Post a Comment On: Transplant Athlete

The Race is over. The RV has been stripped of its badging and returned to Cruise America. The saddle sores are healing, feeling has returned to the hands (but not the feet), and the neck muscles are gaining strength every day. My thanks go out to Scooter for posting while I was on the bike, my crew for keeping me "motivating over the hill", and everyone who posted encouragement by blog or email throughout the race. There were some incredibly tough moments during this year's RAAM. A combination of HEED and Perpetuem meant I was taking over 500 calories in per hour (my upper limit in training was found to be about 400 calories). It took me a day to do the math on the calories, but by then the damage was done (GI Distress and Vomiting) and I had lost around 2 hours (between bathroom stops and riding slower). The climb into Kayenta Arizona was so long (30 miles) and gradual that I asked my crew if it was the "Roadway to Heaven". I was told I had 160 miles to go to the time station and only 10 hours to get there, meaning I would have to average 16 miles per hour to be official. In actuality, I probably had to cover 160 miles in 14 hours (an 11.4 mph average). Because I believed there was no way I could meet the time cut-off, I listened to a suggestion to sleep and I ended up losing 5+ hours in Kayenta. Outside Monte Vista Colorado, I went down for a sleep break and I had an incredibly hard time waking up. My father ended up calling Clare for advice. I lost a couple hours there, and even after waking, I was able to get a little further down the road, (about 40 miles) before I started falling asleep on the bike. I crawled into the Escape a couple of times to "rest my eyes". My ride into Kansas was incredibly tough, the heat was getting to me and even though I was hydrating, I may not have been getting enough electrolytes, because it was a tough slog. I was really depressed after last year's race, because I crashed out, and because I didn't get very far, but I'm happier with the distance this year. It hurts to DNF, but it hurts less when you get nearly half way across the country.