TRANS-TRI-2020

Hi All Please forward this to anyone who may be interested. I am attempting Raam solo again but am required to have 6 crew for support. My solo ride across america taught me a huge amount that I want to put into practise in 2010. My ride was a privelege that I would not have been able to enjoy had I got to Anapolis this year. I learned that I can ride in the snow even if it be cautiously. That I dont go as fast on my own as when I am against a clock. Kentucky was the one state I call wildly wonderful that I did in October. November I cycled with my triathlon Team Sheeper from Palo Alto to San Diego and used my one long weekend chance per month hence completing in December in Yorktown and having snow and a friend t o meet me. Thanks to each follower of this blog for all your support. Michele

I will try to find a way to upload all my trans america photos in a more easy to view and compact way. Please e mail me if you would like to see specific photos. Thanks again especially to Mr WOnderful David Bradley and Anthony GIlbert for their continued support.

Yes I arrived in Yorktown for the most beautiful sunrise. I am speechless. I arrived in Williamsburg on a very cold and dark Monday night. I stayed there so I could enjoy my finale ride on Colonel Parkway to Yorktown. I was greeted by an ice free beautiful morning. As is my custom I paused to take a photo of the welcome sign. WHile getting my bike situated as proof for my shot, the local sherrif stopped & offered to take my picture. Lots of stories will get posted in the days to come. Meanwhile here are some photos. Please enjoy. Please accept my sincerest appreciation for each person's support on this great adventure. It has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

Hi Again back to normality. Imiss the challenges of the oppen rd. Well 2.5 states left. I had an awsome time cycling through the ozark mountains. My accomodation varied from a motel room that I was worried about drinking the water to staying in a 5 star pheasant hunting lodge where labs and retrievers were bred. This was 2 miles on a dirt rd outside Everton a very small town with a small gen store that I did not see on the main st or gas stn. In farmington I stayed in the newly renovated Jail house with another adventure cyclist I met on the way. We had chinese for dinner that was close to awful. I flew out of +St Louis airport,mo at 7am and was home cycling with a friend by noon. Again I was blessed with incredible weather and angels going before me. My rear shifter broke on Monday morning outside of farmington but I told myself as long as I could pedal to keep doing so. Hence My bike is sleeping at Carbondale cycle shop as I got in there as they were closing. I had a lot of fun and f

Hi All Sorry for the break in comms. I had to go back to work after last entry. I flew to Wichita, Kansas yesterday where Becky collected me and returned me to my bike in Eureka. Cycled 60 miles into Chanute. Stayed in $30 motel the other side of town. More rundown than a youth hostel but clean. My title states which library this is being typed from. I hope to get to Marshfield, Mo another 90 miles from here by tonight. I did 10 x 2 min int as per john howard suggestions of getting hr to 155 -160ie 86% of max 220-40.. I will be back at work wed 15 sept and hope to continue on OCt 17. I will try to keep updates. Keep smiling Michele

Make Hay while the sunshines is the quote of the day. Lots of hay and lots of sunshine. My legs look like overgrown elongated beets. My thighs still have the flab. I was hoping some would melt. I also decided to share with you that when an oncoming semi passes it feels like a huge ocean wave washing or smashing your rhythm while swimming. I am in the heart of Kansas typing from Ness city and going to spend the night at a Cycling Oasis 12 miles up the road in Bezine. I met 2 more wonderful cycling guys going west bound. Apparently there is a weird guy 1 day ahead of me and a recumbent also about 1 day ahead of me. Today will be shorter due to large distances of little support services and accom options tomorrow or once I leave Bazine. I am erring on the side of caution and sensibility as I had a tough/rough morning today but got a lot better with my tea and honey and ginseng elixer that I found at a gas station in scott city. Yummy!!! No HFCS and then chatting with the cycling buddies m

HI All Wow What an incredible privelege. I am meeting the most incredible people hence the title of todays blog is based on a song "My heart is full, my love just keeps on growing here by the grace of God I ride." I tweeked the words a little. I did not have much sleep last night but fantastic hospitality all bei it a bit strange and ghost like in appearance. It is lucky I have such a strong faith so not to worry too much but my antennae and radar were working overtime. I think I was more exhausted than I realised too. I got into Boone at 7pm and stopped to look at a map. There were couches outside the post office and troughs of water. Larry appeared and asked where I was heading and said there was no way I would make it by nightfall to ORdway. I was however glad to be out of Pueblo- not a place one needs to visit. He showed me the adventure cycling cards and notebooks and offered hospitality and laundry. It all turned out like an unbelivable dream that kept me laughing many

Hi all I got a 13 hr day in seeing the last of the big climbs through the rockies. I started out from montrose at 6h30 with my Big Mac Breakfast burrito, not quite enough to get me 20 miles with some climbing. I got to Salida at 8pm after a big 10 mile climb 3000 ft elevation of Monarch Pass at 11 100 ft after riding 100 miles. It was toouch and go whether I would be able to get over as 3hrs before I got to the base, a massive storm rolled through but I ended up with a tail wind helping me until I got to the summit where I could hardly stand up and wondered if I would be safe getting down but lots of layers later Hammer Jacket and Showers Pass jacket were great and a hammer bar all was fine. It was the last of the climbs through the rockies. Now it is flat until close to east coast. I am staying with a lovely biking family from warm showers.com. I hope to get to ordway tomorrow night in Kansas.

Well I said to all my wonderful raam 09 supporters to "watch this space on 21 June 09". Race across america 09 has changed to ride across america 09. The ride recommenced exactly 2 months after raam 09 solo females started. I flew into durango,co yesterday. I had a variety of obstacles with incredibly positive outcomes but some delays for me to get to my target destination. Today I cycled approx 100 miles up Hwy 550 to Montrose. I have 2 paniers bags thanks to velogirls cycling coach Lorri. Each bags weighs 10 pounds with emergency food & spare clothing and a camelback for water. I climbed up to 10 & 11 000 ft elevation on 3 different mountain passes each of 4miles long. The weather was superb. The scenery spectacular. There is another big climb tomorrow and I not a lot of accomodation in the next 50+ miles. At 5h30 pm in montrose I decided i would climb stronger and ride faster with an early start. My days are due to start at dawn around 6 am. The reason for this rid

I have posted new photos in the Flickr Gallery (link on the left). I requested crew to send in pictures from the race to add to the Gallery. Andre sent to a CD (Thanks Andre) with over a hundred pictures, most of which I added to the gallery. Click on the link on the left, (Shongololo Express Pictures, click on picture), then when the new window opens click on the set link on the right ( Raam 2009 (Set) ) to open all the pictures. There is an option near the top to view as a slideshow or view as individual photos. Sorry there isn't captions on the photos but I think that will have to wait until I can have a crew member view them. I will add more photos when I received them and post a notice to that effect here. Enjoy. David Bradley

Since I've been posting I thought I would give you a few thoughts about Michele's effort and DNF (did not finish). Michele is a heck of an athlete. To complete RAAM is a huge accomplishment. As I told Michele today only the very best in the sport are good enough to fail at RAAM. The statistics say that 50% of all solos who enter will DNF. What other sport do half of all who enter not finish? In RAAM you race against the course, not just the other racers. To be the very last person to cross the finish line is still a high honor. To qualify to enter the race is an honor. There are many many things in RAAM that must go right in order to complete the race. Being well trained and fit isn't good enough. You must have good crew, equipment, logistics, training, and a fair amount of luck. With everything lined up, best of equipment, well trained, experienced talented crew, sometimes it just doesn't work. Michele had all the things she needed, except may experience i

HI All incredible supporters I write from the rain of Pagosa Springs. Raam is a journey very different from any other I have been on. It has not finished in fact I think it has just started but will take longer than just 10 days to complete. I never knew I could stay on a bike while pedalling so slowly the last few miles. I will write more once we are packed and I can think a little more clearly. I just wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciated their support and look forward to supporting IJM more during this journey and giving my corporate sponsors some more exposure. Thank you sincerely to my crew for getting me this far. Michele

Just a short update withTime Station numbers. Michele arrived in TS 14 Durango Colorado yesterday at 19:36 for a total of 814 miles. Michele's average for this section was 9.49 mph with an overall average of 10.74 for the 814 miles. This one of several difficult sections in the Rockies with 3 climbs, each with only a small descent as the reward. So each time a climb is completed you basically get to start another after only a small break. The final climb tops out at 8416'. Michele will be passing many ski resorts in this area. Hmmmm. Michele then got to make a descent into Durango, lossing 2000' of elevation in the process. It is a long, fast, and technical descent that can leave a racer just as tired as the climbs. From Durango Michele then headed to the next Time Station of TS 15 Pagosa Springs, CO. Miles into the race of 884 and an elevation 7619. Don't be fooled the numbers, while it is a 1422' elevation gain in 70 miles there is more to the route than t

Michele has checked in at TS 13, Cortez, CO some 769.2 miles into the race. Her speed has picked up to 9.92 for this section which if you look at the profile I have shown above and consider that she is 700 plus miles into this race doesn't seem that bad. It looks like Michele is over her quad issues and is moving well. Her problem in now one of time lost. She does absolutely need to maintain a strong pace to avoid the time cut off. That will be difficult with the next several Time Stations all having significant climbs. If she can stay on the bike and keep a strong pace then she can make the cut off in Taos, NM. After that she enters flat lands and has a chance to win back some of that lost time. We all really need to pull hard for Michele. I know she wants it and it is not going to be easy! While I did not get any first hand accounts of last night's weather conditions I understand that the Monument Valley area was pretty difficult for racers with high winds blowing as

For those who are doing the math, yes Michele's pace had dropped off yesterday evening. Michele was experiencing some issues with her quad muscles. Some rest and massage therapy guided by her awesome massage therapist via cell phone in the wee hours of the morning (thank you Anthony) and Michele is back on the road. A motel stop with showers was also appreciated by the crew in Mexican Hat, Ut. Adrienne reported by cell phone this morning that Michele was riding well up a slight incline at 14 mph. A good sign. This is a tough race, no racer is immune from problems out there. Michele pasted Mexican Hat UT (679.5) at 01:48 this morning and has one more TS before entering Colorado. Lots climbing to go. Michele's average speed has dropped to 11.79 mph. Remember that in order to complete the 3022 miles race in the 12 days set by RAAM Michele must average 10.5 mph average. With the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico it will be important that Michele maintain a strong pace

The following is a post (lifted, sorry Vic) from Vic Armijo on the Raam Website. Vic is a raam reporter and a friend of mine and crew member Winston (small world). HELLO DOLLY VIC'S RAAMIFICATIONS HELLO DOLLY! Kayenta, Arizona June 18, 2009 We media types always have deep questions for RAAM riders; What motivates you? What do you eat? When will you sleep? But what I most wanted to ask Michelle Santilhano after seeing her today just outside of Monument Valley, is; "What's that doll on you handlebars? The fun-loving South African will surely have a logical if not whimsical answer. These and other burning questions will be answered soon, very soon.

Michele passed through Prescott, Az last night (396.7 miles) and hit TS 8 Flagstaff (491.1) at 9:02 raam time this morning. While I haven't heard from the crew I'm sure there was a rest break in there. Yuba City AZ is the next time station at 563 miles which Michele pass at 14:13. This is a much faster leg for Michele with an aveage speed of 13.87 mph for the segment and and overall average of 12.12 mph. Remember as Robert mentioned that these averages include any time off the bike. Raam is a non stop race. From here Michele will enter Utah just past TS 10, Kayenta, AZ (634.7 miles) and head for Mexican Hat, Ut TS 11 (679 miles). They are now near the Four Corners area and will be headed for Colorado after passing TS 12, Montezuma Creek, UT. The racers will be encountering a lot more climbing and speeds will typically drop. In the next couple of days the racers will have to climb a number of high mountain passes including La Manga Pass, which is over 10,000'. Com

Hello, I have been actively following the race by reading the RAAM websites postings for times at the different time stations. The race is broken up into legs between time stations, they are not all the same distance or the same geographically. Some legs will have alot of climbing others will be flatter. The total distance of the race is 3021 miles, the allowed time to complete is 12 days. So if you do the math the minimum speed to complete is just about 10.5 mph. This may not seem like much but the clock does not stop running so rest/sleep breaks are factored into this average speed. The way I look at it is that Michele needs to do about 250 miles per day, now some days will be easier with less elevation gain and others as she ascends the Rockies or makes her way across West Virginia will be harder. So if she gets good days in the flatter states she creates a time cushion for herself for the nastier days. Don't worry if you see her speed between time stations looking slow, it i

Hi there, Adrienne just called she is just up for her next shift and reports that Michele is cooking along at 16 mph steady. Micheles stomach has been a little dicey but the trooper she is has not let that stop her as everyone learns how to keep her nutrition optimal in these early days, these issues usually sort themselves out the farther along one gets in the race as the body adapts (those that are eating real food - no accounting for the riders using the powder junk which is a crap shoot at best). They stopped awhile ago for a quick rest and a shower but not for a real sleep break. The other two women Daniela and Janet passed her during this break. It is looking like the tortoise and the two hairs at this point, Michele just keeps it going and the other two rest more and then charge ahead. As the race plays out this strategy will be more difficult to sustain since the bodies ability to charge ahead at higher speeds over multiple days starts to fade. Michele has been in great spirit

The sun is up on the racers and Michele has reached Time Station 4, Salome, AZ. Michele arrived at Blythe, CA Time Station this morning at 5:15 am (again, raam time EST) which is on the Arizona / California boarder. 2 am local is a good time to ride through that part of the country. Michele arrived 24 and 30 minutes behind the lead two women racers (Janet Christiansen and Daniela Genovesi respectively)in Blythe. As of right now the RAAM website shows Michele checking in at Salome, AZ TS 4 at 10:10 am with a total mileage of 293.7 miles for an average of 15.98 mph. This reflects a drop in overall mph but is no doubt a reflection of a short sleep break. The other ladies in the race have either not checked in at TS 4 or RAAM does not have their times in their system. So Michele may be leading the field of solo women at this point. They still have a very long way to go but so far it looks like Michele is riding a good strong steady race. The best way to reach the finish line. Ad

At 12 pm (PST) the Women RAAM racers and Men Masters (60 +) began their epic race from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD. All times are reported in RAAM time (EST, military) and I will stay with that convention. Michele reached the first Time Station in Lake Hensaw, CA at 18:50 today. A total of 54.5 miles in 3 1/2 hours for an average speed of 17.87 mph. Crew Chief Adrienne called me from past Time Station 1 at Christmas Tree Circle, in Borrego Springs, CA which is a designated support area for crew to service racers. Adrienne reported that Michele was riding well, eating and drinking as she should be (very important in Ultra races). So far things seem to be going according to plan for Michele. Past experience says after the first night most racers and crew get into the rhythm of what they are doing, they are find was is working and what isn't, with the crew making adjustments. I'll post more as I hear it. David Bradley

My head is buzzing with so much love and support from this incredible raam family from race directors and staff giving me hugs and good wishes to my own ULTRA Amazing crew who just treat me like a queen 24/7. I do hope I can pedal my appreciation for them. Thanks Dave for doing such a great job as Ground Chief & logistician. I know Adrienne appreciates it HUGELY. I got to a local church this morning which was really nice and calming. Dave is running errands to Ace hardware and tried to go to a junk yard for a spare tyre but they would not let him due to him having only trail run tevas on. Adrienne has been working in such an incredibly calm and highly professional manner on more logistics than I could imagine. She makes most Professional Mountain Guides look meek. It is hard being so close to the sparkling ocean with no long swim training planned. I hope to get a qucik dip in the Atlantic before flying back to the pacific. The dream plan is to have arrived on the Atlantic Seaboard

Good Morning All, Adrienne and Tanner here, in not-quite-so-sunny California. Lots to do today. We had a great first crew meeting last night. We'll finalize logistical details today. RAAM Headquarters opens this afternoon, so we look forward to seeing the whole RAAM gang. Waiting round Oceanside is always the hardpart, so we can't wait to get this show on the road. We met Herman Bachmann (solo rider) and his crew last night as dinner. It was exciting to see others being excited. Y'all will mainly be hearing from David as we proceed eastward. A huge thank you to David for all of his blogging and countless thankless other tasks he has done and will do to get us to Annapolis! Adrienne and Tanner (Chief and Ass Chief)

David here, ground support. I've been in communication with the team and they have gathered equipment, vehicles, and personnel, organized it all and are headed in the direction of Oceanside. Everything sounds well with no major crisis at this point (hey, it's RAAM, never count out a crisis). Last I heard they were passing Gilroy and threatening to put Michele out of the van an make her ride....nah, they wouldn't do that would they??? The team pictured here: Left to Right are Andre, Tanner, Michele, Adrienne, Mandy, Winston, and Chris Seriously the team seems to be coming together very well. Great attitudes and a lot of raw talent. Michele is in very good hands. The team is especially happy with the rental vans they received and have them ship shape. A dozen days on the road living in the vans and that becomes very important. I will make post as I hear them from the team and maybe a picture or two as it works out. David Bradley

Hi To All Raam Supporters I just want to say a Huge thank you to the following companies for all there generous assistance with this event. I sincerely appreciate every effort. You logos will be appearing shortly. Sycip Bicyles, Sheila Moon, Blackbottoms, Showerspass, Breathplay, Vespa Power Products, Rob @ West County Revolution, Bike Connection and the many individual sponsors to support the incredible work of International Justice Mission to stop Forced Prostitution of Minors. Thank you seems so little but it is my goal to pedal my gratitude to Annapolis in honor of your generosity. Thanks again Michele

6/16- 300hr Solo Raam Hi All, Many of you know, I am embarking on the annual Race Across America (RAAM) starting Tuesday June 16, 2009 at noon (PST) in Oceanside CA. I am duly excited and suitably nervous of cycling 3000 miles in 10 to 12 days straight with a total of 100,000 ft. of climbing! The steepest section being the Appalachian’s for the final 200 miles as I complete the ride into Annapolis, MD. For me RAAM is about inspiring others and gleaning from the courage of my true heroes—the kids I engage with as a children’s cancer nurse. My RAAM endeavour will also be used as a platform to heighten awareness around the compelling work of International Justice Mission (www.IJM.com). My ride will raise money to support IJM’s efforts to fight sex trafficking of minors with a special emphasis on combating forced child prostitution. The following paragraph highlights a few creative ways that YOU can be involved without injury. 1) Check out my website http://www.firstgiving.com/raceacrossam