We left Oceanside at 12:18PM on Saturday, June 16th. Right now, it is 4:48PM on Monday, June 19th. Team Sea to See has crossed through California, Arizona, and part of Utah. We’re now riding though Colorado.

Last I checked, we had covered 850 miles. However, I just woke up from a nap in the RV, so it’s probably closer to 900 miles at this point.

I included a link to the tracker in my last post, but I neglected to say that I am posting my rides on Strava. Feel free to follow along there!

The first few shifts I rode were relatively uneventful. Jack and I are matched well, though he’s never spent a ton of time riding outside on a tandem. When I was obviously tired and cranky on a couple of pulls (after waking up in the middle of the night to ride), Jack told me stories about how he met his wife, and how he taught himself to swim before becoming a triathlete. We also talked about faith- mainly our differing opinions on what constitutes a sin. Talking makes the time pass much faster.

Last night Pamela Ferguson (pilot) and Tina Ament (stoker- whom I’ve guided in multiple Ironmans) and Jack and I began a stretch of climbing in AZ. Jack was pretty fatigued and the hills were steeper than we expected, so our 6 hour stretch turned into 8 hours. I took 10 shorter pulls over that time. By the end of our shift, I was mentally exhausted and suffered my first RAAM meltdown.

Thankfully, our other two tandems took a longer shift and I was able to sleep for a solid 7 hours. I felt like a new person this morning.

Not happy after realizing how long our shift was going to take.

Today, we got to ride through Monument National Park in Utah, which is one of the most beautiful parts of RAAM.

It’s crazy to think that we’re only 3 days in. Each riding shift feels like a day in and of itself. It’s easy to lose track of time. It will be interesting to see how some of the mountain passes go. Climbing on a tandem is NOT EASY.

So far, my favorite part of the race was descending the glass elevator towards Borrego Springs on my first shift. Jack and I hit 58.4 mph. It was terrifying with the crosswinds.

Another amazing part was jumping into a pool in Congress, AZ and earning a rubber ducky (it’s the little things, right?).

I’m posting a ton of Facebook live videos, which are public. Feel free to search for Team Sea to See’s page or mine. You should be able to watch even if you don’t have an account.

I’ll try to post some shorter, more frequent updates. It’s been challenging to find the time to write longer posts, since I’m trying to prioritize rest.

I’m about to get kitted up to ride some more! If you’d like me to cover any of the RAAM logistics, please leave a comment.