Well-oiled machine

Our vehicles have passed inspection; our registration books have been approved. Per the official RAAM rules, we have delivered coffee cups from Cleveland and San Diego to RAAM race officials, and we have been approved to race. We’re ready.

It’s absolutely mind-boggling to watch all that goes into the planning and preparation for Race Day. In a brilliant feat of engineering and forethought, Charlie has built and installed a shelving unit for the Follow vehicle – the minivan that will drive directly behind the racer. The van has been stripped of most of the seating and now holds the shelving unit with plastic drawers clearly labeled “Richard’s shorts,” “Charlie’s jerseys,” "Electronics," "Richard's skullcaps," "Medicine," etc.

On the other side of the van, specially built shelving holds water, Ensure, water bottles, salty Pringles and other foods. The shelves fit perfectly, leaving just enough seating room for the the three-person Follow crew and a narrow passageway on the floor where the retiring racer will rest in hour intervals while he is off the bike. One of our crew members, Eileen Hardy, cut a foam mattress into the specific shape to fit the floor of the van and then sewed a specially shaped mattress cover for it.

The RV team took stock of how the specifics of RV travel works. We had to learn about proper dump station procedures, how to make coffee for the awakening racer and how to check for back up generator power. Above all in the RV is conserving water so that it never happens that there isn’t enough available water for racer showers. Crew members can live dirty; racers need the shower. The plan is for RV crew to get into a motel once in a 36-hour period - we'll get our showers then (if we make it into the motel - everything is subject to change.)

A master shopping list was made and Jonathan Jahant, John Welch and Ken Runyan went shopping to ensure that we have everything we might possibly need – Velcro, foam padding, garbage bags, bungee cords, plastic tubing, pop tarts, bagels, fruit, protein bars, gallons and gallons and gallons of water.

The Gatorade and Perpetuem powder (liquid nutrition that the racers drink) was loaded onto the RV. Essential instructions and phone numbers were taped to the dashboards of all three vehicles. Pens, pencils and highlighters were velcroed to the dash as well. A Ziploc bag of quarters is placed in the glove compartments for those areas of the country in which we won’t get cell phone reception and have to call Race HQ at every time station.

Charlie, who is a master of detail and an organizational wizard, has thought of everything. It’s been an incredible experience just watching this team put his master plan into action – every person is adding his or her expertise to the project, but Charlie is given credit for being the mastermind organizer. We are definitely prepared for every contingency; still, there are so many things that can happen. There’s no way to foresee every single possibility. If there was, Charlie would have done it. As it is, he’s come as close as humanly possible.

Meeting Jure Robic

What a thrill to be at the start line for the men's solo race on Wednesday.

Charlie and Richard were there - great to finally meet Charlie in person - and they enjoyed reuniting with racers they know and wishing everyone well. Richard served as an escort for the first few miles after the "parade route" on which riders are unaccompanied by support vehicles. On Saturday, our riders will be on that parade route themselves; surely they were contemplating this as they watched the men's solo riders go out.

Charlie (front) and Richard watch the men's solo start

The highlight of the day for Johanna, our Slovenian crew member, was meeting countrymen Jure Robic, the defending RAAM champion, and Marco Baloh, who provides strong competition for Robic in this year's race. Johanna personally delivered good wishes and presented Robic with a homemade potica, Slovenian nutroll pastry. Robic was delighted, thanked Johanna with a hug and kiss and graciously spent time chatting and posing for photos.

Johanna delivers best wishes to defending champion Jure Robic

(Slovenian racing fans take note: Robic's team is offering 24-hour streaming video of the race at http://www.jurerebic.net/. Baloh also is on the Web at http://www.marcobaloh.com/.)

Erik Rosenstein and Tomaz Percic are also racing for Slovenia and Johanna wished them well also. They are the favorites in the two-man division, but we are hoping to give them a good run.

The best thing about being at the solo start line was being in the presence of all these endurance athletes and watching them, some of them RAAM rookies, begin their 3000-mile journeys. There has been a lot of hard work and preparation for all participants in RAAM, and all of us at Team Reaching Heights wish everyone involved Godspeed and a safe race.

Rule book

Studying the RAAM rules, which are comprehensive and voluminous, is imperative for racers and crew members alike. Everything imaginable has been covered. Everything. It's amusing to think that the rules have been created based on something that's probably happened before.

To wit, here's a funny example, directly from the Race Across America 2009 Rules:

Rule 850-8: "Crew or Racers may not strip and dance naked for any reason outside of the support vehcle without appropriate coverings or curtains."

That might threaten to crimp a bit of style, but our absolute priority here is safety first above all, and also to run a perfectly clean race with no penalties. So dancing naked on the side of the road will have to wait.

Some other interesting tidbits from the official RAAM rules:

600-8: Racers may ride alongside each other for 15 minutes per 24-hour period, and no more. Example: Racer A rides with Racer B for 15 minutes. These two racers cannot repeat this until at least 24 hours passes. Racer A, however, can ride with Racer C for 15 minutes within 24 hours, but A and C cannot repeat this for 24 hours, etc.

600-12: Moving Racers may not be tethered by electrical wiring, feeding tubes, oxygen tubes or other attachments either to a Support Vehicle or to a pedestrian.

625-1: All Racers and Crew are expected to exhibit the highest sportsmanship towards all competitors and Race Staff at all times. ... If you have really read these rules carefully, the Crew Chief will bring a coffee mug from the Racer's hometown to the race meeting to receive a RAAM gift and commendation from the Race Director.

Team Reaching Heights racers and crew alike are excited and prepared. Two days and counting ...

Pro Cycling News previews us, Robic

Andy McGrath of Pro Cycling News at DailyPeloton.com mentioned us in his 2009 RAAM race preview ...

"Team Reaching Heights is raising money for a public schools foundation in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Team members Charlie Combs and Richard Waugh worked as crew members for 2008 runner-up and rookie of the year Mark Pattinson. Bitten by the RAAM bug, they have saddled up for the two-man challenge this year. Age is another hurdle to overcome, as they are the only competitors in the 50-59 category. Nevertheless, having crewed last year and covered the first thousand miles in training a few weeks ago, they are under no illusions as to the challenge facing them."

(By the way, if you'd like to know more about our beneficiary, Reaching Heights, visit the Reaching Heights Web page at http://www.reachingheights.org/.) In fact, look for their entry about Richard and RAAM on their home page.

Also in his preview, McGrath said Slovenian superman Jure Robic appears set for another solo title - his fifth in six years. Here's what McGrath says about Robic:

"When anyone says 'Race Across America' to me, Jure Robic is the first name that comes to mind. The four-time winner is effectively the modern 'Mr. RAAM', a legend in ultra-cycling. Both respected and revered by rivals and fans alike, the former Slovenian solider is gunning for a record fifth title. The 44-year-old may still have one eye on smashing Pete Penseyres’s 1985 fastest time of 8.09.47. However, the ever-improving standards he has set in recent years also force his rivals to push themselves ever harder – beating Robic is synonymous with winning RAAM itself."

McGrath advises keeping an eye on young Austrian Christopher Strasser, who at 27, is the youngest solo competitor this year. Strasser cites Robic as his hero and recently finished second to Jure in the Race Around Slovenia, a RAAM qualifier.

One of our racers, Richard, is looking forward to meeting and speaking to Robic to wish him luck at the start line of the men's solo race. Johanna Bajc, one of our crew members, will be there as well to wish her fellow Slovenian "screcno pot" (safe trip.) Look for photos of Johanna and Richard with the Slovenian superstar - we'll post them after the solo race takes off on Wednesday.

It's Here!

Richard and Jeannie seal the deal


Welcome, friends, family and RAAM fans to our great summer adventure! RAAM officially begins for our two-man team on June 20. Team members will begin gathering in San Diego during this week, and we are all eagerly awaiting the beginning of the race itself. There's still much to be done before that happens.

We are looking forward to sharing everything with all of you. Personally, I am delighted and proud to be included on a team whose primary goal is to do anything and everything to support our two riders across the country safely and quickly (well, “quick” is relative when you’re talking about 3,000-plus miles on a bicycle.)

For me, this grand adventure started a couple of years ago in Richard’s back yard. Richard lives a couple of houses down from me in Cleveland Heights, and he had just completed the PAC Elite Tour in memory of his friend Charles Barr. I was interviewing Richard to write a short “as told to” story for Cleveland Magazine, describing the adventure. (You may read that story here.)

That night it was late and we’d already had a couple of beers when Richard threw out the idea that he might someday give serious consideration to competing in RAAM. It was clear then that RAAM was a dream … an important challenge, one that would still be a bit of a reach. It wasn’t anything that was going to happen immediately. Richard was just playing with the idea, but even then, it was easy to see that in his heart of hearts, it had already begun taking passionate root.

The more we talked about it, the more real it became … if Richard would ride RAAM, I’d be honored to crew for him. I left his house that night thinking what a thrill it would be to have a first-hand view of someone I love and respect doing something so awe-inspiring.

Two years later, our RAAM adventure is imminent. Richard and teammate Charlie Combs have trained, trained and trained some more - on bikes, on weights, inside and outside, in heat, in cold, in sun and snow. They are ready. Their crew - nine of us - is ready as well. I can’t wait to meet the rest of my crewmates, who are scattered about the country, and hear how they came to be involved. We’ve all been preparing in our own ways, and next week, we will finally all meet in San Diego and compare notes.

We can’t wait to get started.

We’re happy you will join us here. The team is meticulously prepared in ways you can’t even imagine, but there are so many variables in an event like this and we know that anything can happen. Still, we look forward to every moment of RAAM and will try to experience every single thing that happens as fully as possible. I’m sure that moments of grace and beauty await us all.

Stay tuned.

General Comments Page

You of course may comment on any of our blog postings, but we've created this post especially for our family and friends to send us words of encouragement during the race. We'd love to hear from you! We will be using two-way headsets during the race and so your comments can be read to us by a member of our support crew. Your words might just be the very thing to lift our spirits during a particularly tough stretch of road. Thank you.

Our Taos Training Ride-May 11-14

Since my work schedule didn't allow me to participate in the Heart of the South race with Charlie, we looked at another time when we could take a sustained training ride together while closely simulating RAAM racing conditions. During the second week of May we decided to ride the first third of the RAAM race course from San Diego CA to Taos, NM; 1044 miles. The idea was to take turns riding, scout out the major climbs and descents and see what we might learn in order to finalize our strategy for the actual race in June. One major difference between this training ride and RAAM is that since we only had one support vehicle with two crew members, we decided to stop at motels briefly at night in order for the crew to get some well deserved rest.

Before I go any further, our crew for this ride consisted of Lary Stokes and Eileen Hardy who will also be on our RAAM crew. They did a magnificent job. Lary did all the driving while Eileen navigated and took care of all our nutritional needs. Charlie and I were both well cared for and knowing that Lary and Eileen will be there for us during RAAM gives me tremendous peace of mind.

The RAAM course begins at sea level and is relatively flat for the first 13 miles. But then the party is over and the work begins in earnest. The road rises over 4000 feet in the next 52 miles. Charlie and I shared climbing duties during this section with Charlie tackling the steeper parts. The temperature was cool and comfortable and the road was scenic. When we reached the 4224' high point, I rode a 10 mile, 8% downhill section known as "The Glass Elevator". The pavement on this section is in good shape and so I let the bike run. I was routinely hitting 50 mph during several of the straight-aways. I had to quickly force from my mind thoughts of what might happen if I crashed. I had an amazing view of the road way below me and off in the distance. What a dramatic change from the climb up. What lay ahead was desert as far as the eye could see. It was getting hotter and hotter and when I got down to the desert floor, once again at sea level, it was already over 100 degrees. It will undoubtedly be even hotter in June. Having crewed RAAM in '08, I was familiar with this road but I was imagining a rookie solo racer seeing that huge expanse of desert for the first time while feeling the heat and wondering what on earth they'd gotten themselves into.

The first day we rode to Blythe, CA on the CA/AZ border. The second day we rode to Flagstaff, AZ. We alternated two hour riding shifts both those days. The road rises and falls a bit in the desert all the way to the California border, but nothing major. Entering Arizona, the long climbs on the western section of the RAAM course begin and they get higher and higher along the way. First there's Merrit Pass at 2794'. Then there's Yarnell at 4870'. Then there's the climb to Iron springs, the Mingus Mountain climb, and then the climb up to Flagstaff at over 6900'. All the climbs have fairly major descents as well so its up and down, up and down. At 130 pounds, Charlie is a natural climber. He's strong, steady and consistent. At 200 pounds, I simply do my best. We generally shared the climbing duties but I rode most of the long descents. Going downhill, my weight is actually advantageous. It allows me to keep the bike steadier than Charlie might be able to and therefore gives me a bit more confidence. We're finding that our size difference makes for a good team strategy. A memorable moment during this section for me was when I was descending Mingus Mountain. I hit a very rough section of road at about 40 mph and my handlebars slipped way down. Talk about an immediate knot in your gut. Fortunately I was able to keep control of the bike and pull over and tighten things up. Even more memorable however was a particularly enthusiastic young female fan Charlie encountered while he was climbing up through Oak Creek Canyon just below Flagstaff. Be sure and ask him about it when you get a chance.

What I didn't realize until getting all the way to Flagstaff at the end of day 2 was that Charlie had been feeling lousy all day. While he was having some stomach issues, he never gave a hint of it; not a word. He just kept riding hard all day. I already knew Charlie was tough from riding with him across the country in '07; he won't quit for anything. It gives me sincere pride and confidence to have a teammate like him. The next morning he got up and looked like a new man. He suggested we try alternating riding in 1 hour shifts instead of 2 to see how it would feel, and we wound up doing just that the rest of the way to Taos.

The terrain for days 3 and 4 of our trip was very much like day 2; long mountain climbs followed by long descents. There is a short diversion from the up and down routine as the route goes away from the mountains into Utah's Monument Valley which to me is simply breathtaking. I have to say that the RAAM organizers have done a superb job with route planning. The course is incredibly challenging while at the same time offers up a wonderful variety of natural scenery. The mountain climbs are hard work physically, but the scenery is so stunningly beautiful that it often takes your mind away from your fatigue. I particularly enjoyed riding through Durango Colorado on the morning of day 4. I was born there and lived there through the first grade before we moved to Albuquerque. Later that afternoon, I rode up and over La Manga Pass in northern New Mexico which at 10,250' is the highest point on the entire RAAM course. That evening as Charlie was on his way into Taos, NM, the ending point of our training ride, he pulled off the road about 5 miles out of town and we rode in the rest of the way together. It was a very satisfying feeling.

Overall, this training ride was a complete success. We each rode over 500 miles in three and a half days, so there was a definite physical benefit. But of greater value are the strategies that we've adopted as a result of this ride. We are now familiar with the roads that we'll be racing on during RAAM. We now know quite a bit more about how we'll divide up the climbing and descending duties and we now have a greater understanding of how our bodies will feel while alternating all day between racing and resting. Our average speed for this ride was quite respectable and our goals for RAAM to not only finish within the 9 day time limit but to look at setting a new record in the 2-man 50-59 age division seem realistic.

As I write, the RAAM start is now less than three weeks away. I have every confidence that Charlie and I are physically and mentally ready to take on the tremendous challenge that lies before us. During RAAM, Team Reaching Heights will have a full time race reporter on its' crew. Jeannie Roberts is a wonderful writer and will author the vast majority of this blog from here on out. Our race begins June 20Th, so stay tuned!

Richard