The first 88.3 miles of RAW are an amazing variety of terrain and scenery.  The race starts on The Strand, in downtown Oceanside CA, right on the pier.  The RAW riders start first, at 12:00 noon, followed by the RAAM riders.  Riders depart at one minute intervals, just like a "normal" time trial.  We should all be out of Oceanside and en-route by 1:00 pm.  We start on the pier, ride parallel to the beach for 0.2 miles until turning right up Surfrider Way and the first climb on the RAW.    That first block is a steep one, 10% according to the map, but brief--we quickly get the first 50 feet of the 47,673 feet of climbing in RAW out of the way.  As we turn left towards the San Luis Rey Bike Path, our crew vehicles continue straight, and head via a different route to the our first support point 24 miles away out in Valley Center CA.
 After entering the bike path, we have a 8 mile "Parade Zone", with racing starting as we exit the bike path onto College Blvd.  These 24 miles are unsupported, as we exit the busy urban coastal environment through the coastal mountains, and towards the Mojave Desert.  Start-TS01 has three significant climbs, including the final climb to the top of the famous "Glass Elevator" descent into Borrego Springs and TS01.
Climbs
  • Surfrider Way at 0.2 miles: 0.1 miles @ 7%
  • Morro Hill at 13.4 miles: 3.1 miles @ 3.6%
  • Old Castle Way at 25.8 miles:  2.5 miles @ 5.3%
  • ​Rincon Climb at 41.7 miles: 6.2 miles @ 6.2%
Descents
  • Bonsall Descent at 17.4 miles: 4.0 miles @ -3.0%
  • ​Glass Elevator at 76.2 miles: 12.1 miles @ 6.3%
The first climb of RAW the 50' bump up from The Strand on Surfrider Way.  The classic RAW/RAAM start photos are taken here.  Only 930.3 miles to go.
Half way down the Glass Elevator at the Montezuma Valley Overlook.   From here there is another 6.3 miles of descending at an average grade of 6%.  The temperature at the top of the climb will likely be mid to high 80s.  At the bottom, 105 deg.  We should start down the Elevator at about 5 pm.
Planned Support Points This is the first opportunity for support, and about 1;30 out from Oceanside.  We expect this location will be crazy with all of the RAW and RAAM solo crews heading to the same spot.  Our plan is to establish cell phone contact, and delay feeding to Lilac Foods 6 miles later unless I have an urgent need for something. First feeding.  A nice shopping mall and local grocery store. A little convenience store coming into Rincon.  Lots of paved parking near the road on the right.  Also a big dirt pullout behind the bus stop just before the market. Just a wide paved pullout on the turn before Red Gate Road. ​Another little store, with gas.  A bit back from the road, crew will need to walk back out the the road a bit.  This will be an optional stop, only if needed, or maybe a quick cheer depending on traffic and the ability of the crew to get back out ahead of me before Lake Henshaw Resort. Huge paved and dirt areas on the right.  Nice view of Lake Henshaw.  This is a crew must stop. The store is on the left, but there is a nice dirt pullout on the right at Mile Post 5, just before the store.  There is a second dirt road to the right just past the store.  We plan to use one of these.  Per RAW Rules, we only support from the right side of the road.  ​This is an important stop before the descent into Borrego Springs.   It is important for the crew to waiting for me at TS01, and prepared to quickly help feed, get me into my cooling vest and oversized jersey, and heading across the desert. They cannot get caught behind me on the descent, and are likely to get hung up in delays around other riders.  Ideally, the auxiliary car will have the desert gear and head into TS01 early, so that we do not take any risk of a delay here. The time station is a the Borrego Springs Mall, which has a sign on the road that simply says "The Mall".  This is a critical stop, with important things to take care of for the racer, and the crew vehicles.  Unless we have significant delays, we will in Borrego Springs well before sunset.  The current time estimate has us transitioning to Direct Follow support near Ocotillo Wells, 18.4 miles beyond Borrego Springs.   The next gas station beyond here is in Westmorland (140 miles), and we are very unlikely to be moving that quickly and will certainly be in Direct Follow before Westmorland.  This is the last gas stop before our follow vehicle is glued behind me for the next 11 hours.
All vehicles need to fill gas tanks here!
I take on two iced bottles, the cooling vest, and any other desert wear we can think of and begin the crossing of the desert.  The next several hours will be wicked hot. 
The view of Lake Henshaw from the parking lot of the Round Up Grill at the resort.
Welcome to Borrego Springs... follow the rotary to the right for 200 miles of riding through the Mojave Desert.