One more day in RAAM… and we lose our rider?

4:00 AM - Three and a half hours of sleep and a shower. Wow… I feel so fresh and ready to ride!

5:30 AM - We catch our team. They’re through Kansas and now into Missouri. They had a rough night. They look haggard. They’re talking slow. They’re laughing really hard at silly things. I can’t believe they even made it through the night! Colette, Virginia, Vernon, and Dave are going to the hotel…they need it bad. Dave looks like someone beat the crap out of him. I pray that they can make it safely to a hotel before they collapse.

But it’s time to ride, and I need to ride at threshold heart rate for 24 of the next 36 hours. Mentally, I’m ready. After making our transitions, the cars need gas… and I end up starting the day on 45 minutes of maximum output on huge rollers through Missouri. The RAAM Route warns of steep climbs and descents. I finally get in the car, and I’m dying. My legs ache so bad I can hardly get off my bike and walk back to the car. But I don’t want to let my teammates down, so I suck it up, keep it to myself, and start drinking water like a fish to hopefully flush out some of this lactic acid from yesterday’s monumental day. Just deal with it and ride harder.

10:30 AM – It’s already 82 degrees and humid. We are out of the rollers and on to the flat lands that parallel the river. This is going to be a hard day. There are no other teams around us, but we now have a comfortable 2 hour lead over the teams we passed yesterday. We pull into TS 34 near the Daniel Boone Monument, and I see Bob! We chat for a moment, and I tell him about my blog. As I walk away, I think, “That was a mistake… he’s going to hunt me down now!”

1:30 PM – My legs can’t take any more. It’s 92 degrees. I’ve been riding for 7 hours, transitioning every 5-7 miles. It’s almost unbearable. Our crew does so much for us, and they don’t complain about anything! (at least out loud on the radio). Water bottles, food, bikes, navigation… they’re great! I hate asking for more, but I finally break down and ask my crew if someone will try to massage my legs. Both Lee and Amalia offer to help with ice and massage in our support vehicle, and Kristen offers a deeper massage when I go on rest in an hour. The ice gets me through the hour.

2:30 PM – Massage from Kristen that makes me jump all over the car. I sleep the next 3 hours.

6:30 PM – It’s time to get ready for our night. Luckily we’ve hit some tailwinds and we’re flying across Illinois. But my mom calls… she’s been tracking us non-stop, like she’s on the race with us. 402 and 412 are coming. It’s Bob again. They’ve made up an hour already. Shannon’s Soldiers are also picking up the pace. They must have gotten the tailwinds as well. But Hoosier’s are loosing ground, and there is an 8-man team only 45 minutes in front of us. Somewhere up there is also the all-women 4-person team. We can’t let the girls beat us! Dave just came back from his hotel… a new man! Dave’s a machine… our strongest rider. Let’s get it on, Dave! We need to put some distance on our old friends, and we have some catching to do! After my massage and sleep, I am ready! Chris is on his rest, but he’ll join us soon enough… he wants to beat everybody.

7:15 PM – Our team has talked about the importance of keeping the follow vehicle on the road. When we meet for our 12-hour transition, the follow is the priority. I ride first while the cars exchange riders, bikes, and bags. But when I ride by, there’s an official talking to Kristen. Now what did we do wrong? Did we get some penalty? No one is there to exchange with me. Did they see me? I’m not stopping… they’ll catch up to me. But 15 minutes later, no one has come yet. It’s only an hour till dark, and we can’t have a rider after dusk without a follow vehicle to keep the rider within the headlights. I can’t even get a hold of anyone. Where is the next turn? Isn’t there a time station coming up in Marshall? Then I see the RAAM arrows that are pointing toward the off-ramp of SR 40 toward Marshall. Well, what should I do… wait for them to find me at the off-ramp and lose precious time, or go for it and hope I see all the signs to the next TS and get picked up before dusk? If I get lost, I’ll need to flag someone down and use a cell phone. That will really cost us time. But I know Bob is coming. I take the off-ramp. I follow the arrows through town. As I pass the Time Station on the right, I note the time… 7:31 PM. Follow the arrows, and 10 minutes later I’m back on SR 40 East. No sign of my team. Just go… you’ve got 30 minutes until dusk. 8:00 PM – It’s been 45 minutes. My legs ache. I can’t ride much longer. My team must be panicked… wondering what happened to me and if I missed the turn-off? Then I hear a series of honks way down the road. They’ve found me! They drive past, asking if I took the off-ramp to the TS. I nod, and they smile. We have a great team! Kristen comes next to pick me up. I check my GPS, and I’ve averaged 19.9. We’re right on track!

8:30 PM – Let’s rip this night up, guys. All night long!! 110% all the way to Indianapolis. We have some more teams to catch. And we’ve got to stay away from Bob.

2:40 AM – We’re past Indianapolis. I am a human bugshield. Something the size of a Super Gumball just went down my throat. I had to swallow… or throw up. The latter would have slowed me down. The last 4 hours killed me… again. I think I rode harder than yesterday. I pretended Bob was right behind me the whole way chasing me. Oh my gosh… he is! I wonder what our pace is compared to the rest. I need to sleep. I have 2-1/2 hours until my next shift. Dave and Chris are ripping it up right now. Way to go, guys! Dave just got chased by a dog. Now he’s freaked out, looking up every drive way. It’s only funny because I am here and he is out there... in the dark. Squirt him with your water bottle, Dave. Ok, let’s race!!

3:02 AM - Only 727 miles to go…