Introducing the Fixie!!!

Lately with the advent of technology and corporate culture, we have forgotten our simplistic roots. A lot of us with the aim to become “sophisticated” end up adding a lot of complications in our life. We have made our lifestyle so complex and so dependent on technology that we are ignoring the simple things of life. I talk of all this as if I remain unaffected by this, but that is not the case. I was also a part of this rat race until I hit upon the bicycle for the second time in my life.

What is a Fixie?   

The fixed gear bike, commonly known as a ‘fixie’, is the bicycle stripped to its absolute basics, the purest expression of the common ‘diamond-framed cycle’ that we see today. I will go ahead and cite it as humanities most important industrial invention.

Me with "Annie" my fixie

Now how is it different from generic bikes? Well of course the rear cog is fixed, which means that when the rear wheel is in motion, so are the pedals and hence the rider cannot “free wheel” or "coast" as some prefer. They are the tangible link to our cycling roots as they are fundamentally the same bikes as they were being built in the early nineteenth century.I find this incredible. Keeping the traditions alive!! Its comparable with my love for classic rock music!!My first date with a fixie was in Australia, where I met this “hipster” riding a neon green bike and asked him for a ride. I found it hard to ride in the beginning was but was smitten by it. Since then it was a dream to own a fixie one day.

Surely you guys may argue that it seems counter-intuitive to ignore gears and go back to basics. Also fixies are'nt as fast as current racing bikes. Well before you get comfortable with that thought you may want to know that the fixie is a thoroughbred racing machine, the fastest bike races are the track races which only use fixies. They’re the cycle messengers’ workhorse who is paid by the minute. Apart from this it is for many (including me), an aesthetic choice.

A New York Messenger snaking through traffic on his fixie
(pic-bigshotbikes)

Here are some reasons that you too should ride a fixie!!

FUN

It is an unquestionable truth that riding fixed gear is one of the most enjoyable ways to cycle. Yes it does take a lot of getting used to. First you’ve to unlearn the impulse to coast but once mastered your passion for cycling will be reinvigorated. No more need to shift gears, the focus is purely on enjoying the ride. For me it’s an extremely seductive form of riding.

Fun is in the simple things (Pic credit - icebike)

BEAUTY

A fixie is stripped of all unnecessary components for road riding and hence is minimalistic and aesthetically pleasing. Because of this purity and simplicity the fixie is a rage fashion accessory in US, UK and Europe. For most people the fixie is like a blank canvas which can used to express individuality, community and culture.

Some pretty fixies (pic - Google Images) 

FITNESS AND TECHNIQUE

While riding a on a hill you are forced to ride at an intensity you wouldn’t otherwise choose on a geared bike, this means you’ll be putting in more effort eventually getting faster on the hills. When descending, you are forced to pedal at a faster cadence, improving the suppleness of the legs. High RPMs when descending force the rider to pedal in a smooth manner to avoid hopping up and down in the saddle! Even serious road cyclists when training off season use fixies to improve aerobic fitness and riding technique.

Typical Cycling Legs

NOSTALGIA

It will take you back in years when you were a kid and just learnt to ride. The simple freedom to go long distances, the pleasure of downhills, that struggle of going up a hill, jazzing up your bike with paint and stickers. It makes you a kid again.

(pic - icebike)

EFFICIENCY AND LACK OF MAINTENANCE

Due to absence of rear brake, dérailleurs, shift levers and extra sprockets, fixed gear bikes are generally lighter than their geared counterparts, despite the steel frame. When properly set up, a fixed gear bike will have a perfectly straight chain-line, with a shorter chain than on a comparative geared bike. This, along with absence of dérailleurs, drives massive improvements in drive-train efficiency with the reduction in friction. Taking off in high gear and low RPMs on non-fixed bike can exert serious torque on the drive train, this is too much to handle for a lot of bikes, especially if you are on the heavier side, fixed gear bikes are designed to withstand this. Bottom line is there are only tires, a chain, and generally one brake to keep in order.

SUCH CHEAP, MUCH BARGAIN

If you’re thinking of cycling and low on budget Fixies are your angels in disguise. Roadies and Hybrids cost you a liver these days. Fixies are relatively cheap and also can be custom built for almost nothing.

HATERS

Riding a fixie will make a bystander hate you and not your bike. SO go out there and get some haters.

(pic - pinterest)

To conclude a fixed gear is the most efficient way a person can travel through the city streets. Now, in cities around the world, thousands are following the example of bike messengers and are using fixies as a means of transport, escape and release… simply riding because a fixed-gear is such fun. Go ahead and give it a shot.

Deccan Cliffhanger Ed 3

Route : Pune – Mahableshwar – Satara – Kittur- Belgaum - Goa

Distance : 643 kms

Time Limit : 32 Hours

More than 50 participants.

Background 

The Deccan Cliffhanger is an ultra-distance cycle race starting from Pune to Goa. It is a qualifier for the Race Across America (RAAM) which is a 5000 km race in the USA. In ultra races every rider has to have a crew car behind them all the time to provide food and water as they race. In 2014 I had set a record for the fastest Indian to win this race.

Having won this race last year, I was going confident into this one. I had learnt from the mistakes of the past year and was ready to smash my own record. Here is an account of how the race went for me. 

Its amazing how fast the year went by. It only seems like a few days back I set the DC record in 2014. It was a comfortable win, but his year it was nothing like that.

With My new "Lady"

Malhar Moghe

Monish Deshmukh

Sushil Dhende

The Preparation –

Mistake number one I did was start too late. My prep for the DC did not start before 4 months from November. It was only after my US trip for RAAM did I start training. And as I found out later it just wasn’t enough for the results that I expected. I had put on 6 kgs in a month in the US. Standing at 76 kgs in July I started to get into my training zone. Cleaned up the diet, and 5 days a week training rides. Lost the 6 kgs and was back to my normal 70 kgs in a month. Lost another 4 kgs with strength training at Multifit and was a solid 66 kgs on race day. My lightest in a decade.  

I had my Crew ready 2 months before the race. As always Sushil was there who crewed for me last year. Monish and Malhar were chosen after a tough selection process. They were all briefed and trained and knew what to expect. These guys were the best crew in the business and I was happy to have them.

The New Sponsor Jersey

 Michael announced that he was going to take up the DC challenge and I knew I had my work cut out for me. It wasn’t going to be smooth sailing like last year.  Mikey being my coach I was annoyed as to why he was participating in a race which I was working so hard for. Nevertheless me, Michael along with Apurv were training atleast once a week for DC together. Looking at our training it was clear that three of us were going to share the first three positions. Mikey with a strong racing background and experience was anybody’s favourite. Apurv just back from his 1200km Paris-Brest- Paris ride was in great shape and was flying ride alongside Mikey. I too had a few tricks up my sleeve which I kept reserved for the race day. 2 months before the race day were one the toughest ones I have been through. The training was hard, the diet was bland. Sleep early and get up early. No dates, no parties, no movies.

The Race –

Setting – 7^th Nov 2015. Pune

After a nervous night I woke up at 4. Malhar was already up; loaded the cycles and within 20 minutes we were off. We reached the start point a bit late. The café nook was abuzz with excitement at 5 am!! It was dark but the eerie glow of all the cycling blinkers made it magical. We were told to line up with our cars. As I was the last to be flagged off I was right at the back almost about 200 mts from the start. As we got ready, we actually did not realize as the front riders began to be flagged off. I only realized that I had to start when I was about to go on my warm up ride, that they told me to line up!! I was not ready at all. I had only one glove on, no proper lights and my crew were completely unaware. I told somebody to call my crew. Monish came running and he had to go back to get the Control sheet. This delayed me by about 5 minutes. It was not a great start.

Without warming up I had to start off slow and steady. Thankfully it was a long race and this wouldn’t cost me much. With some fast easy pedalling I got into my rhythm.  Starting last was a great advantage, as I didnt have to worry about riders coming up behind me. I set off like a predator on a hunt with an evil smirk on me. I was so well prepared that I knew it was only a matter of time till I caught up to all the riders ahead of me.

It was not even 15 minutes into the ride that I started picking up the stragglers. Another 15 minutes and I hit the first climb of the route – “Katraj Ghat” and I passed a few more riders there. One of them even kept attacking me by accelerating ahead and blowing up on the climb as I overtook him steadily in a minute.

 

On the way to Khambatki 

Then began the long flats till Khambatki. I was on “Lady” (Fuji Transonic 2.9) my new bike that I had bought about a week before the race. She’s perfectly aero and sleek and is amazingly fast on the flats. She was the wild card. I was taking a huge gamble to use her in the race without much riding on it. But I needed her if I ever fancied myself beating Michael. I had no chance on my old bike.

 As soon I reached Katraj Top, I took off all the extra layers on myself which was keeping me warm in the dark. The brisk climb  had warmed me up and now I needed the aero tri suit to do its magic. I put my head down hands on the tri bars and down I zoomed at 45-50 kmph towards Mahableshwar. And soon enough I started to pass some of the race elites. I found Sumit Patil just before the Khambatki climb. Which was surprising as he’s one of the fastest Ultra Cyclist of India. Catching him so soon wasn’t expected. He’s attempted RAAM in 2013.I got to talk to him and his 2016 RAAM plans. I passed him too as we headed into Khambatki which was filled with trucks causing a jam. As I snaked through trucks and cars I lost my own crew car in the jam. I was worried as I couldn’t wait for them and I was already running low on fluids. I kept ploughing on however. No time to waste. They dint catch me until I reached Wai. I had Gaurav Yadav’s crew to thank who helped me out with water until my crew reached me. It was here the first team of Arham and Vedant passed me. Good strong lads who I had a privilege to train.

 

Sushil running with me up Pasarni

I had a good feeling as I went into the Pasarni climb. With a steady pace I started climbing; careful not to blow myself too soon. I could see Gaurav just 10 paces ahead of me, he saw me coming and that seemed to have perturbed him. Everytime I went ahead he accelerated and attacked. These boys need to learn it’s a long race. And soon I was past him only to stumble upon Apurv !! I did not expect to see him so soon. I had been training with him and Mikey and they both dropped me on that very climb 2 weeks before the race. He looked in a bad shape and could barely talk. Sushil was running beside me as I passed him, I told Sushil to spray some water on Apurv too. Anyway I soon sped up the hill without any more drama. That was the last time I was to meet any solo rider. I knew I had yet to cross Major. Srinivas. I was pedalling as hard as I could at a sustainable pace and still couldn’t catch him. Satara passed and Karad was coming ahead on the horizon, I was getting worried as I still couldn’t catch the Army man. My instincts told me I had passed him but my crew insisted we never passed him. It was later into the race that I found that I had already crossed him unknowingly as he had stopped because he had overhyrated and had an upset stomach.

I had my good friend Kshitij Belapure who came on his scooter to meet me as I was riding through Karad. He helped me last DC when he helped restock my crew car through the race. I also had Vaibhav Belgaonkar to cheer me at Kolhapur. It’s amazing to have such friends who’ll come and cheer you in such a long race. I got updates from him that only Mikey was in the front. That gave me a little relief.

Just a little after Karad (about 350 kms) I suddenly slowed down from an average speed of 30 kmph to an average of 15-20 kmph and I could not understand why. At first I thought I wasn’t eating or drinking too well. But I was still slow after getting in some calories and fluids. This went on for 2 hours, as I crawled into Kolhapur. That is when I realized that my back and legs were hurting and getting strained because of the super aggressive positioning on my new transonic. Immediately I changed my bike to my trusted old warhorse and the speed difference was obvious. Everything was right with the world again. I was back at my target speed of 30-35kmph.  But this delay had cost me. Because when I crossed Belgaum I saw Michael was already on the return leg and had put a lead of atleast 45 kms on me. There was no way I was going to catch him now. This is where I committed another mistake, I relaxed a bit. I thought since Apurv was not in good shape and Mikey too far ahead to catch there was no point in going all out and keeping hurting. Little did I know that this would backfire. As I was reaching into the Kittur control (turnaround point) I got a word from Pranaya (team relay rider) who caught up to me that Apurv was coming in hot and is only a few kms behind. This was a jarring wake up call.

I got my head down again on my aero bars and started up the hurt. No more mistakes now. As I went out of the Kittur control I saw Apurv barely 2 kms behind me. I was into disaster control mode, all hyper and focused. Trying not to panic. It was not fun, suddenly I felt like I was the one being hunted down. Beast mode was on!!

Reached Belgaum faster than I expected. It was here where 2 more teams caught up to me. It was fun racing with them for a while, but I couldn’t hold on to them as we started into the climbs of Chorla.

Before Chora I made a brief stop at the Belgaum control point which was managed by the Firefox store. They were open throughout the night serving warm tea and sandwiches. By this time I was tired of eating just chapatti rolls and gels. The newly got sandwiches were a welcome change to the palate.

As soon as you get out of Belgaum you hit the Chorla ghat. It’s a very deceiving climb. Because you don’t know when it starts and when it ends. It keeps going up and down. All this in the middle of the night through a dense jungle. Although this time I knew what I was going into. Every turn and climb was expected, so I got out of it without any drama. I actually enjoyed meeting this old foe again. On one of the descents I hit a rock in the middle of the road at high speed. I managed to stay on the bike but my rear wheel got a flat. I changed to my old bike again till Sushil repaired it. My older bike was a little heavier than the new one, so I was slowing on the climbs. Nevertheless Sushil got my new bike ready once I hit the top of Chorla all ready and prepped for the downhill.

The chill, the winding turns and no pedalling was making me drowsy as I sped down into Goa. Even though I knew Apurv was hot on my tail I took my first break. I took a 5 min nap in the car, which was enough to get my mind back to alertness. It was all easy sailing into goa where I met upon PT’s team. I was riding with them for a while but then overtook Baban never to see him again in the race. I was vary of Goan roads as they were in a very bad shape the last time I did the route. But it was a pleasant surprise to see them all repaired and smooth. There was still 60 odd kms to go. I was feeling great as I was inline to finish just under 24 hours. But that was not to be as there was some confusion in the route and we ended doing a 10 km patch in circles. This really pissed me off, I was screaming at my crew because I knew for sure now that thanks to this delay I had lost an hour easily giving away my second spot to Apruv. As soon as we were back on the right route I started to Hammer it, I had really lost it. And pretty soon I came across a car in the distance which very much looked red in the eerie glow of the night. Thinking it was Apurv I was ready to attack him but then as I got closer I realized the car wasn’t red but it was white and belonged to the two person relay team of Rohit and Manesh. I asked them and was relieved to know Apurv was behind me. I relaxed a little and tried to enjoy the pretty goan roads. We soon saw the sun rising from the bridges and backwater bays of Goa. I was a little disappointed as I wanted to finish before the sun got in.

With the Crew at the Finish 

But that did not matter much. As the finish point came near,I put on my pink wig and crossed the line in style. I had enjoyed the race thoroughly even if everything did not go as plan. I had shaved a full one hour from my last year’s DC time and was still the fastest Indian Ultracyclist (Michael being a German). I clocked in 25 hrs and 40 minutes while Michael cracked it 22 hours. 

Big thanks to my coach Michael whos moulding me into the athlete I am today. This race couldnt have been possible without Aniket Mahashabde and the whole Cymour team. Also I am indebdted to Samir Kapoor and Sally Jones from Multifit for sponsoring me for this race. 

RAAMbling Across America

Like any other ultra cyclist, for me too, Race Across America (RAAM) was the biggest dream. After winning the Deccan Cliffhanger in 2014, I started channelling all my energies towards making my RAAM dream come true. I enlisted the services of Divya Tate, who has had considerable RAAM experience and is well known in the Indian cycling circuit.

RAAM is a 4800 km cycle race which starts in Oceanside, CA on the west coast and goes all the way across the USA to the east coast to end at Annapolis, MD. The toughest cycle race in the world. 50% longer than the Tour de France and done in a maximum period of 12 days which is half the time of TDF with no rest and no drafting. As Austrian adventurer and 3 times RAAM finisher Wolfgang Fasching once said "Everest is more dangerous, but RAAM is much harder". 

The RAAM map

Before I went there to do this crazy race I wanted to get a crewing experience, so that I could get a measure of the race. Therefore with Divya’s encouragement, I drafted a resume of all my cycling and crewing exploits and Divya sent it out to a few riders who were looking for crew to Race across America. Within a couple of days, I was in touch with the amazing Joan Deitchman who gave me the green signal and took me on board as her crew member.

All this happened about 5 months before the gruelling race started and the excitement had already kicked in. That’s when Joan gave me access to her RAAM wiki page with all her plans from nutrition to crew training neatly organized. Joan along with her advisor Sandy sent us a lot of information and other hypothetical scenarios and asked us how we would deal in such situations. It was this pre-race prep that made me realise how big a mountain RAAM is. Even before the rider got to the start, there was a lot of planning that needed to be taken care of.

Joan’s attention to detail was amazing as her plan seemed foolproof, covering every minute detail. She helped me procure an American visa by providing all the necessary documents. I landed in Los Angeles after a seemingly unending flight made more brutal by the horrendous British AIr crew. I had a week to spend in LA before I met Joan and crew in Oceanside. 

I stayed with the amazing Anand Patel and his beautiful Argentinian girlfriend Carolina. Anand was introduced to me by her niece who I met on a cycle tour in India. Even though I was a stranger to these guys, they took me in and gave a warm bed to crash. Anand who's an avid cyclist even lent me his road bike to go touring into the city. I had the most amazing time as I explored LA looking for the best places to eat on the bike. I had a big culture shock in LA, I had not expected the heavy spanish influence. After 5 days in LA on my bike I can now pretty much know my way around like a local. I went to Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, Bell Air, Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice, little mexico, In-n-Out burgers, IHOP, etc. I even cycled up the local hill and tried my legs for the KOM. As I left LA i had already put on a couple of kilos. I took a train to Oceanside which hugged the coast (literally, coast was less than 10 ft away) and as it sped south I caught a glimpse of Disneyland as well.     

With Anand and Carolina in LA

   

Three days before the start, I finally met Joan and the crew at Oceanside. Joan already seemed to be in the zone, as she constantly thought of all the things to be done before the race, but she was super friendly and took good care of all the crew.

The Deitchman crew were a varied bunch, with four crew from Canada, one each from Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico and two Indians. We soon began our team building exercises. The canadian pair of Carson who is Joan's younger brother and Big Steve were a great company. Then came the loud,cheerful and sprightly trio of Maria, Sonia and Jamaica who had crewed for Joan before. Jamaica who was the assistant crew chief was also the team mechanic. Rob and and Melissa other athletes joined us too. I was also pleased to have the company of a fellow indian Rohitash from Himachal whos pursuing a PhD there and also planning to do RAAM soon. Lastly my favourite crew person was the ever funny, ever coffee drinking, all knowing (about RAAM),  Mike Deithchman, Joans husband. He always had funny stories to tell about each part of RAAM route we went through. He's also favourite coz he paid for all the beer and donuts.   

The Deitchman Crew

 Joan, Veronica (Crew Chief) and Mike, each took us through the orientation of route books, walkie talkies, van set up etc. We had a set up of 3 vans and no RVs. We were to rely on motels along the route for crew sleep breaks.

We also had to attend crew seminars and van inspections. It was here, that I got to interact with other racers and their crew, where I made it a point to talk to the solo riders. I was lucky to talk to CHRISTOPH FRIGGIN STRASSER, Anders Tesgaard, Shusannah Pillinger and other team riders including compatriots, the Mahajan bros before the race. I was surprised to see that RAAM is a small community, where everyone knows everyone.

Mike showing the follow Van set up

The current champ of Ultra Cycling - Christoph Strasser

There was a lot of energy and buzz at the start, as cowbells rang and people cheered on happily at the base. There were flags from the countries of the participating riders including our very own tricolour. The race begins at twelve noon right under the Oceanside pier as riders were flagged off every two minutes just like a time trial. As soon as Joan was off, three people from our crew followed her in a follow van, while three more including me had to take a separate route to meet them at a town called Borrego i.e. 70 miles into the desert.

Cheering Joan out of the Desert

Starting from sea level, the riders experience a 2500 meters climb in the first 60 miles. After which, they go down this climb into the desert below sea level - the glass elevator’s sheer drop in altitude. 

This year, the Arizona desert was super-hot with mercury rising up to 48 degrees that took a toll on almost every rider. It didn’t spare the mighty Christoph Strasser, who later went on to abandon his ride because of lung infection. When I had met him before the race he seemed super confident and strong. This shows how unpredictable RAAM can be. Joan had to conserve herself here, so as not to burn out too soon. We constantly gave her ice packs to keep cool.

Besides, the desert was a mixed bag for me as it appeared to be charmingly rustic but unbearably hot and unforgiving at the same time. also gave us some beautiful moments too. 

For me the most beautiful part was the moonlit monument valley which came after we crossed into Utah from Arizona. I was in the errand van with Mike and Ro, we took a little detour to go on top of a little hillock. From there all we could see was the  silhouette of the great monuments as the moon rose behind them and the glow of Joan and the follow car in the distance. This along with a dark sky lit with millions of stars gave a very surreal experience. One night I'd never forget. 

The monument Valley at night

I also got to see the Saguaro cactus which I had only been seeing in wild west movies. Speaking of the wild west, on the second day of RAAM I was in the errand van with Steve and Mike with nothing much to do; and we were passing through Navajo Nation, the land of Navajo Indians. It was remarkably different from the "other" America. This land is reserved only for Indians (American Indians) and only they can own real estate here. We also stopped at a couple of "trading posts" which were selling Indian artefacts. 

Once we were through the desert we soon came across the big Rocky Mountains, the continental divide where we'd be going taking the  'wolf creek pass’ the highest point in RAAM. Ahhh Colorado!! My favourite state, full of mountains and legal weed.The mountains were filled with roaring pines ,flowing creeks and teeming with wildlife. It was nice and cool up there, but the noticeably thin air made it difficult for riders to breathe. The same day we had to go through the second highest point; the La Veta pass.

Life as a Crew Member

The whole crew was divided into two, one for the Day and the other for the night. I was in the day shift. While on duty I was either in the follow van whos job was to tail Joan, do her nutrition, clothes change, bathroom breaks, etc. Lot of action in this one, if you arent driving you had to keep nutrition logs, mix drinks, make ice packs and get to listen to Joans songs which we played on speakers above the van. 

 I also ended up in the errand van, who's job was to run errands needed to keep the follow van stocked, get food for crew and Joan, doing the laundry which I ended up doing countless times all the way across america. The errand van was pretty laid back, most of the time there was nothing to do but wait for Joan and cheer her which we did in style as they had stocked it up with costumes!! And yours truly was the first one to get em out and cheer Joan on!

Joans own Cheering totem pole!! 

We surely did have some hawaiian influence

Each working shift were designed to be for 12 hours but it often got late while doing the crew exchange. We were lucky to get 5-6 hours’ sleep each day, when Joan was only sleeping 90 minutes per day. The food most of the time was from grab n go gas station hot dogs, donuts, pizza and the like. But every once in a while we got some local delights like the out of the world pulled pork sandwich from Durango, sonic shakes, BBQed ribs to name a few. There was a lot of high calorie junk food going into the system and I made it worse by going for the cheesiest, greasiest and the largest portions there was. No wonder I got fat by the time we reached Annapolis. I enjoyed it at the beginning but it soon got over it after week in. 

With the beautiful hilly parts of Colorado behind her, Joan reached the dreaded Kansas plains. These vast fields of corn and wheat on either side, with a plain road stretching as far as the eye could see, disappeared into the unknown. This makes for a very dreary ride and can prove gruelling in case of head winds. Fortunately, we had to face cross winds which weren’t as bad as head winds, but not very easy either with Joan being blown to the left of the road !.

After 2 days of slogging through these boring plains, Joan finally crossed into Missouri, remarkably different than Kansas, with its lush green rolling terrain filled with farms and mountains.  Day 6 and Joan was still going strong mentally as well as physically and did not stop unnecessarily. Then came the wide Mississippi river which had flooded and drowned out the bridge that we were supposed to take. So we had to put Joan into the Van and ferry her across another bridge into Illinois. She resumed riding as soon as we were back on course. As we crossed into the states of Indiana and Ohio, the terrain was pretty with a carpet of green all over. I distinctly remember this one night somewhere in the deep woods of Indiana, Joan was cruising away leaving behind a trail of her red blinker, I was in the follow Van tired and sleepy. Then I noticed the trees around me were lit up like Christmas trees; thousands of fireflies in the woods and the plains around a very very surreal moment. 

Another place worth mentioning was the fields of Gettysburg!! Big fields with lot of statues, you can soak in the history here.

Here she goes on the log flats of Kansas

In the last 250 miles, we came upon the mighty Appalachians, which aren’t as big as the Rocky Mountains, but the climbs here are short and steep. In spite of being sleep deprived and tired, Joan was often tackling 9 % gradients after complete 4500 km of biking across the terrain.

Into the Mountains

At one point, she was racing with a 4 man team who couldn't believe their eyes as she kept overtaking them for 5 of their exchanges. Joan’s progress slowed down only after we were showered by the rain gods that made it tougher to ride through. She had a meltdown here and it took a lot of encouraging by the crew to get her back on the bike. Finally, after 11 days and 5 hours, we finished RAAM on the dock of Annapolis, where a sizeable crowd had gathered to welcome Joan. The whole crew along with Joan crossed the finish line together. It was indeed a team effort. 

She Did It!!

After seeing the monster that RAAM is, I had a new found respect for this race. The whole experience did not scare me, but strengthened my resolve to get out there. I got to see the whole behind the screen preparations that these athletes do before attempting RAAM. The nutrition, the training, the ever-changing terrain and climate of the race.   However, I am going to wait until 2017 for my RAAM attempt as I want to be 100% sure that I can do it.  Thorough training, along with a plan that can not only help finish, but cross the line with the elite RAAM solos is what will help me achieve my dream.