6/15/08 1616 race time. Happy Father’s Day!!! Wow, 2 days since my last post. I need the “thought to blog post” converter (with appropriate filter!) to expedite this process.
AFC is more than half way through the race, to the amazement and encouragement of all we encounter. The support from total strangers is tremendous. Tonight we will have the “half way dance party” that Adam has so been looking forward to (see his warm-up dance video w/his bike). PAD actually got us there last night, but didn’t have time to celebrate.
Looks like storms are approaching (lightning strikes, winds). We’ve never done a shift change in the rain, so this will stretch us. (As we speak, Suga is having trouble with his jersey zipper. Sometimes it’s the little things. The weather has been great thus far. So good that on an exchange last cycle Peter decided to forego the shirt and wear just his reflective orange jersey. I didn’t see if he had anything else on other than the jersey... That guy is a great team member. He’s even more quiet than I, with a dryer, sharper with than mine.
( Weather update: NOAA predicts golf-sized hail. Please keep our guys in your prayers since they’re about to go out.)
Weezal and Peter have been in the same support car w/Stacey and I in the other so far. We may go back to the original rotation and mix it up. If we do, then one of us will do 3 mind-numbing Follow Vehicle stints (insert request for prayers for us too…). The tornado watch siren is sounding. Gotta go to Walmart. Will be back soon…
…Well the Walmart Supercenter in Osage Beach MO is awesome. We just sheltered in place for about 30 minutes there while waiting to see if one of two tornados spotted in the area will hit us. Forecast is currently winds of 70mph, rain, and thunder/lightning. Good weather for a TMR, but evidently too much for RAAM. Racers in the area were told to seek shelter until told to continue. Good thing Stacey brought the NOAA radio so we were prepared for this.
How does AFC spend the time while riding out a tornado warning in a Walmart? By heading for the game section of course! Adam: “maybe they have Halo 3!!!” Not. He did find a motorcycle game though. “I can’t go faster. How do I shift?... There.” Pete’s response: “Adam, you should try it in one gear!” (I can’t make this stuff up.) After some donuts and Klondike bars the warning was lifted. After prying apart Fabio’s death grip on a 18” concrete column we headed back to the RV for some awesome pasta.
The terrain has been pretty flat lately and team PAD has been rolling right along. We addressed a few minor issues: a problem cleat (that has already been across the country in summer ‘06), some minor health issues (details omitted in case for the faint at heart), and a crash. Adam was navigating around some train tracks and went down in front of the Follow Vehicle. Fabio did an ABS check which thankfully passed. Let’s do the math: 20mph=29 feet per second. Max following distance per RAAM rules=50 feet. Average ¾ second reaction time (we’ll use ½ for Fabio, who has exceptional reflexes)=15 feet. Assume a 10 foot stopping distance. My sleep deprived mind says that’s a 5 foot margin of error, but maybe I have this wrong. (Hey, I gotta drop in some drama here and there.)
Stacey and Fab stopped at TS 28 to refuel and chat with some TS volunteers. We ran into Team 611, United Eight, the British 8-person mixed team (7 men/1 woman) and wished each other well. Stacey got their contact information to coordinate a possible Annapolis celebration. We send a shout out to you all – good luck!
Pete and Weezal have been jammin’ to music, chillin’, and “the usual leapfrog vehicle stuff.” They had some excitement the other day when their Follow Vehicle got a flat tire. They limped along on the donut and eventually found a used tire – not quite the right size, but acceptable. While Stacey and Fab were doing Follow support in the converted leapfrog vehicle, Adam got a flat. Pat was back in during the blindingly fast wheel swap. Not far down the road Pat had flatted, and we put Adam back on the road again. Sometimes lightning does strike twice.
As I report, I must succumb to the aroma of pasta that has floated into the driver’s compartment. The blueberry pancakes and PB+J 12 hours ago were good, but have since relinquished their hold on my ribs, so I must refill.
BTW, team KAL is back on road, and we will do a shift change soon. There’s a lot to think about on this trip. New experiences, learning more about people, general introspection. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I wouldn’t have missed for the world.
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