Race Across America - Solo 2018

The solo riders are well into their second day of riding in RAAM 2018.

The Japanese entrant, Hirokazu Suzuki (ずっちゃ to friends), seems to be doing well, solidly in the middle of the pack (upper middle). In 1 day and 7 hours, he had ridden over 407 miles and passed Congress, Arizona. He is on track for a "projected" finish of 10 days and 8 hours. Wow. Suzuki-san "wrote the book" on successful randonneuring in Japanese, literally.

Suzuki-san has a support team including many of the key Japan audax members -- starting with Maya Ide.

The RAAM leader is perennial champion Christoph Strasser. At 614 miles already, he is WAY ahead of everyone else, around 100 miles ahead of the 2nd place rider.

You can track them all on the leaderboard here.

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/live-tracking.html


(P.S. It was only this January that Jerome and I joined a 200km brevet Suzuki-san also rode. Shockingly, we finished ahead of him, though I think he was riding that day with his spouse on a kind of "warm down" from the previous day's training).

Update: After 3 days and 10 hours, Zuccha is in 8th place, with nearly 1000 miles covered and a large group of riders lapping at his heels, though he was once in the midst of that pack. Not sure about sleep schedules, etc., but will check back tomorrow. Meanwhile, Christoph Strasser is around 250 miles ahead of the 2nd place rider!

Update: Zuccha made it to West Virginia before his race ended. He started to fall behind schedule once across the Mississippi, and faced the hilliest part of the course through the Appalachians, when he was hit by a case of Shermer's neck -- where the neck muscles can no longer fully support the weight of the human head. Solo RAAM is hard, almost inhuman.

Crank Addicts Tokyo RAAM Update

The individual RAAM is wrapping up.  Favorite and 3-time champion Austrian Christoph Strasser DNF'ed with unstated ailments relatively early on, but his friend and compatriot Severin Zotter took up the slack, completing the solo trip from San Diego CA to Annapolis, MD in 8 days, 8 hours and 17 minutes.  U.S. entry David Haase placed second, around 12 hours back.

Crank Addicts Tokyo progress

As for the teams, Crank Addicts Tokyo are hanging in there in 4th place (out of 8) in the 4-person age under 50 division.  They slipped briefly into 5th, but over the last 12 hours have opened up a decent gap, ahead of their Brazilian rivals.  Indeed, they are now almost as close to the CEF Team Australia Shiv ahead of them as to RS1 Brazilian team behind.  If they can keep this up ... and CEF/Shiv slips up in any way, they might find themselves on the podium.  At least there is still a chance ... so they cannot let up!  Just another day and a bit more left!

The RAAM website has all kinds of information, and the Facebook Page has videos as well.

Sadly, one solo rider, Anders Tesgaard, who had completed almost 2600 miles and had been in 3rd place half way through the race even, was struck from behind by a vehicle while on a climb in West Virginia, airlifted to a hospital and is listed in critical condition.  Solo RAAM is, indeed, a dangerous event.  As dangerous as climbing Mt. Everest?  Well, no.  But dangerous, still.

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UPDATE:  The Crank Addicts Tokyo finished in fourth place out of nine in their category.  Congratulations on a great long ride!

Otarumi Loop Send Off for the Crank Addicts Tokyo RAAM Team

Crank Addicts Tokyo -- 4 person Team RAAM entrants, ready to go, loaded for bear

Several of us joined with the Crank Addicts Tokyo 4-person team for a quick morning ride on a fairly straightforward Otarumi Loop as they continue their "taper" ahead of RAAM.

What is RAAM?  

Daniel, Jamie and Graham round a corner on the Tama-Sai 

Chris, Craig, Jacob and then Daniel

They passed down Komazawa Dori around 630AM and I hopped on the train, riding the Renovo.

103 kms at over 28kph average.  Not bad.

Yes, I had a bit of a complex about riding with these guys. What about?  Well, they are not slow endurance riders.  They are all at least ten (and as much as 20) years younger than me, they train with power meters and heart rate monitors, and ride fast bikes.  Higher VO2 max, higher power/weight ratios.  Jamie rides Lightweight Obermayer wheels (I do not have a set ... but at least I've met Obermayer, at the start of Transalp).  Chris was on a Canyon Ultimate SLX (just take my Canyon Shark, an Ultimate SL, and add an extra "X" -- shave some more grams off of the frame and add at least an equivalent number of dollars to the price tag).  And they have been training for RAAM, where they will take shifts riding very fast, trying to get across the U.S.A. in around 6.5 days.  You get the idea.

The last time I rode any really long distance with Jamie was back in maybe 2010 on a Kanagawa Audax brevet that required us to climb up Doshi Michi to Yamanaka-ko, then down past Gotemba to Numazu, then do a big fish-hook around Nishi-Izu, Shimoda and end up in Ito.  No way I could keep up with Jamie and his friend on Doshi Michi ... though I did finally catch and pass hem after they stopped for a lunch at a Britain-themed pension near Yamanaka-ko, while I pressed on.  Speed vs endurance.

The Renovo with its purple heart inlay

So I was delighted first of all just to be able to keep up with them today, and second to be able to do some pulls and help them keep the pace up.

On the Takao-to-Otarumi climb, I actually paced/pulled the group for the middle third of the climb, and made it to the top within a minute of the leaders, Chris, Jamie and Craig.

Too much selfie. ... I need to work on my iPhone moving photo technique

Based on Strava feeds, not only did I make a "Personal Record" for the 7.6km climb, but Chris did as well just under a minute ahead, and Graham and Jacob, 11 and 40 seconds behind me.  Good stuff ... and I did it on the Renovo!  More on the way back, when we managed some of the fastest recorded times on a 4 kilometer stretch of Yaen-Kaido, searing heat as we headed home.

Beautiful day!

Almost at the Tamabidai-mae crossing -- the one in Machida, not Setagaya.

Then, disaster nearly struck.  Almost back at the Tamagawa, the police almost caused a major accident/incident.  How so?  Well, just by their presence.

We were blazing along and came to a traffic signal just as it turned from yellow to red.  Craig (or was it Chris?) was in the lead, and noticed out of the corner of his eye 2 police cars and 2 police motor scooters were waiting at the intersection on the cross street and about to turn onto our street.  So instead of the usual "I thought it was still a yellow light" Japanese driver technique, he slammed on his brakes.  Chris (or was it Craig?) almost crashed into him, narrowly edging to his side as he also slammed on brakes, rear wheel rising off the ground.  I was fortunately just a witness, a few meters back and further out into the street, with enough time to stop.  Jamie decided the most "natural" progression to avoid the stopped riders was to swerve a bit and turn left at the light.

The rest of us waited politely as the police caravan came past.  As our light turned green again, we started up and I jumped into the lead, turned left at the next signal to follow the route I would always take back to the Tamagawa, and expected others to follow.  When I looked back a few minutes later ... no one.  So I rode to where I rejoined the "main route" and waited.  After a minute or two, the police caravan passed -- so I knew that at least the other riders could not have gone ahead of me if they had stayed on the main road.  Nothing.  It seems they waited longer, thinking I would return.  In any event, after a few minutes I went on and finished the ride alone ... and can see from the Strava feeds that they must have been only a few minutes back.

The ride back home alone ... in glorious weather.

RAAM has nice team/rider tracking on its website, so we will look forward to seeing them cross the U.S.A. starting on June 20.

RAAM 2011 - Participant from Tokyo!

June is not just about the Tour de Suisse, the Dauphin, and some other events near and dear to Positivistas (SocGen Paris-to-London, Transalp, Mt. Fuji HCs), there is also the  Race Across America ("RAAM").

Graham mentioned to me recently, and James K. confirmed, that Jamie Slaymaker, who rides with James and who joined me for the April 2010 Nishi-Izu Brevet (he rode well ahead of me up Doshimichi, but then dropped off at Numazu for an early return to Tokyo), is teaming with his younger brother and two others as the "Crankaddicts" team for the 2011 RAAM. 

RAAM has solo, 2-, 4- and 8-person teams.  For the Crankaddicts, it will involve 4 persons rotating -- Enduro style -- one rider on the bike at a time.  But unlike a Japanese "enduro" event, they will proceed like this, the resting riders in support vehicles, 24x7, from California to Virginia.  RAAM teams started on Sunday, June 19, California time, so they are underway.  You can get updates on their website, or watch the RAAM team division leaderboard online.  I'm just glad that, very early on at least, they are beating the "Norton Rose" team sponsored by a U.K.-based law firm.  (From the site, it looks like a 39 yr old partner must have "asked" 3 decade younger associates to do RAAM with him.  Shameless).

Solo riders started on the 15th.  Now trying RAAM solo, THAT would be intense.