RAAM anyone -- local rider second attempt

[Keith A]

I just wanted to give a shot out to one of our local riders (Marshall Reeves) who is attempting his second RAAM. His first one in 2011 ended early with some strained muscles and he sadly had to pull out. This year he is back, better prepared and ready to go. Marshall is a great guy and someone I really enjoy riding with and hope to see him make it all the way this year.

Here is his website...
http://marshallreevesraamsolo.wordpress.com/

and Facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/marshallreevesraamsolo

[tiretrax]

I tried to get a four member team with me friends. No one was interested. I have the deepest admiration for anyone who tries to do it solo. I hope he makes it this time.

[ptourkin]

Best of luck to him. I'll be riding up to the start Tuesday. I know several riders doing either RAW or RAAM this year. I'll try to get a shot of him.

[Minkey Chief]

I was on the crew for a solo rider in 2011. Just being a crew member was one of the hardest things I've done, can't even imagine riding the damn thing!

All the best to Marshall.

[mistermo]

I was on the crew for a solo rider in 2011. Just being a crew member was one of the hardest things I've done, can't even imagine riding the damn thing!

All the best to Marshall.

Ditto here. I was on the crew for a solo rider in 1983. To date, still the longest distance of all the RAAMs. I had visions of a nice leisurely cross-country trip in the motor home. I was waaaay wrong. It was hot, exhausting and claustrophobic. I was asked to do it again the following year and declined. Very tough, even on the crew.

[d_douglas]

I worked with a guy in Switzerland who placed second a few years ago. He just flew to the States and treated it as his summer holidays. I had no idea about this until someone else pointed this out to me.

He was very fit (looking) but I had no idea how fit he was. Pretty cool!

[ptourkin]

I worked with a guy in Switzerland who placed second a few years ago. He just flew to the States and treated it as his summer holidays. I had no idea about this until someone else pointed this out to me.

He was very fit (looking) but I had no idea how fit he was. Pretty cool!

Strasser? He's here again, I believe. Very cool.

[Keith A]

Ditto here. I was on the crew for a solo rider in 1983. To date, still the longest distance of all the RAAMs. I had visions of a nice leisurely cross-country trip in the motor home. I was waaaay wrong. It was hot, exhausting and claustrophobic. I was asked to do it again the following year and declined. Very tough, even on the crew.From the stories I've heard, it's a tough job for everyone involved.

[Minkey Chief]

I've written about it here (http://gautamraja.com/?p=704) if anyone's interested. Yeah, I wouldn't do it again, but what a way to see the country! Bit of a life-changing experience in many ways.

[d_douglas]

Strasser? He's here again, I believe. Very cool.

No, he was an Australian guy, whose last name eludes me. Matthew Something-Something.

EDIT: here he is: http://2012raammedia.blogspot.ca/2012/06/mathew-warner-smith-return-of-2010.html?m=1

I bet he is a visitor to this forum ;)

[makoti]

I tried to get a four member team with me friends. No one was interested. I have the deepest admiration for anyone who tries to do it solo. I hope he makes it this time.

I did this the first year they took teams. Got trounced, but it was a great experience. We were severely underfunded & needed more support personnel. Our support team was great, but really, I think it was much harder on them than us.
I was in such awe of the people who did this solo. I was sleeping, getting rest, had plenty of time to eat, and it was still grueling. Do all of it? Kudos to anyone who even gets to the starting line.

[Keith A]

If anyone is interested, here's a cool site that allows you to track the RAAM and it's riders...
http://tractalis.azurewebsites.net/Contents/Item/Display/212

BTW, Marshall is currently 2nd in the 50 to 59 age group :banana:

[Keith A]

Marshall has slipped down to 10th place, but still hanging in there. He's past the halfway point now. What is amazing is that he has 1400 miles still to go and the guy in first overall only has 400 miles left -- he's 1K miles ahead of Marshall!

http://www.tractalis.com/raam2014/

[ptourkin]

Go Marshall! What an experience.

I've lost a lot of time to Tractalis since coming home from the start. This system is great - it's a pager sized box they handed to each rider about 10 seconds before they started pedaling. This is working much better than the events that used Spot in the past.

Strasser is blowing my mind right now. He arrived at the final Race Across the West time station 5 hours in front of Marko Baloh, who won that event and is still blazing.

It's also fun to track the 4x celebrity team with Daves Zabriskie and Mirra, Ben Bostrom and Micky Dimond. They are setting a 20 mph pace in the lead of that event.

[Keith A]

Very sad news from Marshall...

"Most of you know, but for those who don't, RAAM officials have pulled me from the race due to my pace dropping below the magic number. Very disappointed. Silly tendons."

Only 400 miles to go :crap:

[ptourkin]

Ow. The 2,700 miles or so that he got are nothing to sneeze at. That portion into West Virginia is steep and tough. I'm watching a video of one our local competitors, Dave Elsberry, going full paperboy in front of his van to get it done.

Congrats to Marshall to getting all that.

[shovelhd]

Congrats to your friend. That is one hell of an achievement.

[Keith A]

This is indeed a huge accomplishment, but you know it's got to be disappointing to go so far and get so close, only not to finish.