As the 20th of June creeps closer the two athletes of Team ViaSat that I will be helping across the country, Ryan Denner and Larry Bice, decided it was time for all of us to get familiar with what the rider exchanges will look like. Larry has done RAAM a couple of times as a rider and a couple of times as crew his insight is much appreciated.
ViaSat will be a team of eight riders which will be split up into shifts of two. This concept is logistically challenging as you have 4 sets of riders leap frogging across the country, thank goodness ViaSat is a satellite communications company, as I am sure there will be moment where we have no idea where the others are. Anyhow, each set of athlete will ride a certain time/distance and then when that is complete they will do an "exchange". This is what Ryan, Larry and I practiced a bit this past Sunday, and basically it is a series of short leapfrogs within the big one. It was a little challenging as the redlights, stop signs, traffic, and the general disregard for cyclists on the road led to some close calls and many on the fly improvisations. I can't wait to see how a week of this unfolds. I've attached a few photos of the day.
Ryan getting ready to roll but not until we stopped his wheel from rubbing his frame. Too bad Ryna relaized this only after 3 hours of our 4 hour ride.
Larry getting ready to take us back to ViaSat for the finale of the practice ride.
An "exchange" happening. Larry's wheel needs to pass Ryan's wheel in order for the RAAM approved exchange to take place. This is what they were practicing and it worked pretty well.
Wish us all luck Team ViaSat has a very good chance of doing very well.
1 comment:
dude, i didnt realize you had a blog! booyeah!
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