CONGRATULATIONS TEAM RANS - 1ST

Team RANS, riding recumbent bicycles crossed the line at 9:05pm. They rode for 6 days, 3 hours and 40 minutes and over the 3021 mile journey averaged speeds of 20.46mph.

Team Captain Tim Woudenberg from Moss Beach, California. Glenn Druery, Rick Ashabranner, Karta Purkh Atehortua-Kahlsa all worked well together.

The charity they rode for was “Challenged Athlete Foundation.” More than eighty five cents of every dollar raised by CAF provides funding and programs that get challenged athletes into the game. Whether it’s a $2,500 handcycle, helping underwrite an Ossur carbon fiber running foot not covered by insurance or arranging enthusiastic encouragement from a mentor who has triumphed over a similar injury, CAF’s mission is clear: give those with the desire to live active, competitive lifestyles every opportunity to compete in the sports they love. At the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China 46 of the participating U.S. athletes (21 percent) were supported by CAF.

During the race, they all enjoyed themselves. They kept in good spirits. The only real problems that occurred during the race was a little bit of disorganization. Who’s going to sleep, whos getting the groceries and all that, but that’s RAAM. Everyone’s getting along for the most part.

What goals do we have for RAAM this year? The answer is simple – to win the four-man recumbent category, and to set a new record doing it.

Well, Rans unfortunately did not set the record but they did ride well together and finished the race in an excellent time.

Well done Rans!

Tales From The Cheer Squad- The Most Comfortable Seat on the Road

BORROWED FROM THE ROAD

We caught up to Team RANS in Illinois (why we haven't posted before now is a long uninteresting story). It's rather hard to keep up with them at 25 mph. We encountered Rick Ashabranner (of solo RAAM fame) pedaling like a madman. Fast as he was going, he managed to pick it up a bit after some cheerign. A little farther up the road was Tim Woudenberg (2004-2007 Team RAAM) waiting for the RV to arrive so he could shower and sleep. Tim was cheerful as usual and quite glad to see the cheer squad (Adrienne crewed for Tim on Volae Wolfpack in 2006). Glenn Druery (2005 and 2007 Team RAAM) climbed out of the RV once it arrived to report that the race was going quite well. Karta Atehortua (Team RAAM 2005) also told us the race is going well. Team RANS should be finishing later today (Friday). Highest on the excitement scale was Adrienne getting to hug RANS crew chief, Sandy Earl (aka Fast Sandy). All looked quite tired, as one should look in Illinois, but rather happier to hear that Effingham High School had the showers open. RANS is and has been leading the 4man race for two days. Their nearest competitor is over 100 miles back. The very best part about Team RANS is that they're so darned comfortable on the bikes. Recumbents allow the riders to ride with nothing but sore legs. No neck pain, no hand pain, no butt pain. A pretty good thing for a 3,000 mile bike race. As an former upright riders, turned bent riders, Mandy and Adrienne can tell you that nothing in life could make us do more than 50 miles on an upright anymore... and thanks to the gang at Bentrideronline for the picture!

From the media team - catching RANS

these guys are flying still. The speeds these guys have been carrying is unbelievable. It is hard to imagine but we often have to drive for hours to get up to them. When they left the time station, our media time "sprinted" to the car hoped in and drove down to get some footage. In 5 minutes we thought we lost them. We couldn't believe they made it so far within 5 minutes!!!

Team RANS rides again

Your blogger has been preoccupied. While he has been hiding, Tim and Glenn have been hard at work getting Team RANS into the 2009 version of RAAM. This is a 4-man team riding RANS recumbents. New team members are Karta Atehotua and Rick Ashabranner. The new members are no strangers to RAAM - Rick rode solo in 2003 and Karta rode in 2005.

On the road, the team is well into Ohio and are leading the 4-man teams and have only two 8-man teams ahead of them. For this blogger this is a poignant point in the race, as this is where Glenn had to pull out in 2007 leaving Tim to finish solo. Latest info from the team says they are running well and should win at this pace.

Team RANS disbanded

Been a bit busy to do the updates. Late in February, Glenn Druery was forced to withdraw from the team on account of slow recovery from the knee injury he sustained during RAAM 2007. The main sponsor chose to withdraw on this account.

I understand that Tim Woudenberg will do a 1,000 miles of RAAM with Richard Philabaum as his crew.

Talk is now switching to 2009 with another 4 man team taking shape. It seems that 2009 could be a big year for recumbent racing with Bacchetta and Volae indicating willingness to compete. let's hope.

Meanwhile we shift our eyes to supporting John Schlitter in his attempt to be the first solo recumbent finisher. He ahs the pedigree. We wish him the luck.

A new recumbent team for RAAM

A few hardy souls from Team Velokraft - finishers in RAAM 2007 have decided to take up the challenge for RAAM 2008.

Looks like the team will be a 4 man team - more sleep for riders and less sleep for crew - and they will ride RANS recumbents. Support will come from RANS sponsorship.

Crew is assembling with Richard Philabaum putting his hand up to be Crew Chief.

The cogs are turning and the phone lines burning as commitments are sought from riders, crew, sponsors and supporters.