What this is all about -

You may ask why are we signed up and trained for such a race. For our team, RAAM is not just a Race Across AMerica, it is a race to better our community. Our charity is North Coast Community Service (NCCS), which teams with 11 nonprofit organizations in San Diego County to make a difference in people’s lives. In the past 12 months, 5,500 NCCS volunteers have completed over 450 unique service projects. There is a broad spectrum of support which include the following: feeding and providing shelter for the homeless, assistance to a drug and alcohol recovery program, a home for people disabled by HIV/AIDS, support of military families by providing: financial support, home improvements, baby supplies, childcare, and counseling, outreach to nursing home residences, help to pregnant teenagers and adult women, help for homeless kids, and non-profit resale for foster children. This is just a short summary of the help provided by the organization we are raising money to support. If you feel compelled to join us on our journey and support making a difference in this world, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to our team. Please follow this link Support NCCS RAAM 2008.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

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


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