Perp Spray - For All Our Intruder Needs

During one of our team planning sessions, someone brought up the fact that most of the time there will only be women in one of our RVs (resting riders plus medical and massage crew) AND raised questions about safety. As much as I hated to admit it, they had a point. A small group of tired women in some RV park in the middle of who knows where? In my mind, this just screams, "WELCOME ALL AXE MURDERS AND PERVERTS!"

There was much discussion about how to handle the threat of intruders, including hand to hand combat techniques and what to do if you find yourself engaged in a knife fight. I can tell you right now that after riding many hours in the saddle and being hungry and sleep deprived, we riders are NOT going to be in the mood to deal with any perverts.

Since firearms are not allowed in RAAM (Texas teams should be granted an exception) and this probably holds true for flair guns as well, I thought the next best thing would be bear spray (see footnote at end*).

So my mom and I went into the local sporting goods shop, marched up to the firearms counter, and requested a canister of bear spray. The older gentleman behind the counter took one look at my mom and I and asked in a very helpful manner where and how we planned to use it. I said, "I'll be taking a cross country trip and we will be staying in some parks and you just never know." He knew my main target wasn't a bear. He responded with, "Well, if you have other intended uses, you may want to consider Hornet spray because it's just as effective on bears, critters, and perps." Perps? He was on to me! Perps (e.g. perpetrators) in the form of axe murderers, perverts, and robbers were indeed my target audience! He then proceeded to informed me that Hornet spray has a range of up to 20 feet and a very accurate spray but not to get the foaming kind because it has a much shorter and messier range. He said it also blends in with the camping decor so any unsuspecting perps wouldn't be alarmed.

I smiled, thanked him, handed back the $40 bear spray, and purchased a $4.00 can of RAID Hornet spray.

Perps - we are ready for you. Come and get it if you dare!

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*A few weeks ago I went to buy pepper spray at REI & the sales guy said all they sell is bear spray. I asked what the difference was & he said it was illegal to spray a human with bear spray. I informed him that if some guy is going to jump out of the woods and grab me, I don't care what the law says, he's getting sprayed!

RAAM Nutrition by the Numbers

They say it takes a village to accomplish great tasks. What I recently discovered is that it also takes an entire village's monthly food supply to fuel one RAAM rider for 8 days.

I put together my usual all-encompassing-race-nutrition-spreadsheet-from-hell and came up with my overall nutrition numbers for 8 days of racing based on my "typical" race requirements for cycling / per hour = 300 calories, 400mg sodium, 45 oz fluid.

Calories: 28,800 -- equivalent of putting on 8.2 pounds
Sodium (mg): 38,400 -- glad I have really low blood pressure
Hydration (oz): 4,320 -- 33 gallons

Did I mention this is only for WHILE I'M RIDING and doesn't include "off the bike" meals?

I laid out all my gels, bars, powders, chews, salt tablets and I stood back in awe of the massive pile on the kitchen counter top. I will be taking in 80% of my cycling calories in liquid form. To give another perspective, these calories include 115 scoops of powdered glucose (yum!) and 50 scoops of Hammer Perpetuem (both are essentially powdered calories added to water). And the Hammer Gels? Forget the individual packets. I bought multiple jugs.

At this point ultrarunner Dean Karnazes flashed through my mind and he may have had it right. When he would be on one of his epic training runs, he'd simply call a pizza place and tell them to deliver at an intersection that he would be running through. Then he'd simply take an entire pizza, roll it up burrito style, and enjoy. Maybe I need to rethink my nutrition strategy. Then again, do I really want to be tasting and re-tasting tomato sauce or cheese while I'm grinding my way up Wolf Creek Pass? Not so much.

Dad...Will You Fix This?

There is a frequently used saying in my family -- "Dad...will you fix this?"

My dad is an engineer by trade and he has a machine shop in the basement so anytime something needed fixing, he was THE go-to guy. It didn't matter what it was, from a broken Rubics cube or cracked prom shoe heel to overhauling a 454 Chevy big block engine or reroofing the house, if it needed fixing he could always "make a part".

I went home for a quick visit last week and brought "the van list" which included:
1. Reinforce the Thule bike rack so it won't wobble.
2. Figure out how to mount a light to the back window so it would provide light at night to riders/crew outside.
3. Create some type of table/tray for the center section between driver and passenger seats but it has to pivot so we can get to the race radios and outlets.
4. Figure out how I can simultaneously listen to music AND have a race radio plugged into one ear piece (RAAM rules require one ear to be open to traffic).

In his usual form, Dad came through on all accounts and far surpassed expectation. I "supervised" (aka: I stood there and kept him company while staying out of the way or made the multiple trips to Radio Shack or Home Depot with him) and he worked his usual magic with the band saw, welding torches, metal cutters, and lathe.

This is one instance of all the help and support the team has received from friends and family in preparing for our race. The van is now on it's way to Oceanside and between all the work that Leary did to get it ready and with Dad's final touches, the "leapfrog" is set!


Thanks Dad!