First two days report

It is fun to watch our ladies fly by some other teams and watch a few of them try hard to keep up with our ladies. Some teams leapfrogged with us for a while, then slowly got dropped. (Drifting or working with other teams to conserve energy is not allowed in most ultracycling races such as RAAM.)

For those not familiar with the benefits of drifting on each other’s wheels, picture rider A, B, C, and D riding “single file”. Rider A is in the very front doing what we call “pulling” and A’s bicycle and body break up the wind. The rider B behind rider A, sometimes known as “sitting on a wheel” (especially if not doing any pulling) pedals about 15% easier because the wind resistance is reduced by rider A. Rider C, who sits on rider B’s wheel, has it about 25% easier than rider A. Rider D, who is last in this imaginary single file of four, works the least at about 28% easier than rider A. In what we call a “pack” of riders not riding single file, the riders in the back of the packs are “sandbagging”, working about 35-40% less than the riders pulling at the front.

In ultracycling, we usually are not allowed this benefit, making ultracycling a “race of truth”, showing what cyclists are capable of doing entirely on their own.

We are being passed and passing teams ever since the start line, but as of this point, we are now settled in our own “groups”. Those more than 3 hours ahead or behind us will likely never be seen again until probably the finish line.

Yesterday, Isabelle got sick and it was a team of 3 for a while until she recovered enough to race again. Cat said yesterday night that it took a bit too much out of her and Jeanine and they hope they could recover their edge. As of this morning, Cat felt she got her edge back, but she is now sick of sandwiches! Most everybody is a bit tired of sandwiches, but no one is complaining (only answering my reporter’s question.)

One of my fears was the RV getting stinky after two days. However, it seems that Al and Leslie, who are the food preps, keep things clean. Hats off to them! We also seem to do a good job keeping our body odors under control because I can't smell any at all yet.

We washed the rider’s clothes moments ago, but the crew’s laundry will wait until Wednesday. We however don’t mind because we won’t be getting our shower until then anyway. This is Lee’s orders, but it is reasonable in terms of how many people (16) are living out of one RV and our need to be able to move as fast as our cyclists. We can go without worrying about luxuries such as daily showers for the crew !

Now, we are heading out of Utah into Colorado. Southern Utah is pretty, but we can’t hang around long! I am sure the riders are also looking forward to enjoying some long descents in Colorado after about 24 hours of mostly positive slopes!

Rider exchanging (in daylight)

Lori comes up to Cat, who was waiting for her. Cat started moving forward.


Cat looks to be sure Lori's wheel overlaps her wheel.



Cat is off!

Overdue pictures from startline

Our ladies perpared to hand in canned food as part of sign-in rule (to know whether we actually read the rules.) The food will be donated to food bank.

Start line:

The Organic Pastures had a booth at the startline. They originally were one of the sponsors for Cat's RAAM (solo) in 2005 and wanted to be chief sponsors this time. Cat is the center of attention! (Mark from Organic Pastures on left and some guy with a camera who wanted to take pictures of Cat.)

The Raw Milk Cats lining up for the first part of RAAM as a team. Of course, after they lined up, the person in white shirt hugged each one of them--he knows all four. Cat then will ride the first part for 21 miles.



(Sorry, no pictures from first day when everybody is closer together partly because the cameraperson had to sleep during her 4 PM to midnight shift!)

RAAM Meeting, June 17th at 5 PM

The teams are introduced and one team was the talk of the night: The original 2-person "Ride for your Lives" mixed team changed to 8-person team less a week before RAAM. Katie, who was planning to ride RAAM with Sam as a teammate, broke her pelvis two weeks ago. Instead of withdrawing, she showed up on clutches and will still ride RAAM with her arms (handpedal). I understand that some of her crew became members of the 8-person team. Talk about crazy people…but again, this one is actually sane. At 22 years old, Katie already rowed solo across the Atlantic. So, it made sense why she would still do RAAM with her arms with help of six more people.

I am sure there were other interesting teams to learn about, but I wasn’t able to hear their stories at the meeting. Ah well, I can at least say that the atmosphere was energetic! Wishing the best of endurance luck to everybody (and to the soloists already out on road.)

Here is a picture of River Riders, Raw Milk Cats, and Team Ride Red! These three are all of the 4-women RAAM teams this year. The other two are in the under 50 age group, but we want to race them despite being over 50! I understand there was a bit of trash talking going on already. ;) (Of course, that was in all good fun!)

One tired crew before start of RAAM

I found Leslie totally fast asleep like this at 3:45 PM yesterday. She wasn't the only one!

Other three sponsors's cycling kits

In addition to Organic Pastures (Raw Milk), we have three other sponsors we are wearing kits for. My personal note: I think they look so sharp and beautiful in their uniforms! I almost couldn't stop taking pictures of them modeling the uniforms yesterday.

Alltech LifeSciences: Founded by Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech is a global animal health and nutrition company with 31 years’ experience in developing natural products that are scientifically proven to enhance animal health and performance. With more than 2300 employees in 128 countries, the company has developed a strong regional presence in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia. Alltech Life Sciences is a new division within Alltech and officially began operations on January 1, 2011.

Alltech LifeSciences's kit is best seen from the left side as Jeanine and Cat showed below:



BioMass Capital: BMC believes the use of “high end cellulosic biomass” is the lowest cost and most effective way for the world to address the climate change challenge.

Hammer Nutrition

Team picture!

The four strong ladies by the startline in Oceanside, CA!
Isabelle, Jeanine, Lori, Cat.



Raw Milk Cats team (minus Bill, who we will pick up in Flagstaff.) Back row: Lee, William, Leslie, Rich, Doug, Al, Ron, Willy, Joe. Riders: Lori, Jeanine, Cat, Isabelle. Kneeled: Mavis, Anne.



This is the butt sign people will see as they drive pass the riders across USA:


EDIT: Organic Pastures booth will be the place to go today (Saturday, June 18th) from 10:00 AM on! Free chocolate milk available. One can't pass that up because Raw Milk is the best! Come on down to the Oceanside Pier. We will start racing at 2:00 PM.

First day of preparation

Yesterday, we passed the inspection, had our pictures taken by RAAM, and went over the rules and navigator’s duties. Lee wasted no time telling the crew what to do! (I am not sure what order he was saying in the picture below:)



Today, it will be doing laundry, practicing bicycle exchanges, then going to the 5 PM mandatory meeting. (If one of us doesn’t show up, our team will get one hour time penalty!)

Back to original crew roster

Sadly, Bob Kash, who would take Bill Phillip's place on the crew, had to bow out.

After much discussion between Lee and Bill the past week, Bill is back on support crew. (They must be enjoying each other's company!) Bill however have to do a little compromising with his lovely wife and family. He will be joining us in Flagstaff, Arizona.

This mean we will be slightly understaffed the first 24 hours. Thus, Mavis will be working as a California BikeVan driver and navigator with Lee and sleep with him during the 8 AM to 4 PM sleep shift the first day. Once Bill is picked up, Mavis will return to her original shift and duties.

Message from team's media director

Dear fans,

RAAM will start less a week from today! You can get news from our team by going to our website (http://4rawmilkcats.com/). Our website has the links to blog, facebook, and twitter. (What I post to facebook will be automatically posted to twitter too.) All of these buttons can be found at the bottom of our website's homepage. The "news" button at top of our website homepage is another way to go to our blog.

I hope I will get enough internet connection during RAAM to update our team's blog and facebook. (I have to use wireless internet service and we will be traveling along backroads, which meant internet should work equally well as cell phones.) The videos will hopefully be uploaded to YouTube and I plan on posting them to blog and/or facebook. I also will be posting some pictures when I can. I will likely be taking hundreds, but I plan on posting the best ones from time to time because we don't want to overwhelm our fans during RAAM. I however plan on making free CDs of the whole sets for those who wants them.

Of course, I will make a movie from the videos of our adventure and I hope I will finish the editting project by end of this year. If you want a free DVD copy, let me know and I will add you (and your address) to the list!

If you have any questions or comments, you can post them on our blog or facebook. Or you can send the messages to our team's e-mail address: 4RawMilkCats@gmail.com (I am very good at answering e-mails.)

Cheers,
Mavis Irwin
RawMilkCat Media Director

Alltech LifeSciences

Alltech Lifesciences

Alltech’s pioneering science of nutrigenomics allows the company to study nutrition at the most basic level – the genetic level. In analyzing the genetic profile of any species, Alltech is exploring new strategies for using natural nutrition for maximum health and performance.

Founded by Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech is a global animal health and nutrition company with 31 years’ experience in developing natural products that are scientifically proven to enhance animal health and performance. With more than 2300 employees in 128 countries, the company has developed a strong regional presence in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia. Alltech Life Sciences is a new division within Alltech and officially began operations on January 1, 2011.

Cat Berge looks great in the Alltech LifeSciences Kit!

Alltech - Animal Nutrition, Animal Feed Supplements, Animal Health

Lori Cherry and Jeanine Spence!

Look at the lush pasture at our sponsors farm in Fresno. Get Raw Milk at Organic Pastures!