June 26, 2011
By Obie Miller
TDL Team Live Forever completed RAAM yesterday with a sub 7 day finish time. We had no accidents, no crashes, 4 bike flats (no mechanicals), 1 car flat, and a new appreciation for the comforts of everyday life.
Our race was very competitive early in the week, arriving at the desert time stations like Flagstaff, AZ well ahead of top level teams. Unfortunately, we failed to execute a crew rotation system that could support full speed race pace. Crossing the country safely without delays requires certain tools and leaders that we overlooked. We basically rode the wheels off our train.
By Kansas, our unstructured rotation plan had taken apart the team. We were so mis-directed that I had to ride into Missouri solo after 15 hours on 2 man shift without steady racer and crew rotation taking place.
It’s been a week of RAAM racing! We’ve been following both of our sponsored teams as they make their way from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland. Check out all of our coverage for Team Live Forever and River Riders.
L&M athlete Meredith Miller is competing in the National Criterium Championships this weekend. Good luck Meredith!
On the non-bike related side, Jeremy Rodgers, a member of Team DART-Nuun-SportMulti, just won the Teva Games Downriver Race. Rodgers is a team member with L&M sponsored athlete Cyril Jay Rayon. Congrats!
And last, but not least, a little video inspiration for you: Skyler Schneider, a member of TIBCO’s junior girl’s team and mentored by Meredith Miller, who just won the Junior Woman 13/14 race!
“Some people say the race starts at the Mississippi. For T415, it’s at a little motel past time station 40. Our several festering wounds boiled over at once. RAAM won the first round, now we fight back in round two.” -Team Live Forever
Team Live Forever is one of our sponsored teams in Race Across America 2011, we’ll be following along and providing updates throughout the race. Keep checking back here or on our Facebook page for regular updates.
What does it take to race 3,000 miles across the country? We caught up with Chris Morris from Team Live Forever, one of our two sponsored teams in this year’s Race Across America, to learn more about the logistics of the race and his team.
RAAM is not a stage race, meaning that your team races continually. Explain to us how this works logistically for your team.
The race allows only one rider in the race at a time with rules against drafting other riders. Drafting is only allowed under limited conditions and only with your teammates.
We have 3 minivans we will be using to support our team with each van having a driver, navigator and then a racer/transition support person. The driver and navigator will have a lot on their mind keeping us safe and on track and the racer/transition support will make sure we have bikes on, bikes off vehicles, well hydrated riders and make sure we are getting the calories we need to replenish.
Our plan is to gain most nutrients and calories via a liquid diet and see how it goes. All are significant jobs and the RAAM rules regarding safety and transitions make this very logistically challenging. The riders do the training leading into the race, and the crew does the work after the ride starts! We will have a total of nine crew members. We will ride shifts of 4-8 hours and rotate two riders with two riders resting. Each rider will take short pulls and then you transition riders based on the terrain, and time in the saddle.
Sleep… well we hope to get that done at short increments during the race although most of the sleep will be in the car on your off shift as a crew or rider.
How do you train for this kind of race?
Great question; we have put in a ton of miles, hills, night and interval training. But nothing can really prepare you adequately for sleep deprivation, 24 hours of riding a day, the elements and, don’t forget, short fast pulls for hours at a time. You just can’t train for that.
Team Live Forever sent us this photo early on in the game this weekend at Race Across America, with the question “where is the fourth rider?”
We had to wait a day for the response:
So the saga that previously developed was like this: our 4th rider Charlie, collapsed uncounsious at the top of Sleeping Indian climb. This was Thursday afternoon on a course pre-ride. Charlie spent that night and all of Friday in the hospital. Our crew member Kim attended to him until 1 or 2 in the morning. He passed several extensive test and decided to join us at the start line.
If that wasn’t enough, Team Live Forever ran into even more drama only a few miles in:
10:27pm, Saturday June 18, 2011 – Blyth, California
We are underway, about 110 miles into the race. I pulled the first solo shift to get us out onto the city, about 24 miles.
At our 3rd rider transition we find the road closed due to an accident. I don’t believe there was a cyclist involved but the road was closed to all traffic. That we really screw up the teams trying to get riders up the road for new transitions. Luckily, our team seems to be racing ahead unaffected. The race is crazy. Fun too. So far.
And that’s all part of the RAAM drama! Keep following along as we cover the entire race from start to finish.
Team Live Forever is one of our sponsored teams in Race Across America 2011, we’ll be following along and providing updates throughout the race. Keep checking back here or on our Facebook page for regular updates.
As part of this year’s Race Across America — a ride that has riders traverse 3,000 miles across 12 states and climb 170,000 vertical feet – , we are sponsoring two teams: Live Forever and River Riders. We’ll be featuring profiles of the teams and posting regular updates from them throughout the race. Follow along!
Organization: Team Donate Life
Team Name: Live Forever
Riders:
Obie Miller – 35
Obie is our Team Captain has been mountain bike racing for the last 10 years and riding for over 30. You will usually see him taking top placement on the local Mountain Bike and Cyclocross circuits, and lately King of the Mountain on a road bike! He likes technical terrain and to quote Obie “I am motivated by the significant physical and mental challenges offered in RAAM and I’m motivated by a challenge! He has taken charge of organizing the team and crew to make sure we have the best opportunities to do our best!
Steve Hoe – 51
Steve is our consistent rider and he excels when riding hills, flats or rollers. Steve has been riding competitively since College and prior to that raced motorcycles. Steve has primarily raced mountain bikes and has been competing in the local 8 hour races over the past two years. Last season, he tried cyclocross racing and is looking forward to the upcoming year of racing. Why is Steve riding RAAM? “cause and the challenge. It is a fantastic opportunity to be part of such a meaningful cause as organ donation while pursuing the challenge of racing across America on a 24/7 time schedule”
Charlie Humphrey – 40
Charlie is our RAAM veteran, he has not only completed RAAM as a rider, but also as a crew member. Charlie rode as a kid, but as an adult he has been riding for over 20 years. He is an overall strong cyclist with a preference for the hills. He considers himself a smart cyclist during race situations. He has learned how to conserve energy and store it for where it matters most. He competes as a Cat 3 racer in both road and track. He has toured 40 countries on 6 continents via bicycle! A quote from Charlie “Not a lot of people can say they’ve completed RAAM. In fact, most people can’t comprehend the concept of the race. The race forces you into a very uncomfortable place with yourself. For some reason, I like that.”
Chris Morris – 49
Chris is our man on the flats and rollers. He has been riding since he was young and competitively in the last 5 years. He has competed in Criterium, Road Races and Cyclocross events. For Chris competing in this race will represents a personnel challenge and all the hard work and training hours will culminate with our team finishing strong! A quote from Chris “This is an amazing opportunity for 13 people to come together for a common goal under extreme conditions. I can’t wait to see the result and could not ask for a better group to take us there.”
On June 18, 2011 our team will compete with (31) 4 person teams from around the world in the 30th annual Race Across America (RAAM). Countries represented include USA, Brazil, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The race begins in Oceanside CA and completes in Annapolis Maryland. Our team has a target finish time of 6 days! The record for a 4 man team was set in 2004 and the finish time was 5 days, 8 hours and 17 minutes.
Our racers will traverse over 3,000 miles and across 13 states with climbing of over 170,000 feet. Our teams will ride 350 to 500 miles a day, racing non-stop.
This is a race and not a tour! Our team is made up of amateur racers who since January have logged over 1,000 hours of riding to prepare for this event. We have climbed over 500,000 feet. This has been a significant commitment from us all since we are amateurs who work full time and are raising families. We have also organized an incredible crew of 9 members who will escort us to the finish line. Our crew will work tirelessly to keep our team on track. Each vehicle will include a driver, navigator and someone to transition and attend to the riders. They will make sure we are well hydrated, rested and getting proper nutrients. They will play a key role in keeping us safe and making intelligent transitions. We will be riding 24 hours a day with little rest. To maximize our potential each team member will ride approximately 20 minute shifts rotating 3 riders while one is on rest. At critical areas, hills, desert we may elect to put all riders in the rotation to compete against exhaustion. We will also break up the ride terrain to gear towards the strengths of the rider abilities. This event will truly test us and we look forward to sharing this epic adventure with you. We’ll keep you updated with daily posts here and on the L&M Facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled!
Each year the Race Across America generates significant fund raising for many great charitable causes. Last year over $2 million dollars was raised. We ride for Team Donate Life in support of Organ Donation and Transplantation. In fact one of our racers will be riding in honor of his Uncle who lives on the east coast and needs a liver. He is in the process of being tested for compatibility.
Katy Crane on 
Charles Allen on 
