Once again, a day of chaos. On 1-2 hours of sleep, took over for Bill and Brian earlier than expected, due to their fatigue in crossing the Appalachians. Started in West Virginia, then into Maryland, and into Pennsylvania, then finally Maryland again. The Appalachians and their foothills were excruciating, steep and repetitive, and definitely tougher at the end of the trip. In fact, the legs were out of gas by mid-morning. We caught one team that started 35 minutes ahead of us; it was still dark when we had caught up to them - due to our climbing strength. They were not cordial either, began accusing us of not stopping at stop signs completely, not pulling off the road completely, doing improper exchanges in general. When my legs started weakening, they caught and passed us in the flatter/rolling sections of Maryland. By this time, reinforcements (Bill and Brian) arrived, and Christian and I hit them with renewed energy - we buried them, putting all 4 of our riders on the road at one point, and that felt especially good due to their poor sportsmanship.
So we finished in 6 days and 21 hours. It has been a nerve-wracking, pressure-packed, draining experience that relied on our ability to get through tough times. Relationships between crew became very strained at times, and that could have greatly harmed our team - but it didn't. We had 12 - 14 hours off the bike, but who knows what would have happened had we pushed on with double-shifts and even less sleep?
I am happy it is over, and can't imagine doing another one. But I am proud of what we have done.
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5 comments:
Congratulations Mike, Bill, Brian and Christian! Well done! Looking forward to hearing more about your adventure when you return home.
Stroming
Congratulations! No doubt that it was the experience of a lifetime! Rest and wallow in the glory of your achievement!
The Praters
Way to go! Can't wait to hear more details once you've had time to rest a bit. : )
-The Hooks (E, L, C and C)
Congrats to all of you,Michael I was so proud of your accomplishment half the US Consulate in Frankfurt Germany knows about your amazing race and you have inspired a whole group of cyclists. Way to GO! Jodee
Congratulations on your race. After reading about it, I now realize how lucky we all were back in 1994. Somehow, I am reminded of the pre RAAM meeting in which Kostman gave a speech and said that RAAM was an experience we would never forget, and I turned to Art and said: "no matter how hard you try."
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