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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 19-July 1, 2005
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Day 12 - June 30
RAAM's Record Youngest Finisher
By Paul Skilbeck
18 years-old Benjamin Couturier of Eagle River, Alaska, rolled across the finish line in Atlantic City at 1 p.m. to become the youngest finisher in RAAM history. The previous youngest finisher was Chris Kostman, who in 1987 became the youngest finisher aged 20. Couturier's finishing time was 11 days, 3 hours, 10 minutes.
Couturier's epic was fueled by candy bars and pizza, and punctuated with hallucinations of purple elephants and people who weren't really there, but by sleeping three to six hours a day he maintained his good humor and finished in good shape. "Nothing hurts, I feel great!" He exclaimed with a big smile, although his eyes were a little glassy at the finish.
Ben confirmed reports by his crew that it was difficult to wake him from his sleep, and he had few fond memories of the first two days through the desert heat. But overall he said he reported greatly enjoyed the ride.
Socially, Ben was a hit with the other riders, always ready for a chat and to share a joke."You're out there by yourself, so it would be rude not to talk to them a bit!" He smiled.
Going into the start of RAAM, Ben Couturier said he felt confident. "If you don't feel confident with a race like this you probably shouldn't start."
Pius Achermann – Just Happy to be Here
By Paul Skilbeck
Atlantic City, New Jersey - June 30th 2005, 12:17 EDT - Pius Acherman's arrival in Atlantic City was the realization of a dream. Last year he pulled out of the Insight Race Across America with multiple health problems and vowed never to return. Yet in 2005 he came back, and not only did he finish, but he claimed sixth place with a time of 11 days, 26 minutes - at an average speed of 11.54 mph.
"This is absolutely fantastic. It was very hard work for me to get here, but it had to be that way," said the tired but happy Swiss man at the finish line.
"Last year I said to myself I would never come back and do another RAAM. But I changed my mind and came back. But this is my last RAAM. I have three children, and from now on, family is my priority. And in any case, some of my children are already winning bicycle races, so it is time for me to leave it to them."
Achermann admitted to having learned many hard lessons in 2004, but this year he put his hard-earned knowledge into practice. When the four fastest riders pushed the pace out of his reach in the first days, he concentrated on his own race rather than going beyond his limits. From then onwards, it was just a matter of overcoming each minor problem as it arose.
"I learned from my mistakes last year. A few things went wrong this year and it was very hard for myself and my crew. But with the knowledge we gained last year we were able to get through it."
As for the inflow of Swiss riders to RAAM in the future, Achermann predicted that the next significant Swiss challenge would come from one Daniel Wiess, who he tipped as a rider capable of winning RAAM.
Valentin Zeller’s RAAM
By Danny Chew
Three time RAAM champion Wolfgang Fasching convinced his fellow Austrian friend 27 year old Valentin Zeller to enter RAAM this year. A professional cyclist since he graduated from high school in 1995, Zeller won the difficult Race Across the Alps in 2004. Riding in 5th – 7th place the entire way across the country, the heat crushed him, and he experienced crew problems, yet still managed to be the 2nd rookie finisher. In 7th place and 9 hours behind Switzerland’s Pius Achermann through Missouri and Illinois, he inherited 6th place when Mike Trevino crashed out. Zeller kept chipping away at Achermann’s lead the last 1,000 miles finally passing him in PA with 200 miles to go. Zeller finished in 5th place four hours ahead of Achermann. After I told him how bad the Appalachian Mountains would be, Zeller was disappointed wanting them to be steeper and longer. Danny Chew
RAAM North of 60
By Danny Chew
The oldest riders were on two person Team 60+. Both 60, Dan Crain of Irvine, CA and Fred Boethling of Boulder, CO finished 3rd out of eight two person teams. Dan said he’s stronger now than he’s ever been. Fred said that sleep management is the most important aspect of RAAM. They decided to use motels (instead of the more common RV), but discovered they were too far spaced out. Fred said that only 50% of the stuff pre-planned works out, so the crew has to solve the other 50% problems. Solo RAAM was his original objective, and he has a new appreciation for the difficulty of the solo race after seeing how much pain the solo riders he passed were in. The youngest solo finisher was 18 year old Ben Couturier of Alaska meaning that the age range of this years finishers was an amazing 42 years.
Endorphins Win Two-Person Mixed Race
By Danny Chew
In the two person mixed division, Team Endorphins of Lubbock, TX beat out three other teams. Shanna Armstrong is a 30 year old triathlete, and Guy Wells is a 53 year old doctor and ultracyclist. Team Free Riders went out too hard in the heat, and dropped out after 1,300 miles in Kansas. The heat also got Guy the first two days making him feel ‘sicker than a dog’. Team Grupo Guapo opened up a four hour lead on Endorphins by Colorado, but Endorphins fought back passing GG in Missouri, and pulling away to a 9 hour lead by the finish line in Atlantic City. In one 100 mile section, they gained 100 minutes on GG. They rode through 4 hours of horrendous rain in Ohio. They both ate a 90% liquid diet. They did 5-6 hour night shifts. While Guy was able to sleep fine in a moving RV, Shanna was so wired that she only slept 8 hours the entire trip. She climbed all 8 miles up Wolf Creek Pass to the Continental Divide (10,857 feet) in Colorado. Endorphins had to wait 44 minutes at a construction site near a tunnel on the Wolf Creek Pass descent. Unlike most riders, Shanna liked Kansas the most because of strong cross/headwinds there. Unable to run in RAAM, triathlete Shanna hopes to be out running in less than a week.
Haase lays ghost of 2004 to rest
By Paul Skilbeck
Following the harrowing story of David Haase in the 2004 RAAM documentary, which aired on NBC this January, the 37 year-old from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was one of the sentimental favorites in this year's RAAM solo field. The gritty sports shop owner who was forced to abandon inside 500 miles of the finish last year made some adjustments to his training and nutritional program and this year powered to a convincing fourth place finish.
Even so, it was not all plain sailing, and an early race setback put his 2005 campaign in jeopardy. "I suffered some dehydration early in the race, which made it almost impossible to win. But that may have helped me out overall, because I picked my way up and moved up positions, and eventually got up close, but I was too far out of it at that point."
Haase recalled several waymarkers that helped him move step by step through the course, and in a way banish the ghosts of his ill-fated 2004 bid. "There were different spots along the route where we looked back to last year. There was one point where I was falling off my bike last year and we had some ice cream. This year, passing through the same place it was hot, so we stopped for some ice cream." In Yates Center, Kansas, Haase had been served pasta last year by a woman named Tammy who worked at the Time Station there. This year he was going too well to stop, but according to Tammy, he held out his hand when passing and acknowledged her. "Tammy and her husband are great people, and you meet people like that along the route. The people at the Marthasville (Missouri) time station, the one with the bike shop, they were offering showers this year, so my crew and I took a shower... it was really great, and that kind of thing happened all along the way."
Haase's position in the race was elevated when Mike Trevino pulled out with a separated shoulder. "I know Mike and I don't wish that on anyone. But it does move you up a position in placing. And he had emailed me and told me to make sure to try and get that position back for him."
Rolling into Atlantic City at nearly 11 p.m. Haase received a warm welcome from a relatively large crowd who had recently exited the awards banquet. He had the look about him of somebody with a deep sense of satisfaction about a job well done. "It feels pretty good. It's been a long journey, and I should be more excited about it, but it wears you out!" He chuckled. Sometimes when one finally gets something one has wanted for a very long time, it can sink in a little slowly.
Fabio Biasolo's Perfect Timing
By Wendy Booher
Fabio Biasolo earned kudos this evening for finishing in RAAM’s sweet spot. Biasolo rolled down the boardwalk just as a sizable crowd of RAAM racers, families and friends began to collect for the closing banquet here at Boardwalk Hall. Each team in RAAM gets escorted to the finish line by the Atlantic City police and ushered up to the awards stage where they are presented with a medal, flowers, champagne and the playing of their national anthem. With Biasolo arriving so close to the start of the banquet, his award ceremony would need to be split into two shifts. After the first shift, RAAM race announcer, Greg Pressler, hinted at some music that would be played especially for Biasolo a bit later. Biasolo perked up at the mention of a song.
"Which one," exclaimed Biasolo, "can we dance to it?"
Clearly Biasolo harbors energy reserves that RAAM fails to tap. Or, the prospect of doing anything except riding a bike sparks a motivation unfamiliar to Biasolo these past several days. Biasolo, who moved into second place when Mike Trevino withdrew, fell back one more slot when Chris MacDonald passed him. No doubt the hills of West Virginia helped erode Biasolo's momentum.
"The climbing in the last two states--you have to sprint to get up the hills because they are so steep."
With his crew, wife and baby son, Rocco, cheering the loudest, Fabio Biasolo reached the finish at 18:17 with a time of 10 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes.
Category report
Category Standings as of 6 p.m. EDT, June 30, 2005 (All race times are in Eastern Daylight Time)
Editors Note: Hi-Res Images Available upon request. Email Pamela Heisey, pheisey@yahoo.com
Women’s Solo With the finish almost in sight, Anna Catharina Berge seems to be putting on final surge of speed, and her estimated arrival time in Atlantic City, which moved back to 11 p.m. has now come forward to 9 p.m.
Men’s Solo A tired but happy David Haase rolled in to Atlantic City shortly after the awards banquet finished on the night of the 29th. Dozens of RAAM finishers came out to welcome him in, in one of the most rousing receptions of the race. Haase finished with a time of 10 days, 12 hours and 41 minutes. At 6.28 a.m. Valentin Zeller of Austria crossed the line after a ride, the low point of which was almost certainly being dowsed with gasoline by passing motorist near Camdenton, Missouri. Zeller’s finishing time was 10 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes. Almost exactly four hours later, the Swiss rider Pius Achermann finished – like Haase at his second attempt in two years – with a time of 11 days and 26 minutes. In the early afternoon, 1.13 p.m. to be precise, Ben Couturier of Eagle River, Alaska, became the youngest rider to finish RAAM. Aged only 18, Couturier beat the record set by Chris Kostman in 1987 at 20 years of age. Couturier’s finishing time was 11 days, 3 hours and 10 minutes. Alexander Gepp of Austria, Chris Hopkinson of Great Britain, and Jim Trout of Seattle, Washington, are expected to finish inside the official cutoff time of noon July 1st. Mark Metcalf of Duncanville, Texas, would need to increase his speed to do so.
Two-person Mixed Division Team Endorphins, driven by the UltraMan world champion, Shanna Armstrong, triumphed over Grupo Guapo with a late spurt, finishing at 10:52 EDT to win the mixed team award with a time of 8 days, 17 hours and 36 minutes. Grupo Guapo is expected to finish at 7:29 p.m. Dr Guy Wells of the Gruppo Guapo team fell ill early in the race and Armstrong took on the majority of the workload. “I rode probably 70% of the distance. I rode 16 hours one day,” Explained Armstrong, who has stated her intention to return and race as a solo. Could Cat Berge have found a future rival?
Two-person Men’s Division Team 60+ arrived in third place, at 6.50 a.m. The team of Daniel Crain, of Irvine, Calif. and Fred Boethling, of Boulder, Colo. finished with a time of 8 days, 13 hours, 43 minutes. For up-to-the-moment race progress, visit the “Timestation Info” section on the homepage of www.raceacrossamerica.org
All race times are in EST; stay tuned to www.raceacrossamerica.org for results, race reports and photos.
Chew's view - Day 11
Robic would be the only rider to go under 10 days on a very slow year. 18 hours (4th biggest time gap in RAAM history) would pass before American Chris MacDonald arrived in 2nd place as rookie-of-the-year. Using the biggest (18 people with 5 vehicles) crew in the history of the solo race, Chris brought his own unique style to RAAM. He rode in the top 4 the whole way across the country, and slept as much or more than my 3 hours per night I got in my riding days. Near the end of the race in West Virginia, he passed Fabio Biasiolo and ruined any hopes I had for a close race for 2nd place.
Five hours after MacDonald, Fabio arrived in third place with his wife and baby on his crew. This was Fabio’s second 3rd place finish, and his first finish after three consecutive DNF’s. Two 5th place finishes, and two more DNF’s rounds out his distinguished 9 year RAAM career. Fabio arrived in Atlantic City just before the awards banquet, which was indoors this year. A tribute to the late Dr. Bob Breedlove included a slide show, Lon Haldeman telling Breedlove stories, and Jim Pitre reading something Bob’s daughter wrote. Bob’s favorite saying IADIP stands for “It’s Another Day In Paradise” pretty much summed up how Bob lived his full life. Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs handed out team and solo awards. Because this years race was so tough (extra distance, heat, wind, and much climbing made solo finishing times nearly a day slower) only three solo riders finished in time for the banquet.
John Hughes sent me the following e-mail concerning Bob’s funeral which he attended:
Bob’s funeral was held Wednesday in Iowa. About 1,200 people came to the visitation on Tuesday and/or funeral. At the visitation they had many displays of Bob’s RAAMs, PBPs, and other rides: jerseys, t-shirts, photos, etc. There was even a recent photo of me climbing Wolf Creek Pass with Bob. At the funeral, two of his doctor colleagues gave tributes, all four of his kids talked, and three of his cycling friends talked:
Bill Magie, his crew chief on every one of his races since 1988. LaJean Breedlove, who was taking care of the RV Forrest Ridgeway, who owns the bike shop where Bob shopped. One of the Forrest kids got married Friday, June 17th and Bob wanted to go to the wedding – so he did, and then flew to the RAAM start on Saturday?
Several riders who dropped out were at the banquet: Marko Baloh, Allessandro Colo, and Tom Rodgers. Baloh’s crew chief Alan Larsen was there, and he told me that once Marko quit, they gave David Haase their leftover Perpetuem (Hammer Nutrition). Baloh and crew also gave Fabio some butt cream near Indianapolis. Rodgers won a pair of Velocity Wheels. Tom told me all about his RAAM. He had serious trouble with sleep deprivation. He was spending 6 hours off the bike (sleeping 5) every 24 hours. He climbed to the summit of Wolf Creek Pass at night into a 30 mph headwind in 40 degrees F. Since his RV was ahead of him at the time station in South Fork, frozen Tom drove in his support vehicle down the mountain to a motel. He had three 30 minute waits at the tunnel construction area (twice in a car each direction, and once on his bike). This whole ordeal took about 7 hours.
Five solo RAAM winners (Haldeman, Boyer, myself, Larsen, and Robic) were at the awards banquet. I got my photo taken with the only rookie to ever win RAAM Jonathon (Jock) Boyer and his 8 person corporate Team Donate Life star rider Eric Heiden. The RAAM poster painting (on the cover of route books) was auctioned off for $4,500. Fabio Biasiolo won the Ian Sandbach inspiration award. The 8 person corporate Team Vern’s Inc. was self crewed with the help of one extra person. They used a 3 person rider rotation doing 123, 456, 781, 234, 567, 812, etc…
After dinner, a huge crowd assembled on the boardwalk to welcome 4th place finisher David Haase coming in 5 hours after Fabio. The last rider to drop out last year, Haase made it 2,508 miles to West Virginia where over hydration took him out. NBC TV showed his struggle because pain and suffering show up on David’s face so well. We came upon David with about 150 miles to go this year, and his face looked the same (as he was riding though a very difficult period), but things would be different this time around. He proudly finished at night in 10.5 days. His girlfriend Shannon who went the entire way across this year shed tears of joy as the national anthem was sung to a cheering crowd and Dave on stage.
I think that Haase getting dehydrated in the desert on the first day causing him to fall back to 25th place was actually a blessing in disguise. Dave told me at the start of the race he was afraid his desire to win might get in the way of him finishing. Once he fell so far back, he realized he couldn’t win, and reset his goal to finish, and have fun catching as many riders as possible to Atlantic City. On stage at the finish, he said he was good for the first 7 days, and then he just loses it. He became possessed at night when he got into a rhythm and made his best time. Once Trevino crashed out, he e-mailed Dave and asked him to get that 2nd place back for Trevino. Dave sponsored time station #37 in Effingham, IL for Marko Baloh. Dave lost 10 pounds on his trip. Breedlove’s accident reminded David about his buddy that he lost to a drunk driver.
Three time RAAM champion Wolfgang Fasching convinced his fellow Austrian friend 27 year old Valentin Zeller to enter RAAM this year. A professional cyclist since he graduated from high school in 1995, Zeller won the difficult Race Across the Alps in 2004. Riding in 5th – 7th place the entire way across the country, the heat crushed him, and he experienced crew problems, yet still managed to be the 2nd rookie finisher. In 7th place and 9 hours behind Switzerland’s Pius Achermann through Missouri and Illinois, he inherited 6th place when Mike Trevino crashed out. Zeller kept chipping away at Achermann’s lead the last 1,000 miles finally passing him in PA with 200 miles to go. Zeller finished in 5th place 7.5 hours behind Haase and four hours ahead of Achermann. After I told him how bad the Appalachian Mountains would be, Zeller was disappointed wanting them to be steeper and longer.
Team RAAM
The oldest riders were on two person Team 60+. Both 60, Dan Crain of Irvine, CA and Fred Boethling of Boulder, CO finished 3rd out of eight two person teams. Dan said he’s stronger now than he’s ever been. Fred said that sleep management is the most important aspect of RAAM. They decided to use motels (instead of the more common RV), but discovered they were too far spaced out. Fred said that only 50% of the stuff pre-planned works out, so the crew has to solve the other 50% problems. Solo RAAM was his original objective, and he has a new appreciation for the difficulty of the solo race after seeing how much pain the solo riders he passed were in. The youngest solo finisher was 18 year old Ben Couturier of Alaska meaning that the age range of this years finishers was an amazing 42 years.
Standings
Men's Solo 1 Jure' Robic 3051.7 9.08.48 (13.58mph) 2 Christopher MacDonald 3051.7 10.02.01 (12.59mph) 3 Fabio Biasiolo 3051.7 10.08.14 (12.49mph) 4 David Haase 3051.7 10.12.41 (12.11mph) 5 Valentin Zeller 3051.7 10.20.25 (11.82mph) 6 Pius Achermann 3051.7 11.00.26 (11.80mph) 7 Benjamin Couturier 3051.7 11.03.10 (11.53mph) 8 Alexander Gepp 3037.3 11.15.02 (11.07mph) 9 Ben Robinson 2986.9 11.11.20 (10.97mph) 10 Jim Trout 2941.6 11.10.09 (10.94mph) 11 Chris Hopkinson 2941.6 11.11.57 (10.91mph) 12 Mark Metcalfe 2837.2 11.11.25 (10.87mph) DNF Traunmueller (Exhaustion) 2517.8 9.14.42 (10.76mph) DNF Mike Trevino (Medical) 2209.5 6.21.11 (13.38mph) DNF T. Rodgers (Missed Cutoff) 2109.7 8.23.44 (9.78mph) DNF Marko Baloh (Medical) 1634.8 5.02.32 (13.34mph) DNF Pat Autissier (Exhaustion) 1634.8 6.14.27 (10.32mph) DNF A. Colo' (Complex) 1457.7 5.09.12 (11.28mph) DNF Bob Breedlove (Accident) 1047.0 3.22.17 (11.10mph) DNF Rob Kish (Medical) 1047.0 4.05.16 (10.34mph) DNF Kevin Walsh (Medical) 941.7 4.06.04 (9.23mph) DNF Urs Koenig (Medical) 824.9 2.23.40 (11.51mph) DNF R. Arap (Missed cutoff) 635.2 2.06.17 (11.70mph) DNF John D'Elia (Exhaustion) 450.3 2.00.44 (9.24mph) DNF Dave Kees (Medical) 340.4 1.00.31 (13.88mph) Women's Solo 1 Anna Catharina Berge 3051.7 11.11.20 (11.34mph) Two Person Male 1 Team Lower Austria-Krems 3051.7 7.01.17 (18.03mph) 2 Crazy Gones 3051.7 7.11.43 (17.01mph) 3 Team 60+ 3051.7 8.13.34 (15.07mph) 4 Team Wisconsin 2941.6 9.05.13 (13.32mph) DNF Citta' Della (Medical) 1047.0 3.11.08 (12.59mph) Two Person Mixed 1 Team Endorphins 3051.7 8.17.36 (14.85mph) 2 Grupo Guapo 3051.7 9.01.51 (14.42mph) DNF Free Riders (Logistics) 1305.5 3.23.31 (13.67mph) Four Person Male 1 Beaver Creek Team-Vail 3051.7 5.18.15 (22.07mph) 2 Team Schaffhausen 3051.7 5.22.56 (21.35mph) 3 Kern Wheelmen / Advocare 3051.7 6.04.06 (20.61mph) 4 Team Inspiration GB 3051.7 6.16.52 (18.97mph) 5 Webcor Builders Endurance 3051.7 6.19.16 (18.65mph) 6 Team 3V 3051.7 6.22.12 (18.36mph) 7 Mucho Gusto Team 3051.7 6.23.13 (18.25mph) 8 Team Give Life 3051.7 7.14.39 (16.81mph) Four Person Female 1 Roaring Fork Volvo B2B Divas 3051.7 7.00.42 (18.09mph) Four Person Mixed 1 Team Cheniere's 3051.7 6.20.57 (18.50mph) 2 Landis Team Phoenix 3051.7 6.23.27 (18.22mph) Four Person HPV 1 ALS-Bacchetta 3051.7 6.03.26 (20.70mph) 2 Team JDRF VeloKraft 3051.7 6.15.46 (19.10mph) Corporate Challenge 1 Team Insight 3051.7 6.11.33 (19.62mph) 2 Team Donate Life 3051.7 6.15.28 (19.14mph) 3 The Vern's Inc. Team 3051.7 7.10.05 (17.14mph) 4 Team Dry Heat 3051.7 7.15.12 (16.65mph) 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)
