were a little sad to turn over the keys after bonding with our giant RV. The bikes and equipment now await the arrival of the team's riders & crew. The bikes will no doubt also appreciate a few hours of TLC from CycleWorx' John Nicholson!
June 11, 2007 - RAAM 2007 Team Inspection Day
It was a busy morning for everyone here on TeamEndeavor. Arriving at RAAM headquarters this morning we headed over to the plaza by the pier for a photo shoot for the riders. Ray, Doug, Mike and Bob were trying to maintain some amount of composure while the rest of us heckled them relentlessly in order to make them smile just a little bit. After that, we headed over to the inspection lot so that RAAM officials could look over our bicycles and vehicles. Two follow vehicles, one RV, eight bicycles, four race jerseys, four helmets, four pairs of cycling shoes and four sets of spare wheels later TeamEndeavor was deemed ready to race in RAAM 2007. Our mechanic John, as well as the rest of the team, received kudos for our thorough preparation. Next up was interview time for the riders, but not for an hour and a half - so they went for a ride while the crew finished up a few other tasks such as getting the oil changed in the RV and doing a final tweak of the bicycles.
Later tonight will be our pre-race meeting followed by the pre-race banquet. The start is less then 24 hours away!
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June 10, 2007 - TeamEndeavor is on-site in Oceanside, CA
Aside from a few TeamEndeavor members that came to California earlier in the week to take care of race business, the rest of TeamEndeavor's members had arrived safe and sound by 9:30PM local time on Saturday night, June 9th. Today - Sunday, June 10th - is the start of RAAM for the solo racers and those participating in the 24-hours of RAAM race (from Oceanside, CA to Flagstaff, AZ). Many teams, including TeamEndeavor went down to the pier to send off today's starters and wish them well. The rest of the day was busy as we made preparations for tomorrow's inspection day. Yep, RAAM Officials will be going over our bicycles and vehicles to make sure that everything is ready to race. So today there were bikes to check, tune-up and check again - the RV needed to be washed and placarded with official RAAM signage (RAAM website stickers, our team number/ID signs, "Oceanside to Atlantic City" banners, etc.) - and lastly, the riders were itching to test ride their bikes to make sure that their trusty steeds had all arrived safe and sound as well. Everything worked out well and we were able to meet up with some of our fellow/competitor team racers at a nice meet-n-greet put on by "Team Donate Life." It was a nice opportunity to meet some of the other teams and hear a presentation on endurace cycling by Dr. Massimo Testa. Well, that's all we have for tonight. Tomorrow looks to be a busy day with photo-shoots, inspections, interviews and the official RAAM pre-race meeting and banquet.
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TeamEndeavor News Story on WHP-CBS 21
June 4th, 2007. Local television station WHP-CBS 21 broadcast a nice story about TeamEndeavor featuring our riders Ray Peske and Mike Ridgeway. Click Here to read the article and see a link to the original broadcast.
TeamEndeavor rider goes back to Elementary school?
TeamEndeavor members Doug and Lenore Palen recently did a presentation at their nephew's school for a group of seventeen second graders in Bethlehem PA. Below is Lenore's account of their visit:
The kids were awesome. Doug rode his bike into the classroom surrounded by "ooohs" and "aaahs" and "wows." I handed out plastic clappers and the kids cheered him into the room. They were captivated by the bicycle. Doug asked the kids what was different about his bike from their bikes. They noticed things like the tires, the lights, the handlebars, the lack of a kickstand, the gears, the brakes, and the TWO water bottles. Doug spent a lot of time talking about the safety features as well as the functionality of the different parts for the bike and explained why those things were important when we are racing across the country. When Doug talked about the possibility of flat tires, he showed the kids how easy it is to take off the front tire to change the flat. The kids couldn't have been more amazed if had taken off his own leg. They were almost as amazed later when he showed them that he can store a snack in his jersey pocket. You would have thought he pulled a dinosaur, not an energy bar, from his back packet.
Doug showed the kids a map and drew out a rough idea of the route. The kids were blown away by the distance. Even though we got the impression that it is hard for second graders to truly grasp how big it is, the map definately impressed them. Doug talked about the different features of the country we'd be riding through. Desert, mountains, plains, more mountains, and home.
We talked about the necessity of being safe, wearing helmets, and making sure the riders are eating and drinking enough. We talked about why we are doing this race. How we are raising money for an organization who helps a lot of people fight a very bad disease and how that makes the race even bigger. We talked about dreams and goals. We talked about how nothing is impossible, even when everyone around us tells us that it is.
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May 18/19/20 Training Report
Greetings to all.
What an AWESOME ride!!
Racers and Crew in attendance were: Ray, Bob, Doug, Mike, Regis, Lenore, George, Mary, Frank, Rohrer and myself.
Things didn't go exactly as planned but no worries. Everything worked out because we have four awesome riders and a great crew. We rented an RV for this training ride, the same one that we will be using during RAAM, so it was a great opportunity for us to get familiar with it. With the exception of Bob and Regis, which we picked up in Greensburg, we all met in Lancaster for departure to our starting point, Troy, OH. Getting a bit of a late start we arrived in Troy, OH Saturday morning around 7 or so. First out at 7:45 a.m. was Bob and Mike. However, to keep on our RAAM riding rotation we gave Mike and Bob a bit of a teaser rotation by only letting them out there for about an hour and 15 minutes and boy did I hear it.
Of course, RAAM decided to make some changes to some of the exchange/transition rules right after our last training session so we had to implement the new changes. Luckily we were doing our transitions pretty close to the new rule so it wasn't too difficult for us to grasp.
To get a feel for how RAAM is going to be we drove out to Troy, OH Friday night to pick up the RAAM route. We headed east through Ohio into West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, where we completed training for the weekend at TS 54 in Georgetown, PA. The guys must have been really anxious to get climbing because they all simply flew through Ohio. Things slowed up just a tad once we hit the mountains but not too much. These guys were really on fire this weekend. Here are the results:
Total Miles - 597.9
Total Ride Time - 31 hours 7 minutes
Average Speed - 19.2 mph
I would like to extend a big thank you to Frank who whipped up some delicious meals during the weekend for the riders and crew.
The team has really come together over the past several months. Everyone should be very proud of their accomplishments as I am.
You guys rock!!! Oceanside, CA here we come!!!! Start time is in 20 days 5 hours.
Chris
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April 21/22 Training Report
Racers and Crew in attendance this month were: Ray, Doug P., Bob, Mike, Doug L., Lenore, Mary, Regis, George, Frank and myself.
The weather for this month's training was absolutely beautiful aside from the much cooler temps during the night time hours. We worked on transitions within the individual vehicles along with transitions between the two. We came into a deal with a friend of Doug Levy's and were able to use his RV for the weekend. This was a great experience to see how things will actually work during RAAM. We still have things to work out but all in all it was a great learning experience.
The training route used for this training was the PA Bicycle S Route. The route was traveled westbound across the state of Pennsylvania to the Pennsylvania/West Virginia border then eastbound back across the state to where the riders started from at Washington Crossing. During the training the riders and crew worked in four hour shifts. While Volvo 1 was out on the road the riders and crew were in the RV eating or resting and vice versa. The riders decided that it woud be cool to ride in the last 32 miles together and show off their awesome team jerseys. The route encompassed a lot of climbing which the guys handled extremely well. I am sure that we can expect great things from them during RAAM.
At the end of the route we were greeted by Doug L.'s daughter and grandson and then invited back to Doug's house for dinner. Many thanks to Doug and his family for their hospitality.
Unfortunately not all rider times and mileage were written down this time around so with the information I did have I estimated and calculated the team stats for the weekend and are as follows:
46 hours 25 minutes
approximately 800 miles
17.2 avg
Thank you to all for coming out this past weekend and for making this training ride such a success and a lot of fun! Our final training ride before RAAM will be held all day Friday, May 18 through Sunday, May 20. I look forward to seeing everyone there!
Take care and thanks for reading.
Crew Chief Chris
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March 31/April 1 Training Report
Riders and Crew in attendance were: Ray, Doug P., Bob, Doug L., Regis, Lenore, Mari, Rohrer, Frank and myself.
Volvo 1 - Ray, Doug, Lenore and Mari
Volvo 2 - Bob, Doug L., Regis and Rohrer
Comand Center - Chris and Frank
Weather conditions were more accomodating this month, however the guys were still wearing winter gear for most of the training session. They did manage to get out for a rotation or two in just shorts and a jersey. It was just nice that there was no ice/snow to contend with. This time around the focus was on team transitions. Since we have the four racers split into two teams we needed to practice how to transition the two teams. After a few transitions I believe that the riders and crew have it down. It gets a little tricky as only one support vehicle can be in motion at a time during the one mile exchange zone. However, all in all I think that everyone did a great job and we still have two more training sessions to iron things out.
Training was held in Lancaster County again using Mike's Dream Ride Routes. We didn't have a RV to use during training so we got a hotel room which was used as our Central Comand Center. Ray and I headed to Marietta Friday evening to get situated and wait for the others to arrive. Training started with Volvo 1 (Ray and Doug P.) at 4 a.m. Saturday morning for their first four hour shift while Volvo 2 rider and crew (Bob, Regis and Rohrer) slept. (Doug L. arrived early Saturday morning since his commute wasn't quite as far as Bob's.) With about one hour left in a rotation, communication was made between myself and the navigator to establish a safe place to do a team exchange. At that I time I woke the sleeping riders and got them on their way to the designated exchange area. Frank was in and out due to work issues but once that was taken care of we took his car to simulate where the RV would be parked in coralation to where the team would do their exchange.
Here are the stats for the training ride:
Overall Team Results:
30 hours 7 minutes
563.7 miles
18.8 avg
Volvo 1:
15 hours 13 minutes
273.3 miles
18 avg
Volvo 2:
14 hours 54 minutes
290.4 miles
19.5 avg
Individual Totals
Ray = 133.5 miles; 7 hrs 33 min; 17.7 avg
Doug P = 139.8 miles; 7 hrs 40 min; 18.2 avg
Bob = 150.7 miles; 7 hrs 40 min; 19.7 avg
Doug L = 139.7 miles; 7 hrs 14 min; 19.3 avg
Thanks to everyone for coming out to make this a great training weekend. Our next training weekend is on April 21 & 22. I look forward to seeing you then.
Take Care,
Crew Chief Chris
(Click on a picture for a larger copy)
(Click to play video or right click and select "Save Link As..." to download)
(6.9MB)
Feb 24/25 Training Report
Thank you for coming out for this past weekend's training ride. It was nice to finally meet some of you. I have been hearing the names for awhile so it was nice to put a face with the name.
Our original plan for the weekend was to hit the road after a 9:30 a.m. pre-ride meeting, Saturday, February 24 and ride through to the afternoon, Sunday, February 25 with four hours of riding followed by four hours of down time. Weather conditions: 30 degrees with sunny skies and winds from the NW at 10 mph. Temps remained in the low to mid 30's all day. Road conditions were interesting for our first rotation out as some of them were iced across the entire roadway. Being that this was TeamEndeavor's first team training with all riders present they were split into two teams, as they will be during RAAM. However, unlike how RAAM will be run, the two teams rode together simultaniously and then spent the downtime together as well. During the down time we discussed how and what each team did. Our main focus for this training session was to practice rider transition within each team setting. Volvo 1 (Ray and Doug P.) practiced rolling exchanges where Volvo 2 (Bob, Mike and Doug L.) worked on stationary changes. Unfortunately due to bad weather due to hit on Sunday morning we decided to cut training short and we all headed home around 3 a.m. on Sunday. During our time together we did a ride rotation from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. followed by three and half hours of down time. Then back out on the road from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. followed by two and a half hours of down time. At 12:30 a.m. we did our final ride rotation for two hours.
On the whole, I believe that we all got a good feel for what we set out to do by getting out there with each other, practicing rider exchanges and rotations along with crewing aspects. Being that we are only in February the riders did and excellent job with their times/speeds, as you can see below. The crew also did an awesome with transitioning the riders. Basically all transitions were completed in under a minute. A great job done by all.
Overall Team Results:
Cummulative Miles = 289.04 miles
Total Time = 17 hrs 20 min
Average Speed = 17.2 mph
Volvo 1:
Cummulative Miles = 140.84 miles
Total Time = 8 hrs 28 min
Average Speed = 17.0 mph
Volvo 2:
Cummulative Miles = 148.2 miles
Total Time = 8 hrs 52 min
Average Speed = 17.4 mph
Individual Totals
Ray = 74.9 miles; 4 hrs 13 min; 17.7 avg
Doug P = 66.4 miles; 3 hrs 54 min; 17.0 avg
Bob = 72.8 miles; 3 hrs 56 min; 18.5 avg
Mike = 50.1 miles; 2 hrs 36 min; 19.2 avg
Doug L = 32 miles; 2 hrs; 16.0 avg
The numbers look really good. According to the mileage put in, had we been on the actual RAAM course (from last year) we could have made it to Hope, AZ. Last year's winning time for the 4-man team was 5 days 16 hrs 1 min with a 22.37 mph avg. Second place came in at 6 days 13 hrs 6 min; 19.37 mph avg. Third place came in at 6 days 23 hrs 40 min; 18.15 mph avg. So as you can see, even though we only put in 17 hrs of training time together we are off to a great start.
Our next team training will be March 31/April 1. More details to follow so stay tuned.
Keep up the great work.
Chris
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