There's a "Four Man Team" blog on the RAAM website --  I'll copy the entries from it, here, as well as anything else I hear about Team RANS...
 
6/20 -- 09:53:02 pm, by Brandon  ,
Categories: Uncategorized  
Leaders on the road
Surfin USA is pushing the pace hard from the start. All riders have rolled through a sequence of riding. at 9:13pm Don Wildman is comfortably sitting first place and riding inside the top 3 teams out there on the road. Team Type 1 (8 Person) is the leader out on the road (not time standing) and 10 minutes back is Don Wildman with another 8 person team (ViaSat). The boys from Surfin' have a sizable lead on the field behind.
 
The desert winds were insane. riders just enjoyed an 80 mile an hour tailwind that kept them cruising at 65km/hr.
** just in, Don wildman passed the riding over to Jason Winn and Jason put in a solid effort to close the small gap and is now riding along side team ViaSat.
 

6/21   02:05:16 am, by ChrisG    
Categories: Uncategorized  
The Heat Is On!
Team Surfing USA currently leading after 232 miles. They have a 37 minute advantage on Team Strong Heart. Team Rans is 9 minutes in arrears of Strong Heart with Austria Triathlon Team 15 minutes behind RANS and 7 minutes ahead of OC Quattro.
 
These 5 teams are seperated by just over an hour. Will be interesting to see what happens from here. Will it get closer or will it stay around the same? We are seeing a good battle whatever happens

Lets see if Team RANS makes up the time on the Eastern flatlands.  

From a BROL post from 6;30 this morning -- they're IN THE LEAD...  
 
TS 13 Cortez, CO
 
1. Team RANS! averaged 19,15mph for the time station ,21,78mph overall
2. Team Surfing USA 14 minutes behind averaged 16,89 for the time station, 21,61 overall
3. Team Strong Heart 1:07 behind Surfing USA
What is interesting is, that RANS is just 2:50 hours behind 8 person team Via Sat
and the Team Donate Life Give Hope is about 5 minutes behind them.
 
 
And from the RAAM blog:
 
Very Close Between Surfing USA and RANS
Heading through Cortez Team Rans are now ahead of team Surfing USA by 14 minutes. At TS12, Team Surfing USA were in the lead by 7 minutes. This is turning out to be a very good and tight battle between these two teams. How this unfolds will be very very interesting. Hopefully these two teams can keep it this close to the end and we will have an exciting race on!
 
 
And they're through TS 14, with an average speed for this segment of 16 mph, their lowest so far -- must be some TOUGH climbing going  on......

Note:  The RAAM website has changed to a different server, and the Leaderboard now has different tabs on it for Solo vs Team vs RAW...
 
And at the moment, BROL is down -- overload???
 
Anyway, as of this morning, Team RANS now holds a ONE HOUR LEAD through TS21 after climbing all those mountain stages through NM and Colo!!!!  Wow, are those guys doing some riding....
 

Randy asked me to post this for him, from yesterday's activities - photos to follow:
 
Team RAAM Kansas Report
 
I tell you this has been a 100% intense thrill to be involved with RAAM 2009. Team RANS is the realization of implementation of many things, each important and in combination making a winning effort. Intense or not, I had to meet these people, and they were passing within 85 miles of Hays! I hopped into my fastest plane and buzzed south. Before landing at Greensburg where the runway actually meets the very highway Team RANS would pass by, I searched for signs of the team. They were already past Greensburg!  That dashed my clever plan of causally standing by road at runways end, with plane standing by to wildly cheer them on. Instead I made a very low pass over the follow van and rider, which they responded in a wave. It was Tim on the bike! I could recognize him from the air! Maybe it was the green tennis balls in his ears? I wagged my wings and he waved.  
 
I raced back to Greensburg and waited for Jerald Nichols (our dealer in Montezuma Kansas) to arrive. He was there within 2 minutes of the scheduled ETA and we bolted down the road to intercept the team, armed with camera, home made cookies, and a fresh batch of RANS T-shirts (racers always love the gift of cookies, and clean shirts!). We reached them a few miles from Pratt, right on top of a rider switch. I had a chance to meet Sandy the crew chief, Mark the mechanic who was expertly swapping a rear wheel, and Glenn relaxed and ready to do a shift. Then in an instant, off Glenn went as Tim came rolling up. Glenn was in the zone, and he is strong, and very strong on not only winning this thing but also posting a record time. The whole crew is in the zone; the two rider changes we witnessed were smooth like a choreographed dance. Sandy the crew chief is stellar, made me want to be a racer. She almost teared up at the sight of fresh clothing, such an event is not a rolling luxury hotel.  
 
I felt part of something historic watching them work! My RAAM fever went up a few degrees beyond safe.  
 
Tim’s shift haivng ended with Glenn back on the road, I jumped in the van to chat.  Tim was in great spirits, just like Glenn,. We talked about the bike, and he said they have not used the F-5 yet, they like the Xstream, great power transfer, comfy ride, climbs on equal with a HiRacer. Then the visit was over, Tim’s turn to ride.  
 
They said to rush ahead and we might catch the RV at the Pratt TS. We rushed ahead but did not sight the RV. There was the unmistakable Team RANS van, with spare bikes on the roof, parked outside the TS…. which was a Wal-Mart of all things. We went inside looking for team members and netted nothing in our 10-minute search. I assumed they were doing important shopping, since keeping 4 bikers fed and a full compliment of a crew going does have challenging logistics, so we decided to break off the search and head back to Greensburg, sad we missed the RV. Instead I started hatching a plan to meet the whole crew in a couple of days. Besides we wanted to see the riders one more time before heading home. We popped out of the WM just in time to see them passing by. From the point we left them, they had to be hitting a solid 26 MPH average. Tim and I had discussed the heat and the wind, and how the southerly crosswind might actually be helping them over the DF riders, he seemed to agree, and enjoyed what little cooling effect the winds were having. I was happy that the speeds were not suffering for the lack of a tailwind. We waved to the passing Team RANS, cheering them on.  
 
I was so glad to get the chance to meet and talk to at least part of the crew. I feel very confident about the effort and by Friday we all should know what this great effort will net -- I am hoping for nothing short of a win.  
 
Some say it is about the bike, others the riders. As the designer of the bike, you would think it is all about the bike. I think it is always going to be a combination of things, because we don’t just ride with our lungs and legs -- we ride with heart, and Team RANS for RAAM 2009 has a mountain of that.  
 
GO Team RANS!
**********************************************

Well, as of about 6PM tonight, Team Surfing USA had to DNF...  And as of now, Team RANS has a 3-1/2 hour lead over StrongHeart.  They're still on pace to break the current 4-man 'bent record...
 
 
**********
According to a web posting from Gabrielle Reece:
 
RAAM Update
Spoke with Laird and apparently when Jason was riding the 'other' team's escort car side swiped him causing him to fall. He has really bad road rash and broke his ankle. The guys are doing ok, disappointed though because they were just really getting into the strategy of the race - open flat road - but glad Jason is doing ok! Did I mention they were in 1st place when they were disqualified?
 
[note - PB:  Obviously she means among "DF" 4 man teams...  and it must have been StrongHeart's van/car!    ]
 
 
We are awaiting more info about Jason's spill - he's not going to be able to ride anymore it looks like.

Quote from Bud_Bent on Jun 25^th, 2009, 9:03am:

 
Heck - the same RAAM officials are the ones who officiated the HC600, when Peggy, Steve and I crewed for JS.  They gave us a stern warning simply because we didn't pull off the road far enough during the "leap frog" portion of the race.  Then everytime we pulled off the road, the'd be close by watching our every move.