Day Number 1

Today we got our first taste of what RAAM would be like. It is intense riding thus far. We have been locked up in competition with other teams, and looked to have emerged well. Towards the end of our 12-hour shift, Team UNR was in 1st place! With about 2 hours to go in our shift we were passed by an Irish team that was really moving well. It turns out that they are doing 4-hour shifts, so we will see how they hold out! Frankly, I think they will fatigue severely with little to no sleep. The other thing that happened is due to our rookie status and unfamiliarity with the course and rules, we ended up having our rider, Christian, stop at the time station in Blythe. This cost us several minutes. Bruce and I were up the road waiting, before we got the call from Karyl and Dave wondering where we were. To make matters worse, we ended up taking a wrong turn and having to call headquarters to get the right directions, losing the flow of the race. Another team passed us during that period. Overall, Christian and I handled the mountains and desert of California with flying colors. Hopefully, we can make it up today with Bill and Brian in the hills of Arizona. We should then do well in the mountains, as I expect that Christian and I are better climbers than our competition.

We stopped riding last night at 1am, drove to a town near Flagstaff, and checked into a motel where I am blogging this. It is now 7am! We will try for a little sleep here, in addition to the sleep we got in the back of Bruce's van, before we eat and get ready to ride again at 1 this afternoon.