Just a quick note to say hello again to one and all.

ROCn: I'm still trying to find another "love long distance riding" fool...er.. cyclist who can take over ROCn when I exit China.   Another randonneur may be moving to China from the states, but wil be located in Chengdu.  Who knows...maybe brevets in Chengdu. 

Volunteers??

RACE ACROSS AMERICA:  This is one of the premire world wide ultra cycling events where riders race from the west coast of the United States to the east coast.  The ride is held in June of each year. 

 Riders have support crews to assist them on the ride and there is a whole book of rules as to what can and can't be done, necessary equipment, rules of the road etc.  Some highlights:

• 1st Recumbent Soloist:  A recumbent friend of mine, John Schlitter, is the first recumbent cyclist to complete RAAM solo on a recumbent.  John is over 50 and finished first overall of all cyclists over 50.   He also finished in the top 10 of all solo RAAM cyclists.
• Fixed Gear Team:  Two riders, one of whom owns a ROCn jersey, completed the 3,000 mile plus race on fixed gear bikes.  THAT is an awesome accomplishment.
• Slovenian Jure Robic became the first man (Seana Hogan has won 6 solo women’s RAAMs) to win solo RAAM 4 times. The two men who got closest to this feat before him with 3 wins each were Rob Kish & Wolfgang Fasching. Robic denied Fasching a 4th win last year, but nobody could stop Robic from achieving it this year. His finishing time of 8:23:33 gave him an average speed of 13.98 mph.
• The youngest solo rider, 25 year old Ryan Correy finished RAAM with a time of 11:21:44 and a speed of 10.55 mph.  The Canadian rookie arrived at the first time station at Lake Henshaw in 3rd place just 5 minutes behind leaders Gulewicz & Robic, but soon was engulfed in the reality of RAAM.  Ryan started riding with his father & crew chief Peter at age 16. 
• While in 3rd place 1,320 miles into the solo race near the NM/OK state line, Austrian Franz Preihs hit a road sign, crashed, and broke his collarbone.  Refusing to give up on his dream of a solo RAAM finish, rookie Franz arrived in Annapolis 9 hours after David Haase to claim 4th place.  His time was 10:08:14 with a speed of 12.14 mph.  Franz is a good friend with David Haase, who he raced against in the Race Across the Alps and the Furnace Creek 508 both last year
• 62 year old David Jones arrived at the finish together in Annapolis on Thursday evening.   Jones became the oldest solo RAAM finisher as the former holder of that record RAAM CEO Fred Boethling draped an official finishers medal over Jones’ neck.  Jones also smashed his own 60+ record of 10.52 mph by doing 11.27 mph this year.  His time of 11:03:25 took 22 hours off from last year.   He finished 11th place overall among the solo men.  Just goes to prove age is only a number. 
• German rookie Dr. Michael Nehls placed 7th in the solo RAAM with a time of 10:22:56 and a speed of 11.46 mph.  He slept a total of 45 HOURS to set a new RAAM record for most sleep!  Riding just 15 hours per day, his on the bike speed was 30 kilometers per hour or faster than half of the teams.  He told me that more sleep is a safer way to do RAAM, especially for rookies.
• You can read all the results along with videos on the RAAM site: 
• http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/subwebraam/default.php?N_webcat_id=1

UMCA (Ultra Marathon Cycling Association):

Website:  http://www.ultracycling.com/

Check out the UMCA especially the Year Rounder that can be done from anywhere in the world.  http://www.ultracycling.com/standings/umcstandings.php

Ride Long and Prosper

Slo Joe Recumbo ( ROCn chief cook and bottle washer)