Race Across America (RAAM) 2016
Faith, Hope, & Living an Abundant no-fear life
To start off I need to confess. I’m not a fast enough rider to complete the Race Across America in the time allotted. I knew this going in and it would play out as I went. The riders of this years Race Across America found out about two months prior to the race that their would be an added almost 70 miles to the course this year and those miles would take place in the mountains of Colorado. Some were discouraged, I remember thinking all right God if I’m going to trust you I’m going to trust you with everything. I had done my projections for the race and if everything went perfect I was expected to finish with about 2 hours to spare. This was before the added mileage. The 3000 mile course was now 3069.25 miles.
From before the race started I told my crew, and everyone around me that we got this, by God’s grace and not in my own strength. I also had a “feeling” that God wanted me to finish this race and that he would carry me through to the finish in under the allotted time. So that became one of my statements over and over. If God wants me to finish this race under the time cutoff he will go before me and I will make it.
This would be a race about Hope, faith, and living an abundant life and not about suffering. My idea of suffering better –the slogan for the race is to lean into it, embrace it, overcome it and as James 1: 2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. I do love the tag line for 3000 Miles to a Cure because it resonates so well in my heart. Impossible is Unacceptable. A few other quotes that played out in my head about impossible were: Matthew 19:26 one of my guiding mantras: With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Another recent legend, the late, Great Muhammad Ali, might have said it best, “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
I focused on three guiding principles during the race. 1) Safety – Safety first, always safety first. 2) Keep me on the road every single second possible pedaling. The only reason that I would stop is for self-care. The reason for self-care and its significance is the better I take care of myself the more I am able to keep a steady strong cycling cadence. I would take breaks so that my overall speed would be higher. This is a very important concept because many neglect self-care and they pay for it in either speed or sanity. Self care for RAAM is defined as time off the bike either using the restroom, getting ice poured into my leggings/arm bands/buff, my 10 minute massages and ice bathing my feet 1-2 times a day and my nightly sleeps in the hotel rooms. The hotel stops the aim was 15 minutes to get me from the bike to bed (strip down, shower, massage, and pass out). Once I woke up the goal was to get me back on the bike within 15 minute, (pull my spirit back into my body occasionally–usually took about 30 seconds J) eat a cup of noodle, and oatmeal as quickly as I could, bandage up my feet and anything else and get myself pedaling. 3) Build community – Always build community, helping those around us, bringing joy to anyone we encountered weather at the gas stations, the aid stations, the stores, or people following online through the many different portals. A key piece of my strength comes from my community.
I kept telling people my RAAM experience was about 90% fun, exciting times and felt like a 12 day road trip with some of the most significant influential people in my life and 10% really really hard. I felt 100% coherent and in my right mind almost the entire time. The exception to this was moments when I was waking up or just heading to bed and I could feel my spirit detaching from my physical body. There is one morning in particular that sticks out in a hotel room with Kristin sitting there watching me. I remember focusing and repeating the mantra, “We got this” as I struggled to pull my mind into my active consciousness. We got this, we got this, we got this, and all of a sudden it relinked and I was there. I looked at Kristin and said all right, ready to go, 100% aware, with a smile on my face. Talking to her later she laughs as she talks about how my eyes were wavering back and forth not locking onto anything as I grasped to pull my conscious mind back under my own mental control.
The Crew with Nick Name:
Sean Flanagan – Crew Chief
Kristin DeCou – My Rock
Baby Boy with Kristin – Buddy
Madisyn Heistand – Lil Angel
Kim Godawa – The Guardian
Jim Robertson – The Protector
Totsie Robertson – Happy Camper
Holly Cunningham – Sunshine
Jack Church – Captain Jack
Darla Workman – The Healer
Chris Clemens – Tarzan
Tyler Clemens – El Tigre
Jamaica Lambie – The Linchpin
Kyle Downs – The Dog Whisperer
Gay Hunter – Super Woman
Jo Dee Ahmann – The Messenger
Cole McCauley – Lil Freezeframe
Luke Rafferty – Skyflyer
Aly Moser – Rio Ready
Lucia Parker – The Producer
Rob DeCou – King of the Mountain
Prerace: Let’s start with the blessings and answered prayers prior to the race start. One of the pieces that I decided to “test” God with was on the rental vehicles. This can be one of the most expensive pieces of the puzzle for putting together the RAAM experience and over a year ago I prayed, all right God show me how you will provide in this area. I did all that I could in my own power to open up a door for this blessing. This led to an almost sponsorship from Mercedes Benz through a Rotary friend of mine who works there, but that didn’t work out. We almost got a Sprinter Van, which ended up being to cost prohibitive, especially considering we would have to drive it back after the race to the West coast. About 3 weeks out from the event I was having a phone meeting with my crew chief Sean and my wife Kristin and I remember thinking, we just need to rent these things and get it done. I had been looking on line frequently at pricing for mini-van rentals for 3 weeks with a one way drop off and they kept coming up at around $2,500 – $2,600 a piece with the $1000 added one way drop off fee. Then there were also fees for additional drivers. This evening when I went to kayak and pulled up the minivans there was a different price: $1,040 per vehicle. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I booked them as soon as I could get my head around the blessing and we got all 3 van’s 2016 models, one with 8 seats, 2 with stow and go seating that we needed for under $3,200.
Another prayer request was my bike situation. I spent almost a year getting used to the Cruzbike Vendetta and as the race got closer I was still having issues with the headrest, and a few other small things that I just didn’t have enough time to figure out and I’m not mechanical enough to know how to correct. I put it up for sale on the Cruzbike forum and another recumbent rider Ben Tomblin who I met in Florida had a race ready Bacchetta Carbon Aero which is the bike frame I am most used to but in a much better version. We did an even swap and I shipped out my Vendetta and got my new bike with less then 2 months from race start. Dana Lieberman at Bent Up Cycles here in LA was a Godsend. He helped me significantly with my mechanics on the bikes, I bought my back up recumbent a Bacchetta Corsa from him which although I was only on it probably 500 miles of the 3000 mile course was a key component to the journey. Dana is just a gem of a guy and I did a few rides with him and some friends and his encouragement went miles mentally helping me prepare for RAAM. At the last minute I realized I needed an extra set of wheels and I had remembered my running partner Paige Marino’s husband had just switched out his wheels for a new set so he could shave off seconds from his sprint racing. I messaged here and sure enough she was up for loaning me the old wheels, which were a pivotal piece in the puzzle. It was incredible how all the logistics for the flights, lodging, dinner events, meals, etc. came together and I could attribute that to prayer but it really comes down to the fact that I have an extremely competent wife who is a logistics guru and she knocked it out of the park on this one. Before leaving town I also stopped by my chiropractor John E Min, who is simply a genius when it comes to body alignment. I was so fortunate to find him here in LA. I have probably been to about a dozen chiropractors over the years for preventative care and you can always tell the great ones, and John is outstanding.
Leading up to the race
Sean arrived into Los Angeles on Wednesday and it was great to have the time to get things prepared. We did an evening dinner at the LAX Chamber of Commerce in which many of my Rotary friends and some others from the community came to join in hearing about this crazy adventure I was about to take on. The Playa Venice Rotary has become family to me here in Los Angeles. There are so many salt of the earth people in that group and I am honored to be one of their number. This morning at the meeting my friend Brady Connell stood up and said, “I don’t think we realize how significant this trip is that Rob is taking”. He is riding his bike across the country non-stop, it’s quite a feat. He donated some happy bucks along with 3-4 others, and I felt very supported and encouraged by my friends in that group.
Thursday morning I got up at 6:15 to head to Legends while Sean went out for a run. Legends is this group of guys that get together from 7-8 for prayer here in LA. There is another group in New York as well. We pray, and then we get together for coffee for an hour or two and then we all go our way. The best way I would describe this group is sheep in wolves clothing. You walk into the room, we meet at the Apolis Gallery in the Arts District downtown and the full beards, tattoos, long hair and gentle smiles are prevalent. The room is filled with men of God and most the group are entrepreneurs, or pastors. There is no structure to our prayers and we focus on four basics. The idea of Legends is the legend of a map and it gives direction and a person to follow. In our meetings our discussions and prayers center on how to be the best versions of ourselves. We share and encourage each other to be better fathers, husbands, leaders, community members, and to crush it in our workplace. It was a great way to start the morning.
At noon I got the privilege of attending the TOMS Toastmasters group. I have been apart of Toastmasters for 2 years now and was the Vice President of Education, and until yesterday was the President of the City Speakers Toastmasters club in Santa Monica, CA. Toastmasters has been invaluable to me as a leader and presenter in my business and personal life and I am so grateful to that organization. A few months ago I was able to help my wife Kristin who is the current Vice President of Education and their President Jeanette start a Toastmasters at TOMS along with another one of my club’s members and our area governor Sandra Wallach. I’ll be honest Sandra did almost all of it, but the two of us non the less get credit and are mentors for the TOMS group. Anyways at this particular meeting one of the employees Travis gave his icebreaker speech and I was mesmerized. He basically shared his testimony and how he got his job at TOMS. He equated sharing his life without mentioning Jesus Christ and his faith as like sharing the TOMS story without giving credit to Blake. The story he told was one of God’s providence where he did everything he could in his power to get a job at TOMS and didn’t get anywhere. Then years later through a series of events he gave his stylish shoes away to a homeless guy and realized he had a gig to play and would need a pair of shoes so he grabbed his old grungy TOMS out of his closet that he had cast away and almost given up on that dream and as he walked up on the stage ran into a very influential person at TOMS who saw his shoes and said, hey are those TOMS. Travis told him the story of how he tried to get hired at TOMS and didn’t get anywhere, and the circumstances that currently had him wearing his old shoes that he hadn’t put on in quite some time. The guy invited him to play the following week at a gig for the TOMS office and the story tells itself from there. He’s been at TOMS ever since and loves it. Even more powerful then this personal story was how he weaved in the story of Gideon in the bible to his experience. Basically God wanted to take away every anything that could possibly be construed as Travis getting the job in his own strength or in his own merit.
Much as in the bible Gideon was given a similar situation. I’ll paraphrase here for those who don’t know the story. You can find it in Judges 6-7. Judges 6:1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. Judges 6: 7-16 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice.” Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor” And Gideon said to him “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Judges 7:2-8 The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, “My own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, “Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. “ Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still to many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you, “shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” Shall not go. “ So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink,” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
Judges 7:16-25 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon.” So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordon.
I digress with the story of Gideon but it played a major role in my trip, as you will see later.
Thursday afternoon we picked up all the rental vans from Hertz with the help of Nick Lerum and parked the fleet on our street in Grandview. In the afternoon we went to Racksolid here in LA and the team there was so supportive and gave us a great deal on a roof rack and even mounted it on for us so that I could put my backup bike on the rack.
The next big event was driving to Oceanside on Friday afternoon. Sean and I took two of the minivans with us and made our way down the coast. We stopped at my friends Bobby’s coffee shop in Long beach Recreational Coffee. I know Bobby from Legends and another friend from that group Terry Carter will not stop talking about how good Bobby’s shop is. “Bobby’s place is so cool”. I had to check it out while passing through. Sean and I stopped and I must say I have never in my life had a coffee experience like that. The best way to describe it would be a classy cocktail bar for coffee where when you walk through the door the staff make you feel like you just walked onto the Cheers set. It didn’t hurt that Bobby was an ingenious host and shared with his staff the journey we were about to start then proceeded to bring us drink after drink of fruit infusions and reductions mixed with cold espressos. Some of the creamiest dark chocolates blended with espressos, and a few other signature drinks. It was quite the experience and I have to say Bobby be cool…
After the coffee experience it was to late in the day to pick up some of my new favorite gift when I go to places, which is a eucalyptus spray that you use in the shower from my good friend Terry Carter at Travertine Spa. It reminds me of when I used to do steam saunas in India at the health club and they would spray this mist of scents into the room. You would not regret going to this site and for under $40 getting a bottle of the spray. You’ll understand after you try it, it is simply a life changing experience and an immersion of fragrance. I’m not really a body care product guy but I must say Terry is a magician when it comes to these products and I’m glad I have someone in my friend circle with off the charts style and finesse.
Sean and I stayed with Kristin’s Aunt and Uncle David and Nadine Garcia, which is always a great experience. They took us out to dinner and we heard stories of David and his Heavy Metal band Cage and talked about work, life, and family. It is so good to have quality extended family. David had one of his new songs Across the Sea of Madness video recorded and the singer was like, “Can you make lightning come out of my hands”. The answer was… F—k ya, and I think they have well over 100 lightning strikes in the video.
Saturday morning we had the privilege of sleeping in a little and then Sean and I went for a run/hike together. Sean ran and I jogged the first section and then hiked. I ended up heading up to the top of a hill that had a decent overlook. On the hike up I opened up my bible application on my phone and listened to the story of Gideon in Judges a couple of times. That’s me on this trip I thought to myself. I can’t do this in my own strength, and the only way I’ll get through this race unscathed is if I humbly submit myself to the Lord and just do as I’m told… All I got to do is pedal. The added 69 miles on the route didn’t concern me and just made me smile. This wasn’t about my ability level, this upcoming race was about me leaning into my faith, trusting, and letting go of all fear and anxiety and living an abundant life. As I sat on the top of that hill overlooking the ocean I felt euphoric. I was going to be used as an instrument for God’s good, I had no fear, and somehow I just had this feeling deep in my spirit that God would get me through this event under the time limit and I didn’t have to worry myself with things that weren’t my burden to bear. After Sean and I returned from our hike/run we started getting ready for the crew to role in. Kristin picked up the group that flew into LAX and then they drove down. This included: Jamaica, Madisyn, Kyle, Jack, Darla, and Gay. The majority of the team was together for our 3:00pm meet up at our house rental about 10 minutes away from race start, which was a nice distance to stay away from the excitement and keep my nerves even keeled. The rest of the day was pretty low key filled with catching up with friends, buying food, eating and sharing quality time with the family and friends that would carry me through this great adventure. As the cyclist it’s an odd time because I quickly transition out of directing the action and what’s going on to handing it into the very competent hands of my crew chief Sean Flanagan. The goal was that by Sunday night people would be looking to him first for answers instead of in my direction and he took on this role with a kind heart, a community spirit, and a competence in logistics and team dynamics that is tough to put into words.
Sunday happened to be a little rushed in the morning because I neglected to pick up my race decals the night before from headquarters so our inspections which were the first of the day at 10:30 were pretty tight. We had a great group session in the morning with the 3000 Miles to a Cure team which included both media crews, Marshall Reeves and his crew and then my massive support crew (largest of any solo riders by far). Jo Dee Ahmann lead a section of the meeting and helped guide the conversation around why we were all there and the bonds that we have together as teams. Jo Dee is the mother of my friend Christina Ahmann Nevill who passed away from brain cancer June 13, 2013. I asked Jo Dee about nine months ago if I could ride this race in honor of her daughter Christina and share Christina’s faith, joy, and most inspirationally her willingness to live an abundant life in the midst of what should be fear and anxiety. Christina radiated joy in the last years of her life, she lived a no fear life, and those who were around her in those last days remember her smile, her faith, and the angels that guarded her all the way until she passed away. In the last few years of her life she had the blessing of getting married to Doug Nevill and they have a son Isaiah who is such a joyful boy. Such blessings in the midst of what life throws our way. Jo Dee was very accepting of me sharing Christina’s message to the point that she wanted to come along and see what this was all about. This eventually turned into her having the opportunity to be on the media crew and get a first hand view of this very unique world of ultra endurance events. I have been doing Life Coaching with Jo Dee about twice a month for the six months leading up to the Race Across America. Jo Dee has her own company Strait View Life Coaching where she offers her coaching services to churches, groups, and individuals. I always wondered if someone could get their head around my psychology and aid me through some of the life situations. That question has been answered. The time I put in with Jo Dee acknowledging my fear, sharing my anxieties, walking through blocks in the road and making a plan of action to overcome each one was invaluable to my success. One of the biggest take away was realizing that some of my fears/anxieties weren’t my burden to carry. One that came up was what if I don’t make it past the first four days and we put all these resources into action and then cut the trip short. That’s not you’re burden to bear she told me. It hit me like a wave of peaceful euphoria. She was right. It wasn’t my burden. What I was called to do was start the race, share my faith, build community, and regarding cycling make sure that my crew knew to keep me on the bike every possible second they could over this 12 day journey. We could do that, and I could keep them to the clock and focused on getting me back out on the course as soon as humanly possible after each little self-care break. The other big one was my safety. It came up during training a few times. Some local cyclists would get hit; I’d read an article about racers getting killed by inattentive drivers. I went on a brevet with some friends and found myself out near Temecula on a Saturday night around midnight and my friend Greg and I almost got tagged by a drunk driver who after immediately passing us swerved across the white line and zigzagged back into traffic. We stopped our race and called his wife to come pick us up. It’s just not worth compromising safety. The guiding principle is safety first, always safety first. Without a direct follow vehicle on that road at that time of night we have no business playing those odds. Going into RAAM I knew in my mind that this race per mile per rider is much safer then being out on the road normally. There have been I believe 3 deaths or vegetative states in RAAM since 1983, out of the over 300 finishers, and probably 600+ participants. I figure that gave me about a 1 in 200 chance of getting into a major incident. Given any time you cover over 3000 miles on a bike it’s about the same chance of some inattentive driver, or that one idiot, it only takes one with road rage to have an incident. Even more then the stats and doing my own little risk assessment in my head, I felt like God was calling me to do this, he would be there with me, he would guide me and protect me and I just needed to lay it into his hands.
We made it through the inspecting in the allotted time, a little rushed I must say but our team really came together. We had a new inspector who crossed every T and dotted every I so it looked grim at first but some of the other officials came over and we made friends quickly and it all turned out very well. At the end of the inspection I got whisked away to do my interview. It was such a blessing to share my faith, my goals for the ride, my strategy, and my reason for racing. Afterwards I could see Luke Rafferty and Cole McCauley light up at my depth of faith. This was not a bike race for me. This was a walk of faith and a way for me to build depth in my community while showing the world what God can do if you submit your will to him and simply trust that he will carry you through. It’s been said a fe times this weekend that it feels a lot like right before a wedding. All my best friends and family are together and I’m getting so excited for a moment in the near future. I wrote a blog post for my business Lux Virtual before leaving and titled it, The Silence Before the Storm. Of course there were a bunch of guys around me so we also joked about how this might feel like the build up to a wedding but once the ceremony begins it’s like the anti-honeymoon. That’s right 12 days of celibacy for pretty much all of us. I can’t speak for Jim and Totsie.
In the evening we all headed to my business partner Nick Lerum’s Aunt Zan (Susan) and Uncle Andy’s house. They are a couple of those salt of the earth people that I am so blessed to know and to have in my life. Kristin and I had the blessing to cover the BBQ order and got some amazing food from Phil’s BBQ. We had the whole group together once again which was the DeCou crew, Marshall Reeves and his crew and both media crews. It was such a blessing to hang out for those 3-4 hours in what felt like a sanctuary. We played corn hole, ate great food, I got to talk to Laura Lerum Nick’s mom about the race and really felt welcomed. After dinner we got around in a circle in the yard and Aunt Zan asked us all to share our reasons for going on this journey. Marshalls team had to leave a little early to get some rest but the rest of us got to share and it was really a powerful time that bonded each of us together further. Aunt Zan documented each of those reasons. My two favorites were Darla Workman’s where she said she had originally, “intended to be of help” but after sharing with a friend she changed it to I will be an active participant and play a significant role on this team. She was such a blessing to the team, myself, and so many around us who also got the opportunity to experience her gift of healing through massage. My business partner Nick made a point to state that he had to stay home and hold down the fort at work and that as Rob feels God’s pleasure when he runs, Nick feels God’s wrath. He along with my mentor Brian Godawa would be blessed to watch from the sideline. Brian added that he was sending his wife Kim in his stead to be a part of the festivities.
To start with on Monday let’s talk about the most important thing sleep. I slept 7 hours last night, which is so significant 2 days out from a race where the number one thing you will fight is sleep deprivation. There were two prescriptions that I have for this race, the first is Ambien to help me sleep the 2 nights before the race. I have a tendency to get performance anxiety and I remember vividly in high school hardy ever sleeping before wrestling matches. With over 30 matches in the regular season you could imagine how ragged I was at times. For major ultras in the past I had this same issue. When I ran the Leadville 100 trail run I didn’t sleep the night before. I laid there and told myself, “I am resting my legs, and I am resting my mind” During the night on the course I had been up for over 30 hours so I was like a walking zombie during these events. This was my experience on pretty much every ultra until the Borrego Springs 24 hour World Championship Time Trial. This was my first change to utilize my new prescription pre-race and sure enough I had a full night of sleep before the race. I remember doing that 18 mile loop over and over all night long and looking up at the sky and seeing the metal sculptures and with tears in my eyes at times thinking I’m awake, this is so much better. At sunrise when I’d already passed through the witching hour I started singing. That song, “My God is an Awesome God” played over and over in my head. Watching the sun come over the hills in that beautiful dessert scenery was very powerful and emotional to me. The other prescription that I took with me was an albuterol inhaler. Pretty much every rider get’s athletically induced asthma after passing through the dessert and heading into the mountains of Colorado and I had a plan for that. The first is Monday morning we had our second morning meeting with the 3000 Miles to a Cure team who graciously hosted at the hotel and provided breakfast, which was much appreciated. From there we went to Hertz and managed to get all the drivers registered for all the vehicles. The one notable exception was Madisyn who being 9 years of age would not be eligible to be a driver. She would have to stick to feeder, nutrition, and most importantly joyful encourager, which she was my number one fan and support during those long nights. We had race photo’s in the afternoon, I did a quick radio interview, Sean and Jamaica suffered through the crew chief meeting and then we all went to the racers meeting where we got to see all the RAAM and Race Across the West (RAW) racers. It reminded me so much of when I was at the race meeting for the Leadville 100 trail run in Colorado. I looked around the room at some of the top ultra endurance runners in the world and knew that only about half would finish. I also knew in my heart that even though I’m not the fastest, or the most experienced I have a drive, endurance, a state of mindfulness, and a slow and steady consistency that allows me to perform far beyond where my ability level would otherwise indicate. I shook hands with every one of the racers and looked them in the eye and told them to have a great race. Less then half of these incredible athletes would finish this course and I had faith that God would carry me through and I would be in that group that found a way through it all and crossed that line in Annapolis.
We had a group dinner at our rental house which the amazing Totsie Robertson made (Happy Camper) and I had the opportunity before it all began to go around to each person and look them in the eyes and say thank you. It was very powerful to me. In the morning I was going to get on my bike and start riding. I would put myself in a position where I can’t really take care of myself. All I can do is pedal and I have to rely 100% on my crew, which I so carefully chose to supply me with food, water, medicine, ice, motivational words, mechanical fixes to my equipment and pretty much all other needs. It’s very humbling and yet so freeing to know that I had selected or rather God had ordained such a competent and faithful group of people to guide and supply me on this journey.
Tuesday June 14th The race begins
We packed up the house, got all the supplies loaded in the van. Thankfully my sister Christina Heistand loaned me here carrying case for the top of her vehicle so we had some massive extra storage which kept things out of the vehicles and gave us more room. Had a great breakfast and headed to the holding area at 11:00 where we needed to have our follow vehicle checked in and ready to go. My fellow Rotarian Joe Chehade who is another salt of the earth guys and owns Playa Pharmacy in Playa Vista came down to Oceanside and lead our team prayer as we waited in the corral. He gave a very powerful blessing, and afterwards Jo Dee took the hard copy of the paper. If I am going to out to battle on the cycling course against the elements this country has to offer I will go out with the full armor of God. I’m not taking any chances. Another fellow Rotarian Howard Pollack who owns Rainbow Acres on Washington came to the start of the race. Howard is known pretty much everywhere as Mr. Generosity and for this endeavor of mine it was no exception. When I reached out to my Rotary club for personal support to help me with trip costs Howard was the first to step up and made a very notable contribution. I can’t thank Howard enough for his heart and generous nature. As the time got closer the RAW racers began to leave one by one, every minute starting at noon. I must have used the restroom half a dozen times during those few short hours before the race start. My Start Time was 1:22pm so I said my last goodbyes to everyone as a normal non time crunched person and after eating a delicious ice cream cone I put on my gear the race organizer pulled me into the starters coral and at my appointed time I put my feet into my cleats and started pedaling. The race had began.
I was very aware of a steep hill right after you get past the flat beach path. I downshifted accordingly and had absolutely no trouble with the steep grade. It’s always nice to have friends to warn you about situations like this so you don’t end up being that guy walking his bike up a hill at the start of an epic race with the camera’s all pointed your direction… That would be embarrassing. J I quickly went through the street route and was directed on the bike path. I was going faster then recommended on this 7 mile parade start but it was hard to go slow. Another racer passed me from behind which made me feel a little better that I wasn’t rabbiting it too much. When we got off the bike path the race official pulled him over and had him wait because as I suspected they take the parade start seriously and there is no racing that first section. All that energy he spend got to be corralled again for a later time with a small cool down. Like being put in the penalty box in a hockey game… not too much fun. The next section had it’s first very steep climb. I went up a great deal of it and then got to an even steeper grade and decided to walk for about 2 minutes. I told myself (no pride) save your legs, slow is steady, steady is fast. In no time I was back on my bike and on my way.
We climbed gradually and rolled through the California hills for some time and I hit Time Station #1 in Lake Henshaw at 5:56pm. From here we headed to the top of the climb and then got to descend the magnificent glass elevator. We had a little miscommunication with the crew going down and we switched follow vehicles because the direct follow had some individuals that needed to use the restroom. I reached new top speeds on my recumbent on the glass elevator hitting close to 55 miles per hour that, overrode my previous high of 51.4. I had been listening to music/podcasts the first half of the day and watching my speed on my Garmin but something inside me about mid afternoon told me, you don’t need that stuff. So by this point in the race I had put my Garmin in the vehicles and told my crew I wouldn’t be needing it the rest of the race and instead of filling my head with audio books and podcasts I would be talking to my crew and making calls to friends and family.
As I was bombing down the glass elevator my follow vehicle drove by me and off into the distance. I immediately pulled to the side of the road to wait for either them to come back or the primary follow vehicle, which had taken a break to get behind me. This is very important in RAAM. Direct follow is essential during the hours of 7:00pm to 9:00am and if a rider doesn’t have a vehicle behind them when they are riding during these times they can and should be immediately disqualified from the race. It’s a safety thing, safety first. My follow vehicle came up momentarily and I quickly retook the course. I felt good about the loss of probably 30 seconds to ensure that I was following the rules and more importantly putting safety first, always safety first. It was a minor thing but something that my crew would quickly need to start to figure out as they adjust from primary to errand follow which is necessary from time to time for gas stops, bathroom stops, etc.
We had our first crew swap at the large circle in Borrego Springs and I got my first opportunity to go through an evening with the night train or whatever other names they eventually came up with to call themselves. I was fully rested so this first night was a blessing and just a very fun evening. We passed Time Station #2 Brawley, CA at 10:39pm and had the blessing of a nice tailwind to push us through the dessert in the cool of night. We had a fairly uneventful night. Just enjoying conversation on the Terrano communication units (it’s like a 2 way radio that motorcyclists use.) You can also pick up phone calls and listen to anything on your phone through it as well. We passed through Time Station #3 in Blythe, CA at 4:10am and just kept rolling. The morning sunrise was beautiful and the first of many of these beautiful sunrises that I would get to see from the seat of my Carbon Aero recumbent bike. The position on recumbents is incredible. You have a great view of the road, can look up at the night sky and it really feels to me like sitting in a very comfortable recliner with a hammock headrest. It is simply a great experience. The other thing I love about recumbents and this has to be a guy thing, but when I am flying down hills and I look through my handlebars occasionally I’ll make my hands into the shooter position and it feels like I’m a fighter pilot maneuvering my way through the twists and turns with the rush of the wind around me and so locked into the experience as I glide past the beautiful terrain. We flew by Time Station #4 in Parker AZ at 7:50am and as before just kept rolling.
In the morning before switching crews I took my first extended break off the bike for about 20 minutes to rehydrate and get a foot/leg massage from Darla Workman. We also managed to get lost for the first time… Twice within about 30 minutes but thankfully less than half a mile out of our way. We did the shift exchange for the second time and I had my day crew back with me. It was interesting at this point because the night crew was so laid back and easy going and the day crew was so wound up and detail oriented it would take me a little while to adjust to the different cultures each day. As the trip went on this actually almost flipped. The day crew became pretty laid back and was the one that was focused on meeting my needs almost immediately which made things go so smoothly and the night shift became the one I would struggle with but for now day shift still had to calm down and just enjoy the journey. After the shift my wife Kristin, Holly, and I believe Jack and another person were in the direct follow vehicle. I was traveling down a particularly hairy stretch of road. By this I mean, there was little to no shoulder and the shoulder was gravel and the road was narrow so the cars came right by you and we no longer had direct follow so my crew couldn’t always protect me. As a cyclist I take the position that it is my responsibility to keep myself safe. It doesn’t matter what the other driver does or how inebriated or distracted they are if I don’t take every single precaution I can to keep myself safe I can put myself in a position to have an incident that is unfavorable to me. In the end it doesn’t matter who’s fault it is you still have the consequences of the incident and that is what I want to avoid. With this in mind I was constantly checking my rearview mirror, as is my habit; to just note where each car/truck is as they approach and how much room they are going to give me, and to ensure they see me. I often will wave to each driver as they approach and give him or her a thumb up. It’s a way for me to do my best to alleviate the agitation they may feel to me as a cyclist on the road and just maybe they will give me those three feet of clearance that is so necessary. Unfortunately this particular morning I had been up for quite some time and my reaction skills aren’t what they could have been. One of those times when I looked back I over adjusted with my steering and ended up maneuvering my bike to the right into the soft gravel and I had my first spill of the trip. I quickly got myself to my feet, my crew was there in a heartbeat. Jim was on it and had the medical kit out as quick as you could have imagined was possible. Thankfully my wounds were minor and no joint or muscular damage was done but I would have to ride a bit further to confirm that was the case. I scraped up my left forearm, my left hip, and had a decent amount of blood on my sleeves and legs but nothing to write home about. I remember thinking, “probably shouldn’t have had Holly, (my mother in law) in the follow vehicle, this is going to freak her out”. The experience didn’t seem to have that fearful effect on her. Holly was calm, caring, encouraging, and I was really proud of her response to me getting a little banged up. As soon as Jim patched me up a little I was on my way back on the bike. A little further down the road the night crew and the media crews joined us. Kim Godawa (the Guardian) my incredible nurse I had along a quick assessment and put some ointment pads on and sent me on my way. There was this section of road and another down the road where I had my crew stay especially close during the leap frog time of day. I talked to Jo Dee on the phone to ease my fears of getting in an incident. It wasn’t that I was afraid, or anxious but rather an assessment of the road and the temperament of the drivers and for my own safety I wanted my crew to be hyper vigilant.
If you’re a cyclist you’ll probably understand this. After the crash I went onto a few different roads and eventually turned onto a road similar to the one I had the incident on. Literally within 20 minutes of being on this road I had two drivers honk angrily at me, one tell me to get off the f—king road, and another that called me a f—king “gender statement”. There are just certain roads and areas where you run into a higher percentage of angry bigoted people. It’s amazing how quickly it changes, and I’m always curious to how a person can be so angry and I pray for peace in their life, and more than anything that they can find it in their heart to just be decent to other human beings.
At just over 24 hours into the race we came through Time Station #5 Salome, AZ at 2:23pm if I am looking at the time changes correctly. This was 342 miles into the race and a huge milestone for me. As Jamaica put it later, “pushing through that first night and straight through to night number two set the tone for the race and how we were going to be performing. This next section was where it started to get a little hard for the first time. We had just switched back to day crew and as you can image it gets a little hot in the dessert. Now I really can’t complain about the heat because this was another one of those answers to prayer. I was going through this section and the heat was in the upper 90’s low 100’s. If we had come through just a few days before it would have been 120 degrees and as we found out later a few days after they had a heat wave and the temperatures got up to near 130 degrees in Prescott Arizona. So I was blessed to have lower dessert temperatures but I’m still going to tell you I started to become a princess for a moment during the hot climbs and might have felt like I was melting just a bit… J As was my habit as soon as I would start to struggle in any way I would reach out to Jo Dee Ahmann and ask for prayers and let her know what was going on. I also made a habit to tell my crew instantly when things started changing with me either physically, psychologically, or spiritually. I really had very little control over being able to take care of myself, all I could do was pedal. The more they knew about what was going on with me the better they could meet my needs which served our goal of getting us all safely, as consistently as possible to the Annapolis and growing in friendship and community along the way. My Protector Jim Robertson started checking my vitals during this section (as a good former fire chief will do). I knew he could tell I was wilting a little as he looked in my eyes and took my blood oxygen levels which were low enough that in any other situation you would probably immediately put a person on an oxygen tank and get them in a safe place to recover. If I remember correctly my blood oxygen at this point got to the lowest it would on the course at 84. Ideally 99 is good and anything under about 93 is pretty bad. Jim wanted me to stop for a bit and recover before going on and I told him I don’t have the time luxury to do that. We need to get to Congress where I know there is a pool that I can jump into and take a 10-15 minute recovery before making the climbs out of the Valley.
We finally made the decent into Time Station #6 in Congress AZ at 6:56pm and got to the famous swimming pool that the volunteers bring down from quite some ways away. I took off my cycling shoes and had no shame but went in with all my cycling clothes and can not describe how rejuvenating that water was. I must have floated in that thing for close to 10 minutes. I submerged myself and came up looking at the volunteers and smiling ear to ear. I got the little Time Station 6 rubber duck which will be a gift I can pass on to my baby boy when he is born in a few short months. No rest for the weary. After my extended swim I got back into my cycling gear as quickly as I could ate some watermelon the volunteers had and headed my way to the two upcoming climbs ahead.
The climb out of Congress was actually such a joyful experience. It was a slow steady hill climb, which is perfect for me. I can lower my gear ranges and have begin to master this technique of utilizing my arms along with my legs. I’ll use my right hand on my knee and push 5 repetitions and then do the same on my left. I’m assuming it adds an extra 40-50 pounds of power to each pedal stroke with very minimal extra energy use. Those pushup competitions back in my wrestling days really paid off. I remember when I was 16 during my time in India I started with 100 pushups a day and each month I would increase it by 50. I would do this 6 days a week taking Sunday off of course. By the end of the trip I was up to over 500 pushups a day, and I remember doing a stretch of 1000 pushups per day for I think a week just for fun. It’s amazing the silly things we do in our youth that aid us in events as we are adults. It was great having the media crew right there with us and I had some good talks with Jo Dee Ahmann for brief moments as she would run along side me and share thoughts and inspirations. Right as I summited the first large climb another rider was catching up behind me. Who else could it be but my fellow 3000 Miles to a Cure teammate Marshall Reeves. We joked a little and shared a few words, got some good video footage from the media crew and then I took the lead because we had an aggressive downhill coming up and Marshall was going to do a kit change before heading down. I am one of those people that try to change my gear as little as possible; I am comfortable being fairly cold so the idea of going down a hill in mid 60’s doesn’t even start to trigger the need for more clothing in my head. Besides recumbents have a significant aerodynamic advantage over diamond frames on downhills and I would have cruised by him effortlessly. It has to do with wind resistance. Recumbents are in a much more aero position and are just build more ergonomically correct for the human body. I’m not a gear head by any means, and I honestly can’t get my head around why more racers don’t ride recumbents. It just seems like the logical solution to me to keep safe, and your stress injuries low.
We hit Time Station #7 in Prescott AZ at 12:34am and I got my first night sleep. Actually I got off my bike took a very quick shower, had Darla massage my feet and legs, and I basically passed out. About an hour and 45 minutes later my body woke me up and I felt mentally 100% and ready to go. My crew quickly jumped into gear and we got moving down the road.
It was now Thursday June 16th in the morning and although the early morning ride was incredible this would be my hardest day of the whole trip. Let’s start out with the morning. After my sleep break in Prescott Luke jumped in the van with us over the evening and I had an incredible opportunity to get to know him over the Terrano system. He is one of the most traveled and genuine young men I have run into in years. He has such a solid faith and it was a joy to hear his story and his passion for his art of videography. As we were cruising down the road at a fairly incredible pace, at least for me we joked back and forth and it was great to have him feel such an iatrical part of our team. This whole journey has continued to be about building community and I consistently feel like that is playing out constantly with each new interaction. We rolled into Time Station #8 in Camp Verde AZ at 8:44am. This was the 500-mile mark of the course and I had covered that distance in about 42 hours and 22 minutes. During the day I had an interesting conversation with Jo Dee Ahmann. It appears that Luke Rafferty was having some coughing and chest congestion issues. I was spared these ailments as I road through these first few days of the course where some of the top riders are known to be knocked out of the course for lung infections, and pulmonary edema. There is presidents in Christian culture of us being able to carry the burden’s of fellow believers during times of trial, even to the point where we can carry a pain or an illness for them. Now I’m not going to go so far as to say this is what happened. I will go so far as to say that I went through the first four days of this journey and at the end had completely clear lungs, and I’m grateful that when Jo Dee mentioned this idea to Luke his response was, “I would gladly carry that for him if I could.” Once again I am surrounded by salt of the earth, outstanding people.
We passed through Time Station #9 in Flagstaff AZ at 5:52pm and just kept moving. Today was a big turn around day for my Crew Chief Sean. I remember how high strung he was the first couple of days and I kept telling him to quit focusing on the details and look at the big picture and just enjoy the process. He mentioned that he was watching Madisyn my nine-year-old niece and how carefree she was and how much joy she was having and realized he needed to be more like Madisyn. The change in his attitude was palpable and I had the Sean that I needed as my crew chief the rest of the time. Sean is very competent, kind, people centered, compassionate, and extremely loyal to both my wife Kristin and myself. I value our friendship and the fellowship that we have together and could not ask for a better fit for the person to rally and organize my extremely large support crew (largest support crew for any solo rider). Things were still pretty uneventful up to Time Station #10 in Tuba City AZ, which we rolled through at 10:34pm. This is where things started getting tough. We had about 70 miles to go until the next time station and I could feel myself starting to get tired. I wasn’t tired enough to stop where I was at but knew that it would be a stretch to make the next section before completely bonking. We had a very substantial downhill which ate up some miles and gave an incredible view and then with about 40 miles to go I went into that time where everything slows down and it feels like you are out there for eternity. I knew that this was going to come at some point and why not now. The nice thing is I was in a good headspace. I love being on my bike, I have a great crew, people to talk to and support me, they are supplying me very well and I’m in as good of care as I could ask for. Still those last 30-40 miles before I rested was really really tough. I did any and every trick I could think of and made a point to keep my cadence up and my speed constant. Slow is steady, steady is fast. At one point in this section before the crews switched I remember taking a break and talking to Jack for a few seconds. I pulled him over to me and whispered to him. Hey Jack, Jack… It’s hard to be tough, it’s hard to be tough. That was enough to keep my pedaling forward for a time more and eventually the miles kept trickling off. About 20 miles out I ran into Juliana Buhring who was riding as Team Juju and we passed back and forth through the hills. I have so much respect for Juliana after hearing her story and feel like she is one of the stronger individuals out on the course. I know she didn’t manage to finish RAAM this year but I don’t think that says one bit about her ability level. She is the real deal and it was a pleasure to ride next to her on the course for those few miles. Racing with Juliana to the next check point was such a mental boast and pulled me mostly out of my time vortex and before I new it I was at Time Station #11 in Kayenta AZ, at 4:45am. I got off the bike in a complete stupor and took a quick shower and quickly fell asleep.
Approximately an hour in a half later my body jerked me awake and I searched around the room and woke up my wife Kristin and said time to go, get everyone moving. I was back on the road in no time and on my way through Monument Valley, one of the most beautiful places on the whole route. Friday June 17th and today would be an incredible adventure. The media crew woke up early and I got to talk to Jo Dee Ahmann my life coach for a while and had the blessing of having Luke out with his drone taking some incredible shots as well as Cole overjoyed with his camera in hand. The views of Monument Valley are one of those memories that you just cherish in your heart. I was on the Terrano system with Chris Clemens and remember just being in awe of the beauty. “How else would you want to spend a Friday morning.” We were living out the life we were made for and our passions. Chris and his brother Tyler have a similar appreciation for nature as I do and about half my crew shares as well. There is something in the blood of ultra runners that calls us into those moments and when we are there we come alive. That is how I felt Friday morning passing through that incredible terrain and taking many mental snapshots to recall and cherish for later. We arrived at Time Station #12 in Mexican Hat UT, at 9:10am and kept rolling through. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and we rolled through Time Station #13 in Montezuma Creek UT at 12:05pm, and then rolled through Time Station #14 in Cortez CO at 4:30pm. I do remember crossing the Colorado River and feeling so excited to be heading into Colorado. Colorado is my favorite state and I was so looking forward to the next two days playing in the mountains of Colorado.
I had a beautiful ride through the hills into or Colorado and came into Time Station #15 in Durango CO at 8:37pm after a little over 78 hours on the road. I was pretty exhausted from the day. Still feeling very excited, energetic and happy to be on the course but definitely ready for a rest. This evening was probably one of the most notable ones for my crew as well as myself. I told my crew to let me sleep for up to 4 in half hours because I was concerned with how little sleep I had been getting. Even though I felt incredible and my mental focus was sharp I didn’t want to risk having the wheels fall off the wagon by not taking proper self care when I had the time. About 40 minutes after I basically passed out from close to exhaustion I woke up completely awake and ready to ride. I got the attention of my wife Kristin and said it’s time to go, put me on the bike. She said, “Are you sure, you haven’t slept much.” I said yes, let’s go. Kim came in the room and said lets try to sleep a little more. I laid my head down and could feel myself fully conscious so within about a minute I said, nope it’s time to go. My uncle Jim also said, “let’s get some more sleep, this isn’t a good idea.” I had to muster up firmness in my voice and said, put me on the bike. Get me some food, get my kit and let’s hit the road. That must have been enough to convince them because they quickly started moving. As we headed to the vehicles my niece Madisyn wanted to come out to finish up the last few hours of her shift but there was also Cole who was there and had the idea that he might pull an all nighter with the night crew. I looked at Madisyn and asked if she was all right giving up her seat and she quickly obliged and so I called over to Cole and said grab your gear and get in the van, it’s time to go. I could see him light up with the thought of a grand adventure.
I spent at least an hour on the Terrano with Cole. I remember telling him, I have absolutely no idea how I’m doing this. This is such a God thing. I can’t believe that I can rest for 40 minutes after being completely exhausted and then to wake up feeling at 100% mental capacity and to have strength in my legs and determination in my soul. It’s so beyond my ability level and me. Cole is like a kindred spirit to me. Our conversation reminded me of a quote that I cherish attributed to Kahlil Gibran. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” I remember as a child when we were going through a particularly tough time talking with my mom, “It’s alright mom, if we don’t go through pain and suffering we will never truly appreciate the good times.” Even as a kid I was preparing my heart, soul, and mind for events like RAAM. It’s in my blood. I understand the value and growth that comes through righteous suffering more than any man should I think. We road through Time Station #16 in Pagosa Springs CO at 3:33am and kept moving. If I am remembering right somewhere between time station 16 and 17 is where I took my first nap in the support van. I slept for about an hour in a half and then was ready to go. I had my usual breakfast of cup of noodle and oatmeal and had to use the luggable loo for the first time. Just one of those things in ultra sports that is an inconvenient reality. Then I was off to the hills of Colorado. We came through Time Station #17 at South Fork CO at 10:15am and kept moving through. Going up and down Wolf Creek Pass was probably one of the biggest highlights of the entire trip for me. I had my night crew with me, which was filled with ultra runners. While going up the climbs we had Sean, Tyler, Chris, Gay, and Kyle running with me from time to time and just laughing our butts off soaking up the beauty of the nature around us. The way down Wolf Creek pass was invigorating. About a third of the way down the road turned to fresh asphalt to I could just let the bike fly. I hit mid 50’s again which I must say is a rare thing on a bike and very energizing. There was a very short encounter with an elk where I yelled at it to get out of the way and it bolted off. My crew was joking about how the animal’s better get off the road DeCou the beast was coming down the road and they didn’t want to mess with me. It was a beautiful morning and the greenery in Colorado is unbeatable.
At 1:05pm we came through Time Station #18 at Alamosa CO and still feeling grateful to be in my favorite state. One of my hiking/trail running friends Steve Fuhrmann met me along this stretch. He has been a friend to me for almost 15 years and met me on my second cross country cycling trip on the course, as well as paced me during my first Leadville 100 attempt and a few years later on my first Leadville 100 mile trail run finish. Steve and his wife Lola and daughter Heidi Fuhrmann feel pretty much like family to me and it was such a blessing to see his face and talk to him for a few minutes during one of my 10 minute massage breaks and share a few words. He drove quite some distance from up near Monument CO near Colorado Springs and I can’t thank him enough for being a part of this adventure with me. Once again, I have outstanding friends.
The climbs I just took slow and steady and soaked in the nature as we went. I’ve got to share a piece of what happened to me in Colorado that I know will make me sound crazy so I will describe it as best I recall to convey how real it was to me. I was climbing up one of the passes and stopped for a quick break to use the restroom and re-do my sunscreen, etc. When I started back out the crew can give you a little stabilizing push, which Jack Church did. It’s always a comfort to get started pedaling correctly and for that moment my bike is stiff and straight. Once I start pedaling on my own uphill I swerve a little back and forth in pretty rhythmic motion. A few seconds after the push off all of a sudden my bike stiffened up a little and I began quickly moving up the pass. I tried to glance behind me for a second to see what was going on and then it hit me… I was being pushed up the hill by an angel. I had a flush of euphoria and literally started tearing up like a baby. This took place for close to a quarter of a mile and I can’t tell you in words what it did to my heart and how protected and encouraged I felt. As soon as it came it left me and I kept pedaling. I almost immediately reached out to the crew to get a hold of Jo Dee Ahmann. Once I could find my voice again I told her about the experience and she said, something to the effect of, “Oh Rob, I think God just gave you a physical manifestation of himself to let you know that he’s got you. You are surrounded by angels that are protecting you, and going before you, and they are with you every second of this journey. This was my first physical encounter of an angel that I am aware of in my life. I was in a good state of mind, clear of thought, and I will just take it as a gift from God as I did at the moment. He’s got me, and if he wants me to finish this race on time for whatever purpose he has for me he will do so. It was about a day ago that Jo Dee and I started talking about this race and mentioning that the race is just the beginning. God is doing something big in our lives and once this is over the real work will begin. Each day is playing out in massive ways continuing to direct me towards him.
We came through Time Station #19 at La Veta CO at 5:55pm and over another large pass. This section was another one of my tough moments more because of pushing the distance to the sleep location when I was exhausted. I had started to get into a rhythm of how to push my body. I would wake up and go as far as I could until I would start to feel my mind fatigue a little then I would put myself on a caffeine regiment (low amounts frequently) and would go until I started fatiguing again and then push through to the hotel in the evening and maybe have 10-30 miles of fighting sleep so I was absolutely exhausted when I got there or if it was earlier in the morning go down for a 20-45 minute nap during the witching hour (for me usually sometime between 4am-5:30am). I started having these amazing conversations with my big brother Rich. He was such an encouragement and following me every step along the way. It felt like when we were kids and the bond that we had and still have. Rich carried me through a couple of nights and if I remember correctly this was one of those. I listened on the Terrano huffing and puffing up and down the hills as he talked about life, this race, the beauty of nature, and anything to get me through. It was really powerful to have his support as well as the support of my Mom who gave me similar calls.
We came into Time Station #20 at Trinidad CO at 12:12am and if my recollection is good this was where I got my longest sleep of the trip. I bathed in three wonderful hours of sleep. It was this very nice hotel I recall, the crew was excited and in the early morning I believe someone woke me up for the first time (it only happened twice) and we were on our way. Let me get into a few of the ailments that come along with doing RAAM and go over some of my symptoms at this point. I learned a great deal about self-care from Joan Deitchman and pretty much followed her playbook to a T for my own crossing this year. In terms of things for your body, (arnica cream for knees and feet, visine eye drops every 2-3 hours – especially in the dessert, biotene for your mouth to keep down bacteria and minimize thrush, antibiotic ointment for your nose to keep it from getting blisters or pimples, zink oxide for sunscreen. I added some of my own which included chloraseptic spray, dz-nuts chamois cream and gold bond powder. Not going to go into detail on the last two but I’ll just say they are amazing and necessary medicine for long distance cycling. In terms of physical ailments so far on RAAM I have been spending a lot of time on feet care. The large pads of my feet are getting tender-large band-aids help. I bandage any hotspots which include the heals, little toe, top of a few other toes, my big toes, an I’m getting pressure on the outside of my right foot. I also have some pressure aggravation on my gluteus where it contacts the seats, which a large bandage pad seems to be alleviating. The last bandages go on my shoulders and middle of the back where I have contact with the seat. The butt and back pressure points probably could have been minimized more if I had more time on the bike before the race and had time to adjust the bike more and get my body used to it, but it’s pretty minimal compared to what other cyclists go through so I’ll take it. On a different note of health the big thing I’ve been watching is my lungs and my fairly constant cough. I was so blessed to not have gotten any lung congestion the first four days and haven’t dealt with any of the pulmonary edema issues that knocks out a few riders each year early on. I have been coughing up large balls of the nastiest green color you could imagine, especially in the mornings but that’s starting to fade away as I get through the mountains. Today the issue that came up was I was coughing so much and so frequently that I actually slipped out my lower back and so it’s a little uncomfortable. Not a race stopper but definitely not fun and over the long hall would definitely effect my power if I don’t get it fixed.
After hitting the road again we had a 70 mile stretch to Time Station #21 at Kim CO at 7:04am. I vividly remember this time station in particular. I had to take a restroom break and when I walked into this church building I saw many of the other riders resting for the night. I looked at their faces and remember thinking, man they look beat up, I feel so fresh. I am not doing all that bad. I had my crew leave some TP because there was non provided and also made a $5 donation to the church, which they recommend donating if you use the facilities to help with one of their causes.
I remember this stretch and the next two days very vividly because I was smiling almost the entire time. I had prayed for tailwinds in Kansas for literally over a year. I had heard stories of RAAM races where one rider would catch a tail wind and the next day the winds would shift and you would see the front riders pull away from the pack. I am pretty sure that this is where God shined down on me and said alright Rob you know that extra 70 miles that should be impossible for you, while I’m going to give you wings like eagles to fly through Kansas, a place many RAAM riders dread and give you that time you need. They weren’t just little tail winds they were massive and I was flying. It was Sunday June 19th and I remember thinking about my back. I reached out to my crew and told them to contact Jo Dee Ahmann and send out a prayer request for a chiropractor to meet us on the route. As soon as I sent it out to them I knew that God would work it out. I kept talking to them and said, it’s Sunday so no one is really open, and it’s Father’s day, but reach out to the Churches. I know that there is some chiropractor out that that will take up the call and be blessed to head out to a course like the Race Across America and help a fellow believer in distress.
I went through Time Station #22 at Walsh CO at 10:40am and to give you an idea of the tailwinds I was experiencing, my overall speed for the race was 10.77 miles per hour, and except for the glass elevator section and the tailwinds I got in the desert that first night my fastest pace was in the 16 mile per hour range. This particular section my average speed was 18.99mph for that 70+ mile stretch. My average speed to Time Station #23 at Ulysses KS was 17.85mph and I arrived at 1:42pm. I can’t tell you how good it felt to cover so much ground so quickly. I’m not completely sure if it was a direct tail wind I looked occasionally at the grass on the side and at times it seemed like the wind might be going in the other direction, but I sure as heck couldn’t feel it. As long as I was moving that fast and felt like the wind was at my back and I was being carried by the angels on eagles wings I was happy as a peach.
In the middle of the afternoon I started bonking energy wise. My crew had set up a chiropractic session with a man by the name of Jammie Dean Phillips who is the owner of Phillips Chiropractic and Physical Therapy Center in Dodge City KS. Probably about 10-15 miles out from where I was going to meet him I stopped for a quick bathroom stop at a gas station and told my crew I was bonking pretty bad. It was one of those rare times on the trip where I sat down for a minute and they were deciding, maybe we should go take him to a pool which a local had offered and they had started to go that direction. I had to stop for a second and take a few deep breaths and told them pretty directly, get me ice water to poor on my head now, get me back on the bike and lets get down the road. It was one of the few times on the trip where I remember being frustrated. Rule #2 every possible second on the bike I can do, I will do. The idea of going a few blocks off course to jump in a pool to get me down the road another hour just wasn’t a good idea and it was frustrating to me to have to be the one to initiate getting me back on the road. This was a minor situation and I think that last one that I had of this sort with day crew. The times with night crew ended up becoming some of the hardest for me to deal with of the whole trip, but those are still to come.
After the ice water over my head I had just enough energy to make it to Jammie who had set up on the side of the road in an area where I could get adjusted and then quickly move to the vehicle to take my much needed nap. I remember seeing this guy and thanking him and telling him that he truly was an answer to prayer. He quickly got me on the table and as he adjusted my lower back into alignment he said, there it is, and I could feel it go right back into place. He spend probably another 2-3 minutes doing a full body adjustment and I felt amazing afterwards. I talked to his two kids while he was working on me and they looked at me like I was an alien, (the white zink oxide doesn’t help me any.) I remember telling his little girl, “You must be proud of your daddy, he’s a healer, and that’s pretty amazing.” I was told after I woke up that Jammie offered adjustments to my whole crew, many of who took him up on it. The local paper did a write up on Jammie and in it they mentioned how he works with the local football team so he’s used to adjusting bodies like mine. 232 pounds and built like a wrestler. J
I arrived at Time Station #24 at Montezuma, KS at 5:22pm and road strait through. I pushed the evening for a bit longer feeling the heat of Kansas on me but still enjoying the still present yet not quite as dramatic of tailwinds. I took a rest break for probably about an hour in a half and then rolled into Time Station #25 at Greensburg, KS at 11:45pm.
The cycling through Kansas was such a great experience this time. I remember on my second cross-country trip with Jean Kasamoto a fellow graduate of Pacific University in Forest Grove Oregon. Going through Kansas was a chore. It was very hot, humid, we had head winds, and lots of bugs jumping on the roads, and I remember referring to it as the worst state to ride through with the nicest people I had met in the world. This year my experience was very different and I’m changing my view on Kansas. I loved Kansas, the riding was beautiful, the roads exceptional, the cars on the road very courteous, and most of all the people absolutely amazing. Kansas get’s my award for the most joyful state I passed through. I still love Colorado more for the natural beauty but Kansas was good to me.
We passed through Time Station #26 at Pratt, KS at 2:10am and kept rolling. The evening was likely filled with many back and forth discussions with the night crew on the Terrano system. I had grown very fond of talking to my crew at night. Chris Clemens was my favorite. I know we are not supposed to have favorites but I don’t care, he was my favorite to talk to. Gay Hunter on nutrition was absolutely amazing and her voice was so southing and encouraging. It was such a trip for me to be talking to her about nutrition and before I could say something she would say what I was thinking first. Then it his me how powerful this was. I learned so much of what I know about nutrition and how to fuel for ultra events from this woman and to have my teacher/mentor right there providing for me on the largest scale event I had done in my life was such a blessing. Kyle Downs was also a riot. For those of you that don’t know Kyle he says some of the most random odd things at times, but if you pay attention they actually make sense. He just thinks a little differently then the rest of us. Earlier in the trip at times he started driving me crazy on the Terrano, but as the trip went on I found that I would long for some of his stories, his encouragement and his perspective. Especially him being the only known believer on night shift I really appreciated his faith and prayers during some of those long nights. Tyler Clemens was always a joyful pick me up. It’s hard not to smile and have a good time when that guy is around, he just radiates good vibes and you know you’re going to have an adventure when he’s in your presence. Jamaica Lambie was the wildcard for me on nightshift. I call him the linchpin. He is absolutely the most competent mechanics I’ve ever seen in my life and he fixed my bikes more then just a few times on the fly. I remember him saying one night, “you definitely put the heat on at times, usually I would schedule something like this in the shop for a certain time, and out here I just have to get it done,” There is absolutely no way I would have finished on time without Jamaica. One morning we had at least 5 mechanicals within a 4-hour period and each time I was up and moving within such a short time it was simply incredible. In this last half of the course Jamaica also started to unintentionally put me in a risky situation when I would start to bonk. Each rider has a plan and much like Mike Tyson says, “Every one has a plan until you get punched in the face.” My original plan was to train my crew as best as I could until about day 3 when I would be basically useless to them with decision-making. This is what I was told happens to RAAM cyclists and I planned accordingly. This is not anywhere close to what happened. I would go to bed each night and pray to God to give me a quick sleep and that I would feel completely rested in the morning, and that each and every day I would renew my strength in the Lord and be created new and ready to go. Each morning I would wake up refreshed, 100% mentally coherent and honestly the further I went the stronger my legs felt. It was like I was literally training myself into shape over the course. My new plan that I decided to implement this last half of the course was when I woke up I would ride as far as I could until I started to bonk, and then I would jack myself up on a caffeine regiment (small amounts frequently). Once I would bonk fully caffeinated I would have my crew put me down for a nap and when I would wake up I would repeat this process. It worked like a charm in my mind. Jamaica was the night crew chief and one of the understandings of RAAM is that the crew chiefs make the decisions for the riders because the riders really aren’t in a place where they should be making many if any decisions for themselves. There were a few early mornings where I would fight Jamaica for those sleep breaks when I knew I was fried and the mental energy it took me to convince them to put me down just wasn’t good for my psyche. It’s a tough line to walk and I’m so grateful for my entire crew. I had full faith that everyone on my crew would do anything in there power to get me to the finish line and that they were making decisions for me based on the absolute best knowledge they had and thankfully I had a very competent crew. I think the tension with Jamaica and me had to do with him not fully understanding my spiritual/emotional state, and also other riders that he had managed were in a very different headspace then me and really needed to be pushed. I’m not the type of person you need to motivate or drive forward. God has gifted me with an intensity, focus and drive far beyond what I can explain. I just need to be fed, watered, and my wounds tended and I’ll perform.
This next section is where the heat started really picking up. We traveled through Time Station #27 at Maize, KS at 9:37am and I started a regiment where I had my white leg and arm coverings and every about 20-30 minutes would fill them with ice along with my “Mas Loco’s” buff that I received from Maria Walton after I took the trip last year to the Copper Canyons. I can’t tell you how much being a part of the Mas Loco community means to me. For those who aren’t in the ultra endurance trail running community basically anyone who makes the approximately week long pilgrimage down into Juarez and down to the Copper Canyons to go run in the annual Caballo Blanco run with the Tarahumara Indians is welcomed into the Mas Loco family. During my training for RAAM I actually spent the first 6 months doing an ultra endurance run at least once a month to build up my mental capacity before I switched over to cycling in July of 2015. One of these monthly ultra’s I traveled with Tyler Clemens and we flew into El Paso Texas, then took a bus across the boarder and then El Chepe the train to the ridge of the canyons and finally took vans down the canyon into the small town of Urique. We stayed at Entre Amigos and had an amazing time. I remember arriving and thinking do I even belong here and as soon as we walked close to Entre Amigo’s, “with no reservations” we were met by friends and smiles and Tyler and I were blessed with being taken into the main house and given a choice bunk overlooking the garden alongside Maria. Over these days in the canyons I met some of the wisest souls I’ve ever run into. These people have such history and legacy in the leaders of communities that made this voyage into the canyons. The Native American’s especially were life changing to my faith in humanity. Once you run into men and women like Harold Bennally, Shaun Martin, Francois Flint Bourdeau Clemens (adopted into the Clemens family), Johnny Waite – Founder of GRAP (The Gathering of Really Awesome People), and Jess Soco “Light feather” it is hard to go back to your normal life and not pursue greatness. Not for yourself but for your community. I’ve been struck on this journey at how important taking care of ourselves and pushing our limits makes us more resilient, and more able to be good Stuarts in our lives. My memories of the Canyons could be wrapped up in one word from the Tarahumara language Korima, which for all intensive purposes means “we are one” or a commitment to mutual assistance and support within the community. Unfortunately because of some of the local unrest in the Canyons we were only able to run the children’s race and the ultra’s were cancelled for safety reasons. A few international runners decided to run but as you can imagine for me I will not run in a place of war and stood with the majority in silent protest and staying in a place of peace. We evacuated the canyons in the morning and each headed to our own homes and places of refuge. The following week I had my annual trip with my college buddies, Greg Oldham, Adrian Olmstead, Rob Wilsey, Ike Parham, and Ben Moore. I replaced my 50 mile run in the Copper Canyons with a 50K beer run which is a whole new story that I will not go into but will note was not one of my best ideas in the world and my friends were not as supportive as I would have expected, bad crew. J
We continued with ice routine and of course bumped my salt tabs up to about 2 every hour to keep my electrolytes high enough so I didn’t cramp up. I passed through Time Station #28 at El Dorado, KS at 1:05pm and kept moving. My rolling pace was pretty quick but the time it would take every half an hour to refill the ice definitely brought down my average speed. It was a necessary self-care step and literally I remember telling people on the phone it felt like laying on the beach in the hot afternoon with an ice blanket on. Not to bad. We reached Time Station #29 at Yates Center, KS at 9:16pm again if I am doing the time change correctly and I took my normal short night sleep before returning to the road.
It was such a blessing to be able to call people from the road and Kansas was probably the place I called people the most. There wasn’t a lot of turns so the dialogue with my crew was pretty minimal. I called up my old wrestling coach Buddy Bear, my newer mentor Tom Lot’s who I’ve always admired from a distance with his family and their faith. I called my old coworker Ray Pulsipher, my friends in LA, Kirby Israelson, Michael Warren, Glenn Hemanes, Howard Pollack who didn’t pick up, Mike Jones – my head pastor from Independent Bible Church in Port Angeles when I was growing up. I called Jan Stanton who is the epitome of living a no fear life in the midst of some of the most adversity you can imagine. I think she has survived and is thriving in life after going through six different cancer fights and other battles. She more than any other person in this world taught me to cherish each and every day that we are above ground regardless of our current state. I reached out to Ginny Mettee another women of God I know from my college years in Oregon who took me in like a son. She is famous in my mind for saying, “Rob DeCou, you are nothing but potential, when are you going to do something.” On one of these conversations she commented on how I was making a living on being Rob DeCou and I was actually pulling it off. I had a chance to talk to my business partner Nick Lerum during the race from time to time as well. He’s holding down the fort of our animation studio Lux Virtual in Los Angeles. I’ve been told that often when a guy “settles down” and decided to get married and have a kid that God has a way of just making his life blossom. I don’t like the word settle down I will refer to it as begins the most significant adventure of my life. Becoming a husband, and soon to be father is not settling down, but rather entering into a magnificent adventure full of all sorts of blessings, hard work to direct it correctly, and faith that God will give me the ability to be the husband and father that I desire to be. I feel like God has had his hand on Lux Virtual. We are just over two years into operations and these past nine months have had three very substantial projects that have me confident that we are ready to scale up in the upcoming six months. The first was a get out the vote campaign with SeePolitical for Culver City. Another company Imaginary Forces came up with a mascot “Birdee” and then we had the opportunity to animate Birdee for a few videos. The hope was to increase voter turnout by 5%, which would have been a substantial increase in a very low voter turnout election. The results were that it ended up being the highest voter turnout they had during an off election year and the anticipated turnout increased by 8%. For us as an animation studio that is proof of return on investment (ROI) and a significant event for us to promote down the road. The second project was having the opportunity to do the animation for the propulsion test for Hyperloop | One a few months ago. It was our first video to go viral and get picked up by most of the tech blogs, and the major news channels. They cut up the video, added other live footage, and it seemed like it was everywhere I looked. Elon Musk actually retweated the video that was probably the coolest nerd accolades Nick could ever hope for. The third one was a series of safety video’s that we did for Metro that were actually released during my race. For the second time our animations went viral. They are very edgy and a similar style to, “Dumb ways to Die.” The highlight for me was the conversation on the Today show and right at the end Matt Lauer said, I think their effective.
After my rest we reached Time Station #30 at Ft. Scott, KS at 3:23am and kept rolling on through the plains of Kansas. We continued through Time Station #31 at Weaubleau, MO at 8:38am. During this next section about 10:00am I started another day of utilizing those six red cups of ice about every half an hour. One for each leg sleeve, one for each arm sleeve and then one on the front and one for the back of the buff.
We passed through Time Station #32 at Camdenton, MO at 2:10pm and I remember just cranking away slow and steady. I just pedaled slowly and steadily through the heat of the day. I remember changing out my ice in my sleves about every 20-30 minutes which we got down pretty well as part of my breaking routine.
We rolled through Time Station #33 at Jefferson City, MO at 6:30pm and another day of traveling through the mid ninety degree weather all bundled up in ice was behind me. On the way to Time Station #34 at Washington, MO which I went through at 6:27am, I am pretty sure was where I took my longest sleep break of about 3 hours and if I am remembering correctly is the second and final time that someone would wake me up out of a sleep for the race. This was my slowest average speed on any section of the entire race at 6.46mph over the 77 miles. That’s what taking a 3 hour nap will do for you during RAAM.
Day three of the ice sweater continued as we rolled through Time Station #35 at the Mississippi River at 1:33 pm and completed 2099 miles of the course. I was now less then 1000 miles away from Annapolis and the stretch of road going to the Mississippi had a great tail wind, which I remember just smiling as we passed through the rolling flats leading up to the bridge. The media crew was on the bridge crossing with me at the same time and I had a nice little chat with Jo Dee Ahmann while going over the bridge and did a little shout out to the camera for donors to take the time to go to the 3000 Miles to a Cure site and donate if they felt lead. I remember on the other side of the bridge getting ready to take a massage break and the crew not being ready so I kept rolling on for another 10-15 minutes until they had things set up. Rule number 2, every possible second on the bike I could be. I didn’t want to waste any time for the crew to get set up for me to take down time. Even if it is 30 seconds, if that happens 10 times a day you lose 5 minutes per day and over 12 days that’s an hour. This race could literally come down to minutes and to ensure that I had the highest chance of possibly making the cut off I didn’t ask my crew to get me there in time or make every cut off. The only thing that we had control over and I could feel good about instructing them to do was keep me on the bike every possible second they could. The only reason to get me off the bike was for self-care, which would make me faster when I was on the bike. I started talking about the fact that pedaling your bike across the country is very simple… All you have to do is keep pedaling, eat, drink, and sleep. It’s very simple, just keep pedaling and yet it’s so very very hard.
I passed through Time Station #36 at Greenville, IL at 4:51pm and kept cruising through. I remember liking Illinois. I am pretty sure it was near this section that my pastor from Port Angeles Mike Jones came out to meet me. Mike and his wife drove about 2 in a half hours to meet me on the course. I scheduled one of my 10 minutes stops to ice my feet and get an incredible rejuvenating massage with Darla for when we met them. This gave me the opportunity to share some words in person with Mike and for him to send me back out on the road with a very supportive prayer and encouragement. It just happened that Mike is on vacation for two weeks at the same time that I am on this little bike adventure. Mike talked about how he has been living vicariously through me through this whole journey and it’s been quite the trip following along. The fact that I’ve been able to call Mike multiple times during the ride, he’s been continually texting and sending prayers, and supportive messages to my wife Kristin who has been reading to me during the early evenings. Then to top it off he happened to be in a part of the country that I was riding through. To see him in person and his jovial smile warmed my heart and cheered up my soul more than I could possibly put into words. Another connection with Mike Jones is he is the Grandfather to Christina Ahmann Neville’s son Isaiah through the marriage of Doug Nevill to Mike’s Daughter Susan about a year after Christina passed away. This is one of those situations that I would describe as God guided connections. Susan was friends with Christina growing up and has a major respect for her faith, and who she was as a person. To have a new mom come into Isaiah’s life that honors his birth mother and her story and is not intimidated by it is such a blessing. It has been so good to get to know Doug, Susan, and Isaiah more this past year as I’ve been preparing for this trip and sharing the precious memory of Christina and wanting to honor her well through this journey.
I remember the small towns the flatter terrain, the temperature dropping a little from before. Pretty soon I pedaled through Time Station #37 at Effingham, IL at 8:08pm, I remember people making a big deal about going through Effingham pre-race and I even remember Joan talking about it the year before. Effingham was fairly uneventful for me and I passed through this section just talking to my friends and my crew on the Terrano and having a grand little vacation. I took a short rest for the evening which included a quick shower with soap and shampoo, a massage from Darla, passing out and waking up about an hour in a half later of so. This might have been the night where I remember waking up and I wasn’t completely there when I woke up. A rarity on this experience for me I asked Kristin, “Is it time to go to bed”, and she answered something like, “You just woke up”. I remember trying to will my conscience back into my mind and noticing the separation between my body and my spirit. After repeating we got this, we got this, a few times and focusing my thoughts I could feel my thoughts re-center and lock with my active focus. Afterwards Kristin was telling me what this looked like as I went through this process and she said she could tell I was a little out of it because my eyes were wondering and not centering on anything and then all of a sudden they focused and I said, “alright good to go, 100% coherent”.
Pretty soon I passed through Time Station #38 at Sullivan, IN at 4:15am. My strategy for the evenings would be to cycle as far as I could go until I started bonking pretty hard core and then I would start myself on a caffeine regiment which basically meant usually one no-doze an hour and a cup of Monster Energy drink about every half an hour, chocolate covered espresso beans and Starbucks Frappuccino’s thrown in for variety. Once I started to bonk even with all the caffeine I would let the night crew know and tell them to put me down for a short nap within about 10-20 miles. I would push it until I was absolutely exhausted so that I know as soon as I would lay my head on the bed I would be out. For some reason the night crew didn’t understand quite how far I was pushing myself to the limits sleep and focus wise and Jamaica and Tyler kept insisting on pushing me a little bit further. There were a couple nights where this happened and the energy it took me to go that extra few miles safely and to fight them to put me down was just exhausting and I really was starting to get concerned about rule number one, “Safety first, always safety first.” I am pretty sure it was this night where I had the longest once of these events with my night crew. I know that they had my best interest in mind and were doing the best they knew how to with their knowledge and experience but I don’t think they understand my inner drive and how self motivated I am to push my peak performance at all time. They was also only about half my crew that understands my spiritual focus and has a grasp on my perspective of completely letting go of expectations and submitting to the will of God. If God wants me to finish this race on time he will get me to that finish line in time. I 100% felt that and committed to that from all that is within me. All I had to do was pedal every possible second that he allowed me to be awake and I have the ability to move forward on the course. That’s it, it’s simple, all I have to do is pedal.
As we were continuing through Indiana we encountered our worst run in with a driver over the entire trip. This irate local came speeding up in his large red pickup truck and pulled right next to me as the rider and started yelling that I sprayed his dog with a water bottle. I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about but he continued to rant a stream of obscenities towards me and then went speeding off. I had my crew call the police and RAAM headquarters and pretty soon the guy came back again and we had a second round of interactions. My crew and I held our composure but it definitely got me concerned about what this guy might do. You never know where people might be in their head and the last thing I wanted was to get pushed off the road or even worse have him intimidate us further with some sort of weapon. His behavior and the anger in his face was enough to put us all on alert.
I passed through Time Station #39 at Bloomington, IN at 12:47. The best thing about Indiana is that it is where the Clemens boys grew up. It was a rather beautiful state to go through but for me nothing like the Colorado Mountains that still resonate in my memory. The mental snapshots that I took of my ultra running friends running up the mountain with me are still seared into my memory. We were now on day 10 of our journey and it is June 23rd. I remember getting into it a little with Jack Church on the Terrano I am pretty sure it was this day. He was so focused on me getting behind some time cut off and I remember telling him don’t worry about it Jack, all I have to do is pedal and leave it up to God. If he wants me to get there before the allotted time then we’ll get there, I don’t want to think about time cut offs, or deadlines, I just want to ride and talk with my friends. Jack got a little spun up and said, “Do you even care about this race, I thought you were competitive?” I tried to get across to Jack that I perform better when I don’t look at the deadlines or the times and I just run or in this case cycle my own race. Besides on this particular event there were so many variables and unknowns with sleep, bike mechanics, weather, etc. I just needed to let the burden go of when we would get there. It wasn’t my burden to carry, and I had managed to fully hand it over and in my head I had three things I was focused on. You could probably sound them out before I even write them. Safety, pedaling every second possible, and building community. I truly love and appreciate Jack more than he could possibly know. He reminds me of one of my mentors in California Brian Godawa a great deal. They are both fairly pessimistic and a little honoree and yet they are extremely competent, driven, and caring – although they probably wouldn’t see themselves that way, the caring part. They have a way of positively influencing those around them almost despite themselves. I actually had Jack mentor me during my courting of Kristin. I remember when I asked him to do so and he said, “I’m not sure I’m the guy for this.” I responded, how did your kids turn out Jack? Jack, your kids are awesome and all following the Lord and doing very well. I don’t care so much about where your at in your life, you’re doing something right as a leader and I want to spend time with you. It’s like when you’re picking a coach for a sports team. Very often the best coach isn’t the top athlete. While many skills as an athlete transfer over to coaching there are a whole additional set that is required to teach a skill then to just be able to perform a skill.
We made it into Time Station #40 at Greensburg, IN at 5:28pm and was making really good time in the afternoon. From there we passed through Time Station #41 at Oxford, OH at 9:35pm. Just after the time station I took a nice little nap at the hotel and then woke up and was on my way for my second to last night ride before Annapolis. From there we passed through Time Station #42 in Blanchester, OH at 4:38am. I am pretty sure that it was this time station that got some pretty severe storm damage from the wind the day before. My crew was concerned for a little while because we had strong wind warnings, tornado warnings ahead and heavy rain. Once again I assured them not to worry about it, we’ll be fine, if I’m supposed to get to the end in time, I’ll get there. Then we moved onto Time Station #43 at Chillicothe, OH and arrived at 10:31am. I particularly remember this time station because I was bonking pretty hard. I jumped into the pool to try to wake up and that didn’t completely help. From there I laid down in the van for a bit, then I woke up and then laid down for a bit more. I think it was about a 30-minute nap and then a 40 minute nap if I recall correctly. That was enough to kick me back into gear and before I new it I was back on my bike.
From they’re my speed increased dramatically and I hit Time Station #44 at Athens, OH at 2:00pm. I remember passing by Ohio State University and the cobblestone roads. Another one of my highlights from Ohio was running into Maria Del P. Vazquez who was on crew with me last year with Joan. Maria is aiming to be the first Puerto Rican female finisher of RAAM in the future and knowing Maria she’ll pull it off. She’s about as tough, gritty, and driven as they come and to top it off she is simply an outstanding woman to be around. To see her on the course taking photo’s and cheering me on was very encouraging. She was chiding me on to keep up my tempo and happened to catch me right as I was about to bonk again so I felt a little bad that by the time she was done with our little hang out session I needed to go down for a little nap. So many great friends here on the course that I got the opportunity to run into again.
I passed into Time Station #45 at West Union, WV at 9:33pm and was well on our way into the Appalachian Mountains. I had a really good talk with my brother before heading into these mountains. There was a time where I was calculating how many miles I would likely walk up the hills because of the steepness of them and me being on a recumbent. As I got within a day of the mountains it suddenly hit me… I had been through the Appalachian Mountains twice on my recumbent. One time I had a 40-60 pound bob trailer I was pulling behind me and I didn’t have any trouble then, so why would now be any different. On the phone with my brother I told him my plan to storm the mountains. They weren’t very high and with the rollers I was just going to crank my way through them and I would be through the whole range before it even new I was coming. If I understood the profile correctly there was literally only about 145 miles to pass through where I would have to do the climbing. Instead of being fearful or anxious, I got excited. I was feeling strong and awake and this was a night I was going to remember. I rolled though Time Station #46 at Grafton, WV at 3:30 in the morning after taking my nightly hotel break after the last time check in.
I passed though Time Station #47 at McHenry, MD at 10:19 in the morning. I remember the beauty of the greenery and small towns in Maryland. Today would be my last full day before Annapolis and I was going to soak in the time and enjoy the journey. We got though Time Station #48 at Cumberland, MD at 3:01pm and I remember going through this set of four pretty large hill climbs during this day. I wasn’t aware of these hills although I should have known about them. At first I remember feeling a little bit of hesitation and thinking to myself I want to just enjoy some flat or rolling greens for a while. I quickly readjusted my attitude and decided to treat them like a game. It was a pretty hot afternoon so I would put ice in my leg sleeves, arm sleeves, and buff, do the 30-45 minute climb and then take a little break to restock on the ice and hit the next one. Before I new it the four climbs were behind me and I was no worse for the wear.
I passed though Time Station #49 at Hancock, MD at 7:04pm and was feeling good about the day. I took my last sleep break at a hotel right around 10:00pm. I remember picking a hotel that I could get to while day shift was still on because I knew the night crew wouldn’t be as happy about me taking the extra 15 minutes on either side of the sleep break for my showers. I do value my nightly rests and taking those precious few minutes to do proper self-care. I passed though Time Station #50 at Rouzerville, PA at 12:36am and as the night crew got on shift my mantra for the day was, “Today is Race Day.” It was my time to crank through some miles and make my way into the finish in Annapolis. This was one of the most magical nights of the entire trip. I remember riding my bike through Gettysburg at about 2:30am with the mist over the ancient battlefield and feeling this flush of euphoria wash over me. I had Chris Clemens on the Terrano and we were both geeking out on how magical the whole experience and that there was no place we would rather be than right there that evening with this group of people.
I passed through Time Station #51 at Hanover, PA at 4:20am and was on my way to Mt. Airy. This was a tough part of the night for me. I had gotten pretty tired over the evening and for this last night was taking about a triple dosage of all my caffeine protocols. This meant that we got up to two no doze every half an hour and an unnatural amount of Monster energy drink. I was holding it all together pretty well until I stopped for the restroom at the Hanover aid station and after a quick meal and getting ready to jump back on the bike I knew I was in trouble with my sleep. I was required to take an hour off the bike at Mt. Airy due to the time penalty for having my friends run with me up Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado. A penalty that we definitely deserved and I was willing to pay for gladly, especially if it naturally fit into my sleep schedule. The problem was that even though the only 36 miles away, I wasn’t going to be able to make it. I think I made it about 10 miles past the aid station and started fading really quickly. My scale for coherence was almost always 100%. When I was doing poorly I would say 70-80%. When I hit 50% that meant I needed to go down for a rest. I was talking to the guys on the Terrano and I told them I was at about a 60% and fading quick. I remember hearing something in the background about 20 minutes. I responded, get the bed ready, I’m going down in the next 5 minutes or I’m just going to stop on the side of the road and rest because I’m done. Within about 3 minutes they were all set up and ready to go and I was out like a light. About 20 minutes later I bounced up renewed and ready to go… Simply amazing to me and beyond anything I could have expected.
From that point the 25 miles or so into Time Station #52 at Mt. Airy MD went well and we arrived at 7:46am. The scenery was incredible with rolling green hills and the occasional steep quick climb. Getting into Mt. Airy was quite the experience. I stopped and the owner Larry Black of Mt. Airy Bicycles was this incredibly encouraging guy who was a recumbent fan and had been following me along the race. I had an hour break here so with my time penalty so I went to the restroom, took a few photo’s, and the bike shop owner took my bike out for a spin around the parking lot. Then I went down for a nap in the back of the mini van which probably took me the longest of any time on this whole trip to fall asleep because I wasn’t at my absolute exhaustion point with a nap only about 2-3 hours before that.
Believe it or not this next section was actually one of the most difficult of the course for me for a little while and we eventually rolled into Time Station #53 at Odenton MD at 12:05pm. I had been riding for quite some time, enjoying the scenery, talking on the Terrano headset to Kristin who had jumped on shift early with the rest of the day crew for this last push to the finish. I had ridden what felt like about 60 miles or so to me and I remember asking Kristin, how much further to the next time station to which she replied, about 20 miles. I quickly realized that I was in what I call as an ultra runner being lost in time. Basically every mile you pass could very well be five or ten miles because your not registering it very well and it feels like you’re out there forever. Thankfully I love to cycle and was having a great experience on this course with these other incredible athletes but at the same time I was in trouble and needed to pull myself out of it. I told Kristin I was struggling and needed to stop and put on some ice, get some caffeine, use the restroom and eat a little more. I also told her to call or text Jo Dee and get her up to date on the situation. I got back on the road after the quick little pit stop and as soon as the “lost in time” feeling came on it passed and within about ten minutes after sending out the prayer request I told Kristin to let Jo Dee know I was 100% and feeling great. I have no way to explain how I bounced back over, and over throughout this race except to say that I firmly believe in the power of prayer and that it was in no way done in my own strength. It is outside of my ability level to will myself awake a week in a half into a race like this and to feel full cognitive function and that my legs had actually been getting stronger through this journey rather then breaking down. This whole experience was simply beyond me and yet I am so grateful that God gave me the opportunity to experience what it is like to give up control, completely trust in Him and his providence to get me through and feel a Legion of his angels guarding, protecting, and carrying me through this amazing course. I remember at one point during the end of this section when I stopped for a minute for a quick break telling everyone to keep track of the time… in a joking manor because we were so close and had plenty of time to spare to get to the finish line. During this last section of the course I had Kristin on the headset with me and I just wanted Kristin. I wanted to stay focused on her and not have any other distractions as we navigated our way to the next time station.
We passed through the final checkpoint and took a little break at the RAAMS Head Tavern at Time Station #54 at Annapolis MD at 12:59pm. I met up with Tim Copeland there who is a friend of Joan Deitchman the Canadian cyclist I crewed for last year. It was the first time I had met him in person but I feel like I already knew him well after seeing all the photo’s with Joan and her crew and also our interactions on Facebook over the past year as I prepared for the race. From there my crew left me to head to the finish line and I received an escort from the RAAM pickup truck for the last 5.8 miles of the course. I was now officially done with the racing portion of the Race Across America and just had to follow a truck to a parade finish to the finisher’s area at Annapolis. They add 26 minutes to your time for this section, regardless of how long it takes you, and I have to say this section was an absolute joy to go through. That put my official Finish time as 1:25pm at the docks in Annapolis.
The last section of the race was simply beautiful. Green lawns, gently flowing hills, a few roundabout turns, and then through the town and out onto the dock area. I paused for a few minutes just short of the finish line as they got everything ready with the announcer’s booth. Then I took the last corner and met up with my entire crew. Once I got off the bike I remember hearing Madisyn talk about taking a jump in the ocean which I had definitely planned on doing although somehow in all the talking, and interviews never got around to finishing that particular desire. After a few quick hugs I did a short interview with Lucia Parker and shared about how grateful I was, thanked my community, and my concern quickly shifted to Marshall Reeves and doing anything and everything we could to help bring him in as well as bring in as many final donations to 3000 Miles to a Cure to help find a cure to brain cancer as we could. Chris and Tyler Clemens are the type of guys that if you were ever planning a large adventure or pretty much any major event you would not be sorry to have them around. They both quickly rose to the occasion and headed back out on the course to join Marshall’s crew and one of their good friends Ryan Jean for the final section of Marshall’s journey.
Then it was time for my interview with George Thomas who is quite the interviewer and such a great guy. Jim Harms the head official was making some jokes about some additional time penalties so I quickly made my way over to him and gave him a big wrestling hug and then positioned myself in my stance in a playful way. I have a great deal of respect for Jim and have known him for years from other events and it was good to see him there. George mentioned that my friend and another bike shop owner Michael Olsen sent his best wishes. I bought my first mountain bike from Olsen’s cycling shop in Forest Grove Oregon back in about 2001 and Mike has been a great resource and friend to me over the years on many of my crazy cycling adventures. He even did a bike maintenance workshop as a program that I put on during my time at Pacific University. For this trip I had my crew pose in an Olsen’s cycling jersey at multiple places during the course and I can’t wait to get all those together and send them to him soon.
My interview was probably quite different then most. I joked as I came onto the stage that any race that you start clean-shaven and end with a beard is probably a silly idea. George asked me about the different sections of the race and each section I sought to find a way to make it a joyful experience. During the long sections without much scenery of note and very few buildings I connected with my crew on the headset and told stories and had a great time. On the mountains I would use my hands to push my knees, which helped a great deal. That combined with slowing my tempo made the mountains sort of a recovery section where I didn’t push myself to hard and besides I took ownership of my new nick name “King of the Mountain” and I love the beauty of the mountains. Kansas, which is often a detriment to riders, I prayed for tail winds for almost a year and sure enough I had two days of tailwinds and flew through this section, which became my fastest part of the whole course. I missed the rain and storms on the course at times by just hours and somehow seemed to sneak by every obstacle that could have given me a great struggle. We hit this incredible weather window going through the dessert where two days before the temperatures were about 20 degrees higher, and the same thing a few days afterwards. In fact many of the team cyclists hit temperatures in Prescott Arizona that were at about 130 degrees. George asked if this was the hardest thing I had ever done. I told him that I used to be a wrestler and after wrestling everything else is easy. He responded, “except for RAAM”, but I think I will stick to my guns on this one. There is something about wrestling and getting into that third round where you are absolutely exhausted and don’t have enough oxygen in your muscles to be able to get them to perform appropriately and you need to dig into places inside yourself to will your abilities to keep going that I just haven’t gotten anywhere else. I loved to wrestle. It was that leveling ground as a man where you got to put 100% of your ability, drive, passion, skill, and tenacity on the line against another person and after within 6-7 minutes of live wrestling, a little more if you went into overtime the decision had come down and you got to see how your training, your wit, and your will matched up. It is a beautiful thing and a time in my life that I cherish more than most. That and the bonds that were established with my fellow wrestlers and coaches are tough to describe.
During the interview I also mentioned 3000 Miles to a Cure and got to share about Christina Ahmann Neville my friend who passed away of brain cancer. I told George that her mom Jo Dee had come along as part of the media crew and he quickly signaled her out and had her come on the stage to give me a hug. It was such a blessing during this entire experience to share pieces of Christina’s life with the world. The main things that stick out are her faith, her joy, and her no fear life and ability to live an abundant life in the midst of whatever she was going through.
After the interview I got pictures with my uncle Rick Mobley, and with Jim Lanning from Global Benefits Group who was a major sponsor of my trip. I completed 4 burpies with Chris Clemens and Madisyn. Tyler had issued the challenge to the group early on in the trip to do the same number of burpies as I was doing miles and without hesitation Chris responded, “I’m in”, followed by, “What’s a burpie”. The whole group did many burpies, pushups and a couple of runs and Chris was true to his commitment and finished up his 3069th burpie on the finishing stage in Annapolis. Then I quickly started to feel the fatigue set in. I gave as many hugs as I could to all my crew. My friend Mandy Kiele from Port Angeles was there, and Madisyn was as usual by my side. Right after George presented me with the finishers medal for RAAM I took it off and put it over Madisyn’s neck. I told her, this is yours and don’t let anyone take it from you or tell you that you didn’t earn it because you carried me through so many of those nights and you can do anything that uncle Rob can do. She smiled and nodded with tears welling up in her eyes. It was a great moment and I cherish these days with my little niece who is wired so much like me.
Rick drove me back to the hotel where I took a nap before heading to the awards ceremony. It was great seeing all the other riders and enjoying the camaraderie after an adventure well traveled. After a very restless nights, which I attribute to post traumatic cycling disorder. Basically I would wake up about every 45 minutes in a cold sweat pedaling in my sleep with my mind still engaged in the race. The interesting thing was Marshall Reeves was on my mind and somehow I thought if I could just keep pedaling I could help get him in. I felt very linked to him, and getting both of the 3000 Miles to a Cure riders to the finish. After about 5 sessions of this I got up and went downstairs and called up Buddy Bear. I talked to him for about an hour and prayed for consistent sleep and got about 2-3 of good sleep.
In the morning I went down to the finish line and got the blessing of watching Marshall Reeves cross the finish line under the allotted time. This was his third attempt and first official RAAM finish. A few of the photo’s and memories I cherish the most from the finish is one with my entire crew and the other with Marshall Reeves, Maria Parker, myself and the two Clemens boys, Chris and Tyler. The hash tag on the photo is “Crewed by Clemens”.
This whole adventure was beyond my ability level and I am so thankful for safety, pedaling so consistently, and the community that has grown out of this great experience. I feel like I was out in the dessert with God for 12 days and that my capacities have grown exponentially in a very short time. I am a different person then I was 3 weeks ago. I’m a better person, more committed to my faith, decisive, compassionate, and ready for whatever God puts into my path next.