Paul Carpenter - 51 Years Young

Wolf Creek Pass

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

The picture of Wolf Creek Pass shown above was a pass in Colorado that Paul went through on Sunday. It was beautiful.....grueling for him....but beautiful!! And today ----- Oh what a difference a day......and sleep.....makes!! On Monday, Paul was in Colorado and it took approximately 9 hours to ride 100 miles. Not a very good day unfortunately. It was tough for him. His legs just had a hard time getting the pedals to churn. The decision was made that Paul would stop and sleep 8 hours and see how he felt after that. So about 20 miles away from the Kansas border, Paul and the entire crew stopped. Paul quickly fell asleep while the crew fed themselves. At about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, the crew woke Paul and it was a new day!! And was it a new day! Paul is making great time today! His first 100 miles were completed in 6 hours and that was with 45 minutes off the bike. The crew that started following him is being referred to as "The Dog Pound". I'm not sure how this crew got it's name. This 3-person crew consists of Jay Yost, Tim Richardson, and Chris Mann. Sounds like Paul had a great breakfast from good old McDonalds. He had a sausage McMuffin AND a McGriddle. Mmmmm. Did that do wonders. He has been motoring ever since. So far today (Tuesday) they have made it through Time Station 22 (Walsh, Colorado); TS #23 (Ulysses, KS); and TS #24 (Montezuma, KS). They plan to push through Time Station #25 which is Greensburg, KS. This is where a tornado flattened the town about 3 years ago and it is being completely rebuilt. Also, Paul hopes to make it through Time Station @26 Pratt (where riders eat for free at Starvin Marvin's BBQ) and then Time Station #27 in Maize, KS (suberb of Wichita); and land at the town of El Dorado where they will his Time Station #28. That will be over 325 miles today which is much different than the 120 miles he rode yesterday.

Some other meals Paul has enjoyed have included double cheesburgers, strawberry shakes, PayDay bars. Yesterday he really didn't even want to drink any water. He drank some sparkling water but that is about it. Didn't want any perpetuem (which is a Hammer Nutrition product) but today is back on the perpetuem too.

We hope to continue to report good news for our rider.

RAAM Day 1 on the Books

At 2:33 pm central time Paul left Oceanside bound for Annapolis. The start was a time trial style at 1 minute intervals. The RAW riders went first then the RAAM riders with the rookies leading off followed by seniority with Jure going last.
The sun came out as we headed out with temps in the upper 70's. Sam, Roger and I were up first in the follow vehicle. The first 20 miles there is no support, the next 35 miles is limited leap frog support areas, at 7:00 pm local time we can do follow support. Leap frog is tough because you are in and out of the van about every 20 minutes.
Paul was strong up the big climbs up to Lake Henshaw and to the descent at the Glass elevator at around 4500 feet. The glass elevator is a 9 percent descent that takes the rider from 4500 feet to the desert floor at 200 feet. Starting the descent the temperature was 74 and by the time we got to the bottom it was 99. The van could not keep up with the bikes on the descent and the brakes were a little hot by the time we got down.
The wind was pretty favorable through the night and even switched from the south as we headed north to Blythe to meet the rest of the crew for a scheduled exchange at 2:00 AM. Our crew had been working for 14 hours but were still pretty pumped. Paul took a shower and 45 minute nap before heading out with Joe and Rose Mary Jamison and Susie. The three of us then slept from 4:00 to 7:00 before breakfast, laundry, vehicle change with Tim, Jay and Chris.
Paul rode strong through the night and was eating and drinking very well. He switched from his Cervelo to the Felt in Brawly to see if he could get more comfortable. It seemed to help but his "back side" is still his biggest concern. He has been changing shorts about every 100 miles and cleaning and lubing regularly to stay on top of his bottom.
Please post comments and we will read them to Paul during the night.

RAAM Preperation

Most of the plans are finalized, the vehicle is ready. Only 15 days until the race and 9 days until we leave. The trip officially begins at 3:00 pm on Thursday June 3rd. There will be seven of us driving out in three vehicles. The plan is to be in LA by the end of the day on Saturday. Paul has relatives we will be staying with. Monday morning we drive to Oceanside for a series of inspections, meetings and photos. There are many stickers and signs to put on the vehicles before we can pass inspection. It is petty neat to see all the vehicles in the parking lot at the start. Total there are 10 of us on the crew. Three drivers, three feeders/navigators, and three medical personnel. The medical personnel are responsible to log everything Paul eats, drinks as well as many other vital measurements. In my next post I will list all the stats they will be gathering during the race.

I have added some links to different RAAM pages that can be used to follow Paul and the team as me move across the country. Chris will be updating his face book, Paul has a facebook and web page that will also be updated. To make the time cut-offs you have to avereage 250 miles per day for the entire 12 days. We should cross the Mississippi near Alton Il. around the 16th of June eight days into the race. That is the roughly the 2/3 mark of the race.

Riding has been a little on the light side in the last four weeks. After the Trans Iowa and the 300K I took a little break but have started ramping it up a little again. It is tough to get motivated not having a scheduled event in the near future.

RAAM is Close

This week has been one of the lowest milage totals for me in a long time. After TRANS IOWA and the 300K Brevet I thought I needed a break. I have been training pretty hard since December and with no races in sight I am having a tough time getting motivated. Oh well you will have that. Next week I will pick it up.

Three weeks from today I will be halfway to California on the drive out to the start of RAAM. I have been working on getting the van ready with the PA system and speakers for Paul’s music. I have a good idea on how we are going to put some shelves in the back of the van with a sleeping “bunk” on top for Paul to take naps of even get his 3 hours of nightly sleep if there are no close Hotels.

There are 9 of us on the crew in three vehicles doing 8 hour rotations. Paul has some co-workers that are going to use him as a guinea pig and conduct all kinds of tests on him as the race progresses. Power output, heart-rate, core temperature, hydration level, swelling and many other things will be captured as we spend 12 days crossing 3000 miles of the center of the USA.

There will be updates to his facebook and web page and I will post the links on my blog as the race gets closer. I will also update on my blog from time to time.

Paul's RAAM Profile

All for now.

Trans Iowa is not for you if:

Found this on a riders blog.

http://buffduluth.blogspot.com/2010/04/trans-iowa-v6-v1.html

The comfort zone is a behavioural state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviours to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.

The TRANS IOWA is not for you if:

You don't like riding your bike.
You don't like the dark.
You don't like rain.
You don't like thunder and lightning storms.
You don't like loose gravel.
You don't like speed.
You don't like steep hills.
You don't like gravel in your eye.
You don't like riding your bike in the dark, down steep hills covered by loose gravel, in a thunder and lightning storm, in the pissing rain, with gravel shooting up into your eye.

You don't like Iowa.
You don't like the farm country.
You don't like spending all day outside.
You don't like the smell of pig manure.
You don't like walking in mud.
You don't like carrying your bike.
You don't like spending all day outside in the Iowa farm country, riding and carrying your bike thru mud, with the sweet smell of pig manure constantly in your nostrils.

You don't like spending all day with the same people.

You don't like strange people.
You don't eccentric people.
You don't like gas stations.
You don't like gas station food.
You don't like eating food who's first ingredient is sugar, corn syrup, or high fructose corn syrup.
You don't like spending all day with strange and eccentric people, living off gas station fodder made of high fructose corn syrup, including Pop-tarts, cherry pies, Suzy Q's, Coke, and cookies.

You don't like like pain.
You don't like physical exertion.
You don't like mental exertion.
You don't like exploring your dark side.
You don't like the hurt tank.
You don't like stepping outside your comfort zone.
You don't like stepping outside your comfort zone, into the depths of physical and mental exertion, exploring the hurt tank, the dark side.