Now I've gone and done it...

Folks who have read this blog for a while know that my wife, Jenn, volunteered for a RAAM (Race Across America) team last year. The team, Team Type II, is of bicycle racers who all have Type II Diabetes, and is a companion team to Team Type I, who are all insulin-dependent Type I diabetics. One need not have Diabetes to be on a support crew, and while Diabetes is a part of the qualification for being on the race team, there is competition for slots on the race roster.

At any rate, the team and crew are organizing for the upcoming RAAM, which will start on June 12th or so. They've been having a series of phone conference calls to deal with team needs, and it was brought up that Team Type II needs a few folks, including a team car driver/mechanic. Jenn piped up and reported that she and I had been discussing whether I would volunteer this year, with one factor being whether I was needed.

I am now penciled in as a team van driver/bike mechanic. I get to take two weeks off from work in the height of our busy season to fly to California, assemble a few bikes, drive halfway across the country (in shifts with someone driving the same vehicle the remaining half) at speeds from stop to race in support of a rolling relay of bicycle riders, get a little bit of sleep here and there between stints at the wheel, eat when I can and make magic happen for bike racers and their machines whenever needed.

The support team for an eight-man race team is pretty big--twenty folks in addition to the eight racers. We'll be using five vehicles--two RVs, one each for crew and team for shift sleeping, and three vans--one to follow the racer of the moment as a safety precaution, one to carry the other three racers in current rotation to their respective relay points and a third to function as a utility vehicle for backup in case one of the other vehicles breaks down, run errands like grocery shopping and laundry details or find parts for broken bicycles.

Jenn drove the utility van last time, partnered with David. They made a great team, and enjoyed working together immensely. A friend of mine is trying to make the team roster for his second year.

Jenn had a great time last year, despite getting little to no sleep for the week. I do better on short hours rack time than she does, but since I use a CPAP machine, I don't know how the machine will fit into the program on the RV. With almost twenty folks "hot bunking" in an RV made to sleep eight folks, luggage space will be at a premium.

Thankfully, I don't have to invent anything. The team has functioned for a couple years, now, and the guy running the show knows what he's doing. All I have to do is show up, work hard, smile, be creative if something goes awry, and drive with some sense as we cross the country at a bit more than the speed of smell (we expect to make the crossing in something like seven days).

I can't wait.