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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.
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