Rob and RAAM: Racing Bikes and Saving Lives
On June 12th at 2 pm PDT, Race Across America (RAAM) began its 3,000-mile journey east from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland. And among the participants is our own Rob Coburn, Group Strategy Director/Public Relations Strategist at Perry & Banks, pedaling for Team Type 2 in this epic cross-country race.
The following is an update from Rob on the VSP Vision Care blog (sponsor of the team).
Over a quarter of the race down, and I’m somewhere in Colorado. The Milky Way is an incredible sight at night, and the Monument Valley just after sun up is truly breathtaking.
It’s 4 p.m. mountain time and I’m off to “bed”. We’re on the road for the next 3-plus hours in an RV to meet the squad that’s riding now. Sleep is hard to come by in shifts of approximately three hours in the RV. I’ll be back on the bike around 1:00 am, and there will be more climbing tonight.
We’ve logged 321 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona to Durango, Colorado in the past 24 hours at an average speed of 17.5 miles per hour. This puts a total of 857 miles behind Team Type 2, and we have 2,147 miles still to complete. Fortunately, the climbs and elevation of the Rocky Mountains will be complete soon, which will bring us to the rolling hills of Kansas and Missouri.
The team is really making good use of our Nike sunglasses which have replaceable lenses. I looked up as I was swapping out the dark lenses to the clear lenses for night riding and saw that two of my teammates were doing the same thing.
If you’re anywhere near our route, come out and cheer us on. We’d love to see you!
We’re all wishing Rob the best of luck in this amazing endeavor, and are looking forward to more updates in the coming days!
For more infomation:
Team Type 2 website
Team Type 2 on Twitter
DAY FOUR UPDATE FROM THE TEAM TYPE 2 BLOG:
Today for Team Type 2, the Race Across America continued across 338 miles of Kansas and into the western cusp of Missouri. Weather began to play a factor throughout the day as Team Type 2 eased into the back-end of a huge thunderstorm on the eastern edge of Kansas. But with the Missouri state line in the distance, spirits were high despite the weather. “Chances are pretty good we’ll get wet at some point for the rest of the day,” noted rider Rob Coburn.
Team Type 2 has also battle its fair share of illness, just as Team Type 1 has. “One of the members of the team came down with a stomach bug late last night and into the early morning,” said Coburn. “So three of us went out about midnight local time and rode about 150 miles until our teammate got his energy back.” Despite the setback, “it was a great night,” noted Coburn. “After the cold of the night before, 60 degrees felt great! We raced back and forth all night with another team. And at the last time station, we averaged 20.87 mph for about 35 miles.’
“We are just over half way through the course. The routine is working itself out and we are all adapting in ways you wouldn’t believe,” observed Coburn. “Our crew is top-notch and essential to making all of this work. As you can imagine, moving this crew down the road is no small task.”