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Race Across America (RAAM)
anonymouscuban
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Well, after a long week at work and a two days of finally getting some good rest, I was able to go through most of the pictures I took during this year's Race Across America. For those of you that are not familiar with RAAM, it is one of the most demanding bike races there is. It is a race across the United States that starts Oceanside. CA and finishes in Annapolis, MD. Unlike many other long distance races, once the race starts, the clock doesn't stop until you cross the finish line. My team completed RAAM after 6 days and some change, coming in 4th place overall.
I did not actually ride this year, hope to in next year's race. This year I thought I would get my feet wet by crewing and taking photos. Honestly, crewing was probably more demanding than riding from a stress and sleep deprivation perspective. I didn't get an ounce of sleep for the first 39 hours and I think I got a total of 8 hours sleep in the 6+ days, never more than an hour at a time. Neverless, we all made it through alive, although we did have a couple near death experiences and one rider suffered a broken collar bone along the way.
I was able to get a lot of photos when I wasn't busy driving or navigating. Unfortunately, my body gave out in the last 5 miles of the race and I missed the photo op at the finish line. That was a total bummer but I just could not stay awake another minute... actually, I almost drove into the guardrail when I fell asleep at the wheel. I guess my body knew we were done so it just gave out.
By the way, I decided to post this here rather than in the Sports forum because this was truly a journey more than it was a race. I saw parts of this country that I had never seen before and I form life long bonds with people that I had never met before. This was truly a life experience for me so what better place to post this thread than in the Journeys forum.
Team JDRF in Oceanside, CA
And the race begins
We tackled California and most of Arizona in the first 24-hours.
My main job was to keep everyone in good spirits and from what I could tell by this picture, I did a pretty good job.
Our racer's ages ranged from 15 to 67... pretty amazing individuals
More to come... stay tuned.
I did not actually ride this year, hope to in next year's race. This year I thought I would get my feet wet by crewing and taking photos. Honestly, crewing was probably more demanding than riding from a stress and sleep deprivation perspective. I didn't get an ounce of sleep for the first 39 hours and I think I got a total of 8 hours sleep in the 6+ days, never more than an hour at a time. Neverless, we all made it through alive, although we did have a couple near death experiences and one rider suffered a broken collar bone along the way.
I was able to get a lot of photos when I wasn't busy driving or navigating. Unfortunately, my body gave out in the last 5 miles of the race and I missed the photo op at the finish line. That was a total bummer but I just could not stay awake another minute... actually, I almost drove into the guardrail when I fell asleep at the wheel. I guess my body knew we were done so it just gave out.
By the way, I decided to post this here rather than in the Sports forum because this was truly a journey more than it was a race. I saw parts of this country that I had never seen before and I form life long bonds with people that I had never met before. This was truly a life experience for me so what better place to post this thread than in the Journeys forum.
Team JDRF in Oceanside, CA
And the race begins
We tackled California and most of Arizona in the first 24-hours.
My main job was to keep everyone in good spirits and from what I could tell by this picture, I did a pretty good job.
Our racer's ages ranged from 15 to 67... pretty amazing individuals
More to come... stay tuned.
"I'm not yelling. I'm Cuban. That's how we talk."
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Please post more with some more storyline too..
This way we can vicariously live through you.
Kat
Love the one of the kid.. wow, I cannot believe a kid made that journey.. It was awesome reading what happened..
This is Jeff. His wife Sui was his tandem partner. Jeff was riding captain and Sui was riding stoker (rear). Jeff was a trooper. He wasn't feeling all too well once we started climbing to higher elevations. At first we just thought he was having trouble adjusting to the altitude considering he calls Santa Monica home. But after his last leg through Sedona, he literally could barely get a full breathe. I refused to let him ride. I had strong feeling he had an upper respiratory infection. He rested for about 8 hours and then tried to ride again against what everyone's advice. After 30 minutes on the bike going through some rolling climbs, he was almost blue. We pulled him out and sent him to the hospital. Sure enough, he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and mild pnuemonia. For the next two days he rode in the pace car and helped navigate. He eventually got back on the bike and ended up riding about 60 miles the last day of the race and was able to finish, even though I recommended against it.
These guys were not part of our team but I was so inspired them. They were a four man team, all of which were paralyzed from the waste down. Many of the other racing teams were skeptical about this team completing the race on these hand bikes. They not only completed it, but actually did so in shorter time than many of the teams on conventional bikes. I still cannot understand how they were able to complete miles and miles of climbs, sometimes as steep as 9% grades, all by arm power. It's tough enough on a conventional bike using the leverage that you get from being able to crank with your body weight. Truly amazing athletes!
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I was able to get a few shots cutting through the mountains. Some of the shots were quick ones I got while jumping out of the car at a traffic stop.
Others were taken out the window while zooming by... which should be done with caution when hanging out a window on a road with no shoulder and overhanging branches. I know what its like to get lashing now!
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Thanks Allen. I had a blast during the trip. I can honestly, I laughed, cried and everything in between. Although most of the trip was spent laughing... what an ab workout. I have tons more to post. Just need time to get through them all. Please stayed tuned.
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Not only are the photos wonderful, the story behind them is very compelling also. Altogether your stories and photos would make a great book.
Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks Donna. That was cool of Kat to mention my post. I really wanted you guys to see it over challenges but I didn't want to get in trouble for posting anything over there. Keep checking back as I will add more pics.
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Thanks Alex for posting more.. wow.. I love the stories.. I had no clue what you would actually be enduring when you first mentioned going on this trip. It is truly amazing, and the personal stories of the friendships you made along the way make it all that more inspiring.. I was especially moved by the disabled bikers.. It is difficult to fathom the strength and endurance it took them to get through it...
I am looking forward to more as you post them..and thanks for taking the time to post them here to share with us too....
Kat
P.S. > > Nice photog work too by the way..
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Matt was one of the 15-year old twins on the ride. Matt has crewed two RAAMs in the past but it was his brother's and his first actually RAAM as a racer. These two kids did an amazing job. His dad is Tim, the guy on the far right. Tim was our Team Captain and the guy who organized the race for Team JDRF. I've worked with Tim for the past 9 years. This was Tim's 9th RAAM race. His second riding a tandem bike... pretty amazing. Tim is an all around great guy. He is the reason I did this year's RAAM and plan to do next year as well, hopefully as a Racer.
Bernie was one of two giants on our team. It was amazing to see such a big guy ride a bike so well. I'm 6'1" about 180 lbs and he makes me feel small. I think he's about 6'3" and about 260. He was a freaking powerhouse on his bike. Bernie has also ridden in past RAAMs. Last year, he had a pretty bad accident 24-hours into the race. He was cutoff by his own van, clipped while he was travelling approximately 45 mph. He was rushed to the hospital and received 98 stitches to his thigh to close up a horrible laceration. You'd think that was all for that race but he asked the doctor to make the sutures loose so he could flex his quads and hams. He ended up riding the rest of the race, never missed any of his legs. He whined a lot... some of the riders complained he whined like a baby for the rest of the race but I think it was more than justified.
Jerry... Geritol is now his moniker assigned by me, he was our oldest racer. 67 years old. Great guy. Funny as hell as you can see by this picture. Geritol was actually supposed to crew but on the day before the race, one of our racers backed out of the race and Geritol had the qualifications necessary to enter the race so he volunteered. I was amazed with what good shape this old man is in. He was stoker for Bernie so he was forced to ride as much and at the same pace as him and he never missed a mile. I was a bit concerned for Jerry during the first 3-days because he could not get himself to sleep. To distracting. The wear was starting to show but he finally did manage to start sleeping and it showed by the 4th day. He looked refreshed even with just an hour here and there. Pretty damn amazing.
A shot of big Bernie and Geritol preparing to ride their next leg at a transition point. This was somewhere in Sedona I believe.
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On Day 2 & 3 we went through UT, CO and NM. Most of UT we went through under the cover of night. Quite dissapointing because we cut travelled through Mexican Hat and I didn't get a chance to shoot anything.
We entered Colorado as the sun was rising. What a beautiful state. Starting to see some green as supposed to a lot of red earth. I didn't get as many pictures as I hoped... kind of busy trying to win a race... but I did get some good shots. Here is a shot of Sui and Jeff. This was just when Jeff began showing some bad signs that he was really ill. They're being followed by are guys in the pace vehicle. That is Bernie's minivan... the one he was hit by the year before.
There was lots of open property around these parts. Just nice grean hills with maybe a dwelling every so many acres and lots of horses.
As we came down a long descent into the city of Durango, we reached town. As we're coming down this street, I noticed a lot of people walking around and I heard the whistle of an old locomotive. We were caught in a bit of traffic so I jumped out of the our vehicle... I was riding shotgun at the time... and told my team was going to investigate and not to wait for me if I was back in time and I would radio one of the vehicles behind us to pick me up.
I cam around this corner and as I approached the train tracks that were running between two rows of commercial buildings, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. An actual working locomotive. I snapped my camera on, set to aperture priority and starting snapping. Two seconds later and I would have missed the shot. Not as perfect as I would have liked but considering I had no time to setup, I think I got a pretty decent couple shots. What do you think?
We did more climbing that day. Lots of pleasant scenery during the miles of riding. Weather was mild as well so we were pretty lucky. All the Red Bulls, Boosts, Cokes and water were starting to catch up with all of us. We tried to find actual bathrooms along the way but sometimes natured called and we had to improvise, always being mindful where we went. I tried to remind myself that what may look like a vacant field to a city guy like me, could actually be someone's front yard. Last thing I wanted to do was drop a duece on someones lawn!
This is Gary and Tom in one of thos not-so-private moments.
Every now and again we ran across something that broke the endless miles of green. This was one of those sites. A very odd rock formation at the top of a mountain that almost looked like a man-made pyramid. Very cool indeed. This mountain and rock has to have a name I thought. I found out the rock formation at the top of the mountain is called Chimney Rock. I guess up close it actually looks like a chimney. From my vantage point, it looked more like a giant penis. HAHA
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Pics and stories are great. Keep 'em coming!
-joel
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Wonderful shots. I really like the train shots.
Loving the storyline and the photos... Poor guys can't even take a wiz with a photographer around. HA HA..
Off topic... Are you going to be entering this month's challenge?
Just Curious.. I have not seen you around on the boards..
I hope things are settling back in for ya...
Kat