Road to RAAM '08

NEW BLOG

2008-06-04T11:18:00.002-04:00

The road to RAAM has completed! The race starts on Sunday, and Doug is heading to California tomorrow. There's a new blog you can read to follow daily updates from the road, with pictures we hope to get up at least once per day. Please bookmark the new blog here:

http://raam2008douglevy.wordpress.com/

THANK YOU

2007-12-08T14:26:00.000-05:00

The following have made very generous donations (over $250):
Susan, Rory Wade, Horsham Rotary, John Rodney, Elliot Holin, Sam Cramer
From World T.E.A.M. Sports and myself we thank all the donors who have made a financial contribution to this great cause.
Donations may be made on line or checks may be mailed into World T.E.A.M. Sports as per the Donation web site which is linked to from HTTP://wwww.raam2008.com

West Virginia, Mountain Mama!!

2007-11-22T17:26:00.000-05:00

WOW, the mountains in West Virginia are like nowhere else, Fred V. (RAAM Crew RV expert and navigations), and I headed down to Parkersburg, WV Monday 11-19-07, we got about 4-5 hours sleep at a local motel, on the RAAM route, then headed out the next morning, grey and overcast we headed EAST, towards the toughest part of the RAAM route, by what I hear. The first 46 miles were pretty gentle, then the real work started hitting the first pass at about noon, a 4 mile climb at a consistent 8% grade, not even an inch of breathing space, my computer was LOCKED at 8% the entire climb, whew. This one is going to be tough with 2,500 miles in my legs. BrendaLee, where are you when I need you!! (our RAAM Crew: Message Therapist)
Then within another hour or so we started another climb, by this time it was raining and in the 40s but we carried on, same type of a climb 8% but there were several spots that were 7%, this went on for 3 miles.
After the descent we stopped at time station 50 and called it a day after 144 miles with 11,460' of climbing. It was now dark, narrow winding mountain roads with quite a few trucks, no sense in taking any chances at this point.
I did learn a lot that will help me train over the winter..... climbing climbing climbing!!!

Furnace Creek 508

2007-10-11T19:26:00.000-04:00

The race started in Santa Clarita, CA with a Police escort to the edge of town where we turned into the Fransasquito Canyon. From there we had a nice ride until we reached Death Valley and into the big sandbox. 200 miles into the race it was getting dark and we reached Townes Pass which was a 10 mile climb, it was getting cooler and downright cold at the summit, 43 degrees. My crew, made up of Meghan, Kerinne my daughter and Peter M. who is my Statistician for RAAM. Thanks to them I was able to complete the race comfortably, no cramps, minor asthma which was quickly a non issue following the administration of Xoponex inhaler. One of the reasons many RAAM racers have issues coming out of the desert is due to the winds and dust infecting their lungs. I know exactly what they feel like with Bronchitis like symptoms.
I finished 20th out of a field of 71, 508 miles, 10 Mountain Passes = 35,000' of climbing.
THANKS TO MY CREW FOR OUR GREAT RESULTS. Without these 3 this accomplishment would not have been possible.

ADK 540 (Adirondack 540 mile race)

2007-09-22T23:13:00.000-04:00

September 14th at 7AM the 2007 Adirondack 540 started from Ticonderoga, NY. There were 9 others racing in the 540 mile race while the rest of the group were doing from 1 to 3 laps of a 136 mile course. The 540 is 4 full laps from Ticonderoga north to Elizabethtown, then up to Jay were the course turns west and heads to Wilmington at the base of Whiteface Mtn. on to Lake Placid, down to Keene, N. Hudson then Eagle Lake where we turn back East and head back to Ticonderoga. The weather was in the 40s with heavy rain and winds at night and showers during the day with plenty of winds.
ADIRONDACK 540 RAAM QUALIFIER • 544 MILES
Men
Name Age Hometown Time Notes
1. Doug Levy 52 Willow Grove, PA 41H 25M ** Training for RAAM
2. Craig Martek 44 Dillsburg, PA 45H 45M * 5 Hour improvement on best time
3. David George 48 Fredericksburg, VA 50H 53M * 3rd ADK 540 finish
4. Stephen Bugbee 53 Pittsfield, MA 51H 39M *
5. Russ Loomis 55 Williamsburg, MA 52H 20M ** 3rd ADK 540 finish
***
Honorable Mention
James Scheller 43 Orlando, FL 450.0 Miles Completed
David Johnson 38 Dover-Fox, ME 333.3 Miles Completed

RAAM Route

2007-08-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

Saturday 5AM I rode from home in Horsham, PA to Georgetown and met up with Mike Ridgeway, who also runs the Lancaster Dream Ride for local Charities, we rode out West on the RAAM route for 25 miles, crossed the Susquehanna River and turned around at a Restaurant at the Maryland border. The temperature averaged around 94 and sunny with high (93%) humidity. As we were leaving the Restaurant we heard a barking coming from a parked car in the direct sun with windows 3/4 up. One person was calling 911, but by the time the Police arrive the dog would be dead from the heat. I went inside the Restaurant and announced who owns a car in the parking lot with a dog locked inside? The entire restaurant got concerned, in fact one person came outside and was going to break the windows!! I found the family (who was ignoring me) and had them get the dog out of the car!!
It was very hot and no matter how much you drank dehydration was a factor. We stopped at just about every convenience store, of which there were not that many out in the back roads! This cost me a lot of time but I finished at 10PM with 225 miles and 12,700' of climbing.

Support for a Friend

2007-07-28T22:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend the Daydream ride was on the schedule to help with support for Mike Ridgeway in Lancaster. Friday I rode to work (40 miles), worked 8 hours, rode to Lancaster (another 35 miles), due to heavy thunder storms I had to stop. Saturday I sagged all day for 30, 63 and 100 mile route and helped set up at 4AM.
Sunday heavy thunder storms in morning kept me from leaving Lancaster at 4am. By the time the lightening had ceased it was 6am, I was on the road by 6:30am. Stopped for Breakfast and headed out for home. About 15 minutes into the ride I looked behind me to see BLACK sky, which I was hoping would be following the river that I was going away from, I got as far as King Highway Elementary School just east of 340 and Rt 10, about 25 miles when the lightening started up, 1.5 hours later it was still raining but the lightening was over 10 miles away so I started out. Very nice ride until I got to the wooden bridge that connects Valley Forge Park to Betzwood (VF Trail), apparently a horse had gone over this bridge and broken 2 boards and left a lot of "stuff" on the pavement leading down to Betzwood. About 10 miles later as I was on the VF bike trail, I was going through the S curve where the 'Cross County' and Schukyll trails meet and down I went leaving quite a bit of skin. The road surface was freshly paved with what appears to be blacktop, VERY Slippery. Home by 2:30 (90 miles), in time to mow the lawn!!

2007-07-07T22:00:00.000-04:00

200 Miles: Wismer, Rick, Muskanetcong, 173, Tunnel, Ademic, ?, Bridgeton, Peace Valley. Also tried to save a fawn hit by car that was still alive.

Floyd Landis Challenge TT

2007-06-30T06:15:00.000-04:00

Saturday, June 30th, the weather was perfect, 75 degrees, little wind, clear, sunny. The start of the TT was at the Riverview Elementary School in Marietta (west of Lancaster). This is a 28 mile race with each racer leaving at 1 minute increments. About 10 entrants were there for a 10AM start. At 9:45 AM there were questions about the route and since it was not painted I volunteered to Race/Paint with a 10 minute head start I went out with a can of paint to put down arrows at each turn so there would be no question of where to turn and no one would be lost. We had 2 small climbs in each direction, Chickies Rock and Turkey Hill, the rest of the route was rolling with very little traffic. Somehow I stayed out in front even with painting arrows and taking about 5 minutes at the turn around deciding where the safest and best place would be. Thanks to Mike Ridgeway for hosting a great race for "CycleSmart".

06-23-07 Longest Day

2007-06-25T06:36:00.000-04:00

The Longest Day is also known as the Lancaster Longest day Challenge, consisting of 400 miles with ~28,000' of climbing. The climbs are short and steep, as soon as you get to the top of one climb you have a steep descent and a climb right after crossing a stream, there are many covered bridges on this route in the heart of Lancaster County. There were many Amish children, teams of horses working the fields, horse drawn buggies, truly a step back in time. The weather was dry, sunny, warm and the headwinds were variable depending on the direction I was riding!!!
Oh and don't forget about the two laughing Amish Work horses we passed playing in the cornfield at 2:30 AM, crossing the road to the alfalfa field across the street, that refused to let us by on the road.
Thanks to my CREW! Fred, Hummel, Beth, Diane, Chappy.
My time: 29h:59m to complete.
Previous Longest Day Record 35 hours