RIP Jure' Robic

Part 4 Photo Gallery RAAM 2010 Bloomington Indiana

Part 3 Photo Gallery RAAM 2010 TS 39 Bloomington Indiana

Part 2 Photo Gallery RAAM 2010 TS 39 Bloomington Indiana

Part 1 Photo Gallery 2010 RAAM TS39 Bloomington, IN

June 18 Recap

Ahhh, it's Friday night on a hot summer night in Bloomington, Indiana. We've accomplished a lot in the past 3 days and nights. Fifty riders have come through this time station 39 as evidenced by our world famous leader board. We added color coding for each day of arrival here at time station 39. The Old Aussie crew asked us, "Where are we?" I told them, "Your team hasn't come through yet!". I put them on the board to quiet them down!

The highlight of Friday was in the wee hours of the morning. Team Kalyra came through around 4am. I might have been seeing double, but it sure looked like they had 4 RV's and 4 vans for this 4 gal team. I made a comment about the huge contingent, and a crew member or rider retorted with sarcasm, "Yeah, our horse and pony show!" Good thing they arrived at night. There was plenty of parking at 4am.

About an hour later my Italian belladonna, Sabrina Bianchi, came through and stopped for a bit at our time station. I was honored. She looked to be in good spirits and was riding well. Later in the race she passed Michelle Santilhano to take 2nd place solo women at the end. The girls did well in 2010.

June 17 Recap

A busy day was upon us. All types of teams and more solo's came through. And then there was the glass recycling troop that camped out for 8 hours in front of our view of the oncoming racers.

It was good that I went home to get about 3 hours of sleep and shower. Well, in RAAM terms it was great that I got 2 REM cycles of sleep. I got back to the TS at 3pm and our view was much better as the recyclers left for Oxford,OH. Sandy Earl stopped by for quite a long time. She was definitely the bad luck girl of RAAM, as she encountered every type of bad weather one could imagine. She finally DNF'd in Kansas, but she's enjoying her stay here in Indiana as they are camping tonight at Brown County State Park. They are still going to Annapolis and cheer on all the RAAM participants.

Solo's have started to drop out. We started out with 30 solo's, and now have 17 still pedaling. Three of the five women are still alive. Michelle Santilhano just came through looking quite good. Talk about a vast improvement from her DNF in 2009.

I'm waiting for the Italian belladonna Sabrina Bianchi to come through in the wee hours of Friday, June 18.

My Own Little Sleep Deprivation

It's 5am on Thursday and the last time I was sleeping in a bed was 25 hours ago. It's RAAM time at the local time station 39 in B-Town. I got up at 4am on Wednesday to drive over to the CVS parking lot and put back up the 5 tents that we hastily had to shuck the canopies as the first of the 3 waves of thunderstorms hit on Tuesday. Jen and Jim arrived shortly afterwards and the time station was all ready to roll by 6am. While we were waiting for the arrival of race leader Jure' Robic, I decided to go back home to get all cleaned up for work. Boy, it would have been great to get back in bed for a 3 hour nap, but instead into the shower to prepare for a 14 hour shift as yours truly pharmacist from Ohio. I was able to get back to the tents and greet Robic in tied attire and he was gracious enough to pass by before the 8am pharmacy opening.
Jure' looked tired, but Gerhard Gulewicz looked exhausted 4 hours later. So exhausted that he was about to take a snooze in the middle of a lane of the city's busiest street at 12 noon. I plugged away behind the counter and occasionally went out to the time station to twek it into as pristine condition as it could get. Jim and Klaus did an excellent job manning RAAM control with laptops, 3G, wi-fi, camera's, etc.
I also called the Coke distributor to ask about the Coke product we were to get for the time station for the third year in a row. The rep called back a few hours later and apologized to me and said they've cut their freebie programs. Bet if I mentioned some kind of IU affiliation, it would have been different. So, I kind of feel like John Belushi at the Chicago grill, "Cheeburger,Cheeburger,Cheeburger, Pepsi, no Coke!"
Yeah, I bought $51 worth of Pepsi product, and might never drink a Coke again!
As my a** was dragging and my eye's drooping I perused over the local Herald-Tribune, and again no article about the actual Race Across America. Press releases were sent 3 weeks prior and full cooperation to a reporter that promised to write an "in touch" article on one of the racers. Instead, I get to read a half page article about Girls, Inc and a Santa Barbara 4 woman team doing the race probably totally funded by Girls, Inc. How hard can that be? The real story is about the solo rider that spends his entire life savings and borrows money from fellow cycling buddies and talks them into spending their 2 week summer vacation working their tail off enabling him to acheive his life long dream: to say that he was a RAAM finisher in 2010.
So, I finally finish my 14 hour shift, and now I get interviewed by a nice duo from the RAAM video crew. Finally, my chance for U-tube stardom!
Cheering the participants about one per hour through the night was all worth it. Conversation with French and Swiss teams iced it, and just a minute ago at daw , Kevin Kaiser, my Georgian brother pharmacist, passed by, while I tooted my new Swiss Ricola horn and clanged my cow bell, and he gave me a thumbs up. I'm in heaven in the bicycling paradise of Indiana!
Oh yeah, I called the local paper and gave them a piece of my op-ed!

Gulewicz 1 TS back

Gerhard Gulewicz has been pacing Jure' Robic but one TS back. He reached TS35 the same time Robic has reached TS36. The problem is the huge stormfront that is moving NE at 50mph. Robic has been skirting it while Gelewicz has been free of any precipitation. I feel that it's going to get closer in Ohio and again the moment of truth will be the mountains of West Virginia!

Thunderstorms, floods, Robic

Thunderstorms are hitting southern Indiana hard today and last night. Time Station 39 just got all set up, and then we had to tear down the tents before today's thunderstorms hit. We hope to get them back up when this last front moves out of here tonight. INDOT has not announced any warnings on state routes yet due to flooding, but who knows what it will be like tomorrow. One should watch the same trouble spots as two years ago: Hutsonville-Wabash River, Bloomfield-West Fork of White River, and Columbus-East Fork of White River. Jure' is right behind this last front as he's on his way to Effingham,IL (TS37). We'll be awaiting Robic at 6am Wednesday morning, and Gulewicz 4 hours later!

Jure' halfway there

Jure' has arrived in Pratt, Kansas, the designated halfway point in the past few RAAM's. He's looking a lot better than in the mountains in Colorado. He rested more than usual due to him pushing too much due to the tailwinds in the desert. So, he's back on track but under the solo average of 15.4 mph. Gulewicz is riding steady but has lost some ground in Kansas. The surprise is Georgian Kevin Kaiser. I'm pulling for him to reach the podium as he's a pharmacist like me; ohhhh my, the dark force just entered my mind!!! No, Bubba, No; you can't be my ultra-father.

Meanwhile, Barbara Buatois holds a commanding lead in the women's solo, and belladonna Sabrina Bianchi is moving up the standings.

Hardly any DNF's so far, but after all the rain in Colorado, upper respiratory infections may set in! The tough just keep on going, "What's coughing up a little blood!" Steve Born told Bubba when we took him to the hospital in Craig,CO, 2001, "Everyone does it during RAAM!"

TS 39 will be setting up Tuesday afternoon ready for our first arrivals that evening and more later in the night. Hopefully, all these thunderstorms the past few days will dissipate, but it's June in Indiana! One never knows!

Can You Stomach This?

Jure' Robic's goal this year was not only to reclaim his title but to do it in record breaking fashion. In fact I was considering to open TS 39 earlier than Tuesday afternoon. Well, Jure's stomach would not cooperate on Friday or Saturday as he was climbing in Colorado. Everyone deals with stomach issues at least once during a solo RAAM, and this one has evened out the field. His average speed is now lower than the record of 15.4 mph, but with some tailwinds and his stomach calming down, he could still be on the hunt. Gulewicz is only 3 hours back at TS 23 patiently waiting to make his move. There's a battle for 3rd with Pattison, Morlock, and Warner-Smith at TS 20. At TS19 it's a traffic jam with 9 riders within 9 hours of each other!

RAAM should boycott Arizona in 2011

I can't believe the Arizona authorities pulled over a solo RAAM rider's RV to check passports. The rider was delayed a couple of hours I think. What? Were they brown? Did they speak a funny language? I'm totally embarrassed of being an American and especially Arizona. I was thinking of riding in Arizona for a week in the future spring breaks. Not anymore, Hell Week here I come!

Bad Bad Boys

Well, I've been studying the roster of the solo men, and the clear favorite is Jure Robic, Slovenia. He lost last year to Dani Wyss, Switzerland during the most controversial RAAM ever. If it wasn't for that extra hydration before the start or a misplaced route book, Jure could have won it. Others would say touche' to all the spying and head games of the Slovenian Army. But, one can't deny that Jure is one of the top RAAM performers ever! Gerhard Gulewicz, Austria, and Mark Pattinson, UK/USA, have had some good results in past RAAM's. Julian Sanz, Spain, is another one not to count out. But, my sentimental favorite is Kevin Kaiser, USA, from Georgia. He rode a solid RAAM last year in his rookie solo year, and the previous year he raced across America with a partner on a fixed gear! But, he's also a pharmacist, and us druggists have to stick together.

After you, ladies!

The women started earlier today and have all passed TS1. They were all within 20 minutes of each other, with the ave speeds ranged from 14.3 to 13.0 mph. Of those 5 women the first place and fifth place were recumbents - that's very interesting!

There are no clear favorites here. Recumbent Barbara Buatois, France, has quite a lot of impressive results and is backed by a lot of sponsors and financial backing! Michelle Santilhano, S Africa, started 2009 RAAM solo and DNF'd on day 3. Let's hope that experience will help her in 2010. An Italian belladonna, Sabrina Bianchi, sure has the name for cycling. Amy Xu looks strong as nails. And then the local favorite, Sandy Earl, grew up in Indiana and has the women's record at Calvin's 12 hr challenge in Springfield, OH. We Hoosiers and Buckeyes are pulling for her!

Techies!!!

Klaus Rothe, my technical advisor, and I, the dumb Dell PC guy, have started our annual but late search for the best and/or cheapest way for internet connection for the RAAM tent Tuesday June 15 to Saturday June 19.

Two years ago, we had hit and skip wi-fi reception thru PC Max by accident, and last year we had wi-fi reception from 8 to 8 thru the College Mall. This year Klaus even has me talked into buying an Ipad for the event, but alas, no wi-fi at 8:30pm in front of the CVS.

He has mentioned that the best option is Mi-Fi but it is quite expensive for poor little me [unless BBC would flip the bill]. A phone card - 3g ubs port would be great to use but I don't have one and I don't have a laptop.

I asked Sprint and Verizon for assistance last year and was denied, but Klaus will try to strike a deal this week, but I'm not expecting any cooperation there.

Klaus would love to have any kind of brainstorms in this matter so we can serve the tent and crews and riders with RAAM info 24/7.

Thanks for any help out there.

Motivated

Well, I'm now into this RAAM thing full tilt. I knew that the motivation would kick in the closer it came. Just e-mailed out press releases and notices to bike shops and our Bloomington Bicycle Club. I'll be leading a Breaking Away Descriptive Ride this Sunday and will plug RAAM again. This is our 3rd year and I think the racers and crews are looking forward always to come through Bloomington, the metropolis of RAAM!

It's raining on this hot and humid day in May, and I really need to start getting this RAAM thing in gear. I don't know how the RAAM racers do it? Needing to stay focused and on a plan for 10 months knowing full well it will be torture for 8 to 12 days in June! My hat's off to all you guys and gals. And, let's not forget the crews and officials. I crewed for Bubba Jeff Stephens in 2001 and what an experience. That was hard work and was not a vacation.

Indiana girl and the Indiana nights

Sandy Earl will be the first woman to attempt RAAM solo on a recumbent. She hails from Oregon, but she's originally from Ft Wayne, Indiana. Went to Snider High School way back when. I kind of feel a kinship as I lived in the Ft Wayne area for 25 years. She's no stranger to ultra-cycling. She still holds the women's mileage record at Calvin's Challenge and I think her 504 totem is a leopard of some sort. Her folks are coming down to our time station to cheer her on. The VIP seating will be reserved for Ma and Pa!

Are they worthy?

Well, Rupp and Gerbig have finally fielded their 4 man team, the Hoosiers. But, the other two are from California and Colorado. Dave Tanner seems to have retired from ultra-distance events. Would love to see a true Hoosier team. I've got a few names to suggest for 2011!

Time Station Tidbit

Jure' Robic has the most experience with the roads between TS 38, Sullivan, IN and TS 39, Bloomington, IN. Why?

2010 is the 3rd year that Bloomington has been part of RAAM. Robic won RAAM rather handily in 2008. However, in 2009 the route was changed due to possible road construction, but Robic's crew had Jure' ride the 2008 route. Hence, he was penalized 30 minutes for riding off course and it was his third penalty, and the time penalties accummulate. Thomas Wyss was actually now ahead of Robic in Bloomington, IN!

2010 route is back to the 2008 that goes through Solsberry on rather hilly terrain.

Time Station 38 2009 Highlights

2009 is our second year, so we're no longer rookies and have no excuses. From the comments from last year, I don't think we have anything to worry about. There wasn't that much interest this year as there was in 2008. Dave Tanner, our local RAAM hero, was not riding in 2009, but was on a solo woman crew. However, there were a couple of Indiana connections. Team Vera Bradley was an 8 person team from Ft Wayne riding for Breast Cancer Awareness. I knew a few of the riders, actually doctors from a hospital I used to work at. The Great Grand PAC Masters had an average age of 75+ years, and Chris Staufer from Ft Wayne was one of the members.

The missing tent finally showed up the last minute from my assistant manager's boys. Support from a local computer repair company in the neighborhood fizzled out, so we weren't quite sure about wifi. But, low and behold we had good reception from College Mall's wifi. Coke surprised me but in the opposite direction from last year. In 2008, we received a huge cooler plus at least 1000 units of Coca-Cola product. Well, we initially received about 200 units at the time I was setting up. I looked at the new salesman and asked, "That it?" Well, I got a lot more product and a banner to fly.

I started studying the RAAM web-site and gave Dave Tanner a call. He was on the crew of a solo woman who wasn't doing so well. He told me that the organizers changed the route from Sullivan,IN TS 37 to our TS 38. This was a surprise to me as no one told me. Why the change? Apparently, some RAAM organizer surfed the web and saw that IN-43 was "under construction". Actually, there was minor construction that wouldn't have been a deterrent day or night. More travelled IN-45 was used as the last minute alternate. I kind of felt like the kid on "Home Alone".
Well, now to wait for all the excitement to arrive. Some famous surfer dude was riding with a team called Team Surfing, or was it some politician. I don't remember, they must not have been famous enough for me. Something happenned to them along the way east and they DNF'd. Again, I forget why, but I guess it wasn't important enough for me to remember. Meanwhile, there was a lot of excitement in California. There were 4 women riding solo and 24 men riding solo. And even more , a sixteen person, eight tandem Team JRDF.

The big talk was "is Jure' Robic beatable?" There were a number of riders that thought so. Gerhard Gulewicz was neck and neck with Robic in 2008 until a jacket got caught in his wheel. Dani Wyss won in 2006 when Robic DNF'd. Marko Baloh, a fellow Slovenian, Julian Sanz Garcia, and Franz Preihs also were contenders. See a trend: no Americans. Two of them are longshots: Kevin Kaiser, one of the Fondo Fixies of 2008, and Christopher Gottwald, an American pro racer.

By the time Robic crossed the Mississippi, Dani Wyss was close behind. We also found out that Robic had 30 minutes of penalties. One was 15 minutes for relieving himself in public at the start line ceremonies! By the time they got to Bloomington at about 6pm, they were within an hour of each other. The officials at the time station were getting a flurry of calls. Something was up, but they couldn't tell me anything. The Slovenian Army (Robic's crew) arrived and the shouting started. Robic then went by the time station, while the RV stayed at the time station with the officials. Apparently Robic rode the 2008 old route, and their spy vehicle followed Wyss. So, it wasn't by accident, but it really didn't matter, he broke the rules. Another 30 minute penalty. Meanwhile, Wyss rode by TS 38 55 minutes later. So, actually he was ahead!

The film crews came on the scene. They interviewed me. I told them how RAAM changed the route without giving me a heads up. I told them how the new course could be very confusing. Well, I ended up on the cutting floor as this was all now under investigation! Now, I felt like Kevin Costner (the "Big Chill")

By the time the two leaders got to Athens, OH (TS 42), they were actually within minutes of each other.

More excitement was when the Great Grand PAC Masters came through just after midnight. What a jovial group of riders and crew. So many of them were ex-RAAMers paying back to the vets. I talked some with Stauffer.

Gulewicz came through at 8am and Baloh at 1pm. It was going to be a horse race among the top four.

The 8 man teams then roared though later that evening. Another day later, more excitement when Daniela Figueiredo Genovasi of Brazil passed Janet Christiansen, USA, somewhere between TS 37 and Bloomington.

So, at the last time station, RAAM officials pulled over Jure' Robic and put him in "the penalty box" to sit out his minutes. Dani Wyss proceeded to win RAAM, and Jure pulled out and didn't finish.

Will we see him again in RAAM. I guess we'll have to wait till June 2010!

More Highlights from RAAM 2008

Before I get on to 2009, I thought I'd write a little more on 2008 from my annual journal.
"We started setting up on Saturday June 14 at 2pm with Kristen and Dan, two of the SDSU interns. Jim Lang came out a little later and helped. At 5pm Joe and Barb Anderson came with another tailgate tent from the BBC storage shed. So, everything was ready and where's the riders?

At 6:45pm the Gran Fondo Fixies came through. The resting rider of the 2 man team jumped out of the car and offered us cookies! Shouldn't it have been the other way around? This was the first fixie category of RAAM, and the organizers weren't quite sure just how "fast" they'd be going across the country, so they had them start 1 or 2 days before anyone else. We were quite surprised that they were the first ones here. We chatted with them at length about his fixed gear biking. Wow! The Fixie came through and missed the turn on 2nd St. Time to mark the wrap around.



Jan Christiansen, solo woman, coming through.
Paul Stern and his wife stopped by. He's the time station director, and we met after all the e-mailing we've been doing the past six months. We talked for quite some time, and Jim Lang recommended Truffles for a fancy supper. Hope they liked it, while I had a cold Wendy's double, however Jen did deliver some cookies and banana bread.




Jim Lang, Klaus R, Jen M, and a couple of RAAM officials waited for the Slovenian Army to arrive. Johnny Boswell and friend have been following the Robic contingent since California. We found out they're from Fredricksburg, Texas and invited us down to Hell Week. They decided to bed down awhile in the tent and lounging chair.









The Bloomington police came by to check us out. Naturally, they knew nothing about RAAM, but after some educating, they were cool. Some Cutters came by to be there for Jure, but still no Jure. Finally, at 4:47am, Robic went by and we exchanged some souvenirs to the Slovenian Army."





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