RideNFor a Reason

Before we get too busy, and back into our routines, I would like to take a minute to thank each one of you for your contributions to our team and our efforts to get 4 men across the country on bikes. Our journey was not only to finish the race, but to raise awareness of NF and provide hope to all those in need. I think at some point, we all had the opportunity to talk to a stranger about what we were doing – and even received some donations along the way. Your passion is contagious – and evident in the number of strangers that signed onto our blog and posted comments. Also – I would like to offer a special thanks and observations about our team:

To all the young people that joined our team this year. You all are amazing! Something that became most evident to me along the way is that the future of NF Research is in good hands with this next generation. Dylan, you are an amazing young man, and we are blessed beyond measure that you offered your gifts and talents to our team. The blog, videos, pictures, navigation, and over all great attitude were incredible. Taylor & Ari – it was a blessing to see you all so eager to help your dad as well as your unending dedication to the team’s needs. Thank you for your quick yes! to anything that was asked of you. Katie – it was such a gift to have you on our team and watch you help your dad (and team). We hope that your birthday was a blessing. Good job driving and overall great attitude. Hannah – what can I say? Your blonde jokes sure kept the guys mind off the climbs they often faced. We appreciate your energy, laughs, songs, and dedication to a team of which you had no direct touch to…other than through friendship. We hope you know how grateful we are and that you now have no choice…you are a part of the NF family (and Oslica family too).

To the ‘other’ generation of crew members, thank you as well! Your dedication to the team, the riders, the children we are trying to help is a gift that we will never forget. The journey was long and hard – but we made it through by never allowing the difficulties to outweigh the goal. From the mixing of perpetuum to the making of sandwiches, you all kept it together and enabled the men to finish. Jamma and David – a special thanks to getting the Markland van to California (the traveling taj mahal was a great addition to the team), and thank you for your flexibility on the various crew changes. Special kudos to Jamma and all the laundry you helped with! Jason, thank you for joining us on the 3rd?4th? day. Your new energy certainly brought life to the team when we needed it most. Jill – thank you for your dedication and unyielding support to the Children’s Tumor Foundation and our RideNFor A Reason team! It was a blessing to share the last 24 hours with you as we shared the experience of pride that we have for our husbands, and teammates of riders. Watching them get to the finish line was certainly a memory that will last a lifetime. Thank you for sharing your family blog site as well. Your dedication to other parents dealing with NF is an amazing gift of hope for parents. Evelyn, Thank you for the sacrifices you and CB gave to join our team. When friends like you join us and don’t have ‘skin in the game’ (as Steve would say) – not having a child with NF, it’s an awesome reminder of the good things that come out of the hardships of NF. You did a great job of driving and I was blessed to know Connie was in good hands when I wasn’t able to be out there. Andy, Slider-Shafer…our co-crew chief extraordinaire! Thank you for stepping into help with whatever tasks were needed. From driving the RV to dumping the RV. We could not have made it without your help! Your calm demeanor, your patience, ability to talk to others and listen, were certainly gifts we needed to help our team finish the task at hand. We hope you know how grateful for the sacrifice of time and family that you made to join us on this journey. You are a true gem, and we are blessed beyond measure that you were with us. Please thank Amy for sharing you with us too! I know it must have been difficult for her to be without you for 9 days.

To our Riders:

CB – the nutcracker, or chipmunk chaser… Thank you for your dedication to our team and hanging in there when times were really tough. I can’t imagine how it must have felt to keep riding after the RAAM prostate exam…but I hear it must be a true test of courage, endurance. Thank you for giving it your all! And, thank you for the endless interviews back home. Even though you say you are not a good speaker – every time I hear you talk about the kids and why you do this, it brings me to tears. And thank you for what is possibly the funniest RAAM memory I’m left with…the chipmunk. You’re a great sport! Thanks for sharing the laughs along with the tears.

Rodney – we are grateful that you were able to step in and fill the last spot on the team. Thank you for joining us on the journey and giving 110%. It’s evident that your passion drives your efforts and we are grateful to have been able to join you and Jill on the journey. Thank you for the preparation, time, & research that you put into having the van ready as a second follow vehicle! You did a great job having it ready to go – and Connie was blessed to be able to ride in the Taj Mahal those 3,000 miles. Thanks for the memory of the sprint finish (including the red lights, lol) …it was great to see you in action. Love that boxing style you have on the bike and the energy you brought to the race.

Steve – the GOAT, happy SAK, Kendra. I thought Happy SAK would last forever as a nickname…but it seems you have a new one now…the GOAT. What an awesome job you did training and getting ready for this year. Your climbing ability was an awesome sight to behold, and we are so thankful that you decided to stick with our team after the rough year you’ve had. We will also be eternally grateful for the many years of service that you’ve given NFE, and the research that you’ve helped fund through that program. It’s always been MORE than a program to us…it’s been family. That doesn’t change with whatever new endeavors you take on. You’ve help change our lives – and for that – we are grateful.

Connie – the rock…maybe not the team rock? I can’t speak for everyone else…but my ROCK. The year of planning, fundraising, getting the RV and car ready, packing, driving an extra 3,000 to get out there & back, were all rewarded as I watched you climb & ride across the US. Those last 24 hours of being on course with you and the riders was an experience I will never forget. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and love for this team. Thank you for your dedication to training through all conditions this past year. And Thank you for being the best husband in the world (I know…the other ladies might want to debate on this…but you’re the best for me)

To all riders: Being in the car with Jill as Rodney finished the last leg “the SPRINT to the finish” and watching all the men take their last pull, is an amazing memory that will stick with me forever. Thank you for riding for this team! Thank you for sharing your passion! Thank you for the memories! You are all amazing fathers, husbands, and friends! You all did an outstanding job! We could not and would not have done it without the group effort, and the sharing of our gifts. We were all brought together for a REASON. Thank you for sharing the journey

Lesley

My daughter Taylor told me about one of her favorite quotes the other day. I’m not sure where it’s from and she’s sleeping as I write this, so my apologies to the originator.  The quote went something like, “If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy, I could have won.”

As we speak, we are in the final legs of the 2011 Race Across America.  All four racers are on the road, bearing through the last few timestations before the finish line.  The RV has jumped ahead for the last time, and friends and family are en route to Annapolis, Maryland for the celebration.  These last miles of riding are tame compared to the previous obstacles we have faced, but there is still plenty that can happen between here and the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s been a tough morning to get to the riding we are enjoying now.  We went through West Virginia, noted as having the most feet of climbing per mile.  It was not easy, forcing us to get an extra rider on the road to make up for shorter rides.  Climbing was slow and tedious, but constant.  Each climb peaked and dropped into a nice downhill, which had the racers calling dibs on who gets the next fall.  But into the rising sun we rode, with a yellow painted sky matted against a mountain range silhouette.  Once past the big mountains, the rollers continued as we weaved our way from West Virginia to Maryland to West Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylvania to Maryland to Pennsylvania and to Maryland once again. 

If you want to join us at the finish line, you can watch live online at:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/raam-2011

We are predicted to cross the finish line sometime around 10-11pm tonight (EST).

Make sure to keep checking the blog for more updates after we finish to get the whole story.  Until then, Race on!

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The finish line is in sight, just as long as we get through this next leg.  We are climbing the mountains of West Virginia, and it will take absolutely everything we have to get through to the other side.  West Virginia is the hardest part of Race Across America, as 600 foot climbs skyrocket up and plummet down just as quick.  We’ve scaled much higher elevations throughout Arizona and Colorado, but we’ve rarely had grades as steep as the ones we are facing now.

Doing shorter pulls isn’t enough for this task, so the crew has switched modes entirely.  Instead of continuing 2 shifts of 2 riders for 12 hours each, we now have all four men on the course for the first time since California.  With the extra manpower, three riders can rest while leapfrogging the one on the course.  This definitely helps, but it’s still a challenge, made only more impressive considering how much the team has been through.  After facing endless hours, headwinds, road construction, bad knees, sprained ankles, broken bikes, falls, wrong turns and more, we are still riding, now purely on the passion of our cause.

But once we past the Appalachian Mountains, it’s clear through the east coast to the waiting Atlantic.  Now that we have been on the road for a week, it’s strange to believe that this journey will soon be over.  In fact, these last five hundred miles will be over sometime late tomorrow, or early Monday morning.  Though the riding is tough right now, we are savoring every moment of it.

As we get closer to the finish line, you can help us get closer to our fundraising goal as well.  The team has raised over forty thousand dollars for the Children’s Tumor Foundation so far.  We have less than ten grand to go, but every cent will make a difference.  Donations make endeavors like RAAM have an impact far beyond the race itself, and go towards finding a cure for Neurofibromatosis. You can join our team in finding a cure by making a donation at:

http://www.active.com/donate/nfraam2011

Editors Note:

During the race, crewmember Jill Markland has been documenting the journey as well on her personal blog.  Check out her updates, photos, poems, and more at:

http://www.angels4jesse.com

Especially now since we are on the other side!

Racers Steve and Rodney crossed the Mighty Mississippi River together at day break this Friday.  The great riding throughout the heartland gave the riders just the push they needed to get through the rolling green hills of Missouri.  Luckily, those great conditions stayed with us to make one the best days of riding all race long.  In just 12 hours, we were able to ride out of Missouri, all the way through Illinois, and a good deal into Indiana.

In Missouri, we were able to meet up with Steve Kendra’s previous Crew Chief from the 2007 Race Across America, Ken Edmonds.  The team was able to grab a slice of pizza with him before he left to retrace the route of his own 1976 transcontinental bike ride (only this time on a motorcycle).  There must have been something in that pizza, because the next shift, we were able to ride out of Missouri, all the way through Illinois, and a good deal into Indiana in just 12 hours!

Riding through Illinois, we crossed some funny sounding towns that turn absolutely hysterical once you are as sleep deprived as we are.  We passed the towns of Oblong, Funkhauser, and of course, Effingham, Illinois, which is now a running joke among some of the crew.

The town names got decidedly less creative once we got to Indiana (Graysville), but waiting there was surprise better than anything we could have imagined.  We were rolling through the hometown area of teammates Jill, Jamma, and David.  When the team pulled over to get some dinner, we were greeted by a group of NF Heros, parents, and supporters of the Children’s Tumor Foundation.  Friends and family came out to cheer us on and encourage us towards the finish line.

After seeing young kids who have battled Neurofibromatosis display such strength and passion for life, our own pains and tough points throughout the race were dwarfed by comparison.  It was humbling to think that our sore bodies will recover soon after we reach Annapolis, but these children suffer much much worse for much longer than we ever will.  And they do it with smiles.  They do it with laughter.  They do it with the compassion to draw us crayon pictures before we leave.  In many ways, they are much stronger than we are.  It is for these people that we are racing.

It was hard to leave the happy celebration.  Still, we left with far more than full tummies and crayon pictures on place mats.  We left with the inspiration to finish this race.

I had such a great morning yesterday. . . at least I think it was yesterday, they are all running together. My family was crewing for me and my job was to make up some time cycling down from Trinidad Colorado towards Kansas. And it was down too. Each leg was a steady drop of a few hundred feet. The air was cool, the wind was not much, but what was there was at our backs. . .the sun had just come up and the wheat fields were seemingly ready to be harvested. They looked like a big sheet being spread on a bed. It was one of those all too rare moments when I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing what I wanted to do, with the people I wanted to be with.
RAAM has those moments, and they’re made that much better for those moments that maybe aren’t quite as good. The inclines, the heat, the cold, the hemorrhoids. . . the short tempers and demons that tend to visit us when sleep is in short supply and all available energy expended. My dreams are so real, and so strange. I’m kind of in a trance not knowing what day it is or what state I’m in. My job, is just to ride. Ride fast, and for a long time. I can do this, and I can keep those haunting demons away. This experience is so extraordinary, and I’m so happy honored and humbled to be sharing it with my daughters and Dylan this year. I welcome the demons and the flowing sheets of wheat. If this were a walk (or ride) in the park, we wouldn’t come back again and again. Participating in RAAM wouldn’t mean anything.
Being on this team means a lot to all of us. We were nearly disqualified in Durango Colorado for being late. . .we all have come together now and are riding like crazy for the Mississippi before the next deadline. I think we’re going to make it. Yesterday I wasn’t quite so confident. Life is good again and the demons can wait around til tomorrow now.

Steve (Happy Sak) Kendra

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We are past the Rockies and it is a new world!

After days of difficult mountain climbing, we finally get the fruits of that labor: Downhill! Miles of it! Everything past Tuesday’s workout has had a steady, gradual downhill for almost 400 miles! Combined with our great riders and a slight tailwind, we were able to rack up 460 miles total yesterday, and boost our average speed significantly. That makes up some great time as we race towards the Mississippi River.

If we were riding in “purple mountain’s majesty” before, we surely must have reached those “fruited plains.” Gone are the mountain switchbacks and it is straight and flat as far as the eye can see (which is pretty far, considering how straight and flat it is!). Navigation can get so simple sometimes, that the most exiting instruction we get is to “stay straight here.” It’s considered rush hour in some places if you can find another car.

The towns we’re passing are small, but the people here sure are hospitable. It seems the whole team found a good story to tell from the great state of Kansas. After rolling through a Time Station staffed by volunteers, we were able to stock up on Gatorade and fruit when they offered their remaining supplies. Furthermore, when a stranger saw one of our racers passing by, he stopped to cheer us on, and found out our reason for riding from crew member Jill Markland. He was so moved by our cause that he gave a donation to the Children’s Tumor Foundation right on the spot.

After the difficult first four days, this was a much welcomed change, and the entire team’s spirit has been renewed. In fact, we are celebrating a major accomplishment: We are halfway done! Connie and CB rode past the sidewalk-chalked mark on the road, and suddenly we’re on the better half of Race Across America. Of course, it wouldn’t be possible without the great support of the crew, and the seemingly inexhaustable dedication of the riders. Our muscles are sore and our eyes are tired, but there’s a finish line in Annapolis, and gosh darn it, we’re gonna get there!

What a challenging day today! But lots of excitement and memories too! We are pushing through the Rocky Mountains right now, crossing Utah and Colorado. The rider’s are giving it their all, climbing to altitudes well over 8000 feet.

Our team has decided to change its work cycles into two shifts of 12 hours each. We were working with 3 eight hour shifts, but hopefully the change will give a better consistency for the riders, and help to keep them well rested. Today was the first day of trying it out, so we will see how it helps, and continue with adjustments as necessary.

On those twelve hour shifts, quite a bit can happen! On the 2am-2pm shift, our crew came across wild coyotes (one “wolf”), elk, and even a skunk in the middle of the road! Rider Steve Kendra had an extra interesting ride when his pedal crankshaft fell apart on a hill, giving him a spill. Our trusty crew was on it, and Hot Rod took over as we repaired Steve’s Bike. We got him back on the road just in time for his next exchange. Our RV team also did a great job of fixing a flat tire on the motorhome at Cottonwood, AZ and getting to the riders in time for the shift change.

Riding into the morning gave us some spectacular views of Red Rock Mountains and giant rock formations along Route 66. It was quite a welcome sight after the endless, featureless prairie we had just come out of. The route is full of the most breathtaking views ever. One sight can make the long climb worth it. Well, that, and the giant downhill you get to enjoy afterwards!

Of course, words can only tell so much of the story. Watch the clip below to check out the great time we’ve been having since the starting line.

Day Two is going great so far. The team’s running on time, and making shift changes according to plan. A few team members are putting in double shifts now, and the crew that have doubles coming up are getting well rested for the 16 hour drive.

Right now the RV is waiting at Time Station 6 in Congress, Arizona, home of cacti, dead rattlesnakes, and a convenience store smaller than our RV! Some RAAM volunteers have set up a wading pool for hot riders and are offering refreshments. Cindy, operator of the close by Sierra Vista Motel, has even opened up her rooms to let us freshen up inside. There is nothing like a good warm shower to make you feel great. Next stop, Flagstaff, Arizona!

400 miles are done, but we aren’t slowing down yet. Watch the video below to see what we’re seeing from the starting line through the Rocky Mountains.

And the first RAAM Sunrise too!

Wow! What a first day! Our first two rotations are done, and our morning crew is now out again.

We started out with Connie and CB burning rubber through western California. During some downhill stretches, Connie was traveling at 43 miles per hour! They took us from the start at 2pm, all the way to our first rotation at 10pm. There, “Steve Racer” and “Hot Rod” took over for the overnight ride from 10 to 6am the next morning. Steve and Rodney were pulling hour long rides back and forth, and climbing over a thousand vertical feet. And they’re out racing again for a double shift shared with CB and Connie!

Already, the crew has had some fantastic experiences. Riding at 2am, Rodney came blazing down a moonlit hill when half a dozen dune buggies came barreling round a sand dune. Their light up, neon flags were racing neck and neck with Hot Rod’s blinking bike light show. Later on, when he was changing into his uniform ahead of Steve waiting to switch, a jackrabbit pulled out in front of the car. Dylan was driving at the moment, and had to slam on the brakes. Suddenly, the chest of ice, pools of water, and a less-than-clothed Rodney came flying to the front. Somewhere in Southern California, there is a very lucky rabbit.

Taylor and David were driving Steve Racer’s car. Though they didn’t see any jackrabbits, they did find a fennec fox, coyote, a badger, and some angry-looking dogs. They passed the time radioing jokes to Steve, and trying to not think about how much they had to pee.

Along the track, we even got to meet Race Director George Thomas! We met him coming off of the second time station, and he mentioned how he’d love to see us do an exchange (our first one we’d ever done!) Luckily, the exchange happened without a hitch, and we were able to talk to him about Neurofibromatosis, and The Children’s Tumor Foundation.

It’s been a full day, and it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet!