The Inside Scoop – Notes from 3 – Day RAO Camp

RAO camp is pure cycling nirvana. Three days of riding with the best people around, a great chance to see the course of course and meet the other riders, and hang with the coolest promoters on the planet. As a solo, during the race you can only ride with another rider for 15 min. It’s great to be able to meet people at camp so you know what you want to talk about for your 15 min .

All right so here’s the inside scoop on the racers and other notables who were at camp:
Bruce (Veteran), Gilberto, Tom, Kenneth (Me): RAO Soloists
Andreas: (Rider from Davis, out to see what RAO was all about)
Peter: Seattle Randonneur training for the Cascade 1200
Ben: Crew Chief for Team Tartan (Kenneth’s Team)
Lisa & Ken: The Candy Ass llamas

The solo scene:
Bruce, (Bruce Almighty)
The lone 2 time veteran of RAO and 2003 Rookie of the year was back out in force. Bruce, a master ultra marathon cycling tactician, took camp at a slightly more relaxed pace, logging locations in his new GPS unit. The absolute detail and precision at which Bruce is planning his race this year is stunning, expect great things from Bruce this year.

Gilberto (Porto Rican Power House):
Ok fellow solos, if its hot, real hot, death valley hot, were all in trouble, and Gilberto’s going to rock the course. If its cool, we just might have a chance. Riding the course for the first time is always harder, and at the three day camp is hard to begin with and adding jet lag and a 11’o clock arrival doesn’t help either. Now that he has seen the course, I’m expecting a strong finish from this powerful Porto Rican. What’s Gilberto’s ride? A Trek Y frame, ala Allen Larson.. Hmm.. This could be real omen..

Tom the (Terminator)
Tom’s a fellow Washingtonian, heralds from the Mount Vernon area tulip capitol of Washington State. Solo’s watch out! Tom’s defiantly not a tulip. He is very, very strong and has been lying low, training in the mountains. Tom a total unknown to me before camp, lead the field each day cranking out very impressive performances. In June, on race day I expect tom to give a serious challenge to Allen, and Fabio, and is definitely a race favorite! Tom is going to make life very difficult for those of us who just want to get across the line alive.

The Teams:
Lisa & Ken (Freaking Fast Ass Llamas!)
Two person team’s WATCH OUT! The llamas proved at camp that it’s not their asses that are filled with candy but ours! Dam the Hershey bars I’ve been eating for lunch. I really need to watch my weight. I’m now convinced more then ever that their blog is just a front. The llamas are strong, real strong, highly tactical, and vicious. I really don’t think Ken Burger Boy Jr has been eating all those whoppers. Lisa llama really showed her stuff this weekend powering up the climbs riding in her T-MOBLE JESERY! George, you didn’t tell me that you had EX-PRO’s signing up to race this year! Thank god she isn’t racing solo, the llamas might just spank the whole field!

The Guys in Training:

Peter - (Tank Driver)
Peter was absolutely stunning form for camp, putting all of us to shame in more way then one. While not the first one across the line, Peter more then made up for it in spirit. At one point during camp to say it rained is really an understatement. I was huddled under a awning, attempting to slip into dryer clothing, when peter rolled in. Peter's first comment was "George this is just a great course!" I like the ride too, but honestly at that exact moment the van was looking good to me.. So do tell what your on, I want some too. The name Tank Driver comes from peters trusty steed, a Ti-Davidson, with more trunk space then a ford expedition.. And we all know the problem with trunk space, you fill it... Peter's looking to lay some serious smack down on the Cascade 1200 and other Brevets this summer!

Andreas (Fault Line - Mr. Gatorade)
Andreas claims he was just out to preview the course, but we all know better.. Sure, right, we all know he has something sneaky up his sleeve. Each morning and Andreas and Tom would lead the charge, conquer new ground. The sheer speed at which Andreas would summit the climbs made the rest of us just quake in fear. Could his speed be due to the Gatorade's, or maybe it was the magic pink powder, what ever it is let me know.

Ben (Master Crew Chief) Larson, (Slave Driver)
DAM! Don't ever take your crew chief to camp with you, all you hear is "Get your sorry ass to the top of hill!", "You call that a climb?", "What you think I'm your mom or something?” I'm convinced that Ben road each day with one thing on his mind, to make Kenneth suffer more then he has ever suffered before. On the final day, Ben had had enough and dropped the hammer and Kenneth, make up well over 15 minutes, easily catching Tom and Andreas on the climb to Timberline and was the first rider to finish camp. I'm so, so glad, Ben is crewing for me and not racing, if he were racing, we all might as well just hang up our hats, as we wouldn't have a chance. Nice work, Fireweeds going to be sweet.

As the lord of the dance, master rapper him self, M.C. Hammer, said “Its Tartan Time”