Racing, Breathing, Rolling 24 ...Bring it on!!!

Wow, what a week of training and RAAM prep. Where do i begin? I finally got over a little cold i had brewing the previous week and was feeling pretty good. I've started an intensity phase, and so along with the group from Synergy i coach on Tuesday nights, we headed out to the TT Steve Thatcher runs, the Ride-n-Glide TT out near Withrow MN. Great turnout for the race- it filled!! It felt really good to get out and go hard...hurt, but was good baseline going into this intensity block. By the numbers: 24.5mph, 261 wts, 189hr.
Wednesday i had an appt with Dr. Tom Helm a skier i work with who specializes in breathing issues, asthma etc. I've been having a real problem druing my long workouts and really antime i go hard. I went up to his clinic and performed a PFT so we would have some baseline numbers. He and his exercise physiology partner from the U of MN, Ed Corazalla, agreed to come out and retest me 10hrs into my long ride Saturday. Long story short, we met at Now Bikes, they retested me, then gave me a neb. After, my Mid-flow was up over 75%!!!!!!! This is totally telling and i think correcting it will make a huge difference over the long haul.
As for the 24 hour ride, it was good. The first 12 around here was a bit "soft", but I met me crew in Stillwater at 8pm and we rode to Chetek Wi and back through the night. Crappy rain and 40 degrees kind of sucked, but it was good practice to be out, working with the crew, staying up all night and i love hte route (great riding if you are ever looking for a peaceful place to lose yourself on the bike). You would think it would be getting easier to be up all night...nope, still sucks and is hard. I was totally motivated though as i know the other racers are racing the Race Around Slovenia this weekend, 730 miles. Jure won, but 4-5 other RAAM contenders were there and they rocked it. M. Baloh was 4th, and a young guy(26) from Austria (C. Strausser) who finished 2nd last year in the race was there- he is racing RAAM and i predict will win it some day. Going this well this young, look out.
Anyway, time for a short rest and final prep is here....wow! Lanners took a bunch of pics from the ride..I'll put them up when i get them... a bunch of shots of my butt while riding?!?!?!