idoru2005

I'm surprised no one has posted this yet. RAAM starts today. Check it out:

https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raa...?N_webcat_id=1

DGlenday

I've been watching the site - and plan to spend some time at the important Mt.Airy control point when the riders start coming through.

lhbernhardt

Looking at the route - it covers many of the roads I went over on the Borrego Double! Pretty tough way to start a 3,000-mile ride!

Luis

GP

I was volunteering at TS1 a few years ago at Lake Henshaw. A racer rode up and said he was beat, he didn't realize there was so much climbing. I didn't say anything but I was thinking, damn, you're only 56 miles from the start.

hamster

I have to say that www.raceacrossamerica.org is the crappiest cycling event site I've seen in a long time, especially considering that it's supposed to be a high profile race. Whoever maintains it must be shot. It looks like a dizzying mix of information about 2010, 2011, and 2012 races. How about this gem: "The race will be in Oceanside at the Pier from Sunday June 12, 2010, through Saturday June 18, 2011"? Up until a few days ago, there was no clear description of when and where it started.

There's also a sister site, www.raceacrossthewest.org, which rivals the RAAM site in crappiness. That one was simply not updated at all since last year, and includes useful information about the finish ("Racers will begin to arrive Friday June 17, 2011...") as well as the countdown till the beginning of the race, in the top right corner (in case you were wondering, there are -365 days left.)

I can only hope that they handle the actual race better than they handle their web site.

waxnomadic

How about https://tourdivide.org/ ... equally crappy and out-of-date. That race supposedly started last Friday, as well, but you can't tell from the website.

downtube42

RAAM route goes about 1/2 mile from my house

I'll be cheering for Jocks and Docs, an 8-man team that includes the owner of my LBS. I'm sure we'll have some kind of party on the road when they come through town.

unterhausen

tour divide is always bad, but they have a page tracking the riders it's HERE. The blog is ok, and they often have riders calling in.

The RAAM site usually has an obvious page where you can track riders, I don't see it this year

hamster

Click on "RESULTS" in the main menu. It has drop-down options "2011 Leaderboard" and "2011 Animated Map", both of which, in fact, take you to data from 2011, but the header itself takes you to live results.

Homeyba

If you all are interested, I am officiating again this year, and would be willing to provide incite from the road (whenever I have internet access). I will be going out with the teams this year so I won't be leaving until Saturday. Tomorrow I will go out with the solo riders just to TS1. If you'd like, I'll start a thread on Saturday when we leave.
There are a couple teams thinking they are going to beat the 5 day barrier this year. Good luck to them! Even if they don't, they'll be going fast! The solo race looks to be good too with a number of fast guys and ladies!

PS, no the website isn't the best. All I can say in their defense is that RAAM doesn't rake in the bucks. Many years they are struggling to just break even so they don't have a ton of money to invest in web design. Most of us who work to put this race on every year do so with little or no compensation. I know they could use the volunteers to help them out, maybe if you're good at web design you could help them out with a facelift!

DGlenday

We'd like!

Many thanks - we look forward to your insights.



The web site isn't clear about it - but here's the link to the live leaderboard:
https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raa...&s_N_Race_ID=1

StephenH

Steve Petty, one of our Lone Star Randonneurs, is riding on one of the 4 person teams, with a couple of other LSR personnel crewing. Kurt Searvogel is riding solo and is also an LSR member, but I don't really know him.

The line above about the guy at the 56 mile mark- that is classic!

Homeyba

Stage one is actually one of the harder stages (the hardest being in West Virginia). It has almost 4% of the total climbing for the entire race in its 56 miles. You have to climb over the coastal mountain range before dropping back down into the desert.

thebulls

Hi, Duncan,

Will riders likely be coming through Mt Airy on Saturday the 16th? That might be fun to watch ...

Nick

DXchulo

+1. I enjoyed your thread last time.

Hairy Hands

Hey Bernie, what caused the downfall of this race? When I was a kid it was televised on ABC Wide World of Sports and seemed to be a very big deal.

DGlenday

Nick,

Not the 16th. The route takes them through time station # 51, which is at Mt.Airy Bicycles. I'm sure several people here can give us a more accurate estimate, but I think the first riders will start coming through around Thu. 6/21, and the last should roll through on Mon. 6/25. There should be some teams coming through over the weekend of 6/23-24.

Best idea is to watch the leaderboard here:
https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raa...&s_N_Race_ID=1

I’m planning to be there on Thu. 6/21 or Fri. 6/22. I was there on the Friday last year. The place isn't exactly a hub of activity, with riders coming through every few hours or so, and many just blow right past without stopping. But it's fun to talk to other fans, and some of the teams were there, waiting for their rider to come through, and we had interesting conversations with them.

It would be cool to see John and Nancy coming through...

Homeyba

It's pretty simple, sponsorship money. Back in the day when it first started it was really just a small group of enthusiasts. Everything was volunteer. When it appeared on WWS the big money sponsors came in and it did become a big thing. The sponsorship money dried up a long time ago. It also went through several ownership changes. Currently it's owned by a businessman/cyclist and his company is trying to bring it back to a thriving organization. Another issue is that it's very difficult to "grow" the event, They've basically had around 30 solo racers compete every year. One thing that has really helped is the introduction of the teams. That is where the growth has been because the teams make this an event that many can do that they otherwise couldn't or wouldn't. Especially the eight man teams! The participation has been growing and this year they have the largest field ever so that is promising. If it keeps on growing like it has things will get much better. If they can come up with a title sponsor it'll get even better. We'll see how it goes.

Homeyba

BTW, the solo racers went out today. It's going to be a wide open race for the men! I think Trix Zgraggen is the woman to beat. She is wanting to beat Seana Hogans overall record. That's going to be tough! Speaking of the women, the Race Across the West looks like an awesome race! Seana Hogan and Leah Goldstein are very competitive (to put it mildly) with each other. If Seana's knee holds out they will be neck and neck to the finish. They were just 4 minutes apart at TS 2, 145 miles out averaging 19mph. There are ten+ guys in the solo division who could win. Some of them are unknowns and some like Gerhard Gulewicz and Chris Strasser are known fast guys. I expect some of the inexperienced guys to burn themselves up going too fast through the desert. They don't realize that the race doesn't really start until they get to Ohio/W. Va. Expect the top ten to shuffle a lot.

Stage one is a tough stage, with the fifth most climbing feet in the whole race, about 4% of the total climbing! It was in the mid-high 80s but there was a cool ocean breaze helping them along. Over night temperatures in the desert tonight are supposed to be in the upper 70's with highs of 103-106 tomorrow. Those who are taking their time tonight are going to suffer tomorrow!

lhbernhardt

This is quite interesting to follow. I'm at the point where Trix Zgraggen has finally been passed by one of the teams, and will soon be passed by fellow Swiss rider Reto Schoch leading the men. I finally figured out that the best way to follow this race, given its web resources, is to first check the 2012 leaderboard, and then check the time stations in descending order to get an idea of what the time gaps are between the closest riders.

All they really need to do for the site to make it more interesting is to have a page that shows the time gaps at each station, put in such a way that it's easy to tell what the gaps are between the riders. I'm also finding the teams confusing. I thought the teams were starting on Saturday, but I see there's a team that's just passed Trix, so is that team racing the RAW? And then I've got to go to another site to see what's going on with the women racing the RAW? Knd of confusing to someone not that familiar with the organization of this thing. Plus it would help if there were a start list that showed starting times. I had to figure out myself that the riders started one minute apart. At least I think the women and the 60+ riders did.

Interesting despite the lack of info and the confusion. Oh, the media blog also helps a lot, but it's kind of sporadic. I think this event could be a lot bigger if it had a more organized web presence. If you have a really effective web presence, who needs the TV coverage? That's how I usually follow the big Euro races that the US networks don't show.

Luis

lhbernhardt

Oh, and I forgot to add that it looks like Swiss race leader Reto Schoch has done the first 1200 km in about 41 hours, on a section of the course substantially hillier than Paris-Brest-Paris! (And with another 3,600 km to go!) So either this guy is going to set a new record, or he's going to explode big time! This will be fun to watch!

Luis

Homeyba

Here is how the start thing works. The solo women and 60+ men go out on Tuesday. All of the solo men, all (team and solo) of the RAW racers and any teams with "special" circumstances go out on Wednesday. "Special" circumstances would include the 4 man team Pac Masters because they are over 75yrs old.

As far as the women go, Trix is easily the strongest woman out there. I thought that Janet would push her a little harder but that doesn't look to be happening, at least yet. Something must have happened to Seana Hogan in the RAW race as she was within 6 minutes of Leah Goldstein until TS 12 then poof.


Of the guys in the top 5-8 everything is close to how it should be with the exception of Reto Schoch. He's really an unknown quantity. Nobody really knows much about him so it's possible he could be for real or he could blow up. If he's going to explode I would expect it to happen pretty quick. I inspected his team at the start and he is a small up-beat guy. He seemed real nice and he has a great crew. I am kind of hoping he can stay ahead. Christopher Strausser may just be bidding his time and letting Schoch run out front. We'll see.


The teams start tomorrow and that's going to be fun to watch! A couple of the 8-bike teams have made no bones about the fact that they want to brake the 5 day barrier or at least the Team Type 1 record. A lot of that will depend on the weather. Right now, that looks pretty good. We'll see when they hit the plains. There is also a couple 4 man teams that are really fast and aiming for the Kern Wheelman's record. There is also an 8 man (youngster) team whose average age is 15yrs old! I'd love to be a fly on the wall with that team, many of their parents are crewing!!!! Normally that's a recipe for disaster, we'll see.

I have a bunch of pictures that I took with a friends camera and as soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off onto my computer I'll post some of them. It's always interesting to see what the latest fashion is for 3000+ mile bike rides!

Homeyba

I'm at TS 2 in Brawley and it's hot. Around 100+ degrees at 7:00pm. The racers had a head wind up the mountains and then when they hit the desert off the glass elevator the wind stopped. So they are without the usual tailwind that the solo riders had on Wednesday. I think the lows here in the desert are supposed to be 70+degrees. Some of these teams are fast! One has two licensed pro riders and the rest are CAT1/2 guys. A couple teams to watch are Team 812 ViaSat, 807 Strategic Lions eight man teams and Team 415 Live for life, 419 team 'Hope four man teams and T200 Dreamteam. They are leading their divisions. Also you might want to keep an eye on Team 808. They are all teenagers between the age of 14 and 16 years old and they are currently 4th in the 8 bike division! They are kicking butt!

Things are looking pretty static up front in the solo division. There was a rider hit by a car. He had a seperated shoulder but is still riding last time I heard.

Homeyba

Strausser passed Schoch this morning. It's looking like it might be very hot in the mid west. The forecast for Ulyissus KS is 101 today, 100 tomorrow and 99 on tuesday. A cooling trend! They had rain through there yesterday so I can imagine the humidity...

akansaskid

Rode out to TS 27 Maize today to catch Strasser and Schoch. Strasser hit TS 26 a few minutes before Schoch, and if I projected an 18-20 mph leg, that would have them at Maize just short of 2:00 PM local. Temp was low 90s, winds were 20-30 at about 190 degrees, so headwinds wouldn't be a problem and at least 10 miles of the route was pure tailwind.

Strasser's RV was in the convenience store lot (official TS 27) when I arrived about 1:15 local. Its driver thought Strasser might be 40 minutes out, but he wasn't sure. He said the highway patrol closed the road near the KS-CO border for an hour last night when a tornado reportedly swept through. Said Strasser used it for a power nap.

I could tell the leg was troublesome for the riders. I rode out about 7 miles to find them and even so, had to wait for quite a while. When I finally saw Schoch I headed north with the wind at about 30 mph but he had no trouble closing, and I peeled off to cheer and then follow. We both slowed to something in the middle-upper teens when we turned east toward Maize. He slowly increased the gap.

At TS 27, I was surprised to see only the follow vehicle in the lot for Schoch. By then Strasser's team had an RV and a small van, with their follow car still out on the road. Trix had an RV about 5 miles back. Perhaps Schoch has more than one vehicle on the team, but none were seen all afternoon.

While Schoch cooled off in the store, his driver said he didn't think Schoch had really slept yet to speak of, and that they weren't delayed by the storm. They had passed Strasser "maybe two hours ago and he looked a little tired." Looking over Schoch's Addict, I noticed very little seat-to-bar drop. The driver explained it was an asymmetric custom-made seat and you could tell the left side was cut lower further back than the right. Schoch himself proved to be surprisingly small. I don't work a carnival booth, but I'd say he wasn't any over 5'6" and 125-130 lbs.

I headed back west and finally found Strasser. After cheering him and letting traffic clear, I followed him into TS 27. He was riding out of saddle quite a bit, and his cadence was low. I'm 62 and not all that fast, and I had no trouble catching back up to him, and slowed to stay back out of the way. I'd say he was very tired at that point.

Neither team were fans of the heat and wind. Unfortunately for those behind them, it's supposed to be a little warmer and a little windier for the next three days or so. It's Kansas - what's new.