Many RAW and RAAM athletes and teams partner with a charity.  This is a way we can give back to the sport and the community, and use some of the energy and interest in our endeavor to benefit a cause that we believe in with the same passion that we compete with. 

Today, I have the pleasure to announce the our charity partner for RAW 2019 will the the Arizona Greyhound Rescue.   We will be helping raise awareness and funds for Arizona Greyhound Rescue Capital Campaign for Sol Dog Lodge.   As many of you may know, Cathy and I are blessed to have rescued two greyhounds, Chevy and Napa, who have been our loyal companions for eight years.  Chevy and Napa are both retired athletes, having raced in Florida, and still have a passion for running and playing.  Greyhounds are a most wonderful, loyal, and caring breed.  A greyhound rescue organization placed Chevy and Napa with us, changing all of our lives.  Now that we live in Tucson Arizona, we have discovered our local rescue group, and are excited to be partnering with them for RAW.

These last two weeks marked the beginning of my 34 year of competitive bike racing.  I got my first license as at Cat 4 back in 1986, and have done at least one race each year ever since.  The first weekend of racing is always a joy.  It's a time to renew friendships, catch up with fellow racers, promoters, and officials that you have not seen since last season.  It feels like a family.  In Tucson, I get the chance to see many old New England friends training and racing here.  Opening weekend is special.  This year, Cathy and I hosted two USAF cadets that were competing in the Collegiate races, Kyle and Simon.  Both are seniors moving on to fighter pilot school after graduating.  It was an honor to host them, and see them kick back a bit, relax, enjoy some time away from the academy and race bikes.

This year is a bit different, with the focus of the season being the Race Across the West.  Still, I reserved these weeks to race the local stage races, test the speed, and take a break from the huge long rides.  Surprisingly, some speed is still there, and both the Oracle Road Race and the UA Grand Prix Criterium went really well.  My good friend Gerry Clapper got me on the steep part of the climb--he has a signature pop on the steepest part of the hill which he backs up with a couple of minutes at 110%.  Gerry is former New England, and a first class racer.  He always races with honor and respect.  The Oracle Road Race is promoted by the UA Cycling Team, and was one of the best organized races out here.  The crit was super sketchy rain (see the second pic in the galery).  I'm tucked in behind Charlie Beadles, you can just see the corner of my yellow jersey, just barely.  Experience in the rain paid off--it turned out to be sort of fun, exploring and figuring out the best line through the high speed, standing water in the downhill U-turn while not being able to see where you are going.

This training block was designed around revisiting the speed and skills of road racing.  The Christian Cycling Jam Sessions are back!  Nighttime training crits, in the dark, with headlights.  It's just beyond awesomely fun.  Homemade cookies and pizza afterwards.  I got to ride fast circles with the UA kids, and get a real workout in mid week.   The Christian Cycling group is working hard to bring new people into the sport, teach them how to race, and how to race safely.

Between it all, every other weekend has been back to the endurance.  The week before Oracle, I got in back to back 7 hour rides.  This weekend, I finally got the progression in to 9 hours, finishing 164 miles in good form.  These were bonus sessions, not really planned, but it will really help prepare for the next ultra-endurance block of training when 10-12 hour rides need to start being the new normal.  The training goes well.

The planning for RAW continues.  You can see some of the detailed planning on the Race Planning Tab.  It's under construction, but you can see how much work there is to do.  We have 3 days of 3 rooms in Oceanside reserved... the Comfort Suites Oceanside Camp Pendleton Area is the "official hotel" for Pearce Team Raw 2019.  We have started buying up all the supplies... there is so much to get still left, and you need two or more of all sorts of stuff like lights and bike computers.  We need three more amber warning lights for the follow vehicles, and sand recovery equipment (mats, compressor, plug and patch kit).  With the crew dodging off the road in the dark at night, in the desert, it's easy to get stuck--lots of crew do.   Voler, Honey Stinger, and Light and Motion are all helping with discounts.  We also have an Amazon wish list, if you would like to help with some of the equipment, please visit our wish list.  I make our ultra equipment available to the local races for follow support, so it does get passed around the community.

Preparing for RAW has been an experience, and opportunity to do so many different things.  Like 34 years of racing, the experiences along the way have been the best.   The UA Daily Wildcat did a feature story last week.  Maria Crawford (Edge Integrative Wellness) and I are giving two talks to the UA Cycling Team this month.  In the next week, we will be announcing a charity partner--even Chevy and Napa are excited about this one.  It's all new, and just down right exciting.  I hope you all keep following along.