RAAM 2010

[pdm]

I see RAAM 2010 is on the go again.... Jure Robic is again flying ahead on the arms of a tailwind doing an incredible average speed of almost 17mph over 2.5 days!

Saw this description of location of the Congress, AZ time station as well:

37 miles Southwest of Nowhere, AZ

39 miles Southeast of Nothing, AZ

89 miles East of Somewhere, AZ and

67 miles Beyond Hope, AZ!

 

[andrew_s]

The Tour Divide is on at present too (MTB race from Banff to the Mexican border).
5 time winner Matt Lee is leading:  458 miles down, 2287 miles to go

Leading Brit is Heather Dawe from Otley, @ 348 miles (on singlespeed)

[vorsprung]

Looks like the RAAM hit some poor weather in Colorado the other day, there was hail and all sorts

Only one solo rider has packed so far though so it can't have been that bad

[Salvatore]

There's a close tussle for 3/4 place in the Men's solo 50-59 category. Rick Carpenter (USA) and Paul Carpenter (UK) always seem to arrive at time stations within 10 minutes of each other, although of course there's a awfully long way to go, and they are only a couple of hours behind 2nd placed Gregor Komescher (GER). It looks from the pictures on his team's blog as if Rick has started to suffer from Shermer's neck. Even without that it sounds grim:

The climb was challenging but the descent was much harder on Rick than the climb. Imagine the temps in the 30s and 40s with a wind chill of 40 miles per hour. So while Rick rode the climb up the mountain without stopping, on the descent we had to stop multiple times to try to warm him up. After the main descent was finished and we cleared the time station we looked forward to a 50 mile gentle downhill run to Alomosa, CO.

Gentle HA!!! Nothing in RAAM is gentle. Rick endured several hours of trying to wake up his body.  He was riding in a fog.   We stopped constantly to make equipement adjustments. It was painful. Basically Rick’s body wants a break and he won’t give in, but he can’t really get moving either. So he battled.

[Karla]

Rick sounds better now (at least the latest blog post is more cheerful). 

Take  look at "Neck support device 1.0"

[Salvatore]

Neck Support Device 2.0 aka The Neck Bra





See REX RAAM

[MattH]

See - helmets really are bad your health!   

[Nuncio]

I've just been to the site and seen that Steve Redgrave is taking part in an 8-man team.  I hadn't seen anything about this before.  Go Sir Steve!

[simonp]

I've just been to the site and seen that Steve Redgrave is taking part in an 8-man team.  I hadn't seen anything about this before.  Go Sir Steve!

I've been following 'em on Twitter for a while.

Bad news from another team, though, a rider was hit by a car when the driver became distracted and veered onto the shoulder (the report that the rider was in the left shoulder is inaccurate)

Racing Across America bicyclist critically injured when struck by car | Featured Story | Wichita Eagle

Hope he makes a full recovery... sounds bad.

[clarion]

Oh that's awful.  I'd thought it had been a support car with an overtired driver.

[Karla]

Rick Carpenter advertises AUK to RAAM, using the special powers of his LEL jersey to fend off the LEL-alike weather.

[Salvatore]

live stream of Jure Robic finishing RAAM

jurerobic on Justin.tv

[Salvatore]

Bad news from another team, though, a rider was hit by a car when the driver became distracted and veered onto the shoulder (the report that the rider was in the left shoulder is inaccurate)

Racing Across America bicyclist critically injured when struck by car | Featured Story | Wichita Eagle

Hope he makes a full recovery... sounds bad.

He's now serious rather than critical. I assume that's an improvement

Injured Cross Country Bicyclist Releases Statement

[pdm]

9 days 1 hr 1 minute! not bad for 3005.1 miles 

The fastest team time is just mind boggling: 5 days 10 hours 48 minutes - 23mph average ! 

[Gus]

Biking Vikings just finished as the fastest 2 man team, just under 18miles/h in 7 days 

[fuzzy]

Endo ends the race for Sir Steve