Tuesday, June 7, 2011 • Stewarts prepare to Race Across America for charity

If you see a young, athletic couple on a tandem bicycle huffing and puffing and pedaling like people possessed up and down Skyline Extension this week, don’t be alarmed — it’s only Susanville Supermarket owners Rick and Anna Stewart training for the prestigious Race Across America that begins for them in Oceanside, California at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 18.

Competing in this prestigious race, the Stewarts or their teammates will ride 3,000 miles, climb 170,000 vertical feet, cross 12 states and pass through 88 counties and 350 different communities.

Let’s be clear about one thing right from the start — RAAM is a real, honest-to-God race, not a stage race like the three great European Grand Tours (Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana and Giro de Italia) where the competitors race, finish for the day, have a nice dinner, get a few hours sleep and start up again the next morning.

Not hardly. RAAM is one continual, cross-county stage, similar to a lengthy time trial.  Once the clock starts on the west coast, it runs until the competitors finally reach the finish line on the east coast. It never stops.

And then consider this — RAAM is about 30 percent longer than the Tour de France, but the racers must cover the distance in roughly half the time allowed for the tour. That should put some cabernet in your sauvignon.

But wait, there’s more. The Stewarts, part of a 16-man, eight-tandem team dubbed Team JDRF IGA, hope to set a new cross-county RAAM record when they finally arrive at City Dock in Annapolis, Md.

Believe it or not, they plan to arrive at the Atlantic Ocean before 4:59 p.m. Friday, June 24, racing across the United States in less than six days.

In order to do that, Rick Stewart said the team needs to average 21-miles per hour regardless of the terrain, weather and road conditions, mechanical failures or any other of a number of unforeseen difficulties, troubles or foibles that may arise as the team traverses the North American continent on skinny bicycle tires.

All that and more — they have an ambitious goal of raising $100,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation along the way. Originally, each rider was expected to raise $5,000. Stewart made a sponsorship proposal to several corporations, and Doug Fritsch, senior vice president at IGA, agreed to become a title sponsor. The title sponsorship donor level begins at $10,000.

“Along the way we’ve picked a number of tremendous sponsors,” Stewart said. For example, “AOL online is sending a two-person film crew to video our race and post daily blogs on the IGA site as well as our team site.”

Team JDRF also will be featured one day on AOL’s Daily Impact section, and they could raise as much as $7,000 from that exposure alone.

Over the years, the Stewarts have made a name for themselves as endurance cyclists, and RAAM fits them perfectly.

“It just seemed a natural step in our endurance cycling,” Stewart said. “It seems like the next step. I think that we were invited to race for a team that’s primary mission is to raise money and awareness for juvenile diabetes research just made it that much more appealing.”

Stewart said the team is raising money in a variety of ways. 
Donors may go to the team’s website, teamjdrf.org, for more information.

For example, Team JDRF will pass through 56 Time Stations as they pedal across the country. A donation of $50 will sponsor one of these stations for the racer of your choice.

Individual donations may be made in person at Susanville Supermarket. Checks should be made payable to JDRF. Donations of any amount are welcome.

“When we started this, for me the most exciting aspect was being able to participate in the Race Across America,” Stewart said, “but as I got involved with JDRF, IGA and the local chapters along the course, a funny thing happened on the way to the race. I discovered I’m having more fun being involved with the development of the fundraising aspect than I’ll have with the race. It’s been tremendously rewarding. It’s been really, really fun dealing with some very dedicated people. I didn’t expect that.”

Team JDRF is comprised of some of the best cyclists in the country. Team members account for more than 30 RAAM finishes and six course records.

“It is an incredibly talented team,” Stewart said. “We’re just pinching ourselves that they asked us to be part of this event. We’re really delighted that they’re letting us come along.”

In addition to the Stewarts, the cyclists include Wade Baker, Kim Baker, Linda Bott, Rosehl Carangao, David Hoag, Deborah Hoag, Kimberly Keathley, Carl Moler, Mario Palmeri, Ruth Palmeri, Doug Patterson, Joe Peterson, Clay Sharp and Tim Skipper.

The eight tandem cyclist teams will ride as hard as they can for 30 minutes each — riding for half an hour every four hours all the way across the country!

Imagine the logistics of taking care of 16 cyclists on eight teams as they roll across the county nonstop for nearly a week.

Stewart said the team will use four, 15-person vans, two chase vehicles and 18 crew members. Stewart said six friends had volunteered as crew members, including four Lassen County residents — Lassen County District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman, Trinette Helmer, Alli Burt and Scott Tripp — and friends Dennis Darling, of Lakeport, and Curt Simon, of San Rafel.

In addition to the tandem teams, there are several other divisions, including solo men, solo women and 2-, 4- and 8-person relay teams.

RAAM is considered the world’s top endurance cycling event.  The 2011 race is the 30th edition of RAAM.  Last year the event featured more than 250 racers and more than 750 support crewmembers from 15 different countries.

Race Across America by the numbers
• The total distance is more than 3,000 miles.
• Collectively, the solo and team finishers will travel a combined distance equivalent to circling the Earth at the equator seven times.
• In the 27 year history of the race, solo finishers have ridden more than 1 million miles — that’s two round trips to the moon.
• The lowest elevation is 170 feet below sea level. The highest elevation is more than 10,000 feet high above sea level. This elevation range exceeds two vertical miles.
• Each solo and team will climb more than 100,000 feet. This is roughly the distance from the ground to the edge of space, more than three times the altitude flown by commercial jetliners and almost four times the altitude of Mt. Everest.
• Fewer than 200 solo and tandem racers have officially finished solo Race Across America earning the title of RAAM Finisher, compared with more than 2,000 individuals who have reached the summit of Mt. Everest and 200 racers who compete in the Tour de France every year.
• Racers have come from five continents — North America, South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. More than 25 countries have been represented in the Race Across America.
• RAAM crosses the five longest rivers that are entirely in the US: the Mississippi, Missouri, Rio Grande, Arkansas and the Ohio.
• The RAAM staff during the race is more than 50 people. More than 200 people staff timing stations. More than 800 people support racers. More than 200 vehicles are part of the RAAM caravan across the country.
• In the last four years, RAAM racers have raised more than $4 million for charities.