Rand Milam
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Magic Race to Euphoria
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Time is still trembling as I recall the tale of Team RAO Speedwagon and the Epic 2005 "Race Across Oregon", a jaunting journey of 538 miles that is better measured by climb and weather.
Our Jason was the crew leader Robert Johnson who slew the Cyclops mountains with cunning staging suiting the bike/rider to the course, outwitted the sirens of fatigue with his captaining skills and peopled his loyal crew to superhuman efforts.
Enough cannot be said about the crew, in the first thirty mintues of the race it was obvious to me that anything I did other than riding was only a hinderence, the crew was incredibly talented and capable. They nutured the riders in the manner friends look after friends in times of need and stress. From humor to physical strength, analysis to navigation, soft female sounds to a leaders command, backing a trailer to driving a car, attention to detail to letting you rest. One commen goal is an amazing thing to share and experience with a group of friends.
As for the rides the crew chief Robert only knows the plan in total but I will give you my interpetetion of the race from my best perspective which was one of four riders.
We were in the four person team listed as HPV recumbent, we had four strong, well conditioned riders. First was the legendary John Williams, "Rocketman", that may be more apprapo now more than ever. John and his stream lined Quest were assigned the mostly under 4% decents and all long flat stretchs to take advantage of its aero dynamic benefits coupled with his endurance and occaissional incredibly high 130 cadence bursts that literally rocketed him down the road.
Before a long fast section, John and I had been resting in the back of a pickup with a campershell, sitting on two mattress's that had become soaked from sweat, during the night the temperature dropped to about freezing at lower elevations and colder at summits, I came in after a 26 mile night climb during the dark early morning hours covered in sweat, we had one sleeping bag that we opened and used as a commen blanket, I shook with cold for over and hour before I could control my shaking, John was having stomach problems and talking about maybe not doing the long Quest stage, Keith was there and correctly said to John, "even at your slow speed you are faster than us and you will give us a rest from the cold and wet", I told John," he would recover better and quicker riding". Then John went out to his Quest, feeling fatiqued, in distress from the stomach issues and cold, fot into in chariot called Quest and became "Rocketman", 30's,40's,50's,60's MPH mile after mile and all the time giving the other riders relief from the penetrating cold and chilling wet during the last night hours through early sunrise. At two different times an owl swooped down on him maybe after mice startled by the Quest, that had to be heart stopping. One time he had a wheel of his trike go off the road and managed to safely get back on paved surface narrowly averting a high speed crash. What a Pull! What Resolve! Thats what its all about...the legend grows!
Then there was Keith, the most under rated rider on the team. Keith kinda looks like Robin Williams and just as sharp witted and an incredibly strong rider. He would put in such effort during his pulls that when he got off the bike may be disoriented a short time, once he was walking and looked down to see two yellow lines and wondered why there were yellow lines there and then realized he was standing in the middle of the road. If you are lucky sometime you will hear Keith tell the story as he has a unique humor and quick smile. Keith also took anything that this course threw at us, from high speed technical decents with sharp turns and occaissional gravel during night hours to steep climbs miles long through the heat of day or cold of night. His main ride was a T-Bone, 700 rear with a small front wheel and underhand steering. Keith is like a secret weapon you pull out when you need a surgical strike, what an amazing performance.
Our third team rider was Michael, a tall thin man with a sharp mind for detail. Michael is a strong climber and wanted the steep long climbs. From my view I saw him as the best climber above 6% grades and he did incredible pulls everytime. I rarely got to see that part of the race just because of how the rotation was but I know Michael, he was riding his Serian with rotor cranks and light wheels. His climbs would be fast and relentless, there are some roadies from the race that would be amazed by what he did on the climbs and never thought a bent could do that. Hats have to go off to Michael for doing the arduous long steep climbs and climbing them with speed. Oh Micheal, if your reading this, John and I figured out the average age of the racers and its 47 or Forty Seven, which ever you prefer. Anyway, Michael added an invaluable piece to the Crew Captains puzzle solving mind with his fast paced, steep long climbs.
I was the fourth rider, I saw my talents used for high speed decents on the bodysocked GRR, excellent visibility for night riding because of the upright position, fast 4% and lower climb capability and endurance. Tried to ride according to my heart rate keeping it close to 145 BPM with occaissional 150-160 on a climb. Had one incredible pull on a 26 mile uphill grade at night, was one of those times when you get on your bike and everything is perfect, weather was cool to cold on the accent, was dressed perfectly for the temperature, over heating was absent because of the cool night air, and I felt tireless. I climbed the first twenty miles in the large chain ring at 15-18 mph with the effortless feeling of being a bird in flight. the GRR's riding position gave me great viibility of the road surface and the stiff bottom bracket allowed a constant transfer of power while the bodysock allowed me to constantly control my temperature by zipping and unzipping it as you would a shirt. At one point I saw blinking yellow lights and thought it may be the team ahead of us, as we passed the rider we could tell by his helmeted number he was a solo rider and not the four man team we had hoped, never the less this was a strong pull that added to the teams performance. It was after this pull that I could not stop shaking with cold for about an hour while resting in the back of the pickup. Takes me two words to describe this, Hubba , Hubba!!!!!!
I can talk on and on about twhat the crew did before , during and after the race, things like Edna putting a longer zipper in my bodysock so I could see my heart rate moniter mounted on the handlebars. Bill engineering his trailer to fit the bikes, Bruces exact navigating skills, Jims attention to details, Tom and Beths massages, Alex's do anything and everything fast and quiet, Mandy's calming voice and intuative suggestions. And our crew captain Robert.... What a crew!!! We had so much fun!!!
At five miles to go came the 10% average climb up to Timberline lodge for the end of the race. The decision came from Robert for one mile pulls, we knew we were in the lead but not by how much, ever knowing the possibility to see a rider close on us. Then we saw snow covering pine tree branches and large snow flakes falling. It was a surreal experience that made me think of Japanese poetry and a scene with a samurai during a snowfall. This was a magical time, as we ever neared the finish the elation rose and rose while we rode through this awesome visual accent, at the top, crossing the finish line only one word describes it for me, total and complete Euporia... Everyone was hugging everyone, no one was shaking hands, friends were hugging friends, women were lifted in the air with a hug and spun in a circle, total jubulation and triumph, incredible, incredible, incredible!!!! People were being people....friends were being friends.... something great had just happened, something greater that the sum of the whole and we all shared in it....
Dry Roads,
rand
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<DIV>Time is still trembling as I recall the tale of Team RAO Speedwagon and the
Epic 2005 "Race Across Oregon", a jaunting journey of 538 miles that is better
measured by climb and weather.<BR><BR>Our Jason was the crew leader Robert
Johnson who slew the Cyclops mountains with cunning staging suiting the
bike/rider to the course, outwitted the sirens of fatigue with his captaining
skills and peopled his loyal crew to superhuman efforts.<BR><BR>Enough cannot be
said about the crew, in the first thirty mintues of the race it was obvious to
me that anything I did other than riding was only a hinderence, the crew was
incredibly talented and capable. They nutured the riders in the manner friends
look after friends in times of need and stress. From humor to physical strength,
analysis to navigation, soft female sounds to a leaders command, backing a
trailer to driving a car, attention to detail to letting you rest. One commen
goal is an amazing thing to share and experience with a group of
friends.<BR><BR>As for the rides the crew chief Robert only knows the plan in
total but I will give you my interpetetion of the race from my best perspective
which was one of four riders.<BR><BR>We were in the four person team listed as
HPV recumbent, we had four strong, well conditioned riders. First was the
legendary John Williams, "Rocketman", that may be more apprapo now more than
ever. John and his stream lined Quest were assigned the mostly under 4% decents
and all long flat stretchs to take advantage of its aero dynamic benefits
coupled with his endurance and occaissional incredibly high 130 cadence bursts
that literally rocketed him down the road.<BR><BR>Before a long fast section,
John and I had been resting in the back of a pickup with a campershell, sitting
on two mattress's that had become soaked from sweat, during the night the
temperature dropped to about freezing at lower elevations and colder at summits,
I came in after a 26 mile night climb during the dark early morning hours
covered in sweat, we had one sleeping bag that we opened and used as a commen
blanket, I shook with cold for over and hour before I could control my shaking,
John was having stomach problems and talking about maybe not doing the long
Quest stage, Keith was there and correctly said to John, "even at your slow
speed you are faster than us and you will give us a rest from the cold and wet",
I told John," he would recover better and quicker riding". Then John went out to
his Quest, feeling fatiqued, in distress from the stomach issues and cold, fot
into in chariot called Quest and became "Rocketman", 30's,40's,50's,60's MPH
mile after mile and all the time giving the other riders relief from the
penetrating cold and chilling wet during the last night hours through early
sunrise. At two different times an owl swooped down on him maybe after mice
startled by the Quest, that had to be heart stopping. One time he had a wheel of
his trike go off the road and managed to safely get back on paved surface
narrowly averting a high speed crash. What a Pull! What Resolve! Thats what its
all about...the legend grows!<BR><BR>Then there was Keith, the most under rated
rider on the team. Keith kinda looks like Robin Williams and just as sharp
witted and an incredibly strong rider. He would put in such effort during his
pulls that when he got off the bike may be disoriented a short time, once he was
walking and looked down to see two yellow lines and wondered why there were
yellow lines there and then realized he was standing in the middle of the road.
If you are lucky sometime you will hear Keith tell the story as he has a unique
humor and quick smile. Keith also took anything that this course threw at us,
from high speed technical decents with sharp turns and occaissional gravel
during night hours to steep climbs miles long through the heat of day or cold of
night. His main ride was a T-Bone, 700 rear with a small front wheel and
underhand steering. Keith is like a secret weapon you pull out when you need a
surgical strike, what an amazing performance. <BR><BR>Our third team rider was
Michael, a tall thin man with a sharp mind for detail. Michael is a strong
climber and wanted the steep long climbs. From my view I saw him as the best
climber above 6% grades and he did incredible pulls everytime. I rarely got to
see that part of the race just because of how the rotation was but I know
Michael, he was riding his Serian with rotor cranks and light wheels. His climbs
would be fast and relentless, there are some roadies from the race that would be
amazed by what he did on the climbs and never thought a bent could do that. Hats
have to go off to Michael for doing the arduous long steep climbs and climbing
them with speed. Oh Micheal, if your reading this, John and I figured out the
average age of the racers and its 47 or Forty Seven, which ever you prefer.
Anyway, Michael added an invaluable piece to the Crew Captains puzzle solving
mind with his fast paced, steep long climbs.<BR><BR>I was the fourth rider, I
saw my talents used for high speed decents on the bodysocked GRR, excellent
visibility for night riding because of the upright position, fast 4% and lower
climb capability and endurance. Tried to ride according to my heart rate keeping
it close to 145 BPM with occaissional 150-160 on a climb. Had one incredible
pull on a 26 mile uphill grade at night, was one of those times when you get on
your bike and everything is perfect, weather was cool to cold on the accent, was
dressed perfectly for the temperature, over heating was absent because of the
cool night air, and I felt tireless. I climbed the first twenty miles in the
large chain ring at 15-18 mph with the effortless feeling of being a bird in
flight. the GRR's riding position gave me great viibility of the road surface
and the stiff bottom bracket allowed a constant transfer of power while the
bodysock allowed me to constantly control my temperature by zipping and
unzipping it as you would a shirt. At one point I saw blinking yellow lights and
thought it may be the team ahead of us, as we passed the rider we could tell by
his helmeted number he was a solo rider and not the four man team we had hoped,
never the less this was a strong pull that added to the teams performance. It
was after this pull that I could not stop shaking with cold for about an hour
while resting in the back of the pickup. Takes me two words to describe this,
Hubba , Hubba!!!!!!<BR><BR>I can talk on and on about twhat the crew did before
, during and after the race, things like Edna putting a longer zipper in my
bodysock so I could see my heart rate moniter mounted on the handlebars. Bill
engineering his trailer to fit the bikes, Bruces exact navigating skills, Jims
attention to details, Tom and Beths massages, Alex's do anything and everything
fast and quiet, Mandy's calming voice and intuative suggestions. And our crew
captain Robert.... What a crew!!! We had so much fun!!!<BR><BR>At five miles to
go came the 10% average climb up to Timberline lodge for the end of the race.
The decision came from Robert for one mile pulls, we knew we were in the lead
but not by how much, ever knowing the possibility to see a rider close on us.
Then we saw snow covering pine tree branches and large snow flakes falling. It
was a surreal experience that made me think of Japanese poetry and a scene with
a samurai during a snowfall. This was a magical time, as we ever neared the
finish the elation rose and rose while we rode through this awesome visual
accent, at the top, crossing the finish line only one word describes it for me,
total and complete Euporia... Everyone was hugging everyone, no one was shaking
hands, friends were hugging friends, women were lifted in the air with a hug and
spun in a circle, total jubulation and triumph, incredible, incredible,
incredible!!!! People were being people....friends were being friends....
something great had just happened, something greater that the sum of the whole
and we all shared in it....<BR><BR>Dry
Roads,<BR><BR>rand</DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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