The Texas RAAM Challenge

I haven't been on the bike much lately.  I've been preparing to be crew chief for Steven Burns at the Texas RAAM Challenge.

The Texas RAAM Challenge starts from Marble Falls, TX (somewhat near Austin) at 5 AM CDT this coming Saturday.  Steven will have until 1 PM CDT Sunday to finish. I fly out from Seattle on at 12:25 PM PDT Thursday and arrive in Austin TX at 6:19 PM CDT

Our pace document is at Texas RAAM Challenge.  The green tab is his goal, the red tab is the slowest he can be to finish. 

The map of the route is at Texas 400-mile route

Satellite tracking will be available from a link at RAAM Challenge Series

RAAM Challenge Series

Texas 400-mile route 389.2 mi, +18901 ft. Starts in Marble Falls, TX

Texas 400 RAAM Challenge 28 hr Miles next, MTF, Segment Mile, Elevation, Total Elevation, Speed, MTG, Hrs, Moving Hr: Min, Arrival DT, ...

Woo Hoo!

Back on a bike.....sort of.  Trying to catch my brother-in-law and his grandson as they ride around the neighborhood.  Dave is pedaling,  the grandson being towed in a trailer. They were moving fast!  They had a few blocks head start as I grabbed a helmet. By the time I got to the street, they were no where in sight!

As I was looking in likely locations for them I came across this sign.

It cites Oregon Revised Statute 105.682 saying that the city isn't responsible for injuries or property damage.  Not to burst their bubble, but I spend significant time in public sector training.  The Recreational Immunity protections cited for public entities was made pretty much worthless by a recent court ruling that found that while you may not sue the agency for mess ups that cause injury, you may sue the publicly employed worker who caused the issue.  Oregon law requires public agencies to indemnify their workers who are sued while performing acts within their scope of duties.  So.......... nice try Wilsonville, you may say you aren't responsible for damages, but you ARE responsible for your employees, who may be sued for damages while working for you.

Back to my search, it took a phone call to coordinate, but I eventually found them.

I joined them, sharing horn toots with the grandchild.  He had a bulb horn at his disposal, that made a similar sound the the toy horn I've got on the fixed gear bike.  We traded horn toots back and forth, amusing both us big kids, and the pedestrians we passed by.

A short, but good day in the sunshine!

.........Road Bike........Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........8................0....................0........................0..........8
Jan..............304...............15...................0......................31..........350
Feb..............0..................0....................0.......................0..............0
March.........18................0.....................0.......................0.............18

A failed weather forecast...........thankfully!

I brought my vehicle in for a change of spark plugs yesterday afternoon.  Despite saying they'd get to it yet yesterday, this morning it was still not ready.  I had a Special Districts of Oregon Legislative Breakfast to attend this morning, and it was only 2.5 miles away, so I biked there.

The weather forecast called for rain beginning late last night and continuing today.  Thankfully, the pavement was still dry as I pedaled out.  I was on the fixed gear bike, wearing a bright yellow cycling jacket over street clothes. Rain would have made it much harder to stay "business ready".

After a few hours our meeting was done.  I had left this morning forgetting my phone, and the shop was supposed to call me when my vehicle was finished.  Presuming that they would surely be trying to contact me to let me know I could pick up my vehicle, I detoured by the shop to check on it.

Alas, they hadn't started on it yet.  I rode home and picked up my phone.    A few hours later I rode back and picked up my vehicle.

Last week I was feeling bad that I had biked so few miles in the month of February.  I was thinking that  I prerode my birthday ride route just a couple of days before my birthday. Alas, I see that I prerode the route on the last day of January, giving me a whopping ZERO miles in the month of February!

So despite only getting 10 miles today, it was 10 miles more than I got last month. :-(


.........Road Bike........Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........10................0....................0........................0..........10
Jan..............304...............15...................0......................31..........350
Feb..............0..................0....................0.......................0..............0
March.........10................0.....................0.......................0.............10