Last week I blogged about Matt's participation in RAAM. It was really bitter to learn this weekend that he had to pull out. He picked up a chest infection and fever on the second day and battled on for two days until he finally had to withdraw. A huge blow after a year of preparation.
This shows the cruel nature of long distance racing: the longer and harder the event, the greater the preparation and sacrifice to get there and the greater the risk that something goes wrong. And it's not like you can do another one quickly. I can only imagine what it feels like having to bury your dream of RAAM after a few days in. But I'm sure Matt will recover physically and get his enthusiasm back :-).
As much as I was hoping that I would be writing this about Matt, this year's RAAM is an amazingly dramatic story: the two leaders in the solo category, Reto Schoch and Christoph Strasser are fighting the closest of all battles. After 6 days and 17 hours of racing they are separated by only 8 minutes. That's insane! I cannot imagine how tough this is, not only physically, but mentally.
It is already insane to think that these guys are in the saddle for more than 20 hours a day and have been crossing the continent at an average speed of almost 25kph. That's 25kph including sleep and breaks. So they are riding fast - probably averaging above 30kph when they are in the saddle. But then there is also the mental dimension of having your competitor so close by. I cannot imagine the tension that puts on the riders.
Go and check out the leaderboard and RAAM site for the latest results.
I hope Alain's and my little duel will be fun and that we can take a leaf out of the ultra endurance boys' book: battle on till the end!
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