RAAM: A Real race this year

[znfdl]

After 2,458 miles the two leaders, Jure Robic and Danni Wyss are separated by 7 minutes.

Robic has 1 hour in penalties, so Wyss is the leader on the road.

They have covered the 2,458 miles in 6 days and 16 hours.

Kevin Kaiser who I have had the pleasure of riding with haas been steadily increasing his MPH and has moved up the board nicely into 5th place.

Team Reacing Heights, Charlie Coombs (San Diego) and Richard Waugh (Cleveland Ohio, 1st Chair Viola for the Cleveland Symphony) are cruisng along as a two person team at 17.48 mph after 1503 miles. I had the pleasure to draft behind Richard who is the same height as Too Tall.

Greate race this year.

[matthew]

At last check, Wyss was four(4) minutes behind Robic:

http://twitter.com/RAAMrace/status/2309986011

This could be an epic RAAM solo competition.

[Too Tall]

At last check, Wyss was four(4) minutes behind Robic:

http://twitter.com/RAAMrace/status/2309986011

This could be an epic RAAM solo competition.

But it's Robic he's nuts and will win.

[bbillington]

absolutely amazing.

[boundgear]

I didn't know Waugh was with Cleveland!

And I think the record might fall this year. There will be 3 people who broke 15mph after this race. And Dani has been watching Jure from approx the same distance for 2000 miles. It's all about sleep schedule now. Both could win, I'm betting Wyss though.

[matthew]

Looks like Wyss has passed The Robic:

http://twitter.com/RAAMrace/status/2313571784

And some Robic/Wyss video here. Jennifer alone is worth the click-through (I can see the tripod jokes coming...):

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/blog/blogs/blog6.php

It has to be surreal being overtaken after that many miles slogging it out with no competitors in sight.

[roseyscot]

i got motion sickness watching those videos. tripod help please.:embarassed:

[matthew]

From what I could gather, Robic and Wyss are neck and neck at the moment. They're hitting the hills of WV tonight with less than 500 miles left.

Robic is riding with 1 hour of penalties, which means he has to put an hour-plus into Wyss to win.

Followers of Robic know he favors his own climbing ability over Wyss', so this is where it could all hit the fan. It should all shake out by sometime tomorrow.

Great race this year!

[mainemike]

is a cool guy, the best big wave surfer in the world, started the whole tow-in thing. i had no idea he was in this race! and am disapointed to hear ihis team is out. btw, he surfs on buildings!

YouTube - RIDING GIANTS -= Laird Hamilton

YouTube - Laird Hamilton, BIG Surf, BAD Wipeouts

[matthew]

is a cool guy

I concur on a few levels.

From what I could gather, one of his teammates was bumped by a competitor's team car. His teammate hit the floor and broke his ankle.

While that sucks to no end, there's always next year. And for someone with the resources LH has at his disposal, that can't be all that bad.

On Robic and Wyss, they've stayed within minutes of one another all night, taking turns in the lead.

Unless Robic puts an hour-plus into Wyss in the last few hundred miles, it's looking like Wyss' victory.

[taylorj]

Team Surfing USA's Challenge
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raa...?N_webcat_id=1

Riding topless is not something I normally care to see. Unless of course it is Laird Hamilton!

[boundgear]

Wyss won.

Is Jure sleeping?

[matthew]

Wyss won.

Is Jure sleeping?

From what I can gather (RAAM's site is _pathetic_), Robic DNF'd at the last time check, where Robic was required to "cash-in" his 60-minutes of penalties.

Wyss and Robic hit that last time check together, only Wyss rolled on for the last 54 miles.

Robic's blog suggests that he's not happy about how things went down:

"Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51."

Source: jurerobic.net/

I've been trying to figure out what the penalties were for, but no luck so far.

Hat's off to Wyss, no doubt. But Robic is still one tough MF.

[boundgear]

I was waiting for him to do that.

[boundgear]

Oh, and their website does suck. They haven't even tweeted in 11 hours

[WanderingWheel]

The penalties were for "inappropriate behavior" at the start, passing another rider on the interstate without using the exit ramps (as required by the rules), and not returning to the spot he went off course after making a wrong turn. I'm not sure about the first, but the second two fall squarely on the crew and RAAM was correct to issue them. There are some complaints about the highway passing rule since slower riders can use it to thier advantage by getting on first and holding the faster riders up until the next exit, but it is clearly stated in the rules and is a rare source of tactics (although it really doesn't make any difference in the end).

However, I understand Robic's frustration. Since he was at the front of the race he had officials around him all the time and he probably got penalized when other riders did the same things and got away with it. RAAM is hard enough as it is, but then to lose it on penalties is just heart breaking.


Now, on to the women's race. It's been tough to watch Janet slow down and give up her slim lead over the past day. Dani has been coming on impressively strong as the race grinds down, she's now doing 13 and 15 mph pulls in the Indiana and Ohio after doing 10 and 12 in Kansas and Missouri. Will we have Danis as the winners for both the men (Wyss) and the women (Genovesi)?

[boundgear]

That interstate thing screwed with my rider. We got stuck behind the "governator" Gary Johnson who was crawling up the hill. My guy had to hit his breaks repeatedly and coast up hill for almost 2 miles.

And word on the street is that Jure got caught by the cops urinating behind the stage at the beginning. tee hee.

[Mabouya]

And word on the street is that Jure got caught by the cops urinating behind the stage at the beginning. tee hee.

Talk about ticky-tack foul. That's ridiculous for RAAM to come down to silliness like that. I can see why Jure would be unhappy (some might even say pissed :omg: )

I wonder if somebody decided that he'd won enough times so to give somebody else a chance they were going to throw the book at him at every opportunity.

[Too Tall]

Rules is rules. You have to win this thing despite prevailing conditions which include often bored officials who have been studying the rule book for months if not yrs. in anticipation of protests etc. etc. Yah hear me? I'm not defending anyone only relating that the challenge to win such a race is all encompassing. Rider, crew and fool luck all must work together.

Robic is wrong to DNF infact insanity...or lack of sanity which in the case of RAAM is perfectly understandable. Riders lose their minds due to extreme physical and mental exhaustion.

Wyss is just flat amazing, steady and unflappable. This race is won by folks who are not normal by any measure. Past winners have done things like climb Everest without oxygen....for instance.

Mazel Tov Wyss :thumbs_up:

[boundgear]

Jure is giving a "press conference" on his website right now.