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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 19-July 1, 2005
Day 1 - June 19
RAAM 2005 kicks off with 24-hour challenge
RAAM history was made with the successful completion of the inaugural 24-Hour Corporate and Team Challenge, from San Diego to Flagstaff, in which the Berkeley, Calif. Clif Bar team scored a convincing win over the Swami's/Raceplan team from Southern California. In the solo category, a second consecutive day of temperatures reaching 110F caused difficulties for some riders, yet the punishing heat did not seem to affect the pace of the front runners.
24-Corporate & Team Challenge
The Clif Bar team became the first ever champions of the San Diego - Flagstaff
race, 493 miles with almost 24,000 feet of climbing. Finishing with a time of
23 hours, 32 minutes, including 45 minutes of penalties, the team went 3 hours,
11 minutes faster than defending solo champion, Jure Robic over the distance,
and in doing so set an impressive, sub-24 hour record. The team captain, Paul
McKenzie, stated at the finish: "I've done 24-hour mountain bike events, but
never a 24-hour road relay. We found it really enjoyable. the fitness of our
riders is really good. We could go really hard out on the road, and many times
the rider would get back into the van after a hard turn and say 'I feel great.'
Competing in this event requires a completely different level of condition to
the full RAAM, which makes this event very accessible. To ride at the intensity
we maintained takes a lot of training, but an 8-person team could take on this
event and enjoy it without anywhere near the cy
cling condition we have." The Clif Bar team donated their $1,000.00 winner's
check to the Bay Area Outreach & Recreational Program.
Five teams competed in the 24-Hour Challenge. After Clif Bar came the Swami's/Raceplan team from San Diego, then the Kaiser Permanente R2R team from southern California, the JMI Rookies team from San Diego, and the Bicycling San Diego team.
Solo Leaders Battle
The Slovenian match-up of Marco Baloh and defening RAAM champion Jure Robic, stayed at a high level of intensity as these two push each other in a show of endurance through merciless temperatures. At time station 11, Kyenta, the average speed of Robic is 1 mph faster after 635 miles than at a similar point in 2004.
Baloh, who trained in Palm Springs for the 10 days prior to RAAM, stopped to take a cool shower but otherwise was unrelenting in his pursuit of Robic, riding approximately 90 minutes behind as the evening set in. There was some speculation that these two may be pushing each other along. The question is: will they pay for their early exertions in the closing days of the race?
USA's Mike Trevino, from San Diego, Calif., suffered in today's heat, but seemed relaxed and confident. According to crew staff, he stopped to seek refuge from a strong wind blowing with a temperature of 105F. The rest appeared to do him some good, because passing the Kyenta time station he looked a lot fresher than Robic, who appeared to be suffering.
Several of the front-running riders are soon to take - or have already taken - their first sleep break. Asked why Robic chose to sleep at night, rather than during the searing heat of the day, one of his crew members replied that the RAAM champion prefers to wake with the feeling he is starting a new day. Baloh's staff suggested that he will stop when Robic stops.
Allen Larsen
The 2003 RAAM champion, Allen Larsen, is the crew chief for Marco Baloh. One of the crew members remarked that Larsen was finding the job a lot more difficult than he imagined and on the strength of this committed himself to throwing another party for people who had crewed for him!
Chris MacDonald
The rider who stated that he is aiming for Rookie of the Year is looking very comfortable around 30 minutes behind Mike Trevino. MacDonald, formerly from near Seattle, Washington, now lives in Denmark where he is a television personality. His crew chief is Tracy McKay, from Birmingham, Alabama. McKay, speaking at Kayenta, reported that after needing a cool-down break on Sunday in the Sonoran desert, McDonald had bounced back and was feeling great. Could RAAM have found another contender for the crown?
Cat Berge
Pre-race predictions from the Berge camp were that she had the potential to finish inside the top eight. So far the Swedish veterinarian researcher, who lives in Visalia, California, is showing that her supporters may be right and that RAAM has found a new superwoman. At Time Station 9, Flagstaff, Berge had moved up into 10th place.
50+ race
Bob Breedlove, from Des Moines, Iowa, has made an impressive start to his bid to win the category that contains three-times RAAM champion, Rob Kish, Port Orange, FL, who competes in his 20th consecutive RAAM this year. By Time Station Nine, Flagstaff, Breedlove was more than three hours ahead. However, as these most experience competitors know, history shows us that the race does not really begin until the Mississippi River. Sadly, for the third competitor in this group, Dave Kees from Grass Valley, Calif. the race ended early with asthma and dehydration related problems. After a hospital visit, Kees withdrew from the race, becoming the first DNF result for 2005.
Chew's view: Slovenians Robic and Baloh first and second after first day
By Daniel Chew
The 24th Race Across America began on Sunday, June 19th at 7:03 am local time in San Diego. Official race time is Eastern Standard Time military (0-24 hours) so we began at 10:03. The solo field and the new 24 hour Corporate Challenge [to Flagsatff, AZ] up to 8 person teams left together on the 13 mile parade (neutral) route to the official race start. The solos got a 10 minute head start on the five teams. The first 52 mile leg to Pine Valley has the most (5,780 feet) of all 57 time stations. The climbing quickly breaks up the pack, and Slovenian Marko Baloh beat his countryman Jure Robic to the time station by one minute. Rookie Chris MacDonald was 3rd one minute back. The only solo woman Catherina (Cat) Berge was mid-pack 33 minutes behind Baloh. 7 minutes after Cat was 18 year old Ben Couturier. Three time winner Rob Kish riding his 20th RAAM, was in next to last place 1 hour 4 minutes behind Baloh. The Clif Bar Team (headed by former world duathalon champion Kenny Souza) cut the ten minute gap behind the solos in half by Pine Valley. 11 minutes after Clif, Team Swami's Raceplan arrived in 2nd place.
81 miles into the race in Jacumba, Team Clif Bar caught the solo leaders Robic and MacDonald who was on a bicycle without aerobars. Robic finally pulled away from MacDonald when Chris stopped to change bikes. About 5 miles before time station #2 in El Centro, we came upon David Haase lying on the ground at a gas station with his crew nursing him. His crew tried to over-correct his over-hydration problem leading to his DNF last year by limiting him to just 28 ounces (one large water bottle) per hour. With the high temperature in the desert being about 105 degrees F, Haase was so severely dehydrated that he had to stop for 2 hours bumping him from 5th to 25th place in El Centro. Solo leader Robic went through there 3 minutes ahead of MacDonald. Team leader Clif Bar was 10 minutes ahead of Robic and 20 minutes ahead of Team Swami's Raceplan. Team JMI Rookies past Team Bicycling San Diego to move into 4th place.
Bob Breedlove's vast transcontinental crossing experience had him moving up places by staying well hydrated. He was drinking over 100 ounces of fluids per hour and pissing on the bike once every hour. At time station #3 in Glamis, Robic lead Baloh by 7 minutes, MacDonald by 11, and Mike Trevino by 27 minutes. The team placings remained unchanged with Clif leading Swami by 27 minutes. At time station #4 in Blythe, Rookie Englishman Chris Hopkinson arrived in 9th place and stopped in his RV. A crewmember told me that it is illegal to ride in Britain in a sleep-deprived state. No wonder Chris was so excited to come to America and "legally" ride RAAM. He left the time station bare backed under a nearly full moon on a warm desert night. Cat Berge moved up to 10th place. Teams places held, but the gap widened.
Leader Robic's 12 hour split was 242 miles - the same he rode last year. 2nd place Baloh's split was 239 miles - 36 more miles than he rode his first 12 hours of the 2003 RAAM which he led before winner Allan Larsen passed him. Ironically Larsen is Baloh's crew chief this year, ahimself. In the middle of the night, I asked Baloh about Larsen, and hnd will most likely be pushing Baloh as hard or harder than he did e told me that Larson told him that being a crew chief is tougher than riding. Later, I asked Allan about this, and he confirmed it.
Including their 10 minute wait stop at the official race start, the lead Team Clif Bar rode 270 miles their first 12 hours. Just after sunset, Rookie Chris MacDonald lost 3rd place to Trevino. Despite a 2 hour sleep break, MacDonald still held onto 4th place. A 2 hour sleep dropped Breedlove from 5th to 11th place and behind Kish. Race leader Robic had a 24 hour split of 447 miles which is 11 miles more than he rode last year, and two miles less than Pete Penseyres rode his first day of his 15.4 mph record. In Williams, AZ on Monday morning, Baloh was 24 minutes behind Robic, and Trevino was 56 minutes behind Baloh.
The Clif Bar Team has turned the 24 hour team race into a 23.5 hour race arriving victoriously in Flagstaff, AZ. All teams rode the 485 miles to the Sky Dome at Northern Arizona University which is 8 miles short of the Flagstaff time station #9. Clif Bar got there about 2 hours 40 minutes ahead of Robic, 2 hours 3 minutes ahead of 2nd place Team Swami's Raceplan, and 3 hours 12 minutes ahead of 3rd place Team Kaiser Permanente R2R. The last placed Team Bicycling San Diego put on a late charge and came within 6 minutes of catching Team JMI Rookies for 4th place. The first three teams beat Robic to Flagstaff, but Robic had to save something for the next week+.
I am always amazed at how fast the solo race spreads out so below is a chart of the time gaps between the lead and last solo riders for the first 6 time stations:
Time Station # Time Gap
1 1 Hour 5 Minutes
2 2 42
3 6 04
4 6 49
5 11 36
6 15 11
The traditional teams start on Tuesday afternoon 55 hours after the solo riders. It will take the lead team about this same amount of time to catch the last solo rider meaning that the average speed is twice.
Standings
Men's Solo Distance Time Average
(miles)
1 Jure' Robic 679.8 1.13.19 (18.22mph)
2 Marko Baloh 635.2 1.12.33 (17.38mph)
3 Mike Trevino 563.3 1.10.22 (16.39mph)
4 Christopher MacDonald 563.3 1.10.53 (16.15mph)
5 Valentin Zeller 563.3 1.13.39 (14.96mph)
6 Fabio Biasiolo 492.8 1.10.29 (14.29mph)
7 Pius Achermann 492.8 1.10.32 (14.27mph)
8 Bob Breedlove 492.8 1.11.17 (13.97mph)
9 Urs Koenig 492.8 1.12.35 (13.47mph)
10 Chris Hopkinson 492.8 1.12.57 (13.34mph)
11 Ricardo Arap 492.8 1.13.07 (13.28mph)
12 Alessandro Colo' 492.8 1.13.34 (13.12mph)
13 Rob Kish 450.3 1.10.46 (12.95mph)
14 Benjamin Couturier 450.3 1.11.36 (12.65mph)
15 Alexander Gepp 450.3 1.11.42 (12.61mph)
16 David Haase 450.3 1.11.55 (12.54mph)
17 Thomas Rodgers 450.3 1.12.16 (12.42mph)
18 Mark Metcalfe 450.3 1.12.44 (12.26mph)
19 Ben Robinson 450.3 1.13.29 (12.01mph)
20 Kevin Walsh 388.6 1.09.39 (11.55mph)
21 Patrick Autissier 388.6 1.10.32 (11.25mph)
22 Jim Trout 340.4 1.03.28 (12.39mph)
23 John D'Elia 340.4 1.07.57 (10.65mph)
24 Karl Traunmueller 340.4 1.08.37 (10.44mph)
DNF Dave Kees (Medical) 340.4 1.00.31 (13.88mph)
Women's Solo
1 Anna Catharina Berge 492.8 1.12.05 (13.66mph)
24 Hour Corporate Challenge
1 Clif Bar Team 492.8 0.23.23 (21.07mph)
2 Swami's/Raceplan 492.8 1.01.26 (19.38mph)
3 Kaiser Permanente R2R 492.8 1.02.35 (18.54mph)
4 JMI Rookies 492.8 1.05.46 (16.56mph)
5 Team Bicycling San Diego 492.8 1.05.52 (16.50mph)
