Who was the commuter who was training for RAAM?

tailwindhome
tailwindhome Posts: 18,964
edited August 2011 in Commuting chat
Last year there was a commuter on here who was training for a 4 man team to enter the Race Across America.

Anyone remember who he was? Did he make it to the start line?

I tried the search function but it only reachs post 'forum meltdown' threads.
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
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Comments

  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    MRC1, I think.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,964
    Yeah that's the one.

    Wonder did he make it to the start line
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Well, I think his team is on the start line - http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/r ... ry_ID=2691

    Fingers crossed for them.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    They're averaging around 20 mph at the moment. You can follow their progress on the website.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • ChrisLS
    ChrisLS Posts: 2,749
    ...they are doing really well...I crewed for a solo rider in 2009... I've seen it first hand and it is one hell of a challange...
    ...all the way...'til the wheels fall off and burn...
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,964
    I been following the RAAM mostly to keep an eye on the progress of Donncha Cutriss, the first Irishman to attempt the race.


    The website is pretty good with daily summaries and racer interviews.

    It always amazes me that this event gets so little attention, even in the cycling media.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • jzed
    jzed Posts: 2,926
    Damn this thread for putting thoughts in my head.

    Looked at qualification requirements, got me to Race around Ireland, then saw a Race around Slovakia, then a Race across Europe.
    The RACE (Race across Europe) is a once-in-a-lifetime ultracycling event featuring the very best of riding in Europe. We finish looking at Africa, our start by the North Sea now far behind, having climbed the Alps twice, braved the Black Forest, crossed into Slovenia, scaled the Vrsic Pass, sped across flat northern Italy, conquered Mont Ventoux, soaked up the South of France’s sunshine, crossed the Pyrenees and relished Spain’s fantastic roads to finish at the most southerly point of mainland Europe.

    I like the sound of this. 15 days 2900 miles. May need a few more years brownie points.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    Haha I am famous :lol:

    I have been missing from the commuting board for a while as I haven't been using my bike for much commuting but just found this.

    You can have a look at our blog for a pre race breakdown (we havent had time to pull together a wrap up post as yet but we will one day):

    http://teamnrraceacrossamerica2011.wordpress.com

    In summary RAAM was an amazing experience - far tougher than any of us imagined but massively rewarding.

    Our original target time was 7 days, which we were extremely pleased to beat, finally crossing the line in just over 6 days and 9 hours (average speed of about 19.5mph). Given the nature of our jobs (particularly the working hours we have to deal with) and the fact that one member of our team was quite a bit slower than the rest of us, we are chuffed with our achievement.

    The training was incredibly tough. Due to the nature of the race it was all about nailing a consistent training load. Doing a mad week of riding every day followed by a few sloppy weeks would definitely not have worked. The majority of what I did was sweet spot and nearer to the race, ftp 2x20 intervals in order to replicate the race conditions (we did between 5-30 minute pulls). Doing this morning and evening several times a week on top of club runs and speed work sessions was brutal. I was doing quality training 6 days a week. I certainly don't miss getting up on Saturday mornings and doing four hours of 20 min on 20 min off on the turbo or Sundays of morning, afternoon and evening 2x20 sessions! Due to my job I seesawed a little bit but on average I logged a minimum of 10-15 solid (ie proper training) hours a week. This is probably at the lower end of what is recommended but given my background and the fact that I went into the training with a pretty high level of fitness I was ok. I trained and raced with power which made everything a lot easier. I knew exactly what I was capable of in the lead up to the race and knew instantly if I was overcooking it. If you want more details I am happy to provide them…

    I look back at the last year and its surprising what we did. For example we did a training trip where we cycled from London, through Wales, got a ferry to Ireland, up Ireland, visited the base of our charity, then carried on north, back on the ferry, then through north wales, back to London all within 48 hours. At the time it didn't really impact on me that that was a pretty massive undertaking as it was so overshadowed by RAAM. We also took part in pretty much every single early season sportive and reliability ride that the south east had to offer. Turning up at those things on a Sunday having already covered 200-300 miles that week was pretty tough. Likewise spending whole mornings doing hill repeats at Toys Hill or other parts of the North Downs.

    By far the hardest part of the race and the thing that was almost impossible to train is the sleep deprivation and living out of a van for a solid week. Out of the 5 hours we had at a time off the bike I think we probably only managed an hour or an hour and a half max of decent sleep due to being in an extremely hot moving van and having so much to do during rest periods. We all struggled with travel sickness/nausea which made eating or drinking enough pretty difficult as well. The saddle sores were also pretty brutal.

    High points - my first pull, climbing to 11,000ft in the Rockies, hitting 53mph descending into the California desert, covering 143 miles between two of us in a 5 hour pull in Kansas and getting within 100 miles of the finishing line and realising we would make it a large way ahead of schedule, any time we overtook another team (we yo yoed with several teams throughout the race which made things really interesting).

    Low points - realising that two of my three pairs of assos fi13 shorts had been lost on day 2, any time we were left out on the road longer than the agreed exchange point, being sick and unable to eat or drink for the best part of a day following a brutal mid day shift in 43c temperatures, any time we were overtaken, pulling up behind one of my team mates shortly after he had crashed on the final day while descending at well over 30mph.

    In summary I think that most decent cyclists could complete the 8 man race assuming they did a good 6 months of solid training, 4 man is obviously that much more tough but given 8 months im pretty sure most people on here could do it. The two man and solo guys are simply crazy.

    Finally, as you may know we did the race to raise money for our chosen charity Barretstown. Barretstown provide residential camps for terminally ill children, children with cancer and their parents during which the kids get to be kids and the parents are given help, support and counselling to help them come to terms with everything. If you have the time then it would be brilliant if you could have a look at the Barretstown website to see for yourself what amazing things they do and if you are suitably inspired, please use the just giving link below to sponsor us!


    Feel free to PM me or ask any specific questions on here if you would like to know more.

    http://www.barretstown.org/

    http://www.justgiving.com/NortonRose-RaceAcrossAmerica
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Great read!

    If a team was to emerge, I'd find it hard to say no to the opportunity but fat chance I could find or convince 7 others to get fit enough!
  • Robstar24
    Robstar24 Posts: 173
    MrC I didn't realise that was you! I happen to work at the same place as you, as a little clue I was sat 2 offices down from you during autumn-winter 2010/2011, and we discussed cycling a number of times.

    many congrats on completing RAAM, sounds like you 4 really went through the mill.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    Robstar24 wrote:
    MrC I didn't realise that was you! I happen to work at the same place as you, as a little clue I was sat 2 offices down from you during autumn-winter 2010/2011, and we discussed cycling a number of times.

    many congrats on completing RAAM, sounds like you 4 really went through the mill.

    Get back to work!!
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • Robstar24
    Robstar24 Posts: 173
    mrc1 wrote:
    Robstar24 wrote:
    MrC I didn't realise that was you! I happen to work at the same place as you, as a little clue I was sat 2 offices down from you during autumn-winter 2010/2011, and we discussed cycling a number of times.

    many congrats on completing RAAM, sounds like you 4 really went through the mill.

    Get back to work!!

    haha i could say the same, though you are senior to me.......
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Robstar24 wrote:
    mrc1 wrote:
    Robstar24 wrote:
    MrC I didn't realise that was you! I happen to work at the same place as you, as a little clue I was sat 2 offices down from you during autumn-winter 2010/2011, and we discussed cycling a number of times.

    many congrats on completing RAAM, sounds like you 4 really went through the mill.

    Get back to work!!

    haha i could say the same, though you are senior to me.......

    I thought you guys were south of the river?

    mrc - awesome effort. How courteous did you find the drivers, or did it vary from state to state? Have you got any video clips of when you were riding?
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    cjcp wrote:
    Robstar24 wrote:
    mrc1 wrote:
    Robstar24 wrote:
    MrC I didn't realise that was you! I happen to work at the same place as you, as a little clue I was sat 2 offices down from you during autumn-winter 2010/2011, and we discussed cycling a number of times.

    many congrats on completing RAAM, sounds like you 4 really went through the mill.

    Get back to work!!

    haha i could say the same, though you are senior to me.......

    I thought you guys were south of the river?

    mrc - awesome effort. How courteous did you find the drivers, or did it vary from state to state? Have you got any video clips of when you were riding?

    We are indeed south of the river!

    Generally very good. We had several occasions where a car would speed along side us or wed be sitting at a lights and a car would pull along side with an open window and we'd be thinking "oh god what's going to happen here", but they would just lavish us with praise/disbelief etc.

    I had one incident where several overtaking cars pushed me into the curb on a climb near the finish but most of the time was spent in the massive hard shoulder so traffic encounters were few and far between.

    We have lots of video and our media guy is currently working on it to come up with something. I'll post a link to it once available.

    http://vimeo.com/22436944

    In the meantime this is the video from our Ireland weekend.
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • samtw
    samtw Posts: 13
    mrc1 wrote:
    In summary I think that most decent cyclists could complete the 8 man race assuming they did a good 6 months of solid training, 4 man is obviously that much more tough but given 8 months im pretty sure most people on here could do it. The two man and solo guys are simply crazy.

    First of all, congratulations on doing RAAM in a great time. However, I don't think that it takes that much fitness to be able to complete RAAM, even down to the 2-man teams. Finishing it in a good time, like you guys managed, or doing it solo are obviously completely different, but I reckon that most cyclists, even fairly recreational ones, could manage it.

    I did RAAM this year as well (it was supposed to be a two-man team, but my "team-mate" managed to break her pelvis a week before we started, so plans were changed somewhat!) and, despite not really being a cyclist and not having trained as well as I'd have liked for it, we still managed to finish in under 8 days. There were plenty of people out there faster than us, but we still had a whole day to spare to finish within the deadline.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    samtw wrote:
    mrc1 wrote:
    In summary I think that most decent cyclists could complete the 8 man race assuming they did a good 6 months of solid training, 4 man is obviously that much more tough but given 8 months im pretty sure most people on here could do it. The two man and solo guys are simply crazy.

    First of all, congratulations on doing RAAM in a great time. However, I don't think that it takes that much fitness to be able to complete RAAM, even down to the 2-man teams. Finishing it in a good time, like you guys managed, or doing it solo are obviously completely different, but I reckon that most cyclists, even fairly recreational ones, could manage it.

    I did RAAM this year as well (it was supposed to be a two-man team, but my "team-mate" managed to break her pelvis a week before we started, so plans were changed somewhat!) and, despite not really being a cyclist and not having trained as well as I'd have liked for it, we still managed to finish in under 8 days. There were plenty of people out there faster than us, but we still had a whole day to spare to finish within the deadline.

    Definitely agre with you. Of course it is linked to how fast you want to do it but you certainly need stamina/bloody mindedness.

    Congratulations to you as well. I remember the pre race meeting and hearing about your mishap! An awesome achievement to still start and then finish.
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • samtw
    samtw Posts: 13
    mrc1 wrote:
    Definitely agre with you. Of course it is linked to how fast you want to do it but you certainly need stamina/bloody mindedness.

    I think bloody-mindedness really is the key. There were countless occasions when anyone with an ounce of sense would have given up, but it's amazing what you can achieve simply through being stubborn!

    (In case anyone would like to see a video of how not to do RAAM, here's the one of us: http://youtu.be/6uLmp9wY1Xc - it doesn't exactly show the true story, but that's just the way the media is sometimes, I guess!)
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    @mrc - ah, for some reason, I thought Robstar carried on to Canary Wharf.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • samtw
    samtw Posts: 13
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    I took 3 weeks off, but could have done it with less. At a push you could do it with just 2 weeks off, but that would be a bit tight and I wouldn't recommend it!
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    JZed wrote:
    Damn this thread for putting thoughts in my head.

    Looked at qualification requirements, got me to Race around Ireland, then saw a Race around Slovakia, then a Race across Europe.
    The RACE (Race across Europe) is a once-in-a-lifetime ultracycling event featuring the very best of riding in Europe. We finish looking at Africa, our start by the North Sea now far behind, having climbed the Alps twice, braved the Black Forest, crossed into Slovenia, scaled the Vrsic Pass, sped across flat northern Italy, conquered Mont Ventoux, soaked up the South of France’s sunshine, crossed the Pyrenees and relished Spain’s fantastic roads to finish at the most southerly point of mainland Europe.

    I like the sound of this. 15 days 2900 miles. May need a few more years brownie points.

    What did you bring this event to my attention :evil:
  • mkirby
    mkirby Posts: 365
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    Your forming a cunning plan arnt you?
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    mkirby wrote:
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    Your forming a cunning plan arnt you?

    Heh heh.

    Nah, was just wondering. There's no way it would happen, although my brother in law has tried to persuade me in the past (he lives in North Carolina).

    Thanks, Sam. Top effort to you, too.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    samtw wrote:
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    I took 3 weeks off, but could have done it with less. At a push you could do it with just 2 weeks off, but that would be a bit tight and I wouldn't recommend it!

    Il let you guess how long we took off...
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    mrc1 wrote:
    samtw wrote:
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    I took 3 weeks off, but could have done it with less. At a push you could do it with just 2 weeks off, but that would be a bit tight and I wouldn't recommend it!

    Il let you guess how long we took off...

    How did training go down at home?
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    cjcp wrote:
    mrc1 wrote:
    samtw wrote:
    cjcp wrote:
    How long in total did you each take off work to complete this?

    I took 3 weeks off, but could have done it with less. At a push you could do it with just 2 weeks off, but that would be a bit tight and I wouldn't recommend it!

    Il let you guess how long we took off...

    How did training go down at home?

    I'm extremely lucky in that my girlfriend was/is extremely understanding. I trained pre work whenever possible so that minimised the effects but double up days caused problems as I'd get in at 8-9 and then have to use the turbo. Equally some of the weekend sessions took over whole days but it helps that she rides in the same club I do. All that being said I was never moaned at or put in the dog house so I am very lucky!

    She crewed as well so she was totally immersed in the process which helped as she was involved. If your partner isn't involved then obviously it's a bit trickier.

    Sounds to me like you want to do it!!!
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    :lol: No chance! I'm fascinated by the preparation goes into this sort of thing as much as the event itself, but there's no way i could do that amount of training.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    cjcp wrote:
    :lol: No chance! I'm fascinated by the preparation goes into this sort of thing as much as the event itself, but there's no way i could do that amount of training.

    Of course you could :wink:
    http://www.ledomestiquetours.co.uk

    Le Domestique Tours - Bespoke cycling experiences with unrivalled supported riding, knowledge and expertise.

    Ciocc Extro - FCN 1
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    cjcp wrote:
    :lol: No chance! I'm fascinated by the preparation goes into this sort of thing as much as the event itself, but there's no way i could do that amount of training.

    Looking at your SC Stats, your not far off what would be needed I imagine!

    Team SCR forming.. :wink:
  • jzed
    jzed Posts: 2,926
    iPete wrote:
    cjcp wrote:
    :lol: No chance! I'm fascinated by the preparation goes into this sort of thing as much as the event itself, but there's no way i could do that amount of training.

    Looking at your SC Stats, your not far off what would be needed I imagine!

    Team SCR forming.. :wink:

    Team of 4, 3000 miles, 8 days, 94 miles each a day. Sounds doable....

    Now how do I erase this thread from my memory and hide it permanently.
  • samtw
    samtw Posts: 13
    JZed wrote:
    Team of 4, 3000 miles, 8 days, 94 miles each a day. Sounds doable....

    Now how do I erase this thread from my memory and hide it permanently.

    If you sign up quickly, you get a discount!

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