A RAAM team is nothing without the crew. Thus, let get to know a bit about the people who are in for a long week of hard work too! (We--the crew--are expected to have absoluately no trouble falling asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow by the 3rd day.)
Lee Mitchell, California.
Primary duties: Crew chief, California BikeVan driver/navigator
Sleep shift: 8 AM to 4 PM
Bio: Nicknamed Santa, Lee is a busy guy in red socks ("guy in red suit"). He is a grocery clerk for 26 years and full time community college teacher for 30 years. He also raised 6 kids. He even raced in a few RAAMs. Some people did think Lee's beard needed to be trimmed to reduce his wind drag, but each time a razor is out, no one could find Lee.
Joe Smith, New York.
Primary duties: Assistant Crew Chief, Nevada BikeVan driver/navigator
Sleep shift: 4 PM to midnight
Ron Bobb, California.
Primary duties: RV driver, Nevada BikeVan driver, Mechanic
Sleep shift: 8 AM to 4 PM
Leslie Bullock, Oregon.
Primary duties: RV navigator, Nevada BikeVan navigator
Sleep shift: 8 AM to 4 PM
Bio: During the winter, Leslie has become just an occasional bike rider. In an effort to get warm, she went to Vietnam the past winter.
Doug Goodwin, Nevada.
Primary duties: Nevada BikeVan driver, Mechanic
Sleep shift: Midnight to 8 AM
Bio: Doug took part in ultra events ever since the 1980's. He fell in love with Death Valley and when he retired in 2003, he decided to settle down in "the shadow of the valley of death". People who do Furnace Creek 508 usually would see him at the Shoshone Time Station, enjoying the sight of everybody suffering.
Mavis Irwin, Utah.
Primary duties: Communication with fans, Camerawoman, Mechanic
Sleep shift: 4 PM to midnight
Bio: Mavis is a 4-season cyclist who collects bones ever since she was seven years old, but she promised to not collect any roadkills during RAAM. She is currently a graduate student in a biology program.
William Medina, Puerto Rico.
Primary duties: Nevada BikeVan driver/navigator, Mechanic
Sleep shift: 4 PM to midnight
Bio: A proud slightly twisted genius of a cycling event called La Vuelta Puerto Rico. The Bicycling Magazine Online recommended La Vuelta Puerto Rico as one of the "Best Gift for Bicyclists 2009". Event website: www.vueltapr.com
Willy Nevin, California.
Primary duties: California BikeVan driver, RV navigator
Sleep shift: Midnight to 8 AM
Bio: Willy claimed that all of his three daughters look cuter than him. Here is his proof from a cyclocross event, where his daughter got all the cheering and he didn't: YouTube video
Anne Noone, Pennsylvania.
Primary duties: Food prep, California BikeVan navigator
Sleep shift: Midnight to 8 AM
Bio: Anne's car license plate has always been "LIV2BIK". Nothing more needed to be said!
Bill Phillips, Oregon.
Primary duties: California BikeVan driver/navigator, Mechanic
Sleep shift: 8 AM to 4 PM
Bio: Bill enjoyed his crewing experience with Lee. Claimed there is nothing as wonderful as smelling bad and driving around in a minivan with an old bearded man telling him what to do. If that wasn't "good" enough, he said he have to sleep with that old bearded man too.
Al Stokes, North Carolina.
Primary duties: Food prep, California BikeVan navigator, Nurse/massage, Mechanic
Sleep shift: 4 PM to midnight
Bio: Al gave up running for cycling 25 years ago because of the ability to get a nice workout in while eating and drinking at the same time.
Rich Wagar, Washington.
Primary duties: RV driver
Sleep shift: Midnight to 8 AM
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Deciding on the safety colors for the team jerseys
The design to put on the jerseys is still in the works, but we surely want to use the type of colors that the drivers can easily see.
This commonly means bright orange like a road cone, bright green, or pink.
It is however a concern for about 5% of males who are color blind because the common colors listed above can easily match the background colors. And it always can take just one driver to hit a rider.
The most common type of color blindness is red-green blindness. It varies a lot between people, depending if they are missing the red cones, missing the green cones, or have cones with an altered sensitivity to red or green light. It is believed that Mavis's father's colorblindness is due to a complete lack of red-sensitive cones, because he usually sees red as black and can’t see at all when in a darkroom with a red safe light as the only light source. He can see a red traffic light by its position in the signal and the fact that it looks lighter than the other two when it is on, probably because it is not pure red. (He also don't really know what green actually is. Sometimes he called something green, sometimes not. He also called most tan colors "green".) About 1% of males are colorblind for this reason, which leaves the other ~4% with other reasons, so Mavis's father's answers may be different from others’. Still, his answers are possibly a good guide when it comes to picking out really “bright” colors.
There is a reason why we usually see white/bright orange being used at road constructions instead of plain bright orange: Mavis's father sees muddy brownish cones!
According to Mavis's father, the other common safety colors looks like:
Bright green--the very bright greenish yellow sometimes look yellow to him and is visible. Other kinds of bright to medium greens may look brownish.
Red--he said bright to medium red is black. If it’s a dull red, it may look brown.
Pink--He usually thinks it is gray, sometimes blue if the pink has a blue cast to it as cactus blossoms do.
The safety colors believed to work for 99.5% of people:
White
Yellow
Blue (light blue may work) (0.5% can't see blue)
Neon Yellowish-green
Light gray (but not around light gray backgrounds!)
This commonly means bright orange like a road cone, bright green, or pink.
It is however a concern for about 5% of males who are color blind because the common colors listed above can easily match the background colors. And it always can take just one driver to hit a rider.
The most common type of color blindness is red-green blindness. It varies a lot between people, depending if they are missing the red cones, missing the green cones, or have cones with an altered sensitivity to red or green light. It is believed that Mavis's father's colorblindness is due to a complete lack of red-sensitive cones, because he usually sees red as black and can’t see at all when in a darkroom with a red safe light as the only light source. He can see a red traffic light by its position in the signal and the fact that it looks lighter than the other two when it is on, probably because it is not pure red. (He also don't really know what green actually is. Sometimes he called something green, sometimes not. He also called most tan colors "green".) About 1% of males are colorblind for this reason, which leaves the other ~4% with other reasons, so Mavis's father's answers may be different from others’. Still, his answers are possibly a good guide when it comes to picking out really “bright” colors.
There is a reason why we usually see white/bright orange being used at road constructions instead of plain bright orange: Mavis's father sees muddy brownish cones!
According to Mavis's father, the other common safety colors looks like:
Bright green--the very bright greenish yellow sometimes look yellow to him and is visible. Other kinds of bright to medium greens may look brownish.
Red--he said bright to medium red is black. If it’s a dull red, it may look brown.
Pink--He usually thinks it is gray, sometimes blue if the pink has a blue cast to it as cactus blossoms do.
The safety colors believed to work for 99.5% of people:
White
Yellow
Blue (light blue may work) (0.5% can't see blue)
Neon Yellowish-green
Light gray (but not around light gray backgrounds!)
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