341 Miles from Oceanside to just beyond Hope

It's been two weeks since RAW 2019, and I am still sorting it all out in my head. After 16 days of ruminating experiences, the epic moments, disappointments, and lessons are being to organize themselves in my head. RAW (and I imagine one day the RAAM), is an adventure like no other. The race is colossally difficult and epic in proportions--full of extremes and beyond superlatives.  It has left me full of complex and ambiguous feelings.  I felt incredibly empowered, rolling across vast distances in the darkness, guided by the lights of my support vehicle and following the white line and flashing amber lights of other racers ahead.    I rode through the night and had blissful descent down the moonlit Palo Verde Valley into Blythe CA.  I ate the best ice cream cone ever sitting under a scrawny tree in Parker AZ.  l felt totally defeated in the searing 115 degree desert heat like a withered houseplant someone forgot to water.   Riding 341 miles across the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, more or less non-stop, most of it in 100+ degree heat feels like a grand accomplishment and a disappointing defeat at the same time.

Experience was gained and lessons learned both about the challenge of RAW and about myself.  I am impressed and humbled by the other athletes, those that finished, and those that did not.  I am in awe of the dedicated crew members that followed their riders, watching over them, lighting their way, motivating them when they were down, and taking them home.  I feel compelled to return to Oceanside in 2020.

Read More