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RAAM 2015 Race Report

kathy_roche-wallace-raamThis was my third attempt at the Race Across America, the longest bike race in the United States (and some say the toughest sporting event on the planet). My first crossing of the U.S. was in 2011 and I was fortunate to have crossed the finish line in the time allotment. By doing so, I set the record for the women’s solo 50+ category, being the first woman in the history of the event to complete the race in this category. The second time I attempted the crossing was in 2013. Unfortunately, I was forced to stop the race due to a combination of upper respiratory issues, caused by forest fires in Colorado, compounded by a demoralizing headwind in Kansas. Yeah, riding into a 20 mph wind when you can’t breathe is no fun.

This year I got further than 2013 and made it just before West Virginia. But with roughly 400 miles to go, I made the decision not to continue for the safety of one of my crew members. Being so close yet having to drop out of the race was not an easy decision, but safety is not something to compromise on, especially with a race like this. While I was not able to cross the finish line this year, it was an honor to again defend my title and retaining the record for yet one more year.

My sincere gratitude to all, since just to be able to stand on the start line is a feeling of accomplishment and not something that can be done without the support of many key people. I would not be able to experience this if it was not for the help of family, friends and a couple of specific people like Eric Cook with WSI, Chip Murdoch of College Chevrolet, James and the crew at Niterider and Alan and Mike from Team Active.

My crew holds a special place in my heart – You are all amazing!

  • 2011-Eric (Wallace), Charles, Mark, Amy, Kelvin, Mara
  • 2013-Eric, Mark, Chuck, Zandra, Mike
  • 2015-Eric, Charles, Deb, Liz, Barb

To check out some photos of the race and updates on RAAM, be sure to visit (and Like!) my GoKathyGo Facebook page. You can also check out my website at www.GoKathyGo.com for even more information about what I’ve got planned form my next “big adventure.”

Stay on Top of Your Pedals,
Kathy Roche-Wallace- #415

 

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Kathy Roche-Wallace and her Sebring 24hr RAAM Qualifier

kathy-at-sebringI signed up for the 24 Hours of Sebring as a personal test and training for my upcoming RAAM event in June… and I’m glad I did. At the end of the 24 hours, I logged 338.9 miles, enough to take 2nd in my age group. Not too bad of a result, considering most of my training this year has been indoors riding on rollers!

What a unique venue, the last 12hrs we were riding on the actual 3.14 mile race track. The only part of the track that was lit was the pit stop. The marking of the race track was back rear bike lights that they laid on the track like run way lights for airplanes. My crew is amazing and did an excellent job keeping me on my bike. It was a challenge, I kept wanting to stop after every lap, and those stops were adding up to laps lost. I raced with the mindset that I was on my 6th day of RAAM and the main goal was to stay within myself and be able to ride for another 6 days and this pace. Training continues on rollers for now with the next big training, heading to State College Pa. to visit my daughter and grand kids and do some long rides in the mountains.

Kathy

indigogo-logo-blackP.S. If you’ve not heard yet, we’ve also set up an Indiegogo Life page for Kathy to help collect donations in support of her RAAM event this year. As you can suspect, undertaking something like RAAM obviously takes physical and mental commitment – but the financial commitment is one that cannot be forgotten. If you’d like to support Kathy with a contribution of any amount, feel free to donate online!

~Eric Cook, “business manager”

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And they’re off…..

Last Night WSI Team Active Racing got together to kick off  planning for the 2014 Season.  Eric Cook was nice enough to host at his house and, since I was driving from out of town, I convincedWSI Team Active 2014 Kick Off him to go for a ride in advance of the team meeting.

That may not have been the best idea.  Dwight  joined us and is (for some reason) at mid season form and Eric is, well what Eric always is…a machine.  I was a bit late for our departure time after making some much needed purchases at Team Active, although I was dressed and ready to go, my bike still needed to get prepped and I wanted to put toe warmers in my boots and hand warmers in my gloves.  Not sure what the temperature was, I remember seeing about 20 degrees.  While I was prepping my gear, I told Eric and Dwight that I needed about 5 minutes.  Dwight said “Okay, you get all ready, then we will start spinning and warm up on our way to the ‘Dump’.”  I thought he meant, we would have time to warm up, not that we would get on the bike and proceed to ride at 22 mph right out of the driveway!  I got warm, but not much of a warm up.

We met Kathy at an intersection about a mile from the entrance to the Dump.  It was too cold to socialize too much, but very good to see her.  I had not seen her since she returned from RAAM.  The Dump is a great technical morass of cement, tar and tile and, if you go down, something gets scratched or broken.

Last time I rode the Dump was 3 years ago, that was in the middle of the summer and I was much more comfortable handling my bike than this ride when the ground was frozen and I was cold.  Nobody fell, though I did do some sight seeing a couple times, but all in all a great ride through the woods.  On the way home, Dwight pulled and I locked on to his wheel as if my life depended on it.

My feet were so frozen, that they were numb, and (you know the feeling) I wanted to cry they hurt so bad when they started to thaw out.  But then we went to Crazy Horse for some pizza and a beer…then all was good.

All got much better when I saw the team that I started riding with 5 years ago.  Mike, Eric, Kathy, Dan, Danny, Hannah, Devin, Chuck, Charles, Dave, Dave Sr., Eric, Cameron, Dwight, April, Keith, JJ, Groat, Josh, (and I probably forgot a couple guys), have all been around since I started riding.  (JJ brought his daughter with him, it was great to meet her too.)

There is something about the internal fight you have with yourself while you are putting out a big effort (or fighting the elements) and then get together with friends who do the same thing.  It is a fraternity and sorority and a family.  It was great to see everyone, go for a ride and talk about all of the great things coming for 2014.  I value our friendship and look forward to an awesome 2014.  For those who could not make it, we missed you.

Go WSI/Team Active Racing.  Jack.

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Getting Caught Up – A Collection of Race Reports

Fort Custer Stampede. Battle Creek, MI. 5/5

I raced the expert 40-49 div. which had 27 riders and was 2 rows deep at the start line. I positioned myself in the front row hoping for a top 5 start. As we got the go signal I got a good jump looking to make a move into #2 spot. Then my foot slipped out of the cleat causing me to almost go down and all the riders behind me to check up. I was able to calmly clip in and recover for a top 5 spot. The first two riders had dropped the three of us behind them as me were making our way through the slower riders from the waves that had started ahead of us. I was feeling good mentally after the first lap but the miles and lack of training this spring was adding up. I lost a couple spots just before entering the red loop. Trying to hang onto their rear wheel was the best I had until the switch back on the green loop at Erin’s rock they had dropped me for good. I was left alone with no one to push or pull me I had to finish alone. I was pleased to finish 9th out of the 27.

Infiterra Sports Adventure Rage 28hr adventure race. Oscoda, Mi. 5/18-19

This race started at 5am sat. morn. and the cut off was 8am sun. morn. Our team was Andy Weeks, Paddi Thornburg, Sara Williams and myself. Even though the actual race didn’t start until sat. morn. It really starts the moment teams get their maps and finish the race briefing which was fri. at 9pm. With a 5am start time and a 45 min. drive to the start. That left our team 2.5hrs to work on our maps and route choices, pack food and mandatory gear, leaving only 3hrs. of sleep. Awaiting the start with the other 19 teams we decided to just ease into the race not to rush and race our race. We started with an orienteering sec. with 6 CP’s. which took us 4.5hrs. and we were 6th overall. We then moved onto a biking section on roads to the Rifle river single track. Locating CP’s along the way. After completing the bike section of +-20 miles. We arrived at our first TA knowing we wouldn’t have food or water for the next 7-8hrs. we loaded up for our first of 2 river paddling sections. With a 4mile run in between the two.The first was 7miles and the second was a mind numbing 11miles with 12-14 portages over downed trees that caused me to have a complete melt down. I threw my paddle into the canoe cussing and swearing as Sara told me I don’t handle anger well ??????? I was tired of lifting and dragging that damn heavy aluminum canoe. I through so many F bombs. That’s what makes adventure racing so fun?????? So we finished the paddle around 7:30

14hrs. into the race arriving at TA2 in 8th place. We then started a 10-14 mile trekking section along the AuSable river with 5 CP’s along the way. We made it to the 5th CP at 12:30am to learn the leaders had finished. With a few miles left in our trekking we would arrive at TA3 at 2:30am sun. This was our last TA of the race which we finished with a 30+ mile biking section with an optional orienteering section with in it where time management would be crucial. As we arrived at the orienteering sec. around 3:30am a team we had been leap frogging back and forth with was going to bail and continue the bike section. I talked them into working with us to go get at least one CP. which proved to be positive. It took us an hour to go 1mile total before getting back to the bikes. We decided to leave the rest the CP’s so we made sure to finish in the allotted time. With 20miles and 2CP’s to go we only had 3.5hrs to finish. So we linked up with the other team and agreed to finish together. This was a great idea as it helped all of us stay awake along the ride to the finish. We came in at 7:40 am on sun. Finishing tied for 7th overall and 4th in the 4 person co-ed division. With only an hour sleep and a great post race breakfast I had the hardest time fighting the sleep monster on the 4hr. drive home.

Seahorse Triathlon 5/26

Not a lot to report with this one. I did the relay option with Danny Wolin as our biker and a speedy swimmer Kathy Roche-Wallace hooked us up with. Olivia came out of the swim in 25min. Handing off to Danny he did the 40k bike in just under an hour. I took the chip for the 6.6 mile run. We finished the olympic distance race in 2:22:45 with a first place in the relay div.

The next race on the calendar is RAAM which everyone can follow at GoKathyGo.com, on Kathy’s Facebook page or on the RAAM website 6/11-6/24.

Chuck Brenner

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3,000 Miles… 12 States… One Amazing Woman.

On behalf of the entire WSI Cycling Team, I’m excited and proud to introduce you to one of our most amazing teammates, Kathy Roche-Wallace. I’ve known Kathy for years, in fact she was even one of my “groomsmen” when my Alicia and I got married over 15 years ago. She’s completed Ironman™ triathlons, tripple “Iron-distance” triathlons, multi-day adventure races, ultra-distance runs, 12-hour mountain bike races and in 2011 was the first 50+ woman to complete the solo Race Across America. During her 2011 RAAM event, she even won the Queen of the Mountains award for summiting the major mountain passes faster than any other woman. Despite all this, she’s going back to RAAM again this year to do even better.

Kathy Roche-Wallace

When you hear these accomplishments, one may assume all she does is ride, run and workout but that’s not true. While she certainly does train more than most, she’s got a “real job” with the local fitness center, a wife, mother to six children and a proud grandmother. Yes, I said grandmother and this “granny” will ride circles around you (I know first-hand because it’s happened to me!). I think that’s one of the special things about Kathy. While she did get official sponsorship as a professional cyclist  in the 90s, she’s been racing and competing “for the fun of it” for well over a decade and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Coming up next month, Kathy will throw her leg over her Cannondale and start her second 3,000 journey across the country in her second RAAM event. She’s got a great crew to help take her across the United States (and have been there for the past several months on training rides and team meetings). Unless you’re part of that elite crew, you’re not going to be able to physically travel with Kathy for those 12 days in June. But, you CAN offer your support and help to ease the financial burden, as well as support charity at the same time.

At Kathy’s RAAM 2013 contribution page (http://bit.ly/raam2013) you can make a donation with a credit or debit card directly online. There’s instructions on how to send a check if that’s a preferred payment method. Either way, your support will help to ease the financial burden of competing in an event of this magnitude. Plus funds received beyond expenses will be donated to charity.

Kathy starts RAAM on June 11th in Oceanside, CA and updates will be shared on her Facebook page, GoKathyGo. If you’ve not visited and become a Fan yet, stop by and click the LIKE button. The crew will be posting photos, videos and updates from the road so you can keep tabs on Kathy’s progress. Her goal this year is to compete the race in under 12 days and I’m excited that Alicia and I will be there in Annapolis, MD this year when she comes across the line.

Eric

P.S. Join me this week on Wednesday, May 29th when Kathy joins me on my weekly webinar show, Free Webinar Wednesdays. The show starts at 1 pm Eastern and we’ll be talking all about RAAM and the many things that make Kathy so special.