RAAM 2006 and the OC Quattro

This race summary is from competitor Matt Vujovich's wife, Laura. Thanks Laura!

RAAM: The Finishline

OC Quattro finished in 7 days 23 hours and 51 minutes. Team Brazil finished in 7 days 23 hours and 54 minutes. Life is good!

After 30 rigorous hours with minimal rest, OC Quattro collectively opted to take a 4 hour break to re-charge in Hanover, PA. They knew they would risk maintaining their current placement, but it was more important to finish safely. However, when they started back up their mission changed slightly - they had to beat Team Brazil.

Brazil went as far as sending an unmarked van to spy on OC Quattro to make sure they were in fact resting and falling behind. They must have been convinced they had enough of a lead because they continued on at their current pace of 14-15 mph. They did cross the finishline well in advance of OC Quattro, but their penalties were upwards of 3 1/2 hours. There was a chance... OC Quattro turned to race mode and didn't look back. You will notice their final time stations were at 18+ and 22+ mph. It all worked out, with only 3 minutes to spare!

At the OC Quattro team celebration dinner Wed evening, the riders spouted off several obstacles that had potential to eat up those critical 3 minutes...
1) Untimely roadside pitstops
2) Tweaking iPOD song lists

3) Minivan power sliding doors operating very slowly -- bad 'Tubby', bad 'Wheels'
4) Support crew missing an exit on the NJ Turnpike (thank goodness Bob kept riding!)

5) Matt taking a second spill over his handlebars in a NJ intersection during a hand-off (thank goodness Bob kept riding!)

We had two goals at the start of the race: 1. To finish and 2. To still be talking with each other at the end. Both goals were accomplished beyond expectations. The celebration dinner was filled with toasts of appreciation and lots of inside jokes. The team did have a few significant disputes right after Doug fell in CO. The challenge of RAAM was elevated to an unplanned level, but they ended up stronger as a team after all was on the table.

Although OC Quattro was made up of very qualified and experienced riders, there was no way they would have completed the race without the support crew. The crew was made up of 9 men and 1 Mamacita (that was Bob's term of endearment for my mom). The crew came together each with their own unique skills and unique story that made the race not only safe and successful, but also fun.

Doug is doing well recuperating at home. He decided to not travel back to Atlantic City and focus on getting healthy. Doug made outstanding efforts the first few days of the race and he says it was all worth the experience. I still owe a follow-up call to the woman who nearly ran into Matt in AZ. She will hear from us!

Please check out the July/August issue of Best Life Magazine (from the publisher of Men's Health, Bicycling and Runner's World). There is a great article on Matt, the race and the cause on page 59.

Thank you again for all you notes and donations along the way. We really appreciate your support. This was a huge undertaking, but it was very rewarding. At the celebration dinner, my mom said, 'John would be humbled by all the effort from so many people in his honor. He may not have understood why we would all do this for him.' But we know exactly why and I'm sure many of you do as well.

Warm regards,

Laura

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of your kind thoughts. We made it through, but not without incident. We lost a rider 1/4th of the way through. I personally rode through a forest fire in Flagstaff ( last rider allowed through). We had a near meltdown arguing about 3 person race strategy, and then needed to take a 4 hour break to make up and reestablish our sense of commitment to the crew. The Rockies were hard; Kansas was windy; the Ozarks were sneaky hard; and the Appalachians were brutal (I don't care to ever return to West Virginia.). Somehow the Brazilian Team "came from nowhere and got ahead of us in Indiana without ever even passing us. Those of you who know me might guess what my reaction to that was - absolutely livid. So, when I spotted their rider ahead of me near Indianapolis, I became somewhat inspired. Crept up on them, and right after they made an exchange, pounced and and blew right past them. In one 50 mile segment we went from being officially 20 minutes behind them to 30 minutes ahead of them. Then again that evening in Southern Ohio, they reappeared from nowhere, and were right with us (at least their vehicle with all of their bikes was - no rider to be seen.) A little later an actual rider appeared, and one again, we buried them. In West Virginia, they showed up alongside us at a time station without us having ever seen them on the course. I got so worked up that every time I saw them I called them names.

On the final hill segment of the Appalachians they set up a rider ahead of us and we attempted a chase. While it was a spirited effort up a 9% grade, we were unable to catch them.. They somehow got away. We did one more segment that evening (Tuesday) before recognizing that everyone, both riders and crew was near the breaking point. We stopped and sent everyone to bed. The next day we got out early and began the last 250 miles of our journey. The morning was highlighted by a dawn ride through the Gettysburg national monument. That was awesome!

Continuing at a brisk but not torrid pace we pulled into checkpoint 54 around mid day. Someone handed me the latest positions. The Brazilians were a full 4 hours ahead and almost done. However they had 3.5 hours more penalties than we. So if somehow we could make up half an our over the remaining course, we just might beat them, and best of all, it would be too late for them to cheat to change it:-) For the last 60 miles or so, we went full tilt. These final 2.5 hours were hectic, vulgar, and more fun than you can imagine. We tried to do all exchanges at stop lights or turns where the rider would naturally be riding slowly anyway. When that wasn't possible the exchange was at high speed . Once the new rider couldn't catch the "retiring" rider. - he just kept going. The support vehicles has to do all manner of questionable driving in order to keep up. At one point, while I was riding the other riders (in a support vehicle), took a wrong turn and wound up on the New Jersey Turnpike with no way to turn around. That left me trying to keep the pace for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually Matt and Eddie reappeared and began taking turns. At one exchange Matt was set up to relieve me at a set of double stop lights. As I approached the handoff the lights were changing to red. I yelled at Matt to not go through the stoplight. At the very last second he understood and slammed on his brakes - causing him to endo into the intersection and breaking his chain.

The last 5 miles we were all allowed to be on the course simultaneously. So we set aup a little pace line. When the dust finally settled, we had moved up 2 placed and beaten the Brazilians by 3 minutes. One of the happiest moments of my whole life. Sweet justice - yeah!

Looking forward to riding with all of you very soon.

Love,

Bob