Patrick Blair doesn't get bent out of shape when people call him crazy. Instead, he seems to almost expect it.

"People say 'You're doing RAAM? That's crazy.' And then they find out that we're doing it on fixed gear bikes and they go, 'That's super crazy,'" he said.

Blair is one of a team of four bikers who are taking part in the Race Across America, called RAAM by those in the know, that started June 11 in Oceanside, Calif.

Blair, along with teammates Alex and Adam Driscoll and Keith Rohr, is competing for the first time in the ultra endurance race that has its finish line in Annapolis. The team is being helped in their attempt by a support crew of nine, driving three back-up vehicles.

"I think they're even more excited than I am, which is crazy," Blair said of his support staff. "It's pretty intense. I mean, I get a million e-mails about all the planning everyday. It's going to be really tough on everyone; it's 24 hours of going."

Although this is Blair's first time racing cross-country, it is the second time he has made the trip across America on a bike. Two years ago, he and teammate Adam Driscoll joined up with fellow biker Jesse Stump to do a 6,500-mile fund raising ride from Bellingham,Wash., to Ocean City.

Blair and Driscoll, who were roommates in college, founded a 501c3 non profit, Adventures for the Cure, in 2005."We decided that we should be doing more to help other people," Blair said.

Their first adventure was a 320 mile trek from Catonsville to Ocean City and back, raising $7,000 for the American Diabetes Association. They chose that charity for their first philanthropic endeavor because Driscoll has type 1 diabetes.

Madi West, a member of their 2008 RAAM support crew, met Blair and Driscoll when her husband Mike started riding with them in the mornings. The Morning Ride encompasses a 25 mile loop that draws many cycling enthusiasts from around the region, and begins and ends in Ellicott City.

"They're kind of the example of twenty-somethings getting out and making a difference in the world. ... They started working and had good jobs, but they also figured that there has to be more to life than sitting behind a desk," she said.

Rohr, an Ellicott City resident, also met Blair and Driscoll on the morning ride. After a long hiatus, he picked up cycling again in 2005.

"It was my 30th birthday and I wanted to get back into it," he said."You know, Ellicott City is full of cyclists and I ended up buying a bike on eBay and these guys from the Bike Doctor put my bike together. And they said that there's this morning ride and they meet at Childtime on the corner of (routes) 103 and 104."

Rohr was intrigued when he heard Blair and Driscoll were planning on entering the race. He was especially interested when Blair told him they were doing the race on fixed gear bikes.

"That's a big deal, as a cyclist. They're pretty strong cyclists to be able to do this. Other cyclists are always saying, 'You guys are nuts,'" he said.

Rohr added in an e-mail that the Surly Steamrollers they will be riding are fixed gear single-speed bikes.

"The bike has no free wheel; therefore, it does not coast at all. Hence one must pedal constantly to maintain movement," he wrote. That includes peddling downhill as well as up.

Trip involves lots of details

The logistics of supporting the team throughout the race are monumental. Detailed plans and schedules had to be worked out in advance so that the bikers are able to ride around the clock. The bikers do not ride at the same time, but tag-team, each racing for 30 minutes before trading off with their partner. Each pair goes for six hours at a stretch, then rests in the RV, getting as much sleep as they can. The team is aiming to keep up a constant speed of about 19 miles per hour.

"We only race one person at time. ... There's an RV, a follow vehicle and a leap-frog vehicle," West said. "There are always two people per vehicle, a driver and a navigator. The follow vehicle is always with the cyclist. The rider will have a headset on and we'll have walkie-talkies. We give them directions on where to turn."

Training tough for event

Training intensively for the race didn't phase Blair, who would do the 25-mile morning ride, bike to work and then put in another 20 miles after work.

"I guess I'm always training for these long-distance events. I've done two Ironman triathlons and a bunch of marathons," he said.

Still, he is concerned about having to keep up the killer pace that they set for themselves as a goal.

"We've trained for five months, which is probably not enough," he said. "Others have done it for almost a year. I'm a little nervous about it. I'm worried about on the sixth or seventh day, am I going to be able to keep the pace that I want to?"

Although most RAAM competitors are there purely to race, Blair and his teammates are also raising money for Adventures for the Cure. As a last hurrah before flying out to California, the team joined a 62-mile Maryland Tour de Cure ride June 7, which began at Meadowbrook Park, in Ellicott City.

"Sixty miles isn't that much, really. It'll be a nice little ride that won't phase us at all," Blair said.

For more information on the team and the Race Across America, or to view documentary movie clips of Blair and Adam Driscoll's 2006 cross-country bike trip, go to www.adventuresforthecure.com.

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user comments (1)

user mikewest says...

Nice article! For more info on 'the morning ride', take a peek at www.themorningride.com.

Cheers!
Mike

Posted 3:35 PM, 06.14.08

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