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

Good Morning - Day 3

05:00 EDT Someplace in Western Kansas

You can call me Rip Vanwinkle - I just awoke from 9 1/2 hours of sleep. We have rearranged the shifts to allow all the riders 12 hours in the motor home. I had slept less than 11 hours in the previous 72 hours which included racing for 48 of them. I saw the fatigue really show through as we worked together to push over the highest point on the RAAM course yesterday afternoon at over 10,200 ft. My legs were just done. I cracked at one point and was riding at less than 6 mph. The altitude probably had some effects too. My HR was extremely depressed which shows that I am fatigued also. This morning I already have some really healthy calories in my system trying to top off my glycogen stores. It should be a fast day. I have ridden 180 miles in the past 2 days and the majoirty of that has been climbing. We are in 4th place right now and the top teams are a time station ahead. The first segment Karla and I are going to ride has teams averaging over 25 mph on it. Gitte up.

Karla is getting so strong - she was riding stronger and longer than me on the mountain climb last night. She is just getting up now too after 9 1/2 hours down. I don't think I will be able to get any photos up until tonight but check back tomorrow and pending air card service while we are moving, we will show off some great action shots.

Need to go get dressed and ready to ride.

Thanks for reading -

NJB

Day 2 - Good Day for the Bokhoven's but Rough Start for some

Karla and I were able to get a solid 4 hours of good sleep last night. We wore our compression tights to sleep and the legs feel really good this morning (I guess it is something like that - I think it was 10:00 pm when we awoke). Anyhow, the afternoon crew yesterday battled fierce side winds out of Flagstaff. It wiped them out - they were shot when we caught up with them on them. One of the riders became ill and cannot handle food at this point. He threw up yesterday on the bike and is down for the count. As I write this, we just went through time station 13 in Cortez, CO. We all worked really hard this morning and worked our way up from 5 to 4th. I wanted another kill but three of us worked hard including a climb where I managed to close the gap from 7 minutes to 3 minutes in 6 miles to overtake a Canadian team. We then raced neck and neck for 30 minutes until we pulled away for good. It is literally freezing out this morning. I am bundled up with everything I have packed. Today is a hard day of mountain climbing. Hopefully the remaining 7 riders can pick up the slack and we can maintain our 4th place position.

A rider exchange just happened so I need to go and load bikes -

Out to the road

NJB

Day 1 - 2nd Update

Quick update - we are headed to the RV for 6 hours of recovery. It will be nice to get some more calories into the system. It is nice and warm but we are staying hydrated and fed with Spiz. Overall, the bodies feel really good. Karla is definitely getting stronger throughout the day. We ended up riding 13 intervals a piece or so. I have never done so many intervals well above 170 bpm. We are holding above a 20 mph average right now and 12 minutes behind 4th place. Some of these teams are incredible.

So for all my Cheetah 10MW friends, I am up to 12 kills (overtaking an opposing rider) during the race. I have not been passed - yes!!! Karla also has several kills.

Down for the count. The last real sleep ended yesterday morning at 6:00 am. The mind is on one thing - moving the bike forward. I am too lazy right now to figure it out.

Need to run.

Day 1

Connectivity is slow here in Arizona but the bugs are being worked out of the crew and riders. Hand offs are not a crisp as they will be in the end but we are safe. We have seen one wreck already that took out a team's spare bike. Not pretty - especially when you fly in from Europe and your RAAM might be over since somebody ran a stop sign and rear ended you. The team average is 21.5 mph but we are climbing up to Prescott. I just finished 6 miles of the 9 mile Yarnel grade with about 1800 ft climbing total.

There are some animals out here racing - some of the 2 man teams are still riding with us well into Arizona

We slept all of about 45 minutes last night. Spirit are high and everyone is full of adrenaline.

A couple of photos

Karla looking rather spry at the start

Karla and Jim leading out --

A major pee break - the ladies had a little problem but the men were not ashamed

The Big Day is Here

So this is how we roll -

This is how Team BMC from Norway rolls - a nice custom Prevost bus with...

With a stable of 8 BMC TT02 bikes outfitted with the latest from Zipp Wheels (with the one exception there in the photo of a 4 spoke) and 8 BMC Pro Machines.

We are relying on the aero helmets of a couple of years ago (not true as I will be wearing a new Spiuk but I could not pass up the photo opportunity) -

One excited couple ready to race. The best part was that Karla was informed yesterday at the check in that Jim Penseyres and her will be leading out the ~170 racers in the 13 mile parade. Very cool.

The fun starts at 2:00 pm PDT.

The Past 6 Months

What a great journey it has been up to this point. We are less than 31 hours away from the start. So to recap what we have done to get to this point, here are some numbers of our training totals since January 1 -

Bike - 3738 miles
Run - 683 miles
Swim - 62.4 miles

All of this in preparation for 7 days of cycling across America.

If you check out the RAAM website, you can follow the soloists as they are already into day 2 of the race. The lead rider is into Utah.

We are off to the bike inspection at 3:00 pm today, followed by pictures and then a mandatory racer meeting. The bikes all have their race wheels mounted, reflective tape applied, and lights attached as required by the 74 page rule book. I plan on enjoying one last good night of sleep in my bed since the next week will be cat naps and 4 1/2 hours a day down in the RV a day. Maybe one last good meal too as we will be switching to a liquid diet on the race?

Tomorrow morning will be spent packing 15 people's luggage and gear into the 3 vehicles and then off to the start line. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

Until tomorrow-

NJB

A couple of photos from the start

A Swiss solo rider - with one arm at the start yesterday. Imagine shifting, braking and balancing a bike minus one arm. Did you read my post the other day about being grateful for your health?I dare you to tie one arm behind your back for your next 20 mile ride, let alone doing over 3000 miles sans one arm. One tough man -

Tough in another regard - there are 2 guys this year competing as a team on fixed gear bikes. This means that there is zero coasting, when the rear wheel is rolling so are the pedals. I had a fixed gear bike and while it was fun tooling around town on it, I cannot imagine riding down the Montezuma Grade on the RAAM course on a fixie. This grade drops 4500 ft in ten miles. It would practically rip your legs off.

A photo from an emotional start line - the first 12 or so miles are a ceremonial parade. The real race start is out in Bonsal. It was fascinating to look into the eyes of these solo riders and see the concentration on their faces. Some you could almost see some fear while others were just eager to go. For the next 9-12 days they are going to be one with their bike - rarely getting off. To boot, they were all well hydrated - some of them stopping 2-3 times in 13 miles to relieve themselves. If you check the RAAM website this morning, you can see there is amazing dual between the returning champion and an Austrian. They are neck and neck out in Arizona - neither stopping for sleep yet and that probably will not happen until tomorrow.

I am getting excited. The body feels amazing. The legs are fresh - I could not believe how well I performed on Saturday. On the hill climb, 1.5 miles with 800 ft of elevation gain, it was no problem to hold over 12 mph average when I used to complete the intervals around 10 mph. T-2 days.

One friend always signs his e-mails "find it" - I can respond now and say "Found it". Let's go -

NJB

The Results Are In

Yesterday we started off our last weekend training ride by meeting at the Bonsall Church for pictures. Then we rode our usual warm up - West Lilac to the 395. We did a timed ride down the hill and then a timed 1.5 mile effort back up the 395 to see how we have improved. Nick finished at 7:10 min. under his 8 minute goal. I finished at 9:51 under my 10 minute goal. Nick improved 1:05 min. and I improved 1:37 min. Next we road back down West Lilac to see how we improved on our flat 8.4 mile TT effort. Nick improved 1:43 min. finishing at 25.2 mph and I improved 2:15 min. finishing at 20.4 mph. Pretty good results for our 16 week training program.

Today was the start for men solo RAAM riders, 24 hour challenge, and solo Race Across the West (i.e. 1st 1,000 of the RAAM course). Nick and I rode up to Oceanside to see the start and ride in the parade. We met several of our teammates. Pete and his wife Joanne, Jim and his wife Diane, and Frank and his wife Leslie rode their tandems. It was a great experience and we now know what to expect on Wednesday. Nick and I joined everyone as we rode the first 13 miles of the course to the start line. We watched the start until Jure Robic started who is going for his 4th RAAM win. Then we proceeded home to fuel up.

Nick is busy preparing for the week by marking our belongings with blue tape, so they don’t get lost. I should close and help. Tonight we are going to go to bed early to gradually work into our changed sleep schedule for the race. It will be an early morning tomorrow. We are going to go to work early and leave early to get a ride in and continue packing.

The Hay is in the Barn

There is nothing to do now but pack our bags, fuel the vehicles and ride a little bit more. Tomorrow is the final day of our training. We will be performing time tests on our climb on Hwy 395 and our TT efforts on Camino Del Rey. From past performances, Pete and Jim report that our team average on tomorrow's TT minus 2/3 mph will be our average in the race. This is where we have spent the past 16 weeks making the hay for this epic Race. The training and the taper is there to help. These last couple of miles are not going to make or break our success. The hope is that we will have trained our bodies to be efficient machines as we power our way to across the United States next week. The 8 riders on our team have been extremely blessed with no injuries or accidents during the course of our training. Often times we forget how fortunate we do have it in life. Just stop and think today how lucky you are if have full mobility in your body. You more than likely know at least one person that is physically challenged. Next time you gripe about getting out for a workout, turn it around and be glad to have your health.

People have been asking if we are ready and what will the weather be like. There are factors we can control like our nutrition and recovery but variables like the weather are just that, variables. The Midwest has been rocked by storms lately. We will probably see thunderstorms, extreme heat, snow when we are going through mountain passes. Mosquitoes will bother us. The sun will beat down on us and the vast darkness of the night sky will swallow us. We will be exhausted, mentally drained, but this is what we have trained for. I am reminded by my close friend and training partner Greg here when he says "Visualize what you want, not what you fear" and "the mind is the most potent drug." The hay is in the barn. We have a task to focus on and a goal to reach. It is getting exciting. Thanks for following along on our journey.

Tomorrow I will post our training gains. I know my hill climb time was 8:15 and my TT was 21:45. My goal is to be below 8:00 on the climb and less than 20:00 on the TT effort. I know I am there - just focus on the things I can control.

Final Group Rotation

Our final group rotation has been deteremined -

Now if I can just get over this cold I came down with on Tuesday...

I pray that this doesn't happen during RAAM

Very scary -

The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez. A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision. Rodriguez said Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey. Authorities said the wreck happened 15 minutes into the 34-kilometer (21 mile) race Sunday along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. Campos said he is an American citizen living in Brownsville. The U.S. Consulate could not immediately confirm that. "We are looking into the incident in terms of whether American citizens were involved,"

Here is our protection during the race -

I love the slow moving vehicle sign - reminds of living in Iowa and hay racks.

T Minus 8 Days

Eight days - that is all the time that remains before we leave the Oceanside pier on our Epic journey. This past Saturday we completed the last of our structured training. Since I am passionate about cooking, you could equate this to making a cake. The first couple of months were all about making the cake. A lot of people want to be fast (the frosting on the cake) but fail to create a base upon which to build their speed. We spent several months preparing our bodies to absorb the specific training here at the end that will hopefully propel us through RAAM. The past couple of weeks we have begun to ice our cakes. It has really been exciting to watch all of the riders increase in strength, endurance and speed. The weekend workout was 6 x 30 minute intervals on our time trial course, Camino del Rey in Bonsall. I found that this workout turned into more of a mental struggle more than anything. If you did not stay focused, my mind would wander, my efforts would dip slightly, and I could come up with all sorts of reasons why I should stop after #4 and #5. Fortunately, having all the team there pulled me through. It ended up being 91 miles in 4 hours and 15 minutes. Each interval average was above 24 mph and they were evenly paced. Karla rode extremely well too holding a 20 mph average for all of her intervals. It also turned out to be a great day to try out Spiz again. We had used this during our shakedown run the week earlier. All I can say is that the stuff is the bomb. It is extremely palatable. You can consume 500 calories quickly with no sweet after taste. It truly lives up to its claims and the plan is to consume over 80% of calories during the ride solely from Spiz. I wish I could find a good way to use in triathlons however I do not like it unless it is cold. It is a dairy based drink (it contains whey protein) so it is not stable in heat like Gatorade or other eletrolyte replacement drinks. Spiz is just in a different class. Sunday we just went out and rode 67 miles enjoying life.

So the rider rotation was also formalized during the Memorial Day weekend. Karla and I have drawn the 6 pm to 12 am EST shift in the motor home. At first thought, I really wanted the 12 am to 6 am shift but I think we will do well with the assigned time. This means that we will be in the rider reserve beds from 12 am - 6 am. We should be able to get another hour or two of rest during this period in the dark. One the flip side, we will not sleep the first day since the motor home will not be able to follow us the first 6 hours. After 5 days of sleep deprevation, we have tried to simplify all the little things. We will always refer to the time in EST. Everyone will set their watches that way, the alarm clocks in RV, the clocks in the vans, etc. Anything to make it simple.

The rest of our weekend was filled with cooking and recovering. I am on a quest to copy Great Harvest Bread's recipes. I think I am close on the honey whole wheat and apple scrapple recipes. Good times.

Enough for now - oh and the training totals for last week

Bike - 390 miles
Run - 15 miles
Swim - nothing

Pete, aka Captain Punishment, had sent out an e-mail and said it was time to lay off the running. He didn't put my name in it but I knew I should focus on biking. I will pick the running and swimming back after RAAM.