Today started off with a real California breakfast: Egg sandwiches at a cafe near the beach, with a side order of triathlon and surfing magazines. In a word, breakfast was: Nice!After fueling up, we headed over to the parking lots for another day of inspections.
Today was not quite as new to me as yesterday, since I was much more familiar with what was going on, but I once again had a good time meeting and talking to many of the riders.
One of yesterday's highlights for me personally was meeting solo rider Luigi Barilari and his crew, since they are all from Italy.
One reason I especially enjoyed meeting them is that I speak some Italian, so I got to practice that language while chatting with them.Another reason I had fun with the Italians is that they all have such a great sense of humor. For instance, after they gave Jody and me a cup of "real Italian coffee," they told us that if we saw their RV on the side of the road, we should pull over to join them for some delicious pasta. When they then said, totally in jest, that they were trying to bribe us, I joked back that I didn't understand a thing they were saying. The Italians were really a fun bunch and I hope I get to chat with them some more tomorrow before the solo riders take off and/or at some point during the race.
Today's highlights included meeting defending champion Christoph Strasser (Austria) and last year's RAW (Race Across The West) winner and two-time RAAM champion Daniel Wyss (Switzerland). Since I can speak German, too, I also got to chat to those riders in their native tongues.Of course, Jody and I have to and will remain neutral, but there's nothing wrong with having a good time with the riders and crew.
In between doing inspections, Jody and I have a bit of downtime, so we occasionally relax by walking around the beach, making a phone call or two, or chatting with other race officials.
After we hit the road tomorrow, we'll have even more downtime, so we'll probably get very creative at finding ways to keep busy. That's all part of the fun of RAAM, however.
Just before noon today, the four solo women and three master's men assembled near the starting line for the start of the race. There were lots of fans to greet them, along with several members of the media.At almost exactly noon, the first rider, Swiss female Trix Zgraggen, took off from the starting line and the 2012 edition of RAAM officially got under way. The rest of the riders took off in 30-second intervals.
As of the moment I am typing this, all of the riders except for Sergey Zimin have reached Time Station 2, which is 145.24 miles out. Sergey has only reached Time Station 1, which is only 56.84 miles out, probably because there was so much climbing involved and climbing is much more slow-going on his recumbent bike than it is on a road bike. I certainly hope Sergey makes it all the way across the country, but it's not looking very good for him at the moment. Unless he makes up a lot of ground quickly, he's at risk of being disqualified.
On another note, one of the things that struck me most about the vehicles involved in RAAM is that the crew vehicles are totally decked out with sponsor logos, whereas the official RAAM van and all of the vehicles driven by race officials have zero sponsor logos.As well as the race is organized and as popular as it remains among riders, it appears to me that the marketing end of the race still needs a lot of work.
I imagine, for example, that there must be a ton of sponsors out there who would be willing to donate vehicles, hotel rooms, and gas money for the officials to use during the race, as well as flights for us to get back home (or to the race in the first place).
I also think the RAAM field could be greatly expanded by adding an "amateur" division, which would, among other things, allow riders to finish in, say, 20 days, rather than the 12 they currently have.
See you next time, most likely from a new location as we make our way along the route!
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