Track His Progress

It's not time for my daily update yet, but I wanted to share an easy way for you to track Ben's progress (where he is, miles ridden, etc.). Click here to visit his "racer report" on RAAM's site.

Additionally, you can view the overall race standings here. Note that RAAM's Web site has been inundated with traffic and is operating really slow--and sometimes not at all.

More later...

-Matt

He's Off

Location: Oceanside, Calif.
Conditions: 70F, cloudy, winds from the SW @ 7 mph
Miles covered: 0
Miles remaining: 3,021.3
Food for thought: This is the best Ben’s arse will feel in a long, long time…

It’s official, folks, he’s off. A few minutes ago, Ben started the 2009 Race Across AMerica (RAAM). The route is more than 3,000 miles, touching 14 states and climbing more than 100,000 feet. Solo racers typically finish in nine to 12 days, averaging 250 to 350 miles per day. This is a 24x7 endeavor for both rider and crew.

Solo racers have the challenge of balancing a few hours of sleep each night against race deadlines. According to Outside magazine, there is no tougher individual endurance event in the world. Crews have to keep the roving melee moving along despite weather, broken vehicles, filled-to-the-rim RV potties and at times, fraying nerves (imagine crossing the country at 10-15 miles-an-hour in a tin box with your closest family and friends).

The plan for Team Popp (TP for short) is to ride the next 36 hours straight without a break. Why? This allows Ben to ride through the hottest section of the course (California and Arizona deserts) at night. For reference, it’s about 100F during the day right now…not ideal riding conditions. After about 36 hours, Ben should be near Flagstaff, Ariz., where he’ll bed down for a 3-hour rest, butt airing and tasty snack.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s TP Update.

-Matt

P.S. Feel free to submit any questions you might have in the comments section.

Two Days Away

It's less than two days until Ben embarks on his 2009 solo RAAM quest. I'll be posting regular updates, adding a little color commentary (I've twice been a RAAM crew member) and soliciting questions from readers--which I'll in turn relay to this year's crew.

So stay tuned and send positive thoughts and well wishes Ben's way...it's going to be a long, hard journey.

Things get underway at 12:00 noon (PDT) on Wednesday. In the meantime, visit www.raceacrossamerica.org for general race updates, coverage and rider profiles.

-Matt

Go Time

Well, Ben signing off for now. I'm heading to San Diego tomorrow and the anxiety is beginning to build, but all and all i'm still quite calm. This is going to be a violent effort, but we have the team assembled to make it happen. My crew will be calling my buddy Matt Sullivan back in the cities each day and he will script updates - look for them each day late morning, early afternoon.
Send good karma...I'll be back in no time. ben

In the media

The St. Paul/Minneapolis media have done a few nice pieces on the adventure...check them out:
T-minus 13 days!
Pioneer press article: http://www.enduranceathlete.com/images/stories/images/pioneerpressarticle.pdf

WCCO TV story: http://wcco.com/sports/ride.across.america.2.1030446.html

This is what i looked like after just 30 hours of riding...imagine day 8!?!?!

Getting Closer...Getting Nervous

Well, not much to report on the training end, but plenty of goings on in the organization front. Vans, hotels, gear, 40 cases of Ensure....you get the picture. We decided to get away, and headed to my parents for the Memorial Day weekend. It was great to get away and forget RAAM for a few days. It was great weather in northern Wisconsin and the kids got to help Grandpa raise Great-Grandpa's flag on Memorial Day.
Into final preparations now and less training is getting me anxious. Probably not to many more posts here until i get to San Diego (3 weeks) and give the "final report" before send off. Once the race starts, a buddy (who we will be calling daily) will be posting a report here with how the day has gone. Standby and get prepared to send good karma, the more the better.

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?!?!?!