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Race Across America - NE
USA, June 11-23, 2006
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Day 2 - June 12
Solo Enduro
It would appear as thought two Slovenians are dominating the solo RAAM field early into the race much the same way as they did last year, but this is the year of the new Enduro RAAM, so normal observations as in years past, are more complicated than ever. Just because a rider checks into a time station ahead of his competition doesn’t necessarily mean he is winning the race. Among the top Enduro riders (as of Monday afternoon), Boyer has logged the most off bike time with 5 hours, 27 minutes (5:27), then Tinker Juarez with 4:18, followed by Kenny Souza with 3:22, and Valentin Zeller with 3:12. Baloh only has 0:30, and Robic 1:47. Here is the time spread between riders for the top Enduro riders at TS #9 in Flagstaff, and their cumulative off bike times:
1. Baloh 0:30
off bike time:
2. Robic is 0:41 behind Baloh 1:47
3. Souza is 1:44 behind Robic 3:22
4. Boyer is 0:45 behind Souza 5:27
5. Juarez is 0:16 behind Boyer 4:18
I see Boyer as being the leader since he is 3:10 behind Baloh, but he has 5:27 of off bike time compared to Baloh’s 0:30. This is only speculation since it assumes that Boyer’s on the bike speed is the same as Baloh’s. By the end of the race, everybody’s off the bike time must be at least 40 hours, so whoever can ride the fastest with this sleep parameter imposed upon them will be the winner.
Staying within 15 minutes of each other the first 24 hours, Marko Baloh and Jure Robic kept exchanging leads.
Leader Baloh rode 445 miles his first 24 hours. This is two miles less than 2005 leader Robic did in 2005, 9 miles more than Robic in 2004, and 52 miles more than Allen Larsen did in 2003.
Solo Traditional
With the Enduro riders finally taking some longer sleep stops at control points, the Traditional riders finally had a chance to pass them and move up in position along the route. At TS #9 in Flagstaff, rookie Daniel Wyss was leading Marcel Knaus by just one minute. There were now only 3 Enduro riders ahead of the Traditional leader instead of 6 like back at TS #2. Also, the Traditional leader had closed the time gap between himself and the Enduro leader. I remember back on my RAAM victories, whenever I went down for my 3 hours of sleep at night early in the race, I would wake up many places lower. Later in the race when people got more spread out, I would lose less places. When Juarez arrived at TS #6 in Congress, there were no Traditional riders in front of him. When he arrived at TS #7 after taking a 3:46 stop at TS #6, there were 7 Traditional riders in front of him.
In the women’s race, Shanna Armstrong started out ahead of Patty Jo Struve, but by the Blythe TS, Struve was 44 minutes ahead of Shanna. At the next TS, Shanna was 3 minutes ahead of Struve, and by the next TS Shanna was 1:45 ahead of Struve.
24 Hour Corporate Challenge
RAAM Media director Paul Skilbeck, camera man Jeric Wilhelmsen, local Brian Riebe, and I set up the finish line for the 24 Hour Corporate Challenge at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The winning 8 man Team Beat Cancer led through every time station and increased their lead over the other teams and solo riders all the way to Flagstaff 489 miles along the route. They finished 4.5 hours ahead of solo leader Baloh, and almost 3 hours faster than the 2nd placed Team Swami’s. Beat Cancer had 4 riders from last years Swami’s Team including captain Albert Barajas. Their ride was dedicated to Albert’s wife Erika’s battle with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with while pregnant two years ago. Ultramarathon running sensation Pam Reed’s Badwater Crew team finished third, 41 minutes behind Swami’s, and Team Illumina was fourth 1.5 hours behind Reed.
Results
Men's Solo - Traditional 1 Marcel Knaus 565.1 1.09.47 (16.73mph) 2 Daniel Wyss 565.1 1.09.54 (16.67mph) 3 James Kern 488.9 1.07.07 (15.71mph) 4 Gerhard Gulewicz 488.9 1.07.51 (15.35mph) 5 Kevin Wallace 488.9 1.08.03 (15.25mph) 6 Dino Nico Valsesia 488.9 1.09.42 (14.51mph) 7 Fabio Biasiolo 488.9 1.09.57 (14.40mph) 8 David Haase 488.9 1.10.35 (14.14mph) 9 Tony O'Keeffe 452.8 1.07.13 (14.51mph) 10 Guus Moonen 452.8 1.07.21 (14.44mph) 11 Attila Kaldy 389.9 1.06.20 (12.85mph) 12 David Jones 389.9 1.06.43 (12.69mph) 13 Orlando Borini 389.9 1.09.53 (11.51mph) 14 Louis Lamoureux 341.6 1.10.24 (9.93mph) Men's Solo - Enduro 1 Marko Baloh 565.1 1.07.40 (17.85mph) 2 Jure' Robic 565.1 1.07.45 (17.80mph) 3 Jonathan Boyer 565.1 1.10.03 (16.60mph) 4 Kenny Souza 488.9 1.06.06 (16.24mph) 5 David Tinker Juarez 488.9 1.07.06 (15.72mph) 6 Valentin Zeller-DNF Medical 488.9 1.10.21 (14.23mph) 7 Bryce Walsh 389.9 1.07.04 (12.55mph) 8 Rob Lucas 389.9 1.07.25 (12.41mph) 9 Fred Boethling 389.9 1.10.17 (11.37mph) 10 Jean-Marc Velez 341.6 1.02.52 (12.71mph) 11 Mitchell Lesack 341.6 1.06.44 (11.11mph) 12 Guido Kunze 341.6 1.07.19 (10.91mph) 13 Guy Wells 341.6 1.10.23 (9.94mph) Women's Solo - Traditional 1 Shanna Armstrong 389.9 1.09.22 (11.69mph) 2 Patty Jo Struve 389.9 1.09.19 (11.70mph) Two Person Mixed 1 Racing Against Diabetes 389.9 1.07.58 (12.20mph) Corporate Challenge HPV 1 Handcycleteam RC-Enjo Volarlberg 389.9 1.09.18 (11.71mph) 24 Hour Corporate Challenge 1 Team Beat Cancer 488.9 1.00.24 (20.04mph) 2 The Swami's Team 488.9 1.02.26 (18.50mph) 3 Pam Reed's Badwater Crew 488.9 1.02.36 (18.38mph) 4 Team Illumina 488.9 1.04.28 (17.17mph)
