Updated Blog

Finally managed to get some sleep, had around 9 hours since 19/06/2009….Oceanside seems a long long time ago and everyone is longing for a decent shower and a prolonged period of sleep.
The routine we have got into is split into 4 support and 6 riders, a team of 3 riders goes out with 2 support crew and participates in the race and completes 2 Time stations. The time station distances vary from between 40 and 70 miles.
We’re generally on the road for 8 hours at a time and then back to the RV where we need to get the vehicle to the 2nd time station that the new crew are heading towards….typically it takes the RV between 2 and 3 hours to get to that point so that leaves you with approx 5 or 6 hours to sleep, eat, do laundry, go shopping etc. From a support perspective this is very difficult as you have just been driving for 8 hours and you then need to drive the RV, after a night shift this is very difficult

the early stages at the moment are fairly mountainous, Arizona section saw us elevated at around 7000 feet with some stunning views and some hairy moments on the saddle.
From Arizona we crossed into Utah at ‘ The Mexican Hat ‘ ….I was lucky enough to be on the graveyard shift and saw the sunrise over Monument Valley with some truly stunning scenery…..apart from one of the riders having to stop the car and throwing up at the side of the road not mentioning any names Mr Forrester.

Other highlights in Monument Valley was a running battle with ‘ Ze Germans ‘ culminating in Phil ‘ The Power ‘ Hedley roaring past the rider much to our delight !!
From Utah we headed to Colorado, a marked change in scenery from the barren Arizona and Utah to lush greenery and beautiful mountain views unfortunately only just getting to see as I pulled the graveyard shift AGAIN in the support car for 8 hours, that’s the thing about driving at night…..the nights are extremely black and visibility is poor so you have to drive behind the rider around 5 ft behind…..managing to stay awake and watching the rear end of a rider at speeds of between 5mph and 15 mph is hard work despite Mr Hedley insisting that his rear end is a better view than some of the stunning scenery we have seen.
We stopped in Colorado exhausted and had around 3 hours sleep, we are currently in the RV and in fairly good spirits after seeing some of The Rockies at 10,000 feet which is the highest elevation point of the RAAM, the good thing about doing all the climbing from a riding point of view is that the only way now is down !!

We’ve just passed into New Mexico at 07:15 am and we will then be in the saddle / Pace Car for the next 95 miles ending in Springer New Mexico and start the whole painful process again