RAAM

gunny_bedford

I am thinking perhaps in a year or two time, to have a go at the RAAM - Race across America event. I will look to do it within a 4 man team. In order to help plan/evaluate such an undertaking I am wondering if anyone out there has done it ? or knows somebody who has who I could get in touch with ?
I would like to talk about planning/training /logistics /finance regarding such an event !!!

thanks

Neil

danlikesbikes

BR is a good enough place to start - search.php?keywords=RAAM&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

About 8 or 10 down there is a post from someone who has completed the RAAM, might want to PM the poster

Grill

Hopefully by then you'll have at least 5k saved up to get you started. I'd suggest competing in a few UMCA events as well as caning a few 600k (back-to-back 400k works too) audaxes to get you started. I can't really see a 4 man being even on the same planet as solo in terms of difficulty/cost/prep/etc.

gunny_bedford

I wouldn't be up to doing it solo, hence why the team event. I would think doing that, for me would be a marvelous thing and still enable the team to get involved in the whole RAAM experience, not too mention traversing the states.

Grill

It's really dull scenery...

There are far better/cheaper ways to traverse the US. You may want to do something like the Race Around Ireland to see if an event like the RAAM is for you.

mrc1

Grill wrote:

It's really dull scenery...

There are far better/cheaper ways to traverse the US. You may want to do something like the Race Around Ireland to see if an event like the RAAM is for you.

It's not a route that is designed to be scenic (ie you won't be passing through Yellowstone) but I certainly don't agree on it being dull... Ultimately it's whether you want to cross in a true race format or if you want to just do it as a tour. Two totally different things!

I did it in 2011 in a four man team so happy to pass on knowledge etc. We did it to finish as fast as possible (6 days 9 hrs - just under 20mph average) but others do it just to finish etc etc so as long as you all agree on a goal then you'll have fun.

The major hurdle for UK teams is cost - it costs a fortune in flights to get everybody out to the start line and rent vehicles. We were lucky in that we got our then employer to underwrite a fair chunk of the costs.

sub55

Hoppo is your man , Chris Hopkinson.
Good friend of mine , does it solo and i know it costs him , close on 20k ,so be warned.
You also need to qualify , you cant just enter . So thats more time and money involved . Chris is in the states at the moment doing this years. When he comes back i will let him know that someone was making enquires, on your behalf. You could also ,if you want challenges start doing long audaxes. 24 hour tt`s leading up to the race around Ireland.

mrc1

sub55 wrote:

Hoppo is your man , Chris Hopkinson.
Good friend of mine , does it solo and i know it costs him , close on 20k ,so be warned.
You also need to qualify , you cant just enter . So thats more time and money involved . Chris is in the states at the moment doing this years. When he comes back i will let him know that someone was making enquires, on your behalf. You could also ,if you want challenges start doing long audaxes. 24 hour tt`s leading up to the race around Ireland.

Think the OP is looking to do it in a four man team - no need to qualify in that case.