The RAAM documentary crew started to split up a few days ago, with cameramen Andre Trinidad and Ernie Holly moving forward along the route with some of the leaders, and Jon Dunham and myself hanging back a little. Jon and I are now in Grafton, West Virginia, a small town in the heart of Appalachia.
Here in the mountains, Jon and I are mostly following solo riders as they hit perhaps the most difficult part of the race. The elevation here isn't nearly that of the Rockies, but the climbs tend to be steeper and closer together. Plus by the time riders get here they've been pedaling for 10 days without much sleep so the legs are just about gone. The only consolation is that once they make it through the last brutal peaks of western Maryland it's all downhill to Annapolis, and the finish line is only a couple hundred miles away.
At this point in the race, there's a certain glassy look on the soloists' faces. For the first few days there was still a sense of excitement about this adventure, but by now any energy they have left is best used for pedaling, not emotion. It's like being caught in a tidal wave- you either keep swimming or the wave takes you under. Looking at their faces, you get the sense that they aren't really doing RAAM anymore, RAAM is doing them.
So the obvious question is why on Earth did they sign up for this in the first place? Honestly, if you judged this race based only on what we're seeing right now you'd probably never even want to see a bike again. But Annapolis is only two days away, and I'm guessing the looks on the soloists' faces when they get there will change everything.
-Andy
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