RAAM

Now that I've had a few hours of sleep, I'd like to thank everyone for keeping up with my race. As you might expect, there were a lot of highs and lows.

Compared to other riders, I feel like I started the race in a conservative fashion. I knew from previous rides that day two of the race would likely make or break me. Those long hot climbs out of the desert didn't destroy me, but they left me far behind on nutrition. To recover, I tried to back down on speed. I went from having a 9 hour cushion on the minimum average speed to being 1:45 behind on the cutoff. I felt o.k., but I couldn't take in calories and knew my race soon would be over if things didn't change. I think I was the last rider on the road before things finally started to turn around.

Once I reached the Rockies I became a new rider, but the long climbs and need for sleep prevented me from getting comfortable on time. As hard as I rode, I never got more than about a 2 hours cushion over the minimum time. It seemed very similar to riding from control to control on a brevet when you're barely above the time limit. Finally, we crossed the Divide and started to get some nice tailwinds. Instead of relaxing, I pushed just as hard and started to get some time breaks.

As you might expect, catching up to other riders was nice. I got into a loose pack of 8 riders that lasted for several days. Whenever one rider in the pack would get a little ahead, the need for sleep would catch up to them and nothing ended up changing. It seemed to me that everyone in the pack was content to get 4 hours of sleep each day and just survive until the finish. At some point I felt it was necessary to make some noise and attack the pack. I started the assault by getting 3 full hours of sleep at once, which was something I had not done previously in the race. Then, however, I rode 22 straight hours with almost no time off the bike, slept 1.5 hours again, and then rode another 22 straight hours. It was enough to take a significant lead over the group.

During the race I became engrossed in position. The possibility of rookie of the year and 1st American finisher opened up. These are significant honors, and even if I thought I shouldn't be in contention for them, I was. I rode very hard and tried to get constant updates on the other riders. I had spent 15 minutes riding with Gottwald and knew he was a superior rider (much like Jock Boyer), but somehow felt like he didn't have any real interest in finishing high in the standings. He was getting 6-7 hours of sleep each night riding amongst the pack, but despite being the first person to every time station, he would take long breaks after arriving. I was also keeping a close eye on Ben Popp because I knew how fast he rode the Fireweed 400. Despite the media hype, I wasn't too concerned about Jim Rees because was neither a rookie nor an American.

I rode my heart out through the rest of the race. As soon as Gottwald woke up, he blew past the remaining field of riders and quickly made short work of me. I got a little satisfaction out of making him work at least a little harder for his victory. He's a great and humble athlete who definately deserves rookie of the year. I also have extremely high opinions of Daniel Rudge and Jim Rees.

The last 300-400 miles were very difficult. The crew would tell me that all I had was a 600k remaining, but this didn't make me feel any better. Every mile seemed like 3 miles and the climbs were never ending. I worked very hard to stay ahead of Jim Rees and knew he was close every time his crew's RV would pass me.

In the end, I finished feeling pretty good. My mouth is a little sore and my lip is bleeding from wind burn, and then I had to tape up my left achilles just before the finish. There's also a little bit of soreness in my hands from all the rough roads (which were plentiful during the race). Still, not too bad for 3,021 miles.

The finish was amazing. Standing on the stage with all those great athletes in Oceanside was very intimidating and had me feeling out of place. I don't think I would have ever dreamed of a 5th place finish at RAAM. It's now back to work. I hope with a little time that I'll be able to thank all of those people who helped make this such a successful race.

Thanks,

Kevin