Rogerinchrist

Race Across AMerica home page

Are you ready? Do you have a favorite solo or team?

Personally, I'll be watching Dave Haase again as well as team Donate Life (Eric Heiden) & Team Wisconsin.

Last year I really enjoyed the RAAM/Insight website with all the time stations with the rider speeds.

NZLcyclist

RAAM is a long term goal of mine. I am in awe of the event!

Brendon

Guest

Looking forward to it. And I'm sure they'll be showing the highlights of it in March 2006 on tv again!

Koffee

cyclwestks

I think it's gonna be a tough race. It's kind of like the TDF, anything can happen out there. Although Robic's back & in great shape, so's Trevino & a few others.

I'll especially be keeping an eye on the youngster, Benjamin Courturier, I think he's a great addition to the race.

They cross about an hour from me, might have to go take some of it in; see how the big boy's enjoy the Kansas winds.

pinky

I work with the publicist. The team stuff seems feasible, the solo stuff seems a little too insane for my tastes, something about supporting one's head with a bungy cord kills what little enticement the event has for me.
It'll be cool to see Tinker Juarez in 2006 but honestly I really don't intend to be watching.

Guest

Does the publicist know when (or even if) it will be shown on television?

Koffee

Devil

I like this race. It's brutal as hell.

Richard Cranium

As near as I can tell the smart money is on Jure Robic to repeat his win in 2005.

Trevino, get's little attention and Baloh is somehow almost written off......

It's a long race, but barring acts-of-God and rookie-crew mistakes, Chris MacDonald from Denmark/USA will stun the Ultra-cycling world by winning with a late come from behind charge.

As for the Ben, the young Alaskan, most likely DNF, you have to ride a lot before you can do RAAM. He and his coach seem to think - that working out and getting in shape is all he needs. Sorry, "no miles in the bank" = no finish.......

teamawe

Just gonna plug my local club team, Kernwheelmen. They were the former record holders only to lose that distinction last year to Team Actions Sports, which is also from here. So....GO US!

Guest

NASA is going to be doing a show on RAAM on their channel. From what I gathered from the commercial, one of their own is doing the race, so they are doing a show about him.

Koffee

BradM

I live in SD so I plan on going to the start. Should be a lot of fun! Anybody been to the start before?

Guest

I would love to see them barrelling through VA.

Koffee

froody

I am psyched. Never heard of RAAM until the NBC special last year. I considered going to the start, but it's 200 miles, and straight through LA. Looks like I've got my dad convinced to go check out the finish though. :-)
I'll be rooting for Trevino. That whole cheating-allegation thing last year didn't seem fair to him. Sounds like Robic is even stronger than last year, though. Wait and see. I'd love to see Haase finish as well. Seems like he could've last year if he had paced himself more.

Tim

Rogerinchrist

After talking with his team last year I learned that Dave was the only solo rider without a MD on his crew. I guess the only way to fight the dehydration is with interveinus fluids, hence the need for a Dr. Spoke with Dave last Monday morning, he & another were driving out Tuesday, and the rest of the crew were flying out today (Friday).

BradM, If you go can you post some pics here?

And what about Rob Kish, 20 RAAMs! No offence to those that cherish Mr. Armstrong, but Mr. Kish is a real cycling hero!

cyclwestks

I took a couple days vacation, & am helping run a time station in my area. Really looking forward to it.

froody

Interesting. So is an IV really required, or can you do it just by drinking exactly enough? I hear Robic had a ridiculously low number of hours off-bike. Too few for an IV, I'd think. I suppose you could be on an IV while sleeping. Does Dave have an MD this year?

Gotta agree with that. I find Kish less exciting though, mostly because he's already done so many.

Tim

gcasillo

Here's to a swift and safe ride for all the participants. You people rock!

froody

Look at 'em go! (At least online:
https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/rac...t=RacePosition )
Fun fact, if the 24-hour challenge people were ranked in the solo category, their rank would be #1, #5, #6, #9, #11. Crazy to think that 4 soloists are beating out all but one of the 24-hour teams.
Looks like Kish had a rough time so far. Let's hope he fights back.

Tim

Richard Cranium

Ah, hah,

No, I doubt Kish is having a "tough-time" yet. Most likely being interviewed by TV/media folks -while on the bike.

No, I doubt MDs or Ivs are a requirement for "most RAAM riders."

No racing, of real effort has begun. I suspect some riders to start "really working" after TS2.

If Trevino is still in contention at the Mississippi -- I'l be surprised, he's admitted that he hasn't trained as well as he could have for RAAM - I get the idea, this is a grudge race for Mike.

froody

Looks like you're right. Kish is doing 15mph which is slow compared to the leaders, but it's a long race.
I wonder what happened to Colo, though. Still hasn't made it to TS 2.
Is anybody else spending their Sunday clicking reload on the RAAM pages? :-)

Tim

Devil

Haha, I am. Does anyone know if this will be on television?

cyclwestks

NBC is supposed to broadcast it this Winter. Be nice to get a little live coverage.

froody

Yeah, or even a TV station dedicated to it.
I guess Colo was never in trouble, just some glitch prevented his TS 2 to make it to the web page. The top 2 teams also have a solid lead on Robic now. I wonder what happened to Haase. He was with the leaders at TS 1, but slowed down a lot to TS 2. Robic just amazes me. I don't know how fast he went last year, but 20mph for 160+ miles strikes me as pretty incredible. I was happy to average 18.5mph on my flat ride today.

Tim

Tim

Rogerinchrist

The team members that I talked with last fall said that they had a Dr. willing to be on the crew. By checking his crew from his website, I learned that he has a nursing student & a nuclear med. tech. onboard. As for an IV being a requirement, they seemed to think so. The body just can't replentish the extremely deep dehydration that these folks are subject to.


Here's the coolest link to follow the race by.

Wheel Doctor

Yea, I know that this is the Road Racing section, however, look at the times for last years team ALS/Lightening. They were riding recumbents. This year there are two teams riding recumbents. Team VeloKraft riding carbon fiber LowRacers and Team ALS/Bacchetta riding titainum HighRacers.

https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/fil...iders/ts48.htm