Four Riders and 14 Crew???

Unless you have firsthand experience with RAAM, you may not realize that many more people participate as crew than as riders. Our team of 18 will have four riders, and 14 crew. Why so many? In a word: Logistics.

The crews operate around the clock in three eight-hour shifts. Call the shifts “Follow Duty,” “Mother Ship,” and “Sleep.”

Follow Duty There are four crew members in two follow vans on the course at all times. They operate as driver/navigator pairs in leapfrogging riders up the course as the riders alternate 20-30 minute pulls. Riders will do this for four hours before returning to the Mother Ship to eat and sleep while the other two riders take to the course for four hours, but the Follow Van crews stay out for eight hours at a time.

Mother Ship When the crews come off their Follow Duty shift, they start their eight hours of Mother Ship chores. The Mother Ship is a large RV that houses riders and crews not out on the course. For the riders, all time in the Mother Ship is meant to be spent eating, sleeping, and getting ready to ride again. For the crew, Mother-Ship duty entails cooking, cleaning, massaging riders, repairing bikes, planning, etc. – all mostly done in a moving RV. The riders are moving down the road non-stop, so the Mother Ship must cover around 500 miles a day, too.

Sleep After 16 hours of work, the crew has what may be its most important shift, the Sleep shift. Riders start to get a little Zombie-like after several days of racing, so it’s important that crew members be rested and alert. Sleep is essential. Even though the Mother Ship is a crowded, smelly, noisy, bouncy bike shop/motel on wheels and all the beds are shared with other crew, staying awake is not an option.

Go-Fers Staffing these three shifts only requires 12 crew, so where are the other two? They are operating a fourth vehicle, the Go-Fer van. Go-Fers run errands for the riders and crew so they can remain focused on racing. The errands include shopping for rider and crew food (when suddenly one of the riders can only stomach soft boiled eggs and licorice), laundry, repairing a vehicle’s flat tire, ferrying water and ice, serving as an ambulance if needed, etc. All this is done while staying in touch with the Mother Ship and arranging a rendezvous every few hours as the whole three-ring circus covers 500 miles about every 24 hours. Go-Fers sleep in motels as their work allows, but they spend more time driving than anyone else on the team.

So, is RAAM all about riding or all about crewing? The answer is both and each experience offers a great opportunity to be part of an unforgettable teaming experience. If you aren’t lucky enough to ride or crew this year, we hope you’ll participate virtually by following our team as it prepares and races.