Records, Rabbits and Armadillos – RAAM, Team Type 1 & Team Type 2 Day Three Report
Atlanta — In what seems days ago now, Team Type 1 began the day just past midnight at 3,958 above sea level in Walsh, Colorado at mile 1,284 of Race Across America. By the end of today, Team Type 1’s two four-person teams, Team Shake and Team Bake, will have raced east through Colorado and the entire state of Kansas before beginning Wednesday just outside of Jefferson City, Missouri.
While the average speed for Team Type 1 has been reported at 23.5 mph, crew members suggest that Team Type 1 is, in fact, traveling faster, and may have a chance at beating its own 3,000+ mile record of 5 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes.
The day began with a fast downhill from Walsh, Colorado into Ulysses, Kansas. “It was a beautiful day,” observed team captain Bob Schrank. “We missed a massive storm the night before which caused major flooding in Kansas. Power was out and lines were down all over western Kansas. So we knew we got lucky missing that batch of bad weather.”
Team Type 1 then plowed through 383 miles and all eight time stations in Kansas in 15 hours and 9 minutes without a significant tailwind. And, fortunately, the temperature was relatively mile in the mid- to high 70s, compared to years past which have been upwards of 100F. “It was nice, sunny weather through Kansas,” notes Schrank. “And then we hit Missouri and the hills started. And they just didn’t stop. It is so hard riding through Missouri. But the guys were thrilled to push each other to ride harder and faster.”
Shortly before nightfall in Missouri, Jeff Bannink was pedaling up a climb and passed one of RAAM’s brave solo riders who had a three-day head start on the eight-person division. With a few hoots and cheers for Bannick as he passed the high-spirited solo rider, it became apparent that the competitor and his support personnel were Julian Sanz of the BH Bikes Team. Bannink and the Team Type 1 crew cheered back, especially since BH Bikes is the official bike sponsor of the Team Type 1 Pro Women’s team.
As Team Type 1 sped through the night toward the hills of Missouri and into Lake of the Ozarks, James Stout encountered four rabbits racing with him across the road, followed by one armadillo which appeared to try to take him out. Stout attributes the rabbits to a chance encounter riders always happen upon on the road. However, he noted via Twitter that the armadillo “really wanted to hit on [my] aero helmet.”
Shortly after the armadillo incident, Jeff Bannink took over for Stout at the crest of a climb. On the descent Bannick clocked a blistering 54 mph within minutes around Lake of the Ozarks with only the light of the follow vehicle illuminating the road in front of him.
“This is drama!” says Bob Schrank. “Having good drivers and a solid crew is what makes this such a great and safe experience. Coming out of Lake of the Ozarks at 10:30 pm....the guys are just turning themselves inside out! The team is in very high spirits. The illness in Team Bake has passed and both teams are on fire. Every year is different, but this team has been making sure we break the record this year. We are going to try to make the second half faster than the first half. It’s hard to sleep when all this action is happening around you!”
Time will tell, but Team Type 1 is on schedule to put a massive dent in its own Race Across America record.
Related Posts:
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)