Quick update from the West Coast Massive on the RAAM....

For those of you who are not up to speed with our activity we are driving / riding across America on bicycles from Oceanside California to Maryland Annapolis in hopefully 7 days solid...thats over 3000 miles at an average speed of 17mph....easy eh ?

So today we drove the first 80 miles of the RAAM course in the RV to familiarise ourselves with

A) Driving an RV equivalent to the side of a small yacht and

B) driving on the wrong side of the road

C) Opportunity for the cyclists to get acclimatised with riding at 110 degrees +

I can only say that my experience was terrifying......driving an RV on the long beautiful straight roads of America is a piece of cake.....driving up a mountain range of 3000 feet + with more twists and turns than a spy novel is something else !!

The cyclist rode for 45 minutes in 120 degrees which I describe only as desert land and where exhausted....they initially planned to ride for around 50 miles and managed only 15 after experiencing the stifling heat. The plan is for the riders for the race to ride in shifts of 6 hours between 2 riders before changing over....the experience of today caused a dramatic re-think over dinner at Dennys restaurant.

On a more positive note we tagged the cyclists with an GPS powered RFID tag and tracked them from the RV which proved vital as the cyclist got lost after the first turn and we were fortunately able to track them down before they became prey for the vulchers and other creepy crawlies of the desert....and when I say desert this is coming from a ‘ Brit ‘ who is used to our small country with stable climate and lush greenery.....this was boiling hot and in the middle of nowhere ! Simon and I were delighted to find that not only did our technology work but will be a vital tool throughout the small task of driving 3000 miles across the US of A.

I will endeavour to update you throughout on our trials and tribulations throughout the race for those who are interested and hope to be able to tell tales of success when Mr Quinn meets the weary team at the end of the race for some well earned beers !!

Here’s to a safe and successful race

Regards

Tom Hare

Operations Manager

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