RAAM departure

The Race Across America for Patrick Autissier is here! After over a year of training, planning and fundraising that Patrick made it to the starting line in Oceanside Ca. He arrived on Friday June 8^th to begin the final preparations for the 3050 mile race to Atlantic City. The crew has also assembled in California to assist in the many facets of preparation and execution of the race. The crew consists of three members who have traveled from France: Thierry, Fred and Christian; Jerome from the French island of Guadeloupe, Herve, a Frenchman living in Boston, and two Americans: Rob from Boston and Patrick`s own daughter Estelle.

The first 24 hours of RAAM have been exciting for Patrick and the crew. The race left Oceanside at 9:00 on Sunday June 10th. The start line was just next to the beach in beautiful Southern California. Amidst great fanfare from the hundreds of spectators, the riders rode along the beach before turning east for the long journey. The first 13 miles were in "Parade" format, with all of the riders in the solo category and 24 Challenge riding together to the official starting line. From here the riders left in 30 second intervals, climbing into the desert mountains of San Diego County.

Patrick rode very strong through the grueling first day climbs in heat exceeding 100 degree F. Despite the heat and the hills, a smile never left his face. He passed through time station one in fours hours and did not stop for a rest. After another tedious climb into the mountains, a long downhill descending 3000 feet of elevation, launched him into Borrego Springs, CA, a tiny dessert oasis where he stopped for a brief rest and quick bite. After this short respite, he rode 30 miles of relatively flat, straight, blazing hot roads through Eastern CA farmland. Patrick gathered a tremendous amount of strength, as the afternoon progressed. As the sun set on the first afternoon, he reached a plateau of energy and excitement as he rode through the most beautiful winding canyons while Phil Collins was blasting on the support van overhead sound system.

The crew members were also energized by Patrick`s enthusiasm. Estelle filmed the beautiful landscape and interviewed the crew with the new digital video camera. Jerome, the Team Clown, kept everyone laughing with his imitation radio voice. All of the others participated in figuring the logistics and preparing the equipment. The biggest challenge facing the crew this early on, is the small amount of space: all seven members must fit into two vans; with all of the supplies, bikes, food, clothing and each other.

The night set in as Patrick rode into Time Station 3 in Chiriaco Summit. He stopped again briefly for a quick bite of freshly prepared Pasta Salad made with extra love by master chef and crew member Thierry. He rode throughout the night, stopping only to sleep briefly for 20 minutes in Blythe, CA and again for 10 minutes in the desolate desert town of Hope, AZ.

The sun rose on thankfully overcast Arizona summer day as Patrick climbed into the desert hills coming into Time Station 6. He has stopped now to take a brief rest after a total of 341 miles in the first 24 hours!

Patrick encourages everyone to keep him in their thoughts as he continues on in one of the most gruely events ever attempted. Follow his progress online at www.raceacrossamerica.org and his own website www.patrickautissier.org. If possible, please contribute to his cause in the form of a donation.

[RAAM '07 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 3

In this last newsletter from Boston (and from me!), you will find:

1. Schedule for the last 2 days prior to the start
2. Thank you all
3. It’s time to donate
4. Coverage during the race

1. Schedule for the last 2 days prior to the start

Friday morning, I am leaving Boston, along with my daughter Estelle and Rob, my MD and crew Chief, for a one-way trip to Oceanside, CA. Jerome and Christian arrived Thursday afternoon, after driving 4 days the 2 vans fully loaded with bikes and equipments. 2 others crew members, Thierry and Fred, will arrive in San Diego Friday night from Paris, France. Finally, Herve, our Internet guru, will fly from Boston to San Diego on Saturday. During that busy day, we will set up the vans with an audio system and light system; we’ll put the logos of our sponsors, and make sure that everything inside of the vans is at the right place so that it won’t be a mess after day 1. Then, I am going to have an interview, a photo session and the bikes and vehicles inspection with the RAAM organization. In the evening, we will go to the start line celebration banquet in Oceanside where all the solo racers will be introduced to the crowd and a great buffet will follow. Finally, the day will be over and we will have a last and hopefully “good” sleep before the race begins on Sunday morning at 9:00 A.M. (PDT).

2. Thank you all

This project would not have been possible without the tremendous help and support of many people. I want here to thank them personally. First of all, thanks to the sponsors who provided the financial resources needed to participate to the RAAM; Michael Milligan from Axel Johnson Inc, Adam Treister from Treestar, Andrew Masters from Coherent Inc, a special thanks to Paul Robinson from ISAC, Steve Zyganti from Becton-Dickinson, Ray Lannigan from Cytek, Clint Paige from Wheelworks, Randy Ice from Spiz and Peter Daniel from Avis. I would like also to thank Mr. Francois Gauthier, Consul General of France in Boston for his constant support.

Before I drive them nuts, I would like to thank my crew members for their enthusiasm and support; Rob Miller, Deborah Luhrs, Jerome Pruneau, Christian Valentin, Herve Seux, Thierry St Léger, Frederic Ricol, Sylvie Gori, Estelle Autissier, Damien Autissier et Anne-Cecile Autissier. The next 2 weeks is going to be extremely intense for all of them and I can’t thank them enough for their support.

I would not even have started this RAAM thing 3 years ago if I didn’t have met John McClellan at the pasta party the day prior to Boston-Montreal-Boston, a 1200K bike randonnee, used as a RAAM qualifier. Since then, he has been incredibly supportive of my dream, we’ve created Athletes Racing for Charity last year, and we have a big plan for the future. I hope that everyone could meet someone like John in his or her life.

Finally, I want to thank my wife Anne-Cecile, and my children Estelle and Damien. I acknowledge that it can be tough to live with someone with big dreams, and it has been tough for them. However, I’m very pleased that this year Estelle will be part of the crew from the very beginning of the race, and Anne-Cecile and Damien will join us in St Louis, MO for the last 1,000 miles. Hopefully, they will see that RAAM is such a tremendous experience to live for everyone who takes part of it and together we will cross the finish line in Atlantic City, NJ.

3. It’s time to donate

As of today, $10,220 has been raised for Partners In Health and $620 for Nashoba Learning Group. It’s already fantastic but of course I would love to raise much more money for these 2 fantastic charities. I guess that, as I’m about to start this crazy race, it would be a good time for you to donate. Don’t forget that there is no small donation; it simply doesn’t exist for people in distress. Please go to make a donation on my website.

4. Coverage during the race

Our plan is to try to give you once every day as much information as possible during the race. However, depending on the availability of Internet connection, the free time of the crew and the race conditions, it might be difficult to do so. You will find all the updates directly on my website at http://www.patrickautissier.org/. The coverage will include newsletters written by Rob (posted on the homepage, and send via mass emails) and Estelle (on her webpage), pictures that you will find under Photos on my website, and hopefully small video clips posted on the homepage as well.

Most importantly for me, you will be able to send emails to either pautissi@bidmc.harvard.edu or Patrick@patrickautissier.org. Someone from the crew will read them to me through the PA system, probably at night when I would need to stay awake and fully energized.

Finally, a 24/24 live coverage (every 30 minutes!) will be available on the RAAM website at http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/. There, you will be able to follow my progress Time Station by Time Station.

Thank you all, and as would say my son Damien: “And now, let’s get the show on the road!”

Patrick

http://www.patrickautissier.org/

Becton-Dickinson Biosciences, new sponsor

I’m very proud to get Becton-Dickinson Biosciences on board for the second time in a row. BDBiosciences is one of the world's leading businesses focused on bringing innovative tools to life science researchers and clinicians. BDBiosciences join four others flow-based companies on this project and that mean a lot to me.

[RAAM '07 - Patrick Autissier] Only 10 days before the start

In this newsletter, you’ll find:

1. Cytek Development joins the pool of sponsored flow-based companies
2. More than $10,000 raised for Partners In Health
3. One-way ticket to Oceanside, CA

1. Cytek Development joins the pool of sponsored flow-based companies

Cytek Development, a company that develops and sells flow Cytometry product in support of the flow Cytometry community, has become sponsor of the project. With this kind support, Cytek Development joins 3 other flow-based companies and/or association, Coherent, Treestar and ISAC. I’m so proud of the involvement of the Flow Cytometry community in this project and fundraising, and so proud of course to be a member of this community (a.k.a FLOWers).

2. More than $10,000 raised for Partners In Health

As of today, $10,020 has been raised for Partners In Health. One could think that this amount of money won’t help a lot, in regard to the extreme poverty of millions of people around the world. However, do you know what Partners In Health can really do with $10,000? They can for example:

• Cover the costs of treating malnutrition for 100 children.
• Buy a year's supply of lifesaving antiretroviral drugs for 80 AIDS patients
• Provides clean water for an entire village

It is literally the difference between life and death for these people. So, please donate here. There is no small donation for these people.

3. One-way ticket to Oceanside, CA

We’re only 10 days before the big event will start, exactly on Sunday, June 10^th at 12PM EST. We’re going to pick up the vehicles tomorrow, load them with my 2 bikes and all the equipments that we will need for a 10 to 12 days journey. 2 crew members, Jerome and Christian, will leave Boston Monday morning and drive the vans to Oceanside, CA. They should be there Thursday night. The rest of the team will fly out to San Diego, CA next Friday. We’ll have Saturday to set up everything, make sure that the bikes are pumpedJ, and then we’ll be ready to go the other way, 3,044 miles east, to Atlantic City, NJ.

Best regards to all,

Patrick

www.patrickautissier.org

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