A successful Race = LESS than 7 days to cross!!

6/19/07 Finish Line- Atlantic City

At 2:39am Eastern Standard Time they rode past the finish line in Atlantic City taking 5th place. Over the 6 days 9 hours and 20 minutes on the road, they logged a total of 3,042.8 miles. Their average speed from the start was 19.84 mph Great job guys- you made us proud! It is finished.

6/19/07 Comment from Crew- Mike

2:11am. I am driving into Atlantic City right now ahead of the team. They have nine miles to finish and they are all riding together. Everyone is really tired and ready for this thing to finish.

6/19/07 Time Station 56

TS 56 -McKee City, NJ. Clock in time was 1:44am. Miles into the race: 3028.4. Miles to go: 14.4. They climbed 530 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 108,500 ft. Average speed this section: 18.70 mph.

6/18/07 Comment from Rider- Chelsea

It's 11:46pm EST and our estimated arrival is just after 1am! We had a VERY hot day of riding today but it was beautiful countryside and we all rode the last half of the day together. Our legs and butts are sore but boy are we motivated to get to that finish line. Its wonderful to be so motivated for a good cause.

6/18/07 Comment from Jim's Team

Just calling to say Hi! We just pulled in to NJ ahead of the team and they should be arriving shortly and hopefully we'll finish before 2am. Things are getting exciting!

6/18/07 - Time Station 55

TS 55 -Del Mem Bridge, NJ. Clock in time was 23:02pm. Miles into the race: 2977.9. Miles to go: 64.9. They climbed 1250 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 107,900 ft. Average speed this section: 19.80 mph. And going strong in fifth place!

6/18/07 Comment from Crew- Mikey

Sun is setting and we are heading into the night, everyone's tried and a little bit edgy but we are moving on. Looking at some cows on the side, the sky is a little hazy, the country side is nice. Other than that we are trying to make it in by 1 or 2 tonight we will see how that goes.

This blog is dedicated to mom.
Night everyone.

6/18/07 Comment from Crew- Ken

It has been an exciting day of racing. We blew a tire on the way to the of the two teams we survived that and are moving on well. The two teams have merged to close out the race. Sometime with in the next six hours we hope to be hitting Atlantic City and riding in there as a team with all eight going. It has been a good day everyone is pretty tired but doing the best they can.

6/18/07 Time Station 54

TS 54 -Georgetown, PA. Clock in time was 17:12. Miles into the race: 2932.7 Miles to go: 110.1. They climbed 4910 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 106,700 ft. Average speed this section: 19.30 mph.

6/18/07 Time Station 53

TS 53 -Hanover, PA. Clock in time was 17.12. Miles into the race: 2864.2. Miles to go: 178.6. They climbed 2290 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 101,800 ft. Average speed this section: 18.28 mph.

6/18/07 Time Station 52

TS 52 -Rouzerville, PA. Clock in time was 15:03. Miles into the race: 2824.9. Miles to go: 217.9. They climbed 3290 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 99,500 ft. Average speed this section: 17.96 mph.

6/18/07 Time Station 51

TS 51 -Hancock, MD. Clock in time was 12:20pm. Miles into the race: 2776.1. Miles to go: 266.7. They climbed 4,340 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 96,200 ft. Average speed this section: 19.09 mph. And still holding strong in 5th place.

6/18/07 Time Station 50

TS 50 -La Vale, MD. Clock in time was 10:02am. Miles into the race: 2732.2. Miles to go: 310.6. They climbed 3,030 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 91,900 ft. Average speed this section: 18.56 mph.

6/18/07 Time Station 49

TS 49 -Gormania, WV. Clock in time was 7:32 am. Miles into the race: 2685.8. Miles to go: 357. They climbed 4,540 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 88,800 ft. Average speed this section: 16.23 mph.

6/18/07 Comment from Rider- Ron

We are coming into an EXTREMELY hilly and difficult section of the race. We just climbed 14,620ft ove the last 10 hours in only 186 miles. We're getting ready to hand off to Pete's team who has just as much to climb and it's trearing us up. We have 310 miles to go and we're all wasted from these hills.

6/18/07 Comment from Crew- Suzanne

It's 6am and our follow vehicle blew a tire. Fortunately we were able to get off the road and into a waystation and they are putting on a spare right now so that we can race to catch up with the night team.

6/18/07- Time Station 48

TS 48 -Grafton, WV. Clock in time was 4:46am. Miles into the race: 2640.9. Miles to go: 401.9. They climbed 3,730ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 84,300ft. Average speed this section: 18.12 mph. And we are still holding 5th place!

6/18/07 Comment from Rider Ron

It's 3:53 am and we just entered into Maryland, the sun is up and we have only 370 miles to go!

6/18/07- Time Station 47

TS 47 -Smithburg, WV. Clock in time was 2:12. Miles into the race: 2594.4. Miles to go: 448.4. They climbed 3,320 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 80,600 ft. Average speed this section: 19.35 mph.

6/18/07- Comment from Rider, Jeff

It's midnight and we just started into West Virginia. It just rained so its humid and the roads are damp but it is gorgeous and very full of hills. We are cooking right along inspite of the hills at over 20mph. FYI I hold the record for the most dear sightings on this trip (6) and I thought you should know that. I think I deserve a medal when we return:-] We're looking at the end and there is a lot of anticipation!

6/17/07 - Time Station 46

TS 46 -Parkersburg, WV. Clock in time was 23.41. Miles into the race: 2545.7. Miles to go: 497.1. They climbed 1,270 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 77,200 ft. Average speed this section: 20.18 mph.

6/17/07 - Time Station 45

TS 45 - Athens, OH. Clocked in at 21:40 PM with 2505.0 miles into the race and 537.8 miles to go. They climbed 2,090ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 76,000 ft. Average speed was 20.32 mph.

6/17/07 - Time Station 44

TS 44 - Circleville, OH. Clocked in at 18:57 PM with 2449.8 miles into the race and 593.0 miles to go. They climbed 180 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 73,900 ft. Average speed was 23.41 mph.

6/17/07 - Comment from Rider - John

John – I have a couple of interesting stories about riding in the rain today. Pete and I were standing on the side of the rode and it was starting to sprinkle. We thought we’d get a little rain and it would be nice. I said something about grabbing my windbreaker and he said let me go grab it for you. Jeff comes up the road and I said no it would be fine. As Jeff comes up there was a clap of thunder. I looked at Pete and said, “Looks like there’s a storm coming” and he said, “Yep”. Within 30 seconds I got dumped on and then within 30 more seconds I was soaked from head to toe. I go out and ride for 10 miles. We put Chelsea on the road. The storm lets up but it’s still sprinkling and cold outside. She gets soaked. Then it’s time to put Pete on the road but he’s not ready so Jeff goes out into the rain and rides. Then right as it’s Pete’s turn and he goes out, the sun comes up and the rain stops. I said to Pete, “Hey, Pete, the weather looks pretty nice.” Pete says, “Yep. .I think I’ll go for a bike ride.”

6/17/07 - Time Station 43

TS 43 - London, OH. Clocked in at 5:25 PM with 2413.9 miles into the race and 628.9 miles to go. They climbed 1,180 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 73,700 ft. Average speed was 20.79 mph.

6/17/07 - Comment from Rider - Chelsea

Chelsea at 12:34 PM – “Hey this is Chelsea calling again. I have to tell you about a McDonald’s experience. My husband decided to eat a Big Mac at McDonald’s because he’s starving. Well, I just want to tell you that not even 20 min later, that Big Mac is somewhere in Kansas a sitting on the side of the road. It didn’t last long. Right now we just hit some rain. It’s coming down pretty steadily. It’s warm and it’s humid. It’s an adventure. We’re still having fun. We’ll keep you updated.”

6/17/07- Comment from Crew- Ken

I'm in the vehicle following Jeff P. right now and there's a strong tail wind to our advantage. We're coming up to a seven mile section ahead where we should run into bad crosswinds though. We hope the tail wind continues and that we'll roll into Atlantic City late Monday.

6/17/07 Comment from Rider- Chelsea

The team exchange last night in Western Ohio went swimmingly. The graveyard team averaged over 20 mph, they were just cooking. We're cruising through lots of beautiful corn fields, it's warm out and we have just encountered our first tail wind and Big Jim is cruising at over 30 mph now. Missouri was beautiful but I've decided that it was so miserable it should be called misery!

6/17/07 - Comment from Rider - Jeff

Jeff at 12:57 AM Sunday - "We’re okay. It’s almost 1 AM your time back home and we are on the road and going. We’re gone through our rotation once . We thought it would be kind of important to let you know how it’s going. Yesterday we counted numerous road kill. One whole family of raccoons was all over the road – dead. Today we are very excited, though. After having rescued one turtle from the middle of the road – helping him get across from the other side, Jim received an award from PETA for his human rights sensitivities there. Today already we are very excited. We’ve had a string of good luck seeing live animals. Ron almost encountered a skunk and then after that we saw 3 raccoons on the white line. Ron reported that one of the raccoons was taking a sobriety test. Apparently successfully walking down in a straight line. About one mile later we had to avoid hitting a doe. That would be a deer – doe – a female deer. And then just recently and we still have the evidence in the van – we avoided another skunk."

6/17/07 - Time Station 42

TS 42 - Troy, OH. They clocked in at 2.46 PM with 2358.8 miles into the race and 684.0 miles to go. They climbed 1,190 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 72,500 ft.Average speed was 22.47 mph. Holding in 5th place.

6/17/07 - Time Station 41

TS 41 - Cambridge City, IN. Clock in time was 11:57 AM. Miles into the race: 2295.5. Miles to go: 747.3. They climbed 820 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 71,300 ft. Average speed this section: 23.47 mph.

6/17/07 - Time Station 40

TS 40 - Indianapolis, IN. They clocked in at 9:29 AM with 2237.6 miles into the race and 805.2 miles to go. They climbed 830 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 70,500 ft. Average spped this section was 18.74 mph.

6/17/07 - Time Station 39

TS 39 - Putnamville, IN. They clocked in at 7:04 AM this morning with 2192.3 miles into the race and 850.5 miles to go. They climbed 1,370 ft this section bringing them to a total of 69,700 ft of climbing. Their average speed for this section aws 19.97 mph.

6/17/07-Comment From Riders

We entered Indiana at 1AM on Sunday morning and are traveling across toward Indianapolis. We had an animal attack upon entering the state when an angry Indianan Rabbit came off the road and went full boar into Jim's tires. Apparently he was trying to take a nibble off one of Jim's toes but his attempt was thwarted when Jim kept his pace. Not the warm welcome the team was looking for, but they didn't let it slow them down!

6/17/07 - Time Station 38

TS 38 - Marshall, IL. They clocked in at 4:35 AM with 2142.7 miles into the race and 900.1 miles to the finish. They climbed 740 ft this section bringing them to a total climb of 68,300 ft. Average speed this section was 20.92 mph.

6/17/07- Time Station 37

TS 37 - Effingham, IL. They clocked in at 2:11 with 2092.5 miles into the race and 950.3 miles to the finish. They climbed 590 ft this section bringing their total climbing to 67,600 ft. Avg. speed this section: 19.48 mph and going strong.

6/17/07-TS 36: Greenville, IL

TS 36 - Greenville, IL. They clocked in at 23:41 with 2042.5 miles into the race and 1000.3 miles to the finish. They climbed 880 ft this section bringing their total climbing to 67,000 ft. Avg. speed this section: 20.60 mph. Just curious, is Greenville really Green?

6/17/07- Time Station 35

TS 35 - Mississippi River, MO. 1996.5 miles into the race with 1046.3 miles to the finish. They climbed 1,250 ft this section bringing their total climbing to 66,100 ft. Avg speed this section was 19.94 mph.

6/17/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

"I got a flat on my TT bike and the follow van crew looked like a Pro team as they swapped bikes and had me back on the road in less than 30 seconds. They are a fabulous Support Crew!!!"

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 34

TS 34 - Marthasville, MO. 1927.5 miles into the race with 1115.3 miles left to finish. They did 1,940 ft of climbing in this section with a total climbing of 64,800 ft. Avg. speed this section: 20.81.

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - CHELSEA

Chelsea, rider Pete’s group – "It’s Saturday, 3:00pm race time (Eastern Time). We just switched groups. The other group did amazing. They were speedy – wow they were fast. We just went through Jefferson City, MO. It is HOT!!! And HUMID – you could cut a knife through the air! You go out and you are drenched! We have the air conditioner on in the van full force. Hopefully it will cool off tonight. We don’t know exactly what the temp is but when it gets this hot and humid it’s all the same to me. Other than that all is well, going strong and having fun. We’ll report back later.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron - rider, Jim's group. “The big white van has tire troubles – one tire is throwing the tread and one other has some trouble so we are getting 4 new tires put on. We thank God we are safe, just saw the tread coming off before there was any damage to van or people. It throws our schedule off a bit and we had to plunk down a bunch of money but all is good. We are in Jefferson City, MO. Pete’s group has already taken over so we have lost 0 race time!!!! We now have until 2 am to solve this problem, get some rest, get some dinner, get a shower, drive ahead 250 miles and be ready to race again. The whole day went great! A phenomenal day, worked hard and are really tired. We are really thankful that right on the race course was a big tire store that had the tires we needed and they say we should be in and out in 30 minutes and on our way.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MIKE

Mike – crew member, Jim’s group. "We just finished our shift at TS 33. We followed Pete’s group riders for a while to allow their crew team to catch up with them. Our rider van has some tire troubles and we are in a pit stop to have new tires put on and then get something to eat and rest up. Then we head off for the next point.”

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 33

TS 33 - Jefferson City, MO. 1852.6 miles into the race with 1190.2 miles to the finish. They climbed 2,530 ft this section making their total climbing at 62, 900 ft. Avg. speed this section: 21.61 mph.

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MIKE

Mike with Jim’s team – “Just calling to say HI! I guess I’m a little bored. That’s all for now.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MIKE

Mike with Jim’s group – “We’re following behind Ron and he just had a tire blow out. Luckily we had his bike on our van so we were able to swap out the bike right away and he is back to pedaling. The team is looking strong. All the crew members are doing well and say hello. We’ve got blue skies with scattered clouds. It’s a little warm but not too bad. We are thankful for that.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron – “We are about done for the day and will have done about 250 miles on our shift today. We’ve really been pumping. We’re having a lot of fun! It’s hot and humid today – we keep pouring water on ourselves when we’re on our bikes and our arm coolers are wonderful – couldn’t imagine riding in this heat without them. Jeff is going out now. We are doing shorter pulls when it’s hot but we’re all doing well.”

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 32

TS 32 - Camdenton, MO. 1793.9 miles into the race with 1248.9 miles left to finish. They climbed 2,760 ft this section with a total climbing of 60,400 ft. Avg. speed this section: 21.73 mph. Go North Coast Cycling!!!!

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MIKE

Mike – Jim’s group crew member – “Good morning everybody. We just entered Preston, MO. Things are going pretty well. Riders are still looking strong. Everybody is doing pretty good. That’s the update for now. We’ll talk to you soon.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MIKE

Mike – Jim’s group crew member - "Hi, I’m driving right now. Countryside is pretty cool – there is a lot of road kill so it’s a little obstacle course. Diane, Dave and I are doing well. The riders look strong and they are doing well. We’re having a good time. Hi everybody.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - DAVE

Dave – "We’re having a little excitement. We entered Missouri earlier and not long after that we had a little mishap with a bike rack on the back. Luckily the bike didn’t fall off, but we had to abandon the rider. Thankfully it was just a little bit after sunup so we didn’t have any problems there. Everything is fixed so we are back on course.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - JEFF

Jeff H. "Good morning! We just crossed into the Missouri border. Rocket man Joe is hammering away taking us into Missouri.”

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - JEFF

Jeff Holmes, rider Jim’s group. "I just finished my second pull of the morning (Sat. morning). Funny how reflective you can get when you’re riding a bike in the middle of the night when it’s pitch black! Just to reflect on what goes through your head in the middle of the night and you can’t see anything else...Everyday my sweetheart, my wife, Mickey, has written me a little note. And everyday I open one of them. Last night I read one, of course you’re not going to hear the content, but just a great reminder just how blessed I am that I have somebody that loves me so much that lets me do something like this! And as well, to all the people that I get to work with, Pastor Becky Rosaler put together a little folder and inside there is a packet for everyday and she collected notes from all our 20Something people and our friends and they wrote me something everyday. I want to say to all of them that their comments and encouragement has been incredible. I am truly blessed and thankful for being a person who is rich with relationships. Looking forward to the sunlight coming out. We are going to go into Missouri in a little bit.”

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 31

TS 31 - Collings, MO. 1740.3 miles into the race with 1302.5 miles to the finish. They climbed 2,220 ft this section with a total climb of 57,600 ft. Avg speed this section was 20.11 mph.

6/17/07 - TIME STATION 30

TS 30 - Fort Scott, KS. 1678,3 miles into the race with 1364.5 miles to the finish. They climbed 760 ft this section with a total climb of 55,400 ft. Avg. speed this section: 21.59 mph.

6/16/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - JOE

Joe, rider Jim’s group. "At the TS at Yates Center – Funny story – Ron was on the rode, Jeff and Jim and I got out of the vehicle. The TS was staffed with a family and probably a total of 10 people. Keep in mind it was about 2:30 am central time. The staff there was excited as could be to see us and as soon as one of the guys there saw Jim Penseyres he just went nuts. Jim stuck his hand out to introduce himself and the guy said, “I know who you are, I’ve got every RAAM tape going back to the very beginning!” The guy was in awe. When Jim stood and took a picture with him it was incredible to see how happy the guy was to be getting a picture with one of his heroes!” Really incredible.”

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 29

TS - 29 Yates Center, KS. 1619.3 miles into with 1423.5 miles to the finish. They climbed 1,210 ft this section with total climbing at 54,600 ft. Avg. speed this section was 20.59 mph.

6/16/07 - TIME STATION 28

TS - 28 El Dorado, KS. 1557.2 miles into the race with 1485.6 miles to finish. The team climbed 720 ft this section with a total climb at 53,400 ft. Avg. speed this section was 19.91 mph.

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - SUZANNE

Suzanne (Crew member, Pete’s group) – "We’re still traveling through Kansas and it’s still pretty flat. Nighttime has started to set in and we’re doing all of our headlight stuff. I wanted to let you know that the fireflies are starting to come out and play and they are dancing in the ditches next to us. It’s pretty cool. There doesn’t seem to be any wind. The skies seem to be pretty clear and hopefully we should have a great night and average over 20 mph. We’ll talk to you later.”

6/15/07 - TIME STATION 27

TS 27 - Mount Vernon, KS. 1496.8 miles into the race with 1546.0 miles to finish. They did 460 ft of climbing this section with their total climbing at 52,700 ft. Avg. speed this section: 19.04.

6/15/07 - PRATT, KS - McDonald's Stop

Crew received free food here as well as a small donation to the North Coast Cycling Team efforts!

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron - Jim's group rider. "We ate at McDonalds in Pratt, KS. All you can eat for free!!! And as I was explaining what we were racing for, a lady gave me a $20 donation for the NCC efforts. Cool!!!!"

6/15/07 COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - KEN

Ken- Pete's group. "Hello, blog line, this is Ken from the follow crew on what we are calling the "swing shift" these days. We are currently following Jeff Pearson. We just came out of Pratt, Kansas, where the folks were very hospitable. We were actually encountering some more technical problems or should I say minor electrical problems with the vehicles that we are working through. Every individual we came across in Pratt, Kansas, was amazingly helpful and pleasant. If we are going to have problems it is nice to be in place like that where they are so nice. The graveyard shift (Jim's group) is hopefully tucked away in their beds or close to their hotel where they will be going to sleep soon. At 2 in the morning we will be hooking up with them and we will be making the transition from one team to another. They probably have already blogged to say they had a great day of riding with 250 miles today. We have also had a good day of riding. Our riders have been riding into a steady headwind for most of the day, but using the drafting technique they have been keeping a good attitude about the whole thing and appear to be riding very strong. That is it for this blog, and we will probably blog a little bit later as well."

6/15/07 RIDER COMMENT - CHELSEA

Chelsea- “This is Chelsea calling, I have a funny story. We just finished going through Pratt, Kansas. This is also a time station where we check in our times, so the boys put me out just before the time station and radioed me and said, ‘ok we are just going to run in here to McDonalds to get free food in Pratt,’ it was free for all the RAAM racers, so they said ‘we’ll catch up with you.’ 30 minutes later in a headwind they catch up with me. Obviously priorities came in to play. They put the girl on the road so they could all go eat free McDonalds. That’s all I have to say about that. That’s right, and John said that Pete had to sign autographs in McDonalds in Pratt, Kansas. It’s so funny.”

6/15/07 TIME STATION - 26

TS 26- Pratt, KS. 1443.5 miles in the race with 1599.3 miles to the finish. Avg. speed this section: 20.05 mph.

6/15/07 RIDER COMMENT - CHELSEA

Chelsea- “It’s Chelsea again. I forget to tell you, as we were going through this rainstorm, Jeff and I, as married couple, got to experience it together. It was awesome. We were drafting off each other because of the strong headwind. So it was really sweet because I got to eat all the dirt off his bike as I was drafting him, but then he got to eat off dirt from my bike as he was drafting me. So it was a fun married couple experience. A headwind and a rain. I tell you, what could be better than that? We should have thought of that for our honeymoon! Just kidding. Thanks, bye.”

6/15/07 RIDER COMMENT - CHELSEA

Chelsea- “Hi, this is Chelsea calling again. Lots of messages today. Well, we just went through a big rainstorm. It was hard but short, so that was good. We got nice and soaking wet but we are biking more so we will dry off. We are just heading into Pratt, Kansas, where they are giving all RAAM racers free McDonalds food. We’ll let you know how that goes. I don’t know, about McDonalds on a race. I don’t know, we might be on the side of the road somewhere. But that is pretty generous of them. I don’t know how that will go but just wanted to give you the latest."

6/15/07 RIDER COMMENT - CHELSEA

Chelsea- rider on Pete's team. “Hi this is Chelsea calling and reporting that we went through Greensburg, Kansas, and that was unbelievable. The devastation there is unreal. I don’t think I have ever seen such devastation. In one strand of homes there was but one home standing. It was unbelievable, unbelievable. The tornado totally wiped them out. I just wanted to call and report that. It was just very devastating. Other than that, things are good. It looks like we are heading into a bit of a storm here, hopefully not. Keep our fingers crossed. Other than that, strong headwinds. That’s all I can report. Kansas is strong headwinds."

6/15/07 TIME STATION 25

TS 25 - Mullinville, KS. 1401.4 miles in the race with 1641.4 miles to the finish. Avg. speed this section: 19.58 mph.

6/15/07 COMMENT FROM RIDER - JOHN

John- rider with Pete's group. "It's about 3:45 race time, I guess it’s about 12:45 California time. We are making our way from Montezuma to Mullinville in a huge, huge head wing. Pete and I got out there and worked together for a little while and managed to keep up almost a 20 mph pace. Jeff and Chelsea are out there together and we’re hoping that a couple of storms will converge and give us a little bit of a tail wind when we get to Mullinville. That’s all for now. Bye."

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron sent a cell message “Hi! We’re done for today. 253 miles – wahoo!!! We’re now on the road to the hotel. All’s well. Stomach was not so good yesterday but doing great today. Knees are sore but OK. All went very well for me today – hammered hard but can do it again tomorrow!”

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - MIKE

Mike - Jim’s group – “We are all doing good. I’m especially doing good since I got about 3 hours of sleep this morning on the road. We just finished our 12-hour shift and we are headed to Pratt, KS to get some free McDonalds and then we are going to move forward to Iola, KS to sleep for a while before we hit the road again. So that’s our update for now. Hope everyone is doing well. We’ll talk to you soon. Good night!”

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - CHELSEA

Chelsea – Rider w/Pete’s group. “I just wanted to report from yesterday because we didn’t have much cell phone service. We had a great day on Thursday and had lots of hill climbing. But what goes up must come down!! We had great down hills – we had a great day yesterday. It rained a bit and we saw snow in the mountains. We went up to 11,000 ft in elevation.

Today is Friday. We just did our team exchange and they had a great ride last night, early morning. Now it is our turn. We are in KS. We are on flat ground but I tell you what, this head wind is huge! Even though it’s flat it feels like we’re climbing because the head wind is so strong. Had a few sprinkles but all is well as far as rain. We’re having fun!”

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - SUZANNE

Suzanne –crew member Pete’s group – "Hey everyone out there in the blog world. I’m out in the van with Maggie and Ken and we’re racing toward catching our other group who are in KS. We just entered KS recently racing along the 160 trying to catch them between 2:00 and 3:00 pm race time (Eastern time). We’ll switch out and then we’ll take the next 12 hours and pedal our way across KS towards Missouri but will probably end up switching out again late, late in their evening around Iola. Have a great day!”

6/15/07 - Time Station 24

TS 24 - Montezuma, KS. 1345.6 miles in the race with 1697.2 miles to the finish. Avg. speed this section: 18.86 mph.

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - DAVE

Dave – crew member Jim’s group “We luckily found our ice chest cap that has been missing since Utah. It magically appeared in Diane’s purse. Of course we think that it was actually put there on purpose so that when Mike laid down in the back seat he would get all wet from the melting ice. That’s good news.

We are in Kansas having some head winds. Went through TS 23 just a little while ago.”

6/15/07 - TIME STATION 23

TS 23 - Ulysses, KS. 1295.3 miles in the race with 1747.5 miles to the finish. They climbed 110 ft this section with a total climb at 51,300 ft. Avg. speed this section: 21.78 mph.

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - DAVE

Dave –crew member Jim’s group – “Just entered Kansas after going all night through thick fog and we’re looking good and hoping to gain a lot of ground here.”

6/15/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron- Rider on Jim's group – “The North Coast Cycling team wants to report we have entered Kansas as of 6:08am San Diego time!!! Rolling on the flats – still a beautiful day with hardly any winds so it’s rolling smooth and flat. Sun is coming up. Just wanted to report we have passed through CO and we are in Kansas and rolling strong.”

6/15/07 - TIME STATION 22

TS 22 - Springfield, CO. 1222.7 miles into the race with 1820.1 miles left to finish. They climbed 350 ft this section with total climbing at 51,200 ft. Avg. speed this section was 22.89. They are still in 5th place but the other two teams vying for 3rd with them are very close. Go team North Coast!!!

6/15//07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron –Rider on Jim’s group “Good morning from the racers on the course. It’s about 5:17am CO time. The sun is just coming up and we feel like we are back home because it’s all foggy here. We’re on a really fast section of the course and we have no wind, which is a hugh praise. Last year we heard stories about this section having major head winds. We are just flying through this section with a slight down hill - almost flat. We’re having a kick – lots of fun. Joe is on the course at the moment and we’re heading towards Kansas. We’ve already checked into TS 21. It looks like June gloom out here – it’s not really cold so that’s nice. Wonderful cycling weather. We’re having a blast going fast. Watching the sun come up as we get to Kansas and to points east from there. Thanks for your prayers and support. We’ll keep you posted.”

6/15/07 - TIME STATION 21

TS 21 - Kim, CO. 1173.1 miles into the race with 1869.7 to finish. They climbed 1,840 ft this section with 50,800 ft total climbing. Avg. speed this section: 19.60 mph.

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - MAGGIE

Maggie-crew member Pete’s group “Sending in a blog to this blogisphere. We’ve been in and out of phone service all day. It’s been an interesting day. We’ve crossed the Rockies 3 main peaks – beautiful scenery. Really excellent day. Good weather but the last bit was a bit of a wet event and that made it interesting. We fueled up good old Pete with a Dairy Queen blizzard and that seemed to set him in good steed for now. We’ve seen a couple of elk and lots of deer this evening. After a really long day, we’ve just got a few minutes left here so we’ve had a good day in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.”

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 20

TS 20 - Trinidad, CO. 1101.09 miles into the race with 1940.9 miles to finish. They climbed 3,950 ft this station with 49,000 ft total climbing. Avg speed this station 17.92 mph. Both Teams 601 & 608 are about 25 minutes ahead of North Coast Team at this point keeping us in the 5th place slot for now. Keep up the good work North Coast Team!!!

TS 19- LA VETA, CO

TS 19 La Veta, CO. 1037.1 miles into the race with 2005.7 miles to the finish. 2,030 ft of climbing to this station with 45,100 ft total. Avg. speed this station: 18.88. And they're going strong- keep up the good climbing guys!

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 18

TS 18 Alamosa, CO. 977.0 miles into the race with 2065.8 miles to the finish. 110 ft of climbing to this station with 43,000 ft total. Avg. speed this station: 21.92. They are still battling it out for 3rd place with Teams 601 and 608 - they are currently in 5th but are just about 25 minutes behind the third place team. Way to go North Coast Cycling Team!

6/14/07 - PICTURES SENT IN BY RIDERS FROM JIM'S GROUP

Here are a few pictures from the ride today...to give you a tiny glimpse of what we do.

6/14/07 LINK TO NORTH COAST CHURCH eNEWS ABOUT RACE TEAM

Read the North Coast Church eNews article link below

http://www.northcoastchurch.com/newsletters/specialnews/special061407/ncc_special_061407.htm

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 17

TS 17 South Fork,CO. They are 931.7 miles into the race with 2,111.1 miles to finish. They climbed 4,100 ft this station with 42,900 ft total climbing. Avg. speed this station: 18.36 mph. They are in a duel for 3rd place with two other teams who are arriving at the time stations about 20 minutes ahead of them. It is definitely a race!!!

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Hi from Colorado. We handed off to Pete' group @ Pagosa Springs - now on way to Trinidad to rest after a stop at KFC for food!!! All's well with Team North Coast!"

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - JEFF P.

"This is much more difficult that I ever thought possible!"

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - SUZANNE

Suzanne (crew member Pete’s group) “Hey everyone out there in the Blogging world that’s reading up on us. We’re on the road. We are currently climbing up over Wolf Creek Pass the first of 3 big mountains we’re climbing today. We ended up taking over early from the other group. We have only about 1.5 miles left to go to the peak of this. We have about 60 miles until we get to the next big mountain to climb. Hang in there and we’ll call again when we get phone service again. We’ll keep you posted. God bless.”

6/14/07- TIME STATION 16

TS 16 - Pagosa Springs, CO 885.5 miles into the race with 2157.3 miles left to finish. They climbed 3,680 ft at this station with a total climb @ 38,800 ft. Avg speed for this station was: 19.68 mph. They are still sitting at 5th place in the Corporate Team division - however, the 2 teams ahead of them time wise are only 2 mph faster than they are so it is pretty close for 3rd place as of now.

6/14//07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - KEN

Ken (Pete’s crew member) “Hello Blogisphere! We’re catching up with Jim’s group. Last night our team raced hard all night. We had some issues trying to pass other teams. We have fallen into 5th but I believe that we will make up ground and remain to be competitive with the 3 teams in front of us in the standings. Everyone is a little bit tired. Anybody who thought this was a vacation has now figured out that it is not. It’s a whole bunch of work and a whole bunch of character building going on here. Doing well – we’re plowing through. We hope you are all doing well back there.”

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 15

TS 15 - Durango, CO - 815.3 miles into the race with 2227.5 miles to finish. They climbed 3,030 ft. this section with total climb @ 32,100 ft. Avg. speed this section: 17.88 mph. They are holding 4th place in the Corporate Team division.

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

"We are coming close to Durango, CO. Doing good – just climbing up to 8,000 ft. Not a lot of air up here – you have to breathe hard. Weather is beautiful, cool not cold and it’s sunny!! (8:00 am – CO time). We're doing good."

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - DAVE

Dave - crew member Jim’s group “We just passed TS 14 today – I guess today is Thursday!? So we’re moving on – we’ll be in CO for a little bit having a nice steady climb through the mountains.

Had a little action this morning – we passed a racer (Team 208 - 2Man Team) this morning. Later we had a little mishap passing another racer. They failed to yield to us and cause some safety issues so we ended up pulling back and so now we are trailing them a little bit. We are doing well.

This morning was a little crazy because we didn’t have phone coverage for so long that we ended up never getting a call from the other group and we had to wake up and get ready and go back to meet them because they didn’t make it to where we were staying in Bluff, UT. They are hopefully sleeping well and we are moving on.”

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - DAVE

Dave – crew member Jim’s group – "Good morning everybody! Hi Dad!

We are in CO now. We’ve been in CO for a while now, but we didn’t have phone service. We are all doing well. Things are going good, it’s fun and adventurous and we are having a good time. Have a good day – bye.”

6/14/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron “Good morning California! It’s now 4:47 am local time and we’ve just crossed into Colorado. Jeff H. is on the road and we’ve crossed into CO on a little unmarked road. We’re making progress and we’re heading into the hills of CO today.

Fun things: We almost hit a horse – it was standing smack in the middle of the road. We’ve seen snakes and coyotes. Last night we had an attack of about 337 flies that got into van. The most interesting thing is that Jeff has run over a tarantula and run over a snake.

Everybody is rolling fine in CO. I can see the sun starting to glow – it will be up soon.”

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 14

TS 14 - Cortez, CO - 771.2 miles into the race with 2271.6 miles to finish. They climbed 2,290 ft this section with total climb at 32,100 ft. Avg speed this section: 16.46 mph. Holding 4th place in Corporate Team division.

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 13

TS 13 - Montezuma Creek, UT. 721.0 miles into the race with 2321.8 miles to finish. They have climbed 2,260 ft this section with a total climb of 29,800 ft. Avg. speed this section: 20.21 mph. Still in 4th place in Corporate Team division.

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 12

TS 12 - Mexican Hat, UT. 681.6 miles into the race with 2361.2 miles to finish. 1,100 ft of climbing for this section with 27,600 ft total climbing. Avg speed this section: 22.87 mph.

6/14/07 - TIME STATION 11

TS 11 - Kayenta, AZ - 637.0 miles into the race with 2405.8 miles to finish. They climbed 2,400 ft this section with a total climb at 26,500 ft. Avg speed this section: 20.07 mph. 4th place in Corporate Division.

6/13/07 RIDER COMMENT- JOHN

It's 25 miles later and the sun has gone down bringing us a 35 degree drop in temperature. "Our energy is back now that the sun's not out and sucking our will to live!" (Ha, ha in the background:-) With any luck we'll make it to where we need to go AND be able to get some sleep tonight.

6/13/07 - RIDER COMMENT - JOHN

John (rider in Pete’s group) “It’s been a real cooker out here today and to top it off there has been plenty of head winds. We are making progress albeit somewhat slow. Pete’s out on the road and we just left Tuba City, AZ and now we’re going uphill. We have about 130 miles to go until we can sleep. It’s real exciting out here and we’re all having a really good time staring out at nothing.”

6/13/07 - TIME STATION 10

TS 10 - Tuba City, AZ. 565.1 miles into the race with 2477.7 miles to finish. They did 1,980 ft of climbing this section making the total climbing 24,000 ft. Their avg speed this station: 19.88 mph. One more station in Arizona and then it is into Utah. The team is currently in 4th place in the Corporate Team division.

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER - KEN

Ken (Pete’s group crew member) “Hello blogisphere people. We just put Pete and John out to do a serious climb on Hwy 89. Our goal tonight is to be in Utah sometime in the next 8 hours or so. Our guys will be riding late into the night till at least until 1 or 2 in the morning. We’ve got some serious climbing to do before a drop down into Utah. John & Pete are both having a great time right now. Everybody is doing well.”

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron - Jim's group - "So far we've only had one flat tire for this group. One of the benefits with bikes all over the outside of the van is that you can grab another bike and stay on schedule."

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - KEN

Ken – Pete’s crew member – “Van is repaired and we are back chasing. We will catch up and keep them safe and sound over night. A miraculous thing happened before we broke down. We stopped to get gas and one of the riders was in the follow van so Suzanne could be in the van with her husband John in the rider van. Then we switched Pete and Suzanne out and coincidentally the van broke down after that point – had the van broken down with Pete in our van it would have been disastrous. We find that to be a silver lining in our otherwise difficult day.”

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - DAVE

Dave – Jim’s crew group – “We’re in northern Arizona heading into Utah to get our next ½ night of sleep – hopefully a little more than that. We’re hoping the other group gets their van fixed and continue on and catch up with us in the early morning.”

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW - SUZANNE

Suzanne – Pete’s Crew – "Our van broke down – getting fuel pump replaced. We found an awesome repair place – put it right up on the racks right away. Come to find out we were one mile from the route and so we ran over to the corner just in the nick of time to cheer on Jeff Pierson as he rode by here in Flagstaff (crossing over Route 66). Amazing!! It’s a beautiful day – just a little breezy! We should be getting on the road within the hour and should catch up with the rider van and be with them before dark so we won’t lose any time.”

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - CHELSEA

Chelsea – Pete’s Group – "We just had a great transition with the other group. They did absolutely awesome. They were definitely ready for the change off. They were a strong shift. We are on now…doing strong – nearing Flagstaff. The car trouble with crew seems to be either a fuel pump or vapor lock – not sure yet. Please pray that it will be fixed before night comes. All is well and having a blast."

6/13/07 - TIME STATION 9

TS 9 - Flagstaff, AZ. Miles into race: 448.9; 2,553.9 miles to the finish; Average speed this station: 19.69; avg speed from the start is: 19.73. 1,390 ft climbed this station with a total climbed of 22,000. The team is now in 4th place in the corporate division.

6/13/07 Team Update- Ron

The night crew just handed off to the daytime crew at TS8. The handoff went well except for the night crew's vehicle problem! It will go into the shop at Flagstaff and they need it back by tonight- so PLEASE PRAY for a quick fix and that whatever the problem is, that it can be finished by nightfall.

6/13/07 -TIME STATION 8

TS 8 - Williams, AZ. Miles into the race: 452.8; Miles to finish:2590.0; Avg. speed this station:18.32 3,220 ft climb this station; 20,600 ft total climbing.

6/13/07 - UPDATE FROM CREW MEMBER - KEN

Ken – Pete’s group – “Hello Bloggers! We just broke down on the side of the road (the van broke down). We have many theories as to why but all we know now is that our car has started running again after letting it set for 15 min. Not sure what the cause was yet but will have it checked out. As of right now we are back rolling again. Our challenge right now is to catch up with the other group that is heading to Williams. Pete and the group are catching up with them and we will be getting this car checked out so we can drive through the evening with Pete’s group. That’s our adventure right now. We're thankful that our car is running again. Talk to you later.”

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM RIDER - RON

Ron – "We were climbing the steep hill outside of Williams on I-40 approaching Devil Dog Road- there was a semi in the middle lane stopped dead on the freeway in front of us like he missed a gear or something. We gained on him but didn’t catch him. It’s a killer hill and Joe T. was out there and not wanting to be caught by anyone and determined to get off of Devil Dog Hill - Joe did an amazing effort. At the end of our day and are tired but doing good!"

6/13/07 - COMMENT FROM CREW MEMBER MIKE

Mike – Jim’s group crew member. “We just arrived at TS 7 (Prescott, AZ). Everyone is doing pretty good – all the crew says HI! All the riders are doing well. Aside from the annoying ticking from the hazard lights everything is good!

6/13/07 - TIME STATION 7

TS 7 - Prescott, AZ. Miles into the race: 389.9; Miles to finish: 2652.9; This section had 4,670 ft of climb with a total climb number at 17,400 ft. Avg. speed for this station was 14.94 mph.

6/13/07 - PETE COMMENTS

Pete: “Good Morning! Our team got into Blythe last night after an incredible series of rides through the desert around the Salton Sea and particularly noteworthy was the ride up Box Canyon where we were trading off with 2 other teams – basically drag racing up Box Canyon. Then we got onto Interstate 10 and just flew into Blythe. We didn’t have a tail wind so we did it all with just lots of work and everybody got involved. When we got off to make the exchanges at the off ramps on I-10 there was the moon and the stars looked like you could reach u p and almost touch them. We could see the Milky Way in the East right across the sky – it was amazing.

The switch over at the hotel last night went perfectly. Those guys (Jim, Joe T., Jeff H., Ron) were so pumped up and ready to go. They were standing in the front of the hotel – they couldn’t wait for Chelsea to pull in. We got a decent hotel and some good rest.

We are going to try to intercept the team this morning. We are not following the course because we need to book it…so we’re going towards Phoenix and then around Phoenix and straight up to Flagstaff and depending where the other group is we will exchange as soon as we get to them.

We are really excited! We’re having a great time.

6/13/07 - RIDER COMMENTS

Wed AM – From Chelsea: “We are on the road in Arizona- Jeff John Chelsea Pete. It’s Wednesday morning. We had an awesome day yesterday. It was so much fun. Our team did an awesome job especially through the heat. And OH did it get hot! No flats, no accidents so that was an absolute blessing! We are having so much fun. I tell you what – along the way somehow we accumulated more SPIZ to drink and fresh apricots were given to us. We’ve been given food all along the way from people watching the race.

It’s been a close race between us and a few other teams, we were only minutes apart so it was close. We are having so much fun at this point that we’d do it again…but ask us again at day 7.

We just talked to the other group - they are just through Prescott, AZ and they “are cooking” says Joe T. Cooking meaning speed wise.

Pete says in response to Chelsea’s earlier comment about not smelling like a girl anymore: ‘I don’t smell like a girl any more but I never started smelling like a girl.

We’ll keep you posted. All’s well – having a blast.”

HELLO FROM CREW

From Mike. "Just past TS 6. Dave, Diane and I are doing well. Hi Mom, Hi 20Somethings, hope you guys are checking the blog out. That’s it for now. Talk to you soon!”

TIME STATION 6

TS 6 - Congress, AZ. Total miles: 341.6; Miles to finish: 2701.2; Avg. speed to this TS: 20.08. Climbing this section: 1,740 ft; climbing totals so far: 12,700 ft.

REPORT FROM TIME STATION 5

From Dave. "Just made TS 5. Just exchanged riders, having fun. We had a little fun…Jeff H. lost his tail light during this last leg. We’re going to have to do a little shimmy of tail lights to keep everything legit, but we’re good.”

TIME STATION 5

TS 5 - Hope, AZ. Miles into the race: 281.7; Miles to the finish: 2761.1; Avg speed to this TS: 20.77 mph.

TIME STATION 4

TS 4, Blythe, CA. They are still in 3rd place at this TS. Miles into the race: 228.4; Miles to go: 2814.4; Avg. speed to this TS: 25.52!!!! Go team!

TIME STATION 3

TS 3 report stats: Chiriaco Summit, CA. They are still in 3rd place at this TS. Miles into the race: 161.2. Miles to finish: 2881.6; Avg. speed to this station: 19.97. They have now done 8,000 ft of climbing so far in the race with 2,080 ft of climbing just between TS 2 and TS 3.

6/13/07 - RIDERS ON THE ROAD IN ARIZONA

From Ron – “Good Morning. Just finished my first pull on the road. We passed into AZ at 1:18 am. We’re ahead of scheduled, we thought we would be on the road at 2:00 am and they (Pete’s group) got here early. This will be great! I got my first 30 min. pull on the road. It feels to good to finally get on the bike and rolling. We’re flying down Interstate 10 in AZ.”

PETE'S GROUP RESTS

From Suzanne. “Hey everyone in blog world. Stopped in Blythe. We sent the other team off and hopefully we’ll catch them somewhere in Arizona tomorrow. We are absolutely tired, going to sleep. Hopefully we can fit in 5.5 hours sleep and we’ll get on the road again. We’ll blog you tomorrow again.”

JIM'S CREW TAKES OVER

From Dave, crew member for Jim’s Crew group – “We took over not too long ago. It was about 1:15 am (4:15 race time) when we made it into Arizona. We are chugging along in AZ now.”

JIM'S CREW ON THE WAY TO BLYTHE

This group had the arduous job of riding in a van to Blythe the first leg of this race. We thought you'd enjoy seeing how Joe spent some of that ride time.

PETE'S GROUP FINISHES FIRST SECTION

Suzanne “Hey everybody out there who is reading this blog. We appreciate it. We are rolling along on the 10 somewhere between Indio and Blythe. We probably have about 50 more miles tonight before the graveyard shift takes over. Pete is out on the bike. He is doing very strong - between 25 and 30 mph. We are just rolling along doing our thing. Keep on reading, we appreciate all your support and we’ll talk to ya’ll soon.”

6/12/07 - TEAM REACHES TIME STATION 2

Team North Coast came into Time Station 2 (Salton City, CA) at 5 hours, 43 min. keeping them in 3rd place in the Corporate Team division. Their average speed from the start line is 21.23 mph with the average speed at this station being 23.25 mph. According to the RAAM stats website the 'Miles Into the Race' at this station is 113.6 miles with 2929.2 miles to go!!

MYSTERIOUS RIDER SITED NEAR SALTON SEA

Maggie (crew member/Pete's group)– "We are just alongside the Salton Sea (near Salton City, CA)– very picturesque. It’s dark - Pete is on the rode just ahead of us. He’s just had a storming overtake of a VMG (team #407) rider. He did a great job of doing that. The road has lots of bumps and rubbish in the road, but apart from that all is well and the headlights are working brilliantly. The VGM 407 rider that we overtook - surprisingly turned around to look at Pete and he didn’t even have his head gear on. Quite mysterious! That's the latest report from North Coast Team."

MINOR GLITCH

Suzanne(Crew member/Pete's group) – "Hairy situation – follow vehicle got stuck in some sand. Luckily out of nowhere 2 guys in a truck (with a rope) came by and pulled them out and we were only 5 minutes down, the race went on and we didn’t lose any time, but it could have been bad. They were thanked with several 5Hour Energy drinks and told they were saints! Bad situation turned into goodness….on the rode again. We can see the Salton Sea in the distance. It’s starting to get dark now and we’re doing night time driving. It’s a great time.

RIDERS DOING WELL

Ken (Crew for Pete's group) – "Finished coming off the Glass Elevator (a very long super steep downhill into Borego Springs) with John Tyner coming down “like a stone” at 40 to 50 mph (heading into Borego Springs,CA). Sun is setting and riders are moving really well."

TEAM CHECK IN FROM TIME STATION 1

Ken (Crew member/Pete's Group) – Past Time Station 1
John Tyner took over from Jeff Pierson. Riders are riding very strong.
Hwy 10 is a neutral zone with no passing so they hope to pass as many other riders as they can. Doing really well.

6/12/07 - TEAM REACHES TIMESTATION 1

Pete's group reached Time Station 1(Lake Henshaw, CA) in 3 hours 4 min. placing them in 3rd place in the Corporate Challenge Team Division. Their average speed for this section was 17.84.

June 12 - MIDDLE OF VALLEY CENTER

First Contact - Middle of Valley Center (from Suzanne – Crew Chief for Pete's Group)
Chelsea Pierson did a great job coming through on the parade route and first leg.
John took over and passed several riders climbing up the first mountain
Jeff Pierson & Pete are out on the road making sure there are no flats and carrying us all the way through.
Our goal is to pass everybody before we get to Hwy 10 so we don’t have any worries on the interstate.

JUNE 12 - TEAM START

June 12 - 2:00 (PST) - North Coast Cycling Team gathered with all the RAAM teams today at Oceanside Pier for the grand send off. They were introduced by name and crossed the start line amidst many cheering family and friends as well as many from North Coast Church. All the racers had huge smiles and raised arms as they crossed the start line!

We then caught up with them at the OFFICIAL starting place (The Old Bonsall Bridge in Bonsall, CA). Chelsea Pierson was chosen as the starting team member. She left the bridge with several team members and other friends cheering her on - YOU GO GIRL!!! (North Coast Cycling Team is split in two groups/each taking 12 hour shifts. Pete Penseyres grouup includes Jeff&Chelsea Pierson and John Tyner. Jim Penseyres group includes Joe Torres, Jeff Holmes and Ron Downing)

They are on their way!

RAAM videos

Keep up-to-date with all RAAM activities by watching the You Tube videos.
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam2007/videos
The Solo Riders left Sunday, and the Teams leave today.

6/7/07 IN THE NEWS!!!!

North Coast Cycling Team has been making headlines!

The San Diego Union Tribune featured them in an article on Thursday, June 7. You can read the article at this link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070607-9999-1mi7bikerace.html

The San Diego Weekly Reader has also done a 2 part article on Jim Penesyres. Read these articles at:
Part One:
http://www.sdreader.com/published/2007-05-31/sporting.html
Part Two:
http://www.sdreader.com/published/2007-06-07/sporting.html

Team Photos - North Coast Team @ the beach!

May 27 - SHAKEDOWN RUN

The team did a complete 150 mile shakedown run out past the Salton Sea to Mecca. Pete said he didn't think it could have been any better than it was. Only one flat, no casualties. We have a few things to tweak before the big race but that is expected. Camera crew went along and got lots of pictures and some were funny enough to be used later as blackmail!! Ha!Ha!
The worst part of the ride was after 2 pulls, Chelsea, the only female on the team, said,"Oh no - I don't smell like a girl anymore!"

The Team Is Complete

With the recent addition of two new crew members the team is complete and ready to ride! Welcome to the team Maggie Duganski and Mike Bennett.

To see the whole team listing go to www.northcoastchurch.com/service/raam/team.htm

A Busy Memorial Day weekend ahead

The Memorial Day weekend will be a busy one for the NOrth Coast Cycling Team, as they have five interval repeats to do on Camino Del Rey on Saturday, and then they are planning a full blown Dres Rehearsal on Sunday.
They will be riding the first 150+ miles of the official RAAM course (and about 7,000 feet of climbing!). They'll begin in Bonsall and will be riding out to the Salton Sea, and then north to Indio/Mecca, stopping when we get to I-10. They'll ride in their two 4-man groups to practice their rolling exchanges and the movement of the 4 support vehicles.