CLEARED TO RACE ! ! !

This morning, Friday June 17th, RAAM inspected all our vehicles, bikes, helmets, shoes, wheels, phone numbers, insurance policies. Official photos were taken of us in our Team Kit. We were cleared to race!

Our Team is getting together!

Tarzana - a northern suburb of LA. (Big trees for large gorrillas). I arrive Sunday lunchtime. So does Jim from New York. Great to meet up again. 3 Crew members - Joseph, Brendan and Tom. We unpack the bikes and wheels. There's a mountain of equiptment. Hope that there are some engines too! And then our Great Crew Chief Sandra arrives as well. We're so grateful.
And then I get a cold. I feel like death. But it's only a head cold. Better not ride tomorrow. Get better for the Race!

California - here we are!

arrived last Tuesday June 7th. Glad I gave myself a week to acclimatise. Did some rides with La Grange - hill climbs and hill repeats, and on the 3rd day a flat recovery ride. Nice bunch, they know how to ride :). Then go shopping at the bike shops. I had thought that going to a large city would make that esier - surely they have the supplies? Wrong! It transpired that there was one pair of Sidi Ergo 2 in 43 1/2 in the entire western side of the metropolis. That took some searching out! But they fit like a glove (and I've christened them by spilling coffee on them after the 2nd ride!)

What a Fortnight !

The last 2 weeks have been wonderful. Firstly I spoke to a group of community workers and parents in a country town in Victoria AU (Shepparton), about being HIV+. Message: your youth tries not to get HIV, and if per chance they do, then love and support them. Big positive response :) Then in the evening, a 1 1 /2 hr talk to the youth. We cooked together, ate together, and talked. Very empowering for everyone.

In the meantime the filming continued, which culminated in the ABC TV story on 7:30 Report, a current affairs program with a daily audience of 1/2 - 1 million (out of a population of 22 million). The journalist did a fantastic job - see www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3220590.htm.

The response has been overwhelming - so encouraging for all of our team, racers and crew.

Oh yes, in the meantime I keep cycling!. Today 160k throughout the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Towards the end of autumn, and bright, sunny, and 23degrees!. Am I lucky!

And a little bit more on Tuesday !

Tuesday April 27th was a further public holiday in Sydney. Again it poured with rain. I did get out of bed at 5.20, put in my contact lenses, looked outside and (I admit it!) went back to bed! But the bike got the better of me by early afternoon. My legs felt like lead, but after warmups etc, I did 7 x 7 minute TT intervals with 3 min rest in between. The TT intervals were at 85-90% FTP, so I was happy (and sodden due to the incessant rain)!

So for the whole Easter holiday, I rode 551km, at an average of 29.3km/hr (18.075miles/hr). That includes warm up rides, cool down rides, getting through the traffic rides - the lot! And mostly in the rain. Whilst during RAAM we will each have a lot further to ride each day, this was nevertheless a useful exercise. And I will keep training!

Easter "Festival" of Cycling

Easter - great opportunity to do some serious training. A mixture of endurance, hills, time trials, and lots of perserverence!.

Friday - 163km : 100 miles, not called "5 Gorges Ride" for nothing! 2300m (7150feet) climbing, in fabulous autumn weather.

Saturday - 3 x 1 hour TT intervals around Centennial Park Sydney. First 2 hours in absolute downpour! Oh well, it could rain in Arizona (!).

Went for a drive with my partner in the afternoon. I slept most of the way.

Sunday - another 3 x 1 hr TT intervals. But the sun shone in the afternoon, and lots of recreational riders (and drivers) came to the Park. That made TT-ing very tricky.

Monday - the bunch was supposed to go to Waterfall and Royal National Park - a 120km ride with about 2500m climbing. It was very wet. Only one rider turned up - me. I suppose that the others don't have RAAM to train for. I still went, but missed the park and only did 100km.

All told - 500km and 4,000m climbing in 4 days. About 60% of my share during RAAM. How do I feel ? I'd like a good sleep, and lots of food! I'd prefer to feel better, but during RAAM I can be much more focussed, and have no other things to deal with. Happy enough.

Riding, Training, Eating, (and running a bit scared!)

Oh boy - 60 days to go. It's all really happening. We're on the home stretch. Accommodation booked in LA and Oceanside before the race, and Washington (2 days) and New York afterwards. No accommodation in between - just a bike saddle and the RV! We've got sponsorship from Nespresso for RAAM - yippee!.

Doing the final body tweaking bits - an MRI of my R knee this morning, just to make sure. Keep stretching, don't tighten up too much.

Training - like crazy! both on my road bike and the TT bike. My cycling club buddies in Sydney think (know) I'm obsessed. After our usual Sunday ride I go and do our usual Saturday ride. Twice daily a couple of times per week. Easter is very much a "Festival of Cycling" : "good" Friday: 150km with 5 major climbs, Sat and Sun = 5 x 1 hour time trials, Monday a mere 120km with hills, and Tuesday a flat 100.

We got our nutritionist's plan last week: it's fantastic. During the Race, we're each looking at about 5,500cal / day, plus about 5 litres of liquid. (My skin will look good!)

Gotta keep training!

Less than 3 months to the Start

It's been too long between blogs - I'm sorry. The RAAM start is looming. I've booked air tickets. We're organising pre-race rides as a Team (we're geographically so dispersed). We're booking in our bikes for full overhauls. The tasks for the crew members is being allocated. We keep publicising our project. Carol, our media guru, has managed already to get stories about our Team into numerous bicyling e-magazines. Even if a bit apprehensive, we're very excited.

Whilst we're getting very close to the start, in practice that means that us riders are training - lots!. A thousand miles a month. Regardless of the weather, we're on a bike. The sturdy New Yorkers ride outside when it's freezing, or sleeting. Vancouver Don flees to southern California, with his bike, to do reconnaisance training rides. Whilst a late summer storm rages across Sydney, I jump on the indoor trainer for a 3 1/2 simulation of the Tour of Flanders . (On Saturday morning, I was the only member of our 360-strong Club to do our Club training rides - I should learn!).

DNF is not an option for us.

Summer in Sydney

My new programme said: 120km ride on Sunday. Friends said: Let's do the 4 gorges . That seemed to fit together - even if it added an extra 10km. But the weather was a bit challenging: 27degreesC (80F) at 5.15am. Most of the morning it was 37C (99F), with my computer registering 44 (112) at one stage. That meant LOTS of liquid - 6 bidons at 600ml (?20 oz), plus an extra litre of water at a stop, and 3 glasses once I got home (oh, and no stopping behind a bush!). But happy to report that for the entire ride I only lost 500g in weight, easily replenished.

New training Programme - Yippee

Is there something wrong with me - I delight in the new Training Programme from my coach. It starts with a mere 350km in the first week, with multiple sessions on numerous days. But it gives me structure - I know that with Peter's help, I can finish RAAM. So off I go this morning - 6 hill repeats at low cadence and steady power output. Happy? Yes! Then this afternoon, theoretically a 90 minute E2 ride which became a 90 minute Tempo ride. But it felt sooo gooood!

Our New Yorkers can ride again

After all the snow, the blizzards and the freezing conditions, Jim finally got to ride outside in New York. Clearly he needed to resolve a lot of pen-up frustration about having had to ride indoors on the trainer. But hey - a 8 1/4 hours ride!? Wow! My mere 3 3/4 was pathetic in comparison. And I suspect that it was still below freezing (or much too close to that!). Good on you Jim! PS - the Garmin also shows you have a heart - we know that!

Thank you San Francisco !

After nearly 2 weeks in Northern California, it's time to go home. I feel that we have dramatically ramped up our preparation for RAAM, I've been riding, made new friends, and spread the word. On top of Mt Tamalpais I meet up with a journalist Alastair. He inquires why riders for RAAM would come to train in Marin County north of SFO. It's obvious - see the photo of Mt Tam. I've done Mt Tam and the Alpine Road 6 times whilst I've been here (110km, 1500m climbing, at 5-9%). Greast scenery, great climbing, great descents, (and good coffee in Fairfax!).

In the last 6 days, I've ridden 723km - solid effort, but still only 57% of my share of RAAM. I feel good. We will complete!

Alpine in the winter?

They call it the Alpine Ride: Mt Tamalpais and then past Alpine Dam, to Fairfax and home. 110km, with 1500m climbing. Weather glorious! 22 degrees - is this really winter? I feel sorry for Jim and Cisco in New York: snowed in and below freezing.

Here, the climbing is steady - just keep going up. The gradients are higher than around Sydney, but the scenery fantastic. I took it easy - as can be seen from the attached extract from my iBike power software. NP= 204/287 up Mt Tam. It's all too good! To be repeated tomorrow and Monday.

schoolboy error - I get a reprieve

An email from my doctor in Sydney: go get meds. He suggests SF Gen Hospital, and gives me some names. I'm there first thing.

The first question I am asked at the hospital is whether I have a valid visa. Now that people with HIV can enter USA just like anyone else, yes I do have a valid visa (but this schoolboy error would have been a major problem before the visa change!)

I get helped, I get new meds, I burst into tears: I am so conscious of the benefits of the medication - it's the only reason I can live my life to the full, and why we can do RAAM.

But the cost of the meds is huge - $25 per tablet (and I take 2 per day) - unaffordable for most people on Earth. One of the reasons why we're riding.

A schoolboy's error with my medication

So I'm having a great time in San Francisco. The Crew Seminar was fantastic - the riding is superb. One of the solo riders has invited me to ride with him south of SFO tomorrow. Yes Please!

So I clean my bike, and in the evening, I clean my teeth, and take my tablets. I count them: there's not enough to last me for my stay here! I will run out on Saturday, but I won't get back to Sydney until Thursday.

I won't take the risk. I've cancelled tomorrow's ride, and instead I will go hunting for AIDS meds. Only thereafter will I ride (and sleep) easily.

Crew Seminar and Riding in San Francisco

I came to California to do the RAAM Crew Seminar in Sacramento on Jan 29th. It was fantastic!! We all learnt so much, and we all got ## scared! But also we all got much more motivated to do and complete the Race. Anyone involved in RAAM should make sure they attend a RAAM seminar.

If it is possible to summarise (and that's real hard!), the message was: organise, organise, organise! And Safety first, Safety first, Safety FIRST!

I'd determined to maintain my best asset, my heartbeat.

And then I'm riding here. It's winter, but the weather is fantastic: 16degrees, sunny, hardly any wind. And fog!! I've been climbing up Mt Tamalpais and Alpine Dam ride 3 days in a row. Getting a little tired. But I wiill keep on riding!

Dud in the Alpine Classic

The Alpine Classic is a 200km cyclosportive (It's not a race; yeah sure!) with 4500m climbing. It's a major event on the Australian cycling calendar. Last your I completed it in 7:45, putting me in the top 5%.
This year, I'm determined to better that. Pace, pace, pace. steady up Tawonga, steady up Falls Creek, fly back down! Tawonga again - this seems hard (It's very hot: 32degrees). After 4:30hrs riding, I get back to Bright 6minutes ahead of schedule. I'm happy and booming! I race into the motel (on the route), change bidons and jersey (already packed with new food bars). Go to the bathroom, and discover I've not been drinking enough. Bidon of liquid down my throat.
During the simulation I enjoyed eating muesli. So, why not? In goes a bowl for good measure. Big mistake! It takes all the liquid in my stomach, deprives me of it, and the muesli sits there like a rock. I could hardly move another 10km. Cramps, spasms, vomit. Even the flat road seems to have a 10% gradient. I stop, lie down beside the road for 15min, and with my tail between my legs, crawl back to Bright. DNF is not a good feeling, even though I learnt a huge lesson. :(

Go Jim - In NYC

Jim's out training hard - the fact that it's 23degrees is ok by him - in New York. That sort of temperature is ok by me too , but then only if it is celsius! Good on you Jim! (I think I'm the wimp (in sunny Sydney!). I cannot remember when I last saw snow, let alone touched it. STEVEN

Simulate RAAM for 2 days

So my coach and I have lunch. He says: "we really need a base for the main training for RAAM". And I respond: "I should do a simulation - just how we will ride in the Race". He says: "no, let's make it harder at the start".
And the next Tuesday and Wednesday, I do a bit of riding:

Tuesday 4^th 4 hr ride between 6:00-10:00am, and then 1hr rides at 2:00-3:00pm, 4:00-5:00pm, and 10:00-11:00pm, and further on Wed 5^th between 12:00-1:00am, 6:00-7:00am, 8:00-9:00am, 2:00-3:00pm, and 4:00-5:00pm.

I rode 362.80km (225miles), 29% of what each of us will do during the Race. I learnt a lot:

1. The simulation is crucial – we must all do it. Whilst I did 2 days, 3 days would be even better. (Maybe again, at Easter?)

2. The 1 hour rides were just long enough – I was glad to finish each of them after 1 hour (mine had some flexibility as at times I needed to return home, which added time and changed the speed parameters). I felt that the 1 hour rest between rides was too long. This may well be because I was on my own, and I got a bit bored (which won't happen during RAAM!). I felt that I obtained sufficient sleep, even in 4 hr time slots (which were also occupied with showers, eating, walking the dogs)

3 I got chafed from the TT bike on the 1^st afternoon – ouch!. We will need to use LOTS of chamois cream. (It stopped me from choosing my TT bike for the 2^nd afternoon rides - good lesson!)

4. Those nagging injuries which we all have, and which have an annoyance/pain factor of 1/2 or1/10 come to the fore real fast. I need to get them fixed now!! For example, I have a tight upper right glute muscle, which gave my nasty sharp pain twinges on the last night rides, and my AC joint in the right shoulder (from a crash) ached.

5. The Intensity Factor for each ride was between 0.61 and 0.69, but I felt that I was working harder. This will have an impact when we do the real, longer Race.

6. I had the feeling (incorrect) that I could not ride as fast in the middle of the night (10-11pm + 12:00-1:00am);

7. I averaged 29.7kph (18.46mph). In part that is due to City Traffic, getting home, hills, unsupported, not the same motivation, etc. We can increase that during the race, because we won’t have to worry about City Traffic and stoplights, and we’ll have the extra support and motivation. The downside is that we’ll be riding longer!!

8. I was cold on the last ride, this afternoon at 28degrees Celsius (82 degrees F). I suspect that this was telling me that I have been working very hard. We need to watch out for that.

9. Can we have a Nespresso machine in the MotorHome?

10. We will complete RAAM!

And then I rode Friday, Saturday and a Time Trial on Sunday. I posted by 2nd best time ever: 38:33 for 25km hilly out and back. Happy!

165 days before we start!

It's just a number, 165 days between today and 18 June. It's not many. We're in 2011 already (it's the 3rd Jan). Training is being ramped up, initially for the sub-goals, and then for the Main Event!
One upcoming sub-goal is on 23 January : to do the Alpine Classic 200km in Bright Victoria AU in less than 8 hours (200km, 3800m climbing (120miles, 12,500feet). See www.alpineclassic.com.au. Last year, that's where this project really started - at the meeting point, someone was wearing a RAAM jersey. Like "across a crowded room", I rush over and say "I want one of those!". The response: "it will be the hardest thing you'll do" immediately made me even more determined! The person wearing the RAAM jersey was Glenn Druery, who has done RAAM a few times, and ironically, works 2 buildings away from me in Sydney. We've had some great talks since, and he has been a great motivator.
Tomorrow I start a pseudo-RAAM: 2 days of riding within our proposed RAAM timetable. It arose from lunch with my coach last Wednesday; he thought it would be good to have a baseline - to see how I scrub up afterwards. Glenn Druery says the same: get the feel of RAAM. So I'm riding like we will in RAAM: 4 hour blocks riding 1 hour on, one hour off. Because I will have a nice bed etc, we're making the starting segment much harded - a 4 hour ride. So I'm riding Tuesday 6:00-10:00am, 2:00-3:00pm, 4:00-5:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm, Wednesday 12:00midnight-1:00am, 6:00-7:00am, 8:00-9:00am, 2:00-3:00pm, and 4:00-5:00pm.