I checked the Bacchetta forum, and 6 hours into the race, I don't see any updates????

Peggy called around 7:15 this morning.  Everyone is safe and had a great ride.  Here is a basic summary:
 
temperatures 41, into the 30's at night
winds 15-20 (headwind all the way on the longer, outer loop)
Peggy - 295 miles, 2nd place in her division
Steve - 359 miles - 1st place in his division.
 
Peggy was battling a sinus infection and had 3 asthma attacks.  She was on pace to RAAM qualify until the very end.  She had to stop a mere 3.5 hours from the end.  The cold wind made it too hard to breath.  In contrast, the super strong Larry Graham had the same sinus infection and he couldn't continue when it got dark and the temperatures dropped.  Considering the circumstances, Peggy was incredible!
 
Greg, Shellene, Kent and the others will have to provide their details, though Peggy did say that Shellene turned a lot of heads at Sebring.  
 
We're all very proud of everyone.  Each and everyone of you are super athletes!!!

The wind chills were in the 20's at
the start & for the first 100 miles.
 
The wind was from the WNW at 20+.
Shellene ended up with 389 miles,
Mark Metcalfe 414 miles, Kent 427,
John Schlitter 467,Greg & Daniel 200+.
 
Rich Pinto mentioned to me that the  
DNF rate was> 70%. Unbelievable.
At the end, there were such few  
people on the track, it was like an
individual TT. There were 12 people  
running at the end , half were bents.
 
Way to go all Rbenters!!!!
 

Great job, Sebring racers!

Quote from Pedalin` Peggy on Feb 14^th, 2010, 3:27pm:

 
Peggy, the inside of my mouth is raw all  over. It feels like I burned it. Something really different was going on so I don't think your asthma problem was a problem with 'you'. Your performance was fabulous. And Shellene!! Woah!!!! Way to go!  
 
I dropped out about 35 minutes before the end because my fingers had quit working for the 3rd time (as in they wouldn't move) and I was starting to really worry about it. I still don't have feeling back in the fingertips. My goal was 400 miles and JS caught me the lap after the 400 milelap and I told him. His response was "What are you doing still out here!?" I said I was looking for the gravy, but seriously slowed down from there and just tried to cruise at about 100W the rest of the race. Plus with as many course blinkies missing, it was getting hard to stay on the course. That first S after the first 2 lefts turns lost the first blinkie and I headed for what was the second, thinking it was the first. "Wow! Interesting track surface here."  Marilyn told me it was hard-packed sand as she had run off-course 4 times and admitted to crushing two of the blinkies. :^)
 
Great riding with the rbent crew. Great job, everyone.

258, actually, but still quite shy of my ride last year, in which I spent just as much time off the bike, for different reasons.  All I'll say is that I wasn't feeling right the day before the race or the morning of, nearly tossing my breakfast after 10 minutes on the trainer to warm up at an easy spin before getting outside to the race.  Had stomach rouble all day and just couldn't fight it after a while.  Otherwise, I planned my race and raced my plan - Even when my plan had to change last minute due to the insane weather.  My body just wasn't as committed as my head.  Ironically enough, my feet were fine, which was the big problem last year.  I hit the 200 mile mark nearly 3 hours earlier than last year, and as the 12 hour time elapsed, had only ten miles fewer than Dennis Johnson, who is a tough tough racer.    
 
The DFW members shined, and the rbent crew especially.  Everyone gave it their all except I expect, Shellene, who was bouncing around at the awards ceremony like she hadn't even been on the bike.  I suspect she was playing it very safe and conservative with her knee while riding and could have given Sandy a real run for the record.
 
The REAL story though was Dan the Hurricane Crew Chief!  Despite having volunteered for this out of the blue, and taking on a record attempt with Sandy and even I think never having seen an ultra race, he really shined and was in his element.  He was selfless, tireless, and is the fastest learner I have ever seen, even giving a perfect handoff when we'd never practiced it.  He even got me to try and get back on the bike several times. Probably the best thing was jury rigging my lights for Sandy when her eyes were giving out and she was going off track.  If anyone outside of rbent gets wind that he's this good, people will be calling him from everywhere to fly him out and crew.  He was obviously taking mental notes the car ride back.  I'd like to think I've made a good friend if I haven't worn out my welcome!  
 
I think if we do this next year, Dan, I'm shipping everything and we're flying out, though I still had a lot of fun on the drive.
 
Photos in the photo forum.

I am really impressed with all of the rbent and LSR riders!  Every one of you is tough as nails.  Peggy, you were having an awesome day on the bike and I was so sorry to hear about the asthma attacks.  Steve was having a good start of the day and I was lucky enough to get to ride near him for a while.  That was probably the best part of the day, being able to ride with a friend.
 
I also had the great pleasure of being able to ride with Sandy for a few minutes on the first 100 miles, and for a few minutes on the track at night.  Wow, she was riding GREAT!  Sadly, I had to keep stopping for nature breaks, so I didn't get to stay with her for very long either time.  However, when we were riding together during the long out and back, I mentioned my knee fears and Sandy's sage advice was "Well, your knees are going to hurt.  Just ride."  So, more on that later.....
 
At the turn around point (50 miles), a gentleman walked up to me and said "I'm doing Bacchetta support, what can I do for you?"  Oh, man - that was such a nice thing!  I handed him my poker chip (you have to turn it in to get credit for the first 100 miles) and asked him to please drop it in the bucket which was surrounded by cyclists.  His offer of assistance enabled me to simply turn my bike around and head back on the return trip.
 
The return trip was all fun since we had earned a great tail wind.  It felt all downhill and fast!
 
Once we made it to the short afternoon loop, I began seeing Kent Polk and John S flying past me.  That was a ton of fun.  John was always saying something as he passed and would always lift my spirits though I couldn't get any intelligible comments out myself.  I was busy working and didn't have any brain cells to spare apparently.  It was neat to see them drafting or soloing it out on the course at such a fast pace.  
 
During these short loops, I began thinking about how best to ride on the track at night.  I had a serious problem with my bag of supplies not being at the track.  But that wonderful gentleman with the Bacchetta support team had me thinking that they might, just maybe, have time to grab my bag for me.  So while riding and making plans for the night, I had a flat on the rear wheel.  Dang!  What luck.  I’m no speed demon at changing tires, so it was nice that one of the race officials stopped and visited with me while I changed my flat.  The official let me know we were just about to be allowed onto the track, and that made my day because I was tired of the cars on the highway.
 
Finally, we made it onto the track.  I stopped to put on more clothes, and at the same time found the Bacchetta crew and asked if someone might be able to fetch my bag.  Without a definite answer, I went on to ride some laps, and after dark had fallen I stopped and there, waiting for me was my bag of supplies!  Food and clothes and water.  The Bacchetta crew were lifesavers!  They also provided me with 2 caffeine pills during the night, and let me stand in front of their heater when I stopped to add more layers.  Those are some very kind and generous folks to have been out there in the cold.
 
On the night track, my knee started hurting pretty badly, so I had to back off.  But, because of Sandy, I knew that I was not going to stop riding.  It had been a good day so far, and I was still having fun despite the pain.  The weather was no worse than Texas, and I had gone to Sebring to test myself and my ability to handle solo riding, so I decided to go the entire 24 hrs unless the knee was on the point of injury.
 
The knee lasted ok with the reduced force, and at the very last hour, Mark Metcalf finally was where I could see him.  On my final lap, I kept him in sight, glad to have the company on the near deserted track.  Not knowing how much time I had left, and being tired, I decided I had enough mileage to stop, so I ended a little bit too soon.    
 
I’m off the bike this week to let the swelling in the knee go down.  It is not injured like I injured it last year, but I am probably not going to ride the Texas Hill Country because of the knee trouble.  That is a little depressing, but I’ll get over it since maybe  I can crew for Vickie or someone at Texas Hill Country, and I’ll be able to ride with these great recumbent riders at Hell Week!
 
Oh yeah, the only reason that I looked well energized at the awards ceremonies is because I hadn’t had a chance to wind down from the race yet!  Sharon and Daniel can attest to my suitable zombie behavior on the drive home Sunday!
Shellene

Quote from shellenefoster on Feb 17^th, 2010, 8:40pm:

I think every time we passed you I was so amazed at how strong you looked I didn't know what to say. I was probably breathing too hard trying to stay up with JS anyway. :^) You just looked fabulous out there. It really was neat watching JS up close though. What sportsmanship. When the early race pacelines started lagging or people started getting lax at pulling the line, he'd gently organize it and encourage us to brace it back up and keep rotating. He always had something great to say with gentle words of encouragement.  
 
Quote:

I really wish I could make it back in time for the HC600 or at least Hell Week. Can't get a ride back until the end of Spring break for tx schools so far. Hope you have fun. And Greg! Have a great ride. Wish I could help you. TTTT 2010!!! See if we can do a LOT better, ok? Kick that thing way up next time.