Sunday, June 21, 2009
Back From RAW
Lisa and I crewed for Tom Letsinger & George Thomas on the RAW team RAO/GVH Bikes. Also in our van was Cassie Nobbs, and the 3 of us took care of Tom, while Sandy Whittlesey and Rob Kilburn took care of George.
RAW Website
The boys KICKED ASS, beating everyone into Taos New Mexico. Their average speed - over 1044 miles - was 17.72, with a total elapsed time of 58H 56M.
Cassie, Tom, Ken, Lisa, Sandy, Rob, George
We did have a few issues of course. I cannot recommend the Dolphin Hotel in Oceanside as a "nice" place to stay. It was cheap - a necessity - and the proprietor Lily was great. It was not clean, quiet or "nice".
On the first night we found out that our Auxiliary flashing lights didn't work when the headlights were turned on. I'd wired a always-on plug for them (or so I thought!) at the fuse block, but the connection I'd used wasn't the right one. I ended up abandoning the outside music and using the battery connection I'd wired for it. Georges van paced Tom while we got all that sorted out, so there was no time lost on course.
We had 3 crew in our van, which meant that when our rider was riding, one of the crew could sleep. On the 2nd night, Tom was scheduled for a 2 hour pull so that George could get a little sleep. Lisa and Sandy talked on the phone, and then Sandy might have fallen back asleep. Tom ended up doing an impressive 3 hour pull, and since I was on sleep break, I got a great 3 hour nap. :-)
Both racers did a great job of taking care of the other. Each had their low moment in the race, and the other stepped up and took a longer pull to cover. The team work - racers and crew - was just awesome. We had talked about goals, and primary was to have fun. After that, we wanted to win, and George wanted a sub-60 hour time. We hit all those, and at some point the boys decided being first into Taos would be pretty darn cool, and they did that too!
Tom & Cassie had met the former Governor of New Mexico in Portugal, and he invited us to stay at his place above Taos after the race. Quite a contrast to the hotel in Oceanside! Gary and Kate were wonderful hosts, and had pizza and beer for us when we got in. Gary started RAW solo, but had to pull out with hot foot issues. It rained over night, and we could not get out on the steep gravel mountain road in the loaded crew van. Gary to the rescue pulling us out with his 4x4. It is not every day you get towed by a former Governor!
RAW Website
The boys KICKED ASS, beating everyone into Taos New Mexico. Their average speed - over 1044 miles - was 17.72, with a total elapsed time of 58H 56M.
We did have a few issues of course. I cannot recommend the Dolphin Hotel in Oceanside as a "nice" place to stay. It was cheap - a necessity - and the proprietor Lily was great. It was not clean, quiet or "nice".
On the first night we found out that our Auxiliary flashing lights didn't work when the headlights were turned on. I'd wired a always-on plug for them (or so I thought!) at the fuse block, but the connection I'd used wasn't the right one. I ended up abandoning the outside music and using the battery connection I'd wired for it. Georges van paced Tom while we got all that sorted out, so there was no time lost on course.
We had 3 crew in our van, which meant that when our rider was riding, one of the crew could sleep. On the 2nd night, Tom was scheduled for a 2 hour pull so that George could get a little sleep. Lisa and Sandy talked on the phone, and then Sandy might have fallen back asleep. Tom ended up doing an impressive 3 hour pull, and since I was on sleep break, I got a great 3 hour nap. :-)
Both racers did a great job of taking care of the other. Each had their low moment in the race, and the other stepped up and took a longer pull to cover. The team work - racers and crew - was just awesome. We had talked about goals, and primary was to have fun. After that, we wanted to win, and George wanted a sub-60 hour time. We hit all those, and at some point the boys decided being first into Taos would be pretty darn cool, and they did that too!
Tom & Cassie had met the former Governor of New Mexico in Portugal, and he invited us to stay at his place above Taos after the race. Quite a contrast to the hotel in Oceanside! Gary and Kate were wonderful hosts, and had pizza and beer for us when we got in. Gary started RAW solo, but had to pull out with hot foot issues. It rained over night, and we could not get out on the steep gravel mountain road in the loaded crew van. Gary to the rescue pulling us out with his 4x4. It is not every day you get towed by a former Governor!
// posted by Ken and Lisa @ 5:01 PM 
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Good summary Ken!! Yup. It was a great race but now I'm ready for some serious down time. That business of little to no sleep for 2.5 days is a little crazy!!
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