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.