Race Wrap Up

We are finishing up 3 days of visiting friends in San Antonio today. I think I have put on a solid 5 pounds since the race enjoying all the good food and a couple of Shiner Bock's since then. So I thought I would post a summary of my total miles, sleep, nutrition, and pacing for those that are interested.

For the race I rode 539 miles in 23 hr and 45 minutes for a 22.69 mph average. This included a lot of climbing - we did not adhere to a strict a rider rotation but played to people's strengths. I really enjoyed climbing Yarnell Grade, the hills out of Prescott and up to Flagstaff, helping the team get over the highest point on the course in CO @ over 10,200 ft, and the mean 1000 ft climbs in West Virginia and Maryland. To offset the slow speed climbing, we had a great day in Kansas with side winds that helped increase my average.

Sleeping -

Wednesday night - less than an hour

Thursday night - 4 1/2 hours

Friday night - 9 1/2 hours

Saturday night - 5 hours

Sunday night - 5 hours

Monday night - 1 1/2 hours

The sleep was mediocre. We would sleep in the motor home above the driver. It was always moving (something to consider in future adventures) which made it tough at times. We used Tylenol PM and ear plugs to help make sure we were out. Rest played a really big deal in our performance in the race. Everyone except us had extreme difficulties sleeping until Karla became the local drug dealer dishing out the pain reliever/sleep aid. I personally think that the motor home is the best approach but you need to keep it off the road as much as possible (ie - take the most expeditious highway route instead of following the race course). On Thursday afternoon I took a nap here in San Antonio. Karla woke me up and I guess I jabbering that we needed to get in the rider rotation and was still programmed on RAAM. Rather humorous I thought.

Nutrition - I basically survived off of Spiz, peanut butter, honey, fig newtons, yogurt and fruit. I did have one turkey sandwich in there and I cannot forget about my free McDonald's chicken sandwich. After any major duration on the road (8-10 miles or 25+ minutes), I would make sure to drink a minimum of a 1/2 a bottle of Spiz to aid recovery. I also used Gookinaid, a powdered drink mix, for electrolyte replacement. I kept a food journal my first 3 days and estimate that I was consuming approximately 5500-6000 calories per day. My weight remained constant on the trip (afterwards it jumped as I have enjoyed some of the finer things in life - ie cookies and brownies and bread from Great Harvest Bread). Everything worked extremely well up to the last two days. The last two days I was plagued with heartburn and a lot of acid in my stomach. I used soda crackers and some milk to try and help offset this which did help. I contribute a portion of this to the liquid diet and the lack of fresh vegetables in my diet. All in all, I think it proved to be an effective approach and I would repeat this on future crossings and endurance races.

Joanne Penseyres told me after the race that 3 of my teammates talked to her in the first 3 days of the race and expressed concern that I was going to blow up. Well, I did blow up sort of on the climb over the highest point on the course at 10,200 feet. The sleep deprivation and miles caught up with me. It was the end of the 2nd full day at that point and I had 180 miles in 2 days that was all climbing. I was telling my legs to go round but they just did not have the power. Fortunately it was our time to go to the motor home at the top of the climb so I did not have to try and go further on little sleep and dead legs. My body told me that I needed rest and hence the reason it absorbed 9 1/2 hours of sleep that night. I do not have a power meter and so I base my output on HR and perceived effort. I was extremely well rested coming into the race with very little residual fatigue left in my body from training. My HR was therefore very responsive. The first two days I saw sustained efforts on almost all my rides above 170 bpm. The max HR I saw on the ride was 189 bpm (my max HR on the bike is 193 bpm). By day 3, I started to see my HR drop despite a consistent PE. Through Kansas, I used a pacing approach similar to one I would use racing an Olympic and 1/2 Ironman triathlon. For the shorter pulls (10 miles or less), I would try to keep my HR below 170 (Olympic pacing) and for some of the longer pulls I would try and hold below 160 bpm, or my 1/2 Ironman pacing. This seemed to work very good. I was still able to get my HR up on the climbs all the way to Annapolis but did notice that my flat land HR dropped close to 20 bpm during the trip. I don't feel that I saw a noticeable drop in my performance over the course of the race. Karla and I still rode in the pull between 25-28 mph working pretty hard.

We had a great time on the trip and have already talked about doing it again. We will see if North Coast supports a team next year or if there is an opportunity to join another group and make a run for the top 3 places. I am also going to look at doing either the Furnace Creek 508 or the Hoodoo 500. I don't ever see myself doing solo RAAM but I am definitely interested in pushing the envelope with such a bike race in the 500 mile range.

Look for a post from Karla similar to this outlining her experience. I will also post a Plus/Delta of the race approach for anyone considering doing this in the future. There are so many lessons learned that are worth sharing.

Now it is time to head home and prepare for 3 triathlons this fall - Santa Barbara in August, Big Kahuna in September, and Pumpkinman in October. I will continue posting here with training updates.

Off to catch our plane ride back to SD - Take care.

NJB

Pictures

6 Days 3 Hr 48 minutes

6 Days 3 Hr 48 minutes

We had a solid race. A lot of lessons were learned and I think everyone learned something new about there ability to perform under stress and push their limits to new levels. We were unable to close the gap on Team 607 - it turned out to be time lost durinig navigation that caused us to lose more time than the difference between us. It goes to show that there is more to a victory in this sport than pure physical performance. Your crew is just as important - and don't get me wrong, our crew was awesome. We simply missed a couple of turns and that was the story.

Here we are at the finish line -

We are enjoying the day recovering here in Annapolis. We will follow up with a whole bunch more details on the finish.

Thanks for checking in.

Within 24 Hours

This is going to be real short.



For those that have been following our story the past week know that we have battling a team 607 from Toronto. We have traded the 4th place with them a couple of times. I was afraid they drove the nail into our coffin yesterday when they surged ahead. Instead, this morning they had slid and we were only down 56 minutes. We had the lead cut down to the high 40 minute range until we screwed up twice, lost the course, could not read a map and lost close to 30 minutes. It was demoralizing. Earlier in the day we had been scheming about a comeback plan. That talk dissipated in the talk of finding the course again. This afternoon we had great winds. Karla and Dave had pulls averaging over 21 mph. I managed to go 14 miles in the hills over 24 mph average. I finished the day with a 21 mile pull again at nearly 25 mph. To put it nicely, we kicked butt and averaged nearly 3 mph faster than team 607 between our last time stations. Our hearts are back in the race. Pete reminded us that the race starts at the Mississippi. Pretty crazy - a 3000 mile race and the beginning of the "race" should really begin at mile 2000. We should finish at or before 7:00 pm tomorrow night. We are going to throw everybody at it tomorrow. It should be interesting to see what people's legs can do with so much accumulated fatigue in them. We are thinking 607 is cracking and they were really demoralized the last time we passed them.



Game is on - I need to get to bed for a 4 hour nap. I am headed out at midnight to help with the mountain climbs in West Virginia.



Karla is getting so strong and I am so proud of her. She is an animal on the bike - the girls in SD better watch out when she comes back and races the duathlons.



Off to bed. The 2 Tylenol PM are kicking in.



If I don't post tomorrow night by 8:30 EDT, check the RAAM website for the outcome.

NJB

End of Day 4 - "Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore"

Tonight we are currently driving through Saint Louis and then off racing through Illinois and Indiana. The team should be in Effingham IL when we awake tomorrow morning. It appears at the moment that we are going to be spared the heavy weather that is hammering the Midwest. I think I actually enjoyed this morning's riding the most so far of any of the days. The hills of Missouri around the Lake of the Ozarks are really nice. It was not too hard to hold a 23 mph average even with all the hills. This afternoon we went past the capital of Missouri and then followed the Missouri river on nearly flat ground. Pete and I averaged over 27 mph and Karla was pushing 23 mph. The heat and humidity made for good times too. Unlike yesterday with the dry winds of the Kansas plains, today we were blessed with 90 degree temperatures and high humidity. It was good to feel your toes be wet with sweat at the end of a ride.

Unfortunately, team 607 who we have been racing neck and neck with has pulled away today and it looks like we are not going to be able to close the gap. The only hope is that we can regain 2 hours of time in the mountains but with less than 1000 miles remaining in the race, we have our work cut out for us. Given the pace we are holding, we should arrive before sunset in Annapolis on Tuesday night. That will be really nice so we have a full day to recover before the trip to San Antonio/Austin and finally back to SD.

We started to overtake the solo riders that started on the Sunday before the team race. I often think about these warriors for a lack of a better term while riding. I cannot fathom riding the entire race course by yourself. The amount of fatigue plaguing these people is unreal. Pete and I were talking in the van while passing some of the riders. I asked Pete about his experiences at this stage. He said all you can usually muster is a maximum of 18 mph on the flats and the race comes down to who can process the calories and oxidize fat the best. It really does not matter how “fast” you are (40K time trial, etc.) but instead depends on your mental strength and how efficient your body can absorb calories on the bike. This is why Pete and Jim began using the liquid diet exclusively during RAAM and still use a lot of the same principles today.

Enough for now – here are some photos from the day.

This is Jim - the fact that he lost part of his leg many years ago does not slow him down. He has competed in solo RAAM several times. Amazing.

Our rides - a rented RV and a loaned 4-Runner. We are truly trying to make a difference for our charity.

Our competition's ride - team 607 from Toronto. Not sure how much money they raised actually went to charity.

Karla and I ready to go out this morning at 5:30 am -

Climbing outside of the Lake of the Ozarks -

Karla at the end of the day

I guess in Marthasville, Mo it is a big deal for the riders to come through town. This young lady was collecting signatures from all the riders.

Day 4 - Reporting Live From Kansas

For the 2nd day we are in Kansas - man this is a long state. The weather is nice for the Midwest - the humidity is not too bad this morning. I have been checking the weather and it looks like we might be in for a pounding by some thunderstorms later today. I have never ridden in significant rain let alone lightning and hail. I figure I am grounded by my rubber tires on the bike so don't worry Mom, I should be safe. Our guys are working they way through this monotonous landscape. Unfortunately, as a team we are slipping behind team 607. At the last time station, we are done over 25 minutes. I am not sure what they have done but they have put made up an hour on us in the past 24 hours. This was done with 7 riders as they lost one guy in a bad mountain crash with a seperated shoulder. Maybe they found a new strategy or switched their rider rotation? Who knows. We will have our work cut out for us when we start in 2 1/2 hours.

Thanks for all the comments and words of encouragement. Karla and I are really grateful to have everyone cheering us on. Also a big congratulations to Joe Beeson and his 4 man team for completing the Race Across the West. Only 3 more days probably of riding - if we hold this pace we should be to Annapolis on Tuesday night. My butt will be happy to be off the saddle.

Day ??? and Wind from Every Which Way

Ok - so we have lost track of all sense of time and date. I am writing this from the parking lot of the McDonald's in Pratt KS. This is a time station in which the local McDonald's owner supports. He provides all the food and drink the riders and crew choose to eat. I chose to go lite and have a grilled chicken sandwich sans mayo and splurged with a ice cream cone and iced coffee and finished the evening off with a bunch of cherries in the motor home. I am learning that this race is all about sleep and recovery. I need to get down soon and get a solid 8 hours of sleep. I am living otherwise off Spiz during my time in the rider rotation. It is great for recovery and I can tell my performance really suffers if I don't watch my calorie replacement. They have a bunch of junk in the van like Diet Coke, cookies, and other sweets. I can tell my performance suffers when I snitched some cookies. They are off the list until we are done. The team made a change and it is pretty much mandatory that we all spend 12 hours now a day in the motor home resting. I was resistant at first last night but after sleeping 9 1/2 hours and the performance today made me a believer. Karla and I awoke with the night crew turning over the riding to us in New Mexico (I think I incorrectly posted Kansas this morning). The first half of the morning had a slight tail wind. To help things out, there was a drop in elevation. We had great times. I stole Pete's disk while he was asleep - this is definitely the fastest set up out there. I managed to hold over a 25 mph average on my pulls all day even with a 25+ mph direct side wind. The best ride was a little over 12 miles and averaging 30 mph. Karla helped out and held a consistent 21-22 mph average. The winds turned out to be brutal by the end of the day. It was nice to be out the mountains for a change of pace. Tomorrow we head to Missouri. I know there are reroutes due to the flooding. We are half done with the race - hopefully we are able to hold our pace and can finish in a little over 6 days. The time is going by too fast. I want to do it again.

3 Day total of riding - 290 miles/13:20 and countless feet of climbing

More pictures in the morning but here are few for tonight -

Morning sunrise in New Mexico/Oklahoma/Kansas (it is so flat that I think you can see over all three states) with Karla on the road

Dimples - 30 mph average for my pull

In action - Thanks Pete for the disk

Embarrassed but happy to indulge in some good/bad food from the Big M Supper Club