Race Across America Pictures...

[Veronica]

Our pictures are now up. Follow the link in my sig line.

Veronica

[Tri Girl]

AMAZING!!!! Wow- 6 days. How long did each person ride daily? I'm in awe of the teams' accomplishments. Truly awe inspiring. Pictures are great, too!

[Veronica]

With 8 tandems, if each team rode the same amount it works out to 60 miles per day. At one point, Thom was asleep and one of the racers was driving our van. I asked him what he had done to train for this and his reply was nothing; it was just 60 miles a day in 10 - 15 mile increments - most of the time the racers were doing 30 minute pulls, except in the Rockies and the Appalachians. To be fair the person I asked was Joe Peterson who holds the current RAAM record for both 2 man and 4 man teams.

The real accomplishment was getting 26 people across the country, without too many navigation errors and without killing each other due to personality conflicts as we got more and more tired. As crew we were getting about two hours of sleep in the van each day while the racers drove. That means the van was moving and our second set of racers would be getting in and out as we slept. Earplugs are a must for this sort of thing. At least that's what Thom and I were getting, I can't speak to the other crews. We'd also catnap for 10 - 20 minutes when we were stopped.

Veronica

[jobob]

Hey there - welcome back!! Great, great photos. Can't wait to hear all about it.

[Veronica]

Thom lost 5 pounds during the race and I lost 2 pounds. Poor Thom had to go back to work today.

We're working on the write up. The best day was the day we went up to Manga Pass, the highest point. We had two vans working together (4 tandems rotating) and it was a blast. That's the day with the steam train and the hula pictures.

Veronica

[Biciclista]

you said it was 60 miles a day in 10 - 15 mile increments. That would actually be 150 miles.
Sounds like quite the ride. did you get a feel for what was the hardest state to ride in, and which was the easiest?
congrats!

[Veronica]

The riders went out 4 times a day in 10 - 15 mile increments. That's 40 - 60 miles a day, depending on the terrain. I'm not sure how you got 150 miles.

Hard - urban areas were nasty to navigate through both for the riders and the navigators in the vans. Kansas was terrible - hot and humid. It was over 100 degrees the day we were there. Going into Effingham, IL the riders had to slog over a DIRT road in the dark on tires with 170 PSI. Fortunately, they did not get a flat.

Veronica

[TxDoc]

Cool photos!

[Veronica]

We have now posted our official report on our website.


Veronica

[jobob]

Ouch, what a demanding week you had.

Look at the bright side, it could have been even worse (you know what I'm talking about here ... )

[aka_kim]

"Ouch" is right. Well, an unforgettable experience at least. Thanks for the report.