[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Tuba City, AZ

Saturday, June 20, 2009, 10:46AM

I am sad to report this will be the final newsletter of the 2009 RAAM Solo attempt for Patrick. Yesterday afternoon at Time Station 9 in Tuba City, AZ, Patrick decided with the help of his wife and crew, that he could not continue the race. This was an incredibly difficult decision. Yesterday's effort to mount a charge to return to form was met by harsh conditions on the road, extreme heat, and a total body fatigue that was insurmountable. With no strength left in his legs, no charge or spark from his body, Patrick realized that in this condition, he could not complete the race.

On Thursday, after a difficult Day One, the course led him through on of the toughest stretches of road along the course. A grueling climb out of the town of Congress, AZ up the Yarnell Grade covers 1800 feet of elevation over 7 miles. Later during this stage, there is an equally difficult climb, a slow steady 2000 foot elevation gain over 15 miles into Prescott AZ. Patrick struggled through the day into the evening, and upon reaching Prescott was overwhelmingly fatigued, exhausted and felt weak. Although, his mind was clear, his body was not responding well to the challenge. Patrick slept restlessly for two hours before, remounting his bike for the overnight ride to Flagstaff. This stretch covered 90 miles over two stages between Time Stations 6 and 8.

Around 1AM RAAM time, we left covering 25 miles in two hours. Relief came for the exhausted crew in the form of Sylvie and Anne Cecile. Although they had been awake already for 24 hours, they had far more energy then the rest of the crew, and their humor and encouragement from home, carried Patrick to the city of Cottonwood, AZ at Time Station 7. From there in the middle of a cold high desert night, Patrick began another brutal climb to Flagstaff through the Coconino National Forest, past the picturesque town of Sedona, AZ into the Red Rock State park, up the Oak Creek Climb. Around 25 miles into the stage, with another 25 miles to go to Flagstaff, Patrick was overwhelmingly exhausted and took a 15 minute power nap along the banks of Oak creek, nestled under dominating red rock cliffs. Upon awaking, Patrick struggled through the early morning hours to reach the top of the predominately uphill ride to Flagstaff. The crew struggled to revive a blown electrical system in the main support van. Upon reaching Time Station 8 in Flagstaff, he was exhausted.

After a long conversation with the crew at Time Station 8, he was determined to try to rebound after a short period of sleep in the support van in the shade of the only tree in Flagstaff. While the tree served it's purpose, the management of the Chase Bank in Flagstaff, which owned the parking lot where the tree lived, were not amused or supportive and asked us to move along. Patrick climbed back on his bike around noon to attempt to continue and rejuvenate his fatigued body. Half the crew met Guy, the most renowned car mechanic in all of Flagstaff to help revive the support van. He had only one tooth, but could sure fix a blown fuse in a hurry. The remainder of the crew could only follow at a distance in the other van, but supported him along the way.

Unfortunately, upon reaching Time Station 9 in Tuba City, Patrick could no longer mount any response from his spent legs, and with regret and sadness notified the crew that he could no longer continue. The crew, RAAM officials, and many of those who we met along the way were deeply saddened by this decision his withdrawal. However Patrick and his wife Anne Cecile were confident that this was the only and best choice to make.

Upon reaching Kayente, AZ, the remainder of the crew and Patrick reunited, shared dinner and reflected on the experience. Patrick has obvious sadness and regret, however after fighting illness during the weeks before the start, he realized that his body could not match his will to continue. Putting the ride in perspective, he has realized that his previous completion of the 2007 Solo RAAM, and his other successes with this race were amazing accomplishments. Despite his months of training (waking at 4AM to ride 40 miles before work three days a week, two hundred miles of riding over the weekends, a 360 mile ride over 24 hours in Sebring, FL) and months of logistical preparation were no match for the flu-like  illness that set him back weeks before the race. He takes with him a sense of pride for his accomplishments even without completing the race.

Patrick and his crew are now driving back to Boston, via Southwest Utah into Durango, CO tonight. While he has no plans to compete in this race in the future, I am sure he will be planning his next endeavor before the week is over.

 

 

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day 1

Thursday, 18 June 2009, 19h 43 min (race time, eastern time)

Hello! Nice to see you around. Today has been a long day for all of us. After catching up with Patrick yesterday afternoon, Jerome and I saw that he had been having a hard time at the beginning of  the race. Patrick had not been cycling for the last 3 weeks, reason why this start line was a little effortful. 

At time station 2 Jerome and I waited for the follow van to arrived, we had feed Patrick and changed crew, although Rob came with us for the night following. Patrick cycled all night long with a pretty good speed  up hill. In one moment he did not felt very good at all but that helped him to wake up a little bit more and regain strength to continue. 

Today has been a hot day and in general we have all been a little sleep deprived. Patrick has tried to sleep, but for what I am concerned he has had little success with this.  At 9:30 a.m. we changed crews again but this time Jerome stayed with Aude and Greg in the follow van. 

Patrick has been tired today, it is normal when cycling in the dessert and in a very hot climate.

Rob and I have had an intense day of groceries and driving on mountains and now we are at a motel trying to get some sleep because tonight we are on the night crew again. Sylvie and Anne-Cecile arrive tonight so we will be more and merrier.

Sorry for this short newsletter but if I do not keep it short I am not going to be able to send it (we only get 30 min. internet at this motel).

Thank you very much for your time and I hope you are as excited as we all to see how this is going to end. Have a good one!!!

Maite

Ps: you can follow Patrick's progress on his website www.patrickautissier.org

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day 0

Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 16h 34 min

 Yesterday afternoon the vans had already gone through revision, Greg and I had dedicated a couple of hours to cooking meals for Wednesday and Thursday and we where pretty much all settled to go. I took this perfect timing to do one of the designated cognitive tests on Patrick. Shortly before Greg had done an interview of our dear cyclist. We later on had a succulent sausage plate Greg had prepared accompanied with candle light, we had our last crew meeting in "La Jolla" before we all dispersed to try to sleep.

It was 4 a.m. and I just could not manage to fall asleep. I turned on my sofa and thought about the great, mysterious, fascinating and tough this race was going to be. Luckily for me not long went by and Jerome was up on his feet doing the same as me, turning skype on in order to talk to his love ones.

Not half an hour went by and the house started to have massive movement, even thou we agreed on waking up at 7 a.m.  By 8 we had all have had breakfast and started to do last minute packing, such as putting ice in the ice coolers in order to keep the food fresh as well as Patricks energy drinks. At this same time Patrick decided to try to sleep half an hour. During the night he had succeeded in sleeping 5 hours, which is pretty good before a big event such as this.

By 9:30 we had already divided our crew into the two vans: Rob Greg and Aude would be on the follow van while Jerome and I would be on the support van.  The follow van went directly to Oceanside while the support van went to a Fedex authorized location to drop the first package of drawn blood.

At 10:30 we all met again in Oceanside, Patrick was leaving at 12:41 but he had to be there at 11:30, so we had a good timing. Because of this situation I couldn't avoid walking to "La Mission's beach" Mac Donald's , which is  literally a minute away, and buying some food. At the sight of it Jerome decided he too wanted to take this opportunity.

At noon all the Solo drivers where on the leaving stage ready to start their maximum 12 day race.  Jerome and Greg where ready with their cameras shooting each picture they found worth it, and after only three riders where still to be announced Patrick's turn came. While Robic and Marko where still on stage, Patrick started his journey.

Due to this years rules Patrick had to do the first miles without a following van, the real starting line of the race was 8 miles from the stage. The two vans left, one to frog leap and the other to get some groceries which had been ignored before doing the final packing.

After this, Jerome and I went on into the first time station.  We stopped there to wait  to see Patrick go trough, but the invasion of millions of crickets in this zone was to much for us and decided to move into another  place. Ten miles from the first Time station we found shade under a couple of trees and stayed there. We have now been here for three hours and still no sign of the first Solo racer.  We are in the middle of nowhere so there is no phone signal. We are literally un-contactable. We will wait what we must, and after that we will advance to the second time station to find internet and send you guy these facts.

Thank you vey much for your support, donations and interest =). Have a great day and hope to see you soon via newsletters.

Maite J. Balda

 

P.S. Jerome is writing a newsletter each day also in French and in a different point of view and knowledge (lets face it I am a rookie at this race while Jerome appreciates and has the trained eye to see importance in facts that skip my mind).

www.patrickautissier.org

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 1

La Jolla, CA

Well, this is it! I'm about to embark on my last RAAM solo journey across the USA. No need to tell you that I'm quite nervous right now. However, as soon as we'll hit the road tomorrow at 3:41PM EST, anxiety will be gone and there will be left ahead of us just... 3,023 miles of open road, fantastic scenery, lots of laughs, pain, doubt, tears, sometimes all of that within an hour, but most importantly 3,023 miles of complete unknown. Although I can call myself a RAAM veteran, having competed already 3 times, each year is different, and I have absolutely no idea what RAAM is going to throw at me this time. But that's the beauty of this race. It feels like being a "forty-niners" looking for gold, except that we're going East, and our gold is the finish line in Annapolis, MD. And I can't wait to start this unique journey of discovery.

Nothing would have been possible without the support of many people. I'd like to thank my sponsors, TV5 Monde, Cytek, Redbones, Spiz, Avis, RaceDayWheels, ATA Cyles, and the French Consulate in Boston. My crew members will help me through this journey and they are all at least as excited as I am. Before driving them crazy, I'd like to thank Rob, Jerome, Greg, Maite, Aude, Sylvie, Anne-Cecile and Camille. Although I will be the only one on the bike, RAAM is a team effort and I'm sure I have a great team this year. I also want to thank Amy and Pat for welcoming us in their beautiful house in La Jolla, facing the Pacific Ocean. Being there the last few days prior to the start has been really nice and stress-free for all of us.

This project is about challenges and dreams. I'm a lucky man and life has been very good so far for me. I have a great family, 2 fantastic children Estelle and Damien, a job, basically I couldn't ask for more. However, when I look outside my personal circle, life is tough for many people, and if through my dreams, I can help, even a little, these people who are less lucky than I am, I'd be a better man.

Please go to my website at www.patrickautissier.org and consider making a donation to Partners In Health or Nashoba Learning Group.

This is my last newsletter because I'll be kind of busy for the next 10 - 12 days. My crew members will try to post newsletters, photos, videos and data about my progress. I know that the links on my homepage don't work on the MAC, so here it is: go to www.patrickautissier.org

Newsletters: Click on the blog webpage

Photos: Click on the Photos webpage

RAAM Website: Click on the RAAM webpage and go to live coverage

Data table: Click on the graphs of the newsletter posted on the home page

Video: go to www.youtube.com/user/pautissi

Thank you for your support,

Patrick

Race Number # 302

www.patrickautissier.org

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 2

La Jolla, June 15h, 2009 (Day – 2)

Hello! So first of all I will introduce myself. I am Maite Balda (better known as MJ) and I am a rookie as a RAAM crewmember. Patrick, Aude, Jerome,Gregory and I arrived yesterday to California. Patrick and I flew from Boston while the other three had quite an adventure driving our following van from Boston, which includes a night spent in Las Vegas. Rob's plane arrived to California an hour ago and he will be joining us shortly.

At "La Jolla" we are staying in an absolutely beautiful house owned by Amy Snyder and her partner Pat. It is a gorgeous house just at the ocean shore and it is most appreciated by the fact that their owners have been the best and most wonderful welcomers.

Yesterday we had our first crew meeting at California and talked about strategies, organization and general rules. We went over the different penalties while driving and stopping and then had pizza and wine while talking about the essence of the race with our hostesses.

This morning we got on our feet and went to have breakfast at the most charming "petit dejeuner" place just some steps away from our current home. Patrick had an omelet with  bacon, peppers and lots of protein, perfect for a person who is about to cycle back to where he flew from on an over 6 hour period of time.

After Breakfast Jerome and Patrick went to Oceanside to have Patrick take his picture and do his interview. Greg and Aude stayed home organizing and preparing the follow van with not only labels and bumper stickers but creativity to make everything fit in the bets way possible. I was more than 4 hours trying to convert the code posted on the RAAM webpage to GPS readable code. I must say with immense sadness that I failed in my task after trying with three different computers and multiple variations of programs.

While Greg and Aude finished their assignment and I reluctantly observed the GOS with great disdain, Patrick and Jerome arrived with part of the lunch and other food.  Jerome cooked some pasta, and we ate it with a roasted chicken they both bought.

After having some time to do digestion we all left to Oceanside for a general crew and participants meeting. It stated at 5,  the RAAM director went over the instructions emphasizing on various points of the RAAM manual. Later on he proceeded to introduce all the RAAM participants, which was fun. There is actually a guy who has done RAAN 22 times, being this  his 23rth! Patrick got to see some friends and talk to them, shake hands with a lot of RAAM involved people.

Don't forget to check Patrick's website at www.patrickautissier.org.

Thank you for your support.

See you tomorrow and take care!

Maite J. Balda

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 4

In the news...

LIVE UPDATE WILL START JUNE 15TH...

Boston, June 13th, 2009 (Day - 4)

I will be flying out to California tomorrow morning, so it's the last time I have a chance to update my website. Starting tomorrow, you will be able to follow our progress daily by clicking on the different links on the home page at www.patrickautissier.org. It's pretty straightforward and as you can see, we'll try to post daily a newsletter, photos, data table, maybe some videos, and the RAAM organization will have all the information per Time Station.

I hope you'll enjoy the race as much as I will, and don't forget to make a donation to Partners In Health or Nashoba Learning Group.

IMMUNE RESPONSE DURING PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION

Boston, June 13th, 2009 (Day - 4)

Finally, I'll be able to do the scientific study that I couldn't do in 2007. The idea is to measure the immune cells during an extreme stress, both physical and mental. Very few, if any, sporting challenges around the world can top solo RAAM. A solo rider usually must stay on the bike for at least 20 hours per day, sleeps no more than 2 hours per day, has to endure brutal change of temperature, hallucinations and delusional thoughts, must eat a minimum of 10,000 calories, climbs the equivalent of 4 Mount Everest during the race. On top of the huge physical challenge, the stress level  goes even higher, due to hazard road conditions like potholes, 18-wheeler trucks, animals crossing the road (it happened to me in 2007 and I almost went down!). Finally, the prospect of not finishing the race haunts each rider. Solo RAAM is conceived to test the absolute limit of an individual, both physically and mentally.

You'll have a glimpse of my immune status, as well as some blood parameters during the race. My doctor will draw blood on Day 0, 1, 5, 7 and 8 of the race and will send the specimen to my lab at Boston College and my former lab at Beth Israel Hospital. Boston College will perform complex flow cytometry study that will not be available during the race. However, Beth Israel will do a CBC (Cell Blood Count) and the data will be posted on my website, along with a table giving daily the amount of sleep, time on the bike, time off the bike, etc...I have already collected data before the start, and I'll do the same after the race during the recovery period.

Please take a look at the pre-race time-point on my home page at www.patrickautissier.org

No one has ever done this kind of study and I thought stupidly that I should do it myself. Oh well!

Thank you for your support,

Patrick

Race Number # 302

www.patrickautissier.org

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 10

In the news...

RAAM: ALPINE STYLE OR BIG EXPEDITION ?

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Boston, June 8th, 2009 (Day - 10)

One of my other passion is the mountaineering world. Since many years, I have been reading lots of books about big mountains like Everest, K2, Lhotse. And historically, there has been two ways to climb those big hills: Alpine style where you are basically by yourself, no sherpas, no O2, just you and the mountains. Some would say it's the purest challenge, but of course it's reserved to a very small elite of high-altitude mountaineers, like Messner, Lafaille or Viesturs. The other way, which is now mainly used on Everest is the big expedition style. Here you're part of a commercial expedition led by an experienced guide that provides basically everything, from food to sherpas to 4-star base camp, so that you just have to focus on your goal of climbing the hill. Although it makes things easier and safer, YOU still have to go up there using your own power. It's a huge accomplishment if you can summit Everest, and I'm so happy and proud that Pr. Paul Robinson, one of my best supporter in the cytometry world, did it...and came back as he say with his 10 toes and 10 fingers! Paul, I really hope to see you at the Time Station #38.

On RAAM, the alpine style would be 4 crew members (or sherpas!) and 2 vehicles! That's the minimum that the RAAM organization requires for a solo rider. However now most solo riders have about 10-12 crew members, 1 RV and 1 or 2 other vehicles, which would correspond to the big expedition style. Due to budget constraint, I will have 7 crew members and 2 vehicles (1 mini van and 1 12-passenger van). I won't have any RV, motels will be very limited along the route. That would place us on the low-end of a big expedition. And that's fine, because as I learned over the years, you want to avoid "luxury" when doing solo RAAM. After 10 hours on the bike, you crave for a nice place to stop like an RV, having a good meal, lay down on a bed. BUT because of that luxury, you don't want to go back on the bike. So you're losing big time! I know because I've been there and done that in 2005. This year I'll try to minimize my time off the bike and certainly there will not be luxury waiting for me when I'll stop. Hopefully I'll get back  on the bike in no time, while the other solo riders will enjoy their RVs ;-).                                                                                                    

Reminder: The fundraising event is tomorrow June 9th at 6:30PM, Boston College, Devlin Hall. The event is free. 100% of the donations (no % for Firstgiving fees) will go directly to Partners In Health and Nashoba Learning Group. The movie Bicycle Dreams is great, you'll love it whether you're a cyclist or not, and DVDs of the movie will be on sale ($20). Please come!

Finally, There was an article in the Boston Herald last Sunday. You can read it here.

 

Thank you for your support,

Patrick

www.patrickautissier.org

[RAAM 2009 - Patrick Autissier] Day - 15

In the news...

MAKING ROOM FOR AUTISM: NASHOBA LEARNING GROUP (NLG)

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Boston, June 3rd, 2009 (Day - 15)

 

My 2 children Estelle and Damien are what people would consider as "normal" kids, living life at full-speed (maybe too fast for their parents!), going to public schools, being part of a soccer team or a swim team, and enjoying the time with their friends. In short, they are very healthy kids and enjoy life to the fullest, which makes my wife and I so happy. However, sometimes when we see a disabled child, as parents we can't help but wonder what IF...

 

I have known of Nashoba Learning Group for several years now through one of my best friends, John McClellan, whose wife Liz created NLG in 2003. I went to the opening of her new school in Bedford, MA last year and saw all these kids and their parents. At first, I felt a little awkward and strange because I can't even imagine what they are going through on a daily basis. But then I realized that I don't have to share their pain and difficulties. What they want and need is help!  And this RAAM project is simply about helping people.

 

Please click on the picture (homepage) and watch a 10' video about NLG and read an article about NLG

Thank you for your support,

Patrick

www.patrickautissier.org

ps: The Benefit Screening: Bicycle Dreams is coming up (June 9th 6:30PM at Boston College, Devlin Hall). I hope to see you there.