Along the pathway to riding in RAAM, our team members are still participating in other competitions, as long as they do not conflict too much with RAAM preparation. To that end as our most "senior" team member, I participated in the Florida State Finals of the Senior games, Recumbent Division Time Trials. Many of you know me better as Diesel on the Bacchetta forum. I qualified for the finals by racing the Senior Games in Sebring (Highlands County Games) as the only recumbent at those games.
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An odyssey to conquer Race Across America 2012, and beyond...
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Team Sarcoma's Most "Senior" Member Wins Two Golds in Florida State Finals
Along the pathway to riding in RAAM, our team members are still participating in other competitions, as long as they do not conflict too much with RAAM preparation. To that end as our most "senior" team member, I participated in the Florida State Finals of the Senior games, Recumbent Division Time Trials. Many of you know me better as Diesel on the Bacchetta forum. I qualified for the finals by racing the Senior Games in Sebring (Highlands County Games) as the only recumbent at those games.
Monday, December 5, 2011
What's new with the Team?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Things I Think I Know About Sebring 12/24 Race
Saturday, November 5, 2011
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.”
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.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
PBP 2007 Vs 2011: Why I’m Sold on Recumbents for Randonneurring
by Alex Miller
I completed Paris Brest Paris in 2007 and 2011. In 2007, I rode a very expensive, custom-made diamond frame bike by a highly respected builder – not the same bike as the one pictured, but very similar. It is a truly beautiful bike and everyone who has ever ridden it talks about its comfort and handling.
But, after 1200K (750 miles), I had lost the use of my left hand (was having to reach across and shift with my right), both of my feet had extensive nerve damage, I was impotent, and my rump looked like hamburger. The ride took me 85 hours, and I was limited to 6 hours of sleep. It was not a lot of fun. I eventually recovered from all that, but some the healing took a while and the impotence in particular seemed to take a long time regardless of what the calendar said!
While I was suffering through the last several hundred miles of PBP ’07, I kept seeing this happy-looking fellow who looked like he was riding a recliner on wheels. Within a month of completing PBP ’07, I had researched recumbents, made some choices, and was riding a Bacchetta.
I was not immediately 100% converted. I live in a hilly area and I was using commuting as a primary form of training. Recumbents work in either application, but they may not be ideal starting points for everyone. For a year or so I bounced back and forth between recumbents and diamond frames. Everybody else I knew rode a diamond frame for brevets, and I chose to do the same.
When 2011 rolled around it got to be time to get serious about training and qualifying for PBP. I knew I didn’t want to repeat what had happened in ’07, so I decided it was time to try a recumbent on a brevet.
By then I was riding a Carbon Aero 2.0 like the one pictured, an off-the-shelf, mid-priced bike. I had a lot of questions about how it might do as a brevet bike, but the whole point of the qualifying series is to figure out what works for you.
The difference was remarkable. On my diamond frames, I had always been one of the slowest riders at any brevet, usually finishing within an hour or two of the maximum allowed time. On my first two brevets on the CA2, riding with the same old gang of riders, I finished second and first respectively, and I felt great doing it. I was sold.
After a successful series completed on the CA2, I went into PBP 2011 confident that I was on the right brevet bike for me. Still, I was simply shocked at the difference between ‘07 and ’11. I intentionally finished ’11 in 90 hours, but along the way, I got nearly 20 hours of sleep! The only discomfort I had associated with the bike was the occasional hot foot (no lasting nerve damage) and a tiny spot of nerve damage on my left thumb that has already cleared up. Not perfect, but sooooo much better than 07.
Those of you who already use your recumbent bikes for brevets probably don’t need to be convinced of the advantages. But, if you’ve got friends that have yet to give recumbents a serious try for brevets, I hope you’ll share this blog with them. If they are intrigued, here is a more complete article they may want to read.
http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/newsletter/submissions_2006/004_pbp-and-recumbents.html
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Anticipating the Big Wild Ride!
Apparently, ultra distance cycling is in the blood of this team. Larry and I are preparing for the Big Wild Ride, a 1200K Randonee taking place the same week as the famous Paris-Brest-Paris in France. As Larry waits patiently for his spokes to arrive, I will take a few minutes to give you an idea of what goes into preparing for an event of this magnitude.