The Race Across America (RAAM) is one of the most challenging and rewarding races in the world. It’s something that many cyclists aspire to achieve and I know it’s on the mind of at least a few of you right now.
This photo from last year’s Race Across America is one of my favorite cycling photos ever. Not only did I have to share it with all of you, I wanted to let you know more about the photographer, location, and rider pictured in it as well. It’s a beautiful cycling photo, but just might serve as motivation for you as well.
Dex Tooke in Monument Valley RAAM 2011 – Photo by Dan Joder
This is a classic image of RAAM–the solo rider climbing a long grade in the spectacular Monument Valley. Although there was almost no traffic in the area, there were two or three cars on the road in the far distance as Dex approached my lens–I had hoped to have a completely clear highway to emphasize the feeling of emptiness and space. The clone tool in Photoshop took care of the motor vehicle problem and turned the image into what I felt and saw when I was there. I also experimented with various versions of this image from B&W to different special effects as Dex was, at one time, considering the image for the cover of his book.
Dan Joder
Although Dan has spent the past 25 years of his life as a Cat 3 (and presently a Masters) bike racer, he doesn’t consider his photography to be focused on cycling. Generally his photos are of nature, landscapes, and streets. But when he crewed for his friend, Dex Tooke, in the 2011 Race Across America that all changed.
During last year’s RAAM, Dan’s official job was taking a shift as one of the “Navigators” in the follow van, but whenever his hands were free, he was shooting photos of Dex and the scenery around him.
Going coast to coast at 15mph is a great way to see the country! If you don’t know much about RAAM though, rest assured, it is most certainly the Mt. Everest of competitive ultra cycling. For these riders, the competition is much more an internal, psychological affair than a battle against one another. All, from the fastest to the slowest, deal with fatigue, saddle sores, hallucinations, sleep deprivation, wind, hail, heat, traffic, crew conflicts, navigation errors, mechanical issues and more in their 3000-mile crossing of America.
If you get a chance to crew for a RAAM rider–DO IT!
– Dan Joder
Dex Tooke:
Last year, Dex Tooke was on his second attempt to tame the Beast that is RAAM. You could say he had some “unfinished business” (his slogan and the likely title of his upcoming book) because, in 2010, he was forced to withdraw just 180 miles short of the finish line in Annapolis. In 2011, he was successful, crossing the finish less than three hours before the time cut-off. By doing so, he became just the sixth rider over 60 years of age to complete the event. To put this in even greater perspective, ten times more people have climbed Mt. Everest than have successfully finished RAAM as a solo racer.
With the National Road Series for Women being open to E/1/2/3 only, with no room at the inn for 4th category riders, British Cycling are working hard to engage with women who are new to bike racing. From the circuit races that are being held at Saltaire, Lancaster, to the training sessions held at Tameside Cycling Circuit, which are complimented with the Tameside Season Starter races at the same circuit, British Cycling are obviously keen to develop women’s riding skills, which Jenny Gretton, North West Regional Event Officer, has been working hard to promote.
You may be forgiven for thinking that these events are just happening in the North West, however this is not the case. There are events across the country, from the North East, to the Midlands, to London and the South West. The purpose of these events is to get women used to riding in a bunch, on closed circuits, where it is safe to learn, without the added fear of some random motorist driving headlong into the bunch, which happened last year on one of the National Road Race Series races.
The majority of these events seem to be in March and April, though, which leaves a gap for the rest of the season. Hopefully, the theory is that the women riding these events will pick up sufficient points to become fledgling third category riders, who are then able to ride the National Road Series.
For those of you who are keen to get on the road though, as opposed to closed circuit races, the Team Series events may be just what you are looking for. These events are put on with the idea of promoting women’s racing, without putting anybody off, so the courses are not necessarily too difficult, more “manageable”. Their popularity has grown over the years, with more and more women entering them – the Bedford 2 Day being one of the most coveted wins in the Series!
But don’t despair if you are looking for an event that caters for everybody later on in the year! That is where Andrew Parker, South West Regional Events Officer at British Cycling can help you. He is organising a three stage, one day event on 15 July 2012 for women, and he is encouraging women who aren’t members of BC to come along and have a go, with the idea that the South West Road Race Work Group will cover the cost of a day licence.
Andrew’s reasoning for the event is as follows: “I think a lot of women’s events tend to be shoehorned into a busy day’s racing and the competitors aren’t given the recognition they are due. I thought it would be good to have a dedicated days racing which can showcase the sport. The format is based on an omnium, with points awarded for each stages placings instead of time, the overall winner will have the least amount of points. I’m hoping that it will be really successful and not only encourage more local women to take up racing but also draw in riders from outside the region.”
The event will include a time trial, handicap road race and a circuit race, and you won’t need to worry about staying over as it is all done on the same day. If you would like any more information, please contact Andrew on [email protected]
So there’s even less excuses to ride a stage race now – you don’t even need a racing licence! What more could you need? Get your entries in, it is bound to be popular!
After the success of the previous camp, I had high expectations for our second camp of the year and it didn’t disappoint. It was my first time meeting the 3 new international additions to the team for 2012; Ben Grenda, Rich Lang and Chris Jennings. The 3 guys fitted into the team immediately – probably helped by the ‘Twitter banter’ which started before we’d even met the guys and has kept everyone entertained both at home and whilst together on camp. Our stay in Benidorm was scheduled by the boss to get us race fit, just before we kick start our racing season. The harder efforts were a bit of a shock to the system, in contrary to the laid back steady riding I had become accustomed to over the winter and whilst out in Lanzarote. This time around I wasn’t nervous about the camp, but I had a small amount of doubt at the back of my mind about how I was going to perform after training was interrupted when the UK skies decided to snow. I’m writing this now about 10,000 feet up in the air, wedged into my Ryanair seat (thankfully I’m on the shorter side so I have some leg room, unlike a few of my longer team mates), flying towards London Stansted (or knowing Ryanair, somewhere within a 50 mile radius) in preparation for our team launch at Sharp HQ. Our mechanics and soigneurs are currently driving north through Spain heading towards the French border. With our bikes being driven back home, it means each of us only has to worry about getting our suitcases and a pair of sore and heavy legs back home to the UK, sometimes easier said than done.
With a total of 9 training days, the camp was split up into two four day blocks with one rest day. This alone was going to make the camp harder, and with the added bonus of specific TT, hill and leadout efforts it was destined to produce; aching legs, stiff backs and tired bodies. Along with the different style of training, we had our team nutritionist Mayur over for a few days, examining our meals and checking our skinfolds – which always brings competitiveness from everybody. We’ve decided that Luke has to be removed from the competition as he puts us all to shame! The presence of an all you can eat buffet meant that Mayur was definitely necessary to keep us in shape and to make sure we were getting the most of what we were putting into our bodies. The combination of Mayur’s advice at the dinner table and the support from Science In Sport, every rider has got through the tough camp without picking up any illnesses and we’ve all seen the ever welcome improvements in our skin folds.
The setup in Benidorm was different to the self-catering apartments we had out in Lanzarote. We had smaller rooms with 2-3 people in each, which I think suited this type of camp a lot better. There was also the huge bonus of having free wifi in every room. Having access to wifi always make for a more relaxing stay – the ability to lie in bed, flicking about the interweb after a hard days riding is priceless. This time around I was rooming with Mr Deano Downing. I learnt a lot throughout the week just from chatting to Dean about the upcoming season, and the expectations this team has. All of the talk of racing throughout the week, has every rider on the team chomping at the bit and super excited about pinning our first set of race numbers on the back of our Rapha Condor Sharp jerseys.
Along with the other stuff going on, we had the Rapha film competition winner Andrew with us for the duration of the camp. He’s producing a short film of the team, which will show the ins and outs of a Rapha Condor Sharp training camp. After seeing some of the shots he’s picked up over the week, I can’t wait to the see the finished product. A few of the days involved Andrew filming out the back of the Skoda team car with the boot open, whilst we chased him down one of the particularly fast and windy descents. All good fun!
Training throughout the week was kept simple and we made sure we got some essential race prep work done. I won’t bore you with the specifics but as I said earlier we worked on a 4 days on, 1 day off schedule. The first 3 days were each between 90-100km, with the first day working on TT efforts, the second day working on threshold hill efforts, the third day – my favourite of the block – was leadout/sprint day and finally we ended with a steady endurance day. We each worked on our efforts individually as it was clear from the beginning of the camp that we are all different in our abilities in certain areas – as expected with our age gaps and variety of different types of riders. The steady (sometimes not so steady for me when the Aussies got to the front) endurance day took us on a nice loop around the surrounding mountains, allowing us to clock up 160km in 5:30 hours with 3000m of climbing. Each ride was always a good laugh and with a few coveted ‘Strava segment sprints’ being contested there was always a good flow of conversation between everyone – saying that I was communicating considerably less on some of the climbs… not out of choice.
All in all, another highly successful camp. All of us are buzzing for the start of the 2012 racing season and judging by the way a lot of the guys were riding it won’t be long until we have a few wins under our belts either.
It appears the Olympic Test Event; the UCI Track World Cup Final Round was a great success. There were supposedly minor grumbles from cyclists track centre who would have preferred not to have to trek so far for toilet facilities but everything else seems to have had the thumbs up. It seems the venue has been embraced by the majority of the cycling community in attendance. The track and closely controlled temperature seem to have enabled the athletes to achieve some very fast times with a number of new world records being set.
Team GB came out fighting providing a haul of medals and encouragingly for Team GB they are in areas that will count come the London Olympics. The international cyclists seemed to treat the event as a mini Olympics or World Championships. The times are looking very close amongst the top teams. In the men’s sprinting the German team looked to have breadth and depth, the French and Australian’s too were looking on course for a peak later in the season. The Women’s GB endurance riders seem to be on top form with only minor tinkering needed before the major events of the season. The Men’s endurance team look like they need a little more work but they had a great result (taking silver) with admittedly less time than they would have liked to train together, but they will no doubt be addressing that in the coming months. They seemed very relaxed and happy with their performance so I think we can expect more.
I can’t wait to see the cream of the worlds track cyclists battle it out in Australia for the World Championships, it’s going to be a wonderful summer of competitive cycling. Track cycling is in rude health and it’s a great example to other sports particularly for the camaraderie and respect between teams.
Bring on the World Champs!
RESULTS
MEN’S TEAM PURSUIT
1 AUS Australia 3:54.615
BOBRIDGE Jack
DENNIS Rohan
EDMONDSON Alexander
HEPBURN Michael
2 GBR Great Britain 3:56.330
BURKE Steven
CLANCY Edward
KENNAUGH Peter
THOMAS Geraint
3 NZL New Zealand 3:59.242
BEWLEY Sam
GATE Aaron
GOUGH Westley
RYAN Marc
4 BEL Belgium
DE POORTERE Ingmar
CORNU Dominique
DE KETELE Kenny
DUFRASNE Jonathan
5 RUS Russia
6 NED Netherlands
7 COL Colombia
8 LOK LOKOSPHINX
9 CHI Chile
10 DEN Denmark
Final World Cup Standings
1 AUSTRALIA AUS 42pts
2 NEW ZEALAND NZL 28pts
3 RUSVELO RVL 24pts
4 GREAT BRITAIN GBR 17pts
5 BELGIUM BEL 17pts
6 DENMARK DEN 16pts
7 NETHERLANDS NED 16pts
8 GERMANY GER 14pts
9 COLOMBIA COL 11pts
10 LOKOSPHINX LOK 11pts
MEN’S SPRINT 200m TT
1 HOY Chris GBR 9.932
2 SIREAU Kevin FRA 10.026
3 LEVY Maximilian GER 10.096
4 FÖRSTEMANN Robert GER 10.144
5 NJISANE Phillip TRI 10.148
6 KENNY Jason GBR 10.153
7 PERKINS Shane AUS 10.162
8 BAUGE Gregory FRA 10.217
9 BOTTICHER Stefan ERD 10.218
10 CRAMPTON Matthew SKY 10.234
11 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS 10.250
12 WATANABE Kazunari JPN 10.257
13 DAWKINS Edward NZL 10.272
14 ZHANG Miao CHN 10.277
15 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL 10.278
16 NAKAGAWA Seiichiro JPN 10.279
1/8 Finals Heat 1
1 HOY Chris GBR 10.526
2 NAKAGAWA Seiichiro JPN Heat 2
1 SIREAU Kevin FRA 10.466
2 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL Heat 3
1 LEVY Maximilian GER 10.685
2 ZHANG Miao CHN Heat 4
1 FÖRSTEMANN Robert GER 10.695
2 DAWKINS Edward NZL Heat 5
1 WATANABE Kazunari JPN 10.538
2 NJISANE Phillip TRI Heat 6
1 KENNY Jason GBR 10.476
2 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS Heat 7
1 CRAMPTON Matthew SKY 11.517
2 PERKINS Shane AUS REL Heat 8
1 BAUGE Gregory FRA 10.577
2 BOTTICHER Stefan ERD
5th to 8th Final
5 KENNY Jason GBR 10.848
6 CRAMPTON Matthew SKY
7 WATANABE Kazunari JPN
8 BAUGE Gregory FRA
1/4 Finals
Heat 1 HOY Chris GBR beat BAUGE Gregory FRA 2-1
Heat 2 SIREAU Kevin FRA beat CRAMPTON Matthew SKY 2-0
Heat 3 LEVY Maximilian GER beat KENNY Jason GBR 2-0
Heat 4 FÖRSTEMANN Robert GER beat WATANABE Kazunari JPN 2-0 Semi Finals
Semi 1 HOY Chris GBR 10.293 beats FÖRSTEMANN Robert GER 2-0
Semi 2 LEVY Maximilian GER beats SIREAU Kevin FRA 2-0 Finals
GOLD HOY Chris GBR beats LEVY Maximillian 2-0
BRONZE FORSTEMANN Robert GER beat SIREAU Kevin FRA 2-1
Final World Cup Standings
1 HOY Chris SKY 24pts
2 LEVY Maximilian GER 20pts
3 DMITRIEV Denis MTT 18pts
4 FORSTEMANN Robert ERD 15pts
5 NJISANE Phillip TRI 14pts
6 CONORD Charlie FRA 12pts
7 BOTTICHER Stefan ERD 12pts
8 SIREAU Kevin FRA 12pts
9 ZHANG Lei CHN 10pts
10 ENDERS Rene GER 9pts
11 CRAMPTON Matthew GBR 9pts
16 KENNY Jason GBR 7pts
WOMEN’S KEIRIN 1st Round (first rider to 1/4 finals, rest to repechage)
Heat 1
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
2 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS
3 PENDLETON Victoria GBR
4 BREZHNIVA Elena PHL
5 HIJGENAAR Yvonne NED
6 LEE Eunji KOR
7 DIEZ Alba CAT Heat 2
1 JUNHONG Lin GPC
2 GNIDENKO Ekaterina PHL
3 CASAS ROIGE Helena ESP
4 MUSTAPA Fatehah YSD
5 HANSEN Natasha NZL
6 VILERA Mariesthela VEN
7 ALANGO Monika EST Heat 3
1 VOGEL Kristina GER
2 JANKUTE Gabriele LTU
3 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana COL
4 MEARES Anna AUS
5 VOYNOVA Anastasiya RUS
6 KANIS Willy NED
7 EL BUSTO ARTEAGA Ainara NAV Heat 4
1 VARNISH Jess GBR
2 LARREAL Daniela VEN
3 GODBY Madalyn USA
4 WELTE Miriam GER
5 ISHII Hiroko JPN
6 STRELTSOVA Olga MTT
7 DYLKO Alena BLR Heat 5
1 SANCHEZ Clara FRA
2 ZHONG Tianshi GPC
3 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra CUB
4 LOHVINAVA Maryia BLR
5 WALKER Cristin USA
6 HUANG Ting Ying TPE Heat 6
1 LEE Wai Sze HKG
2 GUO Shuang CHN
3 LEE Hyejin KOR
4 BARANOVA Viktoria RUS
5 CALVO BARBERO Tania ESP
6 SCHOFIELD Katie NZL 1st Round Repechage (first two progress to 1/4 final) Heat 1
1 SULLIVAN Monique CAN
2 KANIS Willy NED
3 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS
4 LEE Hyejin KOR
5 LOHVINAVA Maryia BLR
6 ISHII Hiroko JPN Heat 2
1 PENDLETON Victoria GBR
2 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR
3 BARANOVA Viktoria RUS
4 WALKER Cristin USA
5 STRELTSOVA Olga MTT
6 GNIDENKO Ekaterina PHL
7 EL BUSTO ARTEAGA Ainara NAV Heat 3
1 CALVO BARBERO Tania ESP
2 JANKUTE Gabriele LTU
3 BREZHNIVA Elena PHL
4 CASAS ROIGE Helena ESP
5 HUANG Ting Ying TPE
6 MAEDA Kayono JPN
7 DYLKO Alena BLR Heat 4
1 LARREAL Daniela VEN
2 SCHOFIELD Katie NZL
3 RIBEIRO Sumaia BRA
4 MUSTAPA Fatehah YSD
5 HIJGENAAR Yvonne NED
6 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana COL Heat 5
1 MEARES Anna AUS
2 ZHONG Tianshi GPC
3 HANSEN Natasha NZL
4 GARCIA Diana Maria COL
5 LEE Eunji KOR
6 GODBY Madalyn USA Heat 6
1 GUO Shuang CHN
2 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra CUB
3 WELTE Miriam GER
4 VILERA Mariesthela VEN
5 VOYNOVA Anastasiya RUS
6 DIEZ Alba CAT 1/4 Finals (first two to semis, rest to 1/4 final repechage) Heat 1
1 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR
2 MEARES Anna AUS
3 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
4 KANIS Willy NED
5 CLAIR Sandie FRA
6 GUO Shuang CHN
7 212 LEE Wai Sze HKG Heat 2
1 SANCHEZ Clara FRA
2 SULLIVAN Monique CAN
3 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra CUB
4 JUNHONG Lin GPC
5 JANKUTE Gabriele LTU
6 LARREAL Daniela VEN Heat 3
1 PENDLETON Victoria GBR
2 VARNISH Jess GBR
3 SCHOFIELD Katie NZL
4 ZHONG Tianshi GPC
5 VOGEL Kristina GER REL
CALVO BARBERO Tania ESP DNS
Semi Finals Heat 1
1 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR
2 GUO Shuang CHN
3 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
4 VARNISH Jess GBR
5 SULLIVAN Monique CAN
6 JUNHONG Lin GPC Heat 2
1 PENDLETON Victoria GBR
2 MEARES Anna AUS
3 LEE Wai Sze HKG
4 SANCHEZ Clara FRA
5 CLAIR Sandie FRA
6 KANIS Willy NED
Finals Final 1-6
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
2 LEE Wai Sze HKG
3 GUO Shuang CHN
4 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR
5 PENDLETON Victoria GBR
6 MEARES Anna AUS Final 7-12
7 SANCHEZ Clara FRA
8 JUNHONG Lin GPC
9 KANIS Willy NED
10 CLAIR Sandie FRA
11 SULLIVAN Monique CAN
12 VARNISH Jess GBR
Final World Cup Standings
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU 38pts
2 GNIDENKO Ekaterina RUS 21pts
3 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR 21pts
4 GUO Shuang CHN 20pts
5 VOGEL Kristina GER 20pts
6 SANCHEZ Clara FRA 16pts
7 LEE Wai Sze HKG 10pts
8 MEARES Anna AUS 10pts
9 LARREAL Daniela VEN 8pts
10 CUEFF Virginie FRA 8pts
11 PENDLETON Victoria GBR 6pts
25 JAMES Rebecca GBR 2pts
WOMEN’S OMNIUM Individual Pursuit
1 WHITTEN Tara CAN 3:31.604
2 TROTT Laura GBR 3:35.388
3 HAMMER Sarah USA 3:38.553
4 WILD Kirsten NED 3:40.992
5 EDMONDSON Annette AUS 3:41.357
6 GALYUK Svitlana UKR 3:41.536
7 KIESANOWSKI Joanne NZL 3:41.887
8 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 3:41.973
9 HUANG Li CHN 3:42.970
10 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire ESP 3:43.586
Omnium Scratch
1 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR
2 HAMMER Sarah USA -1lap
3 HUANG Li CHN -1lap
4 D’HOORE Jolien BEL -1lap
5 KIESANOWSKI Joanne NZL -1lap
6 EDMONDSON Annette AUS -1lap
7 WILD Kirsten NED -1lap
8 JEULAND Pascale FRA -1lap
9 TROTT Laura GBR -1lap
10 ROMANYUTA Evgenia RVL -1lap
500m TT
1 TROTT Laura GBR 35.642
2 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 35.645
3 EDMONDSON Annette AUS 35.718
4 WHITTEN Tara CAN 35.805
5 HAMMER Sarah USA 36.288
6 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 36.420
7 LEE Min Hye KOR 36.579
8 HUANG Li CHN 36.583
9 D’HOORE Jolien BEL 36.638
10 KIESANOWSKI Joanne NZL 36.752
Final Omnium Standings
GOLD HAMMER Sarah USA 30pts
SILVER EDMONDSON Annette AUS 30pts
BRONZE TROTT Laura GBR 32pts
4 WHITTEN Tara CAN 34pts
5 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 41pts
6 WILD Kirsten NED 45pts
7 HUANG Li CHN 55pts
8 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 57pts
9 D’HOORE Jolien BEL 58pts
10 KIESANOWSKI Joanne NZL 62pts
Final World Cup Standings
1 HUANG Li CHN 28pts
2 HAMMER Sarah USA 24pts
3 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya RVL 24pts
4 WHITTEN Tara CAN 17pts
5 TROTT Laura GBR 16pts
6 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 15pts
7 WOJTYRA Malgorzata POL 12pts
8 WILD Kirsten NED 11pts
9 EDMONDSON Annette AUS 10pts
10 KING Dani GBR 10pts
I have ridden my bike since I was 14 years old. I was on the National Development Squad in the late 1990s, and won many medals at the BUSC championships whilst I was a student at the University of Manchester, mainly in the Track Championships and Hill Climb Championships. I also won the Manchester Regional Track League (Premier Division) on a number of occasions, as well as the Manchester & District Ladies Junior Time Trial Championships. I stopped racing in 2001 after I finished university and started to work full time as I struggled to manage the full days with training on top.
I decided to start racing again in 2011 after I was asked to join VC St Raphael. I was suffering from chronic fatigue on top of the epilepsy that I have always suffered from and I found it difficult to train whilst still working full time. However, I took the decision to swap medication (which I had been on since I was 18) and on Christmas Eve I came off the old medication completely – 15 years is a long time to be on any medication. Since being on the new medication, the chronic fatigue symptoms have lessened and my epilepsy remains under control (touch wood!). I have started training properly again and I am feeling stronger than ever before.
In 2013, I will be riding and managing a women’s team for Biketreks Racing Academy.
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Dex Tooke:
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