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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 10-22, 2007
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Day 6 - June 15
RAAM crosses the Mississippi
By Danny Chew
Tradition says that RAAM really begins when the racers cross the Mississippi River, and if this is true, then solo leader Jure Robic is well on his way to becoming the third three-time solo winner, joining Rob Kish and Wolfgang Fasching on that list. Juric rode 333 miles his 5th day giving him a 5 day total of 1,871 miles - 10 miles ahead of his 2004 pace. Robic increased his lead over 2nd place Fasching to 6 hours, 43 minutes (6:43) at TS# 37 in Effingham, IL.
Third place on the road Daniel Wyss pulled back time on Fasching, and trailed by 2:23 at TS#36 in Greenville, IL. Wyss also increased his lead over 4th place Gerhard Gulewicz to 3:51 by the Mississippi River. More than half a day behind Gulewicz, the battle for 5th place is a close one. While first rookie Aussie Richard Vollebregt stopped to eat lunch in Missouri, Hungary's Attila Kaldy passed him and arrived at TS#33 in Jefferson City, Missouri 43 minutes ahead of Vollebregt.
Two solo women dropped out at TS#22 in Springfield, CO 1,234 miles in. Well below the 10.40 speed minimum, 2nd place Lauren Fithian (9.31) arrived in Springfield just over and hour before Canadian Carolyn van den Bulk (9.24). 40% of the women's field dropped out because their speed dropped too low. The integrity of the race has to remain so that the Race Across America doesn't become the Ride Across America. Leader Kerry White has ridden through TS#25 in Mullinville, KS with a speed of 9.82 mph.
Team RAAM
In the 8 person team race, Team Type I doubled their lead to 8 hours over Team Donate Life - Grace Valley in Jefferson City, MO. One TS back in Camdenton, Grace Valley led ViaSat by 2:16, and ViaSat was 0:35 ahead of Cheniere's Making Cancer History.
On Friday morning at the Pratt McDonald's (TS#26 just short of halfway), I watched Team Type I's rider whiz past, and then chatted with their crew. Their coach, trainer, & strategist Rick Crawford has to be awake nearly all the time. They have a 22 person crew making up two groups which rotate on 12 hour shifts. Rick told me during headwind stretches, they have had as many as 3 riders on the road at once. He estimated they have had about 150 miles (10% of distance) with 2 or 3 racers (drafting each other) on the road at once.
In Eastern Kansas, we stopped to talk with Team Donate Life – Grace Valley. They have a 12 person crew with 5 vehicles. Shortly before we met them, they rode past an accident site where a vehicle had hit and killed a bull. Solo rider Pete Bajiema hit a bull near the Utah/Wyoming border in the 2000 RAAM, and DNFed at 1,166 miles. Grace Valley also told me that another team saw a grizzly bear in the Rocky Mountains.
In the two person team RAAM, defending champs and record holder Team BodyXchange/Garden Pathways (Joe Petersen & Kevin McNulty) went out hard/fast, and led all the way into Colorado where Swiss Team IWC Schaffhausen (Hape Narr & Urs Samtleben) caught and passed BodyXchange. BodyXchange closed to within 4 minutes of IWC in La Veta where medical problems forced Big Joe and his team to quit after 1,048 miles. Twas Joe's first DNF in 9 Team RAAM starts.
In Jefferson City, MO, I talked with two crewmembers from IWC. They told me when they passed BodyXchange in CO, they were able to immediately ride away from them. The better climbers, IWC was worried about Joe & Kevin's superior time trial skills across the Plains, but now it looks like IWC will have an 'easy' win since they were 7:41 ahead of the recumbent Team Velokraft and 7:55 ahead of recumbent Bacchetta B Team Military Families Foundation. The recumbents teams are only 14 minutes apart!
In the 2 person mixed division, Team Donate Life – Beauty & the Beast have increased their lead over Team Kitten by over 19 hours in La Veta, CO.
Results
Men's Solo 1 Jure Robic 2237.6 6.03.04 (15.21mph) 2 Wolfgang Fasching 2092.5 6.00.03 (14.53mph) 3 Daniel Wyss 2042.5 5.22.53 (14.29mph) 4 Gerhard Gulewicz 2042.5 6.02.29 (13.94mph) 5 Attila Kaldy 1852.6 5.23.43 (12.89mph) 6 Richard Vollebregt 1852.6 6.00.22 (12.83mph) 7 Jeff Oatley 1740.3 6.00.13 (12.07mph) 8 Peter Oyler 1678.3 5.21.32 (11.86mph) 9 Claudio Clarindo de (Oliviera) 1619.3 5.23.58 (11.25mph) 10 Julio Paterlini 1619.3 6.00.31 (11.20mph) 11 Brett Walker 1557.2 5.20.54 (11.05mph) 12 Patrick Autissier 1557.2 5.21.54 (10.97mph) 13 Jean Marc Velez 1557.2 5.21.57 (10.97mph) 14 David Jones 1557.2 6.01.08 (10.73mph) 15 Alfiero Tassinari 1557.2 6.01.28 (10.70mph) 16 John Jurczynski 1557.2 6.02.28 (10.63mph) 17 John Spurgeon 1557.2 6.02.50 (10.61mph) 18 Larry Optis 1496.8 5.23.17 (10.45mph) 19 Jim Rees 1496.8 6.00.17 (10.37mph) 20 Tom Seabourne 1443.5 5.23.16 (10.08mph) 21 Lou Lamoureux 1222.7 6.00.28 (8.46mph) 22 Fabio Biasiolo - DNF Crew Problems 1101.9 3.05.20 (14.25mph) 23 Philip Baker - DNF Exhaustion 1101.9 5.01.24 (9.08mph) 24 Walter Blaettler - DNF Accident 815.3 3.04.05 (10.72mph) Women's Solo 1 Kerry White 1443.5 6.01.52 (9.90mph) 2 Lauren Fithian - DNF time cut 1222.7 5.11.22 (9.31mph) 3 Caroline van den Bulk - DNF time cut 1222.7 5.12.22 (9.24mph) 4 Patty Riddle 931.7 5.23.54 (6.47mph) 5 Hana Ebertova - DNF Exhaustion 565.1 2.11.15 (9.54mph) Men's Solo - Enduro 1 Alessandro Colo 1557.2 6.00.58 (10.74mph) Two Person Male 1 Team IWC Schaffhausen 1793.9 3.20.04 (19.48mph) 2 Team R.A.C.E. / BMO Fountain of Hope 1496.8 3.22.23 (15.86mph) 3 Virag / Stoklas Team 1443.5 3.19.15 (15.82mph) 4 Team Donate Life - TexOz (50+) 1295.3 3.20.48 (13.96mph) 5 Team Beat Cancer 1222.7 3.19.16 (13.40mph) 6 S.K.R.A.A.M 1222.7 3.19.59 (13.29mph) 7 BodyXchange - DNF - Medical 1037.1 2.05.39 (19.33mph) 8 Team Murphy - DNF Medical 389.9 1.05.38 (13.16mph) Two Person Female 1 Team Phoenix 1443.5 3.21.23 (15.46mph) Two Person Mixed 1 Team Donate Life - Beauty & the Beast 1345.6 3.22.18 (14.27mph) 2 Team Kitten 1101.9 3.21.57 (11.73mph) Two Person Recumbent 1 Team Velokraft 1678.3 3.20.06 (18.22mph) 2 Bacchetta B Team 1678.3 3.21.14 (18.00mph) Four Person Male 1 Beaver Creek - Catlin Team 2092.5 3.22.14 (22.21mph) 2 Team Psycho 2042.5 3.20.30 (22.08mph) 3 Team Strong Heart 1793.9 3.21.53 (19.11mph) 4 Team VMG Cycling 1793.9 3.22.12 (19.04mph) 5 Team Gs - Logistik Austria 1740.3 3.20.58 (18.72mph) 6 Team Endeavor 1678.3 3.19.41 (18.31mph) 7 Team Sixty Going Hard 1678.3 3.20.43 (18.10mph) 8 Team N.U.B.S. 1678.3 3.21.19 (17.98mph) 9 Hoosiers 1678.3 3.21.19 (17.98mph) 10 Team Donate Life - Race 4 Life 1619.3 3.21.54 (17.24mph) 11 Team Burns & Trauma 1619.3 3.22.14 (17.18mph) 12 Shannon's Soldiers 1557.2 3.19.34 (17.01mph) 13 Team Blazing Saddles 1496.8 3.22.01 (15.92mph) 14 Team 2 Cure Huntingtons Disease 1443.5 3.20.06 (15.67mph) 15 Vencendo Desafios Team Brazil 1443.5 3.20.27 (15.61mph) 16 Ari's Angels Team 1345.6 3.21.14 (14.43mph) Four Person Female 1 Kalyra Women's Race Team 1619.3 3.20.09 (17.57mph) Four Person Mixed 1 Team JDRF 1619.3 3.21.51 (17.25mph) Corporate Challenge 1 Team Type I - monitored by: Freestyle 2142.7 3.21.55 (22.81mph) 2 Team Donate Life - Grace Valley 1927.5 3.21.07 (20.70mph) 3 Team ViaSat 1852.6 3.19.48 (20.18mph) 4 Cheniere's Making Cancer History Team 1852.6 3.20.33 (20.02mph) 5 North Coast Cycling Team 1852.6 3.21.10 (19.88mph) 6 Team Donate Life - Primo 1793.9 3.22.32 (18.98mph) 7 Team Santa Barbara Bank & Trust 1619.3 3.21.04 (17.40mph) 8 Team Donate Life - Heels on Wheels 1557.2 3.22.07 (16.55mph) 24 Hour Corporate Challenge 1 Team Clif Bar 488.9 0.23.29 (20.82mph) 2 American Specialty Health Riders 488.9 1.01.16 (19.35mph) 3 Swami's TeamSam.com 488.9 1.01.41 (19.04mph) 4 Denver Paramedic Cycling Team 488.9 1.04.03 (17.43mph)
