United Eight

Our greatest competitors during Race Across America were United Eight. United Eight is a team from Great Britain. They competed in the 8 person division in RAAM. There were many times when we raced them neck n neck.

(United Eight at the finish line in Annapolis MD... they were right behind us!)

One time I pulled up to one of their cyclists and I was soooo happy to be racing against some one, we had not seen any other teams since the start of the race. I said to him "Hi!!! We are going to have ourselves a race!!" With a huge smile on my face... I was already pushing the pace to try to break him.

He looked at me and he went into his back pocket. He pulled out a Ricola cough drop and handed it to me. All that he said was "Ricola?".

I said "Thanks :)" and the race began!

Adam and I battled their team for at least an hour. After an extremely steep hill we lost them for about two hours. We figured that we would not see them again. Then out of nowhere they passed us just as Adam was handing off to me. I could not believe it! The had somehow snuck up on Adam during his shift.

I knew I was in for trouble because not only did they catch up to Adam but we were also entering a downhill section and everyone knows that fixie + downhill do not mix. I watched as he got further and further away from me.

After about 10minutes I saw the guy who passed me on the side of the road with the rest of his team. They were doing an exchange but it was not a fast exchange like we were used to. They were just taking their time. I think they were just a more laid back kind of team. I passed them waving and cheering. They cheered me on as I went.

Here is their rendition of our encounter:
http://www.united8.org/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=57&task=show&action=view&id=80&Itemid=57

I hope to meet these guys again someday because they were awesome!

-Pattt
LoveLife!