The Toughest Bicycle Race on the Planet
If you love to travel, can deal with
seriously rough levels of sleep deprivation, and enjoy serving, then you are
open for amazingly unique opportunities.
Although I do not see myself classifying with all of the above mentioned
traits, I seem to get myself aboard with the unique opportunity to ride along
with the Race Across America (RAAM) almost yearly!
Outside magazine voted RAAM the most
difficult athletic event. While the
debate could rage on, it certainly is sheer madness! A very special kind of madness that covers
3000 miles, 170,000 feet of climbing, and crossing 12 states. There is no other race in the world like
it. RAAM is a nonstop blur! Once the timer starts, the clock doesn’t stop
until racers reach the finish line.
Rick Schultze dealing with the Mojave Desert
Many tasks for the crew. Andre Richison crossing one off the list, above Sedona, AZ
By the time 2013 rolled around, I was on my 5th
tour with the RAAM parade. This year I
was on the crew for Team ON/ABB. A crew
is made up of a number of positions, or roles that assist the team rider(s) to
cross the country in speedy fashion The
racer just rides, but the crew makes most of the decisions, and must constantly
improvise, adjust, and adapt. It is an
adventure that unfolds minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and mile-by-mile.
Dave Preston in the magnificant Monument Valley, Utah
The Crew Chief is the CEO, the boss and leader of the team. They provide the overall direction for the crew and have to be ready to make decisions, even unpopular ones. They must always think of the racer, and balance with that the crew needs.
The Team ON/ABB crew worked hard to
keep Rick Shulze and Dave Preston rolling east.
We started the race in Oceanside, California with 10 crew members. By the sunrise of the second day, no one was
a ‘rookie’ crew member anymore. Our team
consisted of drivers, navigators, a crew chief, a photographer and a bike
mechanic. The note-so-popular roles
included sandwich making, fetching water, scrubbing dishes, scurrying to peg
requests on the racer’s list, tracking down route changes, were done by any
available crew member, at any hour.
Matt Hoffman at the base of the dreaded Yarnell Pass, AZ
America the beautiful, is also America with the
often searing Mojave Desert, the mountainous Rockies, the wind-swept plains and
the steep and rather wicked hills of the Appalachians.
L to R: Manny Casillas (crew chief), Rick Schultze (rider), John Wood, Andre Richison and Matt Hoffman
After a tough series of events, Team ON/ABB lost
one of its 2 riders, due to possible heat exhaustion. Through grit, determination, encouragement
and dedicated support from the remaining crew, Dave Preston rode the last 450
or so miles solo to the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.
Rolling into a distant gas station in Kansas
Dave generously shared, “Much of
RAAM’s spotlight is usually on the racers, but the lion’s share of the heavy
lifting to get a racer or team across the finish line is in the hands of the
crew. I am certainly humbled by the
dedication the crew had to get our team across the finish. So thank you crew – you truly taught me some
valuable life lessons.”
Most of the crew at the finish line in Annapolis, MD. L to R: John Foote, Adot White, Joe Felder, Manny Casillas, Alan Low, Dave Preston, Denny Preston, Rick Schultze, John Wood.
