Day 5 Commentary – June 15th

The best laid plans in a bike race of 3,000 miles can easily go astray for any number of reasons. Yesterday we had a rear tire flat after a flat front tire the day before – both on tubular tires that are supposed to be more durable, particularly the Gatorskins. However, when you are putting 300-400 miles on those tires each day on some challenging road surfaces, it shouldn’t be surprising that we flat. Those are just minor setbacks relative to the havoc that Mother Nature can deliver.

Modified Lyrics from the Doors, Riders on the storm

Riders in the storm
Riders in the storm
Into RAAM we’re born
Into this race we’re thrown
Like a climb without a peak
An actor cannot speak
Riders in the storm

Crew you gotta love your rider
Crew you gotta love your rider
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
His world on you depends
His life will never end
Gotta love your rider

Once again, I was riding shotgun with Mr. O as we were in the Gopher van. Today we started the day at 6:30am, scouting out the town of Trinidad, CO. We could have used lyrics from Harry Chapin – We spent a week there one afternoon!! This was a big town comprised of a lot of closed store fronts – if we were being generous, it had some interesting architecture.

We grabbed some gas (always fill your tank when you get a chance, you never know where the next open gas station will be), added some ice to the cooler, went to Safeway for some groceries for the Follow van and had terrible breakfast sandwiches from that same Safeway. We ordered breakfast for the incoming crew from a diner that we heard about AFTER ordering our own sandwiches and from there just waited….a theme that would play out the entire day.

We tucked the team in by 9am, having ate breakfast and then waited for Peter’s arrival in downtown Trinidad. At this point, there were some warning signs of storm activity but nothing that was looking troublesome. The time ticked by and we waited at the hotel and then took in some of the sights and sounds of Trinidad – that is a dad joke! It was now a waiting game.

Peter and the team arrived at Trinidad at around 1:30pm and then everything goes from slow motion to Sulu – Warp Speed. We needed some ice, and gatorade for the van (we had that), a hot breakfast (yes it is afternoon, but the reference for time becomes immaterial when you have been pedaling for almost 4 days) and sticky notes. So I ran to the Safeway, Mr. O was off to the diner to get pancakes and the Follow team was working Peter over to reenergize him for a big stage of 71 miles. The feet were still hurting, so we were switching insoles, massaging legs and neck. I came back with the goods, now we were looking for the KT tape. Couldn’t find it in the van, so back I went to Safeway. Finally, after about 30 minutes we had Peter back on the road.

By this time, the skies were looking a bit more ominous although still not bad in the direction that we were travelling. Following the next stage, Peter was planning to get on his TT bike but wanted alterations to the seat by adding foam. This was a KMan aka MacGyver special. It was now for Mr. O and I to get to Kim, CO, where we would wait for the arrival of the team, and while there doctor up the seat to get it ready for Peter. We took about 90 minutes to get to Kim, blinked and found ourselves past the town line. No worries, found a parking spot opposite the town cemetary, parked and waited. We are quite sure, there were more dead people in Kim than live ones, but there were 3 beautiful horses that kept us company.

Mr. O and I began the process of applying the foam to Peter’s saddle. Should anyone want to try this at home, here are the MacGyver directions:

1. Put foam on top of seat and trace
   out the perimeter
2. Use exacto knife to cut foam
3. Trace seat outline on mactac and
   cutout
4. Apply the mactac to seat top
5. Apply crazy glue to mactac
6. Apply foam to seat top and press
   firmly for 5 minutes
7. Trim the edges of the seat

Task complete, now wait. We sat waiting for 4 hours and during that time, the skies started looking more pained. The skies were looking good ahead of us, so we kept our fingers crossed the Pete could keep pumping out the Watts.

He arrived at our time station in about 5hrs 30mins. We changed over the bikes to the TT machine, and changed over the crews at that juncture and Peter was off to Walsh, CO.

The two teams were now going up the road to Ulysses to get some sleep. About 20 miles down the road, we got a call from the Follow van that they would need gas and could we find a station. We found one and waited. While waiting we got to see one of the greatest electrical storms that I have ever seen. Soon we got the call that Peter had been put into the car while they waited for the storm to pass.  After about 90 minutes, the Follow van arrived to get gas while Peter slept in the car. We ordered pizza, shared some with the KMan, Dave and Janet and then made our way to Ulysses.

Times like these are tough to swallow. The storm took about 30 miles out of Peter’s day and if we had been able to get up the road by about 15 miles earlier in the day, we would have likely outrun the storm. It was not to be and this is the beauty of RAAM. Time stops for nobody, not for mechanicals, not for sickness, not for sleep and NOT for the wrath of mother nature.

Let us start by saying A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for supporting Peter’s effort in RAAM. Your best wishes for racer and crew have been wonderful and it has kept his and our spirits high – THANK YOU AGAIN!

This is long-winded, be warned 🙂

You might ask yourself why have we injected song lyrics into these blog posts? Two reasons:

1. For all of the Mindset riders who are following Peter and reading the blog, we wanted you to know there are songs other than those written and sung by Rush!
2. Spending 12-16 hours in a van, following your rider, lends itself to listening to the radio to pass the time and at many points providing some inspiration to the posts.

Today was the day when we, in effect, finished one race (Race Across the West – RAW – 1,493kms and 17,000m of climbing ) and really dug into the big Kahunna that is the Race Across America. Many would believe that we had passed through the toughest part of the race as we travelled over the Rockies, which produced big amounts of climbing, combined with heat and winds. However, the toughest parts of the race are still to come. When we get to Ohio, the big test of climbing truly begins, so keep the positive vibes coming.

Lyrics modified from the Proclaimers:

When I wake up, well I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man who needs a massage from Diego
When I go out, yeah I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man with Mindset kit from Izumi
If I get dehydrated, well I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who gets rehydrated with G2
And if I chamois up, yeah I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who chamois’ up with dznuts

But I would cycle 1,500 miles
And I would ride 1,500 more
Just to be the man who rides three thousand miles
To fall down at your door in Annapolis

This day saw a change of crew, as Bruce moved into the team with Diego and Greg and Quentin moved into the gopher van with Mr. O. So, the perspective of the blog changes to the gopher van, hopefully another interesting perspective on the RAAM experience. We awoke at 6am in Cortez, CO, still giddy from the Raptor win, and got things ready for the changeover. It was expected to have Peter come through at 7:30. He arrived a bit early, we grabbed him some pancakes from the Denny’s across the street. The good news is that Peter was continuing to pee regularly, and he was able to get regular at the restaurant, again important for a successful traverse of the country.

Let me step back for a moment and describe the duties of the three vans. Van 1, aka follow van, aka Mona, is the escort vehicle for Peter. For the most part, during the day the van must be leap frogging Peter’s position on the road. Any support that is provided, we move up the road a few km’s and then stand at the side of the road to hand off the bottle, or the nutrition or anything else he needs. We have 3 cold coolers stocked with: #1 – G2 Gatorade, coke, ginger ale, water, and Greg Gannon feed concoction. #2 – we have food that needs to be “refrigerated”, watermelon, blueberries, small chocolate bars, strawberries, potatoes, eggs, butter, jam, cheese – cheddar or swiss or baby bells, turkey, chicken. Finally, in #3, we have the “Gatorade cooler” which is full of ice water, which we use for cooling towels and to dunk Pete’s arms into it for quick heat relief (while wearing his arm sleeves). In addition, to the coolers, there is a food bin that has Peanut Butter, bread, wraps, cookies, muffins, danishes, avocado, bars and any other need that Peter or the crew might have for nutrition.

During the night, those same duties are performed but in direct follow mode, this means the van stays right behind Pete during all times from 7pm to 7am. Consequently, in order for Peter to keep riding at night, the van must be able to move forward. For those of you with weak bladders, contemplate riding in a van for 12 hours that might not be able to stop, without bringing your rider to a halt. Can you hit a gatorade bottle from 1ft?

Van 2, aka Support Van, aka Jack, is the van utilized by the second follow team. Generally speaking, this van is utilized to move the team to the next most likely sleeping spot. The team “coming off shift” boogies 3-4 hours down the road (11-14 hours riding time) and gets something to eat, ensures there is gas in the van and then goes to sleep. We carry miscellaneous items in this van but nothing that would be critical to Peter moving forward as it won’t be available for the majority of the ride.

Finally, Van 3, aka forward van, aka Gopher. This is the van that is responsible for keeping the crews as happy as is humanely possible given the arduous experience of being in a van for 12+ hours, typically undernourished or if nourished it is with food our mothers would not appreciate. The Gopher is usually running from 7am – 10pm or so.

First item of the day is to ensure the vans have what they need for the day, water, Gatorade, bicycle parts, food, gas etc. Then we gather up the laundry from the team for washing and ensure that the team coming off shift is able to get some sleep. Thereafter, gopher is at the beck and call of the rider and the Follow Van. Need ice, sure, more Gatorade – absolutely; KT tape – we will search it out; hot breakfast, lunch or dinner – let us know what you are hankering for; change a tire – ok. It is also the job of the Gopher van to work with the Follow Van to establish the hotels that will be needed that evening, one for Peter every 24 hours or so, and 2 rooms for the crew each night. Given the lack of services in most of the towns that we pass through, the lack of connectivity with phones, and the uncertainty of our forward progress, this makes this a unique challenge of a guessing game. Of course, if everything is going smoothly, Mona is well stocked and Pete is experiencing no issues, the crew in this vehicle is going to be experiencing a lot of old-fashioned BOREDOM.

Ok, now that you have a Wiki orientation to the process, lets get back to Peter leaving Cortez.

After feeding, a quick change of his top, some further modifications of his shoes and insoles and off he went. Mr. O and I then gathered some laundry before heading over to grab breakfast with Janet, KMan and Dave at Dennys. Following breakfast, we took to doing the laundry for the team and visited Walmart to resupply the Follow van. We went back to the hotel to fold the clothes before making our way forward to Durango. Funny thing happened along the way. A man came into the laundry facility to ask us about Peter and the race as he had seen the decaled van outside. He was genuinely interested and very excited by the race, wanted to know all about the process etc and was truly engaged. This would not be the last time that people would stop us to ask about the race and our experiences.

As we finished the laundry, we got a call from Follow that Pete had flatted a rear tubular, and that he needed the climbing cassette off that wheel and onto another wheel. Only problem, they didn’t have a cassette removal tool, a chain whip or a crescent wrench. Solution:  make phone calls to bike shops in town, collect the tools and get to the Follow van. Problem, nobody had a chain whip. No issue grab the others and go. We reached Mona just past Durango (the end of RAW) and the team had managed to change the tubular tire, but hadn’t put a valve extender on the tubular and consequently couldn’t get air into the tire. No problem, grab the wheel and race back to the Durango bike shop (where we had just been to get the chain whip) and get some valve extenders. We pulled the tire off to get the extender on and reapplied it, not an ideal situation (given the tire can move under hard cornering, which is the last thing you want!) but he could ride the tire up mountains and change the wheel for descents.  

We dropped the wheel back with the Follow van and made our way forward to find some lunch for ourselves and figure out the accommodation for Peter and the crews. Peter focused on getting through Wolf Creek pass, and from there he could descend for almost 20 miles to South Fork where we had secured a room for him.

He got to South Fork by about 7pm (22 hours of riding), he had a massage from Diego, dinner of Mac & Cheese and chicken tenders (high quality carbs and protein J) and then down for a 3 hour sleep. The riding is taking a toll, the sit bones have been experienced chafing, the feet are rebelling a bit but the rider is strong. Peter is still very lucid, sharp and focused – hallmarks of an athlete that is ready to make RAAM a success.

For those of you who haven’t visited the Race Across America website, here is the data for Peter’s race thus far. It is 6am in Ulysses and Peter is currently having a 3 hour sleep. He went down at 4:15am and we will be back on the road at 7:15am or 8:15am EST. The crews will be changing over at this location. Coach Gannon suggests that RAAM has now “officially” started and it will take all of Peter’s physical and mental talent to dig in and push to the finish, which is still at least 5 days away and over 1,700 miles. Updates from the prior two days are still coming!

TS #	TS Name	Miles Raced	Miles to Finish	TS Date	TS TM D:H:M	Avg Spd	Avg This TS
22	Walsh, CO	1340.66	1728.59	06/16/2019 1:03	4:8:27	12.84	11.68
21	Kim, CO	1272.31	1796.94	06/15/2019 19:12	4:2:36	12.9	12.58
20	Trinidad, CO	1201	1868.25	06/15/2019 13:32	3:20:56	12.92	11.89
19	La Veta, CO	1135.59	1933.66	06/15/2019 8:02	3:15:26	12.99	13.3
18	Alamosa, CO	1077.28	1991.97	06/15/2019 3:39	3:11:3	12.97	8.37
17	South Fork, CO	1030.69	2038.56	06/14/2019 22:05	3:5:29	13.3	9.99
16	Pagosa Springs, CO	982.72	2086.53	06/14/2019 17:17	3:0:41	13.52	13.14
15	Durango, CO	928.41	2140.84	06/14/2019 13:09	2:20:33	13.54	10.78
14	Cortez, CO	884.23	2185.02	06/14/2019 9:03	2:16:27	13.72	12.61
13	Montezuma Creek, UT	834.01	2235.24	06/14/2019 5:04	2:12:28	13.79	13.97
12	Mexican Hat, UT	794.42	2274.83	06/14/2019 2:14	2:9:38	13.78	7.78
11	Kayenta, AZ	749.71	2319.54	06/13/2019 20:29	2:3:53	14.45	16.97
10	Tuba City, AZ	677.88	2391.37	06/13/2019 16:15	1:23:39	14.23	15.26
9	Flagstaff, AZ	602.87	2466.38	06/13/2019 11:20	1:18:44	14.11	12.57
8	Campo Verde, AZ	500.01	2569.24	06/13/2019 3:09	1:10:33	14.47	14.4
7	Prescott, AZ	445.54	2623.71	06/12/2019 23:22	1:6:46	14.48	6.96
6	Congress, AZ	395.09	2674.16	06/12/2019 16:07	0:23:31	16.8	17.74
5	Salome, AZ	342.46	2726.79	06/12/2019 13:09	0:20:33	16.66	16.48
4	Parker, AZ	286.42	2782.83	06/12/2019 9:45	0:17:9	16.7	16.75
3	Blythe, CA	235.06	2834.19	06/12/2019 6:41	0:14:5	16.69	17.3
2	Brawley, CA	145.39	2923.86	06/12/2019 1:30	0:8:54	16.34	16.85
1	Borrego Springs, CA	88.4	3012.25	06/11/2019 22:07	0:5:31	16.02	16.02
0	Oceanside, CA	0	3069.25	06/11/2019 16:36	0:0:0	0	0

Lyrics adapted from Tom Cochrane:

Life’s like a road that you travel on
When there’s one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend and sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind

There’s heat rising on every blacktop
Where Shermer’s won’t haunt you anymore
Where the brave are cycling and crews roar
Come ride with me to the distant shore of Annapolis

Peter won’t hesitate
To speed over the cattle grate
There’s not much time left today

Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you’re not going to sleep
I wanna cycle it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It’s my fourth time in RAAM and

It’s in my blood, and it’s all around
I love this test of body and mind now like I loved it then
This is the road, and these are the hands

From Oceanside to those Durango nights
The Wolf Creek Pass to Effingham’s lights
Knock me down and back up again
My saddle sores won’t stop me

There are no Watts I can’t hold
A chipseal road so rough this I know
I’ll be there when the light comes in
Tell ’em we’re survivors
Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long

Day 3 for our crew began at 1:30am as we made our way to catch Peter. We had stayed in Camp Verde and had hoped that we would be able to grab a coffee and all-night breakfast from McD’s or Denny’s – no such luck. There were forest fires and heavy smoke reported between Camp Verde and Flagstaff, so the riders were to be transported from mile 33 to about mile 46. Rather than going through two changeovers (once for crew change and once for the fires) and stop Pete, we made our way to mile 33 and waited for their arrival, at which point we gathered Peter, they took his bike and we motored to the designated spot. Peter had been cycling for about 5.5-6hours since his last sleep and he looked good. It was much cooler than it had been at just around 60 degrees, and we had layered him up. Another 2 hours and it was felt that he needed a 15 minute nap, again the witching hour for Peter was happening (5-7am). The scenery at this point was beautiful, greenery vs desert, no traffic and decent roads. As you sit in the car, direct following Peter for hours at a time, it is hard to imagine the effort it takes to continue pushing the pedals, under the constant cloud of fatigue.

During training, an athlete will focus on workouts that stress the body and then go through a process of recovery. In fact, there is a desire to create significant stress and recover and do it again. Depending on the focus of a particular training block, full recovery may not come for 2 or 3 weeks, but it is almost always the case, that the athlete will have a rest day in a 7-day block of training and of course the athlete will have recovery post workout – eating, drinking, massage and sleeping to optimize the recovery process and flushing of the system. RAAM clearly alters that reality materially, where the athlete has no recovery opportunities beyond downhills and material tailwinds. While descents allow you to rest the legs and the heart, you are not able to rest the mind, in fact, it could be argued that much more concentration is needed during the material descents versus the same route in reverse. It doesn’t allow Pete to relax, which is critical to recovery. Despite these observations, Peter was working hard, taking advantage of those tailwinds and downhills.

We stopped at a Walmart in Flagstaff for another cooling break for Peter, getting resupplied with ice, water, Gatorade and some coke. It was now 198 miles into this day following his 3 hour sleep in Yarnell or about 14 hours. There was some hope that Pete could get to Medicine Hat – travel through the iconic and picturesque monument valley before he went down for his next sleep. To get there, he would need to ride 190 miles – a mammoth day. There were tail winds for the most part, which allowed Peter to ride the TT bike. The challenge coming out of Flagstaff were the road conditions TERRIBLE and the velocity of the traffic (WARP SPEED Mr. Sulu). Peter made it to the Conoco gas station at Kayenta and Time Station 11 (TS11) by late afternoon. He had a PBJ sandwich and a mixture of avocado, rice and egg. Diego began to work his magic on Peter’s legs, cooling was applied to his head and shoulders and we changed over his lights. At this point, a decision needed to be made on pushing forwarded to Mexican Hat before Peter slept or to grab a hotel room here. After much discussion, Peter and Greg decided this was rest point.

The second crew arrived around 6:30pm and we started to make our way to Cortez to sleep, but first we had to drive through the infamous Forrest Gump scene in Monument Valley. Of course, this was Raptors night game 6, and I was in the middle of somewhere, just not a place where there was reliable streaming. It would be 11:45pm before we would get to the hotel (22 hour day) and we would learn that Toronto Raptors were World Champions.

Courtesy of the Carpenters:

We’ve only just begun to live
White Bib Shorts and promises
A kiss for luck and we’re on our way
(We’ve only begun)

Before the risin’ sun, we fly
So many roads for RAAM to choose
We’ll start out ridin’ and learn to spin
(And yes, we’ve just begun)

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin’ it over, just the nine of us
Workin’ together day to day
Together And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead
We’ll find Annapolis where there’s room to grow
(And yes, we’ve just begun)

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching…

I am sitting in the middle of Christmas Circle in the middle of Borrego Springs writing this blog. What a day so far. We are about 89 miles into the race at Borrego, we have descended the Glass Elevator and it is 114 degrees in the shade. Of course it is a dry heat, so that probably makes it 113 degree equivalent – it is HOT – frying egg on pavement hot – peeling paint off the wall hot – Diego down to his knickers hot – melting asphalt hot – yes it is hot, but with that said, unlike the trial run on Sunday that we did with Peter, there was a tailwind coming off the mountain. So let me recap the day for you so far:

Peter was up at 6am, feeling a little challenged in the tummy. He had a decent night sleep given he went to bed around 9:30pm, meditated for 15-20 minutes. For breakfast, Peter had a couple of packages of oatmeal, a muffin and a juice. The crew had a buzz of activity going on to make the last-minute preparations for the vans and then Diego spent 45-60 minutes working on Pete to loosen up the legs, lower back and shoulders.

Dave and Mr. O got the follow van (now named MONA) over to the start area for 11:00 and then the rest of us left in the auxiliary van ( now named JACK) and the forward van (named GOPHER). There was certainly a buzz at the start area as we arrived as the last groups from RAW were making their way out of the starting area. Peter was scheduled to start at 1:36pm PT/4:36pm ET, and so it gave all of us an opportunity to take things in. What a sight to behold.

Like a well-oiled machine the racers were going out at the assigned times and before we knew it Pete was called to the line. They provide a list of the racer’s Palmares when it comes to RAAM related racing, then a countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – and he was off.  Janet, KMan and Dave were in MONA and followed Pete out through the starting chute, charged with following Peter for the first 11-12 hours or so. QB, Greg and Diego were in JACK, with Mr. O and Bruce in the Gopher.

We would spend the next 4 hours or so leapfrogging Peter after he had made his way to mile 23.6, up until that point, the racers were not allowed to have any support with them. It was great to get out of the car and cheer the racers on, at this point in their journey, everyone still has a happy face on, a lot of smiles and thank you’s. We hung out about 10 miles from the start of the Glass Elevator, Greg used a drone to gather some footage and we were able to watch Strasser and Baloh come through – two of the biggest names in the field. This is Marko Baloh’s 10^th  RAAM event – with several 2^nd place finishes. Christoph Strasser is a legend with 5 RAAM wins, which ties him with another legend in ultra-cycling Yuri Robic. Strasser had slowly but surely made his way past many riders by the time he hit Christmas Circle.

Peter hit Borrego Springs and pulled through Christmas Circle at 7:25pm, which made it 5 hours 49 minutes or so for 88.3 miles. During the descent down the Glass Elevator a cyclist crashed and emergency vehicles had to close down the road for a period. It was deemed that Peter would receive a 20-minute time reduction as a result (this should come off his time at the end of the race). This would mean Pete did the first segment (with the bonus time) in 16.1mph or 26.2km/h with climbing of 4,770ft. All three vans met, just past Christmas Circle, to get Pete on his time trial bike as the terrain was now flat and there were some reasonable tail winds. We put extra ice into MONA and then JACK and GOPHER high tailed it to Blythe – 140 miles down the road, in order to get some sleep. The plan is to have Diego, Greg and QB then take over MONA around 12:30am and allow Janet, Kman and Dave to grab some sleep before getting back on the road and chasing us down somewhere around Time station 7.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Peter is embarking on his 4th attempt to finish one of the most difficult cycling races in the world. No man is an island and Pete will have a team with him the entire way from Oceanside California to Annapolis Maryland.

A huge shout out and thanks to the crew who will ensure that this journey is as safe and successful as possible: Bruce Thomson – Crew Chief, Janet Wilson, Dr. Greg Gannon, Peter Karmazisin, Diego Ricetto, Dr. Carol Ann Weis, Quentin Broad, Dave West and the indefatigable Peter Oyler Sr. Also special thanks to Joel Fraser for all his graphics work.

Bookmark this website and keep checking back as we tell the story of Pete’s final  attempt (final time, right Pete!!) at Racing Across America. Hit the “Send Pete Good Vibes” tab above and leave Peter a message, we will read these to him when things get tough.