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30 hour cycle report
The 600+ mile route was driven and recorded by Alan and Simon O’ Dea two weeks prior to the exercise. It was important that this was done instead of following the AA route planner as the notes were taken in US terminology. A T junction in Ireland for example is written as 3 way road in the States and so the crew have to be able to read and understand the abbreviations used by RAAM. A route book was then put together to look exactly as it will look in the race.

The weather on the Saturday morning of the 30 hour cycle could not have been better and everyone was eager to get going at the 6am start time. From 5am the cars and the campervan were loaded with all essentials, food, water and equipment.

There was an air of apprehension and excitement as the cavalcade pulled out and Steve started the relay for the cyclists. Two cyclists would be doing 10 mile time trials with Steve and Alan Duffy being the first two on the road. After about 50 miles (Monaghan town) Adrian and Colm would take over as the first two now had an opportunity to rest in the RV.  They would continue to change over like this for the full 30 hours.

How the cars and RV were used

Car No. 1 was used behind the cyclists at all times. It consisted of a driver and navigator who would follow the route book and give instruction to the driver. The driver would then give instruction to the cyclist through the use of beeping (1beep for left and 2 beeps for right). This was the first snag for the team – sometimes the rider would not hear the second beep and go wrong. This is certainly an area that needs to be improved before the race. One wrong direction in the states can lead to a lot of extra miles and time lost.

Car No. 2 was the bin car. It would be parked 10 miles ahead of where the rider on the road started and the rider in this car would get some rest and food before jumping on the bike and racing off when the first rider over lapped them (The Change over). This gave rise to snag 2 – If the rider was not ready to start, time would be lost. A couple of times the rider would start in haste and forget to put a helmet on which is a very serious offence in the race and would incur a lot of time penalties or possible disqualification. Figuring out where to start the rider from also took some trial and error. It was worked out that 100m behind the car was the best place as the change over would happen before the cyclist reached the car and so rider 2 would speed up the road as rider 1 was stopped and put into the car for his rest and food.

The RV was used for sleep and meals. It went ahead to a designated time station and would stop and wait for the two cyclists to catch up. Snag 3 – Keeping the place tidy was an absolute must and this will need to be improved for the trip. Snag 4 – Sleeping is very difficult to do when the RV is bouncing along the road and so could only really be achieved when stopped. Some guys are much better at this than others and this will be a huge obstacle to overcome in RAAM. The 30 hour cycle was made more difficult for Simon and PJ as they were the only ones qualified to drive the RV and to say they performed brilliantly was an understatement. In the States anyone of the team can drive the RV and this should make things a little easier. A schedule is being devised at the moment to make sure everyone has an opportunity to rest and recover.

Overall, the weekend was a great success and a massive learning curve was achieved. The cyclist performed brilliantly and managed to complete the full 30 hours at an average speed of 22 miles per hour.


Alan Heary