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!