We just left TS 39!! These guys have been kickin’ ass. We switched to 20 mile pulls and it’s just enough time to hammer and not push them over the edge. One more Time Station and we make the final cutoff!

George is out here right now and Rick will be on again in about an hour. We are on our way to a homecooked meal and SHOWERS at Scott’s house which in on the route, just past the Indy Time Station. We can’t wait!

to get to Indy and our next cutoff. We had a day of rapid exchanges where Rick took the rollers which were really hurting George with his respiratory issues and George took the flats on the P3, which were incidentally, hurting Rick with his knee/achilles issues. Teamwork at it’s finest!

George was finally able to get some significant time off of the bike and some good rest. I’m currently following him and he is hauling ass on his 50 mile pull, averaging 19+ the entire time so far. What a difference from this morning, he looks GREAT out there! He stopped once to ask for Rolaids and I noticed that he was coughing up a little bit of blood when he was spitting, but it’s dark and I couldn’t tell how much. I have a call into our team doctor right now.

Rick keeps on keepin’ on. He said tonight that he’s having the time of his life out here! With Shari supporting him now, he is really being taken care of and is able to recover and get out there and do it over and over again.

The crew has really pulled together after our meeting yesterday and the operation is running much more smoothly. The rest of the crew are really helping Shari and myself out, knowing that we are down to sleeping whenever the riders do, which isn’t much! It is so nice to finally see everyone working together toward a common goal…getting these guys to Indy…and ultimately to Atlantic City!

I know that I always end this way, but it’s worth repeating again and again…

I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. It’s truly amazing to watch them put their bodies through living hell pull after pull.

I think they found the one hill in Kansas!~George

I just pulled up next to him and he told me that was quotable and asked if I was blogging. Just so George…lol. 😉

George started this pull between TS 23 and TS 24 at mile 41.2 and he was exhausted and feeling sick. He’s been trying to fight off a cold that’s been coming on and I’ve been pumping him full of supplements and Airborne, but he’s getting no recovery and he’s just wearing down. The current pull is 35 miles and the next one will be 42 miles. He has asked for Nyquil so he can sleep and the plan is to give it to him about 5-6 miles before the exchange point at the end of his next pull. He’s been off of the bike twice so far during this pull and he’s just looking exhausted. While the shorter pulls and exchanges have been going smoothly for the crew and racers, I’m fearful that George is going to slip back into that sleep deprivation mode that he was in a couple of days ago. The motor home is constantly on the move with these rapid exchanges and sleep is scarce for him.

Rick is dealing with some achilles tendon issues and he spoke to Dr. John who has him resting and sleeping with a brace on his foot. He is icing it after every pull and we’re hoping that the brace will help. At the last exchange he also mentioned that his knees were bothering him. This morning he was in a caloric deficit, but he has consumed a good amount of food since then and is feeling better. I’m amazed at this man’s ability to recover. I haven’t seen much of him since I’m George’s primary support, but I have watched him twice go from being carried and not able to walk to kickin’ ass on his next pull. Rick is totally rockin’ it.

Big props to our crew as well…we’ve really pulled together in the last day and our rolling exchanges are really working great. Thanks to Jason for the suggestion, it came at the perfect time. Oh, and James gets super huge props for emptying the pooper on the motor home. It’s much more bearable in there now! 😉

AGAIN…these guys are amazing and I am so very proud of them. Please keep the comments coming. When they get discouraged, that will pull them through.

Rick just crossed the border from Colorado into Kansas a few minutes ago!

Yesterday after George took Wolf Creek Pass alone (which he said was a huge mistake in judgement on his part) he was in desperate need of sleep, so Rick offered to take another 100 mile pull. Just short of 80 miles into it and a mile from La Veta Pass Summit, Rick was off the bike. He had been hallucinating and the crew carried him into the van.

We shuttled George up to start his pull early and he ended up with an 85 mile pull with some help from Rick during one section on Cuchara Pass. Yes, Rick who had just been pulled off of the bike was recovered and ready to ride. What a stud! George enjoyed the short rest and looked strong on the remainder of the climb, though he was tacking just shy of Cuchara Pass Summit, which he reached at 2:25 a.m. The altitude had gotten to him and any effort was really hurting him so he had taken this climb easy. The descent down this section had a lot of rollers and took a lot of effort. At Valdez George was falling asleep so we gave him some Red Star and let him choose his music…Dr. Dre. This perked him up and he was able to finish the pull.

This morning we changed some crew strategies and made rolling exchanges our priority. This will definitely help us to make our cutoff in El Dorado!

Special thanks go out to some wonderful and amazing people in La Veta, Colorado.

When the motorhome arrived there yesterday, I woke up and walked outside, only to look up and see a sign for a massage therapist. I ran straight there and Diana Camp promised to help us out. She ended up postponing a previous appointment so she could work on George and then on Rick when he came in. THANK YOU DIANA!

After arranging massages for the racers, I walked over to the motorhome and saw that Phil was repairing a mountain bike tire for two ladies. I told him about the massages and mentioned that I wasn’t sure how I’d pay for it. I then asked if they could run me up to the grocery store and they said yes! As I got into the car after grabbing my bag, Deborah hands me a check for $100 and says that it is for the massages. I was near tears at this point, I couldn’t believe the generosity of this total stranger. Deborah drove me to the store and then back to the motorhome…THANK YOU SANDRA AND DEBORAH!

I woke up for my next shift to find that someone had delivered some home made chicken spaghetti casserole to us. I realized shortly after I started eating that it was Roger from Bike Forums. What a treat…that totally hit the spot and we all really enjoyed it. THANK YOU ROGER!

Okay…that’s it for now. I’ll update soon, we seem to have good access in Kansas so far!

Once again, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys!

Sorry everyone! Internet access on the road has been scarce and slow when we’ve been lucky enough to have it. I’m sitting here in the motor home in Pagosa Springs, CO and George is currently climbing Wolf Creek Pass. He wants to do this climb alone, but we’re hanging back here behind him in case he feels that he bit off more than he could chew. He’s STILL not sleeping. The best sleep that he got was when he came in directly off of a pull and went straight to bed without eating. Given that, I’ve decided that he needs to start his recovery on the bike and his last two pulls before the exchange will be Endurox so he can go to bed with some calories and then eat something solid before the next pull starts.

Both Rick and George had their ups and downs yesterday, but they keep going and I’m so proud of them. I supppose it’s just the nature of RAAM, ups and downs. When we came into time station 14 in Cortez, we found out that Rick had endured a really tough pull from Montezuma Creek. When we arrived he asked me about the possibility of a massage and the crew went to work trying to find one. They were unable to at that hour but he was able to soak in a spa for about 30 minutes and that really helped him. He’s been a total SUPERSTUD this whole journey! He hammered the first half of his last pull this morning in Pagosa Springs and came in looking strong, yet a little fuzzy eyed from the cold. We’d like to thank team 205 for their help last night in Cortez and for their cheers on the road!

We’ll update again soon…we need to do some shopping, some laundry and hopefully some wifi for James to upload some of his amazing pictures. We’ve taken a ton, we’re just having issues with internet being too slow to upload.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!

I have to say that I couldn’t be more proud of Rick and George. They are pushing through the pain, the sleep deprivation and anything else we throw at them. They’re truly amazing!

George and Rick aren’t sure what that word means at this point. It’s been difficult to sleep in the motorhome, and George has been awake pretty much since Tuesday at 5:00 a.m. save for 20 minutes here and there. The boys have been pushing through extreme exhaustion and the typical answer that I’m getting from them is “I feel GREAT, I’m just falling asleep!” They both have good legs, the sleep deprivation is just catching up with them.

Both George and Rick took a 60+ mile pull each, then a 40+ mile pull each. George had planned on 30 miles for his last pull, but we asked him to take a 46 mile pull to get some more rest for Rick. He really suffered on this last pull but we are so proud of him, he really came through for the team.

Hearing that George was really suffering with lack of sleep, Rick put on his SuperStud cape and volunteered to take a 100 mile pull. I was going to ask him to extend his planned pull of 32 miles to 44 miles and when he volunteered to do 100, I must have asked him four or five times if he was sure he wanted to do it. This is going to be such a tremendous relief for George, we are currently getting gas and water for the motorhome and we’re going ahead 100 miles to get park and wait.

I have to say that all of you would be proud if you could see these guys. They are really showing a lot of respect for one another and pulling longer when the other one needs it.

Freaking studs!!!!!!

stop to pee on the interstate! Sorry…you’ll have to wait another five miles. George, who normally doesn’t drink much when he rides is definitely hydrating well on this one. When we finally let him stop (rules state no stopping, so we have to wait for the exits) he was in great spirits and all smiles.

Keep the emails and comments coming for the racers, they love hearing that you’re cheering them on!

Rick just finished a pull with a “hill that never ended” and George just rolled out for what we plan to be a 60+ mile pull so that Rick can finally get some sleep in the bed. George is being motivated right now by the promise of a hot meal and a bed once we hit Quartzite. Once the motorhome reaches Rick we’ll be able to swap crew for the first time…just over four hours behind schedule. Such is RAAM!

has a flat tire and is off course right now attempting to find a place to have it fixed. Unfortunately this means that we’re supporting the racers out of the Camry and the follow van right now and that we’ve missed our first crew exchange. The racers are trying to get some rest in the back of the Camry when they are off the bike. Not ideal, but it is what it is. Right now we’re between TS2 and TS3 and I’m in the follow vehicle with Phil and Paul and George has about 10 miles before he exchanges with Rick.

More later…hopefully news that the motorhome is good to go!