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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 19-July 1, 2005
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Day 4 - June 22
Chew's view: Robic defends, Breedlove reminisces
By Daniel Chew
Taking another 90 minute sleep break on his 3rd night, Robic continues to defend his RAAM title convincingly with a four hour lead over 2nd place. In the early afternoon in Western Colorado, Trevino passed Baloh to move into 2nd place. It looks like Trevino took his longest (one hour) sleep break of the race thus far on the 3rd night while Baloh slept 2.5 hours. Holding onto 4th place, rookie leader Chris MacDonald got his 3rd consecutive night of 3 hours of sleep (Chew style). After falling back to 25th place the first day in the desert from severe dehydration, David Haase made a remarkable comeback moving up to 8th place in Colorado.
Around Noon local time on Tuesday, Dr. Bob Breedlove walked into the gas station at time station 12 in Mexican Hat, UT to cool off. With an ice pack on his head, he began reminiscing about his many past transcontinental crossings. He had ridden on this section of the course two times. He said that the Southern course he set the 50+ record on in 2002 (outside of RAAM) was much flatter the first half. UMCA magazine editor John Hughes was there shooting photos. Getting ready to leave, Bob put on a pair of thin orange long-fingered gloves overtop regular cycling gloves so people can see him waving at them across the country.
18 year old Alaskan Ben Couturier moved up into 12th place within an hour of Cat Berge in 11th. In danger of being disqualified from falling below 10.52 mph at time station
13 (a fourth of the way across), Austrian Karl Traunmueller got his average speed up to 10.68 mph just in time. Patrick Autissier's speed was right on the edge at 10.51 mph at the time station. Not so fortunate was Brazil's Ricardo Arap who was stuck at time station 11 in Kayenta, AZ 635 miles in for over 12 hours helplessly watching his speed drop below 10.52 mph. In spite of arriving at the time station in 17th place (ahead of 7 men and two DNFs), he became the 3rd casualty of the race when he dropped out on Wednesday morning.
Leader Robic rode 361 miles his 2nd day giving him a 48 hour split of 808 miles. This is 34 miles more than he did last year, but 12 miles less than than Pete Penseyres rode his first two days of his 15.4 mph record. Robic rode 317 miles his 3rd day giving him a 3 day split of 1,125 miles. 4 miles less than he did last year and 85 miles less than Pete Penseyres rode his first three days of his 15.4 mph record.
Team RAAM
25 teams representing 8 divisions or categories started Team RAAM on Tuesday afternoon 55 hours after the solo riders left on Sunday morning. Lead solo rider Jure Robic has a 920 mile head start - he was climbing up Wolf Creek Pass to the Continental Divide when the teams started after him. How long will it take to catch him? The 4 person teams started at 17:11 followed by the 2 person teams 5 minutes later, and the 8 person corporate teams 5 minutes after the 2 person teams.
The fastest division will be the 4 person. The first person to win 4 person three times is big Joe Petersen who also has two 2nds and a 4th. Joe will be going for his 4th win this year on his Kern Wheelmen Team with 3 rookies. The only other person to win 4 person three times is Kerry Ryan last year on his Action Sports Team. Ryan broke Petersen's 8 year old speed record last year by a mere 0.02 mph.
Joe, a 46 year old certified personal trainer from Bakersfield, CA is 6'4" tall and 230 pounds. He believes the only limitations we have are those we put on ourselves. He is married and a father of five children. He rides 180 Rotor cranks with 46/63 chainrings and an 11-24 rear cluster. He seldom shifts so the 63x11 gets most of the wear. He hasn't used smaller than a 60 chainring in over 12 years. He spoke with Chris Carmichael about his gearing, and he's the first coach who ever agreed with Joe's selection. For Joe's unusual size, leg length, strength, and "riding style" it optimizes his pedal stroke. Joe's position on a bike is unmistakable. He has shattered both of his shoulders and in an aero tuck position, they collapse and almost disappear. Due to extreme flexibility, he is able to ride completely flat which gives him a huge aerodynamic advantage. Finally, the fact that he does not displace any more frontal area than smaller riders, but has longer and much stronger levers, makes him a threat on everything except the steepest climbs.
RAAM has become very dear to Joe's heart over the years. His main goal for his Kern Wheelmen team this year is to do RAAM to the absolute best of their abilities. Joe writes:
"If I can lead and co-ordinate 3 men and 16 crew members into functioning as a cohesive unit, and have each of them coming away with the knowledge that they all did everything in their power to attain perfection; Then we all walk away Winners in the truest sense of the word. Podium finishes, and records are to be savored like the wildflowers in spring. Real victory lies in the battle well fought, the journey well traveled. Everyone who crosses the finish line in RAAM is a winner and a true Champion. Dreams do not 'just happen', fantasies are just fantasies, it takes a Champion to put it all into motion, and make it come true. When it is all said and done, I don't want to look back on my life and say I wish could have, or would have done something. Life experiences should be cherished, life is much too short to just stand idly by and not embrace it with your heart and soul. In RAAM, I have found a journey like no other; it's not just a journey across our great country, but an inner journey of self-discovery."
The biggest obstacle in the way of Joe's 4th victory is Team Beaver Creek - Vail out of Colorado. Their captain Zach Bingham, a three time 4 person veteran including a victory in 2001, was knocked out of this years RAAM with hepatitis. Zack's teammate on all 3 teams,
Mortenson will lead the team along with pro mountain bike racer Mike Janelle on the 2004 Vail - Go Fast team that placed 2nd. Beaver Creek has an average age of 32.75 years old, and Kern Wheelmen 40.5
Team Beaver Creek - Vail won the first time station over Switzerland's Team 1WC Schaffhausen by 6 minutes. Kern Wheelman was 3rd two minutes behind 1WC. At TS 2, KW moved into 2nd, but fell 11 minutes behind BC-V. KW came within one minute of BC-V in Hope, AZ, but fell 57 minutes behind by Flagstaff. 1WC held onto 3rd place. BC-V rode 561 miles to Tuba City, AZ in the first 24 hours.
In the 4 person recumbent division, ALS Bacchetta and JDRF VeloKraft started out slow, but moved up to 4th and 7th place overall among the teams by Flagstaff, AZ separated by 27 minutes. In the 2 person race, Lower Austria - City of Krems was as high as 4th place overall among all teams, and had a two hour lead on Crazy Gones in Williams, AZ. In the mixed 2 person, Free Riders had a 10 minute lead over Grupo Gaupo, and was 55 minutes ahead of Endorphins in Prescott, AZ. In the 8 person corporate challenge, Insight was as high as 4th overall among all the teams, and was leading Eric Heiden's Donate Life team by 43 minutes in Flagstaff.
Standings
Men's Solo Distance Time Av Speed 1 Jure' Robic 1417.4 3.20.59 (15.24mph) 2 Mike Trevino 1305.5 3.18.51 (14.37mph) 3 Christopher MacDonald 1251.6 3.17.22 (14.01mph) 4 Marko Baloh 1251.6 3.17.29 (13.99mph) 5 Pius Achermann 1183.1 3.20.57 (12.73mph) 6 Fabio Biasiolo 1112.5 3.12.44 (13.13mph) 7 Valentin Zeller 1112.5 3.14.22 (12.88mph) 8 David Haase 1112.5 3.20.22 (12.04mph) 9 Benjamin Couturier 1047.0 3.18.12 (11.61mph) 10 Chris Hopkinson 1047.0 3.20.25 (11.33mph) 11 Bob Breedlove 988.2 3.11.21 (11.86mph) 12 Ben Robinson 988.2 3.15.45 (11.26mph) 13 Alessandro Colo' 988.2 3.16.47 (11.13mph) 14 Mark Metcalfe 988.2 3.17.39 (11.02mph) 15 Alexander Gepp 988.2 3.17.51 (11.00mph) 16 Jim Trout 941.7 3.18.36 (10.39mph) 17 Karl Traunmueller 941.7 3.19.20 (10.31mph) 18 Thomas Rodgers 897.8 3.11.44 (10.72mph) 19 Patrick Autissier 897.8 3.12.52 (10.58mph) 20 Rob Kish 897.8 3.15.08 (10.30mph) 21 Kevin Walsh 897.8 3.19.55 (9.77mph) 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 1047.0 3.15.34 (11.96mph) Two Person Male 1 Team Lower Austria-Krems 679.8 1.11.27 (19.18mph) 2 Crazy Gones 679.8 1.14.00 (17.89mph) 3 Team 60+ 563.3 1.13.14 (15.13mph) 4 Team Wisconsin 492.8 1.13.44 (13.06mph) 5 Citta' Della Speranza 450.3 1.12.24 (12.37mph) Two Person Mixed 1 Grupo Guapo 563.3 1.11.14 (15.99mph) 2 Team Endorphins 492.8 1.09.04 (14.90mph) 3 Free Riders 492.8 1.12.52 (13.37mph) Four Person Male 1 Beaver Creek Team-Vail 824.9 1.11.03 (23.53mph) 2 Team Schaffhausen 824.9 1.14.10 (21.61mph) 3 Kern Wheelmen / Advocare 726.9 1.08.59 (22.04mph) 4 Mucho Gusto Team 726.9 1.14.04 (19.10mph) 5 Webcor Builders Endurance 726.9 1.14.14 (19.01mph) 6 Team Inspiration GB 679.8 1.12.15 (18.75mph) 7 Team 3V 679.8 1.12.41 (18.53mph) 8 Team Give Life 635.2 1.14.21 (16.56mph) Four Person Female 1 Roaring Fork Volvo B2B Divas 679.8 1.14.08 (17.83mph) Four Person Mixed 1 Landis Team Phoenix 726.9 1.14.17 (18.99mph) 2 Team Cheniere's 679.8 1.12.07 (18.82mph) Four Person HPV 1 ALS-Bacchetta 780.7 1.14.22 (20.35mph) 2 Team JDRF VeloKraft 726.9 1.13.41 (19.29mph) Corporate Challenge 1 Team Insight 726.9 1.12.43 (19.80mph) 2 Team Donate Life 726.9 1.13.38 (19.32mph) 3 Team Dry Heat 635.2 1.13.43 (16.84mph) 4 The Vern's Inc. Team 635.2 1.14.05 (16.68mph) 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)
