The Training Diary

Race day arrived and we were all eager to get started. Jon had called ‘shotgun’ sometime in January to be the first to ride, so he and Corinne were on the first shift. We’d decided to work in pairs using 10 hour shifts to maximise efficiency and to rotate through a variety of daylight hours, though in the end, 8 hour shifts proved to be the best option. However, to prevent Tom and myself having too much night riding at the start, we agreed to begin (thanks to Jon and Coz) with a couple of 6 hour shifts. Anyway, we had some time in the morning (the race didn’t start until 2.00 pm) to relax, which I spent on a bench outside Hooters, sipping a coffee from the nearby Starbucks, making some diary notes, and saying hi to the girls arriving for the morning shift (great way to start a day). At around 12.00 am we checked out of our hotel and headed to the start. With a couple of hours to spare, we were able to savour the atmosphere and take advantage of lots of photo opportunities before being introduced to the crowd by Gabrielle Reece (apparently a big celebrity in the US?) and taking our place on the start line. After a protracted version of the ‘star spangled banner’ on the guitar by Ryan Denner from ‘Team Via Sat’ we were off, rolling down the promenade to applause from the crowd and especially our support crew. After a mile or so, we left Jon to continue to the official start line while we returned to join the crew. When I say official start line, it’s because RAAM has two starts. The first is essentially a parade for the spectators, whilst the second (about 8 miles out of town at the San Luis Rey river bridge) is a staggered start which begins an hour later and where riders are released at 1-minute intervals. We were team number 413, which meant we were a four-person team and 13^th in line to start. In effect, Jon was due to re-start at 3.13 pm with 12 teams ahead of him on the road.

While Jon was busy dealing with the starting process, we waved goodbye to Coz, Jess, and Hayley in the support vehicle while the rest of us travelled in the RV to the point, around 6 hours of cycling down the road, where Tom and I would commence our first shift. Due to the preponderance of minor roads in the early part of RAAM, all RV’s had to travel a different route to that of the riders f or the first 50 miles, so we had to rely on phone calls for updates on their progress. Needless to say, Jon’s enthusiasm was getting the better of him and reports came through that he was ripping his way through the field of riders that set off before him. We joined the official race route at ‘Christmas Circle’ but missed Jon’s arrival due to the distractions of eating pasta and kicking a football around. Soon after, the SUV appeared and we agreed to meet up two hours later to make the change. After pressing on past lots of teams that Jon and Coz had passed on the road, we finally caught up with the team and made our first shift change of the race. RAAM has a strict policy of having riders, for safety reasons, ride in the headlights of their support vehicle between the hours of 8.00 pm and 6.00 am. As it was 9.00 pm, our first change was in darkness and involved a full stop by riders and SUV before we could proceed. Tom and I had decided by coin toss that I would do the first leg and it was a great feeling to finally get underway. A mixture of adrenaline, a good road surface, and shouts of encouragement by the crew led to a feeling of euphoria as I sped off down the road in the headlights of the SUV. At night we’d arranged a navigating system of one ‘beep’ for left; two ‘beeps’ for right; and five (yes five, so there’d be no mistake) ‘beeps’ to stop. In contrast, during the day we could rely on our GPS systems which Jon had spent considerable time programming. Anyway, my first leg involved very few direction changes, so there was little need to exercise our horn, and apart from having to stop at a series of traffic lights in the town of Brawley (CA), I made good time. Indeed, at one point I caught one of the other teams and, with the crew urging me on, surged past them (brilliant!). That first hour passed really quickly and it seemed like no time at all before the crew gave me the five ‘beep’ signal to stop. During the day, changeovers were relatively easy as they simply involved the incoming rider overlapping the outgoing rider to effectively make the change. In effect, daytime changes were pretty seamless. In contrast, at night, the need to ride in the support vehicle headlights meant that changeovers involved a dead stop by rider and SUV while the outgoing rider jumped out of the vehicle and retrieved their bicycle from the rear of the vehicle, while the incoming rider did the opposite. Only when the incoming rider was safely in the vehicle could the next leg begin. Although we got pretty slick at this process, it still cost us about a minute each time. The first changeover of that first leg went pretty well, thanks in-part to the fact that Jess and Hayley had already done a few on the previous shift. It was a real thrill to sit in the SUV after my first leg and enjoy watching Tom push on and also catch another team in the process. The relative proximity of all the teams during that first night was evident by several sightings of flashing hazard lights on the dark roads of southern California.

My over exuberance in the first leg came back to bite me in my second leg as the terrain became much more hilly. After about half an hour, and towards the top of one of the climbs, my calves started to cramp. Fortunately, the severity of the cramps held off until about 55 minutes into the leg when we reached the US Border Patrol (we were only 19.5 miles from Mexico at that point). At that point, the need to stop to get the all clear from the officials resulted in a full blown spasm in both calves. I was so glad to hear the crew ask if I was ready to make the changeover as there would have been no way I could have continued at that point. I could feel that bubbling feeling I my calves as I sat in the back of the SUV watching Tom do the work again, but the cramp thankfully eased.