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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 10-22, 2007
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Day 9 - June 18
Team Donate Life Race 4 Life Diary
By Jason Weckworth
This is my last entry…one final push to the finish. I'm too tired to write much more. Today was my hardest day, because it was about survival. It's amazing how your focus can change depending on your circumstances.
We finished last night strong, but the crew really started struggling with sleep deprivation. Even with our sleep rotation, the effects of a week-long race for 24 hours a day is staggering.
We are making mistakes in judgment and decision-making…nothing major, but a lot of small things that cost us time. I am sure that all teams face the same challenge. How we deal with them is what makes good teams work well together. I'm proud of our team and crew…everyone.
Mid-morning today, Vernon called on the radio to say the brakes on the transition SUV were failing. This is so critical to our strategy! We jumped into action and considered all the alternatives. At one point, we almost flew some crew members ahead to Atlantic City.
Bottom Line: we lost the use of a vehicle and sent four crew members with this vehicle up to Columbus, Ohio. We didn't lose the brakes, but we lost the power braking ability. We can't use the car any more.
In spite of this, we've got to keep moving with no lost time. Forget the other teams. Forget our sleep rotation. We've got to finish the race. Our crew and a new vehicle will be back by 10:00 pm… we hope.
We spent most of the day and into the evening with a single transition vehicle to do both follow and drop-off. We had to use stop transitions in order to meet the RAAM rules. We went to a three-man rotation until Chris could come back from his hotel rest. I will forego my hotel rest tonight.
While we kept our eye on the other teams, this was survival. Four crew members short, one crew still on rest, Danny and Lee carried us through. It was so hot - time station 46 was almost unbearable, we blew up. I think that Lorenzo, Dave, and I all experienced some level of heat exhaustion. I just bonked, I couldn't generate any power.
My head screamed. My legs screamed. I thought I was going to fall asleep on the bike. As soon as we got in the SUV, we nearly passed out until Danny or Lee had the bike out again and told us to go. But we crawled through, 16.54 mph - our slowest time station, but not as bad as I expected.
It actually gave us some hope that we can recover and still finish strong. We hydrated as much as we could. As the temperature finally dropped, we increased our strength and our speed. By 5:00 this evening, we felt almost fully recovered.
We started to attack the climbs…because we have a lot of them in the next 12 hours… still 32,000' of climbing before the finish line.
We're changing our strategy for the finish. Rather than 12 hours, I will take a 6 hour rest in the follow vehicle. As soon as I am able, we will split into two transition teams… Dave and I in one, with Lorenzo and Chris in the other. Four hours on, and four hours rest, back and forth. We'll finish the last 150 miles or so all together. We'll re-group by 5:00 AM and head strong for the finish.
I think we still have a couple of teams to catch. We still need to out-run Bob. See you in Atlantic City. We hope to be there before dark tomorrow night.
P.S. It's 1:28 AM. Chris is on a 9 percent grade descent headed for TS 49 - 38 mph in the dark when Danny calls ahead to tell us a Semi' is headed our way. This will be a tough night.
Results
Men solo 1 Jure Robic 2932.7 8.08.10 (14.65 mph) 2 Wolfgang Fasching 2824.9 8.08.12 (14.11 mph) 3 Daniel Wyss 2776.1 8.06.21 (14 mph) 4 Gerhard Gulewicz 2776.1 8.06.51 (13.96 mph) 5 Attila Kaldy 2545.7 8.06.00 (12.86 mph) 6 Richard Vollebregt 2545.7 8.06.25 (12.83 mph) 7 Jeff Oatley 2413.9 8.08.57 (12.01 mph) 8 Peter Oyler 2295.5 8.07.57 (11.48 mph) 9 Claudio Clarindo de (Oliviera) 2237.6 8.06.58 (11.25 mph) 10 Julio Paterlini 2192.3 8.06.22 (11.05 mph) 11 Brett Walker 2142.7 8.03.39 (10.95 mph) 12 Jean Marc Velez 2142.7 8.05.55 (10.83 mph) 13 Alfiero Tassinari 2142.7 8.07.28 (10.74 mph) 14 John Jurczynski 2142.7 8.08.03 (10.71 mph) 15 Larry Optis 2142.7 8.09.20 (10.64 mph) 16 David Jones 2142.7 8.09.20 (10.64 mph) 17 Patrick Autissier 2092.5 8.06.36 (10.54 mph) 18 John Spurgeon 2092.5 8.07.14 (10.5 mph) 19 Jim Rees 2092.5 8.09.15 (10.4 mph) 20 Tom Seabourne - DNF Time cut 1740.3 7.06.52 (9.95 mph) 21 Lou Lamoureux - DNF Time cut 1295.3 6.08.13 (8.51 mph) 22 Fabio Biasiolo - DNF Crew Problems 1101.9 3.05.20 (14.25 mph) 23 Philip Baker - DNF Exhaustion 1101.9 5.01.24 (9.08 mph) 24 Walter Blaettler - DNF Accident 815.3 3.04.05 (10.72 mph) Women's solo 1 Kerry White 1996.5 8.06.29 (10.06 mph) 2 Lauren Fithian - DNF Time cut 1222.7 5.11.22 (9.31 mph) 3 Caroline van den Bulk - DNF Time cut 1222.7 5.12.22 (9.24 mph) 4 Patty RIddle - DNF Time cut 1037.1 6.10.46 (6.7 mph) 5 Hana Ebertova - DNF Exhaustion 565.1 2.11.15 (9.54 mph) Men's solo - enduro 1 Alessandro Colo 2192.3 8.08.52 (10.91 mph) Two person male 1 Team IWC Schaffhausen 2776.1 6.03.13 (18.86 mph) 2 Team R.A.C.E. / BMO Fountain of Hope 2295.5 6.01.12 (15.81 mph) 3 Virag / Stoklas Team 2295.5 6.02.55 (15.62 mph) 4 S.K.R.A.A.M 2142.7 6.02.57 (14.58 mph) 5 Team Donate Life - TexOz (50+) 2042.5 6.02.27 (13.95 mph) 6 Team Beat Cancer by www.coastalsportsmedicine.com 1927.5 5.23.27 (13.44 mph) 7 BodyXchange / Garden Pathways - DNF - Medical 1037.1 2.05.39 (19.33 mph) 8 Team Murphy - DNF Medical 389.9 1.05.38 (13.16 mph) Two person female 1 Team Phoenix 2192.3 6.01.20 (15.08 mph) Two person mixed 1 Team Kitten - www.PeteAndWendyCycling.com 1927.5 6.03.22 (13.08 mph) 2 Team Donate Life - Beauty & the Beast - DNF Accide 1740.3 5.07.52 (13.61 mph) Two person recumbent 1 Team Velokraft 2685.8 6.02.50 (18.29 mph) 2 Bacchetta B Team / Military Families Foundation 2685.8 6.03.08 (18.25 mph) Four person male 1 Beaver Creek - Catlin Team 3042.8 5.18.22 (21.99 mph) 2 Team Psycho 3042.8 5.21.48 (21.46 mph) 3 Team Strong Heart 2824.9 6.03.24 (19.16 mph) 4 Team VMG Cycling 2824.9 6.04.16 (19.05 mph) 5 Team Gs - Logistik Austria 2776.1 6.04.21 (18.71 mph) 6 Team Endeavor 2685.8 6.02.53 (18.29 mph) 7 Hoosiers 2685.8 6.03.39 (18.19 mph) 8 Team N.U.B.S. 2685.8 6.04.06 (18.14 mph) 9 Team Sixty Going Hard 2640.9 6.01.40 (18.13 mph) 10 Team Donate Life - Race 4 Life 2594.4 6.03.50 (17.55 mph) 11 Team Burns & Trauma 2545.7 6.02.25 (17.39 mph) 12 Shannon's Soldiers for CTF Research Team 2505 6.02.53 (17.05 mph) 13 Vencendo Desafios Team Brazil 2295.5 6.00.58 (15.83 mph) 14 Team Blazing Saddles 2295.5 6.04.15 (15.48 mph) 15 Team 2 Cure Huntingtons Disease 2237.6 6.01.29 (15.38 mph) 16 Ari's Angels Team 2192.3 6.02.43 (14.94 mph) Four person female 1 Kalyra Women's Race Team 2594.4 6.02.57 (17.65 mph) Four person mixed 1 Team JDRF 2545.7 6.02.34 (17.37 mph) Eight person 1 Team Type I - monitored by: Freestyle 3042.8 5.15.43 (22.42 mph) 2 Team Donate Life - Grace Valley 3042.8 6.02.56 (20.71 mph) 3 Cheniere's Making Cancer History Team 2977.9 6.02.58 (20.26 mph) 4 Team ViaSat 2977.9 6.03.33 (20.18 mph) 5 North Coast Cycling Team 2932.7 6.03.26 (19.89 mph) 6 Team Donate Life - Primo 2824.9 6.03.21 (19.17 mph) 7 Team Santa Barbara Bank & Trust 2594.4 6.03.09 (17.63 mph) 8 Team Donate Life - Heels on Wheels 2505 6.04.31 (16.87 mph) 24 Hour Corporate Challenge 1 Team Clif Bar 488.9 0.23.29 (20.82 mph) 2 American Specialty Health Riders 488.9 1.01.16 (19.35 mph) 3 Swami's TeamSam.com 488.9 1.01.41 (19.04 mph) 4 Denver Paramedic Cycling Team 488.9 1.04.03 (17.43 mph)
