Postcards from America

The biggest surprise in riding the RAAM is how little time there is to observe, reflect or absorb anything going on around you. The only time really is at the rider transition, where the vehicle is stationary, there is about 3 minutes before the incoming rider arrives and the stress of riding hasn’t started. This leaves an odd pattern of small memories, like postcards of America.

The start is organised chaos. Hundreds of riders getting in line ready for the start. Nervous riders taking photos on their phones, tweeting and joking. Then the National Anthem – the Americans really do this well. A young songstress belting out the Star Spangled Banner as the riders face the flag. Americans with hand on heart. They believe it and they mean it. No jaundiced jingoism here just the genuine confidence you belong to the greatest nation on earth. It must have been like this when we had an empire! A count down and we are off, only 3000 miles to go. It’s surprisingly low key. Holiday makers carry on bemused by the activity and the amount of lycra. I am not sure what I expected but I somehow expected more.

Riding North on the second night of the race. Signposts for the Grand Canyon to the west and the Navajo Indian reservation to the right. An endless climb up from the Arizona desert continues. Racing is close, teams jostling for position and sites to transition riders. From the bike there is a real tranquillity over the desert, no trees, no people, no livestock no buildings, just an open expanse of nothing. From maps I can see the area is called “the painted desert”. The sun starts setting, the rocks are painted pink, quite vivid on the eastern horizon. It is beautiful, harsh but serene. I see a person, it looks like a scene from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Poor, dry, hot dusty and unemployed. Then it’s dark and soon, surprisingly cold.

After the desert the Rockies, a slow constant climb for a day and then suddenly you’re in the mountains. Cascading rivers, waterfalls, pine forests and snowy peaks. The passes are high, up to 10,000 ft and the air is noticeably thin making an easy climb hard work. When you are in them the Rockies don’t look big but the peaks are 14,000ft, nearly as tall as Mt. Blanc, but they are wooded and somehow lack the grandeur of the alps. Maybe it was just the bit we rode through!

“It ain't that big. The whole United States ain't that big. It ain't that big. It ain't big enough. There ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest men. For hunger and fat." - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.

But the US is big and there is space. There is rich and there is also surprisingly poor. At times it looks 3^rd world poor but without the hunger. Broken down shacks in rundown homesteads. Rusting cars and farm equipment in the yards. And it is big. In the prairies the fields are endless stretching to horizons in all directions. Roads melt to a vanishing point. The space is juxtaposed with the intensive cattle farms. Acres of open space, green and irrigated. The cattle, penned in dusty cages. Thousands, no space, no grazing just bare earth and a heavy stench. These factory farms don’t smell like English dairy farms. They smell of chemicals and fear. If I hadn’t been a vegetarian I probably would have been after cycling beside these penned ‘burgers in waiting’ for miles on end. All around them green fields, the range where “the deer and the buffalo roamed”. And then there are grain silos. Incongruous tower blocks. You see them, and then an hour later you reach them on the bike. Three or four vast towers sitting alone on the edge of a railway track and road. A stark symbol of intensive and industrialised arable production. A few corn flowers in grass verges hinting at the past. The intensity seems wrong and unnecessary, but I guess it is the price of feeding a nation that eats a lot.

The evenings are damp and cool. It’s loud, noises penetrating the mist, frogs, toads and crickets is my guess. The stars of the show are the fireflies. We don’t have fireflies in Britain, they add a natural sparkle to the evening dusk. In Ohio we stop, fireflies are dusting the fields and unusually are lighting up the oak trees. They blend seamlessly into the night, a vignette of twinkling stars from your feet up into the night sky. If it wasn’t for the heat it would be quite Christmassy.

Mornings are misty, cool and fresh. The mist is thin and wispy. Like candy floss lying over the fields. As the sun rises the floss turns sweet sickly pink. We ride into the dawn. Headlights projecting the riders reflection onto the bank of mist like an drive in black and white movie. Then the fleeting dawn has gone, the temperature rises, the will o the wisp retreating in the sun. It is only riding through 24 hours a day that you get to see these time of the day. Dawn, 4:30 in the morning. Dusk, 8:30 at night. Most sensible people off the road, missing best parts of the day.

We cross into the Missouri swamps I think. Warm and muggy with a musty smell of decay. Swarms of mosquitoes when we stop. Surprisingly it gets hilly. Short sharp bumps. It’s like a different world. Temperature at night inverts. The cool air sinking into the valleys. Another sensation you miss travelling by car. The shifts in temperature are stark, if short. Temperature inversions are what makes alpine valleys work for skiing. Oddly here, the houses are on the tops of the hills, I wonder if the choice is to live at the top of the hills accept the heat but avoid the midges or live in the cool of the valley and get eaten alive.

And into new England. It looks like England only with wooden houses. The roads are also English, up and down and meandering. We slow down for fire engines and police. A house in the middle to the hamlet raised to the ground. Stunned people in night clothes literally looking at the ashes of their lives. Hopefully no one hurt, but the complete devastation of the property is shocking. We cycle on into the morning leaving the smouldering carcass of the house and the shattered lives. The scene makes the RAAM seem somewhat frivolous.

Across the US we receive shouts of encouragement. Farmers in fields, Harley Davison rider. Other teams support crews shout you on urging you to Annapolis. Cynical Europeans may scoff but the Bamby like enthusiasm of the US is great. Seems no Americans can understand why you would want to ride a bike across the US. I guess the only reason is because you can.

Final impressions – America was unexpectedly varied, unexpectedly beautiful and unexpectedly serene. I expected brash, loud, new and got old, mellow and calm.

Would I do it again, no.

Was it worth doing, yes.

The Race

Surprisingly, I don’t really have than much of an idea of where or when I was riding so the notes are a rough outline of the trip rather than a definitive journey.

Day 1
Start – England game, rubbish pasta, nerves. Opening Parade, keeping up with Dan and Paul! The race time – Overtaken immediately by the Austrians and seemingly everyone else. Bugger. All teams exchanging riders – seemed like only S4P riding through the stage.

Lake Henshaw - 34 miles and over 1000m ascent with 50% for the climb in the last 5 miles – very hot and very hard. After only 2 hours riding, felt like death. Nerves played a part but also it was also really hard to control riding. The heat came as a shock – coast was cool and fresh – mountains suddenly very hot and dry. Felt quite exposed and very concerned about the next 2950 miles! Ended the day with a bad headache.

Night riding through the Arizona desert – flat and fast. Still hard to control HR and pacing still an issue. Sky beautiful. Shocking how cold it actually gets in the high desert at night – nearly all kit deployed to stay warm.

Passed Grand Canyon National Park (didn’t stop) the ride across the Indian reservation at sunset still spectacular. Sky big, descents big, all pretty big.

Exciting night of racing – teams all quite close and exchange points at a premium.
Found ourselves locked in battle with the Redgrave Team – they run a different rider strategy and appear to have a cox in the support car barking encouragement. Very strange way to cover 3000 miles – I suspect if he shouted at me to peddle harder up a hill I would punch him!

We passed the RAF team

I started to struggle with eating and drinking which is a worry when you are burning the number of calories we are (about 1200 per hour)

Day 2

Big climb up Wolf Creek Pass in the Rockies – the first of the big passes. Couldn’t eat in the morning and problems drinking – switched to water but even this was a problem especially if I pushed HR up. Fortunately at altitude it was cool (cold).

Thunder in the hills and lightening but we miraculously moved in between the hail and rain (the Hoosiers 30 mins ahead don’t!) Temperature drops to just above freezing as we ride above the snow line. Karl closes out the climb and we hand off for our rest (planned to be a long recovery rest)

Evening, still can’t eat or drink – fall into my bunk and wonder what I have got myself into.

Managed a snack in the morning but main sustenance was Pepto Bismal and coke. A solution deployed travelling in Africa 15 years ago and working here too. Hydrating on water and switching to PSP (energy drink) not Go (electrolyte) Managed a sandwich later in the ride (happy days) but still not really eating well. Noticeably losing weight already

Riding across Kansas –flat (slightly downhill) hot and fast – Karl suggests dropping to 20 minute (6 mile rotations) rather than 10 mile c.30 min rotations. A good plan that keeps us out the sun and helps mitigate the effect of heat and boredom. Impressive as the mid west is for being big (you can see the curvature of the earth!) There is not much to look at....

Until the crop sprayers arrive in town for a hugely impressive aerobatics display – flying under the phone lines and skimming across the tops of the crops. A really impressive display that put the red bull acrobatics team into perspective – these pilots were just doing their job!

End of the session and the temperatures are up into the mid 90s. Taken round to the local pool for ‘active recovery’. I have a back spasm – can’t quite walk although it seems OK on the bike. Completely abstract pool experience when Gill and Dad turned up followed by Steve Redgrave.

Local press turned up impressed with the bus. We mentioned there was a man in the pool with 5 Olympic gold medals - I suspect this was the biggest news story they had had for a while. We had to lend him paper, a pen and write down the details – bless!

Discovered the therapeutic effect of scrambled egg on toast – nice to eat something

Would have been a great session but for a navigation issue that cost 20 minutes at a relocated time station (my error).


Day 3? (by now I have lost track of time and have no idea what day it is!)

Bus and team lost in Missouri. Eventually managed to get into the same place at the same time. Karl and I off for a night session

The remarkable things is the sounds of the frogs, toads and crickets chirping away. As you wait in transition the fireflys flit along the verges –it is very silent, very dark and very peaceful. There 2 minute postcards are the only time in the race you have to reflect, savour the atmosphere and observe the scenery. It is still a privileged to have the opportunity to collect these moments across the US

A long night – back still an issue and that caused problems with rhythm and pacing making the riding uncomfortable and unpleasant. Felt rubbish into TS31. The mitigation was dawn – mist sitting over the fields like candy floss, the dawn chorus and the sun rising slowly into our faces. Only fleeting but truly astounding – then hot!

New session
Legs tired at the start – Mosquitoes everywhere so transitions unpleasant . Then after Washington we start the climbs. Short sharp rollers. A huge relief after the endless flat stuff I hate.

Overtook Amy Xu – the female solo leader on one of the climbs – she looked in pain. Then caught and passed the Hoosiers (trying to set the record for the over 60s).

Climbs are steep, descents are fast. Came close to being taken out by a deer but finished the night feeling good. Back easing a little after repeated treatment by Andrew (the onboard Masseur, Osteopath, Dietician and general hero)

New Day

Stuck in traffic for 90 minutes as a heavy lead negotiates a bridge. Nice chat with the German soloist, the Hoosiers and the Spanish soloist. The Spanish support team take photos of the Rapha kit – nice kit! No time allowance is given even though we are sat next to a race official.

Then a race over the Iowa rollers with the Hoosiers – they run a completely different race strategy but it seems effective, changing teams every time station. I suspect they never sleep.

Absolutely nothing else memorable from the day except – I am eating and drinking again

The plan is for Karl and I to ride ‘long’ through the day to give Paul and Dan recovery time – so far they have had the worst of the daytime weather. Decision taken during the day to rotate the pairs (putting the climbers together for the Appalachians). Karl gets the short straw of an extended session riding nearly 12 hours through the day

New session

Riding with Dan into the Appalachians. It’s “hammer time”! absolutely no point getting to the end of the race feeling fresh so time to kick-on in the hills. We are back switching position with the Hoosiers which adds to the competitive edge and helps push harder. Then it gets steep and the hills bigger and Dan and I kick on. Small navigation error lets the Hoosiers back into the lead – Dan’s language on the radio is blue.

This session was the most fun to date on the ride – it was hot and humid but the hills allow for a change in rider position and the up and down becomes much more like riding at home. It was meant to be the second hardest stage of the race and I rode it at over 18mph – Dan would have been faster.

We were on a 4 hour rotation so pulled off the road to rest before attacking the hardest stage in terms of climb and climbing intensity in the RAAM later in the evening.

New session


Night – start a little nervously and not feeling too comfortable. Back has eased but both knees now a little sore and my right glut and hip flexor have seized. Andrew works his magic by sticking his elbow into the muscle and putting 14 stone of pressure through it. It works but it is really painful at the time.

We go into the first TS stage 11 minutes behind team 405 (Hoosiers have been dropped) and catch them by the end of the stage. Then it’s the big one! We hit the bottom of the first big climb and Glyn puts London Calling by the Clash onto the PA. We attack through a series of steep long climbs and very fast descents. Dropping down at 45mph plus relying entirely on the lights of the follow vehicle – you can’t see the road as you round the corners or crest the hills – brilliant fun if a little dangerous. This is where Steve Redgrave crashed out.

End of the second Time station stage and we have taken 14 further minutes out of team 405. 25 minutes is a massive margin in this kind of racing (over 10 miles) and sets us up for the run to the finish.

Final session


Dan and I ride through and off (both riders on the road at the same time) sharing the load for the first 10 miles Dan then takes on the bulk of the work. It is all I can do to stay on his wheel. Pace is relentless, and probably pointless, but we are determined not to be caught by 405. At this pace you can’t stop because you can’t get going again. The lactic builds up and takes 5 minutes to clear so one you have stopped you are out of the stage. Hanging on and helping on the few occasions Dan needed it was the only option.

With 10 miles to go we are joined by Paul and Karl, pace slows and we spin in. 3000 miles completed in 6 days 15 hours and 7 minutes. The timed finish is a petrol station on the edge of Annapolis, and then it is an escorted trip into Annapolis harbour for the official finish, photos, interviews and then off for a coffee.

So that was it. 3000 miles completed in 6 days 15 hours and 7 minutes. We won the club competition (first club team home), were 3rd in the 4 man open category (on standard bikes) and 4th including recumbent teams.


Final thoughts on communications

Before the start I had imagined we would have loads of time to update Facebook, Twitter and blogs. The reality was different. The main reason was the physical impact of the race. Broadly speaking we were on a 8 hour rotation so each day was ‘shortened’ to 16 hours. In the car we rotated every 20-25 minutes when ‘resting’ the focus was on getting fluid and food on board and getting sorted for the next session. In the coach the routine was to get recover drink, wash / shower, massage, eat, sleep. In theory there was time to do something, in reality after day 1 that something was sleep.

The second problem was the data roaming agreements with O2. For much of the US they don’t exist so using my own phone for FB and Twitter wasn’t an option (this was a surprise). The priority for the other phones was vehicle to vehicle comms so these couldn’t be used either.

I had hoped to to better but there you go. Lesson learnt for the next adventure!

Oceanside Pre RAAM

Arrived into the San Diego area early with a couple of work commitments but also a chance to acclimatise. Tuesday evening, drove up to Oceanside to see what was there. A beach, a peer, a marina and I suspect lots of other stuff I missed (maybe not!). From there I pottered up to Time Station 1 – Lake Henshaw. A pleasant drive in the early evening and therapeutic as, now I can visualise at least the first few miles of the course. A long shallow climb, followed by a long steep climb, a bit of down then a steeper climb with a false flat (shallow climb) to finish it off. Now I know why they gave me the first leg to ride at the team meeting I missed! Wednesday and a quick blast down ‘historic’ route 101, Thursday and a quick blast up the first leg to ‘visualise’ the start. All interspersed with official photos, general bits of getting organised.

It is great to be in the US. I love the contrasts. Woken up by the radio alarm with people arguing about the bible interpretation of Johns Gospel, I don’t think you get this kind of debate in the UK on a Sunday. In the afternoon on the way to Oceanside picked up an advert for a medical clinic treating “PE” and “ED” clearly as premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction are acronyms here they are either common ailments or just used regularly in everyday conversation. I suspect advertising standards in the UK would declare this topic unsavoury.

Surprisingly three people today have asked my views on the World Cup. It only got a small section in the paper (4 pages of Baseball and 2 of basketball) but there seems to be at least some passing interest. One of the people physically attended the last two world cups. I am not sure I know anyone in Europe that did that.

After few fairly sleepless nights of jetlag and stress I am feeling calmer and better adjusted to the time difference. Seems to have been a fairly frenetic rush from first thing in the morning till last thing at night, photos (see www.raceacrossamerica.org for the official team shots, briefings, checks, rides, and messing around with phones, setting up the endomondo tracking and a list of other stuff. Everything now seems ready. Looking forward to the ride tomorrow up to Time Station 1 and then into the night from Time Station 3.

Not sure when the next update will be – maybe at the end of Day 1....

Final thoughts

So that's it, over 5000 miles and 500 hours training over the last six months and in a few days we will be off, 3000 miles across a continent. I am still not sure how I ended up here. I only heard about the RAAM six months ago and even then didn't consider doing it.

The challenge is still all a little abstract. How hot is 110f? We will soon find out because that’s how hot it is in the desert and we get there pretty quickly after the start. How big is the mid west? I am guessing pretty big because they seem to have their own timezone. Why did I only put music by Radiohead, Nirvana, Beck and Massive Attack on my MP3 player? If the ride doesn’t kill me off the music just might. I can’t even really anticipate what 168 hours of constant competition will be like.

What do I expect? That it will be hard. Physically brutal. Emotionally draining. Stressful. And hot. I know I am as prepared as I could be but I still fret. Should have done a hot weather training camp (no time)? Is my saddle position right? Will I get lost? Is that a niggle in my knee? Can I remember how to ride a bike? It is amazing that I can manage to fret about anything until I start and then, as if by magic, there is no point fretting it is just a case of getting on with it and seeing what happens.

It is important to try to stay grounded. It is just a bike ride. It should be fun. It should be an experience. We have the chance to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer (and that is a good thing). It will hopefully be something I look back on with pride. But it isn’t life and death. There are a few team members that can’t make it to the states as they deal with much more important things. Hopefully, this will help keep some perspective on the venture.

So Sataurday, 2pm Pacific Time, I will be off riding the first leg of the RAAM up to Lake Henshaw. Hopefully seven days later we will roll into Annapolis.

Progress and logs can be followed at www.sharp4prostate.org and race position at www.raceacrossamerica.org . Sponsorship is naturally very welcome either through the Sharp4Prostate site or though my online pages at www.justgiving.com/adamndenton. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter (@adamndenton) too

• Month Training: 67 hours
• Monthly Road Miles : 904 miles
• Hours to date : 489 hours
• Mileage to date : 4551 road miles (+920 miles indoors)


Final month of training complete. Now it’s just a case of getting to the US and raising sponsorship for Prostate Cancer: www.justgiving.com/adamndenton. All support is really appreciated. If you don’t like online donations but would like to contribute just let me know and I can sort out alternative ways to pay (cash, cheque etc)!

So training this month has been mainly focused on increasing intensity (riding faster) over shorter distances and as such nothing epic to report. Just lots of 2-3 hour rides trying to keep the pace just above RAAM pace (30kmh plus). Only excitement in the month was getting knocked off the bike on the Kings Road – by another cyclist. Apparently, a bike stopping for children on pedestrian crossings is so unusual in London you become a legitimate target for out of control itinerant South Africans. Fortunately no lasting damage.

The most notable training session was a 24hr simulation. Starting Friday at 6pm, riding 40 minute intervals with a 30 minute rest, through to 2am and then starting again from 10am to 6pm on the Saturday. All ridden solo, in the rain, this replicated the anticipated RAAM ride patterns. On reflection it was surprisingly OK, although at the time it was cold, painful and pretty miserable. All I have to do is repeat the pattern seven times and in theory I will arrive in Annapolis on schedule.

Training has gone as well as I could have hoped. The biggest problem is probably the lack of any heat in the UK so far this year. The hottest day we have had was about 25 degrees and that was only for a day. May has been one of the coldest on record. Even our road trip to France was met with perfect riding weather - cool and grey! We will see what happens when we have to exercise in 30+ degrees. Hopefully it will be fine.

Below are my highs, lows, and surprises from six months training.

High Points
• The training camp with the Rapha Condor Sharp pro team in Malaga. A great experience and the moment I realised I really like riding bikes up hills!
• Glastonbury weekend. Back to back 200km rides with the second day averaging over 30kmh. It felt like the RAAM was possible at the end of the weekend.
• French weekend 260km and then 250km back to back at silly speeds. The ride was surprisingly easy and the French experience a joy in comparison with riding round SE England
• Finishing the 24hr simulation and completing the 112 mile in 5hr 15min (Target RAAM daily distance in 6 hours). Just proving to myself it might be possible.

Low Points
• A shocking ride in the wet in November. The chamois in an old pair of shorts rubbed so badly they drew blood. I couldn’t keep up with the boys either.
• Hypothermia at Easter. Just stupidity really, but one not to repeat
• Hell of Ashdown. Shocking day where Dan and I were at our least coordinated. Lost on the way there and car broke down on the way home. It was icy and it snowed on the way round. All in a day to forget
• Norovirus. Passing out 3 times is never going to get onto the highlights of a training year.

Biggest Surprises
• A good pair of cycling shorts is worth every penny when you start riding distances
• How quickly my original training plan collapsed and I focussed 100% on the RAAM. Getting back swimming and running is going to really hurt
• Garmin 705 – What did I do before I had one of these?
• Social networking. A whole new world.

So two weeks to the start, and hopefully three weeks to the end of the adventure. We will try to keep people updated on www.sharp4prostate.com on the team and individual Facebook pages and via the team twitter @sharp4prostate or my twitter @adamndenton.

April Update

• Month Training: 83 hours
• Monthly Road Miles : 1148 miles
• Hours to date : 422 hours
• Mileage to date : 3647 miles


I got into the RAAM for two reasons (1) to be part of a team that rides across America in 7 days and (2) to raise awareness and money for Prostate Cancer. I am fairly sure I will be in Oceanside on June 12th (baring a disaster) so it’s time to start trying to get some money for Prostate Cancer. My just giving page is www.justgiving.com/adamndenton any amount is really appreciated and does make a difference. Naturally I am happy to take cash / cheque / bank transfers or text-to- donate (text ‘RAAM’ to 70700 and £5 will be given to The Prostate Charity).

On the training front. Hypothermia was a bad start to the month. It was my stupidity, I had a waterproof with me but on the 60km back to home I chose to leave it in my pocket. As long as I kept moving I would probably have been OK. I punctured. No lasting damage but six hours spent under a duvet shivering suggested it wasn’t my best judgement call!

As the RAAM gets closer training intensity has increased. Riding faster, pushing harder on hill training, and lifting more weights (squatting 130kg repetitions - nearly double my body weight). As part of this masochistic training phase I joined Farnham Tri club for a 110km time trial up and down the A31. Saddle position wasn’t 100% right for the race set-up and as a result I couldn’t pee without pain for a week.

Then it got worse – I managed to pick up Norovirus. Lost 4kg in a day, spent 2 days completely incapacitated and probably didn’t fully recover for a week. I am still 1.5kg lighter than I was the day before the virus struck.
But even with a few little setbacks it has been a really good training month on the bike. With more light the London commute is possible, either one way or return. 2/3rd of the trip is good riding and a 1/3rd is through central London traffic (good for something - a career as a courier? - but probably not the RAAM). This has given me the chance to add up to five hours and 90 miles a day training into a work routine which has been a bonus. I have finally logged more mileage than the RAAM after five months.

The other bonus was a trip across France with the team riders. 560km in 16 hours over 2 days. Great roads, good weather, pretty scenery and satisfaction that we completed the trip (fast). Tim (my brother) sacrificed half of his bank holiday weekend to support which made a big difference – in particular scouting a detour route out for us at the end of day 1 to avoid GPS navigated trip for 40km down a dual carriageway.

So, a big month training in terms of hours and mileage. A couple of minor set backs and a few niggles but nothing serious. Only four weeks training to go….. the RAAM still doesn’t seem real or comprehensible – I am sure it will soon.

March report

• Month Training: 68 hours – incl 61 hours on a bike
• Monthly Road Miles : 713 miles
• Hours to date : 338 hours
• Mileage to date : 2499 miles


It’s dry and sunny and light. Like being on another planet. Flowers (snow drops at the start of the month and daffs at the end), warmer weather, dry roads – almost a pleasure to be riding.

As all pessimists know, every silver lining has a cloud. My cloud, the first cold of the winter and then, having just about got rid of it, a sore throat and feeling generally shitty and a bit run down.

No epic training camps this month but a solid month of training. Started with the Puncheur Sportive. Cold and icy, -8.5C leaving home. Paul crashed on ice, no lasting damage but a reminder that it is all too easy to end the RAAM adventure with an injury. Training is now almost entirely bike based with some core and flexibility work. Have added riding into / out of London into the routine which gives me a few more options and is more fun than a turbo.

The big trip of the month was, a trip to Glastonbury. The trip is almost exactly 400 km return, Dan and I rode it in a weekend. The ride was a cultural classic including 4 cathedral cities, a white horse, stone henge, wood henge, the shrine of St Swithum (at which Dan and I prayed for good weather) and Glastonbury Tor. Ride stats impressive (but not interesting!) except we did the return trip at over 18.1 mph (30 kmh). RAAM pace, and a big confidence boost.

The Glastonbury trip also clearly brought into focus was how important and valuable the support crew will be on the RAAM. Dan and I were supported by Marco on the way out, and Chris and Hugo on the way back. The difference having support makes is huge. It is partly physical, no need to carry everything you need with you and easy access to food and drink. But the real difference is mental. Having people to encourage you, to speak with (riders don’t really talk to each other on long rides), to joke with (Pirate radio!) and to share the experience with is invaluable. Without them it’s just another long ride. I always thought the two big take-away from the RAAM. One would be the satisfaction of working in a team and the second would be raising money for Prostate Cancer (www.justgiving.com/adamndenton). Now I am sure.

Final thought – where is Gordy? He was a team rider for one of the RAAM teams and wrote very entertaining blogs (Britney Spears Naked being one that springs to mind). Admittedly the blogs were, at times, controversial and politically incorrect. But Gordy has vanished without trace, just obliterated and censored for all time. In his last blog he said he knew he couldn’t be the best but would do everything possible to be the best he could be. Seems a shame he won’t get the chance to try.

Quite looking forward to April but not quite sure why!

February training

February
• Month Training: 61:15 hours - plus 9 hrs commute (40 hours on a bike)
• Monthly Road Miles : 318 miles
• Hours to date : 270 hours
• Mileage to date : 1786 miles (London to Ankara, Turkey)

Meteorologists have just declared January the warmest January since earth began. I suspect they will declare February a drought and issue hosepipe warnings. My forecast for Feb was that the weather would “probably” remain miserable. There was snow on the first of Feb and floods on the 28th. In between, plagues of locusts, and frogs. I am sure I saw Noah this morning.

Where did February go? A week in Spain with work and the training camp in Malaga (see separate blog) broke up the month but even so it felt like a short month. Significantly more training hours than January. Riding intensity is higher (this means it hurts more) especially on the static bikes. Surprisingly, apart from riding in Malaga, I only rode one training ride outdoors in Feb. The turbo sets are getting easier to complete and doing a couple of big back 5/6 hours days to back days seems OK but this isn’t even the first 2 days of the RAAM. Swimming and running have almost entirely dropped off the training plan.

It was great to be with the Rapha Condor Team in Malaga. Supportive as they were, it would have been nice if they had lied and told us the RAAM looked easy, they didn’t.

Planning for the RAAM is ramping up. The riders have it easy. We pitch up, ride when we are told to, eat when we are told to and sleep when we are told to. Somewhat mysteriously in the background a whole lot of stuff seems to be going on. Cars are being hired, menus worked out, kit getting assembled for shipping, flights and hotels booked and I can only assume all manner of minutiae being sorted. All we have to do is peddle. How hard can that be?

On top of this, the team are organising the 2nd Hoedown for the 10th July see www.hoedownatsundown.com. This is one of our major fundraising events (book now for friends and family!!). We are hoping for over 300 people. For the RAAM team it’s our end of event celebration / party but more importantly it is hopefully a big fund raiser for the Prostate Charity so, if you are around on July 10th come along with friends and family.

I have also just read the RAAM rules, 55 pages of them. Guns are actively discouraged but alcohol results in instant disqualification. I have a nagging suspicion the rules would be the other way round in a European race! As the rules include rules on cheating, spying and sportsmanship I can’t help imagining the trip will be like something from Wacky Races. Our support team even look like the Ant Hill Mob

Just over 100 days to go till the start line on June 12. Sir Steve Redgrave is doing the RAAM this summer too. Fortunately in an 8 man team so not directly in competition. Still, this will be my first experience racing against a five time Olympic champion however indirectly!

Set up my Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/adamndenton so will hopefully manage to get some cash for Prostate Cancer.

Crocus and snowdrops just out so spring must be on the way. The weather really can’t be as bad in March can it?

Malaga Training Camp

Team Sharp4Prostate decamp to Malaga for a weeks warm weather training at ‘with’ the Rapha Condor Sharp team. My stats:

• Training hours: 16 hours on a bike plus 5hr stretching and core
• Road Miles : 249 miles / 401km
• Climb : 6499m / 21332ft

Arrived late into the camp from Barcelona, the rest of the guys having already been at the camp for 4 days. There seemed to be some pretty tired bodies waiting for me!

My day 1

New bike – love at first sight. A few final tweaks to get the bike fit right and then off for my first ride in Spain.

Start, a pootle north of Malaga. Nice and gentle but we still averaged 29kmh (must be the bike). Then a controlled time trial. All’s well to the first town when the route sends us up a vertical hill made out of concrete and into a dead end. Bumped into Karl, also lost, and then Paul, equally clueless. Directions from the locals helped send us all off on the wrong road –our lack of Spanish to blame. After an hour lost, regroup, coffee, sandwiches. We split – Karl and Paul heading home with Richey. Dan and I riding together with Marco in support.

Uphill, then further uphill before getting to a big hill, in all about 50km of constant climbing. Scenery spectacular. Limestone gorge, orange and lemon trees in fruit and the cherry trees in flower. All very pretty. Dan and I both discover why the pros eat nutella sandwiches and not goats cheese sandwiches – they repeat on us all afternoon.

Felt strong but may have been deceiving myself we are ‘followed’ by a flock of vultures circling overhead obviously waiting for the weak one at the back to finally expire. (not sure vultures flock or you can follow by circling but hopefully you get the gist).

The back to camp. Stretch. Eat. Sleep

My day 2

Day dawned grey - quietly confident the light cloud would blow over. At breakfast it is reported Dan has been sick in the night. Dan blames food. John Herety (Director Sportive for the RCS team) blames 4 beers and a protein recovery drink. Net result is the same, off for a big ride into the mountains on my own.

After about 1km the rain started, then the wind picked up and it started getting cold. An hour and a half later and I am beginning to wonder what the symptoms are for early hyperthermia, my guess is that praying for climbs is probably not a bad sign, singing Pet Shop Boys songs to yourself another. Fortunately the route went up, for the next 41km, less fortunately I saw a goat herd and sang Sound of Music songs for the rest of the ride. Two and a half hours in and support, in the form of Marco and Richey, arrived. Dry kit, cheese sandwiches and coke. Three and a half hours later they pull me off the road and drive me home. Happy.

Stretch, food, insightful (if slightly worrying) conversation with the pro team who seem to think the RAAM is a bit of a tough challenge. Bed.

My day 3

Off with the pro team for a 35km ‘warm up’ and some photos.

Next, onto the Ronda valley (which I thought was in South Wales but apparently not). This climbs out of Marbella and goes up, for over 1000m. Weather cleared to a beautiful spring day.

I would like to wax lyrical about the view – it was ‘nice’ - but following Dan up the climb was distracting. The lycra in his shorts had worn and the back of his shorts had become transparent. My view was similar to watch builders bum for an hour and a half from about 2 meters back. Dan blamed Paul – apparently he has a bigger arse – but I am not sure what this had to do with the demise of Dan’s shorts. Still give the choice between leading the climb or following and putting up with the view, I chose the latter. Discretion (or lack of it) being the better part of valour.

Then down. Very fast and very smooth. Wind was gusty which was a bit disconcerting but the road was dry. Fun. Top speed 68kmh.

Coffee, smug grins, back to base for stretching , food and then bed.

My Day 4

Sun. Short ride with some of the pro team and then peeling off back to base. Dan filming.

Hard to describe the way home. It was not very grown up. Fast, average for 90 mins of 32kmh. 200m to go and Paul won the sprint. I since discovered he has ridden the same finish every day of the week so was well rehearsed – I thought we had 2km to go. To be fair– I wouldn’t have caught him even if I had known.

Back at base – packed bikes, stretch, sauna, pizza and chips and off to the airport.

About 3 years later EZ jet get us home. -4 degrees with rain and snow forecast.

Miscellaneous comments

Marco and Richey – I can’t begin to explain how fantastic it was to have these two colossus providing support before, during and after the rides. All I can say is they made me feel like a pro. I know I’m not, but it was really nice to pretend.

The Bike – The new Rapha Condor Sharp team bike is awesome. Comfortable, fast and very pretty.

The pro team – I am sure they had much better things to do than put up with me asking banal questions. A big thanks for putting up with me and good luck for the season.

The European Union. Many thanks for the roads. It is great to see where my tax contribution goes. Rome left a legacy of roads for Europe and it looks like the EU may just do the same. If they could sort out the roads in Surrey too it would be appreciated.

January

• Month Training (3 weeks) : 39:15 hours - 28hours on a bike (+ 4hrs commute)
• Monthly Road Miles : 281 miles
• Hours to date : 209 hours
• Mileage to date : 1468 miles

Arrived back from NZ at the end of the first week to snow, ice, no central heating, a defrosted deep freeze and ice inside the house. Training plans for my first weekend back in tatters. Defrosted the house and walked to the supermarket and back. Not sure this counts as training. Given up alcohol too (for the RAAM) so couldn’t even drown my sorrows.

Then there was more snow, couldn’t get the car out the drive to go and pick up my bike so couldn’t even turbo-train – frustrated. Tried getting out on the mountain bike, unsurprisingly lethal but good enough to get to the station and into London. Finally managed to do some exercise on the Thursday. It hurt, my quiet optimism that the rest would do me good has immediately evaporated.....

Second week back, back into a routine - felt like training not ‘just’ exercising. Still painful.

Experimented with the team at trying to replicate RAAM ride patterns using turbo trainers (30 minutes on - 30 minutes off for five sets). Much harder than I had expected both physically and mentally. Mentally the temptation to clock watch is overpowering – watched kettles don’t boil and watched clocks on turbo trainers stop!

Managed the first ‘long ride’ of the year with the team, 180k. Took just over 6hrs including stops so nearly 30kmh - too fast. Felt in trouble at 3 hours so impressed at myself hanging in there for another 3 hours home! Roads terrible and muddy, new mud guards at least kept my bum dry and stopped the nappy rash – happy days! Less happy, for the RAAM I am going to need to ride this distance, at this speed, on my own, for 7 consecutive days – quite scary.

Rode the Hell of Ashdown sportive....... avoided the bonk wagon (I could explain but, if you don’t know it is more fun to speculate!). Didn’t enjoy it (never settled into the ride), didn’t ride well, didn’t pace it well and the car broke down on the way home... bad end to the month.
Mike advised on new weights / core programme (good news) but still only doing one session a week... can’t quite work out how to do more

Flexibility has taken an absolute hammering with the increased mileage and the increased weights – I haven’t quite got my stretching routine right and ‘must do better’.... (Milene - my Pilates instructor was unimpressed)

Baseline fitness test completed. Mark and Michelle at Trust4you seem too nice to 1st starve you, 2nd dress you up as Darth Vader and then 3rd make you exercise until you drop whilst 4th taking blood samples. All in the name of science. Results informative (not dying seems to be a pass!) and these will help tailor my individual training programme to address the areas I am weak (of which there are many!)

Hopeful for a solid months training in Feb (including a training camp ‘with’ the Rapha Condor Sharp team down in Majorca). Big question....Can the weather really remain this miserable? I suspect is the answer is: probably.

First 4 months training....

September:
• Month Training : 47.5 hours
• Monthly Road Miles : 367 miles
• Hours to date : 47.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 367 miles

Did the Prostate Cancer Tour of Britain ride in Stoke – 145k which took 5hr 40mins including stops. Rode with the Sharp4Protate team and a couple of Rapha Condor team riders (Kristian House and Ben Greenwood). This was my longest ride I had done (ever).
By the end of the month had done my first ‘200’k ride with Dan – it was hot – with punctures, drink stops, pee stops and generally dawdling took 9hrs – at this pace riding across America would take 9 and a half days so… work to do.

October
• Month Training : 79 hours (5 week month)
• Monthly Road Miles : 760km +8.5hrs on the mountain bike
• Hours to date : 126.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 1350 km

Did a couple of ‘200s’ one with Paul and one solo and a 150 – Karl joining the 150 as his first training ride (the first ride with all 4 ‘team’ rides out together). Solo ride was a highlight – 8hours 20 mins including stops out through the Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex countryside on a beautiful day. Group rides are getting faster (still ‘only’ 27-28kmh) feeling strong. Weather changed – now wet…

November
• Month Training : 34 hours (trips to Hong Kong, China, Beirut, Barcelona)
• Monthly Road Miles : 380km
• Hours to date : 160.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 1750 km

Always going to be a poor training month with two work long trips out the country and a planned weekend break running a half marathon in Spain. Didn’t really settle into the month once the clocks changed – weather wet and fairly miserable and not quite set up for riding in the dark – mileages shorter and no real plus points. Had my worst ride in months (a 70k ride in gale force winds and rain) it hurt and I struggled. To make matters worse rode in an old pair of shorts that when wet chaffed badly – didn’t expect to list nappy rash as one of my injuries!
Bounced back with a great solo ride through the Surrey hills after getting off the plane from China. Ended the month with a 1:29 _ marathon off the back of limited training – the end of my legacy training plan for the middle distance triathlon in May….. It doesn’t feel like I made the most of the training ‘opportunities’ through the month – a little frustrated at my lack of discipline and focus.

December
• Month Training : 13.5 hours (Holiday to New Zealand)
• Monthly Road Miles : 180km
• Hours to date : 170 hours
• Mileage to date : 1930 km

Off to NZ for a 4 week holiday and tapered a little early! Also quite busy at work. Managed to get four runs in whilst in NZ before the new year as well as doing 3 long day walks. Rode a bike once in NZ but I am not sure cycling round the Marlborough vineyards counts as training ride –nice wine though!
30/12 ripped a calf muscle in left leg running 45 minutes into the run out of Wanaka and a long way from the motel at about 7:30pm – amazingly a mountain biker riding the track I was on leant me his bike so I could ride back into town (easier than hopping), he ran back and we met in the town. Even noting this down it doesn’t seem real hard to believe he just gave a complete stranger his bike (and helmet)
Checkpoint: 4 months in and I have managed to cover about 1/3 of the RAAM distance on a bike. I am feeling a little out of my depth and I am beginning to get a grasp of just how big a challenge this is going to be. Not quite reaching the point of blind panic but it is beginning to look a little scary and quite daunting. Guess the only option is to get my head down, put the mileage in and see what happens…….

The RAAM challenge

I am still not quite sure why Marco thought I might be a suitable team rider for the RAAM – I only bought my first road bike at the beginning of 2008, wouldn’t ride it on a wet road until the start of 2009 and don’t think I showed ambition or inclination to ride a bike further than a lunch stop in Brighton (100k return on the flat!). Still, ask he did, and I said no.

Clearly, as I am writing a blog on my training for the RAAM, I changed my mind but I am not sure when. I suspect it was sometime round about the Prostate Cancer Tour of Britain ride in Stoke. My longest ride (150km) which I completed and didn’t feel too bad during, or after. On the basis of this one ride – I decided the RAAM was doable – this was clearly more than a little naive and overconfident, but once committed and all that….

So what is the RAAM challenge?

• 3014 miles (about!) – 30% longer than the Tour de France
• 100,000ft of ascent (4 x Everest)
• Single stage race (24hr riding)
• Lowest point – 190ft,
• Highest point 10,857ft,
• Start : San Diego (Oceanside) California
• End: Annapolis Maryland
• Team of 4 – so ride _ distance or about 110 miles per day each
• Ride for 6 hours a day
• Target of 7 days (not sure where this came from!)
• Average speed 18.6 mph (30kph)

What is involved in training for the RAAM?

There are a number of different elements to the training – my mix of training is a bit weird because (1) I have a slightly dodgy back and (2) I after the RAAM I will go back to doing triathlon so I need to include a bit of swimming and running. The elements are:

Cycling: It probably isn’t a surprise that riding a bike is a big bit of training for the RAAM. To date this has been achieved by:

1) The Commute: As I commute into I get some mileage by riding to and from the station (30 minutes) and to the gym / office / station in London (another 30 minutes). I suspect this does me little good but, like many cyclists in London, I race buses through town so if I need to race a bus – do a track stand at a traffic light or dodge taxis on the RAAM I should be OK!
2) The weekend: The opportunity to spend lots of long hours riding round the countryside
3) The turbo trainer: a nasty invention that allows you to ride your bike inside your house. It redefines boredom – reduces you to a sweaty heap and makes you realise that riding outside in any weather is a preferable option
4) Spinning: a bit like turbo training but with someone shouting at you and better music

Weights: Allegedly good for me but I have always hated doing weights (and gyms). I do a few weights occasionally when I can’t find an excuse to do something (anything) else to do

Core strength / flexibility: Having not been able to touch my toes in living memory, I am reliably informed this is essential to avoid injury. I do Pilates once a week and stretch when I remember
Swimming: I am not sure it helps to ride your bike but for ‘active’ recovery it is great exercise and good for my back so is a small part of my overall training mix

Running: Apparently has absolutely no benefit to cyclists and massively increases the risk of injury, that said –it’s a far more intense way to pack in some aerobic exercise and I am a better runner than cyclist so it makes me feel good.

Organising a week
Almost as hard as actually training (well not really!) is working out how to organise a week so you can train enough – my ideal training week looks something like:

Monday – Swim in the morning for an hour before work. Stretch and Core work in the evening for an hour (this is really a ‘recovery’ day so all no hard sessions)
Tuesday – Weights session in the morning. Turbo train in the evening for an hour
Wednesday – Swim in the morning . Run at lunchtime for an hour.
Thursday – Pilates at lunchtime, Spinning in the evening (an hour)
Friday – Swim in the morning – eat in the evening and watch (crap) TV!
Saturday – ride a bike all day
Sunday – ride a bike for lots of the day. Stretch in the evening

This adds up to about 20 hours

In reality the best I end up managing is about 15 hours. It means getting out of bed at 05:30 and eating dinner at about 21:00 squeezing my working week and training in between.