538 mi, 40,000' elevation gain

3rd Place

Field: 19 soloists

This is the most difficult RAAM qualifier in the country and offers challenges seldom seen in other ultra events. In addition to the climbing, this race has several passes near 5,000' and finishes at 6,000' on Mt Hood. Two of the passes had a very cold rain and snow was starting to cover the road as we neared the finish line. There were 26 soloists signed up, 19 started, and only 7 were to finish. I felt honored to be among the finishers Coming into this race with some right IT-band irritation, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to finish. I was hoping, though, to get to TS4 which would have given me 406 mi or a 600K qualifier for this year's 1200K event which will start in Davis 19 July.

The 5AM start was uneventful enough with a 20 mi neutral roll to get out of East Portland and into the hills. I really wanted a HR ceiling of 147 but ended up in the 160's occasionally in order to keep the recumbent within the peolton during the short climbs. Once the race started in earnest, the pace picked up some but it was apparent that everyone know this would be an incredibly long time trial. First climb was a 10 mi 6% grade up Mt Hood into cool clouds (cold actually) with mist compromising the descent until we got back below cloud level.

Hydration and calories were being handled by an experienced crew of 2 people one of whom, I learned later, drove the whole 39 hrs! Had I known that during the race, I might have requested he drop back a little during the final hrs of the event. As it stands The support van shields the rider from approaching traffic, radios turns, and stays in touch for meds, food, and hydration. During the night, however, the support vehicle also provides the lighting for the racer to see the road, turns, obstacles, etc. They need to stay within 30' of the rider regardless of whether we are going 10mph or 50mph. As RAAM is coming up next week, we had a chance to practice following technique and found that the van can provide adequate lighting by driving next to the bike rather than directly behind. This allows more protection for the cyclist in case of a blowout during one of the many descents where seeing rocks on the road is more of a process of guessing where they are most likely to be than actually seeing them. For almost 40 hrs the crew, like clockwork, were getting 200-300 cal per hr out the window, electrolytes, and asthma medicine. The only revision to the pre-written schedule of meds and food was to lower calories when pain and fatigue lowered my heartrate into the mid 120's.

The first 200 mi went fine, like any other double century but I know that the harder miles come after dark and into the next day. The last 38 of this ride will be the hardest. My IT-band had been acting up and Ibuprofen was not fully masking it. At the rate we were going, I was not even going to make the 600K which was my minimal goal for this event. For a change of pace, I had the crew pull off the other bike, a lighter, but less aero recumbent sporting a 165 crankset. Never having taken anything shorter than 170's out on a long race, I was really surprised that the pain mostly subsided within the hour. I returned to the other bike a couple of times for gearing issues but never for more than an hour at a time. I got back to my target HR and felt good with the rolling terrain, and my position in the pack.

Going into the evening part of the ride we started seeing rain. There was Lightning in the midnight distance as we rolled on to a pair of 5,000' summits to climb. The lightning was sobering but the rain did not amount to much until closer to daybreak. The 4-man recumbent team had passed us a few hrs ago and another team was passing us at this point. We could ride side by side and not violate the drafting rules, so visited for a few minutes before they rolled on. The landscape offers great distractions during the day but it gets a little quiet out there at night and I can't imagine how the RAAM soloists cope!

The cold rain was becoming more of a problem around 5AM as the sky was getting light. We passed Graham Pollack, the 2004 winner, around mi 350. They were having van problems before the race and we thought maybe they had a breakdown, so our van spun around to see what happened. Grahm was in the back seat and ready to call it quits. It was wet, cold, and he was not doing as well as he was hoping to. A very difficult moment after investing so much into an event like this. Our van left with hopes that he could find a way back into the race. A little while later he and his van went by, bikes on top... Graham's strong, he's a great guy and it was really disappointing to see him DNF.

At this point, even with the 165's I was having some knee problems. Constantly reminding myself of spinning closer to 90rpm I could keep my heartrate up to high 130's but that was about it. TS 4 (mi406), however, I felt renewed by finding out I was in 4th place. A 5 min stop and ample calories, we rolled out. At this point we were near Bend, heading north in the Deschutes River valley back toward the Mt Hood finish. The climbs of these last 120 miles were slower and my asthma was starting to show up. This is the frustrating turn that took me out of last year's RAAM as well as Furnace Creek 508. To complicate matters, we had just passed the 3rd place person and a course official was giving us splits on the 2nd place person who we were catching up to. We caught up to Wade at mi 499 and I tailed for a few minutes before making a pass in hopes of putting on some distance and solidifying 2nd place. Wade was suffering, but not enough to let go of his position so he jumped on it and we battled it out for maybe 30 min until hitting a significant climb where I had to bow out. It took a lot out of both of us and we limped along into those last 30 mi without much reserve. Knowing the finish line was at 6000' and that my lungs were not doing well the crew called ahead to the finish to see if there was oxygen there in case of emergency. I was out of breath with a HR of 125 and had a difficult 2000' climb to finish the race. To boot, the rain was turning into snow and the last 45 min was a surreal climb into winter. Had some back wheel slippage right at the end, but once seeing Timberline Lodge, I knew it was over!

Splits:

Bikes:

Bacchetta Aero, 24 lbs, 170 cranks 52-40-30
650c 9 sp 11-27 later 11-25

Carbent, 20 lbs, 165 cranks 52-42-30
700c 9 sp 11-34

Nutrition:

E-Caps Perpetuem 200Cal/hr
Hammergel as needed (250 Cal at a time) for boost
Endurolytes
BCAA's
Peanut butter cookies, when heartrate was low and I could eat real foods.

Hydration:

20-30 oz water / hr