RAAM Recon

Well, even the best laid plans sometimes change. The plan was to recon to Durango, the first 825 miles of the race course....but due to a few "circumstances", we didn't make it...but the trip was far from a failure. We (Bob Mackie was driving support) left San Diego Saturday at 10am with a huge tail wind and headed down the RAAM route towards Durango. After a good start we hit an unusually hot desert for this time of year - 91...good practice. The first 12-14 hrs went well. Man, i can't even describe the dunes in the western part of the Mojavi desert...a whole different world! Lets just say you need a 4-wheeler to fit in. After a run in with the border patrol (ask me sometime) and their dogs, we continued moving right along...but starting out tired (my family was with this trip), and Bob having no help, by 2am we were struggling. My nutrition wasn't great and by the climb out of the desert in Congress, i was KO'ed. After a short 10minute break though, i was back on the bike and climbing..slow, but moving. By the second big climb of the TS up to Prescott, i was feeling better and with day break, things were looking up. We arrived in Prescott around noon and the winds were howling....i mean howling...guts as high as 60mph! After almost getting blown off the bike, and not wanting to risk injury, we called it a day one TS short of the goal, Flagstaff, in Cottonwood AZ....live to fight another day. We awoke to 22 degrees and sun Monday morning and hit the road to Flagstaff, 7,000 feet up! The climb through Sedoan (amazing place, for sure my next vacation destination) went well, but on the descent out of Flagstaff we ran into BIG snow squals which turned us back towards Flagstaff. The goal to get to Durango was ended. I rode out the rest of the hours i was shooting for climbing the mountains around Flagstaff, we packed the car and headed back to San diego...i would ride my last day in there in 70 degree weather instead of fighting snow and ice for 200 miles into Durango. I wouldn't get to see the course, but safer training trumped the situation, so home we went. The final 10hr ride today was good, i'm totally cooked and looking forward to a rest. I tried out some new things and really learned a bunch of stuff that will help this summer. Mission accomplished-- 4 days, 800 miles, a 30+ hr ride to start, 90+ degrees, snow, 40,000 ft of up. Back to Minnesota, 40 degrees and rain.