dress socks...raam geek!

2 hours away from finishing my 6k mile round trip adventure!

thinking that raam next year

thinking that raam next year 4 person is in order to fight to retain the title...i am ready to do raam again.

raam

Just to say a big thank you to all who have been following. I have not been able to use a computer or really check emails these last two weeks. I did peek and I have 238 emails in my gmail inbox..yikes..

I have had many ask - if you finished first, why does raam say you finished 2nd? well, just so I can say it once...or a few more times I guess. There are a few different types of bikes out there. There are Upright or Stock bikes - what we used - and then there are also recumbent bikes which were used in raam this year. RAAM had put the recumbent and handpowered bikes in the 4 man category in the same competative group - this is not normal.

We were told that this was a mistake and that TSH finished first in our division of 4 person team...in fact we finished faster than the 4 person mixed (male/female) division as well. This will be reflected soon with RAAM as they assured us that it will be changed and an official press release will be sent out soon.

We finished 5 hours faster than the 07 team and 3 hours faster than the next team this year - we accomplished our goal - finish safe...then finish strong....then won.

Thank you all for your support. It paid off for the kids!!!!!

where i am at right now!

my lovely daughter...i miss you!

its 230am...friday...downpour rain and in some state...not sure - ohio?

i guess being tired, sore

i guess being tired, sore and frustraited means nothing right now. i can say that right now my bike (neils) is something i want to forget.

mississippi river

pulling into time station thirty

pulling into time station thirty two 30 sec after the race leader....after 1911 miles of racing since saturday... good feeling!

really? did you think we were doing a tour?

we are building a case for 1st...more time taken. riding really fast this early morning...i can smell the surf!

my thoughts on kansas...exceedingly boreing

my thoughts on kansas...exceedingly boreing with a touch of why live here.

currently in lead...1st..by a few

currently in lead...1st..by a few mins. they have time penalties

98 deg....cutting across Kansas....i feel

98 deg....cutting across Kansas....i feel like i will combust! 20 more miles of tag team sections and we are done

Bianchi flight 928....ready for take-off

just passed the first (last

just passed the first (last place) solo guy

kansas sunrise

wow..we are 59 miles from kansas a s of 242am mt.time

heading to climb a mt.

pics raam

steve out climbing...dad with thumbs up

is heading to Chama to

is heading to Chama to pull the climb through La Manga Pass. elevation 10,255 ft. highest in raam route!

dad and chris heading down the road in somewhere arizona

my box of stuff that i trasfered from car to rv...we just arrived in flagstaff az in 2nd place

funny....im eating a ham/provolone and

funny....im eating a ham/provolone and mustard sandwich built on a cinnimon/raisin bagel. its good

heading up to time station 3 to wait for tim/steve...then our pull starts for 80miles or so. we are in 2nd place behind surfin usa.

i "think" brett is naked and happy...which scares me really...and so we ride on to barrego springs.

i "think" brett is naked and happy...which scares me really...and so we ride on to barrego springs.

yyyeeeaaahhhhh!

starting........

loading bikes to head 2 start!

aux bike locked and loaded...actually its my bike of choice.

will the racers start your engines!

time to blog...my inspirations this week. family. as u can see i have a crazy pile o kids at home that are missing dad. well, dave is camping in bwca this weekend w/boyscouts so he wont miss me too much but i will miss them all...already do. my family has put alot on the line as has everyone. tomorrow we start a very tough epic journey ACROSS this country. we look to finish with the best crew and an impressive bunch of racers. watch the strongheart blog for updates! its now the time where we lay it all on the road.

what happened 2day

for the 2 readers of this blog...we had a lot to do today. we had inspections and then it ended with introductions of the competition...it was neat to see it all. lots of impressive people with many years of raam under their belts.

we have a major task in front of us...with many years of experience and endless ambition to push us forward. we are ready

ac

once the race starts - we will have two primary writers when we can as Tim and I are not on the same team. should be fun. also - when needed we will have updates phoned in and sent forward. tomorrow at 2 pm is the zero hour....here we go...

inspections....pass raam 09

passed inspections with flying colors!

racer meeting...next are inspections

lots going on. between fb'ing, blogging...and oh yeah, raam, much has been done and the bulk of things happening tomorrow will get our focus.

the pic above are some special good luck charms from Nina and Taylor - my two nieces from washington state. dont worry gals...they are with me!

neils bike on steroids

dennys at 10pm last night. ed (middle) insisted on the fizzy drink with the kiddie cup...its called "cosmic sphere". tim (right) found it amusing...there was talk of having this cosmic sphere as being our "wilson"... well, i cant sleep at this point and ready to do something!

time zones... raam 09 personal

well, tim got this neat o fanito super mini pc that picks up some wifi signals - thus allowing us to blog in wifi areas etc...like the bathroom of the hotel for instance. its 515 am in cali and my body sez its 715. i am pretty amped up right now...sleep is good but i have had plenty while the other guys have driver over 30 hours in 2 days...they are beat.

today...we have to get raam materials, groceries, get a 20 mile light spin in, get ready to receive brett, brad, jim, terry and jeff, get the zipp wheels ready on the bikes, the list gets longer the more I think about it so I will stop thinking right now.

the chemistry is good, we are all firing on all cylinders, focus is strong and I miss my family - I love you! I got to call home last night to sing my secret tuck in song with maria...we are still on the "here comes US uncle Sam" song...sorry, I cant sing it for you...only the kids!

enjoy your day. it seems we have total web access as we get ready. we can upload and download pics from phones/cameras etc... i love technology

more to come today from sunny and expensive california

ac

ha! del Team Strong Heart and their new sponsor...we can gass them out on the race!

note the bike.. 2dayz late

day one of redefining adventure

rollin' in 5.0 with the rag top down so my hair can flow.....okay so maybe its a ford focus and a hard top but you cant beat huntington beach today. i arrived in long beach after a lay over in salt lake city to fing the cannondale is still in no-mans land (it arrived at 630 pm to cali) and i "should get it wed. seeing that i dont want to drive all up and down the coast with a rental car, ill wait. trever and his CRAZY (normal) family has put me up in there home and i am thankful! if i can repay you guys-let me know what i can do.

in my down time here, i had read the raam rules many times, placed many calls checking on MN crew driving, had sushi for the first time (i like steak and burgers better) and talked about camp odayin, training, goals, the struggle and the impeding joy of our hard work...it will be there and it would not have come this far without all of you.
so...tomorrow is a crazy new day filled with more of the same bits - simple joy.

so this is long beach...

team strong heart BMX team

peter this past weekend...killin time at the airport.

team strong heart CX division

maria...lol...typical!

flight 2 cali...waiting for the plane.

good luck charms from Taylor and Nina....check!

raam van 09

raam09 picking up the rental van. steve,andy, madonna and ryan

TSH NEW RIG!

heading father hennepin parade taking tandem solo to represent tsh!

thursday night ride...

headed out for an easy ride which turned out to be an interval ride. broke off to get back to the shop early so that i could finalize the issues with the raam golden boy 928. minor issues with the d-rail hanger. 90% of the group did the monticello route and John, Dave and myself went through Albertville and did a good mix of easy/hard efforts...nothing to blow the legs up...super great weather for sure!

in the parade tonight - i think - see ya in CALI soon!


ac

subject text....

trial text...

packing for RAAM. gotta keep it simple.

vid from phone test

pete....cub scouts a few weeks ago. the kid is a crack shot!

test run here to find out how much text i can add to a pic upload from my moblie phone. this will be my uplink to the outer world on raam. we are trying to figure out the best solution for uplin here....hmmmm....any ideas? ok...this is about 250 char of 1000 available

the last....more than normal effort ride

Staying true to my "training plan", I opted to head out on this calm, overcast and cool-humid evening with the tuesday night crew. We had a full plate of regulars and everyone seemed itchy to put some efforts down on the road. Let's see...Melinda, Amy, Madonna, Holly, B-train, Willpower, Jorge of Mexico and myself (did I miss anyone?)...I am pretty sure it was eight.

We headed out without a real game plan and then in Fletcher we decided on Neilorator - its a great ride full of a mix of many things - signs, hills, well placed stops, clean roads (st. michael is a bit messy) and of course the rollers on 144. Lots of talk about RAAM, training, plans etc....and then of course the lead outs from Melinda, Amy, Bernie, Willpower - heck, everyone was itchin to pull some big efforts - A big kudo's to Holly for pulling double duty on a big ride last night and then tonight as well!

Great to see everyone tonight and my hats off to a well done, hard effort ride - it will be my last for a week or so....time to connect with the family prior to lift-off. Enjoy the week...the rest of my rides will be light, with the kids and on my single speed in the dirt.

My bike was boxed up today and awaits shipping orders to CA. Have a safe trip blue!

ac

RAAM Group Ride from AMY's...

Great ride - Amy said it all on the email...Quang had all the pics with video...these are the ones I pulled..

the ride

Had a cold for the past 4 days...no riding...work has been busy and lots to do prior to RAAM so the time was well spent. Headed out with 6 west of town (Dan, Jorge, Me, Pat, Steve and Jeff). I hope you all had a chance to ride on this perfect day. Dan, Jorge and Steve opted to ride the 144 and the rest of us headed to Albertville. Great weather and Pat did a great job laying the hammer on the hills. Mostly just chatted about Raam, mariage, kids, weddings, funny stories and the like - calm and steady.